How to Deal with Rude Customers

Anyone who works in customer service knows how difficult it is to be nice to rude people. Some customers are belligerent, nasty and their main objective is to make your job harder. Rather than lash out and possibly lose your job, here are a few tips to help you cope with rude customers.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Keep smiling. In many cases, the rude customers wants to see you upset. Some people have nasty attitudes and they purposely show little respect to individuals who work in the service industry. Rather than react to their baseless complaints, keep a smile on your face. This way, they won't have a reason to complain to your boss or manager.

2. Stay calm. Dealing with a rude customer makes it difficult to continue working. Once the customer leaves, brush off the incident and continue serving your other customers. Take a few moments to calm down. Learn breathing techniques and other exercises to help you relax.

3. Politely ignore. This technique is hard, but effective. At times, a customers will rant and rave over an issue that doesn't involve you. Maybe the price of an item is too high, or the store's policy will not allow them to return an item. Rather than get mad or respond to each individual complaint, let customers express themselves. Afterwards, apologize for any inconvenience. Eventually, they'll get tired and leave.

4. Pity them. Anyone who expresses rudeness for no apparent reason, especially toward someone who is trying to assist them, is likely an unhappy person. Realize that they have the problem, not you. Do your job and assist them. Their bad day should not affect your mood.

5. Remember kind customers. For every rude and nasty customer, there are probably a handful of nice and appreciative customers. Everyone who works in the service industry will eventually encounter a difficult customer. Rather than focus on one bad complaint, reflect on the many nice comments.

6. Would you like another customer service rep? If a customer is rude and unappreciative, kindly ask whether they would like to be assisted by someone else. Persons who work in the service industry cannot get angry or yell at a customer. However, you can pass them off to a supervisor or manager.

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[nextellady]

on 10/12/2009 I found that if you ask the rude customer to stop, wait a min. and think about it. Do you have a job? oh you do, do you have control over the company rules policys etc... you dont - because you just work there and your just trying to make a living! Thats exactly what I am doing here. I will do my best to help you if you can explain your problem and we can work it out the best we can together. I worked as a gm at a sprint dealer for 11 years. This really works and reality I didnt own the company and I couldnt change the rules and policys but I could almost always get the problem fixed if the customer was willing to settle down and be patient!

[wikdtongue]

on 9/15/2009 Today I served a very rude customer. He gave me major attitude for no reason. Told me to hurry up and threatened to "smash me".

I know I should just ignore it and not take it personally. But it's just not fair that customers know they can say whatever they want and that you can't give any of it back to them.

We actually had another customer being rude to my supervisor cos she couldn't return her item. The customer was swearing at her and accusing her of calling her a liar. My supervisor actually dished back some of the attitude and the customer roared "HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT?" -- eventhough she had been doing worse.

It just baffles me.

[asub0]

on 6/17/2009 Jerks may always be jerks. Can't let them ruin your day. I work in a tech support capacity, which is very service oriented. For those who think that it does not matter how polite or rude you are when dealing with tech support, I would ask you to reconsider this notion. I have been the customer as well as the support rep, and the more cooperative the customer, more solutions there are to explore.

[isatoy]

on 1/27/2009 Well done. 5* & R.

[kidlashea]

on 11/19/2008 i actually just got off of the phone with a very rude customer. when i politely asked her to lower her tone and stop speaking to me in such a manner, she informed me that she doesnt care about my feelings because i work in customer service, that i should stop worrying about myself and fix her problem.

i eventually fixed her problem, without a thank you or anything and she again repeated that my feelings dont matter because of my job position.

i still feel terrible and very pissed off.
people like her need to learn a valuable lesson that throwing a fit will not get the job done any faster, but only makes the experience a bad one for both parties.

man i just wanted to tell her "look lady- you're lucky that anyone is WILLING to help you because you are VERY RUDE"