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I have a theory and I wonder if I’m the only one who’s noticed this.
I call it the CustomersSuck.com effect, or CS effect for short.
Over the last nine months since I have been to this site, I have become…hardened, as it were. I read amazing stories that make me cringe and rip away chunks of what little faith I have left in humanity. I read stories of entitlement whores, absurd complaints, racism, anger, violence, and a general rudeness and suckiness that pervades throughout the whole.
After watching this site, and seeing how just in the (relatively) short time I’ve been here (I registered back in May of last year, if I remember correctly, before the last hack) I notice a trend of people, well, fighting back. Myself included.
I see four effects:
Standing up to sucky customers you come across if they involve you in the situation
I like what Kinkoid suggested about how to respond to someone who treats you like you work at a place your shopping at and talks down to you. I’ve actually done this.
SC: Hey, get over here and help me! I demand service! (or any of the variations of this, usually in a loud demanding voice)
You: I’m sorry, I don’t work here.
SC: Oh, I’m sorry.
Do you:
A) Shrug and walk away from it
B) Call them out on it: “No you aren’t. You weren’t sorry enough to try to treat me like a person when you thought I was beneath you!”
Honestly? I would always do A. But after coming to this site – I always go with the second option when someone accosts me in a rude belligerent manner. And you know what? It sinks into their thick skulls, due to the public embarrassment of the other people nearby.
Or another example. When I was at the supermarket the other day and shoved the lady’s groceries back because she didn’t leave me room to unload my cart. That was a very dramatic move and it WORKED. Would I have done something like that in the past? Maybe not something that dramatic, but I would have probably complained to the cashier, who by now, I have realized would want nothing to do with the situation as there is nothing they could do.
Standing up to your own sucky customers
Have you ever read a response that is perfect to a situation that didn’t happen to you, and when you find yourself in a similar situation, not knowing what to say, you pull that response out from the corners of your mind and completely shut them down?
“Lack of planning on your part is not an emergency on my part!” or “You’re shopping twenty minutes before the mall closes on Christmas Eve and WE’RE the ones who are unprepared?”
I also find myself being a lot more stern with customers of my own who are belligerent and rude. A few days ago, I had one that wanted me to sit on a piece of furniture so she could get an idea of how her son would look in it. She snapped her fingers and whistled to me like a dog, and literally said “Come here, boy!” I stayed behind the desk with my arms folded. She looked angry and said “What’s wrong?” I looked at her and said “I am not a dog, I ask not to be disrespected and treated as such.” Woman turned beet red and apologized.
Again, something that I would have thought about saying, instead of actually saying it. I can list off countless other examples personally.
Standing up to sucky people in general
I stand up to suckiness in my non-work life a lot better now. I have the ability to spot sucky employees with a lot more accuracy now and I know who to call out on what. I stand up to people who disrespect me, or talk gossip behind my back, or in general are contributing nothing to my life but just still continue a friendship that neither party is getting anything out of.
Being much more courteous in customer service situations of your own
The fourth effect is something I’ve done a lot more of now, only because I never really thought of it better now. I tip higher now if the service is good. If I do have a legitimate problem, I will do my best to be calm and collected instead of an entitlement whore, because why? Being nice will get you almost anything you need, if there’s a way to bend the rules and do it. Being sucky or angry? You get nothing. Even in situations where I am completely in the right, I still might show a flash of anger at the situation, but never toward the person across the desk, or on the other end of the phone – I understand their hands are tied and there is no point in raising both our blood pressures in a shouting match.
Also, whenever I am helped with a complaint, I will ALWAYS follow it up with a call to corporate, or ask to speak to the manager, or ask for a supervisor. I let them know exactly how helpful their associate/tech support/salesperson was, and it brightens their day immensely. I find myself really really loving that smile they give when I ask to speak to a manager to tell them how helpful they were. Why? Because I know how that smile feels!
Any other effects or side effects that we can add on to this theory? Any stories where this site has specifically come in handy when dealing with sucky customers?
I call it the CustomersSuck.com effect, or CS effect for short.
