I had the opening shift at work today and I had a customer who came in and wanted to return a pair of Levis pants without a receipt or any proof of purchase. I said that he could show me a bank statement and I could accommodate him, but he refused. He then waved me off rudely and walked away. I couldn't really do much because I had no proof that he actually bought the pants. Later today, he came in with his wife and he apologized for his rude behaviour towards me! I was shocked. I figured that he just wasn't a morning person and I didn't take it personally. Yes, I did return the pants because the person who actually cashed him at the time was on shift to verify the purchase. I find that it is very rare for a customer to actually apologize after doing something wrong. I've met a number of individuals who would stomp off and give me attitude, but this is the first time that I'd actually experienced someone apologizing! Have you ever seen or been in a similar situation? If the customer is apologizing, doesn't that clearly mean that the customer "isn't always right"? What are your thoughts?
Customers are humans and we all make mistakes or have a bad day. Working in retail or any customer service job, you expect people to be grumpy and then some are nice. The phrase 'the customer is always right' is out dated as a training phrase. The customer isn't always right, but you need to find a balance between understanding their needs and accommodating them. With so many scammers and people expecting rights it can be hard, but you get used to in life in everything and not just retail.
I apologized once to a cashier at Goodwill the day after I made a sarcastic comment because I was having a bad day. When I apologized to him, his face lit up with an adorable smile. And then I paid for my Woody Woodpecker coffee mug and left. I'm glad I apologized. I have no problem with anyone that works in retail. It's an honest living and I've had a few of those jobs.
I agree with Theo, the expression "the customer is always right" is so passé, it's unreal! So many people have yet to wake up and smell the coffee, that times have changed and you can't always put that argument forward. As a business, you set expectations to let customers know what they're getting for their money. Of course people have now become more demanding and will push their luck, overriding those expectations. That is unacceptable! What that man did was lovely and shows he understands that customer service provision is really a two way street. I spent many year sin Customer Service and over the years, have had customers come back and offer apologies for their shoddy behaviour. They were not as many as the abusive ones, but I always remembered them and used those experiences to spur me on to be the best Customer Service provider out there
You're right, because there are so many people in the world and everyone is different. I agree that the phrase is completely outdated, but unfortunately I've heard customers tell me this all the time when something goes wrong. People take advantage of the phrase now. Yes, I agree, times have indeed changed and companies have their policies right smack in front of you. For example, at my work they have return policies on the actual receipt and they have a sign at every cash desk, so you can't demand many things. I also get customers who nag me about price differences depending on colour. Well, I did not do the pricing and I will not give a discount because the price is there for a reason.
I have a question: How in the world did someone on the staff remember this person? Is this a low volume store? Because that sounds insane to me! As far as the guy being a jerk is concerned? Yea, that happens to the best of us. I'm sure someone somewhere on Earth has a similar story about you as a customer when you were having a bad day.
I think people who are in customer service are often used as scapegoats. I'm not sure how or when it happened, but somewhere along the way most people seem to have forgotten that customer service is made up of human beings. You know, the kind with feelings and emotions. But they were taught that its ok to treat these people like mindless drones, because if not for the customer you wouldn't have a job. And the fact is losing that one customer might not be such a bad thing
That's a scenario that many say "Oh it just comes with the territory"...until you experience it firsthand. Seldom does the customer think about the staff serving the public and how difficult it must be to push back emotions affected by their personal lives. When I was younger, there were a few times that I broke down in tears, sarcasm or whatever I felt was appropriate at the time. However, it took a lot of years to really master how to really remain professional during tense situations. Good for the customer using sense in the end.
