Yes. I think some customers were rude just because they enjoyed the power trip they had over the sales associate. I am always friendly to the sales associates because I know the pain they go through!

Or even more so they just plain think they're better than the sales associate. The number of times I've heard people say "at least I got a college education" is disturbing. (And completely ignores the fact that most salespeople I know have or are getting a college education. Or even a Masters! OMG they're smarter than you! /sarcasm)

Our business doesn't take a % off, but when I work my A/R's, I can see the advantage. We've had smaller bills that took literally 30 phone calls, plus faxes, letters, etc to collect. It's just irritating fighting with a company over $500, when the majority of our invoices are closer to $50,000. Anymore, we only do work for new companies "COD" - you hand the plumber a check and he'll get to work. The old companies that have had a history of slow payments get an extra 35% or so added to their bills to cover collection costs.

I will agree with this. I worked PT at Bath and Body Works just for the discount, and it was hilarious to see all these people (including management) who thought they were "better" or "smarter" than me. That was until I told them that I have 2 degrees and I'm a chemist at my real job.

the sheer rudeness of "adults" has astounded me for years. especially in fast food. when i was 19 i worked at Arbys. i was also pregnant at the time, and fortunate for me, women in my family look 13 until they hit their 20's.

while fixing peoples food, i would actually get criticized for being pregnant at "such a young age". i'd hear things like "you should be ashamed, pregnant at your age, how old are you, 14?" i would always smile sweetly and reply "no, im almost 20 and engaged. next time, you should at least ask if im 16, they dont hire any younger than that here!"

the golden rule applies 110% to customer service. treat me like a d***, and trust me, you will get it back :)

I am friendly UNLESS they tell me they tell me that they cant' do something that I KNOW I could go behind the counter and do myself. PISSES ME OFF when I've worked in a store and KNOW the drill and the associate tells me that they "can't do that" :rolleyes:

And whenever Easter is, after Christmas too :D

I worked part time at Kohl's 2 years ago and used to laugh at the way this one woman I worked with talked to me. I was just there to catch up on some bills and add spending money for some trips. I wanted to tap her one day and tell her about my book but I just kept putting up the sales signs.:cool:

Then there was working at a hotel in college and fellow students' parents would try to talk down to me until I told them I was also matriculating at the school that their son/daughter went to.:D

too funny....last summer Mr. Sageofages worked parttime at a Walmart (in the electronics dept) mostly to prove to Sageofages daughter #1, that YES, anyone can get a job anywhere. The managers were really condescending to him...treated him like some pathetic old guy (he has a really gray beard) who was stuck at walmart etc (he worked evenings and weekends). I mean really talked down to him (and Mr Sageofages is the nicest guy, he just smiled and took it) I dont think the Wallyworld floor managers ever looked at his application or resume.

AT least UNTIL he asked for a couple days off to do a training for his Wells Fargo job. The manager didn't really want to give it off. Mr. Sageofages said "well I have to go for my day job." The Wallyworld manager asked him "Ohhhh, you work somewhere else to make ends meet?" Mr Sageofages replied "WellsFargo as a DBA/Unix SysAdmin and I make $XX per hour, so it is adequate." The Wallyword manager said "Wow I wish I made that". Mr Sageofages said after that he got a whole new level of respect and was treated way nicer.

I'm not saying there aren't stupid/jerk customer service people. It's the people with the attitude that they're automatically better than people who work in retail. There are plenty of sucky workers, it's just usually easier to complain about them to their management than to get pissed off at them.

I can't speak for all bars...but from the four I've worked in, the answer is absolutely no. On a busy night I'll easily go through three bottles of Grey Goose, and you can see me opening it behind the bar, and throwing away the old bottle. Hope no bars really do that!!! :eek:

I hope he didn't really say that. Flat out telling someone how much you make is just tacky.

Well...those managers were flat out tacky and condescending...and what he made was all they cared about. He was treated with so much more respect and kindness after they found out he made twice what they did. Sad but true........

I also think people should go and hang out in a human ER on a holiday so they realize that waiting 3 hours at an animal ER is not so bad.

One thing I wished all people knew/kept in mind back when I worked in inbound telemarketing was that, when you request to be removed from a mailing list, you do actually have to give the TSR your address. Just because we have caller ID doesn't mean we can find your address in some database which may contain millions of phone numbers. If you ask to be removed from a calling list or mailing list, it is the law that your wish has to be carried out, so by refusing to provide the operator with your address you're just hindering the process. And on the flip side, if you do ever ask a telemarketer to remove your number from their calling list, make sure they actually have your number and ask multiple times to ensure they really do it. Oftentimes outbound telemarketing calls are preprogrammed into a call list so the TSR's don't necessarily have the phone number in front of them either.

