{"id":9974,"date":"2012-10-22T02:10:29","date_gmt":"2012-10-22T06:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/?p=9974"},"modified":"2021-10-19T06:49:48","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T10:49:48","slug":"are-you-a-bad-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webhostinggeeks.com\/blog\/are-you-a-bad-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"Are YOU a Bad Customer?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s no surprise that as part of our human condition, we either do not see or rationalize our own bad behavior towards others. We will not take the extra twenty seconds to back up and park correctly at the mall or supermarket, instead of exiting our vehicles that lay across two parking spaces. We sit on our cell phones, expecting others to wait behind us in line as we increase our time at the checkout by three-hundred percent and treat those in the service industry as if they were created by God somewhere between the weasel and rat, which is usually a spot reserved for lawyers and politicians. In the end, we are responsible for our own actions and if they are anti-social, we cannot truly hold our heads high as we help chip away at society, business and our own reputations among our peers.<\/p>\n

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While the U.S. Presidential election is a short two weeks away, we have witnessed lying, false accusations, shifting stances on policy and politics and flip-flopping with fact and creative fiction. I leave it to you to decide whom, if not both candidates have engaged in this behavior. As with most elections, people will say they voted for the least, biggest liar. Will the American public feel good about the winner? Will they feel engagement or loyalty or will they feel that they can also stoop to the lowest as their right by example?<\/p>\n

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Would You Like to Upsize That?<\/h2>\n

In an example of a shared experience for over ninety percent of the people in industrialized countries, the fast food industry is a prime example of bad customers. Most people will disagree, thinking the morons at the drive thru are those in silly uniforms but it\u2019s not true.<\/p>\n

Like George Plimpton<\/a> and Hunter S. Thompson<\/a>, as well as countless writers, I jumped at the chance to work part-time for a local fast food joint when a friend, whose stories of bad customers intrigued me asked if I wanted to work with him. I figured a few weeks of the experience would give me enough material for a book and I agreed. On my first day, I slipped into my brightly colored, plastic shirt, ball cap, falsified nametag and stood behind the shift manager, learning the POS (point of sale) register. It wasn\u2019t hard to figure out. Here\u2019s a heart-chocking burger that corresponds to a number on the menu board. Then there are second level buttons for leaving off items such as pickles, lettuce or adding other items such as bacon for that extra UMPH! of stroke-causing goodness.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take long for me to wonder how many people were unable to order a simple meal by a number. While waiting for the customer to decide on a number one through number eight, all laid out with large pictures, showing the product like pictures in a child\u2019s board book, I would be appalled that these people were allowed to drive up to the restaurant. The real test came when the ubiquitous question was put forth for an answer; \u201cwould you like to upsize that to medium or large?\u201d<\/p>\n

Often, rather more often then should happen, people would answer, \u201cyes!\u201d<\/p>\n

That begged the follow up question, \u201cto medium or large?\u201d<\/p>\n

The number of people who decided, after they had paid, that they would actually like to upsize their crappy meal, was amazing. This meant returning their money and starting over or just giving them the upsize and taking the business loss due to their stupidity. In either case, it is the person behind them that ends up waiting or facing the contempt from the counter person.<\/p>\n

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“Do you take credit cards?” Photo \u00a9 Stephen Cox<\/p><\/div>\n

During \u201cMy Year in Grease,\u201d as the books title goes, although I didn\u2019t spend a year there as my penchant for murdering customers grew with each shift, there were further examples of bad customers that would shock anyone. There is a good lesson about being a bad customer in any type of restaurant that is punctuated by Ryan Reynolds in the film \u201cWaiting,\u201d about a small chain restaurant. The bad customer sends back her food after an abusive rant and what she gets back is something you would not want to eat, or be within ten feet. Mr Reynolds tells a young trainee, \u201cnever f@#% with people who handle your food!\u201d<\/p>\n

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This certainly sends a message… that the innocent bus boy will have to clean up.<\/p><\/div>\n

Being Bad to Vendors<\/h2>\n

It goes without saying that there are bad vendors but that\u2019s another article. Bad clients\/customers are equally as bad and no, the client is NOT always right. The professional way of doing business is always right. Contracts certainly should keep all parties on board and at least a bit of compassion and understanding makes for a sweeter experience but, like the inability to order lunch, there are people who can\u2019t seem to generate the wattage needed to fire certain brain synapses.<\/p>\n

Sites like clientsfromhell.net<\/a>, take collections of real-life experiences that shock the normal brain when trying to understand the brain from, as it goes in Young Frankenstein<\/a>, \u201cAbby Normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Read examples until you get too depressed!<\/p><\/div>\n

One wonderful example from the site is the post:<\/p>\n

CLIENT: We have decided we want to call our new website \u2018_________.com\u2019<\/p>\n

ME: Unfortunately, the .com is already registered and in use. However, .net is available. That\u2019s probably the best option unless you choose another name.<\/p>\n

CLIENT: Ah. Yeah, I don\u2019t like the .net so much. I think I\u2019ll just stick with the .com<\/p>\n

ME: Sorry, I think you must have misunderstood, the .com is already owned by someone else. You need to pick another name.<\/p>\n

CLIENT: Thanks for the advice, we\u2019ve decided we don\u2019t like the .net so we\u2019ll just go for the .com as originally planned. If you can register that for us ASAP and let us know once it\u2019s done that\u2019d be great.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould you like to upsize that site to medium or large?\u201d See how that example works across several industries?<\/p>\n

Another example shows immediate contempt of any vendor:<\/p>\n

After refusing to pay, then claiming we said we would eat the cost of the project, and then accusing of us of verbally abusing staff when we very politely asked their accountant to pay the outstanding invoice\u2026<\/p>\n

CLIENT: It\u2019s too bad, we were thinking of making you a preferred vendor.<\/p>\n

ME: What does that mean?<\/p>\n

CLIENT: It means we pay on time.<\/p>\n

A very popular video with graphic designers and other freelance creatives is the following skit\u2026<\/p>\n