Tuesday, October 23, 2007

CIS102, 10/23/07 post today's work here, please

Project 5-3, in teams or individually.(page195)
Also, briefly project 5-8, how do you stay calm under pressure. (page 198)

22 comments:

kenooj said...

i worked at a coffee shop and people are pretty particular about their drinks. there was a customer who ordered a "macchiato". the problem is...the customer wanted a "starbucks macchiato". the difference is...in starbucks...the machiatto is just the name of the drink and is made just like a typical latte. a real traditional macchiato is made with espresso shot and about a teaspoon of foam on top.

anyways, the customer was really mad. she was frustrated. my co-worker didn't really empathize because she was really pissed at him and had a look on her face like she was going to sue. i felt the same.

to put anger aside...my co-worker and i persuaded her that he will make the "starbucks" macchiato for her for free. so, it calmed her down.

what could have been done is the customer or my co-worker could have requested or asked what kind of macchiato the customer wanted.

what my co-worker and i have learned is to listen to customers and ask questions.

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i typically just take deep breaths and have a positive attitude when i'm under pressure. i listen to music. i actually work well under pressure because it's a rush. these technniques help calm me down and stay focused when under pressure.

jeanette said...

I work in retail and deal with at least one difficult customer every time I'm there. I have customers that get very impatient and demanding. I try to empathize with them somewhat because they are having difficulty with trying to find a certain product. I could have been a little more patient and understanding when I handle the situation.

shawnlabadie said...

Project 5-3

There was a situation at my job where a man was in a rush to get to sick friend. He was already frustrated because he couldn’t find a gift for his sick friend. He only had checks and had no identification on him. So we told him that he couldn’t purchase his gifts. He got angry and started shouting at my coworker. My coworker and I could understand why he was frustrated but we also had to do our jobs. We couldn’t have really done anything to prevent this situation because we have to put the id number on the check. If we would have done the transaction anyway, we would’ve gotten in trouble. Especially if the check had bounced.
Since I am a “right brain”, I’ve learned to control emotions, stay calm, and and take a deep breath.
****************
Project 5-8
I try to pray before I go into a stressful situation and if I’m already in a stressfu situation. Praying soothes my mind and I start to just trust God to make everything ok.
As said in the chapter, I Also do positive self talk and take deep breaths. Positive self talk helps to encourage myself, when I can’t find encouragement from anywhere else. Taking deep breaths helps so that I will be relaxed and not so tense.

jeanette said...

Techniques that I use to calm down when facing a difficult situation would include taking a deep breath, and thinking of something funny, and remembering that it is just a job. When I take deep breaths it makes me feel a little better and keeps me from getting over stressed. When I think of something funny that happened or something funny that someone had said, it makes me happy and think more positively. I always try to keep a positive attitude around customers and co-workers in order to make everyone feel ok. In a difficult situation I also try to remember that my job is just a job, it is not the most important thing in my life and if I make a minor mistake I know it isn't a big deal. I try not to take things too seriously and I try to think about what is making me so stressed and see if it is really worth stressing about.

Bryan Wagner said...

I had done some yard work for a lady a few blocks from where I lived. The lady was irate because the work was not done as well as a professional could have. I told her that if she wanted a professional looking yard she should have hired a professional for about three times what I am charging. I had no sympathy for her because she wanted the best quality for the cheapest price. She could have hired a professional and the yard would have been to the standards she wanted. I have learned that you get what you pay for.

Bryan Wagner said...

project 5-6

I am slightly a right brained person. results(6.5)

james horton said...

5-3

i have worked in a grocery store and a customer got angry when i was new to a job and couldn't remember how to do somethings that they taught me for example i was ringing a customer's order and i forgot how to ring up produce they were angry and yell i just calmly explain it was my first day on the job and that i would get someone to help me and i said i was sorry it was taking a longer time than usual and the customer was fine once i explain it in a nice way and did not get angry also

5 -8
when i want to relax under pressure i think about what it is i have to do and take deep breaths and do the steps in my head first i feel okay after that

Dre' Day said...

I remember when I had to handle a angry female costumer at my job. I was bagging her groceries and I made sure that her bread were bag seperately from her other food items like frozen and can goods. Unfortunately, she was still not pleased about her bread. I guess she wanted me to put her fancy bread in the bag a certain way. She begin to fuss in another language mix with a little english which I did not understand completely. Then, I had no choice to turn the situation on to my manager because I just could not deal with that angry costumer.

bachert said...

