There Was a Woman From !@#$%^&......

These holiday hours are killing me. Close late, open early.....where's the time to sleep?!

I had several good customers today. They actually remembered the polite phrases and behavior they learned in kindergarten! The other customers.....need to go back to kindergarten.

One customer from *a totally different area of the country with a totally different way of doing things* complained to my boss about me. A customer complaint?! On me?! OK, here's the situation.

The store was busy. No kidding, it's the week before Christmas. I was helping a customer figure out which product would solve her problem; it was a pretty in-depth thing. The rude customer from *the place that I've visited once and don't really care to visit again because of the attitudes of the people who live there* INTERRUPTED us to ask where something was. It was on the same aisle that we were on so I pointed it out to her, then continued with the CUSTOMER WHO WAS THERE FIRST.

Well, about a minute later the woman INTERRUPTED US AGAIN to ask an in-depth question about the product she was considering. I stayed totally calm and very politely told her that I'd be glad to help her when I was finished with the first customer. Is that so unreasonable??

The out-of-town woman responded, "Don't bother!" as she walked to the front and complained to my boss about how rude I was because I "refused" to help her. Then she asked, "Can't she walk and talk at the same time?" What?! Helping two customers with two very different yet complicated problems at the same time? That wouldn't be providing good service to either one of them. How would the first customer feel if I had stopped helping her to help the out-of-towner?

In response to the complaint, Boss did her "I'm so sorry, how can *I* help you?" spiel, made the sale, and got the woman OUT OF OUR STORE. Hopefully she'll go back to where she came from and never return. At the next lull in customers Boss related the story to me and we had a laugh about it. Boss knows I do my job, and knows that people from *place that's far away* are generally rude and selfish and overly demanding.

In my store, FIRST COME FIRST SERVED, as a general rule. Now Mrs. F. who's in every week spending $100~$300 or the lady with her monthly sprees often totalling $1000+, usually get slightly better/faster treatment than someone I've never seen before. That's fair. Mrs. S. doesn't spend a lot, but is always so pleasant to deal with. I'll go out of my way to be the one to help her. The middle-aged lady, quiet and withdrawn, is a new favorite as she starts to open up with me. Mr. "Greetings and Salutations" keeps me on my toes with his cryptic choice of words, but brings some laughter to the day.

You've got to **earn** special treatment, either by being nice or spending lots of money. You can't just walk in, throw down $10, and skip in front of everyone else.