So very, very true. I've worked at dining services at college for the last three years because it's one of the few jobs I can get on campus as a non-work study person (but that's another rant for another day). The spoilt attitude of my peers never ceases to astound me. It's made me so much more conscious of smiling and being understanding even if the cashier/sales person takes awhile to get things done or messes up, because I know how panicked you get in that situation, making a mistake and trying to fix it asap so you can get them out of there. I cringe inside when my dad (who can be truly awful to salespeople/waitstaff by being really cranky and irritable) treats service staff rudely, and I make it a point to smile and thank them profusely.

Or people should have to go deal with French waiters :D Either be polite or the extra bread you asked for will not appear for the next half hour (true story).

This American Life story
 

I heard a story on "this American Life" (by Ira Glass), how if you treat customers more indifferently or more rudely, you get bigger tips.

They ran some "informal experiments" at a restaurant...

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1177

"The allure of mean friends"

Very interesting.........

Well I wouldn't be one of those people giving a bigger tip to the aloof waitress.

Waitressing in college, I got really good tips on Parent's Weekend...even though we were PACKED to the BRIM, and I only made it to each table enough to bring drinks, get orders, bring food, and MAYBE if they were lucky, get one check-up in on them. But when they saw me literally running between 15 tables, I guess they understood.

are there any postal workers around? cause i'd really love to know the "behind the scenes" there.

but for right now, any old (hell, even current) MCD employees?

A little tip about cell phone billing, that I frequently passed onto nice customers, because who doesn't like to save a little bit of money? Now this only applies to Cingular, since that is my only experience!

When call in regarding a bill issue, do everything you can to be nice! Sure you may be peeved that your bill is incorrect or that you have extraneous charges, but acknowledge the fact that the person helping you isn't responsible and you appreciate their help. Not only are you just being a good person, but it will really help you out....

Ok so let's say you have a text messaging plan that allows 200 text messages- but you go over and now are being charged an extra $15. Say that you thought you enrolled in a higher plan and really didn't know! Chances are that they will bump up your text messaging plan to cover the extraneous texts, which will save you major money, and they will make it retroactive so you don't have to pay the fees. Pay your newly adjusted bill, then just simply reduce your text messaging plan (you can do this on the cingular website). You just saved yourself from paying extra!!

Another: Let's say you got on the internet a lot on your phone, and you unfortunately do not have a multimedia plan. Now you've just caused yourself to have really expensive usage charges. All you have to do is tell the CSR that you did not realize you didn't have a media package, and they will do the same thing for you that I described above ^^. If you're really daring, you could also say that your toddler, or random objects in your purse are responsible for accessing the internet. Also, some phones have an internet button that allows instant access, you could blame it on that darn button for its poor interface ;). If you've been nice during the entire conversation, they will probably just simply remove the charges.

A super awesome tip about replacements: I did this just recently and had no problems (neither did my customers who did this). I dropped my phone and it began running hot, not keeping a charge etc. So, if you dropped your phone and it has suddenly stopped working properly, but there appears to be no physical damage, you can still get it replaced.. for free!!! Call the hotline and say that your phone has stopped working and you've tried to troubleshoot it. Do not tell the csr that you have dropped the phone!!!! The CSR will then connect you to the warranty hotline where they will ask you some basic questions to make sure there isn't water damage, then they will authorize a new phone to be sent to you. If you also mention that it is a business phone and you desperately need it, you can get upgraded to next day air for free. Now this will only work if you have had your phone for a year or less, but it's a great way to avoid the insurance replacement fee.

Any other questions? I'll be happy to answer them! :cool:

^^^^^^^^^^^
anyone from verizon? lol

As anyone in the world of academia can testify the covert political machinations and incestuous 'warfare' between and within the faculties and fields of study makes the antics of the politicians look like a church service – particularly because it all happens behind the scenes and out of the public view for the most part.

Oddly enough, I worked the 4th one year (I'm English, what do I care? It's holiday pay!) and we got three calls in 24 hours. The ER was deserted.

Here's a tip: when the ambulance comes, please have a list of medications and medical history ready and if you treat us like crap, remember that we're the ones with the needles and you do not want a 14 gauge needle. It's okay to give us your social security number, we just need it for paperwork and records. That's it.
We know you're panicking over your loved one, but we cannot work well if you hover around and try to be 'helpful'. We need you to back off. We do this everyday, we can do our job better than you can. It's why you called us.

Oh, and we're not a taxi service. I am not going to kill my back at 23 because you're too fat to take a bus to the ER or your doctor appointment.

We're not cops either. Do not lie. We need all the details to treat you properly. If someone ODs on a street drug, you need to tell us, not pretend everything's okay so you don't get into trouble.

We eat meals when we can, so if I get a call in the middle of dinner, I'm not going to be very nice. Sorry about that. Oh, and we may laugh about you afterwards. It's a form of release though.