Just curious, ITR Champion – do you think the OP was correct in her actions regarding the mayonnaise on the sandwich?
(You know, a part of me is amazed that a thread has gone on this long, debating the finer points of customer service vis a vis mayonnaise and sandwiches.)
I didn’t say I would get violent. I’m not the societal fringe (at least I don’t think I am). My point was that as customer service continues to decline, I predict that those wacky folks who are not patient and inclined to violence will start doing to CSR’s what they do now to airline employees and school bullies. Has air rage had any effect? I would say it has. I think the only reason this guy was acquitted is because of a growing frustration on the part of the public with crappy airline customer service. It has yet to be determined whether or not legally condoning breaking a gate attendant’s neck will have a positive effect on airline service. My comment was not a threat - just my own prediction of things to come.
It had been a long miserable day. Life just wasn’t going well. My career was heading down fast. My wife’s new job meant that I’d rarely get to see her for the next month. But after a long search, I had finally found my wife an anniversary gift. I had skipped breakfast so when I spotted the Taco Bell in the mall I thought I could get myself a good quick meal.
“One beef burrito please, no onions,” I told the cashier.
The cashier’s manager came up behind him and said “Enter it as a bean burrito.”
“I said beef.” I protested.
The manager looked up at me sharply and then repeated her instructions to the cashier.
Must be a special way of entering the order to overcome some difficulty they were having. Well, okay. So I get my food and go sit down. I got a beef burrito with onions.
Well, no big deal. I go back and say “Excuse me, I wanted a beef burrito with no onions.”
After a terse look from the manager, I get another burrito. This time I get a bean burrito with no onions.
Now, I’m slightly irritated. But hey, I know working at a food service place sucks. I take a deep breath so I’ll be calm and go back up to the counter.
“I want a beef burrito with no onions.”
The manager shoots me an accusing look, “That is not what you ordered!”
I suddenly feel a flash of rage. “I’ve given you the order three times!”
She clearly does no believe me and tries to argue the point.
And then I have this horrible urge. I envision sending a short punch to the irritating woman’s neck. Burying my first two knuckles into her windpipe and killing her. It would be so easy.
I shake my head, it’s just a stupid burrito! Why am I so mad?
It’s because this woman has added irritation to an already bad day. What’s more, she’s insulted my honor and my intelligence by accusing me of lying about what I have been saying for the past fifteen minutes.
I show her my first receipt without further comment. I finally get my burrito.
I never return.
The lady in question has risen as far as she will ever go in the job world. Somehow I doubt she’d make a good programmer who could deal with a fifty page stack of requirements when she can’t handle a burrito order. And I doubt a corporate client would be quite as nice as I was about her failure.
Yeah, the damn job sucks. It might not quite be up there with Christmas season in a toy store, but it’s on the crappy job list. But if you’re going to take the job, you should do the job. My philosophy to an easy work life is to always do a task so that you never have to deal with it again. Fill an order correctly and pleasently and you probably will be done with it the first time. Sure, some customers are going to be jerks. That aspect will not go away as you move up the job ladder. A technology manager on a power trip is a hell of lot worse to deal with than a whiny customer complaining about too much ketchup on the bun. You only have to deal with a fast food customer for about thirty minutes if they eat in. A technology manager who is your client you might be stuck with for years. Worse, you might really need his company’s business so telling him to fuck off isn’t an option, well not one in which you get to keep the house anyway.
He called you a CUNT? I wouldn’t care, I would NOT put up with that.
My wife (a delicate, loving lady) was working the counter at a Dry Cleaning establishment. One of her customers wanted his order at charge; of course she refused. He called her a bitch. As small and delicate as she is, she does have ONE HELL of a temper. She came around the counter on him and he ran from the store. If she had caught him…
I always make it a point to be polite when dealing with service people, no matter where it is. After all, I’ve walked in their shoes.
Saying that, I have a real problem with stupidity or laziness. I do have the option of voting with my wallet and taking my business elsewhere.
From a rational standpoint, no, someone should have double-checked the second sandwich the make sure that it was made correctly. However, the customer made the situation worse through her rude behavior; if she had politely exlained the problem and asked for the sandwich back, she would have been more likely to get what she wanted. So neither person was correct in their actions.
