A funny thing happened between my last post on the subject and the writing of this post. A client of mine in the Charleston, SC area and who shall remain anonymous posted on her Facebook page that she nearly sent a customer packing from her restaurant. Apparently he was rude in all sorts of ways to her and her staff. I don't know why people think it's okay to abuse people at work, but it's not, and I don't think the customer knew that she was the owner of the establishment. In her words, "We usually love our customers but this guy just sucked and wasn't worth the effort!"
Let's face it, sometimes people want you to bend over backwards to please them but aren't willing to meet you halfway. We've all had that customer or client who just couldn't behave properly. When I was managing a retail store we would sporadically have some of these people, even early in the morning.
My store opened at 10am, and we would sometimes get the guy who either started drinking early, or hadn't stopped drinking from the night before. This was before lunch, mind you, so these were professional drinkers. One guy, who worked at a local pub I would visit on occasion, came into the store one morning before 11am. Reeking of alcohol, he looked through some racks and screamed at the top of his inebriated lungs that our selection of products sucked. Before I could get near him he let into a profanity-laced tirade making references to someone's mother, even though there was no one else in there but the two of us.
Being as this was in a mall, one would consider contacting the "mall cops", but as we would say, "There's no use in waking those guys up," and I took matters into my own hands.
"Hey Stan, you have to leave. I'm can't have you using that kind of language in here," I explained.
He pulled his drunk head up and looked at me, barely recognizing who I was. "What? You gonna throw me out?" I nodded. Then I smiled and pointed at the exit. He grunted something I couldn't understand and left.
One of my favorite "firing the client" stories happened near the North Carolina border. A self-professed preacher (he kept calling me "brother") mentioned to a colleague that he needed life insurance. I drove about 45 minutes to this guy's house and met with him and his wife. She was very sweet and humored him as he gave me some evasive answers to his medical condition. I tried to explain that the more information I had to work with the more accurate of a quote I could give him.
On my way home, his wife called me with some of the names of the medications he was taking. Then she mentioned that she thought I was very nice and would make a suitable mate for her daughter. I explained that I was married and "thank you for the consideration". That's when it got weird.
We submitted what I thought was a completed application. A day or so later the underwriter from the life insurance company called to ask about a whole other list of medications. Apparently they can find out what you're taking through a database and this guy was on all kinds of stuff he hadn't disclosed. I don't think he even knew what he was prescribed because there must have been over 25 different pills on the list.
I called him again and asked about the additional meds. "That's none of your business!" he yelled, presumably high as a kite from all the drugs. "And stop asking my wife about my daughter!"
"I think there's been a misunderstanding. I'm married and am not interested in your daughter." Then I explained in no uncertain terms that I was going to cut him loose as a client and he could find another agent. He was aghast. "What are you trying to say?"
"You're on your own. Surely someone from your flock is a licensed insurance agent." Never heard from him again.
I would love to hear some of your stories. Put them in the comments section and share. And in the meantime, stay healthy and productive.
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