Customer service rant

I think everyone in the world needs to work in customer/food service at least once in their lives. I don't know what it is about customer service that makes other think they can walk all over you. And here's something brilliant, believe it or not, the customer is NOT always right. I know that when I am a customer I am not always right. Although I also don't go into a store, second guess what the people who work there tell me, and then demand my money back. Because my momma raised me with manners, thank you very much.

Today there was a customer who shushed us. OK. First off, for all those that know me, don't F-ing shush me. EVER. Tell me to shut the hell up, shut your trap, be quiet, but don't shush me. So that just got the whole ordeal off on the wrong foot. This jerk ordered a small coffee, shushed us again, because the first time wasn't good enough I guess. And we apologized. And he said "Are you really sorry? The customer is always right, you know." Well that did me in. I responded with "I'm sorry we bothered you, Sir, but this is also not a library." So he wanted to return his coffee and take his business elsewhere. Fine with me. Here is your $1.71 back in cash, have a nice day.

I have to say that yes, we can be loud and boisterous at my work but that is just because we are enjoying our day. So I am sorry we were bothering him. That is never anything we want to do. But he could have handled it like an adult and said "I'm trying to work, would you mind being a little quieter?" And absolutely we would have. But the fact that he treated us like children and servants with very little respect right off the bat, just sends me into a frenzy. My job requirements are no where near being treated like shit because I am serving you coffee.

As he left he said "Stay in school now." What the hell is that supposed to mean?! I wanted so badly to follow him out there and say to him with more dignity than he would ever give to me "Excuse me sir, I am sorry we were disturbing you and I am sorry you left upset. But if you had treated us like equals and not assumed that we are uneducated lazy people, we both might have enjoyed your visit a little more. I'll have you know that everyone I work with is in school, applying themselves and working at the same time. I also have a degree, am salaried and I enjoy my job and my co-workers more than you could ever hope for. Have a nice day."

But instead I fumed for 20 minutes about what a dick this guy was. And then I realized he's not worth my time anymore.

He is worth a blog post though. Note to all those that don't work customer service, be nice. We want to make you happy and make your short stay in our business enjoyable. But if you go down that road of assuming we are imbeciles, or assuming that our whole purpose at work is to piss you off, then yes we will join you. We will give you decaf, we will burn your milk, we will talk to you like you talk to us - loud, rude, and like we are stupid children. Every time we greet you with a smile, offer something to eat, and tell you to enjoy the day. And we mean it. We enjoy the majority of our day every time we work and hope that other people do the same. When we tell you we can't do something, it's not to watch you get all angry and flustered, it's because we can't do it. It's policy, or literally we and our machines can't make that happen. If you are polite and courteous like we are to you, then we'll get along fine. But believe me, if you come back, we remember the people who treated us like crap.

On a good note I adore Patty, Tammy, Jim, Laura, Charlie, Charles, John, Kevin, Peter, Becky, Amy, Jerry, Mark, Mr. Lotsof, Dawn, Jennifer, Mr. Estamba, even crazy "As Usual" Susan. Those are some of my regulars (whose drinks I know by heart) who come in every day, share witty banter with us, and tell us to have a good day too. Thank you to them and the ones who's names I don't know for always making my day a bit more joyful. They can keep coming back.