j.r-xrs

Rant ON

I'm a lifeguard at the local leisure centre, it's full of "The General Public" who just push their luck non-stop.

Story goes like this:

Last Sunday we had a half day, 5.5 hours on poolside the other 4 cleaning with nasty chemicals, we shut to the public at 3pm. Upon shutting one of our duties is to put barriers across the pool and seating areas to stop people re-entering the water. 5-10 minutes after we had shut the pool there were still people collecting their belongings and clearing up by the seats, I put 2 of the barriers across and left the 3rd out so they could leave. As I walking the back to collect the third barrier a women asked why the others were stopping her leaving, I pointed out the open gate and asked if she could use that. She said no as she was carrying too much to walk the extra 15m to the open one, I begrudgingly lifted one side of the gate leaving about 50cm for her to get out. Meanwhile I put the last gate in and began to walk back to the staff room. She then approached me, looked me in the eyes and asked if I knew anything about customer service? I totally ignored her and just walked off. (So it would appear not)

While I can accept that this was probably not the best thing to do, I was tired and stressed about exams. (So I have an excuse).

In hindsight I wish I had turned round and told her that she was no longer a customer (as we were shut) and to shove her service where the sun don't shine...

May have made the situation worse but would have made me feel good.

What do you think?

Rant OFF

j.r-xrs

j.r-xrs

Obviously the thread title should be:

At what point does the customer stop being the a customer?

Went blind with rage

Tiggs

to make you feel better heres a couple of stories from 10 years ago when i was a lifeguard.....and rules were not quite so ..errr....rule like


kids (16yr olds) wont leave pool.....every one else has gone so me and two others dive in and beat the crap out of them

kids fun session in the holls....little ratty kids wont leave the pool...acting hard in front of mates......as a compromise we tell him if he sits he sits in his changing cubicle (the cubicles surrounded the pool area) we would let him stay...sort of a sin bin thing. so he sits down in his cubicle.....now we know where hi gear is we let him back in the pool....bag up his stuff and lob it out a fire escape! he had to go get it in his trunks neer came back!

they where "custumers"

T

Scumbag

If you were working for me, and did that to a customer you'd be on a first warning straight away, and automatic turd-fishing duties.

The fact you had a bad day is completely irelevant...try putting yourself in the customer's place (or a manager/owner's place). Even if she was being unreasonable (and marginally inconsiderate does not class as unreasonable in my book), you are being paid, amongst other things, to encourage the customer to come back. If you cant cope with a mild bit of criticism (and it sounded very mild), then you shouldnt be working in a customer-facing role anyway.
If you were in a similar position, and were spoken to rudely/ignored by someone who basically couldnt be bothered to be civil or marginally put themselves out for you, I'm sure you'd want to say something ("Sorry Sir, you Subaru was keyed in our Car Park? sorry, store closed 2 mins ago, and I'm off duty, so p1ss off, I dont care" would be acceptable to you?)

I know this sounds harsh but the "I'm all right Jack - Stuff you" attitude that we put up with in the name of customer service really gets on my t1ts

fast bloke

I would unfortunately have to agree with that scumbag on this. You get paid for certain duties. If you feel you can reasonably be snotty to someone who pays some portion of your wages then you are either completly stoopid, or not that stoopid but have no idea of customer service..... which one is it then

fast bloke

btw - a customer stops being a customer when you are sure that you can never make any money from them or anyone they know

fatherpierre

You should have slapped her and chucked her back in the pool.

j.r-xrs

Scumbag, FB,

You both have good points with the exception of being called stupid, I can accept them, but surely you intelligent people can see my point of view, she was pushing the boundaries, given my state of mind at the time and the fact that she couldn't work with/around me the situation was pretty annoying.

Surely my self restraint must be slightly credited as I didn’t say anything, in my opinion much better than shouting me head off.

And can you seriously tell me you have never had bad day?

Please note that I would prefer not to be personally attacked over this, I was only interested in others views and experiences.

Cheers

OllieC

Keeping your trap shut was a good idea and clearly took some restraint - well done. Read what "How to Win Friends and Influence People" says about apologising giving you the upper hand.

Yes, you should leave your "bad day" at the door on the way in to work. I reckon most on here have had a "bad day" but it's not what we're paid for and we were in the wrong.

skiddus_markus

As a lifeguard,I doubt encouraging customers to come back(unless you class them not drowning)is in his job discription.
Automatically issuing a first warning could be classed as prejudicing his case and not judging it on it's own merits.I'd have thought a word in his ear more appropriate.
The lady couldn't carry her things(how much can you possibly take to the pool?),but could follow him to complain.Says a lot.

NACRO

"How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie should be compulsory reading for customer service staff. I am constantly using techniques from his books (which are all common sense really) and they always pay off in my professional and private life.

Leslie

Scumbag is right. It really does not cost anything to at least be polite. If you are at work then you still have a responsiblity to the customer.

Les

philc

so, ask yourself, how had the customer's day been?

Story I always remember is many years ago the milkman got the milk delivery wrong twice in the same week. My mother had sharp words with him. His response?

'Sorry, haven't been concentrating - my wife died last week ...'

So, just maybe, the customer was having a s**t day as well .....

fast bloke

jr xrs - sorry - wasn't meant to be a personal attack - I did give you a with the options

Badger Stuffer

She was the customer.....You are there to serve her. If you can't handle that then get another job.

Nuff said.

j.r-xrs

FB - no worries I over reacted in the first place

Badger - Actually I'm there to save her but I see your and everyone elses points.

Cheers

j.r-xrs

CarpetCleaner

j.r-xrs

I'd have told her to get out the pool as she was making it smell