Customer service situation at work - investigation

You were rude and could have handled the situation much better but it's done now and you can't go back. You won't get fired. Shutting down computers 30 minutes before shutting seems a bad idea though!

You were rude and none of the reasons you've given for that, are anything to do with the customer.

You were rude but its nothing to be fired over.

Someone wants another person to lose their livelihood because their feelings were hurt?

What an awful world we live in.

OP you made a mistake. She needs to get over it.

You were rude.
If you’d let her finish speaking then politely said that you couldn’t help right now because the computers were closed but could you phone her tomorrow then possibly she wouldn’t have complained.
You made it sound like you cba to listen let alone help.

I doubt you will be sacked. The general public can be absolute entitled arseholes at times. I worked in retail for years so I know that very well. Anyone who walks in 2 minutes before close should be firmly told to come back tomorrow

I had something similar a few years ago, not with a customer but with a colleague who telephoned me about a customer issue. It was 6.59pm and we closed at 7pm so I said a colleague would deal with it the next working day. Colleague in call centre complained about me, boss said maybe I should have dealt with it and taken time in lieu, but that was the end of the matter.

I'd be annoyed if someone didn't let me finish, but it's not a sackable offence.

I really wouldn't worry - customer service is rubbish in lots of places, I don't think they're going to care about this beyond a minor reprimand like I got.

You were out of order interrupting her to say you couldn't help, before she'd even told you what her problem was. I'm not surprised she has put in a complaint about you. You won't get the sack but you do need to work on your customer service skills.

You were rude as was she (being on the phone). Silly that higher management are investigating. Surely an apology from them and that it will be dealt with internally is sufficient.

However you are wrong in your timing. If you are paid to work until 5.30 pm then you should only be closing down after that time and not collecting your coat at 5.28!

Sounds like she's a bit of a diva who likes to make a fuss about nothing. If the manager thinks this non-event is worth sacking you over you've probably dodged a bullet in the long run. My guess is that they'll placate the fussy customer and tell you to be a bit less rushed next time and it will all be forgotten. Some people are just like toddlers if they don't get their own way.

1000% this.

You’ve got absolutely no idea what she was going to ask, she could have been about to ask about opening/closing times, she could have been about to ask if you have to book slots, she could have been about to ask if you needed a £1 coin for a locker. Cutting a customer off because you couldn’t be arsed isn’t an excuse really, and even if you couldn’t have helped her, you could have still provided her with service by explaining that she can either call back between x-x times, or failing that you could offer to check and give her a call tomorrow.

If I called up somewhere that I was paying a membership for and the member of staff didn’t even let me ask my question before telling me they couldn’t help I wouldn’t be happy

Yes you were really rude and I'd be fucked off and probably complain too.

But you need more customer service training rather than sacking.

but she was on a phone and started saying to the person on a line how disgusting my customer service is etc. wanted to speak to manager . So I left home as my manager said knowing how tough that day was.

I don’t really understand this-can you explain more?

The stock CS response is, listen to the customer and, 'Unfortunately or PC terminals are switched off due to closing. I will be happy to call you back 1st thing tomorrow." The whole thing would have taken 5 minutes.

I've worked in CS and been absolutely desperate to get out of there for my train that left 7 minutes after finishing and there'd not be another for a whole hour only for a customer to call. Like PP, people calling at that time do have a knack of causing trouble but unfortunately its something you have to suck up.

You won't be sacked but might have to go through some humiliating discussion about treating customers nicely.

It sounds like you made a mistake after a stressful day. If you have 8 years good record i think your manager will forgive this.

She sounds like an arse. Like the type of arse who walk into Asda or Tesco 10 mins before it closes with a big trolley. Takes their time and acts affronted when being told to go to a till. I’ve seen plenty of these in my time.
in fairness to her she may not have known it was closing, so there’s that, but she was also on the phone herself. Wants you to be fired? She needs to get a life

She sounds like a bit of an arsehole. However if she came in just to ask a question, you were incredibly rude to not even let her finish her sentence.

If I walked into somewhere to ask a question, not looking for any actual service and the representative was as rude as you I'd also complain.

I'm surprised you didn't have the patience to just listen to her. Also it doesn't matter how busy the day is, if you can't handle your manners in your workplace after a busy day then you shouldn't even be working in such a role.

I've worked in a customer facing environment previously and I've had people turn up seconds before closing and although we can't put anything through tills etc I'd still give them the time of day as it is my job to! I cringe at the thought of being rude to a perfect stranger who is a customer whilst at work.

I dont think you deserve sacking though. Retraining, a short conversation maybe but not sacking.

Your attitude would have annoyed me too but unless therea more to the story I wouldn't expect you to be sacked. Legally how could that even happen?

The customer is massively over reacting. In my experience any decent manager will ignore complaints they feel are unreasonable, so if your manager knows you well and is happy with your work generally then I doubt this will go anywhere.

Yes you were rude; absent a similar pattern of ooor customer interaction, I doubt you would be fired

Echoing PPs...yes, a bit rude but no way sackable.

You were very rude. I'm not sure why you are surprised that she took the complaint higher after you didn't even let her finish her original enquiry. I would very much doubt you will be sacked, possibly reminded that you are paid to work to x o'clock not 5 to x o'clock

I know you keep mentioning how she was on her phone etc, and yes I agree that it is rude when customers are on the phone at the same time they're trying to speak to staff.

However, best practice on your part would have been to let her finish whatever the first question was. Cutting her off was rude. It's not her fault that you were doing the work of two people (that's a management/work issue) and whatever else was the problem that day.

TBH if I had just taken out membership somewhere and my first interaction was a rude one, I'd have complained, as well.

I dunno, it just sounds like you were quickly telling her the computers had all been shut down, to save wasting any more of both her and your time. She sounds like an arse to be wanting you sacked over it. Wasn’t it pretty obvious you were all about to leave, was the place empty?