Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6

Original poster

That this is unacceptable

148 replies

bongobaby · 14/08/2012 14:30

I went into a well know phone shop at the weekend to purchase a mobile phone. The sales advisor was a young chap who was helpful when speaking to me. We were having a conversation about a network provider to which he then replied " yeah they are a bunch of c*s". It was a tumbleweed blowing past moment as I looked at him and then looked at my DC who was happily sitting beside me in the shop and had just clearly heard what had been said.

I quickly told the sales advisor to sush and not to say that word to which he just laughed!!. DC said mummy why did that man say that naughty word...
I have complained to the customer service but all they said was sorry. AIBU to think and want a better response than that. I,M disgusted by the word being used infront of DC.

OP posts:

DozyDuck · 14/08/2012 17:00

Oh dear. I think bashing someone for asking a Question isn't nice either

JennerOSity · 14/08/2012 17:02

I think the general consensus is that it is not an OK word. :)

DozyDuck · 14/08/2012 17:03

Ok One last time.

Cunt is not an ok word to use in a customer service job.

The man should never have said it.

He said it by mistake and should have apologised for it there and then, he didn't, that isn't acceptable.

OP made a complaint and the company apologised for him using this word. That is an acceptable response from customer service.

The man will most likely get a talking to at least for his use of that word, and I'm assuming OP didn't give him her custom.

Original poster

bongobaby · 14/08/2012 17:03

imo i have been proper bashed. atacrrossroads pieces of spleen would of stuck in his throat unlike the word he used so losely.

OP posts:

JennerOSity · 14/08/2012 17:08

The bashing was when people were responding to you wanting more than an apology. Some of it was indeed a bit harsh. But once you explained you meant he should have apologised but didn't everyone was all on board. It got cleared up in the end. :)

DozyDuck · 14/08/2012 17:09

That type of anger about it might be why you were a little bit bashed OP

Unless you're joking. He did make a genuine mistake and then was a bit of a twunt about it afterwards

Keepthechangeyoufilthyanimal · 14/08/2012 17:09

that it is cuntsphonewarehouse and not phones4cunts.
My FIL is the big wig at P4U and he would have pissed himself if i told him this happened in one of his stores, then probably given the lad in question a big bollocking over the phone

RibenaFiend · 14/08/2012 17:39

If any of my team had ever used language like that in front of an adult they'd be written up. In front of a child and you're talking written up and doing all the washing up for the company for a month and possibly a reduction in hours. (yes that's allowed in their contracts) if they hadn't apologised immediately and sincerely to the offended party they may be looking at a beating with a stick... Ok, so I'm not allowed to do that but apparently my scary face is about that bad! All my guys are customer facing and our customers give us their children to play and work with for hours or days on end

It is not acceptable. I'm disgusted. If the man in JL said it then after you'd managed to pick your jaw off the floor you would be speaking with his manager. Yes. I appreciate that it would have been incredibly difficult to tackle this head on at the time without drawing DC's attention to the situation even more but in addition to this shitty situation, cuntsomer service haven't done their job properly. You've been left still feeling angry which means they should have given you more time, more apologies and more assurances. So my suggestion is to write a letter. It's so cathartic for one and if you decide to send it then cc it to head office and the store in question. A more sincere apology may be the result you're after... After all, yes it's a recession but surely that means people should be better at their jobs to ensure custom and their future with their company.

...Shakes head in disbelief of the real world and picks up Alice in Wonderland...

MrsClown1 · 14/08/2012 18:09

I am amazed that people are not more shocked. The least I would expect is for the company to apologise and make the employee apologise also. I would definitely write to their head office. Who on earth does he think he is using language like that in front of a customer, never mind a child.Language like this seems to be acceptable for some. Sometimes I really despair. Its reading some of the replies that makes me feel really old. YANBU to be annoyed about it. The company would certainly know I was annoyed and I would not leave it to the manager in the shop. Head office should know about it.

My husband is a children's entertainer. He has been doing it a long time and has really noticed how things have changed over the years. He did a kids party the other day and a 3 year old stuck 2 fingers up at him. The child's grandmother was rolling around laughing! My husband just felt sorry for the child because he has not got a prayer. He says parents often use foul language in front of the children at parties. He had to ask one father the other day not to use the f word. The father looked at my husband like he was from another planet. My DH said 'I do not entertain children when people are ffing and blinding. Oh my, how things have changed - and not for the better.

