Dear Customers,

[Kernel Sohcahtoa]

I'll admit to being really POd at an eyeglass place many years ago.

Special custom tint Rx lenses, so I had already paid for them when ordered.  When I went to pick them up the glasses they were completely wrong.  I think they gave me someone elses, but they claimed they were mine but they had messed up the order.

Anyhow, lost my temper, and the store staff, not knowing what else to do, called the manager (it was after her shift, so they called her at home).  She told me I could wait for 2 weeks while the glasses were redone, or wait for maybe a month for the home office (it was a chain place) to send me a refund.

Oh, boy!  That was not the right answer.  I started off with a "Look, honey, I'm not putting up with this crap, your org screwed up the order, and I want my $$$ so I can go somewhere else to get my damn glasses!"


Things went down hill from there.  I left the store in a huff after hanging up on her.  Got a refund check in 2 weeks.  No apology note or anything.

Got new glasses somewhere else, and they were fine on the first try.


And then a few weeks after that, got a customer satisfaction survey from the first outfit.


Oh my GAWD!!!  I was certainly a potty mouth on that !!!!



Anyhow, I rarely if ever get annoyed at retail anymore.  I just no longer patronize the store.  

I had a sign made a few years ago at a place called "Signs By Tomorrow".   The sign took 2 weeks.   And it was wrong.  And then it took another week.


When I picked it up, the manager had the balls to ask for more money since it had been such a difficult order for them.


I gave her the  stink eye, but was otherwise docile.  I'll admit, 25 years earlier, I would have been a total bastard over it.

Vorlon, thank you for being candid and sharing your experience.  When helping people in my store who are impatient and/or upset, I often remind myself that, if the situation were reversed, then I could easily become that jerk who salespeople avoid at all costs.  Keeping this fact in mind, reminds me that there are people underneath the anger and frustration; rather than judge and argue, it is far more effective to be curious and to listen: if they see that the  salesperson is genuinely making an effort to understand and help them, then that effort can go a long way toward diffusing the situation.  In addition, reminding myself that I could easily be perceived as that annoying sales jerk, knocks my self-importance on its rear end: I'm not the center of the universe and there are different, valid ways of interpreting the situation; if I embrace those different perspectives, then maybe, just maybe, I can actually connect with these people, rather than alienate them.