Should i abandon this store after being insulted?

[chapunso]

Do not tolerate this. This guy is a ******* salesperson. the difference between you un this guy is that you can go to another store and the asshole has to remain there behind the counter. Better still, complain about him to his superior

 

[kidkim2]

Gosh. All along, I've assumed that the computer program would filter out those words. Whee. I can throw away my Thesaurus.

 

[stache]

I stand by the " You're just a clerk, you know - " statement. It shuts them up every time

.

 

[Leo Jay]

This particular instance aside, it certainly doesn't surprise me that even a well-meaning salesperson might be made occasionally cranky by the knowledge that she is regarded, even by many of her most polite and well-behaved customers, as just "a ******* salesperson" who'd do anything to trade places with the "lowliest" of her customers.

 

[johnapril]

fragment of a diary of a former customer service employee

As a former customer service employee at a ritzy coffeeshop, I turned to insight meditation as a way of managing my reaction to the delusions weighing upon my customer's minds.  I often observed my customers listening to what seemed to be "an inner voice" that told them they were happier and so logically better or "higher" than me because they had complex, high-paying jobs, not a simple service job such as I had.  They seemed to think their financial situation made them invulnerable to suffering.  And they seemed to use me as a contrast, as a yardstick to measure the distance they had traveled.  This dynamic fascinated me.  I was under the assumption that suffering takes whatever form it needs to, and that no one is free of it.  But on my hands each day was a crowd of rich folks who thought they had made it to the other side, Nirvana, if you will.  So I kept my ear to the ground and waited for the ice to crack.

Allow me to tell a story:

One day I was working at the coffeeshop, happily brewing away, when a woman in her thirties in gold and diamonds entered the store with her 4-year-old daughter in tow.

"The owner just called and said my mug is here," the woman said.  "I want my mug."

Weeks earlier, the woman had specially ordered a special mug in blue with little speckles in it that fit perfectly in to the cup holder of her Volvo.  It was a special mug in a special color for her special car.  I went to the back office and found what I thought was it.  When she saw it in my hands she reached out and said, "That's the one.  That's it.  That's my mug."  She seemed awfully happy, but a bit rushed.  She wanted a decaf latte, extra hot, no foam.  "Do you want it in your mug?" I asked.  "Sure-sure," she said.  "But make it fast."

I was happy to serve.  But first, I wanted to wash the mug.  You never know, the way those things are packed.  So I took it in the back and washed it, sanitized it, and on my way out front the mug slipped right out of my hands and shattered on the floor.

The woman was already writing her check.  I couldn't say anything.  I tried I'm sorry.  But the woman looked like someone had just kicked her between the legs.  She started screaming, "Was that my mug.  Was that my mug."

She wasn't asking, she was yelling.  Her daughter cried out, and the woman told her to shut up and swatted her.

I looked down at Humpty Dumpty.  What else could I do?  I could give her the same mug in black.  In white.  But another blue mug with speckles would take weeks to arrive.

The woman grabbed her daughter's arm and stormed out of the coffeeshop.  She tore off in her Volvo.  In the months that followed, a Starbucks opened in town, the coffeeshop began to lose money, I quit and started traveling in hot third world countries with tip money I'd saved.  When I returned to America I noted the coffeeshop had closed.  No one was using the space for another business.  The owner was divorced and living in another city.  All we have seems so real.  But it is not who we are.

 

[Leo Jay]

Dude, you fucked up. You dropped her mug. Damn. Who told you to clean the mug? WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THAT? You... coffee-server-person. HMPH.

 

[johnw86]

Man, I was going to post my favorite method of dealing with rude salespeople, but johnapril has derailed me... I think I may have visited your coffee shop (in Indianapolis?) once upon a time.

 

[johnapril]

Dude, you fucked up. Â You dropped her mug. Â Damn. Â Who told you to clean the mug? Â WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THAT? You... coffee-server-person. Â HMPH. Â

Would you have rathered it had I hurled in her mug and boiled it with the steam wand (sans foam, as requested)?

 

[Caballero]

The ultimate pay back in this type of situation is continuing shopping at this place, but never buy from that particular person. Nothing irks a sales person more than being ignored by a customer, especially one that is purchasing

.

 

[Leo Jay]

Quote:

(Leo Jay @ 22 Oct. 2004, 09:21) Dude, you fucked up. Â You dropped her mug. Â Damn. Â Who told you to clean the mug? Â WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THAT? You... coffee-server-person. Â HMPH. Â

Would you have rathered it had I hurled in her mug and boiled it with the steam wand (sans foam, as requested)?
Yeah, and tell her it's the house special blend, with something a little extra added in appreciation for her patience.

 

[faustian bargain]

The ultimate pay back in this type of situation is continuing shopping at this place, but never buy from that particular person. Nothing irks a sales person more than being ignored by a customer, especially one that is purchasing Â

.

better yet, make them personally fetch the other salesperson to help you.