Businesses are out there to make money, and people hold jobs in order to make money. But some treat customers and clients with respect and integrity, and others don't. The difference between them can be striking. For instance if you need to call your internet provider company for
help, you might get one of these disrespectful folks on the other end of the line;
they might talk down to you, put you on hold forever, treat you with
disrespect, have no idea what they're talking about, refuse to ask
someone else what to do, give you wrong instructions, try to blame you
for equipment failure, etc., making your phone call stressful and
unproductive, and you might even give up and deal with having no internet for the rest of the day or week, or want to change companies.
But if someone else had answered your call, it would have been taken care of in a short amount of time, with little or no stress.
Typically, the quality of the service a customer receives will be severely affected by this difference. Individuals and businesses who treat customers and clients with respect and integrity usually do a much better job overall, giving the service or product that they advertise.
Those who do not respect customers are another story. Their main goals are not to provide service, care, or product to their best of their ability to others whom they think of as real people like themselves, but to get money however they can, as easily as they can, or to get or keep attention, recognition, and control.
Bully tactics are common with people whose only motive for doing business or working is getting money, because they want to do as little work as possible, and get the most gain for as little effort as possible.
They may feign courtesy, manners, or customer care to a client's face, but make fun of them behind their back, fake service, fake repairs, fake the job that they're being paid to do, or purposely do it "half-ass".
Their product or service might be completely made-up, but they haven't been caught yet, or there is no easy way to "catch" them because of the nature of the "service" or product, or the way it's marketed; for example services that are presented as "preventative" may be real, or may be utterly fake; one must use their own judgment.
They may habitually cover up their lack of knowledge and skill with double-talk or loud talking, or using words that make them sound knowledgeable. (I've known and worked with several in the building trades who have made it a habit of saying words, terms, tool names and brands, techniques, etc. in order to sound like they know how to USE or DO those things, but in reality have no idea; they are masters of avoidance and malarky.)
They may talk over and interrupt a customer or client who is trying to get more information, or clarify a bill or a contract.
They may flat out lie to a customer, taking the chance that the customer does not know any better, or did not keep records.
They may "cut corners" and try to get out of doing the whole job, or doing it properly.
They may charge much, much more than the product or service is worth, hoping the client won't know any different.
They may have one business just to cover up another business that's not legal, so they're not really interested or invested in the legal one, or their customers; they may be faking anything or everything in the legal one.
They may condescend to a customer or client, treating them like they're ignorant or stupid, which can work to send the message that they are an "authority", and that the customer is subordinate to them and should submit to their superior status. (And stop making requests or asking questions.)
People fall for this one all the time, especially with jobs and fields that the customer is not an expert in or has not worked in.
They may block a customer's questions or requests by ignoring them, referring them to someone else (who refers them to someone else), changing the subject, talking over them, putting them on hold, not returning calls, not answering calls, making themselves difficult to communicate with, making themselves unavailable.
They may try to make the relationship with a customer or client too personal, crossing appropriate boundaries, in order to use personal bully or coercion tactics on them:
Blaming;
shaming;
judging;
giving unsolicited advice;
condescending;
implying inferiority in the client, incompetence, mental instability, weakness, or self-centeredness;
manufacturing crises;
trying to provoke guilt or sympathy from the customer in order to get them to do things for them;
trying to create a too-personal or even romantic connection with a client;
asking the client very personal information that's not a "norm" in the local community culture;
triangulation (with others);
manipulation;
criticizing;
using language that's disrespectful or demeaning;
implying threats, usually in a masked way
implying threats or "dominance" in a passive-aggressive display (acting 'tough' or 'hostile', cursing, making noise on purpose, refusing to use manners or follow etiquette or rules, etc.)
(These behaviors can be seen in most relationships with a person who has Control issues or Narcissism.)
It's nearly impossible to avoid these types of folks, but one can simply raise their awareness about the fact that they do exist, and there are a lot of them in various fields, businesses, and job positions. Customers are paying for a product or service, and are real people who deserve to be treated with courtesy and respect, period.
