I work in a store. As everyone knows, retail does not pay very well, but I am there because I really like my job. Generally the people are nice, they appreciate when you look for something for them. And if you make an alternate suggestion of where to find what we don't have? They thank you.
Today I had the customer from hell.
This lady was not friendly or overly polite. She came in asking for something that didn't ring any bells for me. It was a diet book, so I went with the lady to the health section and pulled the only book that even looked close to what she was asking for. I said, that I'd go look on the computer to see if I could find anything else that had those keywords in the title.
I didn't find anything.
When I went back and explained it she told me the following:
My response was just that I didn't know what she wanted me to say. I looked in the computer and the only book that came up as being in our store with those keywords in the title was the one in her hands.
She then dismissed me, at which point I tried to walk away. She then asked me what the price was of the book that she had in her hands, so I stopped, turned around and tried to tell her, when she said "No, I'd rather not deal with you, I'll go ask someone else."
Which was fine. I went into the backroom and promptly had my moment of complete and utter disbelief. My manager was sitting there, and asked me what was wrong, because I was visibly upset. And I explained what had happened and what the lady was looking for, and she knew immediately what the book was (and when she told me I knew too, but I really can't remember every book in the store...and it really didn't come up in the computer when I did my search). She told me to go out and give the book to the lady, which I did, and promptly returned to the backroom.
When I eventually went back out the lady was gone, and my co-worker told me that the lady had said that I was unhelpful, and that I'd tried to send her elsewhere simply because I didn't want to help her. Blah, blah, blah. Not true of course. I loved my co-worker so much when she told me that her thoughts were "I know her, and if you're having problems with her, then they're your problems lady!" Then she told me that she remembers dealing with her a while ago when she was pregnant. That encounter left her in tears as well.
I really, really wish I knew why people feel the need to be so abrasive.
Posted by Michelle at January 15, 2004 08:52 PM