Dealing with literally the most unpleasant person in the world

[Blackadderspants]

Not really an AIBU but more of a rant.

I work in the service industry for my sins....and have been dealing with someone I can only assume is the devil incarnate. They are the most unpleasant client I have ever dealt with in well over 20 years in the same job.

Because I'm in the service industry I have to adopt the "customer is always right" and smile sweetly while they spew poison but today I am right on the edge of telling them they can just feck off for themselves. Which of course would result in me being fired.

ARGH.

Ah yes, the guitarist astronomer Lenina - you're right, couldn't possibly be him!

Feeling dizzy with all the famous music playing astronomers.

I used to work for an call centre for an Irish bank- we would have some proper bellends. One girl was speaking to a customer from the republic (we were in the North) and he sighed and said "You know what my opinion on everyone up there is? They should give everyone down here a shovel and tell them to start digging at the border and left youse drift off into the sea."

We were always told that we were paid to help people, not take abuse so we were given permission that if a customer had gone too far and after a warning, fair play if you wanted to end the call.

There was one time a customer called waiting to know why she'd received a cheque in the post and a letter confirming her account had been closed. Upon checking the notes on the account, I could see that she'd landed into the branch where the lovely staff had done their upmost to help her but she hadn't found this satisfactory. She then proceeded to start ranting in the middle of the banking hall and called the customer advisor a c**t within earshot of the manager. When she had enough of shouting abuse and left, the manager force closed her account, issued her a letter and a cheque for the balance in her account. It was very satisfying explaining to her that her account was closed and she was welcome to look at banking services with one of our competitors.

Ugh! I used to have to deal with complaints (private medical, so some people were really distressed, which was hard enough). Even years later though there is one man who sticks in my mind. He had a genuine complaint. Something had gone badly wrong, then the first person trying to deal with the problem had made a further error (think remains getting lost type awful) so it would have been an dreadful one to deal with, even in the normal way of things.

However, this client was really unpleasant. He'd already had one of my staff members in tears, and I was the last in line (short of being sued) so I had to deal with it.

The thing was, it was so obvious he was massively enjoying it. He didn't sound remotely upset over what had happened, even though it was bad.

Nothing I could do or offer was what he wanted. He just wanted to humiliate me and unfortunately he had the amunition. I couldn't tell him to sod off, because he had a genuine grievance and was threatening to go to the press. I didn't cry ( fairly sure that was what he wanted ) but I did have to sit there for what felt like about an hour, listening to his smug voice taking me and the company apart. It's people like these who can make life awful for those who have to deal with the general public.

I guess the only thing I should be really glad about, is that at least I only had to deal with him a couple of times. I'd hate to have come across him as a boss.

Simples.

Just tell them in a loud Evangelical voice that Jesus loves them"

There sorted;-).

I had a job in a large call centre for two years dealing solely with the worst complaints. The advisors passing the calls to me were often in tears. I never managed to be offended by any of them. They didn't know anything about me personally, so nothing they said could move me. I do have aspergers, though, maybe that had something to do with it.

Justaboy - PERFECT advice 😂

I'm a secondary teacher. Having kids shouting and swearing at you on a daily basis is horrible, not just because it's incredibly demeaning but because you wonder whatever happened to respecting your elders and betters! Could never work in retail though..

What a coincidence, you are working with my next door neighbour.

He's a cunt isn't he?

Total sympathy .

I worked at at a high street bank call center where we did our utmost to give great customer service even to most obnoxious customers . It did help though that they couldn't see the finger and hand gestures that we're going on in the background .... It was difficult to keep a straight face on calls as some of the call handlers deserved Oscars for their performances .

Line up for yourself another job and THEN tell him to f*&k off and walk away.

Therapeutic and well within your rights as he is clearly hurting you.

I'm so glad I don't work with the general public anymore.

I just couldn't do it. I would just tell them to fuck off. I used to work in a call centre and it was without doubt the worst job I've ever had. The mind numbing stupidity and arseyness of people. Never again.

Name changed as this is somewhat identifying. In my line of work, we have a receptionist as our first line of defence, and often customers can be extremely rude to them, but nice as pie by the time they reach us. I used to do the receptionist job, so if I get even a sniff that they are being disrespected, I tend to take over and deal with them myself. I don't give them an inch, and usually they wind their necks in. They know that I am the person who will ultimately provide the service that they want and it's really not in their best interests to be rude to me.

