My horrible customer last night...made me cry :(

[SunshyneWalker4167]

So i work in retail at a really nice girls/womens store. We have great clothes from girls about 15 through any age. And they are very well priced. Anyways we do have a strict return policy that we have to tell the customer about whenever they make a purchase and its also written on the receipt for them. I just got promoted to supervisor about a week ago and i was having a great day yesterday until about the end of the night this women came in with her mom and her daughter and said she wanted to exchange something her mom got for her from our store located in a different state.

But on the receipt it says the last day to exchange was a week ago. I obviously couldn't exchange it even if i wanted to. I would get in trouble and she knew the return policy. I got my other supervisor who was working with me to try to explain to her why we aren't allowed to exchange it but she wouldn't hear any of it. She was cursing at us telling us that we are horrible blah blah blah and we were being very respectful and polite to her. We told her we understand and that were sorry but we literally aren't allowed to exchange it because its our policy. So then she started yelling saying that we obviously dont care or understand because we aren't doing what she wanted. I wanted to laugh when she said that!

So then she asked for our corporate number i went to go get it then she asked me again very loudly and slowly as if im stupid. Then she got the number and asked for both of our names, not only that but she made us turn our name tags around so she could "spell them right". I didn't want to give her my name but my other supervisor did so at that point i felt like i had to. I didn't talk to her all i did was hold out my name tag as far as i could from around my neck to her. Then of course she said great customer service next time try to ****** smile a little more! Im sitting there thinking wtf why would i smile at you when your treating me and my other supervisor like **** for something that was obviously her fault.

She yelled at me saying her mom just got back from vacation with the shirt so how the hell was she supposed to make it back here by the exchange date. As if that's my fault?? I again told her sorry but im not allowed to exchange it. So right after she left i was so furious i threw the scan gun back down on the table and walked in a huff to the back room...where i cried lol. I cried because i was so damn mad that i just had to sit there and take this woman's ****. Ive been working in retail since i was 16 years old. Im now 20. But my other supervisor who got yelled at as well just took it and forgot about it. I dont get it lol. I get so mad at people who treat other people like that. The best thing for me to do is walk away.

This had been bothering me since it happened last night. I hate it because i do know i cant let customers get to me like that, but they do. And i feel even worse since i am a supervisor now and i cried in front of my employees. And im just mad in general that that lady sat there and treated us the way she treated us just because we wouldnt break the rules for her. I dont know how to get over things like this because the one thing i wanted to do was scream at that lady and all i could do was stand there! I cant get this off of my mind. Ahhh That customer really did suck!

[Food Lady]

I promise you will get better at letting it roll off you in time. I still get mad sometimes, and I post about it, but I've been in the service industry 18 years, and I just react differently than I would have at 20. It takes time, though. I hope corporate sees you were following policy and backs you up.

[SunshyneWalker4167]

Hopefully i will get better because right now the best thing for me to do is walk away lol so i dont explode! And my other supervisor called my manager and told him what happened. He ofcourse took our side. But that lady...grr made me so mad!

[b2addm]

...I hope corporate sees you were following policy and backs you up.

My thoughts exactly.

Don't feel too bad about it. I've been in retail for a loooooooong time and I still get angry with myself for some of the things I let the bastards get by with. But we don't really have any choice if we want to keep getting our paychecks. And bitchy asstards like your speshul customer know that too. That's part of the reason they bitch at us helpful store folks.

Just do what you have to and try not to let them drive you cuckoo bananas.

[Food Lady]

I've been known to be very firm, but with a smile on my face. Did that tonight. It's a long explanation, with some signage confusion on our part, and an almost-SC insisting on a price I wasn't sure we could do, but I basically got more out of her than she wanted to pay, but less than the item was worth (which was fine, since we were out of the ad item). It took skills I just did not have at 20.

[SunshyneWalker4167]

The thing is, is when i went to the back and sat there and huffed and puffed for a good ten minutes one of my employees came back saying "are you okay? do you need a hug?" lol why that set me off idk but thats when my ugly crying face came on ! I just started crying and ranting about how i hate how i had to sit there and take that bitches shit lol. So ofcourse since i just got promoted to supervisor, that made me feel even worse about the situation. I mean we all get along and were all friends and close in age (18-23) but some of the girls are still relatively new. And they saw me cry and yell...over a customer. I think that makes me feel worse about myself than the actual customer did! Ugh!

[Sapphire Silk]

That women was a major Entitlement Whore.

Sorry she got you down. It was all part of her tactic to get her own way.

You did the right thing sticking to store policies. You've got a spine. Keep it, and your head held high.

This woman is not worthy of your tears.

[Sandman]

This is why I wish we could ban people for that crap. You treat someone like that, you get perma-banned, no questions.

More and more people would have no place to shop, maybe it would start to change how people treat others.

I know if I walked by a store and I saw someone screaming at the clerk, I would jump down their throat and give them a taste of their medicine.