Obviously an abusive customer who treats someone they've hired badly does not deserve to be catered to, allowed to walk all over other people just because they're paying them for something. But that's not what we're talking about here, we're talking about those who bully and disrespect clients and customers who behave with normal, decent civility.
But if someone else had answered your call, it would have been taken care of in a short amount of time, with little or no stress.
Typically, the quality of the service a customer receives will be severely affected by this difference. Individuals and businesses who treat customers and clients with respect and integrity usually do a much better job overall, giving the service or product that they advertise.
Those who do not respect customers are another story. Their main goals are not to provide service, care, or product to their best of their ability to others whom they think of as real people like themselves, but to get money however they can, as easily as they can, or to get or keep attention, recognition, and control.
Bully tactics are common with people whose only motive for doing business or working is getting money, because they want to do as little work as possible, and get the most gain for as little effort as possible.
They may feign courtesy, manners, or customer care to a client's face, but make fun of them behind their back, fake service, fake repairs, fake the job that they're being paid to do, or purposely do it "half-ass".
Their product or service might be completely made-up, but they haven't been caught yet, or there is no easy way to "catch" them because of the nature of the "service" or product, or the way it's marketed; for example services that are presented as "preventative" may be real, or may be utterly fake; one must use their own judgment.
They may habitually cover up their lack of knowledge and skill with double-talk or loud talking, or using words that make them sound knowledgeable. (I've known and worked with several in the building trades who have made it a habit of saying words, terms, tool names and brands, techniques, etc. in order to sound like they know how to USE or DO those things, but in reality have no idea; they are masters of avoidance and malarky.)
They may talk over and interrupt a customer or client who is trying to get more information, or clarify a bill or a contract.
They may flat out lie to a customer, taking the chance that the customer does not know any better, or did not keep records.
They may "cut corners" and try to get out of doing the whole job, or doing it properly.
They may charge much, much more than the product or service is worth, hoping the client won't know any different.
They may have one business just to cover up another business that's not legal, so they're not really interested or invested in the legal one, or their customers; they may be faking anything or everything in the legal one.
They may condescend to a customer or client, treating them like they're ignorant or stupid, which can work to send the message that they are an "authority", and that the customer is subordinate to them and should submit to their superior status. (And stop making requests or asking questions.)
People fall for this one all the time, especially with jobs and fields that the customer is not an expert in or has not worked in.
They may block a customer's questions or requests by ignoring them, referring them to someone else (who refers them to someone else), changing the subject, talking over them, putting them on hold, not returning calls, not answering calls, making themselves difficult to communicate with, making themselves unavailable.
They may try to make the relationship with a customer or client too personal, crossing appropriate boundaries, in order to use personal bully or coercion tactics on them:
Blaming;
shaming;
judging;
giving unsolicited advice;
condescending;
implying inferiority in the client, incompetence, mental instability, weakness, or self-centeredness;
manufacturing crises;
trying to provoke guilt or sympathy from the customer in order to get them to do things for them;
trying to create a too-personal or even romantic connection with a client;
asking the client very personal information that's not a "norm" in the local community culture;
triangulation (with others);
manipulation;
criticizing;
using language that's disrespectful or demeaning;
implying threats, usually in a masked way
implying threats or "dominance" in a passive-aggressive display (acting 'tough' or 'hostile', cursing, making noise on purpose, refusing to use manners or follow etiquette or rules, etc.)
(These behaviors can be seen in most relationships with a person who has Control issues or Narcissism.)
It's nearly impossible to avoid these types of folks, but one can simply raise their awareness about the fact that they do exist, and there are a lot of them in various fields, businesses, and job positions. Customers are paying for a product or service, and are real people who deserve to be treated with courtesy and respect, period.
Obviously an abusive customer who treats someone they've hired badly does not deserve to be catered to, allowed to walk all over other people just because they're paying them for something. But that's not what we're talking about here, we're talking about those who bully and disrespect clients and customers who behave with normal, decent civility.
