I Called a Customer a Liar and Got Away With It

[Dips]

I had a customer call. She was trying to enter her license key and it wasn't being accepted. That only happens when the customer is making a mistake typing the key. I give the the correct key, they enter it, it works, call over. Right?

Not with this one. She kept insisting she was doing it right but it still wasn't working. I tried to get her to slow down so we could enter it character by character together. I figured spoon-feeding it would help since she was pretty flustered.

She was too impatient to do that, though. I'd give her a the first few characters, she'd rattle off the rest back to me too fast for me to catch, slam the Enter key repeatedly loud enough for me to hear over the phone and declare, "It's not working! Why isn't is working?"

This happened over and over. Finally I asked her to read the key she was using to me. She rattled it off too fast for me to catch and slammed the enter key a few more times. That happened more than once, even after I asked her to slow down.

I asked her to PLEASE slow down so I could make sure she had the same information I had. She finally did so, exaggerating every syllable like she was talking to a baby.

Guess what? She had been adding a hyphen that wasn't supposed to be there.

So I thanked her, pointed that out and told her to try again omitting the extra hyphen. To make her feel better I explained that a lot of customers tend to unconsciously add a hyphen in that spot and it's an understandable, easily-fixed mistake.

She claimed Eugene had told her there was a hypen there when he gave her the key.

I answered, "I doubt that." Then immediately realized I'd said it out loud. Oh, crap, I really slipped up.

Luckily, the remark never came close to registering on her brain. She just babbled on as if I hadn't spoken. Kind of like the whole call. PHEW!

[gunsage]

GASP! YOU TOLD TEH KUSTOMAR TEHY WERE LYING! ZOMG!!

[Dips]

Heh. When the shoe fits...

I can only imagine how the call went where poor Eugene was trying give her the license key.

Based on my experience with her, it's a bloody miracle she shut up long enough to get ANY of it right.

Just in case, I confessed to the boss about my slip up. Once he was done laughing, he gave me absolution.

[allniter]

I hope you really like working for a company that would harrass you over telling a stupid person like that, that they were lying.

Any company that anal doesn't sound tolo fun on the surface.

[Boozy]

Bit the bullet and lived.

The thing that saved you is that the woman was so worked up she wasn't listening.

[jerkface11]

I can't count the times that I've very nearly told a customer the truth. I can only imagine what would happen if I did.

[ArenaBoy]

I can't count the times that I've very nearly told a customer the truth. I can only imagine what would happen if I did.

I actually did once. Snapped too. Basic story was a woman came in (10 minutes till the game started no less) looking for a handicapped spot, snapped when I told her where to go, and yelled at me. Then asked me why she couldn't get a spot and I just exploded, saying things along the lines of "Don't show up to games with 10 minutes till it starts expecting a good spot, it's foolish." I literally exploded and all I remember was the woman looking rather humbled.

[Ree]

Any company that anal doesn't sound tolo fun on the surface.

Ummm...how is it anal for a company to expect their employees to treat the customer respectfully?

I think we would all love to call BS on a lot of the tales they tell to get their own way or shove the blame for their stupidity off on our service people, but if we did that every time, we wouldn't have too many customers left, and there's this pesky little need to earn a paycheck. That's pretty hard to do with no customers.

In this case, Dips, I think it was so subtle that it went right over her head.

I think it was hilarious.

I've done that, myself, though. I blurt it out, and as soon as I say it I do a because I realize I was a little more brutally honest than I wanted to be, or than my company would want me to be.

I haven't had anyone report me yet, though.

[Dips]

I hope you really like working for a company that would harrass you over telling a stupid person like that, that they were lying.

Don't worry, allniter. I was being facetious about the absolution thing. It was more like "Hey, boss! You won't believe what just happened with this call!"

The company I work for isn't going to hold the occasional slip of the tongue against me; they know I do good work and have good judgement; they also know how freaking annoying some customers are. My boss found the whole thing quite funny and, since the lady couldn't shut up and listen long enough to register a word of it, no harm was done.

[CiggyStoreClerk]

That very nearly happened to me yesterday!
We give free lighters with a cigarette purchase.
We're only supposed to give one, but I'm nice, so I give one per bag. So, somebody get's 10 cartons, those go into two bags, you get two lighters.

What bothers me is the people who ask for an extra lighter. Come on people, you're already getting one (or more) for free, why ask for more?
Mind you, I normally give it cause I give extra ones anyway, and I'd really rather avoid their fake nice-ness in "pleading" for one.
It still bothers me though.

So yesterday, a customer asked for an extra lighter, and as I was reaching for one, my brain-to-mouth filter started shutting off and I almost said, "Cheap bastard."
Luckily, I caught myself before it came out.

Next Sunday however, is my last day in this god-forsaken store.
I think my filter will just conveniently malfunction that day

[allniter]

Ummm...how is it anal for a company to expect their employees to treat the customer respectfully?

It's not about treating the customer respectfully. That's a given. But when they're not respectul...

It's about being able to stand up for your company when it and not the customer is in the right. When a customer is clearly lying to get their own way, you should be expected to call them on it based on the facts. If a company would come after you for doing so, that's no company I'd ever agree to work for. The customer isn't always right and when they lie to you, you can stop treating them with the topmost respect. A little reciprocity can be deserved.