As has been mentioned, it wasn’t a price sticker. It was a “30% Off” sticker, and those peel right off, like a Post-It note. They don’t even leave a mark.
The guy in the OP was being an ass. I’m sooo glad I don’t work in retail anymore.
IDBB, could you have showed him how easily it peeled off? Maybe that would have taken the wind out of his sails.
Jesus, what an ass. The title on Prey is only about 4 feet high, in red letters on a white background. Could he not read it with a little sticker over one corner? Sounds like he’s got more problems than just poor social skills…
I feel for you, IDBB. I remember the old days at the used bookstore, with folks who were absolutely sure we’d want to pay them lots of money for their box of books reeking of old cat urine, or their scratched up Paula Abdul CD. It sounds like you stayed calm and reasonable, but he was determined to be an asshat. Boy, do I know that type.
The OP reminds me of the time I worked in a grocery store, part of my job was to round up the shopping carts from the parking lot. Some guy walked buy and complained that I was making too much noise with the carts. I had a good laugh after he left. I liked rattling the carts around and it’s nearly impossible to not make a racket with all those carts.
I can vouch for this. In my call center, the expectation is that all customers will be treated with equal courtesy. That expectation is also not always met. While I do my damndest to make sure that even jerks get polite treatment, I have trouble complaining when one of my reps goes way above and beyond for a customer who’s being nice.
And as an FYI, the quickest way to piss off someone in customer service is to yell at and blame them for something they didn’t do, can’t fix, (or worse, something they’re trying to correct). You should still be treated with a certain minimum level of courtesy, regardless of your behavior, but most people have a breaking point.
Case in point. The Monday following Thanksgiving is the worst day of the year. Bar none. Almost every agent volunteered to work overtime to help (some were willing to work 16 hours!), I called in agents who’ve transferred into other departments who could take calls, I put every lead, quality assurance person, and some of the supervisors on the phones. There was nothing else we could have done.*
We did pretty well and held wait-times down to about 20 minutes at the worst part of the day (we normally answer within 3 minutes). Most people comisserated with the reps. Some blew off steam to the reps. A few, sadly, blew up at the reps and blamed them. Those are the ones that were bitched about, that were given the letter of their service plan and not even a tiny bit more, and (though I can’t prove it) at least one or two of 'em were “accidentally” disconnected (if I have proof or see a recurring pattern, the agent’ll hear about it.).
Unless you’re blowing up about something the customer service rep can control, it doesn’t help to blow up at them. Blow off steam to them? Sure. Yell at them? What’s the point. If your complaint is about how the business is run, complain to the one running the business (me, in this case), not the customer rep who can’t change things.
Fenris
It takes 2-3 weeks to learn the program. We can’t hire temp-workers for one day if we have to pay 'em for 3 weeks training.
Well, that is defiantly one school of thought. Unfortunately, I find it rather symptomatic of the entire movement away from personal responsibility.
See, to me, if I am an asshole there should be some form of logical consequences to that behavior. If I get to go around being a prick and the result is that people are even nicer to me, then being a prick is actually positively reinforced.
I think that this whole “kill 'em with kindness” theory is actually pretty dysfunctional. This is not to say that one should ever escalate a situation, but in honesty there are times when it should be OK for a customer service rep to stop eating it.
Agreed, completely. As a night manager at a bookstore in Flagstaff, I stepped in a number of times and invited a customer to leave the store when they became abusive to an employee, and to take their shit with them (no, I didn’t use those words, but I would have liked to).
Employees are paid to represent the store they work for in a professional capacity. They are not there to be subject to abuse.
I disagree. I see it more as taking responsibility for my own actions, regardless of what the actions of those around me are. In other words I will treat people as I think they should be treated, even if they behave like pricks. Maybe pricks should be punished, maybe I’ll punish them, but on my own terms.
On the other hand if you go around being a prick and everyone reacts by being a prick right back then we’re all pricks. I’d rather not act like a prick, even when someone else is, and not worry about what the consequences for you should be.
I wouldn’t call it “kill’em with kindness”, more like “this guy can’t possibly be that pissed off over this little thing, maybe we’ve screwed him over before, and since I would really hate to lose a customer I’m gonna try to calm him down and see if that helps”.
Ahhh… I wish I could hang up on some of our customers. I’ve been called vile names, screamed at, and threatened. We are absolutely not allowed to stop an abusive call or even acknowledge that it’s happening. We’re at their mercy. But, in over a year of working in customer service, I’ve only cried once. There have been many times that I have to take a break just because I can’t stop shaking (from anger), though. Having to be sickeningly sweet to assholes does cause dysfunction.
This attitude is what contributes to a lot of retail workers with low morale and work ethic.
:rolleyes:
On the other hand, I try being really super faky nice, which really pisses them off. It’s snotty, but they can’t PROVE it’s snotty!
However, the guy was being an asshole. I don’t care who screwed you-don’t take it out on the fucking little guy!
You’re one of those sickening, “The Customer Is Always Right” types, aren’t you?
