So, it’s been hard on us all. I have been working throughout lockdown (customer service) people have been vile.
I will try to summarise.
I’m an assistant manager. I haven’t had time off work since December 2019. We have been helping people throughout lockdown, people were reasonable in March/April which was nice. Come June, customers thought it was their right to feel ‘entitled’ and they were doing us a favour by giving their business. Don’t get me wrong, not all of them were/are like this, but I would say 60/40 of people being rude to staff.
Yesterday, I had enough. Someone wanted money off their bill, because they have been on furlough and they can’t afford it. My staff offered some goodwill gestures (to the value of £70) They were rude to my staff, swearing saying they didn’t want our ‘shit’ I was asked to go out, so I introduced myself and told them that this is what we were offering. They started to raise their voice so I asked them to come in to the office to discuss it further, they refused and said they wanted other customers to hear this. I just want to add, this customer has been known to request discount just because.
They then went on to belittle the staff, swearing etc. I asked them to stop using horrid language and being so rude. My staff are there to provide a service (which they had plus some) and if they weren’t happy then they should find another company that would be prepared to offer their demands.
They then went on to tell me that I was being rude and how the customer is always right and they wanted my managers business card so they can make an official complaint about me.
I said “that’s fine” and handed them my managers card.
I now have a week off (pre planned holiday) and emailed my manager explaining what had happened.
I’m so sick of people thinking that it’s ok to speak to people like shit on their shoe. Especially my staff. They work so hard, and do an amazing job which I tell them everyday.
My staff member cried between dealing with this person. They lost their parent to Covid 2 months ago and have been dealing with the public and I guess this was the final straw. Please know that I made sure they wanted to come back to work and offered more time off due to this.
I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable or not but what is with the nastiness?
Our company is quite well known and comments can appear on well known search sites etc. I’m now reeling thinking I could’ve dealt with this a different way.