Is there any actual benefit of being rude, abusive towards any staff?

FYI - I also work in healthcare, I fully understand the pressures more than most. But this admission into hospital has been worst and unkindest experience than anything I've seen in 20 years.

My elderly relative has recently been appallingly mistreated in hospital. After three days with no medication (dependency causing strong nedications shes been on for years due to serious disability) she was in agonies and the staff were completely dismissive and said there were no doctors in the hospital so she couldn't have any medication. Her husband stood in the ward and roared at the staff until they did, in fact, find a doctor and organised her medication.

On that occasion I completely approved of rudeness and shouting. (Absolute fuckers)

Agree completely OP. I left a 20 year career in the healthcare/retail sector for this very reason. Despite being quite touch and thick skinned, and experienced enough to hold my own, I eventually got so sick of being treated badly by the public. Especially when I had my children, it changed my perspective - it's one thing leaving them to go to work, but no way am I going to do it just to be shouted at and have rude behaviour directed at me all day. I 'left' that sector, changed careers and have never been happier. I do one day a month in my 'old' job on a self employed basis and earn double because there are no long term staff. Staff are leaving in their droves and so employees hire more temporary staff which created a cycle of less good service due to lack of continuity. People need to treat staff as they would like to be treated or their experience of service will just decline more and more over the years.

Absolutely not. I always say, I know this isn't you please just give my feedback to a manager.
Or I ask for the manager again recognising they too are probably locked in a terrible chain management system but they have a teeny bit more power than the poor service person.

No need to be rude.
But when I have rung in several times to be fobbed off I will request a manager deals with me. Anyone foolish enough to frustrate me at that point will not hear any rude words but will really get to listen to me tell them exactly what's wrong and why I need to speak to a manager.
I log names and times of calls of bad customer service. Which I will explain to whichever poor soul gets to deal with me. I am never rude, but polite and firm.
I also have plenty of spare time for hanging on the phone and ringing back.

.You're behaving like customer service is some sort of calling from above where only people who are completely selfless and self effacing need apply. That's bollocks. Customer facing staff are there to facilitate a transaction between someone getting goods or a service they want or need and the company selling it, not to boost people's ego's, not to make them feel like a saint for paying for those goods or that service, and not to provide endless adoration and attention to anyone and everyone.

People work in those jobs for the same reason they work in just about any job, they need the wages to survive. Not because they've been called from God to serve you a pint of milk like a subservient apostle, give you validation and boost your ego. If anyone needs an 'experience' above actually getting their pint of milk, paying for it and manners while that happens but needs subservience and deference while getting it, they're the one with the problem.

You're right that fining people £1000 if a customer decides that they've been treated unreasonably will change customer service, I for one will be out the door and so would just about everyone else, because I'm not risking my financial stability on the whim of someone else who can decide unreasonably and unfairly to take almost a months wages from me because they've got a chip on their shoulder and thinks they should be able to take that out on me because I'm 'less' than them.

Customer service staff aren't responsible for the ills of the world as you see them, they're not responsible for other people's behaviour, they're not responsible for the commercialisation of everything and anything, in a bid to make other people rich. You're handing the people who are responsible the perfect whipping boy to blame everything on and take the concequences, and apparently want to now financially punish them for the pleasure.

A lot of the issues that exist are down to lack of staffing, because the role of anyone who serves anyone else is seen as less than by society and less and less people are taking the 'opportunity' to be treated like that.

Without staff, places collapse just as much as without customers, it's a two way street, no staff means no service and unreasonable and unrealistic expectations contribute towards less staff and poorer service.

And if you find a policy doesn't work for you, then no amount of me believing in it is going to change that, me believing in it isn't going to make it magically work for you, that's just a way to excuse people who want to be rude, aggressive or abusive towards another person because they know they can be.

IMO anyone who is rude to any staff member deserves to be put on some sort of cunt register.

I've never been rude to staff, but I think that it does help people to let off steam to complete strangers that they can lay all the blame and their frustrations onto. It must be quite cathartic.

I've had staff be incredibly rude to me though. I complained, and I hope they were sacked the wanker.

@Ormally

The issue is that the best customer service is now much better than it once was. Amazon has great customer service and pride themselves on being customer centric at everything they do.

Any organisation offering less than amazon is now poor service.

The fact a customer has contacted you means your organisation has already failed. You need to make them happier than if no issue had occurred I the first place.

If your organisation doesn't empower you to do that, then go elsewhere and indicate why. It really is quite simple in retail - most of the time you need to apologise and refund within 60 seconds and make it easy to return a item. The reason for the return doesn't really matter - all that matters is the customer wasn't happy.