Anyway, occasionally all of us have to deal with a real knob, so I decided to make a game of it. We invented the 'arsehole olympics.' If it looks like someone is going to be giving us problems, we take note of their name, either write down or memorise any particularly arseholish comments that stand out, and put them forward as contenders for that years 'olympics.' The idea is at the end of the year, possibly the staff Christmas night out, all of the contenders are put forward along with actual quotes, and the biggest arsehole of the year is chosen. The member of staff who had the biggest hand in dealing with them gets a prize (drinks maybe?)

We haven't had as many nasty people in recently, so the idea has fallen by the wayside for a while now, but I'm thinking of reviving it. It's a good way to boost staff morale in the face of horrible nasty customers, because while you are speaking to a knob, you get a bit of a buzz thinking that you have the winning contender that year.

Bibbytybobbityhat so true! What happens to them [celebrities]? In my earlier life I had to deal with some 'national icons' loved by all yet, in reality, they are just plain nasty, with egos so big it's amazing how they get through the door. Some are lovely, but they are few and far between (certainly in my previous experience!).

I used to work in a travel call centre. As I was team leader I would often get angry people passed to me.
The thing I enjoyed the most though was repeating exactly what the team member had told them or playing a call back to them to show the customer did in fact ask for exactly what he got.

I have also worked on live chat....now that's an eye opener!
Wow people are rude and abusive for no reason! We have "pictures" of people but it's not always the actual staff picture as we had some teenagers working there and the comments they get are just mad.
People go out of the way to start a chat and just type abusive language....really have you nothing better to do?
We all knew it's not personal and staff were allowed to just end chats and ban their IP address but sometimes I used to reply. Same if visitors started getting personal...do you have a boyfriend, I would like to do x to you....even had marriage proposal's!

I worked in a utility call centre for some years with shouters all day long. I remember one man who was the nasty, quiet kind. I was pregnant and right on the edge and on a late shift. After a while I broke down in tears on the phone and told him it was clear he didn't want my help and just wanted to be mean. Not my finest moment but I'll blame the baby hormones! My manager took over the call and he was mortified. I like to think he thought twice about being so vile again. I doubt he did though

One other customer was so awful, I went home sobbing most nights as he just wouldn't stop calling. His account was admittedly a mess which he didn't help by calling in every day and getting someone new who tried to help without reading the notes. No one could get the system to do what we wanted to do, I lost alot of sleep over him. I vowed to get out of that job because of him. It took me a further 4 years but on my last day, I looked up his (now closed) account and genuinely thought of calling him to tell me he'd made my life hell but that I'd never have to speak to a cunt like him again, but I didn't. Just smiled to myself and realised it was nice to be me at that moment and not a cunt. He must be miserable-that made me happy and I skipped the fuck out of there

Feel sorry for them and move on.

If they're that bad they won't have any friends and even their family won't love and respect them. Feel sorry for them and thankful that you're not like them.

Imabadmummy - can totally relate regarding live chat. My company offer it and wow, some of the things people come out with, especially late at night. My team are told to just ban anyone who they feel is inappropriate or offensive. It got to be so bad last year that I took the decision to replace the chat image (which was a picture of a team member) with something more neutral (two cartoon talk bubbles), and that has helped to reduce the amount of offensive, sexual stuff. But it does make you wonder what goes on in people's heads that they think it's okay to be so rude.

And then moan about the bill!

Oh Matildathecat you made me laugh out loud!
Not sure it was the clumpy shoes or the fact she was a barrister!

I deal with the public in my job and some people are vile. It can really get me and colleagues down and we have a good old moan about how horrible people can be. But if I remember to take a step back for a moment and think about all the people who are lovely and nice and remember that these people are the majority of who we deal with it's a lot better. It's a don't let the bastards grind you down state of mind that gets me through it.

I'm a bus driver so abuse is seen as a normal part of my job 😢
I intervene if I see someone else being abused as a result. I bollocked a grown man in Aldi recently for shouting and swearing at the small, female PREGNANT checkout girl. He was unhappy about the long queue and let rip on her. I lost my shit and told him to hang his head, he was a disgrace and a complete dickless wimp to be squaring up to a pregnant girl I then pointed out everyone else in the queue was a coward for letting it happen. He apologised to her but I was still asked to leave as well

I deal with escalations at work, I'm good at my job and can get most people on side but I've got one customer who reminds me of Dolores Umbridge in her quiet sickly sweet manner, she's a much bigger challenge than the thick shouty ones.

I quite enjoy the 'difficult' ones

Smile sweetly while imagining them sitting on the toilet with their knickers round their knees. It really helps to diffuse your feelings

Sanoffyhighstepson well done to you for doing that. Makes you wonder where was the store manager?.

falange Yes probaly human nature you always remember the bad times rather than the good.