The Angry Customer
Interpersonal Communication Situation In any customer service job there are going to be customers that do not agree with the policies, requirements, processes and service. During one evening shift I witnessed Bre have an encounter with a young female customer named Emily. Emily entered the establishment in fast pace and approached the front desk with the sense of annoyance of even having to be there. When Bre was finally able to assist Emily since she was next in line, Bre asked Emily what she could help her with tonight. Emily immediately started the conversation out in a very harsh and defensive voice and began the sentence with “You” instead of “I.” Emily then proceed on to tell Bre that, “You guys (referring to
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Bre responded while making eye contact and uses her hands to illustrate the point across to Emily, by saying, “it is not our responsibility to call or send out a letter that your expiration date is expired on your current credit card; however, we do it occasionally as a courteous, but if your sister moved, like you say she did, she probably is not receiving the letter because we have her previous address.” Bre in says in a direct and annoyance tone, “you will be cancelled at the end of the month along with her sister, but you still owe 80 dollars.” Emily becomes even more frustrated and starts huffing and sighing, all while her face is completely red and her mouth is clenched shut. Emily reluctantly hands Bre a credit card, and says “Fine, just pay for it, I just want to be done with this …show more content…
The common statement, “The customer is always right” is entirely wrong and this interpersonal situation is a perfect example of that (Kim, 2014). Bre is a customer service representative for a gym facility and is faced with an angry and rude customer and no matter what Bre said, it was not going to make things better for Emily. Emily made it obvious that she was angry by interrupting Bre while she was talking, cursing, clenched shut month when she was not speaking and for assuming that it is the establishments duty to call her and inform her about her account and expired credit card (Richmond, McCroskey, & Hickson,
5 – High Apologize, put the customer at ease, tell him you are here to help him and ask him to explain his concern to find a possible solution.
Many adults also hold onto the ideal that teenagers and children are the people who are rude and inconsiderate to those who work in retail. However, this is commonly not the truth. Many times, the stories are all about middle-aged and elderly people who are not helped immediately or are not able to find what they were looking for. Generally, teens and children by themselves are respectful and patient when things go awry at the register or
When this happens I will remain calm and polite but will warn them of their behaviour. An example of this was when a customer’s order was delivered late she contacted Salons Direct and told me that she has just lost a week’s work because of her product not arriving on time. The customer was promised this but due to unforeseen circumstances it arrived a couple of days late. I listened to the customer and she became very abusive towards me and threatened me. The names she called me are not printable and I was quite upset with what she said. I put the phone down on her and informed my manager. Laura took the customer details and contacted the customer. Laura spoke to this person and informed them that they will no longer have an account with Salons Direct and that if they ever call again and speak to the advisors she will pass the recorded conversation to the authorities. Laura then ended the call. She then explained to me what she has done and thanked me for being professional and following
Unfortunately for most retail workers, customer interaction is a face-to-face ordeal and most cashiers can't get out a full two sentences of reason before the enraged customer demands to see a manager. Samuel Johnson is lucky in this regard, he was able to deal with an impossible request through an eloquent letter. Still, even though his interaction with the woman was very impersonal, Johnson achieved
In every society nonverbal communication is one of the most powerful tools that a person can use to interpret the message that is being delivered. Even though verbal communication is fairly straightforward, nonverbal communication allows others to sense the true emotions of the person that is expressing them. For example even though a person may say that they are not irritated, their usage of voice may display otherwise. Nonverbal communication not only reveals hidden messages, but it also complements, substitutes, and exaggerates verbal communication.
(Dizik, 2010) Corporate policies, and training on those policies can mitigate the risk of customer-related disturbances. JetBlue failed to arm Mrs. Amarsingh with the proper “know how” on dealing with unmannerly customers. JetBlue is aware that “passenger frustrations” are increasing and flight attendants continue to be “walking targets” for intense customers. (Kinicki & Fugate, 2012, p. 170) Since the company understands the current environment, it is JetBlue’s duty to protect Mrs. Amarsingh, and all employees, from belligerent customers. JetBlue employees should not expect to fend for themselves against hostile patrons, without support from the corporate leadership. (Bloom,
Employees and customers have been of high importance through the years at Lincoln Electric Company. Employees are valued and compensated well for their productivity, performance and reliability. The goal has always been to have mutual respect with both the employees and the customers. When an employee or customer has something to say, whether it’s positive or negative, they know they are going to be heard.
