Customer's need to establish superiority

[volatile]

I never understood why customers need to make themselves feel like they are better than the people who are providing a service to them. If we make food for you...or fix something it is because we know about that niche better than they do. I get tired of customers who constantly need to wave their resume in front of my face to let me know they are better than me.

When I worked at a pizza place a customer came in and watched me as I made pizza. Apparently he admired my work and he felt the need to say:

"Maybe one day you'll get to manage or run your own store!"

I wouldn't have been bothered by that comment if it wasn't for the condescending way he said it like it was my lifelong dream to become a pizza manager. There is nothing wrong with that profession but he made me feel like he was trying to throw me a crumb and make me feel good by down talking to me.

There are countless other people who bring their computers in for repair and while I talk to them the feel the need to say stuff like:

"I work for NASA, you know?" (No sh**? Then you can take this POS to space with you.)

"I was working on my thesis for my Phd in blah blah blah and my computer crapped out on me."

"I am a certified MCSE and CCNA but I was too lazy to try to fix this problem myself."

"[Fill with random technical trivia in attempt to act like they know more than a lowly technician]"

There are countless other times...sometimes when I get too annoyed because they think I'm some dumb kid who dropped out of high school and am doing this because I have no choice I let them know that I am actually a software engineer during the day and that makes them shut up about their pedigree. It's childish of me to say that...but sometimes I can't take it when they try to make me feel less intelligent them based off some assumptions they make of me because of a job that I hold.

[wagegoth]

Oh, how I hate that!

When the attorneys I work with start hanging over me, I tell them, "Look, this is what I'm paid to do. Why don't you go back to your office and I'll let you know when it's ready?" I say it very nicely, and usually they leave then.

I had one attorney who would literally hang over my shoulder and give me directions on how to do the work. I flat out told him to back off, that I'd been working with computers and software when he was still a baby. He did, and we actually got along really well after that.

[Der Cute]

I have a co-irker who LOVES to do this to me.

When I ask questions or ask what his opinion is on something...."Well I've been a Network Administrator for 11 years and ......"

Sometimes I want to say, "I've been a human for 32 years, so what's your point??"

After hearing it once, it was enough.

Cutenoob

[Lace Neil Singer]

I used to hate that at the pizza place; it's bad enough when it's normal people doing it, without chavs and chavettes, trashy mums and hairy men in wife beaters doing it too! -_-

[Alfie]

I have the problem of giving people advice when they travel. They assume that I don't know what I'm talking about. Hmm. I have travelled for every year for the past 20 years... and guess how old I am? 20. So please shut the hell up about "my friend blah blah heard this, and so I'm going on their advice, even though they went to the country 15 years ago". Rant over.

[karma_gypsy]

Then you should ask them if they're done paying off their student/college loans . . . and how much stress they're under, especially around a deadline . . . and how much free time they have . . . and how great their bosses are . . . and how much they really love their job . . .


Then again, I guess you don't need a degree in being an smartass . . .

[myswtghst]

I get annoyed with some of the techs we deal with here, who either like to throw a bunch of technical jargon at you and then kind of gloat when you make them repeat it, or who act like I should know all this stuff. I am not technical, I was not hired to be technical, that is why we have tech support, which I am not. I was hired to be pleasant and efficient on the phones, which is what I do.

[ArenaBoy]

Standard Grade Sucky Customer: "You're not directing traffic properly, you need to keep that moving and open that up!"

Me: "So you're saying that you want to cause an accident, because the chances of that happening are very high if we do open that up."

That or I say, "Okay then, here's my vest and light. Traffic goes that way. Have fun."

[blas]

Bonus points if it's average joe blue collar workers trying to point out that they are "better" than you.

I may have spent a year of my life as a piss-on gas station attendant, but in that year, as to add on to all the years I've spent in retail and restaurant service, I have more knowledge of human habit and the sick sad truths about humans than any construction worker or drywaller could ever have.

Besides, what did they have to prove anyways? All we were dealing with was gas, cigarettes, and beer..........nothing that involved having to deal with them brag about how great they are. Most of my customers were high school dropouts........they really didn't have anything to brag about....so wtf?

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

I used to get that all the time. I lived for the days where I'd say "It looks like your video card's drivers are corrupted" then after they go into an hour long tirade on how I'm a moron and totally wrong to boot get to tell them that I had to remove the old driver and re-install the latest one from the internet. To be able to prove that I was right was worth it all.

[protege]

Then again, I guess you don't need a degree in being an smartass . . .

If we did...I'm sure several of us would have our PhD by now

[MystyGlyttyr]

"Okay, the limits on our free obits are *blah blah*."

"You know, I used to work for the paper twenty years ago and we did *blah blah blah*."

"Huh. Twenty years ago I was still wearing diapers. Things change. Do you want the obit for free or not?"

*sigh* I'm not allowed to say that anymore.

[Boozy]

Okay, I have a great story, but its not about customers. Sort of off topic, but definitely in the vein of people feeling superior to others without having the whole story.

My husband was doing an undercover assignment and had to look really scruffy. He grew a really nasty looking beard and everything. He finishes the assignment, walks to the pick-up point, and calls for his car. The client was paying for the whole thing, and because my hubby's company had really gone above and beyond for them on this one, they had spared no expense. My husband's ride home was to be a chaffeured limousine.
So here's my husband, looking like a street bum, hanging around outside a posh restaurant. This couple steps out of the restaurant and are clearly waiting for a cab or something. My husband, forgetting how he's dressed, asks the couple what the restaurant was like, because he thinks it might be the kind of place I'd like to go for my upcoming birthday. The woman gives him this look that would wilt flowers, and whispers to the man she's with "I wish people like that would stick to [downtown sleazy area in the city]."
And then the limo pulls up, a chaffeur steps out, holds the door open for my husband (he's been told he's looking for a "bum") and says, "Your ride is here sir."
He says he'll NEVER forget the look on that couple's faces as they pulled out!