Weirdness… I walked into Waldenbooks this evening while waiting for my friend to use the potty… looking at the new hardcovers, most of them had sale stickers on them. They were red with white print, triangular-shaped, obviously meant to go in the upper right-hand corner of the book… and that’s where they were, on the majority, but then there was Prey. And the stickers on all the copies of it were stuck on there on the right side just below the title… I blinked repeatedly, remembering this thread.
I looked at the other books and noticed that on most of them, the author’s name was top center and the title at the bottom, so with the sticker in the place it was clearly meant to go, if it covered up anything, it was part of the author’s name. So I thought, okay, well, that makes sense kinda, so they put the sticker down there on Prey specifically so it wouldn’t cover up the title. On the other ones they just covered up a bit of the author. But then I noticed that a couple of the other books with titles at the top (the one I distinctly recall was James Patterson’s Four Blind Mice) had the sticker still in their correct position, even though it covered up part of the title, making it “Fou Blin Mice”. And the thought that went through my head was… “Oh my god, the IAC actually made them move the stickers!” But then I remembered the OP is in Texas and I was, at the time, in southern NY. So… no. But it was still creepy, I tell you!
See, I don’t give the slightest shit if I lose an asshole’s business. I work for the largest grocery chain in the most wealthy and powerful country in the world. We’ll be just fine. My company’s welfare, to me, is not worth being abused at work. If you’re an asshole to me, tough noogies. We drive away the assholes; what the hell’s the problem?!
Thank you.
I had a supervisor call just today where the customer was irate about
wait for it
the color of his credit card. My bank offers customers a choice of colors on two products we have. He had a different product and demanded we send him a different color card. I gave him the address to the Office of the President when he finally stopped ranting and wished him a splendid holiday season.
[Randal] Bunch of savages in this town[/Randal]
Oddly enough, I just bought that very book today, as a Christmas present for my dad. I got it at Waldenbooks, but I imagine Barnes & Noble have similar stickers. The sticker announcing the price reduction (as mentioned by apotheosis) covers at most one letter of the title (plus, of course, one can read the title on the spine), and it peeled off so easily that I wanted to introduce the inventor of that sticker glue to the inventor of the glue that affixes the labels to CD’s. Now there’s a geniune problem, albeit one that is definitively post-purchase.
No, IDBB, I think this was a typical case of a person just wanting to hassle someone. He probably has a sad, pathetic excuse for a life. Take comfort in that. 
Geez, do these whiny fuckers go round looking for things to bitch and moan about?
We always had silly complaints like this, which of course were totally beyond our control. The customer was adamant about sharing their concerns with us, but quite frankly the complaint was so trivial that we just couldn’t be arsed to get into a conversation about it.
So, any time this happened I just grabbed an envelope, stuck a postage stamp on it and addressed it to our head office. The envelope was then given to the customer, and I’d tell them to put their complaint in writing. This got the customer off my back, yet assured them that they weren’t just being given the brush-off, and also made sure any concerns were directed to the right people.
Next time, give it a try. Anyone with a real complaint will send a letter to someone who can actually do something about it. Those who are just being whiney will take the envelope, but won’t bother doing anything with it.
This thread is cracking me up because I’ve been on both sides of the abuse.
As the recipient of the abuse, my favorite response is an imitation of my mother: “I understand you are frustrated, but there is no need for you to use that tone of voice. Let’s solve this problem like adults, shall we?” This usually surprises the hurler of invectives into compliance, although I’ve occasionally been forced into, “I can see that you aren’t ready to be reasonable yet, and I’m not going to talk to you until you can speak to me with respect. Come back when you can.” Sometimes, they actually do.
Mind you, these are physicians that I’m dealing with, not bookstore customers. I would think that kirk’s method would work in a retail situation.
Ugh. I don’t think I could work for an employer like that. You should at least be able to point out to the customers that they are being unreasonable assholes, appropriately, of course.
On the other end of the spectrum…
But it’s so hard not to be an asshole when you’re frustrated by some stupid company policy! I know you don’t make company policy, but, dammit, the idiots who do aren’t here, and you are! And I think I know what grocery chain you’re talking about…
Tonight I had to stop at a Tom Thumb grocery store to get a $20 gift card as part of one of those “angel tree” events - and it had to be that particular store. When it came time to pay, the checkout girl told me that I have to pay with cash or debit card, no check or credit card allowed. In other words, I have to spend an extra $2 to use my VISA check card like a debit card instead of a credit card - it’s still a debit card, but my bank charges me $2 if I use my PIN, instead of processing it like a credit card. So, I can pay for $20 worth of groceries with a check or CC, but a $20 gift card has to be purchased with $20 cash (which I didn’t have on me), or I have to spend $22 using my debit card. I know it sounds piddly, but all those $2 charges add up.