Project 5-3
My difficult customer situation was this; I had a customer while working at Wal-mart. She was concerned that the items that she had taken from the clearance rack were not ringing up correctly. As the customer had informed me of this and I began to ring up her items that she had placed onto the conveyor belt. She notices that the items were not ringing up at the correct price. She stated to me that these prices were not correct. So I informed her that I could not take her word for it and I would have to call someone from that department and have a manager to aid me in making those changes since I am still a trainee in working the register. The shopper understood this or at least I thought she did. But as the processing of her order became harder; she told me that I needed more training at looking at the price tags and knowing of their value. I restated to her that I was still training on working the register correctly and have not become proficient at it. At this point I called for my manger and asked the shopper to take this up with our customer service.
If anything could be done differently, I would have double checked the items to see if there was a second UPC or a different tag that indentified it as special markdown item. From this I learned that it is better to double check an item rather than presume the item is correctly marked.
Project 5-8
When I am dealing with a tough situation, I will take a break from it and return to the problem at later time. That way when I come back to it I have a clear mind and maybe come up with a solution to it. As for additional techniques that I learned that might be habit forming is positive imagery. This would be used if I was having a very bad day and aid me getting better mood to help customers.

Eric L said...

Difficult customers
I have found that most (not all) customers are difficult because of the situation that brought them to you in the first place. Since this is a temporary situation, and a controllable one, try and take control of the situation. We have one major choice to make in this scenario, are you going to do whatever you can to assist the customer, or are you going to do what you have to for the company. I have gone both ways depending on the particular issue, and the mood that I am in as well. I remember once I took a low priority ticket just because it was a “little old lady” and I felt bad she was without service and could not do her job. It happens. When I contacted the user, she was acting like a total B****. I let her know that I was doing her a favor, and that her call should have been responded to the following week. She calmed down and held an intelligent give and take conversation and we were able to get her back in action in short order. She even thanked me at the end. I found that funny.

Sarahgray757 said...

Project 5-3

I work at a law firm in the workers compensation department. My attorneys defend the insurance companies so they try not to give the people workers compensation. There was a client that was filing workers compensation and he was highly upset that my boss denied his claim and made him out to be a liar... So the claimant came up to our office threatening everybody asking to see the attorney... I was sent out there to deal with the man and explain to him that he needed to go see his attorney not us... I was scared and nervous at the same time but I stayed calm... eventually he left but the following day he sent a fruit basket to my attorney... Obviously we threw it away...

Project 5-8

When I am faced with a stressful situation, I normally take a deep breath and try to remain calm... If the situation becomes to stressful, I may walk away to keep from getting angry... The benefits i derive from that is not getting myself into worse situations... If i were to get angry and fly off the handle then that would only make problems worse...

Virginia said...

Project 5-3

I once witnessed at work a customer ask my co-worker if she was pregnant. My co-worker politly (sp*) explained that no she was not pregnant, the customer gave her a dirty look and proceeded to rudely say "well you look like you could be. My coworker ignored the comment and continued on with her job but later was in the back office very upset.
I think the customer might have been embaressed and so she responded the way she did. I can empathize with being embaressed about a comment being made, but I don't think I would have said what she said, I would have apologized. Nothing could really be done to prevent this situation, you can't control what people say or how they react.

Project 5-8

A technique I use to calm myself when facing a difficult situation when be to count to ten. Sometime's I try to put myself in the other person's shoes and see if I can understand where they're coming from but that doesn't always work.

Anonymous said...

5 - 3

My co-worker was supposed to have a laptop set up and running at a site in Portsmouth (we work at Military) by a certain day for a product demo. He left some work for the day before the demo, then called in sick for the week. The woman in charge of the demo came back to the IT Department and was obviously very frustrated. She said that we had had a month to set this up and didn't understand why it wasn't done (but not quite as calmly as that). I had only heard of the project the day before, and was in no way responsible for it, but I was nevertheless apologetic and respectful. It can be very hard to swallow your pride and apologize for someone else's mistakes, but it was important to do damage control and limit the end user's frustration.

5 - 8

When faced with a difficult professional situation, I just remind myself how unimportant whatever is in my face is in the grand scheme of things, take a deep breath, and don't worry about it.

Big Al said...

5-3

Working at a campground and cleaning the rest roms, I have plenty of difficult customer situations. I can describe dozens of times that I've been confronted about the restroom being closed when they want to use it.

The customer's emotions usually run on the irritated or angry sides though sometimes they understand and have no problem going elsewhere or waiting for me to finish.

I can definately empathize as people are, by nature, lazy creatures and don't wish to carry themselves somewhere else when what they need or want is evident at the current location. I don't really care to walk farther to take a shower or use the restroom if I don't have to.

There isn't much to do to prevent the situations. The management could attempt to schedule the cleanings at a different time or do research to find a better time for a full cleaning to be done. There are 8 rest rooms in the campground though so another one isn't very far away usually.

