For anyone who doesn’t know me, I work full time in a service industry that people just don’t like paying for.
Now, I understand that when you are told that you need a service that you don’t really want but must have, almost everyone will be unhappy to a certain degree. However, in the bigger picture of life, my question is…. when did it become normal for people to be rude, aggressive or derogatory? And when did it become acceptable to treat people in this manner?
I really believe that some people forget that they are speaking, tweeting or emailing an actual human being. The recipient of your frustration has feelings and emotions and who might be handling their own issues with life. If someone is frustrated with a situation or a company, it might not be the fault of the person who answered the phone, the person who is trying to help them or get them information.
In today’s culture people are very quick to shout down a phone or become email / internet warriors, but how many times do we give positive feedback without being asked to, or when we have a good experience or if someone has been nice to us.
I have a friend, who is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, and he hates how people can be so rude so he makes sure to go out of his way to be extremely nice to the sales advisors. He keeps track of what shops he visits and the names of the sales advisors who he speaks to, and then contacts each of the companies to bring to their attention what great experience that employee gave during his visit.
My point is, please BE KIND. Everyone is dealing with an unexhaustive list of their own worries and not a single person needs the extra stress or anxiety caused by being abused by a customer.