When I was working in the gift shop I always helped customers find the perfect gift for. Then once they purchased it, I would wrap it up and put a bow tie on it. The customers would be really happy. In people plan into going into business and plan to open there own store this is excellent service because once you provide extra service to the customer they will come back and recommend the store to their friends. I enjoyed the gift shop experience because I learned many business techniques and how to deal with unsatisfied customers. For example, a few weeks ago, I was working as a cashier and this one person came up to be and said this item broke. I asked him on what day did he buy it and he said last year, I told him I could not do anything because it had been more than 30 days. The customer got really angry and started swearing at me. I told him to calm and I went to talk to my supervisor. She told me I couldn't give him the refund but I could give him a free item. I told the guy I could not give him a refund my I could give him a free movie ticket. He said ok and I have him the movie ticket. He seemed really happy and said sorry his attitude. This taught me that not every customer will be happy and some will try to scam people so that they can get free stuff, but at the end it is your decision whether or not you want to help that customer or
Being a customer service representative, respect is something that you must have. I learned that everyone does not hold the same status in life but even if they do not respect still apply. Working as a customer service representative I have one
In summary, as a customer representative, I have been in unpleasant situations that have required me to calm irate customers. I’ve discovered first hand, that an apology is worth a thousand words; from experience, I understand the impact of being a great listener, especially when dealing with irate customers. However, we know that providing great customer service doesn’t end with apologizing, or being a tentative listener. It is our duty as CSR’s to go above and beyond providing customer satisfaction. We must show our customers that we value and appreciate their services, by providing them with the value of service they will appreciate. In the process we will gain loyal customers, prevent customer defections and generate free advertising by word-of mouth.
Interpersonal communication is one of the significant skills while communicating with other individuals. It normally covers an extensive area and includes both verbal and non-verbal communication. Body language and facial expression may affect the accurateness of the message transmission directly. Interpersonal communication skills normally ensure that the message is sent and received correctly without any alteration thus improving the communication efficiency. Learning diverse aspects of interpersonal communication has greatly aided me in better understanding of what it consists. I am capable of applying the knowledge gained from this course to my personal experiences. This paper reflects on my personal experience in learning interpersonal communication.
In the food and Hospitality industry, Working with Colleagues and Customers is an important part of the job. Customer relations and interpersonal skills are the two most important skills that a person working in that industry will need to know about.
1. What are the three purposes for which people communicate? What percentage of a manager’s time is spent communicating? Give examples of the types of communication managers use.
Customer service by definition is the ability of knowledgeable, capable, and enthusiastic employees to deliver products and services to their internal and external customers in a manner that satisfies identified and unidentified needs and ultimately results in positive word-of-mouth publicity and return business (Lucas, 2012, pg.7). In other words, it’s making the customer pleased so that they keep doing business with you all while making sure that the employees get along and work together well. In every business there is a form of customer service. Unfortunately, it is not always excellent or even decent. Some businesses just either don’t care or possibly just don’t have the training to deal with some of the obstacles that come with dealing with customers on a daily basis. I’ve been in the restaurant business for over 13 years and I can tell you that there are skills that some are born with and others need training on, yet either way they should be used whenever interacting with customers.
Difficult customers are just part of doing business today. “Difficult customers could be those in which you have to deal with negative, rude, angry, complaining, or aggressive people. These are just a few of the types of potentially difficult interactions” (Street). From time to time, you will also find the need to help customers who can be designated as difficult, but in a different way: Lack of knowledge about your product, service and or policies, dissatisfaction with your service and or product, demanding, talkative, internal customers with special requests, language barriers and elderly or disabled customers that need assistance. Companies and businesses that know how to deal with difficult customers or customers with special needs the right way allow a company or business to reap the benefits of high customer satisfactions and increased customer retention.