A longtime resident of Uxbridge, Ted Barris has written professionally for 40 years - for radio, television, magazines and newspapers. The "Barris Beat" column began in the 1950s when his father Alex wrote for the Globe and Mail. Ted continues the tradition of offering a positive view of his community. He has written 16 non-fiction books of Canadian history and teaches journalism at Centennial College in Toronto.
Nice softens the...blow
I was standing in line for customer service at a local store recently, and witnessed a transaction between another customer and the clerk behind the counter that made me want to crawl into a hole and die.
The customer, a woman, plopped an open package of toilet tissue on the counter and announced quite boldly that she wanted to return it because it – wait for it – wasn't soft enough. The girl behind the counter looked at her blankly, probably not quite believing what she had heard. The woman then proceeded, with no provocation whatsoever, to have quite a rant about just how the cute bears on the television had lied, and how this tissue was “behind” her standards. SHE wanted to return it for a full refund. The girl asked if she had her receipt. She might as well have laid her head down on the guillotine right then and there.
“WHO keeps a receipt for @#%$^& toilet paper?” the customer shouted. And it just got uglier from there. Even while the girl was quietly handing the woman her money (the manager that had gotten involved when the shouting erupted relented and gave her cash, not the usual store credit – wouldn't she need more toilet paper?) the woman was still going on about the pitiful service, the pitiful paper, her pitiful life.
She finally left, and I couldn't decide whether to step forward with my issue (I had my receipt) or go around the counter and give the girl a hug. The manager left, muttering something about the woman's origins of birth, and the girl was left to stand behind the counter at the front of the entire store with tears in her eyes. I tried to make her feel a little better, was as polite as I could be, and quickly left, as no one was behind me and she obviously needed to collect herself. I was thoroughly embarrassed for the poor girl, and shocked and appalled by the disgusting behaviour of the woman in front of me. It was toilet paper, for heaven's sake! Was it really worth the $11.43 (her total refund) the package cost? All I could think was that something really rotten must have happened to her earlier in the day for her to have treated the store staff so rudely.
It wasn't the first time I had witnessed outbursts like this, however. I have been on that side of the counter. I have been exactly where both the girl and the manager were. I have had tears spring to my eyes from the way a complete stranger yelled at me, have felt that hot flush cover my entire being as someone tore a strip off me for being accidentally overcharged on their milk when they went through cash. I've worked retail, I've worked box store, I've worked boutique. And let me tell you, it ain't easy.
Now, before you side with the woman with the sensitive bottom, let me say that I do believe she had every right to return a product with which she wasn't satisfied. “Customer satisfaction-guaranteed” is a phrase we see on everything from toilet tissue to new cars. It wasn't what she did. It was how she did it. Did she think about the two individuals she was screaming at, about how she was ruining their day with her language that was best reserved for the potty the paper was intended for?
I firmly believe that, next to being a parent, working in the retail sector and the hospitality industry have to be two of the hardest jobs going. I say hospitality because its workers, too, seem to bear the brunt of human mercilessness. Many people seem to think they can verbally abuse the kid behind the counter or the server at their table for no apparent reason other than they are hungry. In light of this observation, I think that it should be part of the high school curriculum to have each student, say in grade 11 or 12, spend at least three months working in a retail environment, preferably on the shop floor, and three months in a restaurant of some sort. They would learn what it is to work the long hours, the physical demands of being on your feet that long, all for not a huge amount of pay. More importantly, they would meet all the different types of people that come walking through the door, perhaps even pick up a few tips from the pros who have been dealing with the public a lot longer and are getting thick-skinned about the treatment they receive. Then, hopefully, these students would go on with their lives always being mindful of how they treat the people that others would say are doing “menial”jobs. They would think twice about yelling at someone who is more than likely not directly responsible for policies and procedures and is only trying to do his or her job. Walking a mile in someone else's shoes really could make a difference.
While you're out shopping this holiday season, and are hot and bothered after having spent seven hours in the mall (who wouldn't be!), do try and be civil to the clerk helping you. They've been on their feet for seven hours too, and are just as tired and busy as you are. In the returns line-up post-Boxing Day, don't let the grumpies you incurred over not getting your pined-for gift affect how you treat the cashier. At the staff Christmas party, just a smile for the server could ensure your soup doesn't get spit into!
I don't mean to sound preachy, but I have walked a mile (several hundred, in fact) in their shoes, and trust me, you get much better customer service when you're nice.