Anyway, the point is, the grocery store has some stupid pointless policy that cost me extra money for no good reason, and it pissed me off. So I stood there, holding up the line, asking what the rationale could possibly be for such a stupid policy, rolling my eyes, trying to decide if I want to blow it off, go to a different store, ask to yell at a manager about it, come back later when I have cash, etc. And, bless her heart, she just stood there, waiting for me to make up my mind, listening to me mutter about stupid Tom Thumb policies and shopping at Albertson’s from now on, and finally said, “Well, I didn’t make it up.”
Well, what else could she say? I had to laugh. Sorry about the hijack, but I think it’s relevant.
I can’t believe none of you have ever been on the asshole end of things.
Hi Fenris - I wonder if you can give me your perspective (from the customer service side) on one potential problem with this. I agree completely with what you said. BUT - what about when you can’t frickin’ get to the management to complain?
Cell phone companies are the worst. There was a billing screwup on my business cell phone recently that resulted in the phone being turned off while I was out of town on business. The problem was resolved immediately, but it still took 2 days to get the phone turned back on. I tried VERY hard to remain calm and polite, but what I got was 2 days worth of the runaround. Per the last person I talked to:
My question, then, is this: how do you save your anger for the proper parties, when the proper parties in question are absolutely unreachable? I, too, feel bad that CSRs can only do as instructed, and don’t make the rules. But, for goodness sake, let me talk to someone who CAN do something about the problem, or who IS paid to take my heat when the company screws up.
I’m not trying to by snarky, really I’m not. I’ve done my time both as the helpless CSR, and as the manager, where I sat and took it from irate customers because I knew they needed to vent and I knew it was the company’s fault. But there’s nothing more infuriating than to be told that a CSR can’t do anything, but that a CSR also isn’t going to pass this along to someone who can. What would you recommend a person do in this situation? Is this an issue you run into at your company, or am I just dealing with crappy companies? Thanks in advance for your expertise!
True, and the quote you used isn’t applicable for the OP.
And I work for Cala, which is owned by Ralph’s, which is owed by Kroger.
I would have to agree with Lucki Chaarms, the nicer you are to people the nicer they are back. Which means this
works in reverse too. We all have hassles in our jobs, but if we endevoured to treat each other the way we want to be, or expect to be treated, then we would all be better off.
When you are Xmas shopping remember no matter how much of a rush you are in the person serving you is still working (so likely still in a rush themselves), be nice and people will be nice right back at ya!
And I’m a teacher on holiday now so it’s no skin off my nose …I just can’t stand seeing people getting irate over petty shit like stickers!
That’s a hard one. I’ve written up and fired supervisors and leads for not taking escalated phone-calls from customers. That’s a large chunk of what their job is. Hell, even though I’m spending most of my days at this point working out call routing, payrolls, and other paper work, I’ve made it clear that I’ll take a call from a lead or Sup. if they think it necessary. (I’ve worked in call-centers where the boss wouldn’t take calls and didn’t that do wonders for my morale. :rolleyes:.)
Anyway, often call centers are sourced out. MasterCard, for example, has call-centers all over the country that they pay to take calls for them. (I’ve worked in one). Write to the parent company and explain what’s going on. You wouldn’t believe what kind of bad shit a single, “more in sorrow than in anger” letter can generate. ("Dear Singular, I’ve been a customer for more than X years and I’ve been very happy with the service. However, while persuing what should have been a minor matter, I was appalled at the treatment I received at your call center. Not only was your representative rude, his supervisor refused to take my call…etc). Heads can roll over a letter like that.
**
**
Seriously. Regardless of anything else, write the letter. I’d rather deal with a dozen angry customers then one of the executives who’s shoving an angry customer letter in my face.
**
**
I agree. As to how to save your anger, I dunno. Just be aware that the first level CSR you’re talking to has as little control over those policies as a burger-flipper in your local McDonalds has over McDonald, Inc’s latest advertising campaign.
I agree that when you ask for a supervisor, the CSR should speak to a supervisor and either get a resolution OR put the supervisor on. Unfortunately, some supervisors don’t do their jobs.
**
**
I assure you from the bottom of my heart as someone who spent years in the front-line trenches: If a CSR “won’t” pass an irate customer on, it’s because the CSR can’t pass an irate customer on. I’ve never once…in the what…4?..6? years I’ve worked in call-centers, ever met a CSR, who, when a supervisor was demanded didn’t want to pass the customer on. What’s probably going on is that the CSR has been told by some asshole supervisor “It’s YOUR job to deal with angry customers. My job is to supervise. I don’t take customer calls.” I’d also bet that the call-center has a huge turnover rate.
**
Crappy companies or the agents of crappy companies. I wish I could give you a solution other than “write the letter”. You might try tossing around the phrase “office of the president” and see if it gets you a different address, or call their sales line, explain that you can’t get results from the other center and you need an address of the Office of the President (the sales people won’t be able to help you with the other call center: they’re likely in different states and only vaguely know of each other’s existance, but they might be able to provide you with an address.)
Hope that helps,
Fenris
I know you are but what am I. We’re at that level now, right?