Quality Customer Service

People are shocked when they learn of the extremes when working with the public. The levels of rudeness are off the charts. We allow ourselves time and time again to be abused for a paycheck. It just goes with the territory. I always hear" If that had been me..." The thing is is that we must endure these insults and poor manners if we want to stay employed. The customer is always right! We wear the painted smiles and clutch the edge of the tables at the same time to keep from launching ourselves over the counter to strangle people.

I have been instructed to tell that "fat B*#ch" to get her fat "as*" out of the office to help an upset man. I was standing beside my friend and co-worker as someone called her the N-word. She just continued to help him. I have had managers bend over backwards to help a customer who is standing there cussing them out at the top of their lungs. I have been yelled at, cussed at and one lady even swore she put a curse on me. As policy we must still keep cool and provide the best customer service possible in the face of the devil himself.  It happens everywhere and it happens all the time.

I was running the deli and bakery by myself the other night. I was down in the deli slicing meat for a customer when another couple walked over to the bakery and started shouting at me. I told them I'd be right with them.  The lady walked down over the the slicers and stepped in front of the other customer. She told me I was rude and snapped at the customer I was currently helping. Once I could focus all my attention on her she grew very frustrated with me. Nothing I could do for her was going to make this intoxicated lady happy. No matter how hard I tried to please and appease her she found fault in my attempts. I was called every name under the sun and she was making tons of threats. When my manager came to help me he walked upon quite a scene. The lady was being held back by her friend from climbing on my cake case. After the manager was berated by this lady for trying to do his best to help her and the situation we had to call the police. The lady was so out of control that she fought with the Sheriff and ending up being banned and cited. In the end of all of this, I still sold a cake when her friend came back in to apologize, and I still went out of my way to decorate a beautiful cake and make him feel better about the whole situation. Here I was shaking from the craziness of the event and I was consoling him. This is what I mean about the sacrifices of a job in customer service.

At what point are we allowed to keep our dignity and stand up for ourselves? Where is that fine line between good customer service and slavery and who decides? We uphold the image of the company, but we are also people with a right to decency.