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> rude customers, whose abuses restaurant staff are often forced to tolerate Service workers in general, I'd love it if more managers and companies would suppo

> rude customers, whose abuses restaurant staff are often forced to tolerate Service workers in general, I'd love it if more managers and companies would support front line workers in refusing service. The customer is not always right. People should not have to put up with literal abuse. The Alamo Drafthouse theater is famously known for kicking someone out who was using their cell phone and other customers appreciate it.

luffapi 5y ago
While this is absolutely true, it would also make the job very stressful (and potentially dangerous) if front-line staff, or any staff really, has to eject people on a regular basis. I definitely wouldn’t want to do it, the people who you’d be refusing service to would be the worst of the worst and likely not take it well.
- njovin 5y ago
  Maybe if enough businesses did this it would drive a societal shift. I've had the pleasure of firing a small handful of customers from my very small SaaS business when they were outrightly rude or vulgar. I feel terrible whenever I see an employee at any business having to be sanguine with an abusive customer, it shouldn't be tolerated.
  - luffapi 5y ago
    It shouldn’t be, but just be aware that you’re asking people to put themselves in harms way. I’d rather grin and bear a jerk customer than get shot by one waiting outside after my shift because I personally had to kick them out. I totally agree abusive customers are a huge problem though.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - cwkoss 5y ago
    If other customers object to rude customers behavior and demand they are kicked out, it destroys "customer is always right" rationale - they have to choose one customer to disappoint and will probably choose the one being abusive to their workers. Also tends to deflate the rude customer.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  We obligated minimum wage service to do mask enforcement, and it got a lot of them assaulted and murdered.
vishnugupta 5y ago
This. "Customer is king" mentality should die. Far too often it leads to disgruntled frontline workers and customers walking around as if they are doing a business favour just by being their customer. Even something seemingly as simple as "smiling" is tiring if done all day. In a business transaction all parties are equal. No one is doing anyone else a favour. I quite liked it when I saw signboards in Singapore that said abusing a store keeper is a punishable offence.
- blooalien 5y ago
  > "Customer is king" mentality should die. Totally agree. My first computer store boss had a general rule that he repeated often to us: "The customer is always right until they're wrong; That's when you hand them over to me." When the day finally came that had to be tested, we watched him actually "86" (perma-ban) a customer from the store. That customer then tried to spread false rumors about the store that literally no other customer was willing to believe, because they all already knew our boss was a fair guy and wouldn't have banned someone without a mighty good reason. Still to this day wish that type of boss was more common rather than a total rarity.
- acomjean 5y ago
  I saw someone try to return 5 subs and get them replaced with 5 wraps. The store worker "If we made the mistake, we'd fix them, but your wife watched us make these and didn't say anything" words were exchanged and the customer left, leaving sandwiches behind without a refund. Not knowing they're were dealing with one of the brothers that owned that sandwich shops led that customer to think they could bully the employee. Employee owned shops are the way to go. They really care but don't have to put up with crap.
  - axaxs 5y ago
    I'm pretty torn. I've found a lot of small shops to be...well, dicks. Often acting like they were doing me a favor and I was a nuisance. I still remember one guy saying 'I have plenty of money and business, call me back or don't I don't care.' I wasn't complaining, just asking about pricing on an initial call. Obviously, I never called him back. On the flip side, I've done enough work and seen enough to know what customer facing people put up with. I'd really like a hybrid model that does treat the customer as valuable, then tells them to get bent as soon as they start acting unreasonable.
nostromo 5y ago
It’s way too risky to do that in today’s environment. Companies get sued or spark angry Twitter mobs. Starbucks is a recent example of a company that had to do major damage control after asking some non-customers to leave their store.
atty 5y ago
I worked in one of the largest grocery store chains in the US for about 8 years before going full time into a PhD program. Almost very problem we had to deal with was caused by one of three things: not enough work hours scheduled, supply chain issues, or not being able to say no to a customer. I actually really liked my job - I got a lot of joy out of making nice displays (I worked in produce), cleaning, organizing, etc. But being forced to be a servant to every customer, no matter how rude, abusive or unreasonable they were, and never being able to confront them without first talking to management was the most dehumanizing part of any job I’ve ever had.
WalterBright 5y ago
On the other hand, for those who go out of their way to be nice to service workers, it's fun.
- RyJones 5y ago
  Yup. It's nice being able to get a table when there aren't any open; be nice, and people are nice.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    One thing one learns in getting older is how well being nice works.
calebm 5y ago
Several years ago, I realized that "act professional" roughly translates to "act like a servant".
- sethammons 5y ago
  I would not agree. You can disagree and push back and be professional. As a servant, your job is to say yes.

