Rudest customer you ever had and how you handled it

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cajungal
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Rudest customer you ever had and how you handled it

#1 Postby cajungal » Mon May 30, 2005 3:04 pm

I have so many working in retail since out of high school. Most of the time I just call a manager if it gets out of hand.

Once I was working at K-mart, and this lady came in my line and was just as rude as can be. She kept saying stupid little white girl does not know what she is doing. Even though, I was doing my job right and I don't need nobody telling me how to do my job. I was folding her pants and she did not like the way I was doing it. So, I said fine, fold it yourself then. She went on and on calling me every rude name in the book. So, I put her ant poison in the same bag with her cookies. Might of been wrong and immature thing to do, but she never came in my line ever again.
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Josephine96

#2 Postby Josephine96 » Mon May 30, 2005 3:37 pm

Ya'll know about mines..

Came a couple weeks ago.. Hit the ladies car.. She thinks I deliberately hit it.. She started calling me every name in the book.. I made the stupid mistake of retaliating..

I was not punished.. But I was talked too..
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#3 Postby streetsoldier » Mon May 30, 2005 4:31 pm

Not quite a "customer", but...when I was working as a hospital "housekeeper" (read: janitor), I was on trash detail one day. This involved pushing a huge rubber/plastic dumper bin, filling it with ALL of trash on every floor, then taking it out to the compactor.

About noon, I just left the elevator to go check the pediatric/orthopedic wing, when I turned a corner and was promptly "hit" by a woman who was pushing her aged mother in a wheelchair. Due to the size of the bin, I couldn't see anyone in front of me, thus unable to avoid a collision.

This woman imediately screamed, "JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH!"..went on incoherently for a few seconds, then...(apparently, she was waiting for a confrontation) I said sotto voce...

"I am very sorry, Ma'am; but, other than advertising to the whole world that you are Catholic, what have you accomplished? SEE TO YOUR MOTHER, please." :larrow:

This silenced the woman quickly, I went on my way, and I didn't hear anything more about it. I was 17 at the time.
Last edited by streetsoldier on Mon May 30, 2005 6:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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#4 Postby Guest » Mon May 30, 2005 4:35 pm

I work at a large grocery store chain as front-end customer service (really, when you think about it, you can be a stocker and you are still customer service). Most of my customers are very pleasent to talk with (it actually makes my day :) ). Sometimes we strike up an interesting conversation. It is fun!

BUT...about 1% of my customers can be difficult (I have never witnessed or involved in a situation where a customer was THAT rude (the "White" comment).

Usually, when someone is upset, I will get a manager/supervisor, and typically things are rectified (sometimes the customer even apologizes becauses THEY were wrong!)

The worse case scenario: I would after bringing management into the situation, offer additional assistance or wish him/her a great day!

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#5 Postby jujubean » Mon May 30, 2005 6:25 pm

I think some people just try to make others as miserable as they are....I say kill them with kindness it aggravates them to no end and the best part .... you don't get in trouble :wink:
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#6 Postby StormChasr » Mon May 30, 2005 6:49 pm

I think I told the story last week about my friend who is the head of Radiology at the local hospital, and my programming of the CT scanner. Well, his snotty assistant, who pulled that attitude on me as to "who went to the better schools" has been calling me up repeatedly to apologize. I guess the fact that he may not get some of the benefits of my specialized services is enough to make him one little contrite puppy. :)
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Miss Mary

#7 Postby Miss Mary » Mon May 30, 2005 7:25 pm

It helps to work with a great bunch of coworkers. You have to put up with rude customers - the customer is always right, so true. Once the customer is gone and you can speak freely, just having that coworker comraderie will help, I think.

Years ago I worked in a doctor's office, for 6 busy ENT surgeons, as a receptionist. A percentage of our patients were quite rude, one doctor in particular branched out into plastic surgery. His plastic surgery patients were very hard to handle at times. We all had to smile and put up with it too. While gritting our teeth. Oh we had about 10 pushy, crabby patients on the top of our you know what list. And we all got to know their voices. Sometimes you just couldn't deal with it so one of us would quickly ask - can you please hold a moment, thank you. Then the next receptionist got that lovely call. See - coworker comraderie. I know it sounds like we were all passing the buck around, we were, but I've been to 3 work related reunions and we all still laugh how we shuffled these rude patients around, on the phone. It was how we got thru it. I would sometimes cry on the ride home, they were so mean to us. Treated us lower than people. But by the time I pulled in the driveway, I was okay.

One final note, the first April Fool's Day after I resigned, I pranked my sidekick receptionist Betty (who became like a second mother to me). I pretended to be our rudest patient, Mrs Marcus, demanding to be the first patient of the day, etc. I kept up the charade until Betty put me on hold. She came back on the line explaining how I couldn't have the first appt. and I just burst out laughing. Who is this, she damanded......oh, it's YOU Mary!

