Customer Service Reps Beware!!!

People are really starting to get to me. Here are two brief stories about people in the service industry (travel and food) who think it's better to fight with the customer and to be rude than to handle the situation like a professional:

Situation #1
Someone associated with my company recently passed away, and one of vice presidents and the president would like to attend the memorial service on Monday in Nashville. It's a last minute flight and bound to be expensive--we're all aware of that. It was suggested that I call one of our travel agents and arrange the flight through her. Well, I was in for a shock!

I have never been treated so poorly by someone in the service industry. She was demeaning and outright rude. If I could have reached through the phone and smacked her, I would have! Seriously, if you need help from someone who has resources that you don't, they should not be able to hold those resources over you like they're some magical power. She actually became offended when I told her I checked the internet for flights first. Hello!?!?! Who doesn't? I believe she said,"How interesting that you check the internet first and come to me for favors when you can't find what you're looking for. That's bad business practice." No, actually it's called, "I'm trying to find my bosses the cheapest flights possible and you were a last resort. If you don't want the commission from the sale, I'll take my business elsewhere." And so I did!

Situation #2
I was later trying to order lunch over the phone for a colleague and myself. We order from a specific Indian restaurant at least once, sometimes twice a week, and every once in while we like something a bit different. Today, my colleague asked for garlic naan (a type of bread), and because I'm trying to stay away from carbs, I asked the woman on the other end of the phone line to replace my regular naan (which comes with the meal) with the garlic naan. She said, "You have to pay $2 extra." I said, "I know. That will be fine." Then she said, "Don't you want regular naan, too? Or maybe rice?" I said, "No, just the garlic naan. $2 extra is fine." She proceeded to fight with me about what type of naan I really wanted, and if I really wanted to pay the extra $2. Again, it's an extra $2 in your pocket. Take it or leave it. Eventually I won, and we got our Indian food--garlic naan and all.

So, maybe one of you out there can tell me what's wrong with both of these situations. I work with a number of people everyday, both at my full-time job and my weekend job. I get angry sometimes, and people can make me nuts, but that doesn't mean I'm going to be outright rude and fight them down. Instead, I either wait until I'm off the phone or in another room before I explode--far away from anyone else.

Is it that hard to be polite and courteous? I've been doing it for 26 years, and I haven't had any problems yet. In fact, it's harder for me to be rude than to be polite. Maybe we all just need to take a step back and look at ourselves. We're not perfect--no one is. So stop trying to be!

Pirate Fact: Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, used to braid hemp fuses (also used in cannons) into his beard and light them. They would burn slowly and smoke, producing a more frightening sight when he raided ships.