[Gaki]

To be honest I really don't know how I'm still working in retail. I'm 100% surprised I haven't gotten fired for the things I've done and the things I've said to customers who were being total ass-chickens. I think if you can let that stuff roll off you then great but it's okay to feel it. It hurts. They know they're hurting you but it's okay. You don't have to pretend that it doesn't or become some unfeeling robot. How I see it is you aren't crying about being treated that way, you're probably crying about how that woman is so pathetic that she treats ALL people that way.

You're still a better person than I am. When it comes to customers throwing out random crap like "she was on vacation" and "******* smile" I IMMEDIATELY revert into what I call "Mmhmm" mode where nothing they say gets any more attention than a casual "Mmhmm" and a face that CLEARLY shows them how much they're wasting my time. At that point the conversation is over and they can have corporate's number, the store number, the manager's name, whatever they want but they WON'T be getting their refund/compensation/free whatever.

Usually if what they want can be fixed by a free cup of coffee or a replaced sandwich it doesn't get that far. Those are the only things I can do.

[SunshyneWalker4167]

Welcome to CS, SunshyneWalker. Is the other supervisor you were working with a bit older than you are?

Thanks for the welcome Mae! And no my other supervisor is about a year or so younger than me lol. I just have a hard time with customers like that. It gets to me. I cant just stand there and smile and get on with my work. That lady was horrible and i honestly just wanted to throw a damn shoe at her or something. So i threw the scanning gun instead...lol it didnt go far since its attached to the computer but it felt good to throw it! All my other co workers can take customers shit like that. But i cant. And in a way i feel like i shoudnt have to. Yeah i work there and i love my job but when i get customers cursing and yelling at me as if i should have to kiss there feet or something i think i should be able to either stand up for myself or kick her ass out. If my manager was there he probably wouldve put her in her place. But sadly, he wasnt lol.

[EricKei]

About all you can do is remember that. for every...carbon-based lifeform like her, there are 9 cool customers who will make up for it. She's apparently used to getting her way no matter what, and someday, she'll get called out on her shit and not know what to do. The very fact that she was trying to make you violate company policy -- and therefore potentially get you fired -- means that right there and then, she is no longer worth your time nor concern.

In any case, to !

We've plenty of , and someone should be along shortly with bacon and chocolate. Help yourself!

[Athaelia]

"Why sure ma'am, I'll smile nice and big....when you jump off a very, very tall cliff."

[BigBird]

If it's any consolation, if you ever become a parent, at least now you'll know how to deal with a two year old throwing a tantrum, cause that's basically what this customer was.

Seriously, she's not worth the aggravation you're putting yourself through over the whole thing. You responded just as you should, and can't be held responsible for her decision to throw a hissy fit because she couldn't bully you into breaking the rules for her. Get your story straight with the other supervisor (maybe write it down so it's documented?) so your ass is covered, and then let corporate deal with it. Concentrate more on the 98% of customers who make your job enjoyable, and less on the 2% of sucky ones.

[bainsidhe]

And im just mad in general that that lady sat there and treated us the way she treated us just because we wouldnt break the rules for her.

That, and she thought treating you this way would make you break the rules for her. I know you hated being reduced to tears, but don't worry about it, you were frustrated and you're human. The important thing is how you responded when facing the tirade and you reacted very well. You stayed polite, reiterated policy and refused to let the woman know how much she upset you.

Trust me, letting things roll off you is a skill that takes much time and experience. If it were easy, it'd be because you didn't care about the customers or your job. You'll notice that even with our venting, the long-time CSers here still care about their customers and doing their job well. So vent away, that's what we're here for.

[Amadan]

As a number of other folk have said, you will get used to it.

After 10 years working retail/customer service in some guise or other I now have to manage technical and customer service staff so I get called in to deal with issues frequently (My GM's instructions to me are "if you can deal with it, do it. If it's about a refund make the decision and stick to it" - that doesn't stop me being overruled on a regular basis) so much so that I get mistaken for the manager on a regular basis.

Even now when dealing with an especially abusive customer my hands still shake (people wonder why I keep my hands flat on the desk...), although I have always got angry in a "I'm going to come over the desk and punch you" sort of way but different people have different reactions.

Some things that help to remember, imho, are..

Any customer that become abusive aren't better than you, they aren't even decent, civil or kind human beings.
Even though they think they are gods made mortal, their life must be pretty sh*tty for them to act that way.
You are getting paid to be there, they're not.
The nastier the customer, the less likely they are to get any kind of leeway (if you have any to give).

But always, always remember, corporate are idiots. They will set "company policies" that will just causes problems, which are obvious to anyone who have worked in-store (but then you always wonder if any have, or recently enough to remember. The best bit? They will ignore policy at the slightest complaint.

It will get better, you will get used to it and ignore it. And then you will come and rant about it here - like the rest of us do..