We still laugh about this prank, at reunions. You gotta do something to release the tension. Because you just can't take it out on rude customers/patients. You will get fired if you do (at least I would have!). Fast forward to 2005 and I've wondered how clerks can treat customers so rudely! Shoe is on the other foot it seems like today. And yes I've said to my family - if I ever would have talked to a patient that way, I would have been fired on the spot.

Mary
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#8 Postby cajungal » Tue May 31, 2005 10:39 am

Christmas time is when we get most of the crazy people. This story does not relate to me. But, once this lady threatned to hit the 2 girls working in jewelry. She started raising her fists and was fixing to throw a punch. But, security came just in time and escorted her out the store. And she had a child in a stroller! I dare someone to hit me. Because I will press charges for battery.

I work in the shoe dept now at Sears. A couple of months ago, on a Saturday, our busiest shopping day, a lady came in the store. She wanted a size shoe that was not on the floor. So, I went in the stockroom and got in her size. She asked me how much they were and I said they are on sale for $14.99. Well, she was only reading the part of the sign she wanted to read. And not reading it all the way through. On the bottom, it said EXCLUDES buy one get 1 free. And she kept insisting that shoe was buy 1 get 1 free which it was not. I showed her the sign again and very nicely explained it to her. And she ripped the sign out of my hand and started cursing. I said "mam, I don't do the signing, but if you got a problem with it, then take it up with management." So, she marched up to the register with a real attitude and was giving the cashiers such a hard time. The store manager came out. And the lady argued and argued with him. But, he stood his ground. Told the lady they were not buy 1 get 1 free. She thought if she argued enough with management, they would give her way. Wrong. So, she left very angry. Anybody got any more customer stories to tell me? Working in retail for so long, sometimes I find them hilarious.
Last edited by cajungal on Tue May 31, 2005 10:56 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Checker at Walmart

#9 Postby Windsong » Tue May 31, 2005 10:52 am

I was in Walmart the other evening. After getting in line in the "20 items or less" lane, I noticed the woman in front of me had a carriage MOUNDED with items. She loaded the conveyer belt and still had items in her carriage. The girl with her noted that they were in the 20 items or less isle. The woman told her to never mind, that the check out girl would take them non the less. After making change for the previous customer, the cashier said "and which of these 20 items would you like to purchase today ma'am?" LOL! I about fell out laughing. The checker then stated she would take her THIS TIME, but to be more aware in the future please LOL!

She's my hero.

Seabreeze
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#10 Postby sunny » Tue May 31, 2005 10:58 am

On the flip side of this - I was in what used to be K&B Drugstores. There was an old lady in front of me, very elderly mind you, who was not moving fast enough to get her money out of her wallet for the cashier. The cashier began to yell at the lady, who only shook more with nervousness. I just tore into the cashier like a bat out of hell. When I got finished telling the manager what was going on, the cashier was called into the back. I felt so bad for that old lady. All she was trying to do was pay for her little things that she needed.
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#11 Postby Skywatch_NC » Tue May 31, 2005 11:41 am

When I worked maintenance at a Sleep Inn there was a couple there and the man called the front desk complaining about a bathroom sink tap that didn't function right...it shot water in different streams so to say...I went up to check out the problem and tried to fix it with a pair of channellocks on the pipe below it...but didn't have any luck so had to call upon another maintenance fella there to see what he could do...he must have had more experience with repariring those kinds of problems because he was able to successfully get the water flow normal. When the male guest initially showed me the problem he splashed a bit of water on me after taking his hand through the running water problem...got a little shower on the front of my shirt as a result.

Eric
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#12 Postby beenthru6 » Tue May 31, 2005 1:32 pm

How about rude and crazy? When I was working as an animal control officer, I was called to go to the beach to see a particularly irrate woman. She was so upset, that dispatch didn't catch exactly what the problem was. When I arrived, the woman immediately started screaming at me about seagulls. I finally calmed her down enough to realize that she wanted me to get rid of all the seagulls on the beach, because they were disturbing her. She said she hadn't paid all of the money she did to come on vacation and get harrassed by seagulls. :eek: :lol: I said, "You're kidding, right?" No she was serious :D :D She claimed that I was animal control and the seagulls were animals, therefore it was my job to somehow control them, and she didn't care how. I called her nuts and walked away. She called my Sargeant and filed a complaint against me. He also told her she was nuts and ended up hanging up on her.
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SouthernWx

#13 Postby SouthernWx » Tue May 31, 2005 10:23 pm

While employed at EDS as a correspondence clerk (customer service), I once was cursed out on my birthday....the last call of the day (and I answered 120+); an irate Mississippi pharmacist who called me every name in the book. He was trying to bill claims electronically for a medicaid recipient who'd already reached her prescription limit for the month (and it was only Oct 11th); he'd already let her leave the pharmacy with the medications....but he failed to check her medicaid account beforehand...meaning he was out of luck (unless he could get his $$$ from her).

This guy wouldn't listen to reason...wanted me to tamper with the recip's medicaid account on my computer; "break the rules" so he'd get his money (which would have won me immediate termination from EDS and possibly a jail cell in downtown Jackson). He cursed out me...then my supervisor, the EDI department head, then finally our EDS assistant account manager (I don't believe the idiot ever got his money either...not from Mississippi medicaid or EDS).

