I messed up at customer service today..how about you?

[IMessedUpToday]

at my job..not deliberately..but a customer was upset..she gave me a big speech with her order (and the store was very loud and busy and I was trying to keep an eye on other things too - not that that is an excuse) - and I genuinely just didn't pick up on part of what she said and so got something wrong (which I fixed immediately)..and she was upset and said that she felt like she was invisible (ie: that I wasn't listening to her)...I felt really awful for the rest of my shift, and obviously I still feel awful right now. I try really hard to be consistently kind and helpful but obviously I just blew it this time, and badly. Tell me your experiences of when you failed at customer service.

Honestly, don’t give it another thought. Today didn’t go well, but it’s done, you’ve learned from the experience and tomorrow will be better. Wipe your feet on the way out and don’t give it any more headspace.

Had someone walk out my restaurant because no one had noticed them. Made a whole speech about how awful we were etc and though I tried my best to apologise and get them seated and eating, they weren't having it. Unfortunately it is a "wait at the door and be seated" place but if someone sits, we tend to always notice and go over with menus etc but I walked past this table and just assumed someone had sat and taken their order! I felt awful, and I now check every single time I see people at a table with nothing in front of them on the till to see if there's an order. Ah well. Live and learn.

I refused to refund a handbag that had some sort of white and grey stuff on it. As I was rubbing the stuff I realised to my horror it was bird poo, and that now it was on my fingers and up my nails. My colleague reached the same conclusion simultaneously and gasped/gagged.

I sort of shoved it back across the counter and blurted "no, sorry, that's bird poo". I had to do a whole dance about how I'm sure the woman wasn't a person that customarily had stuff covered in bird poo to backtrack and got a dressing down from my regional manager when the woman complained.

@TSSDNCOP the cheek of her though!! Most would google cleaning methods not try to return it!!

The customer is always right should definitely not extend to excreta.

sirmione16 I'd say that one was entirely the customer's fault. If it's a wait to be seated place and they couldn't be arsed to wait at the front desk then how were the waiting staff supposed to know?

I dropped someone’s pancake today. Very minor but it was only my second shift so I was v embarrassed.

OP it sounds like you were spread a bit thin having to listen to a complicated complaint and keep an eye on things.

Sirmione16 that sounds like a cheeky fucker customer and I wouldn't feel bad

I did a decade of customer service, I’ve been sworn at, had things thrown at me, been called names and yes, I even sometimes gave shit customer service because it’s hard to care when the company you work for rewards customers bad behaviour. It was always the ones that shouted most that got exactly what they wanted and often a gift voucher as an apology for something ridiculous such as a button falling off or their delivery coming at 2:30 instead of 2pm

I did one time, after being ranted at for several minutes by a customer that didn’t have a receipt but who expected a full refund, just walk off. I had been due to finished my shift when she arrived so I was already over my time. I heard her shouting “don’t you walk away from me” as I came round the counter and walked passed her to the warehouse door

sirmione16 reminds me of when a customer tried to return a kids outfit with a blacurrant stain on it saying it was faulty because the stain wouldn’t come out!

I also once had a person thrust a bleach covered cashmere jumper at me saying she hadn’t got bleach on it, it had happen when it was washed so it must be faulty. When I refused she shouted “get me a manager because I WILL be getting a refund for this”. She did get her refund

Ah don't give it a second thought OP! At the end of the day, It's no big thing.

So many times. I once got into an argument with a customer because she was being really dismissive and said my steaming job on her blouse wasn't good enough and she was going to go home and iron it. I told her it was silk and when she ironed a hole in it to not come crying to me Not my finest hour. Happens to the best of us--I actually got promoted shortly after that.

It's very easily done, so try not to dwell on it. Noone is a machine or perfect and we all get things wrong from time to time. I made a fairly stupid mistake with a sale today and I'm normally pretty on the ball. If you picked up on and fixed the mistake right away I'm sure what you did wasn't that bad.

It wasn't a bad mistake, it was trivial to be honest and instantly rectified with no hassle..it was more that the poor lady was so upset and felt like I had invalidated her as a person by not listening (which I stress was not deliberate, I was just overwhelmed with trying to monitor several other things as well as serve her). That certainly would not be how I would ever want to make someone feel. But perhaps I was just one in a long line of people who had made that mistake. I will learn from it and try harder from now on.