Rude Customer Service: Should this interfere with business decisions?UPDATED

[Firecat]

Great update.  And I love your pinata comment.

POD. (May I borrow the pinata comment? I promise to treat it nicely  .)

[StuffedGrapeLeaves]

I think you did the right thing by bringing it up to the manager.  She needs to know how her employees are coming across, and it sounds like she will follow up.  Good luck with dealing with them in the future.

[weeblewobble]

Great update.  And I love your pinata comment.

POD. (May I borrow the pinata comment? I promise to treat it nicely  .)

Yes.  Be gentle.

[Shoo]

I honestly don't think you could have handled this situation any better than you did.  Really good job.

[mmswm]

I think you handled the situation brilliantly.  You got yourself out of doing your workshop in a store that could potentially damage your reputation, but you did it not only without burning any bridges, but keeping the door wide open for future business with this store.  I don't think that there's any possible way that this could have turned out any better.  You deserve an award for impressive handling of a very delicate situation.

(And I would also like to steal the pinata comment)

[Lynn2000]

Wow, that is awesome. I am so impressed not only with you but also with the manager. And were I the rude employees I would be quaking in my boots right now!

[bloo]

Wonderful! You handled it great!

Also, by doing it while you're calm and sticking to facts about behavior, that kept the manager from having to feel defensive. She (she? he?) could concentrate on feeling offensive all over that 'pinata'?

I couldn't help notice that the manager wasn't at all shocked by the idea that the employees might be rude. Just surprised that it's cost the store an opportunity for business.

Hope they take care of business there and things work out for you a few months down the road.

[Hmmmmm]

I think you were awesome. The fact you were willing to turn down a business opportunity because of his employees' behavior I bet really made him take notice. If I were him, I'd be completely embarrassed that my staff acted this way. I'm sure you did him a big favor.

[sammycat]

Your employees would be temporarily representing me while they interact with customers who want to participate in a workshop.  And I can't take the risk of employees alienating customers with rudeness and damaging my reputation. 

I think you handled this brilliantly, and this bit here raises a very good point.

There's a certain chain of shops here that my friends and I only go into as a very last resort (which, thankfully isn't often). (Spotlight craft shops for anyone in Australia). I don't know what it is, but 90% of the time the employees are very stroppy - disinterested, rude, whatever.

Rightly or wrongly, I/we now tar all employees associated with that store with the same bad name as the rude people, and that applies to people doing demos etc in the store. They may be independent contractors completely unaffiliated with the actual store, but most people (myself included) neither know nor care about that; we just see a person working in the store and assume (A) they're Spotlight employees, and (B) they're likely to be just as rude as their colleagues.  I know that's unfair, but sometimes a businesses' reputation can have long reach consequences for everyone involved.

[Midnight Kitty]

I like the way you worked in something nice to say about the employee who helped you.  It gives your criticism more weight because you aren't generalizing or saying "all your people are rude."  You noted good customer service, too.

Well done, weeblewobble. 

[weeblewobble]

I like the way you worked in something nice to say about the employee who helped you.  It gives your criticism more weight because you aren't generalizing or saying "all your people are rude."  You noted good customer service, too.

Well done, weeblewobble.

Thanks, my mom and I talked about it and one of the reasons I was reluctant to report it was that we didn't want all of the employees on that shift to get in trouble.  So we wanted to make sure that the Helpful Employee wasn't lumped in with the rude ones.

Mt

[amandaelizabeth]

Sammycat

I was just going to write about my experiences with Spotlight and why I will not go into one any more.  They are dreadful.  It must be the management as I am across the ditch in Auckland.  I did go into one in Melbourne to see if they were any different over there and nope just as bad.

[JenJay]

Awesome!