ROTFL! Of course I have, anyone working in retail has! Don't lose your temper with them, be as polite as possible, and if the customer is totally unreasonable...well...that's why God invented supervisors!

I used to work at a video store, so yeah!!! We had some that came in really angry and after a few minutes they realize that they are in the wrong so then they get even more rude because they are mad at themselves. I was the Manager so when the really, really mean ones came in I took the brunt. It is really hard to maintain your composure, but as I later found out all the people I got I did everything I could for them were very upset that I quit because the company was getting very bad about making the 7 of us employees compete against each other instead of working together. My Philosophy was if I help them now they will spend money 2nite, and come back to spend more, whereas if I didn't they didn't pay their fees nor did they return. One good example of this is a man had let his ex-brother in law rent and now had 92.00 dollars in fees. I took off his fees and he spent 200.00 dollars that night on movie rentals and buying a Nintendo DS. Not to say it didn't backfire a couple times. One really rude customer actually put his finger in my face and drew back to hit me, now I did lose my cool and kicked him in the nuts and called police. Sorry I rant sometimes. +4 for letting me do so. :)

i worked at a shoe store so i got all kinds of customers. if they were really rude, then i would treat them like a baby since i couldn't yell at them. it was pretty funny lol!

I was a manager of a Dominos pizza once and we had high school teens come in on busy evenings for a few hours to answer phones and take orders. We had this guy who was a hot head and his pizza was not what he wanted once so he called and cussed out a 16 year old, very sweet girl. She was so shocked she hung up on him and when he called back I had a few things to say to him. I banned him from ever ordering from our store again, he was a friend and neighbor of the owner and the owner backed me up on this. The customer is not always right.

Ignore the comment or behavior. You don't want to lower yourself to their level

That is why the God of Retail invented supervisors and managers, lol...

shower them with kindness, it baffles their psyche lol

L.A.S.T..... Listen Apologize Solve Thank! that usually works but if not just be incredibly nice to them like nothing ever happened and that pisses them off more and they can't really do anything about it what are they going to do tell ur manager how nice you were?!?!? i was a manager for six years and thats the way i trained my staff members and i very seldomly got complaints but if it comes down to it go get a manager/supervisor and have them handle it they are trained for these things! They can refuse to serve them or just comply with their demands and you can talk about ow much of a dick the customer was amongst yourselves in the back when they leave! I had a customer here me complain about her once no good! she asked for the number to corporate and i gave her the wrong one!!! so if that happens you can do that too!

I smiled and treated him like he was my favorite customer and stood my ground against his verbal attacks. I refused to admit that I had made a mistake that he was responsible for, and it made him furious! It took a year, but he eventually came around. Being treated like a long lost brother finally got to him and he is one of my favorite customers for real!

if i owned a store id trow him trough the window and say take that for customer service

I have had extremely abusive and rude patients, from verbal to throwing things at me to trying to strike me physically. I have worked in the medical field since 1982. Patients feel that they can do anything they want to us, including looking at us and pouring their bedpans on the floor or even throwing them at us. They think that we have to take anything they dish out... you would not believe it. I become achingly polite to them and, if they continue to cause a problem, write down my bosses' name, my full name, and extension number where my boss can be reached. I hand it to them, tell them that if they object to me they can call that number and complain about me. If I am leaving the patient's room of my volition because of rudeness, I tell them that it is not in my job description to take this and that they can call the number and complain about me. When I am insulted racially (calling me a baby raper, f*cking gyppo, asking how many old ladies I scammed today, or other will do it) or otherwise treated bad enough to leave, I secure the patient (make certain that they are safe), pack my supplies, and walk out. Then I speak immediately with the head of the unit, my supervisor if needed and when s/he is available, and file an incident report if needed in between rounds. Then I go on to the next patient to continue work.

I worked in the layaway department in a major store in the midwest. One of the employees from another department would always shop when she was supposed to be working. She came by the layaway one day, and wanted me to hold several items for her, for when she got out of work. I refused. She (a black woman) accused me of prejudice. I laughed and let her know my family had blacks, Germans, ex-cons, bartenders, truck drivers, Mexicans, and bi-racial people in it. I then told her I was, indeed, prejudiced. I was prejudiced against stupid people. I pointed out she was shopping on company time, which was grounds for firing. She then threatened me (I'll be waiting for you to get off work, b*tch!). The amusing part was, store security was standing right there as well. Needless to say, she was fired and escorted off the property, while being told, if she ever returned, she would be arrested.

Provided a listening ear - hey customer I will listen to you all day as long as you tell me the problem. Acknowledged understanding of the situation - I am listening Informed I was here to help - I got you, lets consider the options Went to Store Room for product knowing none in stock - Look I am doing something, calm down Rang other stores for stock item. Delivery to store - I'm looking at all options for you Happy Customer - We got the Goods

OH Boy! Well, I was blessed with the most sarcastic mouth on the planet. My test in life is to not use this lovely trait...ever. I don't think the powers that be are gonna give me any credit for all the people I have told off. SO I must give this amusing passtime up, no matter how tempting it may be. Rising above other people's anger is the hardest, so of course, most admirable action. I'm trying. But, I will never suffer fools.

Fortunately it was over the phone and I had to put them on hold so I wouldn't get pulled into the argument they were determined to have - profanities were prominent. After a minute I got back on the phone and told them I was willing to do all I could to help them if we worked together but if the conversation continued the way it was previously, I would be forced to disconnect the phone call. It ended up okay but sure got my heart beating until they decided to let the conversation turn around.

I am a stay at home mom so when I have issues with my "customers" they get sent to their rooms.

Yes! Just two days ago I was rudely yelled at in a drive thru window. This is exactly how it went. Clerk- MAY I HELP YOU?!?!? Me- Yes, I'll have a grilled chicken salad, please? Clerk- "WE AIN'T GOT THAT! Me- excuse me?(sounding a bit stunned) Clerk- WE AIN'T GOT THAT!!!!!!!!! Me- Oh, that's fine. (thinking why are you yelling). I was about to say thanks anyway and drive off. And then all of a sudden...the clerk says, IT'S GONE BE 8 MINUTES!!!!!! Me-pardom me? Clerk- I SAID, IT'S GONE BE 8 MINUTES!!!! I have to admit I was a bit heated at this point, but hungry, too...heehehe. I'd received rude service from this place before, but I was not going to just let it go this time. When I drove up to the window I got the number for customer service and called while I waited my 8 MINUTES!!.. which turned into 15-20 mins. The next day I received two calls from this company. One from the corporate office and one from the local office. They both apologized profusely and offered me a free meal. The district manager assured me that matters would be taken care of from management on down. I was happy to hear this because you don't always get a response when you do make a complaint. I usually just decide not to give you my business anymore and forget about it. For this I'm willing to give them another try.

I used to work at Circuit City and Office Max as managers. OMG people are idiots!!! I would normally put them in their place, not being mean, but I would show them that they were wrong with a smile on my face =)