When I was in college I worked in the customer convenience center at our town's Sears store. The Customer convenience center was in the back of the store. It's where the safe and head cashier and her assistance worked. It's where we wrapped presents and handled general questions about purchases, deliveries, and other things. And it's where we handled credit card situations.
That last thing, credit card situations, was the most challenging part of the job. People would come in and apply for a credit card and want to know the status quickly. This was in the time before the Internet and so it was not instantaneous the way it often is now. Others would come in with their bill and be upset that they were being charged a late fee for not paying their credit card payment. Or they would be upset about charges on their credit card that they claimed not to have made. They would be upset about not being able to charge something to their Sears credit card because of the credit limit or balance that was above their credit limit for other reasons, usually nonpayment for several months.
One of the things that I had to learn working back there was how to deal with angry customers. People upset at the store but taking it out on me.
I learned to listen intently. To pay attention to signals and cues that their bodies were giving. I learned to say soothing things and investigate further and ask questions and then go and call the appropriate people and try to get an answer that would help the customer get what they wanted.
The hardest one to deal with was the angry person that would not be satisfied by anything. I had a man come in that needed to buy paint or something and knew he worked at a paint store.
I had a man come in the needed to buy some tools or something and he was very upset that he could not get the prices that he wanted and charged to his credit card. He yelled at me! He pitched a fit. He asked to see my boss. After seeing my boss he yelled at me some more. I did everything I could help the guy. I checked the sales, I checked with the credit department down and headquarters, I even looked for the couple ways that I knew how to influence the system and help them out.
The man left angry.
The man came back the next day and apologized to me. He thanked me for being patient with him and dealing with him the way that I did. And he offered me a job! He gave me his business card and said if I ever decided to leave here that he would love for me to come and work for him because "you're the kind of person that I need help in my customers".
I don't tell this story to puff myself up. I tell the story because we have a lot of angry people around us right now. A lot of people that are spooled up because of what they're pumping into their head, whether it's news, commentary, music with hateful and vulgar lyrics, or just whatever. Powder keg people that are just waiting for that spark to go off.
The best way I've found to deal with that is smile, ask lots of questions, try to help them, and then leave it at that. I'm taught in church to love my neighbor as myself. Treat them the way that I would want to be treated so I tried!
I hope you try to help an angry person in your life. Their anger is sometimes a cry for help because they're afraid. Stay calm and soothing!
