If you work with the public - are you finding things are getting scarier?

[CurdinHenry]

More aggression, more delusions to a fairly extreme degree?

We’re in an age where people have been encouraged to prioritise their own needs, put themselves first etc. We’ve moved away from prioritising others needs above our own, helping our neighbours & contributing to society. It’s gone too far & it’s scary to witness. I worked with parents who were becoming increasingly aggressive, abusive & hostile. Luckily I’m retired now.

I agree except public facing workers are expected not to put themselves first for some reason. The look on my manager's face when I said I wasn't pandering because I wasn't in fact someone's mother (a look of startled realisation that I was right!).

I work in a very busy much needed clinic and have noticed a vast increase in complaints and abuse especially post covid.
Its so hard to smile at the next patient when you have just been shoved up against a wall and shouted at.
Its understandable that people are frightened and vulnerable coming to see us but the level of abuse is rising and people are resigning or moving on.

Yes it is. And also bags cant be checked as it's against human rights apparently but it's fine in other venues

I kind of agree with this. Staff serve you while chatting to a colleague through an ear piece. It does not excuse it, but the lack of basic manners does erode the idea of what is acceptable

Ha... No, you couldn't. You could politely tell them that would not tolerate abuse and would terminate the call and sometimes you'd get your manager listening in. I did enjoy my last ever call though before I left. I didn't swear but did tell the woman what I thought!

Yes
i work with supposedly educated professionals and the absolute entitlement and complete lack of accountability for their actions is quite frankly terrifying

I think this is happening because there is an increase in people feeling very stressed and on edge. But there is also an increase in just nasty out of order people.

The second reason is that staff can't just tell them to get lost. A small group of people made a load of nasty allegations on our local pubs Facebook page. The landlord explained what had actually happened and that they were abusive. But he also invited them and local people to come down to the pub and talk about what had happened to resolve it. They didn't turn up.

Thirty years ago the landlord that was there would have just told them to fuck off. And everyone knew that was the deal. Behave or be barred and told to fuck off. Now everyone dances round these people trying to placate them.

@Constantrunner yes, the fear of the bad review in hospitality is definitely an issue.

What change do you mean though? We can’t legislate for bad manners. Drug use is already illegal. Mental health services are overstretched as are police. I’m not saying we have to just accept it but there’s no simple change that can be made

Yes. I work in healthcare and it’s so much worse than it used to be. Intermingle that with the increased racism it is just vile. I have lost a lot of fantastic colleagues due to this and I think it won’t be long until I follow suit

I think people like Martin Lewis are partially to blame.

The harassment is wrong but using the complaints procedure is not, neither is escalating to the ombudsman. Even if their complaint is not upheld.

I’m talking about people who have gone through the procedure and the ombudsman but continue AFTER to harass us. At that point they have exhausted all options and the answer is no, yet they think they can still get their way.

Are things really worse now? I am never customer facing as I always found working in services people were terrible. I thought it had always been like that?

So sorry to hear this.

Why?

Not scarier, as such, as I don’t feel unsafe, but people have become much more rude, impatient and hyperbolic.
The use of AI to generate 27 paragraph long (often delusional) complaints is a complete drain. Also the entitlement is like nothing I’ve ever witnessed.

I will say though for balance some service workers are awful and doctor surgery receptionists seem to be especially horrendous people.

He spouts a lot of rubbish that he often misunderstands and encourages people to cite his nonsense to companies in order to complain. Often it is wrong and the customer will not accept it as they see Lewis’ word as gospel.

I am a GP and I feel sorry for reception team.. you do an amazing job.
Most people treat me better but there are people who will send through pages and pages of information they want me to read before their 15 minute appointment. Arrive at their appointment with lists as long as your arm and become angry when I say that we can’t deal with all this in 15 minutes and to pick the 2 most important today and we will book to deal with the rest.

A lot of people use the complaints procedures as a form of harassment

This is so true! "I read on Martin Lewis that BLABLABLA"

Tbf it's not him it's his crew of researchers

Customer service and the ability to actually speak to someone about an issue that can’t be solved by standard procedure, is almost impossible now. 15 years ago we could speak to someone who would understand and deal with the issue. Whilst I agree people have shorter temper/fuses, the inability to speak to a real person now is virtually impossible. So when they do, they give everything, the frustration has built up over time.