@Maverickess

That is exactly right - I don't work or shop at organisations who I don't believe treat people right.of course, as an employee you get to see the policies, where I don't often - but of course I do what you say once I know what they are.

Anyone who works for a shitty organisation or who gives custom to one out of choice is to blame for that organisation existing - again, I simply ask you to own your choices, you cannot just blame the organisation, you choose to be part of it. If that means you have to own the policies and people get annoyed when they. are unreasonable then so be it - they are in the right, you are in the wrong.

I personally believe people representing organisations should be able to be fined directly for any organisational failings they implement - it would greatly increase the level of customer service. So credit card refunds because of failing retailer, failure to sort out service within 7 days, no phone back when indicated, automatic £1,000 for anyone involved. It would change organisational approaches overnight and staff would only work where good service was provided.

I hate when people say on MN - go to A and E/the GP and refuse to leave till you get what you want.

I agree! My father is a pharmacist (now retired) and he was uncomfortable about the number of doctors prescriptions he received for people seemingly with basic cold viruses rather than secondary infections. When he enquired he was told by the surgery that certain patients would turn up demanding antibiotics for a cold and would shout and rant so much that the doctors would just write the prescription to shut them up. Unfortunately it then became a self fulfilling prophecy because the shouty patients would be convinced that they had been "proved right".

As an NHS worker for many years.

I hate when people say on MN - go to A and E/the GP and refuse to leave till you get what you want.

It's intimidating/harassing staff and is unacceptable behaviour that I was always more than happy to leave to security or Police to deal with.

But...it leads to emotional manipulation as often, it's reception/admin staff left to deal with it in distress, plus other people in the waiting room suffering intimidation and abuse while the people the individual is demanding to see are elsewhere in the building.

So sometimes, people give in. Not because the demanding person is right, but because the workers care about their colleagues and other patients.

So it does 'work' sometimes. Temporarily. Most of those people will then be banned. Rightfully.

It's often the case that there is only so far you can go, in a customer service role, before you need to be able to have a bit more time, troubleshooting, and 'negotiation' power to be able to do something about a customer's issue - usually by taking on quite a large structure or escalation process yourself, rather than just getting straight to one person with the solution you can offer. It's rarely an instant 'Oh, here's the solution, have a nice day' kind of situation. People generally think that it's easy and that anything else is a choice to be obstructive or a bit stupid. If you are able to realise that you may get a better result by meeting people halfway and having a reasonable expectation, but not a stroppy one, of what you would like them to work on doing for you, then it can be more productive (although still frustrating in places).

I think some people work themselves up so much thinking they won't get a refund.

I think some enjoy it as an outlet tbh.

On the other side of things, I did once have a temp job at actually water company working in the department that dealt with requests for searches for construction tenders etc. For big projects we would often get several requests for searches for companies bidding for the same work. Our official search response was 7 days but it was quite common for requesters to leave it to the last minute and phone asking for a fast turnaround.

If the person politely stressed the urgency and conveyed how much they would appreciate my help, I would move their request to the top of the pile. If person rang ranting and raving and threatening to report me to my manager I'd I could not promise a turnaround the same day I would put that one to the bottom. A bit petty but quite satisfying!

Unfortunately it's often true that people who are demanding, rude, shouty and unreasonable do often end up getting their own way because they are such a colossal pain in the arse it's easier for management to appease them.

I work at a law firm and we've had some clients who were a total pain, constantly demanding updates, no a phone call wasn't enough, they wanted written advice every time. We warn them that all time is chargeable. Then they get the bill and kick off demanding it be reduced. We pulsating refuse, they make official complaint, refused, they escalate complaint then the Board agrees to give them a discount anyway. So they effectively get more work for free, then we waste time dealing with the complaint too ...

Occasionally we have refused to accept any further cases from repeat offenders who are then apoplectic because they're actually quite happy with the service, they just want it at pound shop prices! But I've only known this happen three times in over 20 years.

My son had a weekend job at a Miller and Carter and a really common scam was for a couple to order different steaks, then eat the "wrong" one and suddenly realise and demand they be removed from the bill. The manager was a total wuss who would always give in, then lambast the staff later. This led to the wait staff checking, checking again, getting a colleague to double check etc when taking the order and serving it. Then people started to complain about the amount of "fuss".

I'm not a habitual complainer but occasionally I have needed something addressed and found the first polite attempt is ignored, second firmer one is brushed off and it's only when I've got quite demanding and threaten to report to the authorising body that anything actually happens. It shouldn't have to be like that but its is ...

