I work at a supermarket, and I was working as part of a line of registers where up to 5 register operators work side-by-side, with a queue of customers waiting to hear “next please” or something along those lines.
So I finished serving a customer and I said in a reasonably friendly, perhaps somewhat monotone, but not in any way out of the ordinary, “next please”.
The female customer aged maybe late 40s early 50s walks up with an angry look on her face. She says in a very terse tone “Can I just say, that was a very arrogant way in which you asked for the next customer”.
So I said… “Oh, I do apologise for that. It certainly wasn’t my intention to sound that way”.
She said… “That’s because most arrogant people aren’t aware of how they come across”.
I say… “Oh… well, thank you for letting me know how I sounded, I promise I will try and work on that in the future”.
She says… “That’s an even more arrogant thing to say”.
I quietly finished scanning her items, completed the transaction, and asked for the next customer.
For those who know their Simpsons, I later joked to a co-worker that I felt like the baseballer in the Simpsons episode who keeps getting hounded by Mr. Burns to shave his sideburns.
And that concludes my mundane pointless thing I must share.
Sounds like she was trying to pick a fight and was disappointed when you instead reacted calmly and politely. I used to work in food service and I hated customers like that.
Oh boy, the joys of customer service. Trust me, that woman was probably just feeling bitchy and you were a convenient outlet for her.
When I worked in a bookstore, I once watched a customer get pissed at my manager because of the way my manager flicked her ponytail back while she was talking to the customer…yes, really.
At least the customers I had to listen to gripe last night had mostly legitimate complaints. (The new store is too big and we had taken down the sales tags in the toy department inconveniently early).
Had a couple of old bitties like that years ago, when I was working checkout in a grocery store. They went to my manager and told her that I was “arrogant” towards them. I remembered the two of them clearly, and I was perfectly polite to them. Typically I was quite loose & friendly with most of my customers (working there brought me out of my shy shell), and often joked with the “regulars.” Can’t please some people no matter what you do.
Yeah, I saw that, and my first thought was “If the cashier had killed that bitch, and I was on the jury, I’d have voted for justifiable homicide.” You just KNOW that she keeps that flashlight in her purse to do shit like this.
I can’t even begin to comprehend how this woman’s mind might work. Does she have a little song in her head constantly playing to which the only lyrics are “got my happy-killing flashlight… doo doo, doo doo… happy killing flashlight… doo doo?”
Personally, I think it was made up. Mostly because my simple mind can not what-so-ever comprehend the idea that someone would do anything close to what was described in that post.
Me: Thank you for calling (company), can I have your first name please?
Customer: (rant about how I said “can I” and should have said “may I”)
Me: (short pause) OK. CAN I have the serial number of your computer?
Two customers later;
Me: Thank you for calling (company), can I have your first name please?
Customer: (rant about how I shouldn’t be asking a 65 year old woman for her first name)
Me: Sorry, it’s our policy. Can I have your first name please?
Eight months on the job and only two people have ever had a problem with this greeting, and lucky me, I get them in the space of three calls.
My first reaction would have been to say (of course sarcastically, and hence arrogantly by this person’s interpretation): “I’m sorry… Should I not have said NEXT or PLEASE?” That, or simply factually noting: “Yes. You just did.” It’s why I’m not in the front line of dealing with customers/clients, I suppose.
Seriously though. When they’re picking for a fight and you’re not in a position to win one, there’s no point. Just nod and do your job.
That, or go the way of the Kids in the Hall routine about the Sarcastic Man. “Nooo… I’m not being SARCASTIC, this is just a SPEECH IMPEDIMENT! I can’t HELP IT! … I’ve talked this way ALL MY LIFE. It’s made things VERY DIFFICULT for me.”
Thank god I’m not in a customer facing role anymore.
I can highly recommend this websiteCustomers Suck to help you get things off your chest. Or alternatively read other peoples stories and be thankful you don’t have it as bad (hopefully)
