oh my god this is gold
mY nAmE iS nOrMa
I couldn’t really read this easily so I’m typing it out so y’all don’t have to strain as hard as I did
“Norma [redacted] has been waiting for follow up for about 3 hours.”
“Visited [store name]. I asked for a deal that I had a coupon for. The rude little girl told me she would not honor my coupon. I spend a lot of money at Chuck E. Cheese’s and a guest should never be told no. I asked to speak to the manager immediately. A disheveled blond man with a coffee mug came up to me and asked what the problem was. I had assumed he knew his role well enough to honor the coupon as any manager should. I told him and said ‘I know you will honor this.’ He said ‘No, I don’t think I will.’ When I told him I spend a lot of money here and it was my kids birthday he said ‘Listen Karen this is a Chuck E Cheese I can’t throw a rock without hitting 3 people whose birthday it is.’ This disgusted me. My name is Norma. He was totally ignorant, rude, and condescending. I demanded to speak to the highest management staff member of this store. He had the nerve to spin in a circle and ask me ‘How can I help you?’ I demanded the corporate phone number. He was obviously trying to entertain the young girl cashier who was giggling the entire time. Completely unprofessional and rude. Worst customer service I have ever seen in a restaurant in my entire life. He gave me a card with the district corporate number on it and I told him I would not be returning to this store and I would tell my friends to not come here either. He told me to have ‘a Chuck E Day’ which was very obviously spiteful. I was furious and appalled. He is a smug jerk. After, I went to my car to cool off and called the number on the card. The corporate employee answered and said ‘Hello again Karen how have you been?’ IT WAS THE SAME JACK*** INSIDE THE STORE. MY NAME IS NORMA.
This man needs to be fire. I am writing a letter to corporate. I will never set foot in another Chuck E Cheese again for the rest of my life and I will be telling my friends and family to do the same”
Nope. Sorry. Norma is right and that manager should be fired. Providing good customer service means being polite and professional, even when the customer is wrong. Which, she was . If you can’t turn a customer down, without being rude and mocking her? YOU DO NOT BELONG IN CUSTOMER SERVICE. This guy obviously thought he was funny, but his response should have been, “Ma’am, I’m the main/highest level manager.” And giving her his own number, when she asked for corporate? So he can mock her some more? That alone should get him fired and keep him out of any customer service job. You can and SHOULD deal with difficult customers without this childishness.
I don’t know why people think this sort of tumblr belligerence is acceptable on tumblr, much less in a professional setting. I work in customer service and I would not want to work with anyone who acted like that.
Speaking as another customer service wage slave, and one who happens to take a lot of pride and enjoyment in my work these days (I make cocktails - but I have also worked in retail and dive bars over the years), “the customer is always right” culture NEEDS TO DIE.
Just because it’s called “hospitality” doesn’t mean we should be expected to just eat shit when our customers happen to be rude, entitled, bigoted, bullying, or just plain wrong about something (which they will be, daily if not hourly). Obviously the default is to be as polite and professional as possible, but respect NEEDS to go both ways. We are generally doing our jobs as best we can, and even if someone isn’t, you never know what they’re going through and chances are they hate their job but aren’t in a position to find other prospects immediately. If you’re throwing your weight around and treating an employee like dirt (and especially if you are out to get them fired), you absolutely do not deserve polite, kowtowing service. Those jackasses with egos, who big themselves up by tearing others down, will never stop punching down at staff with quote-unquote “”“unskilled”“” jobs unless the staff are allowed to stand up for themselves and call out bad behaviour, AND this is supported and protected by senior staff. We all deserve basic respect, period, and nobody deserves a free pass for being an asshole because they’re a customer.
As a former fast food employee, I agree 100% with the last person. There was once where I lost my temper at a customer (in a call center for pizza hut that drained my mental health like a sieve) and I was terrified I’d get in trouble (I didn’t thankfully.) Norma might’ve managed to pull my anger out with how bad she seemed even from HER side of the story, let alone if we could see the other, and she definitely got what she deserved treatment wise (and yay for the dude that HR seemed to take his side)
I’m with @salemandery and @sage-the-mage. American customer service culture is digusting. The level of entitlement of some customers is beyond the pale. Employees aren’t treated like human beings, but are expected to perform miracles with a smile that never cracks. “Taking abuse” should never be part of a job description.
