Thursday, November 1, 2012

The Customer Is NOT Always Right!

The other day I had an older woman come up to me at the Customer Service desk. She had one of those faces that was hard to date, but she was probably in her late 60s or early 70s, with dull skin that hadn't seen the sun in quite some time and dishwater blonde hair with a few streaks of grey.

She asked me about a particular store. I answered her question. She said it was good that I was here, then leaned in conspiratorially.  I expected her to say something about how nice it was to have the desk available, or how helpful I was, or even how well I knew the mall. But I was flabbergasted when she stated it was BECAUSE I WAS WHITE. Otherwise she wouldn't have stopped.

Although I try to treat everyone with respect, the woman lost mine with her statement.  I wasn't sure what to say, but I guess she didn't need a response. She simply turned around and headed in the direction I’d pointed her.

10 comments:

  1. Some folks make you glad you don't know them...

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  2. omg Kathy, I wasn't expecting that at all!

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  3. Wow! That is really bold! Crazy that people still think this way.

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    1. My grandmother (who would have been more than 100 years old if she was still alive) grew up in a generation that thought like that, but I would have thought we were long past it

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  4. The colour of skin shouldn't matter, the level of service and politeness/courtesy should, I should add it does sometimes go both ways. I believe in treat people how you would like to be treated xx

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  5. I see a lot of this in my area of customer service, and I'll never understand why people say things like that. I don't understand why they think like that either, but to say it out loud to a stranger is a whole new level of ignorance.

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    1. I wonder what she would have said if I'd taken it upon myself to disagree with her...

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