I’m forever surprised when I run into Hostile Customer Service. Directed at me personally or towards someone in the vicinity, I just don’t get it.
It could be microaggression, passive aggressiveness, or less often, overt hostility. But when I see a retail clerk in a national hardware store being snarky with shoppers, or experience someone in a call center getting impatient with a client because they’re not keeping up with them… I can’t help thinking, why are you working this job? If you’re expecting customers to behave in a certain way, you have things backwards, to say the least.
Before getting defensive or annoyed with a customer and resorting to hostile customer service, try putting yourself in their shoes. Seriously. Think about your own frame of mind when you shop, eat out, call software support or your phone company. Are you always clear, know exactly what you want, and a beacon of courtesy?
Customers you deal with can be hard to understand, maybe in the middle of a trying day or unsure of what they want. They’re calling or standing there before you because they need help. If you think for a moment, that the onus is on them to behave in a certain way, you’re creating trouble for yourself.
And if you’re treating them as interruptions, that’s just lazy. Customers are the reason you have a job in the first place!
In these past 2 weeks alone, I’ve experienced two incidents of hostile customer service that were boggling to me. We’ve been thinking of changing pool maintenance contractors. So, I had a representative out who seemed competent. But when I asked him for referrals, he got defensive, and went on about the time it takes to sift through clients to get someone who didn’t mind being called. He ended up questioning my decision-making because I couldn’t discern how trustworthy he was. You think that was hostile customer service?
Last week I was in a natural foods store in Northern California, visiting my daughter. I was in the prepared foods line waiting to order a sandwich. The man in front of me asked the fellow behind the counter if he’d heard his order. The employee snapped back that he was not hard of hearing and that of course he’d heard it. The customer said something about not being sure he was heard. But the prepared foods worker raised his volume, snapping at him again! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
These are extreme examples, but if you don’t enjoy the idea of helping people, then maybe customer service is not the ideal job for you.
Before getting irritated with a customer, take some responsibility. Realize you might’ve misunderstood them. Maybe they misunderstood you. Maybe your headset is faulty, whatever…but assuming any of these is more conducive to doing your job in a correct and helpful way, than supposing they’re attacking you or somehow being disrespectful.
The fact is hostile customer service, no matter how slight, drives customers away. That might not mean as much to you as it does to your business owner. But he’s hired you to assist customers, and make them feel good about coming in. Your primary purpose in customer service is to enhance a customer’s experience with the product or service you represent.
To do that well, you need to focus on the customer before you and take your attention off yourself. Not always easy, I know…but the more you do it, the easier it gets. Keep at it and it becomes a habit.
If most of your time at work is spent thinking about yourself: how you come off, how you look, how the customer should approach you, personal problems, etc… you’re like a pinata, waiting to burst.
The customer is there because he has a problem or need. When he or she seems a bit off, It’s almost never personal. So don’t take it that way.
Work with this in mind and not only will your customer service improve, but you’ll have a lot more fun on the job.
Rick Grassi
The Little Customer Service Book
A Common Sense Guide to Helping People
Recommended Links:
https://thelittlecustomerservicebook.com/2023/06/17/warmth-in-customer-service/