I worked in a front facing department in a local authority. Better paid than most customer service jobs, with well trained, helpful staff and supportive management. We often went the extra mile for vulnerable people, way outside our remit at times. But we had customers who were super entitled, rude, abusive, threatening etc. Our approach to rudeness was to ‘kill them with kindness’, which sometimes worked. However, some were so abusive that they would be refused service, and it would be made clear that their behaviour was key.

So to say that people who receive great customer service aren’t rude isn’t strictly true.

It works for some people. The staff want rid or to avoid more complaints so prioritise them.

Honestly, where to start with this ...

I won't bother, its so off the mark its ridiculous. I often wonder what planet some people are on here. Or what jobs they do. Clearly sales assistant isnt a job @jxpop665 has ever done.

By that logic, aren't customers who shop in stores where they don't agree with the policies just as at fault then?

If you don't agree with their policy on something, then vote with your feet? Go somewhere you do agree with every policy? Leave your purchase at the till and move on? Have agency over your choices and own where you chose to shop? Take responsibility for your own choices? Accept that that place doesn't suit your needs and go somewhere that does?

No business can cater to every desire of every customer, it's impossible. What the first customer in the line thinks is actually a great policy and really works for them, the second one in line will think it's awful and doesn't work for them at all, the third in line will be ambiguous and not have strong feelings either way.

And the staff believing in a policy will not make the slightest difference if a customer is unhappy with it. It's not going to solve the problem, in fact I think it would rather the opposite and make the customer feel they are now being unheard as well.

Your stance sounds to me like you're trying to justify the poor way some behave towards service staff to be honest.

@Maverickess

I'm sorry, but that's simply not owning what you choose to do - you have agency. What you do is down to you, and whether you stay or chose to do something else is your choice. you don't get to say, I'd prefer not to do this but some else is making the decision - if they had no staff, then they wouldn't be able to. If you do something you don't agree with, that is down to you -it sounds like those who are willing to own the decision are those wo get promoted in any case.

Make your way in life doing good things and avoid doing the dirty work of others - if you choose to have a job doing nasty things, then you still are nasty even if you were told by someone else to do it. Same works in being good, kind, and ensuring people are looked after.

It's fine if you want to build a career this way - but own your own choices and understand that it is down to you, not the person saying you have to - they can't force you. Build a different career that is more in alignment to your values if needed.

I doubt that most people who are employed are going to agree with every single policy of their employer.

It's not irrelevant that the people who deal with the customers aren't listened to when they feed back issues, it's very relevant because as many say they're the face of the business and the one customers complain to when something doesn't work - employers ignoring that are the problem.

Blaming the workers for being employed and having a job, but not automatically agreeing with every policy produced is a cop out for those above and they know it, and that's why when the customer facing staff are taking the flak and being ignored when they feedback your issues as a customer, nothing changes.

If one leaves then another will take their place, these jobs have high turnover (which itself means poorer service) and this is one of the reasons why. I have left jobs where I've really disagreed with a certain aspect, a well known newsagent and their insistence on up selling even when the customer has specifically asked you not to, with a disciplinary if you don't - but it took me 6 months to find another job at a similar level and pay, and frankly I needed the wages. The job had prospects as well, so I wanted something equal or better.

And why should I put a good work record, the work I've done to move forward and get promoted and my livelihood at risk by 'taking on' the company I work for over their policies or my financial situation by leaving without something else to go to? It's a job, not even considered a career, not a calling from God.

The responsibility lies with the companies to listen to their customers through their staff, not ignore them and let them take the hassle for their money saving corner cutting.

I can not agree with something on a personal note, but ensure it happens because it's part of my job to do so. I'm not paid for my personal opinion, I'm paid to carry out the duties my employer sets out.

Completely agree.

If an NHS surgeon feels he's underpaid, would you expect him not to care and do a shit job? No, I thought not. I wouldn't want him to amputate the wrong leg just to prove a point either.

If workers feel they are underpaid and undervalued then they need to vote with their feet. While people put up with poor conditions, nothing will change.

@ssd

Your renumeration or whether people have asked your opinion is irrelevant. By choosing to work in that role as a representative you are accountable for those policies - if you don't agree with them, leave. Applying and staying as a representative, you are indicating you agree with the approach.

Sounds like you need to be much more customer focused - people who receive great service aren't rude, and you are deliberately providing bad service. Your colleagues should immediately pick you up on it.

They do in Scotland