But “what they do now to airline employees and school bullies” is not a trend at all. It’s total bullshit made up by journalists who are experts at hooking the public by announcing non-existent trends. For the facts on the school shooting nonsense, check any one of roughly 7000000 GD threads on the subject, or just go here. So I don’t understand exactly what I have to fear. And what if there actually was a rise in violence? The companies would hire more security guards. Finally, I’ve never seen conclusive evidence that the quality of customer service is actually going down. Surveys showing that people are more upset about the service that they get only prove that customers are getting more picky and arrogant.
*wishing her damn computer was working…sigh
Look-I am sooo sick of people saying that the man was justified, or at least, should be understood, for STRANGLING another human being and BREAKING HER NECK. Isn’t that special? Does that mean the next time I get pissed at my sister, I could strangle her? I mean, she’s annoying, never does what she says she will. Should a teacher start kicking his students around because they haven’t done their homework? And what if an employee finally snaps because of RUDE CUSTOMERS and starts beating them up? Is THAT justified? NO! I don’t care what your reason is-you do NOT get physically violent with someone just because of frustration. If that were okay, then it would be okay to rape, rob, murder, assault everyone. If a STORE employee had strangled an annoying customer, it would NOT BE RIGHT. If a customer hits back in self defense AFTER HE HAS BEEN HIT, or a store employee does, that is different. But NO ONE is justified in assaulting someone.
I have to say, I’m about to have a nervous breakdown at the thought of working at Kmart any longer. I’m hoping that I can get a job at one of the libraries, or somewhere downtown. However, right now, I’m also in need of transportation, because I don’t drive (and couldn’t afford insurance anyways, and besides, it wouldn’t be a good idea for me to drive, because my concentration is so shitty due to my ADHD and everything that’s related.) I also need to find out if they’d hire me.
And no, the customer is not always right. The business is not there to serve the customer-to put it bluntly, they are in it to make money. If you saw all the scams I see at Kmart-returns, lying, trying to get free crap, you’d see that there has to be a limit to what the customer can demand. Like, no returns on obviously worn underwear with period stains. No return of big expensive stereos without a receipt for full credit after you’ve had it for seven years. No more throwing things at cashiers when they say they cannot do something because of STORE POLICY. It is the managment who makes the rules-and I get FIRED if I don’t follow them.
I’m sorry, I’m really on edge right now, between work, my internship, and what with the fact that I have enough credits to graduate but don’t feel ready, and this crappy final I have to do…oh well, I guess I’m justified if I take out my frustration on customers…:rolleyes:
I agree that the customer acted badly. But see, the customer has no mandate to be there. It isn’t the customer’s responsibility to frequent the establishment. It’s the employee’s responsibility to provide the customer with what they want, within reason. And that shouldn’t include having to ask three times to have mayonnaise left off a sandwich.
Guinastasia – I understand what you’re saying about scams and unruly customers. I was a tour guide at a local cave when I was a teenager. Many’s the time I took a person on a tour (or was manning the register when another tour got back) and had to face a customer who said “That tour wasn’t worth $5.95. I want my money back.” I took several late-afternoon tours composed solely of a group of drunk people, knowing that when we got out of the cave the gift shop would be closed down and I’d be the only employee on the grounds. Kinda makes you nervous.
At least you’re discovering that you don’t like customer-service jobs now, rather than investing a large portion of your life into this and being miserable for decades.
This is why you should not work in the service industry. You are paid to do a job. You don’t do it, you should be fired. The reason you get paid crap is because you deserve it.
sigh…
You know, mayonnaise and sandwitches notwithstanding, when I read the title of this thread I was reminded why the fast-food place I worked in high school stopped being 24 hours.
The nighttime manager was a woman, about 5’1" tall and maybe 90 pounds soaking wet, was nearly dragged out of the drive thru window by two drunks who were going to “take her with them.”
Luckily, Carlos (beefy 6 footer) was working the grill that night and managed to pull her back in. He worked the drive thru for the rest of the night, too, and she grilled.
