This is more of a rant, I just need to get it off my chest and forget about it. I was working up at the service desk, while my coworker was doing hoppers in the back office. The phone is ringing but I'm working with a customer on lottery (he was unsure of what was drawing today and tomorrow so I had to walk him through a few things and could not answer the phone by the third ring). By the third ring the phone stops ringing and I am thankful because I know my coworker has answered it from the back room so I can keep assisting this seemingly helpless customer with the lottery without worrying about a customer on hold waiting for assistance. All of the sudden my coworker bursts out of the back office practically in tears saying the man on the phone wants the phone number to a specific store, but whenever she gives him the number all he does is insist that it is the wrong number and act rudely to her. She didn't give me any specifics on what "rude" entailed, so I assumed he was just irritated he had to wait for her to find the number and that perhaps the number was incorrect and I told her not to worry about the phones anymore and to finish hoppers so that she could collect herself. Well the man calls back and asks for her, and I tell her that she is unavailable at the moment but that I could assist him and I tried to give him the number. Halfway through giving him the number, the man hangs up on me and calls back! He says that was the wrong number, and I apologize, but say this is the phone number that corresponds to the address he gave and there are no other matches. He calls me illiterate and quite a few other colorful names and I hang up on him. I call my boss over and tell him what's happening and he says he will pick up the phone next time. He calls again and my boss picks up, then the other line starts ringing and I pick up. That's when we realize that this guy not only repeatedly calling and cussing out my coworker and I, he is also having his friend call and ask for the same number, all while hanging up when they don't like the answer only to call right back. He calls and my boss picks up again, and the caller says he wants to speak to me about "operations". My boss says it doesn't sound like the main caller, so despite my better judgment and because my superior was telling me to, I pick up the phone. The caller again tries to flood my with threats and swearing and hang up the phone. I tell my boss this is ridiculous, I can see the numbers for who is calling and that I'm not picking up for that number ever again so long as I can recognize it and neither will my coworker. My boss says that's fine, so for the next half hour this guy and his friend keep calling, and I just keep parking their calls until they hang up and try again so that they can't torment anyone else all over a phone number. These types of "customers" are becoming more and more common where I work and I have no idea why, one of them even started throwing pens at my other coworker until she was finally taken away by security. My supervisor says it's the summer heat, I say that's a piss poor excuse to behave the way these people do.
Absolutely take NO $HIT from ANY customer, I don't care what the circumstances. Public service training directives, political correctness, fear of legal retaliations and a general, pervasive wussiness across this country have conspired to cause all the $hit to begin with. We've got a nation of over grown, temper tantrum throwing babies that need their asses smacked up between their goofy eye balls.
We deal with this more and more at Walmart, and believe it or not, Wally and kroger really aren't all that different. Our return policy itself is completely absurd, and as a manager, i am often the final authority on approving a cash refund.......sometimes on an item that was clearly not even OURS. It's become a game of 'Well, if I just throw a big enough fit, I'll get my way'. And they're right!! That's what kills me.
Loss Prevention has become another laughing stock. Used to be, you could hire burly, bad azz staff who would chase down and TACKLE these shop lifting pukes. You should see the legal 'policies' surrounding and choking off all that now. Enough of my rant.
Back to start: Your management team should always back you up, re abusive customers. There really needs to be a zero tolerance policy that starts with thew acting out person so much as getting mouthy.------------Yeah, I know. Ain't gonna happen.
I had a customer once who was calling about something, and kept cursing at me. I kept telling him that if he kept cursing, I'd be unable to help him. He kept cursing at me, so I told him I was unable to help and hung up. This goes on two more times, and he's getting livid now, and I finally tell him that I am unable to help him and I won't be able to take anymore of his calls. So he calls corporate, who ends up calling me, and tells me I should have taken the abuse. I told them I didn't get paid that much, and I would not. We go around and around, and it soon gets dropped
Cut to about 4 years later, and I get a similar situation at a different job. I send a heads up email to my GM and DM, and they get calls from the customer. They just wonder why I didn't hang up sooner.
Where do you think we had the better customer service atmosphere? Definitely wasn't Kroger.
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My views don't reflect those of anyone, not even me. I may not have even made this statement. It's all lies, all of it!
I guess there are 2 people that have allot of free time. Does it show their # on the phone? At my store we have caller ID. You should write the # down and report it. Oh how I miss the days where you picked up the phone and the operator got you the # you wanted. Maybe you should just flat out tell them to get a job.
I had a customer once who was calling about something, and kept cursing at me. I kept telling him that if he kept cursing, I'd be unable to help him. He kept cursing at me, so I told him I was unable to help and hung up. This goes on two more times, and he's getting livid now, and I finally tell him that I am unable to help him and I won't be able to take anymore of his calls. So he calls corporate, who ends up calling me, and tells me I should have taken the abuse. I told them I didn't get paid that much, and I would not. We go around and around, and it soon gets dropped
Cut to about 4 years later, and I get a similar situation at a different job. I send a heads up email to my GM and DM, and they get calls from the customer. They just wonder why I didn't hang up sooner.
Where do you think we had the better customer service atmosphere? Definitely wasn't Kroger.
It's hard to serve a family customer base if you let a bunch of thugs roam the store and cuss at everyone. Customer service is about optimizing sales and repeat business. If it means having to kick out a few jackasses to do that, any reasonable manager will do it. But at Kroger, even a stealing customer is somehow a paying customer, and we should get down on our hands and knees and bow at their greatness.
I guess there are 2 people that have allot of free time. Does it show their # on the phone? At my store we have caller ID. You should write the # down and report it. Oh how I miss the days where you picked up the phone and the operator got you the # you wanted. Maybe you should just flat out tell them to get a job.
People can still do that, but they are charged for it. All they have to do is dial "411".
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Would you like fries with th... I mean, your milk in a bag?
