What To Do In An Event Of Customer Rage

The customer is usually right. But when the customer is wrong, they tend to be very, very wrong.

This past week YouTube's newest star turned out to be an irate customer caught on video at a kebob house. She yelled at the restaurant staff because the restaurant put the wrong color peppers in her food. She wasn't just rude, she was downright nasty.

She said to them, "If you want to be polite to the customer, then speak in English." She later said, "my kids don't eat green things!" As one of my Facebook friend's noted, I wouldn't want to be one of her kids.

This video generated more than four million views. But these things happen every day and the business is at the mercy of the customer. The reason the business--especially the small business--is at the mercy of this customer is that customer might take to review site Yelp! ruining that business' reputation forever.

Mike Fard is a seasoned Social Media Strategist whose parents who own a Persian restaurant in San Jose. He commented on the Kebob house customer and said:

I think businesses (smaller ones especially) have to tread carefully and just focus on consistency as it relates to service, always be responsive, and make sure people feel heard no matter what the feedback. Going after negative customers generally doesn't help in the long run and creates resentment amongst employees; it puts them on guard over time, a company's reputation will come through as customers reciprocate the consistency and mutual respect. Most of the time, these types of customers aren't captured on video, so it becomes the business' word against a customer's. It's a tough thing overall - the notion of 'customer's always right' gets abused a lot.

Fard advises his parents (in running their restaurant) "to extract all the facts from negative reviews, make any necessary changes, and make it clear to the customer that they're making the changes. I tell them to leave the emotions out of the discussion and focus on consistency and staying above the negative."

By focusing on the facts and keeping the emotion out of it, businesses are better able to deal with angry customers. But it's hard to say there's a concrete line.

When you watch videos such as the notorious Dunkin' Donuts customer who recorded her own rant and posted it on Facebook in 2013, you understand how frontline workers are at the mercy of customers. And who protects the employee when the customer goes nuts?

Warning: this video contains explicit content

Hubspot said of the interaction:

This video points to a lot of problems in our culture, but most importantly the one in our customer service culture. If you work or have worked in customer service, you know the mantra 'The customer is always right' quite intimately. You also know, and have probably experienced firsthand, that when you give people that kind of leverage over you, it gives them to power to mistreat you. Most customers don't take advantage of you because they are rational, empathetic people who have probably worked in customer service before ... but in this instance, we have a customer who interprets this mantra as free reign to treat people as less than human.

This stuff happens in-person, on the phone, email, text or twitter--customers feel they can say anything to agents or frontline employees. If the customer is having a bad day-it could be a moody jerk, or someone who is having other problems such as someone in their family is sick, they lost their job, they're getting divorced-- guess who is usually the first person who it's taken out on?

It's often an unsuspecting contact center agent or server of some kind. The employee doesn't want to cause a problem (or lose their job) so they have to swallow their pride and take the occasional nasty-ness from the customer. Once in a while it's understandable a customer will be grumpy, but if this happens repeatedly then something is seriously wrong. Perhaps something is really wrong with the product or service, and the company is sticking the contact center or frontline employee in front of the customer when management should be the ones fixing the root of the problem.

Even the most wonderful employee can't take that kind of abuse from customers.

You can hire for emotional intelligence, but at a certain point you need a process in place. The manager needs to intervene. The manager might have to fire the customer. If you don't--in my opinion--it could come at a big toll on your staff.  Make it known that your leadership support the agents, and that you want to maintain a healthy working environment for staff.

What do you do to protect your employees from customer rage? When is it appropriate to fire a customer? These questions are not easy to address, but must be addressed to prevent creating a toxic culture in your work environment.

I posed the question "Should you ever fire a customer?" to my LinkedIn contacts. Here's how they reacted:

Colin Taylor, Contact Center Consultant

Sometimes a customer isn't a good fit for you or for them. Firing them can be a blessing for both. I have had to do this a few times and have had clients who also did. If the relationship isn't a fit and isn't working then ending it is unlikely to generate ill will. Finding them a partner who is a better fit can actually make you look like a hero.

Craig Mowll, Managing Partner, 3D Business Diagnostics

Over the years, on the odd occasion, I have fired a customer. I have not made a habit out of it but each circumstance was different. In one case the client sexually harassed one of my staff, in another case they were so incredibly rude I felt it best we part ways. It is a two way street, both parties need to get value out of the relationship not just monetarily. You want your people to really want to work with your clients and visa versa and that should be the goal. Sometimes a separation though for the odd client is necessary.

Robert Bacal, Author, If It Wasn't For The Customers I'd Really Like This Job

I believe that social media outrage is powerful, but in fact, unless a company does something really really bad, and it's documented via video, most outrage ends up creating not much of anything. The reason we think it does is in the exceedingly fare occasions when something does go viral, it's huge. Every day customers are outraged. In a year there are probably no more than ten to twenty viral events that 'may' damage a company.

Justin Bagatti, Customer Experience Advisor, Cisco

I recall a situation many years ago when I was a support agent for Earthlink. The caller jumped on the line extremely hostile, not just to the company. She personally insulted everyone she had talked with and then she started insulting me. My supervisor began monitoring and recording the call. On opening her call history, it showed a history of irate calls and personal insults. My supervisor jumped on the call and fired the customer right there. Training agents to handle angry customers is one thing, no one should be subject to dealing with angry callers.

Adding on to the 'Social' aspect. If a caller posts via Social Media, it puts their name and face in forefront. No longer is the situation hidden between a customer and the company. While some people are fine with having their diarrhea splattered across social media. Others should take a more careful approach as it could show up on web searches and pre-employment screenings. I'm for social as its adds transparency and hopefully a level of enlightened conversation. show less

It's not always clear cut on how to deal with difficult customers. When the customer acts rude it makes them look very bad. If they post something rude toward a company on social media it will always haunt them as part of their footprint online. And while the brand can move on after the irate customer has left (or stopped), it still can leave a negative impact on the company culture.

In conclusion sometimes employees are tasked with minimizing the damage by neutralizing the environment, getting the customer what they want and getting them out. Other times the employee is at a standstill. The customer is not help-able. You don't want to lose your best customer-facing staff to abusive customers. It's better to have a plan and a training beforehand to minimize the damage later.

What are your thoughts on how to deal with angry customers? Please feel free to share in the comments section below.

For more customer experience subscribe to Blake Morgan's weekly newsletter.