WSLer,
I applaud your actions in this case. Some people refuse to learn. Hopefully, this will teach the woman that she isn’t special and should wait in line like the rest of us. I think that rude and obnoxious customers shouldn’t be tolerated. Sometimes the only thing that can be done is shame them into behaving properly.
I didn’t say employees should allow themselves to be treated like doormats, I said that the employee should have remained polite with the customer the entire time, and not publically humiliated her.
**
That’s just plain incorrect. That store certainly would have lost me as a customer had I seen an employee publically humiliate another customer like that. Additionally, the store would lose zero customers as a direct result of observing staff remaining polite with this woman.
**
Why is it worth it? Businesses are out there to make money, not turn away profitible customers.
Beastal, what type of store do you have?
This woman was not a profitable customer. This woman was a problem to be dealt with. She was rude to the employees. Worse than that, she was rude to all those customers who waited patiently in line. Those are the people who should be treated with courtesy. This woman should have been dragged by her earlobe to the door, as you would an unruly child.
He wouldn’t have lost me as a customer, that’s for sure.
Oh, come on; she was pregnant! That may just have been her hormones speaking. Ten to one she came the following week, or day, or even later that day, and tearfully apologized.
And how far along was she? If she was seven months or beyond, she wouldn’t have been “storming” anywhere!
I dont know whats funnier, the verbal thrashing people give rude customers or the people defending them or saying you should be polite.
some customers need the shit beat out of them, I think giving them the smacktalking of their life is pretty polite.
possibly the single GREATEST thing about being a business owner is the ability to tell any asshole customer to shut the fuck up and get the hell out.
oh yeah I saw a button once that summed it up perfectly, it said “Show me a person with a deep seated loathing of all mankind and I’ll show you someone who works in retail”
When I was working at AOL I had two memorable calls.
One I don’t remember what the subject was but I kept putting her on mute so I wouldn’t crack up in her face and eventually I heard, “Are you laughing at me?”
Then another was when a lady had rung up legitimate charges and just felt she shouldn’t have to pay them. She had received a credit for all but 58 cents of the charges. They were legitimate mind you. So she got to my supervisor who pops up on IM saying “Should I take away the credit she already has received?” and was all in favor of that. I don’t know how it turned out in the end.
Be careful with AOL customer service because they will usually default to the employee.
Erek
Umm… I have to throw the bullshit flag up on this one. The chances that this really happened are slim to none, and become non-existant if you claim you kept your job. You’d have been better off not trying to give the “specifics” of what happened and just let people imagine.
My WAG is that the lady cut in line at the counter and this is what you * wanted to do[\i].
I mean, come on man, this isn’t even REMOTELY believable.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Beastal *
… That store certainly would have lost me as a customer had I seen an employee publically humiliate another customer like that. Additionally, the store would lose zero customers as a direct result of observing staff remaining polite with this woman.
[quote]
I, on the other hand, would have gone out of my way to make a purchase- ANY purchase- had I witnessed that, even if I was just in browsing the magazine racks.
However, had the employee simply rung the woman up, not only would that woman go on to continue to barge ahead and be rude at other places, but also I, personally, had I been in line waiting, would have felt slighted, and might have thought twice the next time I wanted a latte and a New Yorker.
Perhaps, but to make money at what cost? There’s more to business than “sell anything, as fast as possible, damn the torpedoes.”
She was one rude woman, making what might have been a $50 purchase, which probably equated to $14 in profit to the store. Is she a regular? With that attitude, probably not.
Abusive and rude customers cost a business more than money- as mentioned above, there’s employee morale at the very least. Happy employees stick around, reducing turnover and retraining costs.
Rilchaim - About five months. I don’t think it was hormones, I think she was just a bitch. But it could have been hormones.
And WSLers story is believable. I’ve seen similar things happen in retail stores at Christmas time. Never over the intercom and never as “pointed,” but similar. What else are you going to do if someone cuts in line? Asking them to move doesn’t budge them, you basically have to ask the person behind them if they mind and let the angry mob handle it or do what WSLer did. Don’t underestimate the short string a retail clerk is on at Christmastime.
I gotta disagree. There is virtually no chance that this went down as he described. I would think that there would be potential lawsuits if that happened the way he says.
Like I said, I think that this is a story of what he *wanted[\i] to do, but knew better than to actually do.
That could have resulted in a lawsuit! I pretty much assume that all of the structural members of a motorcycle were engineered for efficient use of materials. Grinding the frame (or swingarm?) may have weekened it, making it susceptible to breakage – especially if it was made of steel, as the ground areas could rust. If the guy went over a bump at high speed and the part broke right where the grinding was, the guy would be right to sue.
OTOH if you warned the guy that tire sizes vary, then he has no one to blame but himself.
I hate buying motorcycle tires because they’re so expensive (more than car tires). But I always get a Dunlop or Bridgestone from the dealer who installs it. On a motorcycle, tires are one of the more important bits.
So Stinkpalm, what do you think she could sue for?
Oh, slander, obviously. After all, no one should have to be told in front of others just how big an asshole he or she actually is. :rolleyes:
I’m certain no one here thinks maintaining complete civility while refusing to serve this customer wouldn’t have been the best option.
Given that we all have sinned, and all have fallen short of the glory of God, I think WSLer’s described initial response (“Well, your water can’t just have broken…”) was pretty reasonable. Yes, sarcasm was involved, but it was quite mild compared to her rudeness. He wasn’t perfect, but he wasn’t out of line either.
As far as what he claims to have said over the PA, I agree with Lynn Bodoni that it was a bit over the top, but he did warn her that if she didn’t behave, he’d pick up the mic and embarrass the fool out of her. She didn’t, and he did. Fair’s fair.
SUE? For what?
For crying out loud, Stinkpalm, what the hell else could he have done?
(If she had refused to move, he would have had to call security, holding the line up even longer).
Besides, he said he is a manager. Thus, he has more power to do these things.
My wife and I recently spent a few days down near Maastricht, where we were invariably treated extremely well by clerks in many different kinds of shops, from eateries to flower shops to laundromats. (With a particular tip of the hat to the staff of the Hotel Groot Welsden in Margraten. :)) We were in a fenderbender in Maastricht, and even the police were extremely polite and helpful to us.
An American who complains about service in the Netherlands is frickin’ nuts, IMHO.
I’ll add my voice to thers asking this question: what, specifically, do you imagine a lawsuit might have been predicated upon?
Actually I wanted to grab her by the hair and drag her ass out of the store.
But I’ve never been *that * stupid.
As for my making up what I did, I can give you the names of 6 of my former co-workers who were witnesses to what went down.
Also, exactly what could she have sued for?
Emotional and Psychological Damages?:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
OH PLEASE.
What I don’t understand is how he could make something that juicy up. I’ve worked retail at Christmas, and I gotta tell you, that would not only be applauded, that’d be tame. You have NOT met a tense person until you’ve met someone who’s spent 3 or 4 hours at the register during Christmas season.
Short fuses at Christmas? Boy howdy.
I recall an incident several years ago, as I was walking past a gift-wrapping-booth. I have absolutely no idea what the commotion was about, and I had things to do so I didn’t hang out and rubberneck, but I did, quite plainly, hear one of the ladies working the gift-wrap booth tell some other little lady something like:
“Look bitch, it’s just a fuckin’ [some bit of cookware]. It’s not a fuckin’ Faberge` egg!”
This was probably two or three days before Christmas.
Personally, I was kinda giggling, hearing that… I’d already seen a multitude of (much lesser, of course) little rudenesses that were surely burning the clerks’ fuses just a little bit shorter, that day. Somebody oughta write a book.