What I have noticed - If there is anything that tests your patience and your ability to control yourself and not punch people in the face, it is working in customer service.
Being that I have two jobs that revolve around customers, I sometimes struggle.
Don't get me wrong, when I'm just on tills at the Drug that is Super, I enjoy chatting to customers, you start to recognise the same people coming in and it's all very pleasant. Its the same with Lloyd's as well, as though you don't get as much time to chat to customers there, the majority of the time its nice enough and I would say 95% of the customers I serve are just nice normal happy people.
However occasionally you do get the difficult ones, the rude ones or the ones that make you so mad your face physically hurts from being tensed into a fake calm position for so long and drops as soon as their backs are turned....
One thing that customers seem to have an issue with is the concept of queueing, queueing in the right direction. At the Drug that is Super (DTIS) the other week, we got so fed up of customers not following the signs stuck on the post saying QUEUE THIS WAY with a big arrow, that we put a sign out on a stand marking the exact spot where customers should queue and they still ignored it and got all confused. Whats worse is they all begin queueing in different directions, then when you call them up to the till, two try to come up at the same time and then there is a big hoo-haa about who was where first and what way it actually goes. I was working at the Littlehampton DTIS yesterday, they have just had a refurbishment so it's all changed around slightly and customers now have to queue in the opposite direction which is quite obviously the most mind-boggling concept on this earth. I lost track of the amount of times I said...Excuse me the queue goes that way!....Sorry guys could you just go that way?....Sorry I think this lady was first the queue goes that way. As far as I could see there was a sign saying queue this way but it was apparently not enough. Sometimes I would just let them queue the wrong way, if they were all going in the same direction it doesn't matter. But then there is ALWAYS the one customer, who queues the right way just to make a point and then makes a scene by coming up to the till next and pushing in front of all the customers who are queueing the wrong way - who I can't tell off for pushing in because technically they were queueing the correct way even if it wasn't right at that moment in time...I then have a queue full of people annoyed with me for letting them queue the wrong way, even though I was doing it for them as to not cause them the confusing concept of changing the direction in which they are facing. (dont worry, I got lost reading that back myself as well....)
Another thing I have noticed about some customers is how impatient they can be, I find the worst offenders for this, can usually be found in Lloyd's on a Friday or Saturday night, Who - when you have a whole bar of people waiting for your service - don't understand that you may not be able to give them all your attention straight away.
You seem to get a few different types, You get the people who go "Can I have a Carlsberg please" whilst your in the middle of pouring another customers drink, not caring you are obviously with another customer. You get the customers that shout for your attention as you walk past and you get the ones that wave their arms about and wave in your face in an over the top way going HELLOOOOOOO? to get your attention. Or you get the ones that moan. Like Saturday night when it was jam packed..
Customer: (as I'm in the middle of pouring another persons drink) I've been waiting for ages.
Me: Yeah so has everyone else
Customer: Not as long as I have
Me: Well it is a bit -
Customer: And you've been making eye contact with me, so you've seen me...and not served me.
Me: WHAT THE HELL MATE SCREW YOU, ITS FREAKIN BUSY HERE HAVE A LOOK AROUND, YOU CAN SEE I AM RUSHED, AND IF I MADE EYE CONTACT WITH YOU ITS BECAUSE IT IS IN MY JOB REQUIREMENT THAT I MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH YOU TO SHOW THAT I AM AWARE OF YOUR PRESENCE, NOT AS A SIGN I AM GONNA SERVE YOU STRAIGHT AWAY. GET A GRIP AND HANG THE FUCK ON YOU ARROGANT DICK.
Okay maybe not the last bit... (But I thought it!)
Still because the customer is 'always right'...I simply said "I will serve you next..."
*sigh*
Loves
xx
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