JarethTheGoblinKing · 14/08/2012 18:26

I know someone who used to be in a band called 'Bunch of Cunts'. Suited thm

CPW are also a BoC. Most people I know in the industry are a BoC. It's a cunty industry...tbf

LadyBeagleEyes · 14/08/2012 18:38

She already called them and got an apology MrsClown.
For all we know he got a bollocking or a warning.
As many people have said the OP expected more than an apology, though God know what.
Compensation or something?

akaemmafrost · 14/08/2012 18:59

A free iPhone?

Original poster

bongobaby · 14/08/2012 19:08

Ribeanafriend your reply is very helpful. And you mrsclown. And no thankyou to the free iphone akemmafrost its probably pre set with swear words from the cpw....

OP posts:

TheEnthusiasticTroll · 14/08/2012 19:12

your son has obviously heard it before so i would not worry too much.

my dc has never heard the word so would not have know it was a naughty word.

DeWe · 14/08/2012 19:13

I doubt my dc would notice (age 5, 8 and 11) unless I reacted. I'm certain the younger two wouldn't know it is a "naughty" word.
Not sure my very naive 11 yo would know. It wouldn't make them say it, unless, as I said, I reacted in an interesting way.

Original poster

bongobaby · 14/08/2012 19:22

dc heard that word for the first time last week in the park when I was forced to explian what it meant. At no point in a shop should it of been said at all infront of me or dc.This word or any other swear words are not appropriate around my dc as I don,t use them. what gave him the right to do so.

OP posts:

TheEnthusiasticTroll · 14/08/2012 19:26

Oh i do agree he should not and I too would probably have discretely pulled him up on it. how old is your ds he sounds unusually sharp to pick up on a work once and remember it a week later. The thing to do when someone says or do something infront of very young dcs is to gloss over it and see if it passes them bye. i think expalining to a very yound dc what cunt means is a bit misguided if im honest. a simple i dont know should be enough for them to forget what they have heard.

Original poster

bongobaby · 14/08/2012 19:35

dc is ten, different parenting comes into play here on the misguided comment.would not of had to explain the word at all if two adults before hand had not felt the need to use it. It would be the same as dc asking why are some people a different colour, or love each other of the same sex people. I would take the time to answer and explain the best way I could. a simple I don,t know is a cop out.

OP posts:

Original poster

bongobaby · 14/08/2012 19:37

Also explained to DC that it is not a word that should ever be used in any way,shape or form.

OP posts:

TheEnthusiasticTroll · 14/08/2012 19:39

I dont agree its the same at all with very young children. But if your dc is 10 then fair enough it sounded very much like he was a toddler. If he is 10 then exposure and picking up on these things are unfortunate but easily explained as you have done, no big problem, not ideal but unfortunatly you cant controle what other people do and say all of the time.

RibenaFiend · 14/08/2012 20:04

I would like to, for a moment, remove all DCs from this hypothetical. (SHOCK!)

You are in a shop, alone (bliss!!!) the sales assistant uses the word cunt as an adjective in a direct conversation with you the customer. Are you:
Delighted?
Shocked?
Disgusted?

I don't believe for a demisecond that the sales rep in cuntphone warehouse or wherever had a bloody clue about how old your child is, their ability to remember, pick up on and articulate certain words. Ok, some of you would be ok in the situation where someone used that expletive or an expletive in front of your child and I fully respect that but a stranger in a shop has no idea who of us are accepting and not accepting and as such it is their duty and responsibility to represent themselves and their company to the highest standard. I don't care who you are, by the time you reach an age where you have gained employment, you know better. Poor OP has had, honestly, a simply shocking experience and in my opinion the cuntstomer service reps have not done their job as their "apology" has not calmed or diffused the situation. It's not about "what can I get out of this situation" it's ensuring that the point that "swearing to any customer is completely unacceptable" irrespective of whether they have just themselves or their toddler, primary, teen, elderly mother or a goat a with them and ensuring that point is acknowledged and hammered home to these ignoramuses. A lacklustre "sorry" from a desk sometimes doesn't cut it. You need a more wholehearted acknowledgment and sincere apology.

...wow, I'm really furiously cross on your behalf OP... I'm curious- what area is your shop in?

TheEnthusiasticTroll · 14/08/2012 20:11

I would be neither of the above. I would be... surprised and then pull him up on it. if I were alone and same if my dc was with me..maybe verging on shocked, if dc was with me. But same reaction

danteV · 14/08/2012 22:51

Hang on a minute, when the OP cleared up that she was actually asking if he should have apologise people agreed with her.
No one said its an ok word. The OP was told she was bu because she wanted more than an apology.
and to be perfectly honest the OP has given out more (in my case than given). She accused me of calling my child a cunt.
She has since apologised, so I am not wanting to drag it up again. However I disagree she has had a kicking. Imo you can't be offensive and get upset that you are told yabu.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6