How to survive bad customers

Anyone who has worked in customer service knows the feeling of dread when a customer comes in roaring and scratching their claws all over your territory. You immediately feel your heart rate increase, your airway feels restricted. You think to yourself, "Why me?" There’s an unlimited number of situation that ticks employees to the brink of breaking. Surviving such deadly conditions is not for the faint hearted so brace yourself for the worst of the worst of bad customers.

- When a customer is being rude and abusive: Don’t let them walk all over you, be the lion of the jungle and show them whose boss. Complete their order or transaction in slow motion. Or you could tell them what a terrible cold you have, and then pretend to sneeze all over their change. Put salt into their wound.
- Surviving cheap customers can be the biggest challenge. It’s like they have a scarcity of resources to fork out another 10c or demand items to be discounted for no reason. If your trying to survive in the wilderness would you really have any bargaining power. So in this instance, when they buy a discount item, look at it, then look up at them, then look back at it, and then snicker. This will send the customer into a fanatical frenzy about their purchase.
- When a customer gives you really awkward money for their shopping. Do they want to make your job tedious and painful? You can survive this by giving them their change in little coins. Nothing helps to deal with this than sweet revenge.
- Dealing with children who are out of control messing up your pamphlets and chocolate bars, while their parents just them roam free like wild pigs. Dealing with stray children can be more deadly than any animal found in the wild. To survive this look at the father incredulously and ask: "Are they your kids?". When he says "Yes," ask, "Are you sure?" This will mostly likely result him not bring his children back to the store.


Not all customers behave like such animals but for the ones that do, you now have leather tough mechanisms to survive them.

Best of luck.
Natasha Raina.