I'm afraid that maybe I wasn't clear. Let me try again, and I apologize for writing a book. I'm not saying that one shouldn't be polite. I'm unfailingly polite to just about everybody in public. And as I've said before, I worked for two years in a call center where 95% of my job was getting screamed at by irate customers - and yet I was always polite with them. But respect is about more than just social niceties, and one should never confuse politeness with respect. Respect is about things more significant than being polite. Respect is about how much you value someone, how much esteem you have for someone, how highly you honor someone. Inevitably, we value some people more than others. We honor military veterans and politicians (provided that they served honorably) for their service, sacrifice, and achievements, and rightfully so. We respect great leaders, great artists, great scientists, etc. Again, rightfully so, IMO. However, in all of these cases, the respect was clearly earned. Sadly, society has a bad habit of awarding levels of respect based on factors other than leadership, service, sacrifice, and achievement. Factors like gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, ability (as opposed to lack of disability), etc, are used to determine a person's standing in society. This is where "default respect" can be dangerous. Consider the case of abusive parents. You may say, "I would not respect abusive parents." But consider from the perspective of the child. Children are taught from an early age to honor their parents, but rarely is it explained to them that there are exceptions to this, and in any case children usually lack the cognitive skills to recognize this for themselves (children don't gain the ability to see beyond simple right and wrong until they become teenagers). Children are also taught to respect older people in general, provided that they're not strangers. You can see where this can (and does) lead. Consider the case of the abusive spouse. Statistically, women are often the abused and men the abusers. Yet it's well known that many women have tremendous difficulty in leaving these harmful situations. Why? In part, it's because society still tells women that they are worth less than men, and furthermore pushes women to submit to their fathers and husbands. Remember that feminism and the idea of female equality is still tremendously new to Western society. So consider from the perspective of the abused: you're supposed to respect your husband/wife because you vowed to do so and because society tells you so. Furthermore, society also says that to leave him/her is wrong. So, out of deference to social norms (or in fear of what would happen should you break them), you stay. This is also not far from the case of rape - rapes are often unreported because the victim fears the possible social consequences, including a loss of honor in the community. In summary, being polite is always the best course of action, but respect is another matter. Respect should be earned because assigning respect based on social norms is an unhealthy and dangerous system.
Hey all Just to be Clear I did not do any of thoose things in the article i was linked to it by my cousin. I appreciate thoose that thought i did this but sadly i did not. However i do work in retail and if the customer comes at me all beligigent(sp) and disrespectful they do nto get shit from me however they treat me with basic human kindness i will bend over backwards for them. I also admit i have been the "asshole" customer as well it seems like it is just so easy to do. Anyway thanks for keeping this thread on top i have enjoyed reading it a lot. Till Next Time Scourge Out
You know that's probably one of the best things you've ever said? It's so, so damn true. I never knew how many idiots there were in this area alone until a few weeks ago when the christmas rush really started.
Now while I hate a rude customer the same as anyone else, I find it more so that the clerks and cashiers are rude as shit. I'm sick of the attitude, especially at fast food places. When you place an order, a normal order, they act as like you are bothering them when it's their damn job!
Word. Whenever anybody comes up to me and is very nice, it throws me off because Im not expecting it. Especially if its a cute chick. It feels like I'm going to be scammed or something.
CM, was that a reference to 'The Devil Wears Prada?' I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I have to revoke your penis.
I got a good one. I work at a music instrument store. So we do 'rentals' on school band instruments. Well technically not 'rentals' but whatever. I had a guy come in saying that he didn't want to pay the interest charges, or do the credit check to get a viola. Now the way it works, is you pay a down payment, and make no payments for 3 months, and then you start getting a monthly bill. At any time you can return the instrument and you are just out what you spent, no obligations to continue paying. Anyway, apparently according to this customer it wasn't explained to him in that way. I said I'm sorry that there was a miscommunication on how the contract works, but this is how it is and I'll make sure my fellow co-workers are reminded to make sure they explain things clearer. What it boils down to was the guy didn't want us to do a credit check, and didn't want to pay interest on it. I said I can't do that, and he kept insisting that I give him what he wanted. I told him that if I were to give him what he wants I would lose my job. His response 'That’s not my problem' Not to mention I had no way to actually give him what he wanted. Grrrrr!!!! Anyway, needless to say after he left I had probably the fastest smoke of my life!!!
