I thought folks in Eastern Canada were known for their friendly and helpful natures, but not some folks who work in customer service here. Wow…
To those folks that have given me bad service: I would love to suggest you remember that you are in customer service to SERVE the public and to make some attempt to be nice to your customers. If you are in service and don’t enjoy it, can I suggest a change in careers that will be more fitting, like Remote Lighthouse Keeper, or maybe Funeral Home Makeup Artist?—Had it Up To Here with Bad Service
This article appears in Apr 22-28, 2010.
Meh.. everyone has a bad day sometimes. I have to deal with customers and I get pissed even if someone looks at me the wrong way. I can guarantee 98% though it’s probably something you have said or done that is making them act that way.
It doesn’t matter if one is having a bad day or not. If your working in the public sector one still needs to watch their P’s and Q’s. No one expects exemplary service all the time but rudeness, when not provoked, is never warranted.
If you’re consistently getting poor service it’s probably because the staff are picking up on that high-and-mighty attitude you clearly have. I never have problems with retail staff here. They’re there to “SERVE” you, yeah, not run circles around you if you’re acting like a snide bitch.
I’ve never met ONE PERSON who works or has worked in the service industry because they like it. Perpetual minimum wage, treated like a slave – not things most people enjoy. OF COURSE those in the service industry are not going to be nice to those who take them for granted. BTW, poverty isn’t usually a choice, ya know.
you have to understand one thing o.p., people in the service sector are usually low paid under educated people, most times. and they are just there, because no one else wants to work for the scab wages they get paid. i can see where you are coming from, as a one time low earner, who with 2 degrees, couldn’t find a half decent paying job, myself. so one day i said fuck it, and started my own little thing going, over the last 5 years, it has paid off in spades. i do computer data retrieval, and security monitoring for a lot of businesses in the area. i sit here the best part of a day, and have no one to bug me. but if i meet a client, then i’m all nice and cherry, not like my personna on here. you might know me, but i doubt it very much. there are a number of people with the same name around, and number is not listed, and i don’t advertise. yes, service people can and will get owly, more so if you are a dick to them, and treat them with contempt.
I can really see this issue from both sides. When I started out working in Historic Properties I was just as insufferably arrogant as a freshly minted King’s, B.A. (English) could possibly be. Somehow I managed to keep my job and my front teeth. Now I’m older, possibly wiser, definitely more apathetic and I work retail on the weekends for something to do. There might be many reasons for surly service but never an excuse. It’s bad for business. Period.
Still, customers need to understand that the root word of “Service” is not “Servile”. You could buy every **** in my boss’s store; you still ain’t gettin’ a “rusty trombone” from me. You don’t have that kind of money and never will. You come swinging in after a liquid lunch or coked to the tits on lawyer candy, trying to impress your trophy boink of the week by calling me “Chief” and trying to baksheesh a discount on a handful of ****s already being sold for half their original price, I’ll still smile tightly and call you sir. But I’m spelling it C-U-R.
i receive exemplary service wherever i go…you get as good as you give
col. ivan the ravens are yearlings, the crows are freaking out
to any bird watchers they are near young/windsor rawk
welcome to reality…
Burn in hell. Haha. I work in a service job (two of them) precisely because I need the money, enjoy my co-workers, and enjoy some of the benefits that comes with them (free things and distance).
I hate it when people say that people in the service industry need to act 100% perfect because they’re “there to serve you”. Yeah, well, we’re also human beings. Some of us have bad days, and it shows, and we’re not actors. And yes, 99% of the time that I am ever rude to a customer (which I do my best not to be, even though I would love to be), it’s because of how they’re acting.
If I could get a career that didn’t involve what I have to do right now, I would. But in the mean time, I need to pay my bills.
servers have very finely tuned attitude detectors so use those manners your mother taught you (hello, please, thank you) and you’ll be fine.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you
You know, the whole “everyone has a bad day” thing just doesn’t wash with me. YOU choose to work with the public and part of your job is to treat your customers/patrons/clients with respect, and treating them with respect is BEING NICE TO THEM.
I’m in a shitty ass mood today, and I’m currently at work. I work with the public (well students — which is a whole brand of ‘public’ in itself), and I, in no way, would ever treat anyone I was assigned to help (or whom asked for help) like shit, because it’s my job to be decent and polite and being a cranky bitch towards them is unprofessional.
If you can’t do better than that in customer service, get a new effing job (and don’t give me that ‘it’s min wage and the only job i could get’ crap — you’re still being paid to do a job, and no one’s ENTITLED to any job, shitty minimum wage or not).
Pretty Kitty, I disagree with you entirely. I’m not an actor. I have bad days. I don’t treat people with disrespect, unless they have it coming. I’ve never told a customer to fuck off. Hell, I’ve only ever kicked out one person from my store, and that’s because the dick tried to take my tips. But if a customer is being a total cunt to me, there’s no part in me that believes I need to treat them with any shred of respect, because whether or not “it’s my job”, I’m also still a human being. I’m not their slave who has to do anything and everything they demand.
Some people just have bad days, and it shows. My co-worker yesterday had to LEAVE work because she was having issues with her relationship (mind you, I was annoyed that she felt so distraught that she had to leave, since I’d felt like garbage the day prior and I certainly didn’t take off). Some people can’t hide emotions.
And, yeah, it’s not that easy to just “get a new job”. If it was, I don’t think as many people would be complaining about how hard it is to get a new job. This is why I typically stay with one job for multiple years.
i have some rules, swear at me/try to steal from me…out on your arse you go