Is it justified to be inhospitable?
Recently, we saw on the news how staff of a clothing store ganged up on a physically abusive customer and proceeded to beat the living daylights out of him. Later investigation revealed that the shopper had, in fact started the fracas and thrown the first punch. However, a deeper dive into online reviews revealed that this wasn’t the first time that staff and managers of this store had reacted aggressively towards customers. This particular store and its management had built up a reputation of violence as a result and the video (in lighter vein), is a stark reminder that shoppers should not instigate a physical confrontation in that store if the odds are not in their favour.
Customer abuse is defined as forms of customer behaviour which are seen by service workers as aggressive, intimidating or insulting to themselves. Abuse arises at the point where customer enchantment turns into disillusionment. Enchantment is promoted by companies that claim, for e.g., “We are there to serve you”, during the service interaction. This form of enchantment is promoted such that within the interaction, it appears to the customer that s/he is sovereign (Royalty). When customers believe they are treated poorly, some as in royalty turn abusive, in a sense, it can be said that the promotion of the enchanting myth of sovereignty creates the very conditions for customer abuse. Specifically, some sectors of service economy have strong cultural and historical associations with norms of customer sovereignty e.g. hospitality industry, while other sectors (such as retail), have much weaker associations with such norms.
Seriously, a “customer” doesn’t get any special rights to attack or harass. Nevertheless this kind of behaviour can and does happen in any establishment. Customers can act entitled, behave like they are above everyone else, and even get physically abusive. I personally don’t believe that the customer is always king - there are times when the customer is clearly the court jester. However, is it justified to gang up and thump such customers - even if they threw the first punch? Let’s answer that question.
A better way to handle an abusive customer would be to first try and de-escalate the situation as far as possible before things turn violent. If an employee is getting agitated, for example, someone else should step in and act as a voice of reason. This is where managers need to get on the front lines. There are times when I’ve had a relatively civil verbal argument with an employee of a business, over some product or service issue. During this time, I’ve observed the manager cowering in a cubicle, seemingly unaware that they aren’t behind one-way glass and I can see their sorry peeping figure. Managers, get out there. Not to start a fight, but to prevent one from happening. In fact, de-escalation of potentially violent situations should be one of your KPIs!
Should this approach fail, and the customer gets violent, your physical actions should be limited towards restraint. Yes, it’s tempting to wallop some belligerent, foul-mouthed half-wit who just socked you in the face. Don’t. The consequences of not handling confrontations effectively can be serious, for both employees and their organisations. Avoid ‘fighting fire with fire’ and refrain from retaliating in a manner that might appear you to be viewed as the aggressor.
Summon security if needed, to detain the customer, and immediately call the police. Remember, you most likely have CCTV evidence of the customer instigating violence. Take multiple backups of the CCTV footage and store it in safe places for future evidence. I also believe that there’s nothing wrong in releasing said footage to social media, if necessary, as it proves that your staff acted with tact and restraint. Some may disagree with me on this point.
Most importantly, don’t build up a reputation for being an establishment with a violent culture. Once you’ve done that, there’s very little you can do to rectify the situation. I’ve resolved not to take my family to the store in question either. Life is unfair - a great reputation can be tarred in an instant, and it can take years to recover.
To make this long story short, each and every decisions needs to be weighed on the situation.
Ashraaq Wahab – Director of Sales / Marketing and Technical, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Automotive Journalist, Marketer, Photographer and Writer, who enjoys penning his thoughts, insights and ideas on a variety of topics
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