So I’ve been working in retail for a while and seen my share of odd and rude customers, but today I had my very first “Karen”, and he was american also. (I’m not, and I’m in Australia).
The store I work for doesn’t give their bags for free, we charge for them. This guy picked an online order and then threw up a tantrum and demanded to speak to a manager when I refused to give him a bag for free. Another team member (more experienced) just gave him the bag and he just left.
That does it I guess, but it’s giving in to rude demands what sustains this kind of behavior imo. I’m not trying to protect the interests of the corporate I work for- it’s just a stupid bag ffs, perhaps ask nicely? I’ve been called off both for giving away bags for free before as well as calling for the manager to deal with “minor issues”.
So I’m asking, in general, how do you deal with these types of customers?
Meh, shoulda called him a “Cunt”. That’s not an ok word with Americans.
j/k: not worth the trouble.
Generally, if no one is going to account for it, just cave. They’re one asshole out of tens of not hundreds of customers you will help today. The time it takes to enforce the policy is probably not worth the cost of whatever they are bitching about. Worse comes to worse, check with your manager, they are paid to deal with jackasses, and have the authority to override charges or deny transaction and eject the customer from premises.
Source : Worked Front end sales, Floor sales, Sales management and Ops Management for a Big Box retail store for 4 years.
Yes, let’s reward that behavior with a treat in front of other people.
This is a situation that’s a one-off where someone not used to the normal customer experience reacted unreasonably. If you give in and allow their behavior to override the rules of doing business with that establishment, you not only encourage that person to continue acting out to get their way, but you also send a problematic message to the customers watching this interaction.
I’ve been in customer service in various roles for over twenty years. I’ve spent the last six in different positions in animal shelters, veterinary clinics, and am currently at a pet food manufacturer. Anything involving people’s pets leads to highly emotional situations, especially when things don’t go the way pet owners are hoping. I’ve dealt with people on some of the worst days of their lives. This leads to a lot of heated interactions.
You’re absolutely right, your coworker’s choice to give in to this man’s tantrum is not how that should have been handled. It rewards Karen’s nasty behavior, and it sends the wrong message to other customers. Staying calm, explaining policies simply, and not becoming defensive or arguing points that don’t matter is important. My golden rule is to avoid letting a customer get a reaction out of me by all means necessary. I usually tire them out with calm kindness and repetition, because they’re used to making people uncomfortable to get their way. I’ve got all day, Karen. At least I’m getting paid for this, while they’re wasting their own time.
I resonate with this answer. I should practice more that “repeat calmly I got all day” strategy.
I’m glad it was helpful! Staying zen in the face of an irate or confrontational customer isn’t easy, but it’s the most effective way I have found to manage these types of situations. Rules and policies are in place for a reason, and I’m not going to be bullied into unfairly breaking rules for an asshole. If people are nice and respectful I will do everything in my power to assist however I can, but entitled people need to stop being catered to. The fact that their behavior gets them what they want is exactly why they treat people this way.
Your colleague is a dick for not backing you up.
When I was in retail (Apple Store), we had a saying “Don’t feed the bears”. Meaning if you give in to petulant outbursts, the offender will keep coming back and asking for more.
I get my manager. That’s their job, it’s generally what the customer wants anyway, and I’m not paid enough to take abuse.
Its been a few years since i worked in fast food/drive thru. But the highlight of my time there was when a car refused to take thier receipt. Literally threw it back at me when i gave them thier drink + reciept. (reciepts are given to all cars incase of an order mix up)
Walked over to the other window, and put the reciept in the bag with thier food.
It doesn’t apply in your case, but I had a customer on the phone, ranting and rambling, and after a while I asked him if he had a problem I could help him with. That derailed his train of thoughts for long enough to end the call, wishing him a nice day.
Be extremely overtly kind and nice to them, apologies for every single thing and do it over and over again, don’t take there bait, most customers do it because there taking it out on someone they don’t know or they are privileged and it confuses a lot of them when you don’t get angry or mad at them.
Usually works for me. Not always though but confusing them with the opposite of what they expect is always entertaining for me though
I’m working in customer service and we sometimes have people who don’t want to pay for a service we offer (fixing their stuff in IT). There are two options:
You tell me what you did when and ask nicely if we can fix it for free? You just did half of my work, of course I will make an exception for you.You blame everything on us and want the service for free as a compensation? Bet I will invest more time to prove why it’s your fault and therefore you’ll have to pay for it.
For a plastic bag? Give it to them, it costs nothing and it’s not worth your time and effort.
No. Working in retail is a direct exchange of goods for money. You follow the policies of that establishment, or you take your business elsewhere. You don’t have an actual tantrum over something so trivial and get catered to.
I’m now in a position where I have autonomy over what I offer to customers, and I agree with your principle. It doesn’t apply in this situation, though.
Used to work a chain coffee shop. Had a closing shift by myself, but would randomly get slammed with large groups of people. On occasion when customers were rude to me while I was trying to do everything on my own, I just snapped and swore at them and gave them the finger. I thought I was going to get fired when word got back to my manager, but all I ever got were raises and eventually promoted to assistant manager.
Nice, good on you. Sounds like your management was down to earth
I think they were mostly just desperate for people who could do the job and wouldn’t quit within a month. I always got my work done, but I learned I’m not cut out for customer service.
We had bouncers dealing with them when I worked as a cook in Amsterdam at a grand cafe also selling hash and weed. If anyone was rude or entitled, mostly American or British tourist, they got dealt with pretty quick. I remember Americans going ballistic over orders, like “who put fucking tomato on my fucking BLT?!”, I could hear this woman screaming from th kitchen. Got launched by a knee from a bouncer, don’t be rude.
“who put fucking tomato on my fucking BLT?!”
Doesn’t the T in BLT stand for tomato?
Bacon, Lettuce, Take yourself the fuck outta here
It sure does.
Bacon Lettuce Thing
Ah lucky you. Unfortunately we don’t have bouncers here and security sucks. We’re in a mall and it takes them about half an hour to get to us if we call them. Useless
I haven’t seen an entitled British making a fuss though and we get lots of people from UK.
It’s been decades, but I enjoy not giving them what they want. Unfortunately, management usually caves. If they are nice, I DGAF and will do whatever I can.
People suck and retail isn’t worth getting too worked up about, unless you desperately need the job.
“Rude” can be so many things that it depends. In your situation, I would’ve removed him. He violated policy. When I work somewhere, it’s my job to protect what I must. Anything else I just treat as expression.
Some people cause a scene to bully you into breaking the rules and get free stuff. In most cases I just become super nice (like syrupy, sickly sweet) and pretend I’m on their side (bag fees are dumb), and let them know you don’t want to lose your job for giving away free merchandise (so sorry, did you still want to buy a bag?). If they are super toxic, you call a manager and make them deal with it, that’s what they get paid for.
