We have all heard the cliché about catching flies with vinegar or honey, something to the effect that honey is a more successful method, but who wants to catch flies anyway? Having a heavy retail background I can tell you that very few if any individuals take this philosophy to heart. Perhaps we're conditioned so horribly to rely on others that we have simply decided to discontinue taking ownership of our own problems or maybe we just have such high expectations that it causes belligerency. Regardless, it is time that we take a stand and start defending the front lines of our work force and not take ignorance and rudeness as a viable option when we overhear such a situation.
Some might say that the only way to accomplish what you need is to bully a customer service representative into getting what you want until finally you have to ask for a supervisor and then bully that person. It's simply ineffective, customer service representatives don't have to help their customers, they do so by choice, either because they choose to maintain their employment out of fear of being fired, or because they choose to help their customers because their customers have asked nicely with common decency and appreciation. It is not a fair tactic to address a rep into providing a need that might be against company policy or even against the law in some cases.
I would be willing to guess that everyone has had to employ the services of a notary public at least once during their life. The purpose of such a service is to identify the individual signing and notarize the document acknowledging that the notary has witnessed the signature and properly identified the signer according to state regulations. I personally have witnessed a number of situations that involved individuals becoming angry that a notary would not comply with their request due to reasons varying from their only form of photo identification being an old high school year book, or the document having already been signed and the signer was not even present while their "agent" provided the document for notary. Regardless, in both of these situations, the customers who were in need of the service became belligerent, angry, offensive, and down right rude throwing a childlike tantrum right there in front of other customers expecting to get a response out of the notary. Laughter is my only response, are people really this ignorant? I mean seriously, wouldn't you feel stupid if you went to a notary, asked for them to notarize a document and realized that you had forgotten your ID? Sure, and you would completely understand when the notary who doesn't know you personally says, “I'm sorry, I'll have to see some form of photo identification in order to provide this service.” And wouldn't you be embarrassed if you became angry at your own neglect and showed that side of your flawed personality in public, I sure would be.
The ignorance doesn't stop here and although the following examples cite areas of acquired knowledge, they are nevertheless idiocy at its best. While functioning as a production manager with a copy chain that will remain nameless, a customer approached and asked to send a fax to her sister in another state. She insisted however that she needed a copy of the document prior to me sending it because she wanted to keep a copy for her records. It was like cutting pine with a butter knife to try and explain that the fax machine is not a teleportation device and that she would retain her copy. This isn't the twenty fourth century and we're not on the starship Enterprise. Then while trying to educate the woman, indicating patiently that she would retain a copy of the item because the fax machine only scans the information on the page and sends that she became rude and huffy. It's not that I come across as condescending either, I have a flawless mystery shop record and my customer service skills are honed to a fine edge.
Another fine example of our public educational system brings us back to the nameless copy chain and a man who wants to negotiate his price as though he were at a bazaar and he were trading spices for fine hand crafted jewelry. After explaining that the prices are set and they are not negotiable many times the man decided that he didn't want to pay at all, and felt he should be able to keep his copies even though he hadn't paid for them. Think back to the last time you were grocery shopping and reached the checkout line finally to say, “I'll give you three thirty nine for that cheese instead of the four forty nine the price tag says.” America's retail environment simply doesn't support such a system, and everyone should know better.
I would like to call to arms all of those who have ever witnessed such an injustice, while we watch the associate behind the counter bending over and taking it in the you know what, that instead of idly standing by, we draw our swords and don our shields, to defend those who are the backbone of our retail industry. Trust me they will thank us for it. Help them to educate the ignorant, help defend their company policies and help to maintain an orderly storefront in whatever facilities you frequent. How can you do this? Well, simply put, use some common sense and the next time you're standing in line and listening to the person in front of you give the clerk the ninth degree, excuse yourself, confront the ignorant clown and help the clerk out with a little arbitration, try to help the customer realize they're being unreasonable, and try to think of a creative solution if you're familiar with the company's policies. Either way, don't just hang back and then say to the clerk afterward how rude that other person was, because as much as it helps a clerk to feel as though she was doing the right thing, it doesn't help her come to work the next day.
I suppose that we would all receive better service from the associates at these retail facilities if when we enter their storefronts they weren't just ripped a new one by the guy who made the green light at the last intersection while we waited at the red. I would only ask that in the future, to please not let your own neglect, ignorance, racism, procrastination, frustration, or headache be a reason to beat up on the poor clerks of the economy's backbone; it's simply not good manners.
