We all experience moments of frustration when standing in line waiting for our turn.
Some of us jump to the head of the line thinking we are better or more important than others.
We want to be served first.
People have to drop everything in order to cater to us this very minute.
It can turn into an adult version of the 'schoolyard bully'.
Should businesses (and fellow clients-shoppers) tolerate such behavior or just fire rude customers?
In Rude Customers, The Paris Hilton Syndrome we are reminded of a cardinal rule In the corporate environment, it is a mortal sin to answer rudeness with rudeness.
Using rudeness to address such behavior might add fuel to the fire I have to say and give it legitimacy.
I did work years ago for a restaurateur who faced with loud and obnoxious complaints by a customer over the meal served asked him to leave and never come back.
It is posited in not so polite fashion in Two Phrases That Destroyed American Culture on Violent Acres that two pillars of modern customer service are responsible for this state of affair. One is ‘The Customer is Always Right’, the second is 'You have to earn my respect'. Why not treat others like we would like to be treated, she offers and also suggests that we stop looking the other way when customers-clients behave badly.
Seth Godin in The Customer is Always Right reminds us of the unwritten rule 3 on Stew Leonard's famous granite rock: If the customer is wrong, they're not your customer any more.
His solution: "Fire them. Politely decline to do business with them. Refer them to your arch competitors. Take them off the mailing list. Don't make promises you can't keep, don't be rude, just move on."
Minding my manners on Monday Work Etiquette #43
Previously: Make your voice heard...We Think and Mass Creativity
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