I’ve done fast food. (two kinds). I’ve done retail (at Disneyland, no less). I’ve worked special events - J.K. Rowling appeared at the Barnes and Noble I briefly worked at, and I nearly had an angry mob of customers push me down the escalator because I wasn’t letting them down when they’d been told the escalator was not available (You could see her from the escalator, see, if not from the balcony where they’d all gathered - not to mention that the line for signatures was right in front of it).
I’ve never once lost my cool with a customer “on stage” (as it were). That’s not how the game is played, IMHO. No matter how much of an asshole they are. That sort of behaviour is best left “off stage” - either in the breakroom, the manager’s office (in the case of the B&N nightmare, I hid in the sci-fi selection and had a good cry once it was over), or by sharing the experience at home with family or over the phone with friends. Or at customerssuck. Or on a message board.
To do otherwise is to not do your job. Period.
And how do you think they are going to make their money if they don’t serve the customer?
If a customer gets shitty service at K-Mart, for example, chances are high that that customer will go out of their way next time and go to Walmart. Not only that, but they will spread the word to their family and friends.
If you truly believe that your employer isn’t in the business of serving customers, you’d better hope that one of your applications elicits a response real soon.
Fast food places and discount retail outlets have found a formula that makes money. They offer crap at low prices, and cut spending by accepting lousy service from underpaid employees. As I see it, WalMart and McDonalds are doing just fine financially.
Every CS rep has had the experience of hearing some customers exclaim “I’m never shopping here again/ I’m going to organize a boycott/ I’m going to sue you”. Then they return the next day.
If you think there’s any hope of customers successfully organizing to improve service, this site should cure you of that delusion.
What kind of logic is that? They can’t be expected to leave the mayo off, in accordance with what’s on the screen, because they’re too busy reading screens?
I do my job. Bloody well do yours.
Since you don’t understand why the value of proper work ethic applies to all jobs under all circumstances, regardless of pay or customer attitude, your greatest fear should be being stuck in crappy dead end jobs for the rest of your life.
I do not agree that they are accepting lousy service, what they are doing is accepting the lousy workers that they are forced to hire for a non-skilled job. A poor work ethic is what results in lousy service, not the job position. I’ve seen many competent and decidedly unlousy employees working these jobs.
Even in a lowly McDonalds, if the hiring manager has to decide between a schmuck and a competent, intelligent worker, they will choose the better employee. The problem is that there aren’t enough competent and intelligent people applying for these positions, not with the position itself.
I personally do not ever patronize a McDonalds or a K-Mart because of past experiences. Does my singular consumer dollar hurt their business, I’m positive it does not, but I know that I am not the only one that has made such decisions towards certain franchises and when enough people decide to stop shopping at one place, it does have an impact. That’s the beauty of capitalism.
If you do not think that customers have any say in how businesses look at their service level, this site should cure you of that delusion. The basic point is:
I used to work in a call center for a major insurance company. This company realized that insurance was insurance, and you could get it through any number of carriers for about the same price as anywhere else. Seeing that there was no advantage there, they spent untold amounts of money focusing on improving customer service, not only because they hoped to gain more customers and thus more money, but because they realized that it was more expensive to lose a customer than to attract one.
Some of the posts in this thread make it readily apparent why we patrons must suffer through terrible service.
While I’m the closing manager at McDonalds, I just don’t care for the food. I think it’s something about smelling th crap for 8 hours a day, it wears thin on you after a while. On my way home is a 24 hours Burger King. Nearly every night I stop at this place, because of their service. No matter who’s working, or how busy they are, I’m always greated with a smile. Sometimes I have to wait for the food, but it’s always fresh. I could get free food at work, but instead I choose to pay about $5 a night. That has to say something about their service. If I could teach my employees (and customers, even) the same values, the customer service industry would be a much happier place…
All of my closers give 110% to our customers. We do everything in our power to please them. You get the 15 year olds working,who could care less as long as they’re getting paid, and the customer satisfaction level drops to about 50%. As much as I’ve tried, I just can’t make them recognize that importance…
Everybody apparently has the impression that I slack off totally and don’t put any effort into my job, which is not what I said. What I said is that (1.) working in CS can be exhausting, and that when workers are overworked, service will not always be at 100%, and (2.) companies have decided that giving employees no reason to work hard at customer satisfaction. When you’re hired to work at a place like WalMart, you get no job security, laughable pay, and almost no benefits. The moment that your branch fails to rake in enough sales, the junior employees get fired. Most companies are not going to bother taking the time to evaluate employees and fire the ones who aren’t doing a good job. To management, employees are not human beings but merely numbers, and when sales hit a slump, less employees means more profit for the store means more dollars in their bonuses.
