I went to Tesco (a large (perhaps too large ((brackets)) grocery retailer in the UK) a while back with some raspberries that hadn’t even lasted until I got home before going mouldy.
Literally, all I wanted to do was show the customer service desk lass the issue, show them my receipt, get a replacement, and fuck off to make the interaction as easy as possible for them.
An honest appraisal of what the problem was; some witty banter; and a general understanding of the “don’t be a dickhead” principle to frontline staff meant that she kept hold of me for ten minutes, noted down details and times and whatnot, and it ended up with a £10 apology gift card in the post - which in turn purchased a rather nice bottle of wine.
Where I’m going with this: I cannot fathom how people cannot be polite about issues like this. I’ve never understood how being a wanker to someone whose job it is to sort issues out somehow nets you a better end result. Perhaps the best advice I’m going to give my kids is to spend six months or a year of their teenage starts to their careers in an inbound call centre in a field they’re interested in - yes the job can grind you down and yes the pay sucks, but the basic life skills and soft people skills it teaches you is fucking invaluable.
tl;dr: solid advice, ask nicely, don’t be a twat, and you’ll probably end up with a net result better than you started.
I’ve never understood how being a wanker to someone whose job it is to sort issues out somehow nets you a better end result.
I saw a guy yell at an airport employee who kept telling him that she couldn’t legally let him on the plane because the cabin door was already shut. He kept at it until a supervisor showed up, contacted the pilot, and let him in. I get where the guy was coming from (because he loudly proclaimed that he was missing a connecting flight through no fault of his own) but it was still weird to see him get something by being angry which he probably couldn’t have gotten by being nice.
I’m unlucky enough to be in junior management… and that sounds to me like the manager or supervisor has the breaking strength of a melted fucking KitKat.
Sure, they’ve made a problem go away, but they’ve emboldened the arsehole to pull this stunt in the future, and it has done untold damage to the self esteem and mental health of the poor airport spud who was doing their job just fine.
From a personal perspective: if I was a passenger on that plane and we were delayed because some arsepiece threw a hissy fit at the gate, I’d be fuming that the airline caved too.
It’s gash. Fuck that guy, but fuck that supervisor too. They literally had the grounds to fuck that guy right off and enjoy every second of it, but they buckled and became part of the problem.
He could have politely asked for the supervisor to start vs being a belligerent asshole until one showed up. Alternate take though, if he was nice and asked for a supervisor to start and the person told him no and they wouldn’t get a supervisor - well that’s when you have to actually be the asshole and make enough of a scene one shows up.
That’s like … Very unlikely though, most people will get you their higher up person if it’s necessary to help and you’re being nice.
I hate when you have to be the jerk to get what you need but sometimes you just have to.
I went to Tesco (a large (perhaps too large ((brackets)) grocery retailer in the UK) a while back with some raspberries that hadn’t even lasted until I got home before going mouldy.
Literally, all I wanted to do was show the customer service desk lass the issue, show them my receipt, get a replacement, and fuck off to make the interaction as easy as possible for them.
An honest appraisal of what the problem was; some witty banter; and a general understanding of the “don’t be a dickhead” principle to frontline staff meant that she kept hold of me for ten minutes, noted down details and times and whatnot, and it ended up with a £10 apology gift card in the post - which in turn purchased a rather nice bottle of wine.
Where I’m going with this: I cannot fathom how people cannot be polite about issues like this. I’ve never understood how being a wanker to someone whose job it is to sort issues out somehow nets you a better end result. Perhaps the best advice I’m going to give my kids is to spend six months or a year of their teenage starts to their careers in an inbound call centre in a field they’re interested in - yes the job can grind you down and yes the pay sucks, but the basic life skills and soft people skills it teaches you is fucking invaluable.
tl;dr: solid advice, ask nicely, don’t be a twat, and you’ll probably end up with a net result better than you started.
“Ask nicely and don’t be a twat” sounds like an awesome t-shirt.
I saw a guy yell at an airport employee who kept telling him that she couldn’t legally let him on the plane because the cabin door was already shut. He kept at it until a supervisor showed up, contacted the pilot, and let him in. I get where the guy was coming from (because he loudly proclaimed that he was missing a connecting flight through no fault of his own) but it was still weird to see him get something by being angry which he probably couldn’t have gotten by being nice.
I’m unlucky enough to be in junior management… and that sounds to me like the manager or supervisor has the breaking strength of a melted fucking KitKat.
Sure, they’ve made a problem go away, but they’ve emboldened the arsehole to pull this stunt in the future, and it has done untold damage to the self esteem and mental health of the poor airport spud who was doing their job just fine.
From a personal perspective: if I was a passenger on that plane and we were delayed because some arsepiece threw a hissy fit at the gate, I’d be fuming that the airline caved too.
It’s gash. Fuck that guy, but fuck that supervisor too. They literally had the grounds to fuck that guy right off and enjoy every second of it, but they buckled and became part of the problem.
He could have politely asked for the supervisor to start vs being a belligerent asshole until one showed up. Alternate take though, if he was nice and asked for a supervisor to start and the person told him no and they wouldn’t get a supervisor - well that’s when you have to actually be the asshole and make enough of a scene one shows up.
That’s like … Very unlikely though, most people will get you their higher up person if it’s necessary to help and you’re being nice.
I hate when you have to be the jerk to get what you need but sometimes you just have to.
I’m most surprised an airport allowed that behavior!