Those of us who work with the public, whether it be in retail, food industry, transportation, help desk, hospitality etc. deserve respect from you...the public at all times. In a way we are like the nurses of the working world. Do A LOT of the leg work and our superiors get all the credit, yet we still keep plugging along (i'm not implying we save people's lives...well some do but yeah, don't get all technical with me about the nurses comparison, ok, cool.) Completely unsung heros in your every day life. Just take a moment and think about all of the people you ask to do something for you and they do it with no issues and thank you for visiting their place of work. I mean think about how many times you go to Starbucks or similar place every week. And think about that person who knows who you are, always gives you a smile and amazing service and doesn't ask for anything in return...ever.
Yeah.
No matter where you encounter a Customer Service representative, you do it almost without thinking about all that we endure on a daily and sometimes hourly basis. And to those of you who DO understand what we go through, THANK YOU! Because we definitely don't do it for the money!
I can't speak for all CSR's but I can say this...to some degree we all enjoy working with the public. No matter how utterly mind numbing, head banging against the wall annoying and stressful it is, we do enjoy it on some level. I say you have to be a bit insane to willingly work with the public. Because in and of itself the definition of insanity (paraphrasing) is doing something repeatedly hoping for a different outcome each time. We go to work, smile, say hello/welcome, answer your questions, help you in any way we can and thank you for abusing us AND to come do it again ANYTIME! Who willingly does that? The Customer Service Rep does!
Your title might be barista, bank teller, housekeeper, front desk, administrator, help desk agent, flight attendant, policy representative, sales associate, cashier, waiter/waitress, police officer, security, fireman, radio host, bartender, concierge and the list goes on and on! No matter what the title is, you serve the public. We go through all the same issues with all the same annoying people together. We have really bad days and we have really good ones, but mostly we have just "meh" days. Thankful they are over, not completely looking forward to the next one but still plug along.
What is my whole point in all this? My point is to show you the people you take for granted and demand things from every single day, exactly how you want it, when you want it and NOW. Some of them will save your life but yet, some of you will even fight against that. Hell...let me back up...any of us could save your life! There are procedures in place at public places that all workers must train for, in case of emergencies. So that "little girl" you think can't take your order right or the guy who can't make your coffee exactly the same every time or the "jerk" who tells you to turn your cell phone off at the start of a flight or the "all you are is a secretary" who can't answer you right away due to all the phones ringing...could very well save your life if something goes down and you are too caught up in your own little world to notice your life is in danger. We are trained to keep calm in the face of danger and to make sure YOU are safe...not just us, but YOU. We sign a piece of paper saying we will put your lives ahead of our own. We do that for a job that doesn't pay us nearly enough and for rude, disrespectful, arrogant people who don't know how to treat a fellow human being.
I am not talking about all customers, clients, guests etc. Just the rude ones...you know who they are, you might be one of them.
I get very upset when people don't respect those of us who serve the public. I don't care if we are just a cashier or flying a got damn plane, there is NO NEED to be rude to us! I don't care if you had a bad day and want your fancy coffee super hot and get it at average heat...there is no need to talk down to us. No need to call us foul names. No need to belittle what we do. No need to expect miracles when you don't deserve them. Throwing a fit, making a scene and acting like a 5 year old doesn't make YOU look any better, nor does it make US want to help you any more. All it does it make you look like a Class A jackass. It also makes US more inclined to stress which leads to bad habits, which could lead to serious medical issues.
A quick story and then I am done. At one of my former jobs, a customer insisted she "borrow" a couple of my associates to help her to her car. After explaining to her I could call security and they would be more than happy to help her, she demanded I do it because she spend all this money and bla bla bla. I let her rant and rave and repeated myself about security. She then demanded to see the Supervisor. Well...I was the Supervisor, so of course she didn't like that bit of news haha She walked over to a few of my associates and tried to convince them to help her to her car. They all knew we didn't do this service, so they all declined. She stomped around, telling other customers how rude we were and I just giggled to myself because the woman looked ridiculous! I had one of associates call security to help her with her bags...she was getting out of my store one way or another. When they showed up she thought she was going to be removed from the store due to her antics. I explained to her how the lovely gentlemen were going to help her to her car. She insisted on having my boss' number, which i supplied to her and then told me I should be fired for my behavior. I told her to have a great holiday!
The woman didn't return for months. She did however give my boss an earful about how she was treated. My boss talked to me of course and unfortunately took the customer's side, but that didn't surprise me. I got written up and life went on. When the woman did return to my store, she was shocked to still see me working there. Even more so, still as a Supervisor. She of course ignored me and got help from another perosn haha Fast forward to early this year, i am at a new company and still dealing with crazy people just on a larger scale. The woman who demanded i be fired, comes into my store and is just all smiles and life is beautiful, towards me. She says I'm so lovely to help her and all that. I just smile and keep it pushing. But every single time she comes in, she asks "where do I know you from?" and I tell her "i don't know, but people ask me that all that time, I have one of those faces i think." We laugh and she spends money on things she doesn't need and i tell her to have a good day. She still doesn't remember where she knows me from. And i will never remind her. I personally can't stand her...she expects to be catered to all the time and I don't have any time to do that.
The moral of the story...of the post? You can be rude to us, you can call us out of our names, you can throw all the tantrums you want, but it doesn't make you better for doing so. And try as it might, it doesn't break all of us down. We stand tall, we keep fighting the good fight and we keep serving the public with a smile. Why? Like I said, we are a little bit crazy. If we snap on you, put you in your place, stop you mid tantrum explaining to you why you need to act like an adult and treat people like human beings don't you dare act like we are in the wrong, because YOU started this, not us. We don't ask for much...just some respect, do that and we can make every single day awesome for you.
*jumps off soapbox like a ninja*
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