Verbal abuse - got yelled at today.

[Soberlicious96]

One of those days today. I got yelled at and sworn at repeatedly down the phone by a customer. Other customers actually broke stuff ..... they let kids just jump on things. Another customer is yelling at me because of a missed order, that we have chased up from our end several times now and even WE keep getting the run around of "Oh yeah, sure' we'll look into that." and then they just palm it off to someone else and don't bother fixing the issue. I start annual leave tomorrow ..... but I'm going to spend half my day fixing the issues that our suppliers haven't bothered to fix. I'll say it again; I start my annual leave tomorrow, yet I'm spending half a day fixing issues that others are not taking responsiblity for. And I'm not even a manager or anything of any kind. I'm just a lacky.

I pretty much spent the whole day jumping out of my skin almost, every time the phone rang. I feel so agitated tonight.

I know that tomorrow is a new day, and I will likely feel heaps better after a good night's sleep. And I'm a good sleeper too, which helps.

I just don't like these horrible days where people behave horribly. I don't get paid nearly enough to have to put up with their crap.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

[quirkywords]

Soberlicious,

I hope your day is better today.

I too am in retail and I could fill up a book with some of the antics of customers and people being rude on the phone and in my shop.

One thing I have learnt is to just smile and not get angry back but I take a deep breath.

Once I was more funny than sarcastic back to someone but I felt so bad and guilty I never did it again.

Do you get a break over Easter or are you working some days. I work every day , the joys of being self employed.

I hear your frustration and pain.

Quirky

[Soberlicious96]

Hi Quirky,

Yeah, I've got six days off, so that's good. I plan to enjoy every minute of it, as much as I can anyway.

Hope you too have a great Easter.

[Croix]

Dear Soberlicious96~

I'll join Quirky in wishing you a relaxing break, though if you are anything like me you spend half of it just winding down.

I guess you are a person that takes other peoples bad behavior to heart, and are also someone that tries to fix problems.

OK the world needs people with sensitivity, and also those that are the 'glue' that keeps everything together, however those people can easily burn out, overwhelmed by nastiness, inconsideration and the amount of effort needed to sort out hassles.

So what to do?

You do need both barriers and a sense of proportion. If you stand back and look at what you are fixing, do you think the more you fix, the more others (the ones that cause it) will simply become more lax, knowing you will sort it?

Perhaps if you limited your activities to those that put you personally in bad light with your employer this might reduce your workload. If your employer is reasonable I would suggest talking to your supervisor about it.

With customers it can be difficult, everyone wants to keep them happy, however there are limits. Telling a parent they will have to pay for damages can be both satisfying and also give them the idea of controlling their kids.

If spoken to rudely on the phone say you feel the person is being disrespectful and hang up, suggesting if the ring again in a more reasonable tone you would be happy to help. - Note down what they say at once so you have a defense if management receives a complaint.

With internal paperwork if you cannot get any sense out of the matter can you refer it upstairs (preferably the customer too)?

Fixing and accepting rudeness and fixing other's messes are traits that can so easily escalate until life becomes overwhelmingly unpleasant, so please try to hit the brakes, even if it does make you feel uncomfortable.

I do not know your situation, or if any of these suggestions are practical in your working environment, perhaps you would like to post back and say.

The only other thought that occurs to me is if you have an ally or freind at work to vent to and who might help.

Croix