Archived Dealing with angry guests?

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So long story short, I was helping this woman who kept talking down to me and getting mad at literally every response I had to give her. Now I've dealt with some rude customers and I don't really mind because it's kind of amusing. This time however, she was getting really aggressive and every time I would respond she would get mad that I wasn't giving her the answer she wanted. She wanted two items and when I would show her one she would get mad that I didn't show her the other one. This went on for a while and as I was trying to help her she looked over at me with this disgusted look and said "You know what? I really don't like how you are that close to me can you get away from me "....I was speechless, I was already a couple feet away but I backed up more. I really just don't know what to do when the guest will literally never be satisfied but they still want you to help them? I tried being as nice as possible but I didn't even know how to help when she wouldn't take it. It made me so uncomfortable I thought about calling someone on walkie but I didn't even know how to go about it.
 
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My favorite disarming phrase / tactic - "I agree".

Guest > How are you sold out of [suddenly popular item] [daytime talk show host] mentioned an hour ago! This is effing bullsheot!
Me > I agree. Let me see if another store has it
Guest > ... okay.

Instant disarm. You're now on their side and they're eating their own hat.
 
So long story short, I was helping this woman who kept talking down to me and getting mad at literally every response I had to give her. Now I've dealt with some rude customers and I don't really mind because it's kind of amusing. This time however, she was getting really aggressive and every time I would respond she would get mad that I wasn't giving her the answer she wanted. She wanted two items and when I would show her one she would get mad that I didn't show her the other one. This went on for a while and as I was trying to help her she looked over at me with this disgusted look and said "You know what? I really don't like how you are that close to me can you get away from me "....I was speechless, I was already a couple feet away but I backed up more. I really just don't know what to do when the guest will literally never be satisfied but they still want you to help them? I tried being as nice as possible but I didn't even know how to help when she wouldn't take it. It made me so uncomfortable I thought about calling someone on walkie but I didn't even know how to go about it.
I know how you feel! In the deli there are just some very cranky people. I had a woman who wanted a lb of ham sliced thiner than what we do for the display but not falling apart I kept trying to please her but she was very rude and nasty. thankfully a more experienced co worker took over for me and when she showed the woman the slice she said "great thanks!" The ham the same way we do for the display! :D One lady came up to me after hearing the whole thing and said "you have the patience of a Saint! If it were me I would have gone over the counter and strangled her!"
 
So long story short, I was helping this woman who kept talking down to me and getting mad at literally every response I had to give her. Now I've dealt with some rude customers and I don't really mind because it's kind of amusing. This time however, she was getting really aggressive and every time I would respond she would get mad that I wasn't giving her the answer she wanted. She wanted two items and when I would show her one she would get mad that I didn't show her the other one. This went on for a while and as I was trying to help her she looked over at me with this disgusted look and said "You know what? I really don't like how you are that close to me can you get away from me "....I was speechless, I was already a couple feet away but I backed up more. I really just don't know what to do when the guest will literally never be satisfied but they still want you to help them? I tried being as nice as possible but I didn't even know how to help when she wouldn't take it. It made me so uncomfortable I thought about calling someone on walkie but I didn't even know how to go about it.

For those "exceptional" guests, I would usually direct them to Guest Services, mostly because at that point I would have had enough, and because there would be a manager in Ear shot if the problem grew.
 
Sometimes there is nothing you can do. I either call the LOD, or lay out the options I have available to the guest and ask them which they'd like to pursue. Usually I'll mention that I'm merely following Target's policies and that I agree with them, but there's nothing I'm able (or willing) to do because of the policy.

I had a guest this past December who was upset at me because our mobile team was late and he'd been waiting 45 minutes for them. and I was running around working on pulls and reshop, so wasn't consistently near the counter (Toys is next to E&E in my store). I empathized but told him there's nothing I can do, and if he'd like to speak to a manager he could lodge a complaint. He continued to get angry with me, at which point I directed him to guest service and iterated that this is a busy time of the year for us. He said, "I don't care, I..." at which point I interrupted him and said, "Okay sir, have a wonderful day." And pivoted to the next guest waiting.

Moral of the story: no guest has the right to abuse you, and if they consistently fail to listen to you when you provide options and abuse you, walk away.
 
One thing I always tell myself is that Target is a business, and as a business, it has the right to cater, or not to cater to whatever guests it wants to. Target is not a public service where basically everyone is entitled to something. I say this to myself a lot because it just backs up the idea that although I would like to do things differently, there's only certain things I am permitted to do to please a guest before it becomes an AP problem of sorts, since Target, the business, has set limits.

WITH THIS IN MIND, remember the guest has the privilege of being in your store, not the right to be in your store. Just do the best you can; it sounds like you already did!

Not sure if any of this helps anything, its just the way I think about it :)
 
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