Confession
Back in September, Jana @ Daily Money Shot did a series of “Confessions”(link is to Confession #1). Here is one of my confessions.
I judge you based on the way you treat customer servicepeople.
You may want to know how this is related to money- Well, most of the time, when I am dealing with a customer service person, it has something to do with money- I’m buying something, returning something, or disputing a charge. And when we’re dealing with lost money and time- we get cranky. Yet, being nice to customer service personnel often gets you better service (saving money and time) than being mean to them.
Because I believe this, I do my best to always be nice to those in customer service. If I’m in a really bad mood about something, I will warn them in advance and ask for a manager right away, because they shouldn’t have to deal with me in that mood. Now, they can almost never transfer me right away because their protocols don’t allow it, so I try my best to remain polite and civil until they can put me through to someone who can actually fix (or at least explain) the problem.
This morning, I decided to swing by the local 24 hour grocery store on the way in to work to stock my desk with snacks that will keep me away from the vending machines for a couple weeks. Most of the time, there is only one checking lane open (and it doesn’t always have a checker at it) and people have one or two items. It’s quick and easy.
I also understand that this is a prime time (before 7am) for new checkers to get experience. Certainly better than on a Saturday afternoon when everyone has a cart full of groceries.
This morning, we had a young man who was new to checking (but had probably been doing stock room or something before) and a person who decided to do their major shopping trip early in the morning. She had a cart full. So, we have a new checker dealing with someone with way more items than usual. And, of course, its before 7am, so they don’t really have anyone else available to check.
I was right behind the full cart person. A man two people back from me started yelling at our checker. He was only buying a couple donuts and was pissed about having to wait behind someone buying a cart full.
The checker tells him there really isn’t anyone else available to check. The guy asks for a manager. The checker says he’s busy. The guy then starts wandering the store, demanding that every employee he sees get the manager.
Someone (maybe a manager) walked by on the far side of the check stand and told our checker that there was someone else who could come check and to page that guy. Our checker did, and soon, we had two checkers.
The new checker had to check with me first (as the next inline) but I said to help the other people. Of course, the complainer wasn’t right behind me either, so the new checker had to help the woman behind me (also just some donuts and a couple other items) first. The belligerent guy then decided it would be faster to stay in the current line, but continued to harangue both checkers from his spot in line.
I believe it was this bit of added stress that caused my checker (the original one this guy had been yelling at) to accidentally forget to ring up my apples and have to do a second transaction.
I was amused because it meant the jerk had to wait that much longer (and I didn’t exactly move as fast as I could have), but I felt bad for the checkers who had to listen to him.
Now here’s what I consider the worst part. This whole process took approximately 5 minutes. This guy was a major ass to everyone around him over 5 minutes. Really, if you don’t have 5 minutes to spare, don’t stop in the grocery store in the morning. It really is that simple.
Now maybe this guy will get a store gift card for some free donuts when he complains to the manager. Maybe being an ass will pay off forhim. I hope it doesn’t. If he had been nicer about the whole thing, I would have let him go in front of me, but I refuse to reward bad behavior.
So yes, I judge you by the way you treat customer service personnel. And while they might not be able to do anything about your bad behavior, as a fellow customer, I can. And I probably will.
Confession: I do this too.I have experienced this about half the time I go to the post office. There is some jackass that feels he has to make the whole place uncomfortable. I wish I was able to speak up and say something, but I am a chicken. I usually am just overly nice to the people helping me and say thank you super loud.It's very strange to me when people think they are so important. It's bewildering.
I do it, too. I will never understand the point at getting mad at someone who's learning a new job. Anyone who has ever worked has been new at some point, and to treat someone who's new and nervous like that is just disgusting.
I always feel bad for people in those situations. It's stressful, because all they can do is their best, but it feels like forever before the complainer leaves.