Over the last nine months since I have been to this site, I have become…hardened, as it were. I read amazing stories that make me cringe and rip away chunks of what little faith I have left in humanity. I read stories of entitlement whores, absurd complaints, racism, anger, violence, and a general rudeness and suckiness that pervades throughout the whole.
After watching this site, and seeing how just in the (relatively) short time I’ve been here (I registered back in May of last year, if I remember correctly, before the last hack) I notice a trend of people, well, fighting back. Myself included.
I see four effects:
- Standing up to sucky customers you come across if they involve you in the situation
- Standing up to your own sucky customers
- Standing up to sucky people in general
- Being much more courteous in customer service situations of your own
Standing up to sucky customers you come across if they involve you in the situation
I like what Kinkoid suggested about how to respond to someone who treats you like you work at a place your shopping at and talks down to you. I’ve actually done this.
SC: Hey, get over here and help me! I demand service! (or any of the variations of this, usually in a loud demanding voice)
You: I’m sorry, I don’t work here.
SC: Oh, I’m sorry.
Do you:
A) Shrug and walk away from it
B) Call them out on it: “No you aren’t. You weren’t sorry enough to try to treat me like a person when you thought I was beneath you!”
Honestly? I would always do A. But after coming to this site – I always go with the second option when someone accosts me in a rude belligerent manner. And you know what? It sinks into their thick skulls, due to the public embarrassment of the other people nearby.
Or another example. When I was at the supermarket the other day and shoved the lady’s groceries back because she didn’t leave me room to unload my cart. That was a very dramatic move and it WORKED. Would I have done something like that in the past? Maybe not something that dramatic, but I would have probably complained to the cashier, who by now, I have realized would want nothing to do with the situation as there is nothing they could do.
Standing up to your own sucky customers
Have you ever read a response that is perfect to a situation that didn’t happen to you, and when you find yourself in a similar situation, not knowing what to say, you pull that response out from the corners of your mind and completely shut them down?
“Lack of planning on your part is not an emergency on my part!” or “You’re shopping twenty minutes before the mall closes on Christmas Eve and WE’RE the ones who are unprepared?”
I also find myself being a lot more stern with customers of my own who are belligerent and rude. A few days ago, I had one that wanted me to sit on a piece of furniture so she could get an idea of how her son would look in it. She snapped her fingers and whistled to me like a dog, and literally said “Come here, boy!” I stayed behind the desk with my arms folded. She looked angry and said “What’s wrong?” I looked at her and said “I am not a dog, I ask not to be disrespected and treated as such.” Woman turned beet red and apologized.
Again, something that I would have thought about saying, instead of actually saying it. I can list off countless other examples personally.
Standing up to sucky people in general
I stand up to suckiness in my non-work life a lot better now. I have the ability to spot sucky employees with a lot more accuracy now and I know who to call out on what. I stand up to people who disrespect me, or talk gossip behind my back, or in general are contributing nothing to my life but just still continue a friendship that neither party is getting anything out of.
Being much more courteous in customer service situations of your own
The fourth effect is something I’ve done a lot more of now, only because I never really thought of it better now. I tip higher now if the service is good. If I do have a legitimate problem, I will do my best to be calm and collected instead of an entitlement whore, because why? Being nice will get you almost anything you need, if there’s a way to bend the rules and do it. Being sucky or angry? You get nothing. Even in situations where I am completely in the right, I still might show a flash of anger at the situation, but never toward the person across the desk, or on the other end of the phone – I understand their hands are tied and there is no point in raising both our blood pressures in a shouting match.
Also, whenever I am helped with a complaint, I will ALWAYS follow it up with a call to corporate, or ask to speak to the manager, or ask for a supervisor. I let them know exactly how helpful their associate/tech support/salesperson was, and it brightens their day immensely. I find myself really really loving that smile they give when I ask to speak to a manager to tell them how helpful they were. Why? Because I know how that smile feels!
Any other effects or side effects that we can add on to this theory? Any stories where this site has specifically come in handy when dealing with sucky customers?
I had the exact same thought! Get out of my head!
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