luffapi 5y ago

While this is absolutely true, it would also make the job very stressful (and potentially dangerous) if front-line staff, or any staff really, has to eject people on a regular basis. I definitely wouldn’t want to do it, the people who you’d be refusing service to would be the worst of the worst and likely not take it well.

njovin 5y ago
Maybe if enough businesses did this it would drive a societal shift. I've had the pleasure of firing a small handful of customers from my very small SaaS business when they were outrightly rude or vulgar. I feel terrible whenever I see an employee at any business having to be sanguine with an abusive customer, it shouldn't be tolerated.
- luffapi 5y ago
  It shouldn’t be, but just be aware that you’re asking people to put themselves in harms way. I’d rather grin and bear a jerk customer than get shot by one waiting outside after my shift because I personally had to kick them out. I totally agree abusive customers are a huge problem though.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- cwkoss 5y ago
  If other customers object to rude customers behavior and demand they are kicked out, it destroys "customer is always right" rationale - they have to choose one customer to disappoint and will probably choose the one being abusive to their workers. Also tends to deflate the rude customer.
pessimizer 5y ago
We obligated minimum wage service to do mask enforcement, and it got a lot of them assaulted and murdered.

vishnugupta 5y ago

This. "Customer is king" mentality should die. Far too often it leads to disgruntled frontline workers and customers walking around as if they are doing a business favour just by being their customer. Even something seemingly as simple as "smiling" is tiring if done all day. In a business transaction all parties are equal. No one is doing anyone else a favour. I quite liked it when I saw signboards in Singapore that said abusing a store keeper is a punishable offence.

blooalien 5y ago
> "Customer is king" mentality should die. Totally agree. My first computer store boss had a general rule that he repeated often to us: "The customer is always right until they're wrong; That's when you hand them over to me." When the day finally came that had to be tested, we watched him actually "86" (perma-ban) a customer from the store. That customer then tried to spread false rumors about the store that literally no other customer was willing to believe, because they all already knew our boss was a fair guy and wouldn't have banned someone without a mighty good reason. Still to this day wish that type of boss was more common rather than a total rarity.
acomjean 5y ago
I saw someone try to return 5 subs and get them replaced with 5 wraps. The store worker "If we made the mistake, we'd fix them, but your wife watched us make these and didn't say anything" words were exchanged and the customer left, leaving sandwiches behind without a refund. Not knowing they're were dealing with one of the brothers that owned that sandwich shops led that customer to think they could bully the employee. Employee owned shops are the way to go. They really care but don't have to put up with crap.
- axaxs 5y ago
  I'm pretty torn. I've found a lot of small shops to be...well, dicks. Often acting like they were doing me a favor and I was a nuisance. I still remember one guy saying 'I have plenty of money and business, call me back or don't I don't care.' I wasn't complaining, just asking about pricing on an initial call. Obviously, I never called him back. On the flip side, I've done enough work and seen enough to know what customer facing people put up with. I'd really like a hybrid model that does treat the customer as valuable, then tells them to get bent as soon as they start acting unreasonable.

nostromo 5y ago

It’s way too risky to do that in today’s environment. Companies get sued or spark angry Twitter mobs. Starbucks is a recent example of a company that had to do major damage control after asking some non-customers to leave their store.

atty 5y ago

I worked in one of the largest grocery store chains in the US for about 8 years before going full time into a PhD program. Almost very problem we had to deal with was caused by one of three things: not enough work hours scheduled, supply chain issues, or not being able to say no to a customer. I actually really liked my job - I got a lot of joy out of making nice displays (I worked in produce), cleaning, organizing, etc. But being forced to be a servant to every customer, no matter how rude, abusive or unreasonable they were, and never being able to confront them without first talking to management was the most dehumanizing part of any job I’ve ever had.

WalterBright 5y ago

On the other hand, for those who go out of their way to be nice to service workers, it's fun.

RyJones 5y ago
Yup. It's nice being able to get a table when there aren't any open; be nice, and people are nice.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  One thing one learns in getting older is how well being nice works.

calebm 5y ago

Several years ago, I realized that "act professional" roughly translates to "act like a servant".

sethammons 5y ago
I would not agree. You can disagree and push back and be professional. As a servant, your job is to say yes.