I think the best way to measure the mood of the general public is by applying the Grump to Grin Ratio. In other words, how many customers on average are pleasant to deal with, compared to how many grumpy people set customer service people on their collective ears, cause spontaneous increases in blood pressure and make human interaction a most miserable event.
Years ago, the grumpy customer was the rarity. Customers would be pleasant, a bit rushed or maybe a little disappointed, and customer service would still take care of them, and they would leave smiling. When I use the term “grumpy,” I’m diplomatically referring to the type of customer who, either in person or on the phone, acts as if they are on the verge of spontaneous human combustion.
It wouldn’t be so bad if they were not so volatile over the wrong things. A misspelling is normally not something to explode about, but after spending any time dealing with customers, it can seem as if the battle is lost before the mouth is opened.
After over 30 years of customer service, I feel somewhat qualified to say it is rare that what a customer is asking for is not within reasonable compromise, but putting on airs, making threats, blustering, using foul language or trying to go beyond what one agrees to as a customer in a relationship with a business, will almost certainly not end well. I have experienced it all, from hearing service associates threatened with being shot (a police officer was soon knocking on that individual’s door: true story, because I queued in the supervisor and the supervisor sent the cops), along with hearing my favorite threat of going to every news source in the world and preaching about a poor experience with hopes of seeing the public break out the pitchforks and torches.
Today it seems that customers are nothing but grumpy, often without cause or prematurely. Usually problems can be solved with attention, time and patience. Often when a service person brings up a detail which was overlooked, the customer winds up feeling embarrassed. We don’t want to see anybody explode, do we?
What prompted this rant of mine? Well, some residents using a playground called Papa Park in a Philadelphia neighborhood were complaining about a foul odor for some time. As in years. Finally, after the stench became more palpable and caused some respiratory distress in visitors, somebody called the local Fox network to investigate, and they almost instantly found something of an answer, in a clearly placed sign announcing that a sewer line underground was rehabilitated, helping with drainage in the area, suggesting that maybe on certain days, occasionally smells may come out. The sign came courtesy of the water company, of all places. Nobody paid attention to it, but everybody complained about it. Here is the news article online for you: https://www.fox29.com/video/602622.
So before approaching a customer service person armed with bluster, anger, entitlement or a sense that you need to break out the pitchfork and torch to get your way, read up and know what to expect first. Maybe the Grump to Grin ratio can finally tip in the right direction for a change, and head off a possible explosion.
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