The most obvious thing to avoid is raising your voice. Don’t be sarcastic with the customer. You will convey the message that you do not care, and that will aggravate them. Do your best to maintain a soothing voice and mask any frustration you might feel.
Pacing Drumming your fingers or tapping your feet Clenching your fists Clenching your jaw Rolling your eyes Furrowing your eyebrows Staring the customer down Crossing your arms or putting your hands on your hips
For your own personal safety, try to stand behind a counter, table, or another barrier to reinforce the physical distance between you and the customer.
Don’t ever interrupt the customer, even if you want to respond to something they’ve said. Even if they’re being unreasonable, allow them to talk themselves out. Use positive nonverbal communication cues to demonstrate that you’re actively listening and engaging with the customer. Examples include maintaining eye contact (but not staring), nodding along, and demonstrating concern on the customer’s behalf at the appropriate moments with facial expressions.
“Is this the first time you’ve had this issue at our business? Can you tell me more about your previous frustrations, so I know specifically how to instruct our staff to improve customer experience?” “Tell me exactly what happened today, from the beginning. What was the exact employee behavior that triggered your bad experience?” “Was there a single action that ruined your experience with us, or are you frustrated by the buildup of several small problems? Is there one large thing we need to change, or several small adjustments?” “Which employee or employees are you upset with right now? Is there one person in particular, or does our whole staff need to be addressed about their attitudes and performance?” If another employee is involved, use your discretion to determine whether or not it would calm the customer down to involve that employee in the conversation.
Try to strike a compromise. Explain to the customer that you would give them what they want if you were authorized to do so, but that you would be punished yourself if you did that. Instead, offer them whatever you’re authorized to give. Call a manager. If the customer would like something that you’re not authorized to provide, call a manager or supervisor to see if it can be authorized.
“I understand that you’re frustrated, but we both need to be calm to resolve this situation. " “Your frustration at your bad experience is now making the experience worse for the rest of our customers. We’d like to work with you to fix the situation, but don’t you agree that the rest of the people here have a right to a pleasant experience too?”
“While you have a right to voice your concerns, you do not have a right to be abusive towards our staff. " “I am happy to work with you to resolve this situation, but your behavior is making me feel uncomfortable. " “As an employee, it’s my job to protect my colleagues and patrons, so I have to ask you to leave the building. " “If you don’t remove yourself from this situation voluntarily, I’ll have to call the police to protect my staff and customers. "
The objective is to remove the customer from the premises in order to protect both the safety and the experience of the people in your business. Often, when the customer finds themselves removed from the business, they will move on even if they are still upset. Allow them to move away from the business on their own before you return to work. If they see you immediately go back inside, they might follow you back in.
However, if the customer becomes physically aggressive either to you, someone else, or to themselves, you are within your rights to try to prevent injury by subduing them.
If the customer puts their hands on someone or breaks property, do your best to get them out of your establishment. If they won’t leave, move employees and customers away from the aggressive customer to protect them from physical harm. Stay calm and respectful, but do not try to engage the customer any further. You’ve done everything you can to resolve the situation, and you should just disengage and wait for the authorities. Keep the phone numbers for security easily accessible for the entire staff instead of keeping them in the back office. When customers get out of hand, employees almost always call the onsite manager to deal with the situation. If the situation truly gets out of hand, there’s a good chance the manager is already busy with it, so all employees need to know how to reach out for help. Post the phone numbers somewhere out of the way of customer traffic, but regularly visited by employees — behind a cash register, or in an employee break room, for example. Make sure the number is clearly legible. If you have bad handwriting, print the number out using a computer.
If the customer seems drunk, offer to call them a cab while they wait outside. If they are with a group, ask a sober friend to drive them home. If they insist on driving themselves, write down a description of the car including the tag number, and call the police immediately with that information.