Amen. I had an asshole of a customer screaming that "Customer is always right" shit at me and my staff a couple months back. He started running his mouth at me and throwing mass rudeness at me. I threw him out of my store. The next day he phoned MY manager on me, and MY manager made me phone him up and apologize, or it was my job on the line. I should print this off and post it in the staff room. Asshole customers should NEVER be rewarded, but rather be put in their fucking place. AMEN.
Wow, I love this article, and I am actually starting to act this way, calling people on being rude and shit. I've also sent it to all of my coworkers. I've been working at Blockbuster for going on 3 years now, and I am just starting to talk back to customers that are for no reason rude. Take three days ago for example: Semi-regular customer comes in, I recognize them but don't know them by name. First off, I have to ask them to come to my till 4 times, getting louder each time because a line is forming behind them. Then when they come up I pull up the account and a game has been autsold to it. I ask if they have just returned it. Now, the guy on the account seems to be a little out of it, because whenever you talk to him you have to tell him the same thing three times, and he said he dropped the game of on Saturday. I tell them I'll check the shelf to make sure it didn't get put back without being checked in, which does happen on occasion. I also checked the problem area. Nothing. So I ask if they could take another look around the house to see double check. The girl says she's positive SHE returned it. I said it's not in the store right now, could you please just check around and if you don't find it give us a call and we'll go from there. She says this is ridiculous, how much she shops here and how's she going to Rogers now. I lock her movie up, void it off the account and say "That's your choice, have a nice day." Funny thing, I wasn't working but went into work, walked by the shelf and saw the game in. I asked someone working to check to see when it was checked in, and it was in the morning. Made my day. But it seems as soon as the holidays hit everyone switched on the asshole switch and strives to make retail workers miserable. I mean, how many of them work or have worked in retail??? Why would you treat us like that? You know what it's like!!! I just have no patience with customers. I give you one chance to be nice, but if you blow it don't expect it back. And as for when I'm the customer, I always try to be nice and smile, even if I have to fake it. I've been there, and it's not nice. Now if the person serving me is in a bad mood, well, I won't be nice but I won't be a dick either. There, got a lot off my chest. Love the article, gonna start calling a lot more bullshit going on.
Not a day goes by that I don't see this kind of behavior. I've worked in the restaurant field for 13yrs. I've been that person behind the register, as well as the guy in charge of the whole operation that's expected to appease those that get completely out of line with their behavior. I decided a long time ago that it was unacceptable to allow people to behave that way. I have absolutely no problem apologizing and fixing mistakes that we make, but I refuse to let people treat my workers, or myself, like we're less than human because of our errors. Humanity is an imperfect creation. No matter how hard we try, or how many times we get it right, mistakes are made. It's human nature. That doesn't justify the ill treatment we receive. I understand some people's frustration when things go wrong, alot of the time it's just the last straw from the events of their day. Again, that doesn't justify treating people in that manner. I never raise my voice, or use foul language, and teach that to all the kids that have worked for me over the years. When dealing with people that are out of line, I am very matter-of-fact with them. Usually, they just get upset that I'm not kissing their ass "like I'm supposed to". Like I said, I'm more than happy to fix actual mistakes, but start acting unreasonable or rude, and I will treat you as if you're 6yrs old and don't know any better. I could fill 20 pages of specific examples, as could most of us that work in this sector, but I'll only leave one. A semi-regular orders pizzas delivered and wants extra sauces on the side. They say we forgot them the last time, as well as having the order incorrect and it took longer than expected. I apologize and say we'll take care of them this time. Order is made correctly, delivered promptly to their