it's not creative but the best thing any customer has ever done for me is to flat out tell me "thanks for your help, you're really good at what you do". Some of them will tell the supervisor if they see them "hey, keep her on hand, she's great". As I said, not creative, but reminds you that you're human. Also shows that some people DO value those who are there to serve them.
The problem is thus: people are gonna be assholes. The collective ignorance of the human race is for most intents and purposes infinite. To this end, you can either learn to cope with it and be happy, or take things personally. When people yell at you, it's very very rarely about you.
That's the best advice I can give....which is not to become unfeeling, but realize the truth behind peoplebeing assholes.
coping with it and being happy would be ideal thing and greatest achievment ever but really that is just la la la land bs because well, you dont just work one shift a week. hearing negative asshole comments everyday, every hour almost...well anyone with inner peace will break, unless you are the dali lama. so by you saying this i can really tell you've never worked in the customer service industry or at least for very long. it seriously gets to you, there are times when you can laugh about it and shrug it off and there are times when you just can't. meh c'est la vie i suppose. (have you worked cs before? sorry if i sounded snooty i just had another craptastic day ) :)
You have a valid point, but it's hard not to start taking it personally. What you do is still a little bit different- you don't actually have to DO anything for the customer, other than tell them their total, take their money and give them the right change. When the customer's entire order (or shoes, or furniture) is in your hands and is your responsibility they can get really nasty, even if you're doing a great job and something else is bugging them. Also you have a slightly different clientele to deal with- you get a very small sample demographic. I'm with her, its really hard to understand, and I know you're working in a customer environment now, but it's still not even close to what most retail and service types face. If I had the choice between your job and hers, I'd take yours any day of the week, because there is far less interaction overall with the majority of your customers.
What a great post! Thanks so much for it. I worked in customer service for so long and whether you're dealing with people's bills or just telling them that they can't exchange a sweater on Boxing Day, it's usually quite an ugly experience. There seems to be some general idea out there that those who are working in cs are not people and therefore you can treat them like crap. Thanks for the reminder because when I was working on phones, it was the hardest thing in the world for me to get up and go to that job every morning!
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To this end, you can either learn to cope with it and be happy, or take things personally. When people yell at you, it's very very rarely about you.
That's the best advice I can give....which is not to become unfeeling, but realize the truth behind peoplebeing assholes.
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(have you worked cs before? sorry if i sounded snooty i just had another craptastic day ) :)
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and..wow yeah I work customer service (cs?) pretty much every other day.
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