Tips For Dealing With Difficult Customers

Rude Customer Rules

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

Q: Dear April Masini,

I just started working at a high-end retail store. I love it so far, but a lot of the customers are just plain rude. I find myself having a difficult time dealing with them, especially when they get angry that I can't always help them. The customer is not always right! How can I deal with the rude customers at my job so I don't lose my cool and get fired?

Sincerely,

When The Customer is Wrong

A:

Dear When The Customer is Wrong,

Sometimes it can be hard to keep your cool when dealing with a difficult customer. However, you are a professional so you need to act like one.

Here are some tips for handling problem customers:

1. Chances are one person in a dispute is going to get angry or angry first. Try not to react to the anger. Stay focused on the problem and the solution.

2. If someone's anger is impeding your ability to do your job, transfer them to a manager or someone trained to work with angry people.

3. If you can't help a customer, give them options. The worst thing a customer can feel is victimized.

4. Accept that you may not have all the answers. Even if you think you know what the rules or parameters are, ask a higher up if you may do something differently for a customer.

5. Anger affects other people, so if you feel yourself getting affected by another person's anger, take a few deep breaths or stretch your body to get a little more oxygen going in order to try and gird yourself up against the anger.

6. If you are a customer, and you are not getting what you want, go to the next step -- a manager, a supervisor, etc. Often times, going over a stubborn employee's head (or their manager's head, too), will solve the problem. You may encounter someone very pleasant in an executive suite or office of the store.

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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