Physical & Emotional Abuse Support Group
Abuse is a general term for the treatment of someone that causes some kind of harm (to the abused person, to the abusers themselves, or to someone else) that is unlawful or wrongful. No one deserves abuse, period. Abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual.
Pasted in from today's
Wolf's Daily Howl
I had a chance encounter today
which was manipulative and abusive.
I'd gone into a local franchise
of a major company. I'd been
there before and had found the
customer service to be spotty.
If I had an alternative location,
I'd certainly have taken my business
elsewhere. But this is the nearest
of its kind, geographically. And with
gas prices jetting upward, the most
cost-effective.
Because I'd had to fight for a minimal
level of customer service before, the
store associate who came out to "help"
me, apparently remembered me. But
I did not remember him. I said, "Hello."
He appeared not to understand, and
barked back at me: WHAT????
I said, "I said 'Hello.'"
Proceedings went downhill from there.
He appeared to be seething. His demeanor
was of a sullen adolescent who'd just been
grounded. I kept trying to interact with him
normally, but it got worse and worse.
Finally I asked him if he was having
a bad day.
"No," he barked back. "ARE YOU????"
I stood there, amazed.
"You always do this, when you come in here,"
he hissed.
============================
The company, by the way,
is Radio Shack.
I'll be calling the corporate office
tomorrow, to see how I might follow
up on this. Hard to imagine that this
would-be adolescent behind the counter
could be an owner of this location. I
certainly hope he's not in a managerial
position.
Yes. I'm a tough cookie when I'm shopping.
I expect to be treated with respect and an
acceptable level of customer service.
And I endeavor to be respectful,
even in the face of incompetence.
In the future, I'll certainly do whatever
I have to, to find the products I need
elsewhere. When I speak with the powers
that be, in regards to the service at this
store, I may try and get a letter of
apology from this offensive numbskull.
Well. . . . . we'll see.
I tried to not let this incident
effect my day. But I'm sorry
to say, I suspect it drained
my energy level. Abuse
will do that.
As I said, I'll call corporate tomorrow
and see how I can effectively follow up
and deal with having been treated
abusively, where I went to purchase
a product. I will not be treated
with disrespect.
Wolf's Daily Howl
I had a chance encounter today
which was manipulative and abusive.
I'd gone into a local franchise
of a major company. I'd been
there before and had found the
customer service to be spotty.
If I had an alternative location,
I'd certainly have taken my business
elsewhere. But this is the nearest
of its kind, geographically. And with
gas prices jetting upward, the most
cost-effective.
Because I'd had to fight for a minimal
level of customer service before, the
store associate who came out to "help"
me, apparently remembered me. But
I did not remember him. I said, "Hello."
He appeared not to understand, and
barked back at me: WHAT????
I said, "I said 'Hello.'"
Proceedings went downhill from there.
He appeared to be seething. His demeanor
was of a sullen adolescent who'd just been
grounded. I kept trying to interact with him
normally, but it got worse and worse.
Finally I asked him if he was having
a bad day.
"No," he barked back. "ARE YOU????"
I stood there, amazed.
"You always do this, when you come in here,"
he hissed.
============================
The company, by the way,
is Radio Shack.
I'll be calling the corporate office
tomorrow, to see how I might follow
up on this. Hard to imagine that this
would-be adolescent behind the counter
could be an owner of this location. I
certainly hope he's not in a managerial
position.
Yes. I'm a tough cookie when I'm shopping.
I expect to be treated with respect and an
acceptable level of customer service.
And I endeavor to be respectful,
even in the face of incompetence.
In the future, I'll certainly do whatever
I have to, to find the products I need
elsewhere. When I speak with the powers
that be, in regards to the service at this
store, I may try and get a letter of
apology from this offensive numbskull.
Well. . . . . we'll see.
I tried to not let this incident
effect my day. But I'm sorry
to say, I suspect it drained
my energy level. Abuse
will do that.
As I said, I'll call corporate tomorrow
and see how I can effectively follow up
and deal with having been treated
abusively, where I went to purchase
a product. I will not be treated
with disrespect.
And he turns the blame on you. What an idiot! And it is abuse!
I find respect is a lost art and so many people especially in customer service have no inkling what it is.
You deserve respect Ilene from everywhere and from anyone. That's what makes life so wonderful, having respect from our loved ones, our peers, and even strangers in customer service.
I hope corporate headquarters can do something to fix this situation and not have it repeated again to you or anyone else.
I wish you well on this, and hope they contact you with a solution.
Hugs for you always,
Karasal
I talked with someone in
the Radio Shac corporate
office today and they said
they'd have someone call
me to follow-up.
So. . . . we'll see.
I'll let you know.
I really hope they do something about it, but even if they don't, you stood up and said "no" and that in itself is powerful. Even if they do nothing this time, maybe they'll do something next time someone complains, or the time after.
Radio Shack corporate
offices, I got the promised
follow-up call. It was from
the district manager. From
her, I learned that the Radio
Shack associate who verbally
assaulted me is the store's
MANAGER.
The DM and I had a pleasant
enough chat. She apologized
for the company. I requested
an apology from the perpetrator
himself. She said that wouldn't
be possible. She said she had
"talked" to him. (I'm appalled that
that's the extent of the "action." I
asked what other measures
would be taken, to which she
replied that the company policy
prevented her from sharing that.)
She said they'd be sending me
a $10 gift card as compensation.
I said $10 was hardly compensation
for the vehemence and intensity with
which I'd been attacked. She increased
the gift card to $25 and promised that
what happened would never happen
again. She said the young man had
stresses at home (a mother with
cancer), and was having a "bad day."
I replied that the way he had acted
wasn't because of a "bad day," but
was abuse.
She apologized again and took
my address for the gift card.
Well. . . . . . . when it arrives, I'll
take my gift card, and use it at
a different store. And I'll certainly
try not to cross that threshhold
again, unless I have absolutely
no other choice.
That's MY policy.
So she "talked" to him. Makes me wonder what they talked about. So much for resolution. I took a course in conflict resolution some years ago and what the Radio Shack DM did at best was to enable this hostile and abusive manager. There were other options she could have done. But that's neither here nor there for now.
Doesn't make for a good customer service policy.
The bottom line is how you feel about it. You be the judge! The impact of his misconduct means you shop elsewhere. But you also get on with this with the knowledge of how abusive people are all over the planet.
I'm thinking that if and I really mean if, I could rewrite this in your favour it would go something like this:
"Ma'am I am sorry to be so short tempered today but at home I have a mother with cancer and it gets to me so I humbly apologize to you for my behaviour" Now I can see you saying something empathetic and supportive to him. So he would have had a better day instead of the one he created for you. And you even implied that compassion to him when you asked him if he was having a bad day in the beginning. What does that tell us?! You are compassionate and gave him the opportunity to think about this.
You are wiser, you are stronger. Enjoy the gift card but I do wish they did more to solve this man's abuse in the long run.
Hugs