Do any of you want to deny that the quality of customer service if affected by the way that the company treats the employees? Of course it is. Part of the capitalist system is that employers will get what they pay for, and so will customers. Do you want to be operated on by a brain surgeon who earns minimum wage? Of course not. When you want somebody to do a good job, you pay them more. This isn’t difficult to understand, people.
So we have two people stating that they don’t patronize McDonalds because of the lousy service. Last time I checked, McDonalds was continuing to rake in profits (slightly less in the past few months because of BSE), while Burger King was not in a good financial situation. WalMart also continues to make tons of money. I agree with complaints about WalMart, and so does almost everybody I know. But the bottle of detergent that costs $10.00 and WalMart costs $12.00 anywhere else. So guess where most people are going to shop. And AnalMart gets to offer low prices because they treat their employees like shit. According to the rosy, idealized vision of the world, McD’s and AnalMart should be out of business by now, because I rarely meet anybody who doesn’t despise them. Yet they’re still here. This doesn’t fit into any of the theories expounded by my opponents in this thread.
And yes, these chains do accept lousy service. High class restauants offer better wages and get employees who are willing to make more effort as a result. McDonalds depends on customers accpeting crappy service because of low prices. Pammipoo’s post backs me up. Satisfaction levels are under 50%, yet the customers keep returning.
Well, if I had a nickel for every time I heard this, I could retire quite comfortably right now. I work much better than most of my co-workers. I get customers through the line and out the door faster than about 2/3 of the others. When customers can save money by taking advantage of one of our deals, I tell them. I remain polite at all times. I fail to understand where my lack of proper work ethic comes from. The point that I am trying to make in this thread is that if you want good service, try being a good customer, and you’ll usually get what you want, despite the fact that corporations’ attitudes towards their employees are getting ridiculous.
Finally, I will not bew stuck in dead end jobs all my life. I’m going to have a good job in a field that I like (computers) that also doesn’t involve getting threatened/assaulted by foul-smelling rednecks who want me to obey their every command even though they’re not capable of speaking the English language. Until then, I’ll whine about my customers all I want.
I worked as a cashier at Wal-Mart for five months. It was the longest five months of my life. Although I got cashier of the month two months after it opened, I actually despised the job. For one thing, the managers treat you like you’re a fucking piece of dog shit. You’re right: you’re not a person, you’re a number. There was a very low turnover rate at this particular store. Why? Because there are the wonderful people who do excellent jobs and whom the customers love…then there are the uncaring fuckwads who jerk around the whole time they’re there, and who are treated exactly the same as the others (if not better). I know I’m rambling, but this is the bullshit that someone in Customer Service has to put up with. THIS is why McDonalds does NOT love to see you smile. They’d rather see you get your food and move the fuck on.
Hoo, that felt good.
Since it’s been resurrected-
That still doesn’t justify you joining in on spitting in her food. How do you feel it does? A person said something horrible to your manager/owner so you’re justified in spitting on their food?
Gimme a fucking break. There is a way to take the high road, and you certainly didn’t take it. In fact, in my opinion, you went even lower than she did. What you did is sick, flat out.
I never said you should treat them politely. What I said was that you shouldn’t treat them like shit just because they did so to you. It’s a zero gain event on all fronts. They acted like a complete ass and so did you. You’re acted no better than she did, in my opinion.
That actually made me laugh. Where did that come from?
It’s actually been more than 6-7, if you include all customer service. The six/seven figure was my bartending experience alone. Hmmm… Now there’s a job you should get- Bartending. People treat bartenders with the utmost respect and courtesy.
Truer words are rarely said. Unfortunately for her, there’s going to be an asshole at every job she ever holds in her entire life. And, it will be her.