Devoted to customer service and the principles of exceptional customer services

When I first started working in retail, I had a difficult time greeting people.  It wasn't so much the actual greeting of the people, it was my perceived rejection from the people whom I greeted.  It was a big pet peeve of mine when I acknowledged someone and they didn't say anything back.  The store I worked in at the time was in a mall and sometimes people would sneak in through the sides just to avoid me, the greeter, standing in the middle front of the store.

 

I couldn't understand why people intentionally chose to ignore me!  Was there something wrong with me? I thought.  I really took it personal.  However, as I became more experienced as a sales person I came to realize that it wasn't me...it was them.  I couldn't help it if these people were unhappy with the world.  I eventually learned to "kill them with kindness".  I still did the best I could to help them, but I would just let their negative energy bounce off me - most of the time, at least. 

Rich G. of SimpleRich tells a similar story of a manager who just couldn't take the rudeness of customers anymore [hat tip to Phil Gerbyshak).  This manager allowed people to take his helpful energy away, but what he should have done was focus on the positive and simply not allow the bad energy of people affect him.  For every bad customer, there are ten good customers, so just focus on those good customers!