Feel free to vent all you need to. I have worked customer service as well, drove a bus in San Francisco, and no matter what, the person in charge of whatever is going on seems to always be in the wrong. I'm sorry, but the customers is NOT always right. That saying needs to be thrown out the window. All you can do is just consider the source, realize that some people are just born rude, and go on with your job. They are not worth the anxiety and anger that is welling up inside of you. You are the better person. Hugs GB

I do admit, this is far better then my experience as a medical receptionist and phone operator. When people would call, I could feel the cold chill come thru the speaker holes. People are so rude over the phone because it's something they can hide behind.

I have also worked customer service and dealt with unpleasant people. However, the district manager of the company for which I worked offered the same advice Gramy offered you, Dear. He told us that we should handle irate/ rude customers to the best of our ability, when if/when they verbally us, we were within our rights as employees of the company to request that the customer leave the premises to take their business elsewhere. His mentality was if customers wish to personally/ intentionally bully our employees about circumstances beyond their scope of control; then, they may take their business elsewhere-----shocking; yes, but very true. Hugs

Its great advice, but hard for me to remember. I used to want to make everyone happy, but I am slowly learning that is impossible. Me being the owner, it adds a layer of hurt because these people walk into MY shop and treat me like dirt, yet want to continue getting good service. If you like something, you generally show some level of appreciation, right? I'm not just some monkey behind the register, I am the one who spends a lot of my free time, and works hard to give you what you see before you. I've had some days where I wanted to cry. A man who continues to come in MY shop calls me a circus freak because of my piercings. If I told him to go elsewhere I'd lose business, and how do I control what he tells others? I just smile and take it, but damn, I know I belong in the circus, but I thought I was the beautiful and mysterious fortune teller, not the freak :(

I feel like im venting too much...sorry

HUGS

i did tech support for an online gaming site for a few years and i took a LOT of abuse from the users there... but i found what was best was to not just try and solve their problem, but to teach them about it so they can fix it themselves the next time... sometimes that approach kinda blew up in my face, i'll admit, but most of the time, i turned angry people into happy people that way

i know that doesnt apply to most situations, but it worked wonders for me

youre not venting too much at all... a lot of the posts here are just people letting it out because they dont have anywhere else to let it out... and it needs to come out... so please, feel free to keep venting

if you want, tell me (here, or in a private message) more about what you do, and maybe i can give some ideas that could help... no promises, but hey, i might be able to help a lot :)

*hugs*

I own a ice cream parlor/ candy store. The only employees are myself and my father. He says he gets treated like poo on a shoe as well. Don't get me wrong, I think my shop is generally well liked by the locals, and I get a lot of happy faces. But it only takes one gloomy cloud to rain on my day it seems.

HUGS

I would like to add, that for lack of better words, my father is a old fart- so it hurts to know he might be getting a worse experience. He has joint issues and this is a physically demanding job. He is here working for free so I can have a decent salary. The man deserves an award, not bullshit from rude people. He is also working 3 other jobs, besides being here. If it wasn't for him, I'd be working 7 days a week (he gives me a weekend)

ok, how about this...

get someone to pose for a pic with their face covered in icecream, and make a sign out of it that reads:

"nice people get bowls for free, rude people get served our way"

or something

ok maybe thats not such a hot idea (almost no pun intended)

but seriously, theres no reason to put up with rude customers...

i once had a business and a very rude client kept making all my employees feel uncomfortable... but i never saw it personally... when my employees complained about it i asked if they wanted me to do something about it (which meant making him not a client anymore) and they all said no, so i didnt... i really had no idea how bad he was... i thought i needed his money... it was a lot, and they all knew it... so they let it go on...

anyway, finally a girl told me what he was doing, which i wont get in to, and i was pretty horrified and instantly, he wasnt a client anymore... when i asked around, i found he was that horrible to all my employees... i asked them why they didnt tell me all of this but they all just kinda hmm'd and haw'd and never really answered the question

as it turned out, i didnt need his money after all... once he was gone i had time to worry about other clients and everyone was happy about it... but i still felt like an ass

anyway, the lesson i learned was, dont put up with any rude people... thier money just isnt worth it... and they'll never get better over time

just tell them to bugger off

Give your dad a High Five for me! That is a man to be proud of. Whenever I walk into a company, shop, whatever the store may be, I always remember that it's not the waitress that cooked the food, it's not the customer service rep that priced the item wrong, it's not the bus drivers fault that an accident was a delay in arriving, and on and on I could go. Try to remember that there are good people that do understand how hard it is to be on the other side of the counter, and we never know what is going on in someone's life to make them show rudeness in their heart. I give a lot of credit to all customer service reps, and store owners a like! Hugs GB

Customer Service professionals are amazing ... they understand what their job is ... and are able to do it.

I would get fired the first day, because I can be a bigger prick! Lol

My teacher said the same thing. Working in customer service is abuse.

It is a hard gig for sure.

Checking in to see if you are feeling any better? I hope it helps to know that so many people empathize with you and what you and your dad have to go through. Vent ALL you want! We are here to listen. Hugs GB