That call was almost as bad as the time a sobbing account clerk was pleading with me to help her; several patient accounts were all screwed up at the doctor's office, and the doctor was literally yelling at her...I could hear him ("I'll fire you b#$#h"!.."you stupid bimbo"; "your such an idiot!!); it was terrible hearing what she was going through :(

I honestly never realized what jerks some "medical professionals" were before working at EDS. I didn't know doctors, dentists, and other used such obscene language and displayed such nasty tempers in their offices.

PW
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#14 Postby MomH » Tue May 31, 2005 11:09 pm

My rudest customer wasn’t rude; he was sexually suggestive. I didn’t have to handle the situation though - three men did. At 15 I looked 20 and was working at my folk’s cafeteria. It was race week and every hotel, motel and extra room in the county was full. My folks were letting race fans sleep in chairs in our little hotel lobby and only charging them the cost of washing the sheets, towels, wash clothes, and soap we gave them. Anyway this guy came in and being friendly and outgoing I said something about not seeing him in the cafeteria before. He said he had just gotten into town. I then ask if he had managed to find a place to stay. At the point, he suggested where he might stay, leaving me somewhat speechless. Keep in mind this all happened in a different era - the early fifties - and one didn’t treat young southern ladies that way. Before I realized what was happening three regulars sitting at the “family table” had him surrounded, explained that I was 15, being a friendly southern girl and that he was to apologize immediately. Needless to say, he did so very quickly. He then came back when he finished dinner and apologized again and then a third time the next morning at breakfast. Before the week was out he was having after dinner coffee at the “family table.” He visited at least once a year for several years and became another of my “protectors.”
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#15 Postby drudd1 » Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:14 am

Having worked many years in electrical and A/C service, and also as a service manager for one of the largest A/C companies here in Central Florida, I have seen some really crazy stuff. The rudeness of some people is incredible. Having now retired, I opened up a fishing tackle shop which was my dream for retirement. I will have to say that 99.9% of my customers are fantastic, but you always have that .1 percent that make their life's goal making folks miserable. Having spent so many years with the customer always being right, for my own store I have adopted a new policy.

If we are in the wrong, we will do everything possible to rectify the situation. Even in the event we have goofed in some way, that does not give anyone the right to be beligerent. We treat everyone with respect and expect the same in return. If the customer is being a jerk, they are shown the door, period. I guess you could say my officail policy is, "The customer is always right, unless they are wrong." I seem to not have as much patience as I get older, and my pet peeve is rude jerks. I can't tell you how good it felt in the couple of instances I have escorted jerks to the door.
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#16 Postby GalvestonDuck » Wed Jun 01, 2005 9:37 am

Even the most polite, well-mannered people can turn into something that would surprise family and friends when they become sick or injured, particularly with closed head trauma. I remember a preacher who cussed the staff up one side and down the other and used GD more than I cared to hear. But we knew it was the bruise on his brain causing it. Trauma, especially when accompanied by drugs or alcohol, can bring out the worst in people.

However, the thing that bugged us the most in the ER was the patient who was there for something so minor that they really SHOULD have gone to the clinic when the problem first arose earlier in the day and let their primary care physician handle it. Not only that, but the same patient would grab one of us as we were running through the hall covered in blood from a trauma and say, "How much longer 'til I get seen? I've been here for 45 minutes and no one has been in my room." Or worse, they'd yell out for every other patient to hear, "I sure am glad I'm not dying! No one would be here to save me!" Hello?? The point is, you're NOT dying but others are and we are working to save their lives.

One time, we did have another patient respond to such an outburst, "You're gonna be if you don't stop your whining! Can't you hear them working over there? They ARE busy saving people!!" (A long curtain hid the trauma bays from the urgent care areas, so they didn't actually see everything that was happened, but could certainly hear it.)
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#17 Postby azskyman » Wed Jun 01, 2005 6:58 pm

Man...according to these posts, there have been some really rude situations! Glad I am not alone.

My rudest is easy to remember. Back in 1992, we missed a deadline for a long time customer by one day. In reality, there were all kinds of legitimate reasons for it, but he didn't want to hear any of them.

In front of a handful of my staff, he chose to say something that was obviously really meant to hurt me.

"Steve," he said, "Dammit and damn you. This world would be better off if you were dead!"

To which Charlie stormed out of the building and I was left asking the others, "Did he really say what I thought he said?"

"Yup" Geez, didn't know that missing a deadline by a day was worthy of the death sentence.

The irony was twofold.

First, the next day I got a call from his office asking if we could make a last minute change...and we did accommodate it just fine. So the delay actually helped this customer.

But the second part of the irony was a little more severe.

Within about three weeks, Charlie died of a heart attack. Stress, they said, was part of the reason.

Attending the funeral with my boss, I couldn't help but think when I saw him in the casket, "You should have watched what you wished for Charlie...no deadline is worth this."

True story.
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