Devoted to customer service and the principles of exceptional customer services

I was sitting outside the grocery store when one of the workers - I'll call him "Joe" -  walked outside to take a break where there was already another worker - let's call him "Jeff" - sitting down and taking a break. 

"Bad day?" Joe asked Jeff.

"No, actually it's been a pretty good day for me," answered Jeff.

"Man, my whole day has been so bad," exclaimed Joe. "It's just one bad thing right after the other!"

I'm sure that most of us can relate to Joe's situation.  We have one negative situation with a customer which seems to put this gloomy cloud over our head and rains on the rest of our day.  I experienced many a day like that in the past.  I would ask myself, "Do I have a sign on my forehead that says 'Step all over me and treat me bad?'"  How do you prevent one bad customer from affecting your attitude and creating this gloomy cloud over your head?

There's a pretty simple solution that worked for me.  Take a break.  Take an extended break if you have to.  I have a friend who worked with someone who had a quirky way of releasing negative energy.  He would go outside and put his hands in the dirt.  When my friend asked him why he did that, he said that doing it "grounded" him.  Whatever it takes to put you back in a good mood!  For me, fresh air and sunshine was enough...

For those of you who have Hitler as a boss who breathes down your neck and watches your every move, kindly explain to him/her that you've had to deal with a customer that is affecting your productivity and you'll need an extended break.  Twenty to thirty minutes should be plenty of time to get you back to your sane self. 

How do you recoup after you've dealt with a "bad" customer or having a bad day??