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I have just two more classes left before Summer semester comes to an end. I am amazed with how much I have learned in such a short amount of time. I have discussed the impact of educators on the lives of those they teach before. I had “one of those professors” this semester. Not only is he an educator, but he’s an entertainer and when you’re entertained you learn more. I learned so much, in fact, that I found myself applying the concept that I read about and discussed in class to my past and present experiences. I will spare you all a summary of the topics covered in class, but I would like to share with you a (hopefully mildly entertaining) application of that which I learned in class.

For most of my undergraduate career I worked as a customer service rep for a well-known mega-retailer. My job was to return and/or exchange products that were defective or unwanted. My job was also to ensure that these procedures were conducted according to company policy. That is, within 30 days, with a receipt, cannot be damaged, dvds, cds and computer software must be unopened and so on. Not surprisingly, customers who found themselves a week outside of the return policy or with an open dvd often became frustrated. I was not sympathetic to their frustrations. The policy is the policy, it’s written in English and Spanish on the back of the receipt and I’m not going to read it to you, because if you can’t read you probably shouldn’t be out shopping by yourself. (I may have actually said this to a customer or two…or more.) Also not surprising was that my sarcasm, passive aggressiveness and general disregard for the emotions of this company’s customers led the customers to become enraged.

Needless to say, customer rage was my favorite topic covered this semester. I saw the issue of customer rage through different (and more mature) eyes. It’s a problem that can easily be avoided when you prepare your employees who are in constant contact with your clients. A company must make it known to their contact employees that the company’s goal is happy customers. In my situation at the retailer that will remain unnamed, I was more concerned with upholding company return policies than I was about customer satisfaction. Had I been rewarded for creating happy and loyal customers, the company would have been better off and I would have been far less bitter.

Empowering employees to quickly resolve issues on their own is essential. The longer a client waits for conflict resolution, the more upset they become. The perpetuation of an unpleasant situation is what leads to rage. As a consumer, chances are you don’t get upset because of one mistake or one unpleasant employee. It’s a culmination of bad service and lack of resolution.

While learning about customer rage, what it is, how it happens and what can be done to prevent and resolve it, I read examples of exceptional companies who are making life easier for their clients and their employees. One company has allotted a $10/day budget for employees to spend on a customer who had an unpleasant situation. No need to get a manager to comp the wi-fi or send a fruit basket, the employees are empowered! Another company makes sure that none of their contact employees remain in contact with customer for more than 4 hours at a time. AMAZING! If someone had thought of that back when I was a customer service rep, I may have been a very different person today.

I’d love to hear your customer rage stories whether you were on the giving or receiving end!