I really do not believe that "the customer is always right." It's not always applicable anymore, not when there are some people who have an attitude just to get freebies (or are scammers). There really are times that we at the retail service need to cut them some slack because they still need to have manners. After all, were all that they had learned at school thrown out the window? I had this experience before at the call center. The caller was irate and kept on cursing at me. When I checked the call logs of the previous agents, they were being cursed just the same. He had the problem for long, so it was nothing to wonder why he was cursing. However, I threatened to end the call if he continues cursing, and he shut up. I assisted him as much as I could. However, I heard him murmur some curse words, so I threatened to end the call again, and he had to plea not to (as in, he pleaded like a subject before a king). In the end, I had to escalate the call because his problem was an advanced one that needed a second tier agent to diagnose. In your case, I think it is great that the customer noticed his attitude and apologized.
That's very rare for a customer to apologize like that, but hopefully it cheered you up after having a bad experience with them. I had an awful customer sit in my section once when I first started working as a server. Her and her table gave me a hard time the whole night, and to make matters worse, they sat there for like 3 hours - long after they had finished their meals, nursing their waters, so I made like practically no tips that night. The one woman in particular at the table was a total primadonna and kept sending back her cocktails because of petty things, like they weren't chilled enough, they didn't have enough of some component in them, etc... they also nit picked over every little thing about their food too, and acted like they were thoroughly disgusted. Come to find out from the other servers, is that she is always this rude to everyone, and she's a regular there - and perhaps because that was my first time waiting on her, she was "breaking me in" so to speak. Fast forward a few weeks later, her and her entourage got seated in my section again, and this time she must have felt bad or something, because she did a total 180 and was harping about how perfect everything was. I was like, "whatever".
Customer service reps and those who work in retail must deal with rude people all the time. That someone will be angry if things aren't done as s/he demands doesn't make whatever they say or do right. Much as those serving them have to be polite, it doesn't necessarily mean that they should give in to their demands. It's not always any of them returns to apologize and to be honest I've never witnessed it. IMHO, customers are rarely [ever] right.
You couldn't have said it better, @Denis Hard! As a Customer Service agent, you have to learn the psychology of a customer and what used to work for me was being very firm and polite, outlining the company policies and really breaking them down to them AGAIN and AGAIN, explaining my regrets at having limitations where bending the rules was concerned, demonstrating I was really listening and empathising with them, knowing how to pacify them etc. Of course, I still ran into some who would dig their heels in and even get irate, demanding to speak to someone in authority. If it was a "wet lettuce" manager, they would cave in, offer some BS goodwill gesture and make you look like a p***, and thus setting a nasty precedent. All because they wanted to avoid a showdown, and for a bit of peace. If it was one with bottle and authority, they'd well and truly put the customer right and the answer would be the same; in essence, YOU ARE WRONG, Mr/MS customer, you're not getting your way just because you're throwing a tantrum!
I never had problems with rude people while working customer service and returns. And what I mean by that is that I expected such customers, and I never let them get to me. It's easy enough to shrug someone off when you know they're wrong and still treat them with a decent level of customer service. I would never waiver from the actual return policies unless I had a good reason to, and otherwise I'd let an upper manager take care of any "overrides".
Haha, well no it's not a low volume store it's actually pretty busy, but the rude ones are always the ones that we never forget. My coworker had a bad experience with him as well. I'd like to hope that I wasn't rude, but if the salesperson is rude to me I probably said something. You're right about that, a lot of these customers treat us like well, ants! They just stomp right over us without a second thought. It actually did cheer me up quite a bit, because that customer actually said "I'll find a way to make your return it", which scared the cheese out of me! Oh my goodness they sound like a nightmare to serve. But, the fact that she actually changed her personality with you, is wonderful! I wonder if maybe she was just having a bad day, or a bad conversation? I don't know.
That is great! I actually thankfully don't work with customers anymore (I hate to work with customers directly, it's usually A nightmare),but at my first job I worked at a travel agency and once a guy was really really rude to me and his mother later apologized for his behavior. She was paying for the trip and I guess he told her about how he treated me... I thought it was nice of her, but would have much preferred he did like your customer and apologized himself.
How can a customer always be right? Managers will tell you that a customer is always right because they simply want you to treat the customer with respect, that's all. I've had to deal with many rude person, not only people who I would consider "customers", but rude managers, coworkers, lol, it seems like everybody is so very rude at times!
