first off, at my job on sundays, i'm the only non-hispanic person, fluent in english, and one of 2 women. our italian manager has sundays off. rudy is "in charge".
so yesterday, rudy answers the phone, the other girl and i are working the counter, and he hands me the phone and tells me to read the dinner specals to the person. ok. i grab my piece of paper and say "hi, you were looking for the dinner specials?" and the guy on the other end just goes OFF on me.
"i have no clue whats going on over there, i'm talking to a guy then i'm talking to you suddenly and he didnt tell me to hold or anything"
"i'm sorry sir, i was just handed the phone, i dont know what the other guy said to you."
and then this guy just goes crazy
"i'm a strong man and you wouldnt treat a strong man like that" and i'm just trying to get thru it all, and i'm like "i'm sorry, but were you looking for the dinner specials or our pizza specials?". you know, just trying to diffuse the situation. [more]
2007-12-10 06:14:31 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Other - Society & Culture
so the guy says dinner specials and i get half way thru reading the first one and he goes off again
"i dont know whats going on over there, you would never talk to a strong man like that in person. i'm a strong man" and i just inturpt him and say "are you trying to intimidate me with your size?"
and he says "i didnt say i was a big man, i'm a strong man. this has nothing to do with my size"
and i just said "i dont have to listen to this" and i hung up. i was going to *69 him, but the phone rang again. rudy was standing there the whole time so he thought it was the guy again and answered the phone, but it was someone else placing and order, so i couldnt *69 them anymore.
i was kinda afraid he was going to come in, and honestly, we're defensless. rudy is a chunky guy, but i'm 5'5, 125lbs. the other girl is tiny, and everyone else fits the small latino guy stature.
thankfully he never came. or called
my mom thinks i should have handled it differently. but i felt attacked!
2007-12-10 06:18:28 · update #1
i've been working there 8 years. i just put in my months+ notice that i'm leaving (cause i'm nice like that), but if i hadnt i think i would have cussed him out and just left for good. thankfully there were lots of customers so i was biting my tongue.
2007-12-10 06:29:27 · update #2
and to sandra, that was the second thing i said to him "i'm sorry, i was just handed the phone, i dont know what he said" (or in this case didnt say).
thats an appology! i'm not going to keep saying i'm sorry for somehting that i had no part in! i said i was sorry for whatever had happened, what else could he want?!?!
2007-12-10 07:09:02 · update #3
The fact that he kept repeating that he was a strong guy kind of tells me that he wasnt (you can tell people anything over the phone). I say you handled it fine, and actually rather calm considering he was verbally attacking you. I probably would've gone off on him and gotten myself fired, so kudos to you for keeping your cool.
2007-12-10 06:27:02 · answer #1 · answered by Dani 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree with your mom. The caller was probably saying that he was a proud man and that he didn't appreciate being condescended by your boss and then by you. Perhaps he was a little "off", I don't know. What is clear is that neither you nor "Rudy" have very good customer service skills. The caller didn't threaten you or swear at you, he wanted some validation that being transferred to you was handled unprofessionally, and when he didn't get that validation he went "crazy" as you put it. Do you then apologize and say that you understand (even if you don't), apologize that your co-worker transferred him so abruptly , gently say that you are not sure how you can help but that you would be happy to help him select from your menu, would he like you to do that? No, you act like he didn't say anything and go on about specials? I'm not saying that it's easy, I am saying that if customer service is even occasionally part of your job, you really need to work on it. Customer service isn't just for the easy, nice customers, it's for the difficult ones as well...in some ways even more so.
Tell your boss that customers don't appreciate being passed along like a football and that a "please hold" would help a lot. Better luck next time.
**EDIT** You didn't say "I'm sorry you were transferred so abruptly. I'm not sure what you were told by the last person, but I'm here to help you now. What may I help you with?" No, you wanted the customer to be understanding of you and that "the other guy" "just handed" you the phone. That is not an apology, that's an excuse.
Have fun at your next job, I hope there are no challenging customers there because apparently you don't have the temperment or the skills.
2007-12-10 06:56:28 · answer #2 · answered by Jojos Mom 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would of "accidentally" hung up on him too.
He needed more than a food order to straighten him out, he sounds sicko.It is always insane when you have to deal with the public.Most people are normal but there is always someone with problems.
2007-12-10 09:25:47 · answer #3 · answered by Marilyn T 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That guy acted like a terd. You should have hung up right away, I'm sure you don't get paid enough to endure verbal abuse. : )
2007-12-10 06:40:19 · answer #4 · answered by Excellante 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You did right.
You also had every right to hang up on the rude person. No one needs this type of abuse.
2007-12-10 06:19:43 · answer #5 · answered by grumpyfiend 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