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Originally Posted by sarramkrop
How do you deal with difficult people? I've had a record number of arseholes to deal with, today. Most of the time it's easy to offer them something that'll get them off my back, but one in particular was such an arrogant, demented bastard ,it made me wish him dead and buried. Do you switch to nice but sarcastic mode or you simply become rude and dismissive with them?
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I actually do this shit for a living pretty hardcore now. I work as a "Customer Service Supervisor" in a state Attorney General's Office, Consumer Protection Division. So neither option you present is going to fly for me. I've had some pretty good training on the subject though, and I separate other peoples' issues from myself pretty well. I can only do what I'm allowed to do, and I frequently apologize for the limits, let them vent, and then point out their best alternatives. When they're pissed, I just repeat the mantra to myself, "It's Not About Me."
It isn't. Maybe they just found out they're mom has cancer. Maybe they are withdrawing from crack. Maybe they were molested as a child. Maybe we really did fuck up and lose their complaint, but then the "we" is amorphous and still impersonal. Nothing they say can hurt me, because it isn't about me. Sure it feels better when people say thank you, but 20% of the people we all meet aren't going to like us no matter what we do. So I'll collect my hourly wage letting them feel miserable if that's what they really want to do.
You want fries with that?