Tonight I had to attend a staff meeting for my retail job. The short version of the story is that it sucked. People that I normally don't mind (even really enjoy) working with infuriate me at staff meetings. You should never place an excessive amount of women in a room and ask them to express their opinions. It will not end well.
The reason I'm so infuriated is because the majority of them disagreed with a core fundamental belief I have when it comes to dealing with customers and people in general. I don't care whether you're in a service industry or not, the policy should be the same. There should be absolutely no tolerance of verbal abuse whatsoever. I don't care if the customer is always right. They can express their opinions like a grown up instead of throwing a tantrum like a child. I feel that if everybody followed my policy then the world would be a much nicer place.
What is my policy? Well it's simple. When someone starts screaming, insulting, or getting just plain nasty with you, the interaction comes to an immediate end. No person should ever have to put up with being yelled at, insulted, or verbally accosted for the sake of customer service. If everyone had a no tolerance policy on acting like a self involved brat than no one would attempt it. Everyone would be forced to remain calm, voice their opinions like a responsible adult and come to some kind of understanding without verbally accosting the person they're dealing with.
It's all about learned behavior. These people have learned that they can get away with it. When they can't, they will learn not to do it anymore. Sounds good doesn't it? And how good would it feel to simply turn and walk away from the raving bitch at your store counter because, guess what? You don't have to take that. From anyone. Ever. I don't care what my retail store's policy is. I will always adhere to mine.
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I got surprisingly worked up at that meeting too. But I must have zoned out about the verbal abuse part. I just get mad at how everyone pretends they don't "need" to learn how to use the computer system properly and then defend themselves for treating coworkers like their own personal slaves.
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