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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[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"

[uhmanda]

on 10/27/2008 why the heck do people think it's okay to throw their payment on the counter in front of you when you are holding your hand out?! and these idiots look right at your hand while they're doing it! A-HOLES!

[citizen477]

on 7/1/2008 As another commentator alluded, as customer service representatives, we also need to assert and affirm our humanity. What I mean by that is we should never allow people to disrespect us, making us feel "less-than". Rude customers and people in general need to be made aware that they are being disrespectful and that their behavior is not acceptable. I work in student services for a very large community college, and students (particularly those who come with their parents) can be very rude, and I hate to say this, but this generation (15 - 20 year-olds) feel that they are entitled to everything, even things that they don't deserve, so they approach everyone with that attitude. On several occasions, I have had to deny service to students who use physical intimidation or derogatory language. I don't care how polite you are as a customer service representative, no one should tolerate demeanin