The douches need to realize that customers only really matter in aggregate. Individual customers can easily make themselves not worth the effort.
(Customer service involves acting like the above isn’t true and, to some extent, you need to believe it isn’t true if you want customers to have a high opinion of your business. This only shifts the line beyond which the individual isn’t worth it.)
I wouldn’t be surprised if the customer was blaming the first employee s/he sees for her crappy bread. Meaning that she didn’t say, “hey, this bread sucks” or, “your baker did a shitty job with this bread” but went up to cashier and said, “why did YOU sell me this shitty bread?”
When I worked at a gas station and prices rose above $2/gal for the first time ever (2000 or so), I had angry customers run in and literally blame ME PERSONALLY for all the high gas prices they saw. No joke.
Yes, people don’t always direct their complaints to the right person and sometimes think that it’s sufficient to bitch and moan at anyone wearing a nametag/uniform.
That is not the case here. The OP has indicated that:
a) they work in the bakery section, where the unsatisfactory product is being sold
b) have pride in the product they sell, which probably means they’re at least partially involved in the baking process
c) have not actually provided any details as to how the customers are complaining or what they’re complaining about
So the customer is finding a bakery worker and complaining that they’re unhappy with the bread. Yes, they can go elsewhere, but they also have the right to let the store know WHY they’re walking… how else are they going to get their message across?
I mean, my supermarket doesn’t carry canned apricots, but they do carry 8 different kinds of canned peaches. It pisses me off, because I happen to like canned apricots and have been craving them for months now. Since no one at the store can read my mind, how would they know that I’m not buying canned fruit because they don’t carry the kind I like? So, after a few apricot-free months, I decided to let the guy at the customer service counter know I thought their canned fruit selection left something to be desired… gee, sure hope when he told me he’d let the manager know, he wasn’t actually itching to swear at me to get a life and eat fucking peaches.
When the prices got above $3/gallon here, nearly every gas station I went into had a sign that said “Don’t blame the cashier for the high gas prices…call your Congressman.” or something similar.
Guess it depends on what your definition of “are” is.
Whenever I find myself in a situation where I am dissatisfied with the way my life is turning out vis-a-vis a retail experience, I make it a point to politely ask the sales drone for permission to hold him (or her, it could be a her) personally responsible.
The details of the customer’s specific issue with the bread are lacking.
I don’t know about any of you, but I’ve been privy to conversations at supermarket service counters that made me wish the other customer would get a fucking life. I’ve seen customers abuse service staff over things that the employee can’t control, wouldn’t know, or the customer’s request is so outrageous that there is no way for the employee to comply without possibly breaking health and safety laws.
Case in point: I went grocery shopping at a local foodie market that makes their baked goods on-premises. I stopped at the bakery counter to look at something. The customer ahead of me in line asked the employee about:
[ul]
[li]The brand names of all of the ingredients used to make a particular item;[/li][li]Whether those ingredients were organic;[/li][li]The color of the eggs used in the item; and when the clerk couldn’t answer any of that (because the clerk had nothing to do with the making of that particular item and the bakers weren’t in yet);[/li][li]What kind of an idiot doesn’t know everything about the products they sell?![/li][/ul]
I can understand that some people are on special diets that may involve avoiding some things like gluten or whatever. But most people only care about that specific thing, and every supermarket I’ve ever been to keeps information about the prepared foods they sell, so that question is easily answered. This asshole wanted more detail than most people care about, so I can only assume she was being an asshole for the sake of being an asshole.
OTOH, if samarm was just the first person with a nametag the customer saw, and if the bread really wasn’t up to par, then all I can say is to agree with her and then blow her off.
Robin
I would have just told the customer that we just randomly pull stuff off the shelves whenever we need, flower, eggs, raisins, milk, etc. The other thing that works is “I’m sorry but it is corporate policy not to reveal that information.”
There is a reason they try to keep me from talking to customers at my job. It takes a certain unique quality to work customer service, retail even more so. I lack patience for dealing with people like the OP and MsRobyn’s example.
Depends on how you said it, probably. My approach in cases like this is to ask, nicely, “I’d like to buy some canned apricots, but your store doesn’t have them on the shelf. Is there any chance you could get some in for me?” They’re willing to do it a surprising amount of the time.
It would most certainly depend on your tone and demeanor. If you came up to complain about the lack of canned apricots, yeah, I’d think you were a fuck face with no life, but if you asked if we could order some, I’d be sure to tell the manager on your behalf.
Don’t know if the mega marts do it but most independent stores would be more than happy to order you up some canned apricots. You’d have to get it by the case but they will usually do it.
“This isn’t what I paid for!”
“Sir, this is precisely what you paid for. The cheapest hotel in downtown Oslo.”
“I want a discount, have you seen how my room looks like?”
“Vaguely like the cheapest room in Oslo? If you haven’t done anything in your room, you can have a full refund if you like.”
“I’ve taken a shower and unpacked my stuff and threw down on the bed and watched the telly for thirty minutes.”
“I’m sorry, sir, it’s nearly 9PM, the maids have all gone home and so I can’t re-sell the room and you can’t have a refund. This is outlined here, in your order, here on the information placcard under your nose and here, in the greeting card I gave you when you checked in. Sorry, sir.”
“Whatever! This shit hotel is way too expensive, I’m never coming back and I’m telling all my friends, too!”
“Sir, we’re the cheapest hotel a two hour driving radius. The only accomodations cheaper than us ask you to pay seperately for your linens, towels, warm water and they close their doors at 8PM.”
“I can’t imagine why anyone would like to live in this hotel!”
“Look, you entitled piece of shit, you just paid $110 for a three-bed room inclusive breakfast, one hundred metres away from the central train station, walk-in, no cockroaches, your own bathroom, television, phone, wireless internet, king-size double bed and a complimentary fucking mint. May I remind you that the going price for a standard 20 square metre single room in Oslo is $350 for walkins? And talking about living here, well, it doesn’t look like the Argentinian ambassador to Norway in room #xxx minds, nor the guy who just got knighted with the St. Olav’s Order first class - who’s lived here every time he’s been in Oslo since '92 - or the guy in #xxx who’s lived here continuously for the last twenty-four years! May I politely tell you and overinflated ego to go floss with barbed wire?”
Arrrrgh. I stand my position; mandatory military service in this country should be abolished for a year of mandatory customer service. Maybe these assholes would go away.
Three, if you count Schmayless.
I think a year of mandated customer service for everyone in the world would go a long way to fixing a lot of assholes. Imagine if every corporation was run by a CEO who had experienced being a wage slave in the trenches.
What about Google?
Isn’t Google headquarters at Mountain View, California?
They have a pretty large compound – er I mean office? – in Kirkland, WA.
Kirkland = Bellvue = Redmond
Microsoft has a rather large compound in Mountain View, CA, too.
Motion thirded. I cannot count the number of times I have held my ire in the face of bureaucratic stupidity simply because I know what it’s like to be the helpless cog on the receiving end of the customer ranting.
Switch to Southwest Airlines:
http://www.bspcn.com/2008/03/21/top-5-reasons-why-“the-customer-is-always-right”-is-wrong/
"Herb Kelleher […] makes it clear that his employees come first - even if it means dismissing customers. But aren’t customers always right? “No, they are not,” Kelleher snaps. “And I think that’s one of the biggest betrayals of employees a boss can possibly commit. The customer is sometimes wrong. We don’t carry those sorts of customers. We write to them and say, ‘Fly somebody else. Don’t abuse our people.’”
Sign in a pub:
The customer may always be right, but it is the bartender who decides who is a customer.