door in 21mins. I personally placed their sauces inside the boxes to make sure they got them. The delivery driver grabs sauces as well and places them in a bag. Driver gets to the door, dogs rush at him and jump up on him, he drops the bag of sauces but holds onto the food. They pay him, but feel it necessary to berate him for dropping the bag. Driver returns and relates the story to me. I told him don't worry, they were in the box anyway. Immediately after I utter those words, a car screaches to a halt in front of my store. "That's them" says the driver. They fling open my door, storm in, and tell me my driver was rude, and he dropped the sauces, and still took the full amount and left, then they slam the food on my counter. They demand a refund. I asked why. Their reply "because we always screw up their order", once out of 18 is not always. I point out the fact that the sauces were in the boxes, and the dropped ones were extras, we had it at their door quickly, and asked them if the order was correct. "We didn't even look, it's probably screwed up anyway." So I start opening up boxes right there and ask them if each one is correct. As we do this they see the sauces right where I said they were. Instead of admiting that we had done our job, and that not restraining their dogs was their own fault, but no harm done, the woman starts to swear and shout deragatory names at the driver and then at me. I almost couldn't believe it. They even tipped the guy, and demanded that back too because of his "attitude". I flat out denied them the refund. Told them that the tip was non-refundable under any circumstances because the amount couldn't be proven. Then they launch into the whole, I want the your supervisors number, I want the owners number, etc. The only mistake made was the customer not keeping ahold of their dogs, no harm was done, and still they saw fit to act like total a-holes,and berate us as if we were lower life forms because we work in food/retail. I've made it a personal mission to confront any and all unreasonable people in an effort to make them realize that that type of behavior will not be rewarded on any level. I have never been fired or disciplined for my actions. I have earned the respect of my employees for not allowing these people to abuse them. I have earned a loyal customer following, the majority of which know exaclty what happens if they get out of line. NOTHING. No coupons, no refunds. They're SOL. Act like a human being, treat us as equals, and everything will be fine. Watch the movie Waiting... great flick for those who work in the food service field. "Don't fuck with the people who handle your food"
A lesson that a huge proportion of the population needs to learn: People who you do not respect have NO REASON to respect you. This "second phrase" part of the article shows this clearly: the emphasis there is mine: the author clearly has no respect for the Kids in question, yet bemons the fact that the Kids don't respect them, but really with that attitude why the hell should they?, life doesn't give you points for respecting people who sh*t on you, just more sh*t. The rest of the article is bang on, however.
RAmen, dude. RAmen. But yeah, I will definitely agree that customers have gotten out of hand in recent years. In fact, it seems like a lot of things about work have - see <i>Dilbert</i>, <i>Office Space</i>, and <i>Waiting</i> as prime examples. I'll tell you a good one. I really liked this...I was in my car and listening to the radio - an alternative station (105.9FM - "The X" new rock alternative, Pittsburgh). A guy calls the DJ and asks for a dedication. The DJ (Grimm) says, (and none of these are totally accurate quotes, mind you) "Dude, we're an alternative station. We don't do dedications. You should be calling the top 40 station." The guy says, "C'mon, man, I just want to dedicate a song to my girlfriend. I didn't know you don't do dedications. I don't listen to your station." Grimm freaks out and says, "Well, if you don't listen to our station, then I really don't care what you want. I'm here for the loyal listeners." I seriously loved listening to this. Some might've found Grimm rude, but really, if you don't even listen to the station (and therefore don't listen to the music or the ads) then you don't have any room to complain when the station doesn't go out of its way for you.
You're not mocking my religion, are you? The Flying Spaghetti Monster might strike you down! ...well, OK, not really, but you won't get to enjoy the Beer Volcano or the Stripper Factory as much when you reach Heaven.