5-8

I have various methods of remaining calm. The one I use will depend upon the situation presented as well as the time and facilities available.

Sometimes I'll simpley play a game. Something to remove myself from the world and take my mind off events.

Other times I just stop talking, thinking, and acting. Step back and take a breath, then analyze the situation to determine the best course of action to take.

Other times I allow myself to drift off and my mind to wander allowing my brain to go into autopilot while the conciousness is away.

ray said...

Project 5-3

Every Friday a customer nortorious for being difficult would come into the cafe at Barnes & Noble and order off the wall drinks. Having scheduled myself to work that night voluntarily and because i was a supervisor, i would always handle the customer myself. On this particular night, the Friday before Christmas, we were overwhelmed with customers when she decided she had an "issue" with the drink i made her. After having remade the drink per her standards, she returned to the counter, cutting other customers in line, and proceeded to dump the drink onto the counter while shouting at me. Not in the mood to deal with her attitude, i quickly reached for a rag and threw it at her telling her that if she didn't clean it up that instant, i was going to have her removed from the store and permanently banned from returning. After a few moments of thought, she proceeded to clean up the drink and stormed out of the store. For the next 20 minutes, i received compliments from the customers who witnessed it and was told i did a good job in handling her. In hindsight, i could have handled it in a more professional way by calmly speaking with the customer and offering to remake her drink to her satisfaction.

Project 5-8

When i encounter a difficult situation or a difficult customer, my first response is to take a deep breath. After that, i allow the customer to explain their situation and from there, try to work with them the best way that i can. If it is a difficult situation, i usually take a few moments to calm myself down by smoking a cigarette. When done, i tackle the problem to the best of my abilities and seek help when i cannot get past it.

Rafael said...

Whenever I deal with an aggressive customer, I just remember that I don't have to see them everyday.

Carlos said...

Project 5-3

This case happened to my dad long time ago. He wanted to know why his fee of that month was so expensive, so He called to the company and he talked first with a girl who was not able to solve his question so she said that some one would solve his question, and he had to wait for almost 15 minutes. After all that time, someone finally picked the phone and tried to solve my dad's problem, but that person could not either to solve it and he wanted to make my dad to wait for another person and my dad started yell at them because nobody could answer his question, and he asked to talk with the manager or director. when he said that, the other person looked like he started to be able to solve his question and to do everything that my dad could need.
The customer (my dad) was mad at them because nobody could solve his problem, and it was not a real hard problem.
I do not know how i could emphatize with the emotion that my dad was experiencing because he was so mad. Maybe if i have been the analyst, i would have tried to solve his problem without making the customer felt like if nobody cares about him. It seemed like they were able to solve the customer's problem once the customer asked for the director, so one thing they could do to prevent that situation would be to try to listen to the customer, and to find out what they could do. Maybe they could not answer the question because they did not know what to do, so they had to make the customer wait, but it could have been prevented that if they would have tried to do their jobs.


Project 5-8

When i have to face a hard situation, first, i just take a deep breath, think about what i can say, count to 10 and then start talking. i do not know if they are the best techniques, but i like to do them because they help me to feel better everytime i am in a hard situation. but it deppends of the situation because if the situation is between my family and me i do other things. However, if that situation is at college, or with my team, i do another things. But i always take a breath deep before doing something.

spulphus said...

I work on a Navy Base for food service. The people who come in only pay $2.45 for lunch and dinner and $1.65 for breakfast. These people always complain about the food and variety, but they always come back the next day. The people I work with seem to have feed into the negativity. I try to stay positive. However, I feel that you can’t please everyone. These people can come and eat whatever they want and still have the need to complain. Like I said you can’t please everyone. I think these people who are consider to be a customer should also gain so military baring as well because both parties are in the military.

Tyler said...

I do door-to-door sales, and when customers get rude with me, I just let them say what they're going to say and then continue on with my pitch towards them.
There was a guy that I talked to the other day. He came out of his house cussing about Verizon and how he hates them.
I stayed calm and showed him a little sympathy. Then I signed him up. I've learned that if you stay calm and positive..it overcomes that persons attitude sometimes.

Tyler said...

Project 5-8
I usually listen to music or play my guitar if I know i'm going to have to deal with a difficult situation. If it happens to me on the spot, I usually just take a couple deep breaths and maybe think of something that I like or good experience. Something like that.

Tyler said...

Results for 5-6
I'm predominately right-brained. Although my score was 5.6 meaning I have regular traffic between the two.

Eugene Hodge said...

Well, I calm down by beat my head on the desk and throwing the computer over the side of the ship!! Or Go smoke, drink a cup of coffee and realize the in 100 years who is going to care about a help desk call that went bad!