I work for a small company and we deal with many many clients face to face. The biggest thing I notice is the customer thinks: I have money there for society owes me something I mean it gets ridiculous. If my small company is busy and can't accommodate you well then sorry you will have to wait, or look else where. I mean I'm all for capitalism but sometimes enough is enough. yeah I'm ranting DEAL WITH IT. anyone can relate to a thing they notice about customers?
Have to admit there are really some unreasonable customers. What's worse, you have to be patient with them all the time.
I'm not all for capitalism and I know the feeling. I worked in retail for a year when I left school and some of the customers were extremely rude. It made me feel very angry but there was not much I could do because 'the customer is always right' or so they say...
I have what I would call clients more than customers, but the thing I notice about them, (the negative thing) is that they expect an unlimited amount of work for the base price. For example, I do voice overs, and I'll set a price for a script, let's say $100. THe client will come back and double the script, tell me they REQUIRE music, need me to write the 3rd chapter, etc...All after the terms have been decided. People actually get hostile, and tell me how unprofessional I am, because I don't jump at their whim. The price is the price for what we negotiate, nothing more.
I used to have a business that served chiropractors and medical doctors. I had one client that just took the fun out of running my business. I was a lot younger then and it was my first business. Now, I would fire his butt as a client in a heartbeat. Experience is a good teacher.
Since I'm an artist, that means I've had to do a lot of crappy customer service and foodservice jobs to stay afloat in between sold paintings. I have one Hispanic parent and one white parent, I'm originally from New York and have no accent and English is my first language. In those customer service jobs ,I got a lot of condescending treatment from customers because I look Hispanic. It's kind of insulting when people assume I don't speak English and I actually speak it better than them. It's also insulting to be a taxpayer and have customers assume that I'm in the country illegally. Anyway, racism or xenophobia is what sucks about customers, to me.
I think a lot of customers think that the saying "the customer is always right" means that they can be assholes to other people. From time to time you do get someone who understands how hard is working on retail, but most of the times it's always someone who can't follow simple instructions and then call us stupid.
I don't know why people in this country think that having/paying money gives you the right to be a dick. People in other countries aren't necessarily like this. Customers in, say Trinidad (where my mother is from) have more of an understanding of the limits of human capacity, and don't necessarily expect you to ask "how high" when they say "jump" just because they're paying money.
There really are lots of unreasonable people out there, and people will just have to learn how to deal with their unreasonable demands. If only customer service people were allowed to fight back if the customer said or did something unpleasant then rudeness can be avoided.
This is 10 times as worse in the graphic designing and website creating business. I used to freelance last summer making websites for business as well as business cards, logos and so on. Most people would expect me to get an entire website done in a matter of a week, and thought that they were my only client. Most of my problems however comes from lack of knowledge of computers by most people over the age of 45. Not to mention that I've been stiffed many times, I don't know why many think they are entitled to things that are "abstract" to them when they wouldn't go into a store and take items from there.
Lol I do freelance work and clients just feel they can ask for anything. Can you please change this & this. = 100 + more hours of work. I'm sure they mean well, but it seems like they want to treat you like a slave and not pay you anything for it. I've learnt to pic and choose who I work with. Maybe not the best idea and means less work. But also less of a headache. Seriously.
You're right. So many people feel like they're entitled to something when they simply aren't. Just because you have money or you think your time is more valuable than someone else's, doesn't mean jack to me. Yes, I want your business, but if you're going to be rude or impatient with me, then you can move right along.
Very interesting post. Interesting comments too. Nothing wrong with a rant now and then when the need is there. Yes there are people out there who are, well I could use a word beginning with 'A,' but I will instead just say 'rather unpleasant.' There are people who are just too demanding and too rude and because in this society money is the official religion, they think if they are paying you they rule and their wish is a command. Too bad consideration and courtesy are lost character traits with some (but thankfully not all) people. Yes there are too many of these people around, pushy me-first people. And they can ruin a person's otherwise good day. Courtesy and kindness and politeness do count, at least in my book. Ryder13
What I notice about my customers is they think they know more than me when it comes to my job even tho i'm trained they seem to think they know more about my job than I do lol
i run a small business and i noticed i spend most of my time with the clients that pay the least..go figure. And they are always the ones that complain and give as much hassle as possible..so now i only deal with the big firms
I guess I'm pretty lucky with my freelance clients. They all seem very reasonable and polite, so I'm either good at picking them, or good at training them into my ways! When I worked in customer service, the thing that annoyed me most was that people thought they shouldn't have to wait to have their problem dealt with. The store I worked for only assigned a small staff to the customer service counter, because we weren't actually bringing money in, but the customers acted as if it was our fault they had to wait.
The old adage "the customer is always right" should be changed to "the customer always thinks they are right" It frustrates me when I see people take something out on a store employee that has nothing to do with setting prices, with a store policy that wasn't their idea, that sort of thing.
This is a difficult topic to sort out. I think people in general are crumbling in this thing called life. Yes, just because someone is paying you for a service, doesn't mean they own you. However, there is a number of people who are paying for services and not getting what they pay for. This is in particular with the phone companies, internet companies, etc. You pay for service, only to have to call customer service like 4 times a week because of technical problems. People are very stressed these days as well, and feel if you're charging me an arm and a leg so to speak, then I want you to sing for your supper. Again so to speak. You also have to remember that for sellers. It ain't easy either. I get orders from people who wanna advertise with me or do business. And the proper requests aren't met. It's as if they don't read instructions beforehand. In the end, society is becoming an angrier place because people feel cheated or shortchanged in one way or another about something or somethings. So if you're the next person they encounter. You will get the brunt of their anger. Just the way it is.
