Dealing with the public isn't easy

Dealing with the public isn't easy.

I would argue with anyone who said it was easy and give them my job in a heartbeat!

I have worked in retail for almost three years and have had to deal with the ups and downs of the public.

You have the really nice and easy-to-deal-with people, and then you have the know-it-alls and the ones who would argue with a wall.

I've always wondered why people think being rude and obnoxious is easier than being polite.

People think you owe them something and you have to meet their every call.

It's not like we don't have our own personal lives and troubles to deal with; we have to go and take on everyone else's bad days, too.

Call me a bit disturbed with the public, but I think most anyone who has dealt with it will agree.

Most people should sit back and take a look at how they act toward a salesperson or just anyone who is helping them make a decision.

It makes it much easier to deal with them if they are sane. I try to think how I feel when someone isn't polite, and I think twice before I speak.

No one likes controversy. Dealing with the public isn't easy, but it could be a lot easier.

More of us who do deal with the public would enjoy it more and be more willing.

I think everyone should think twice before they speak, and life would be a lot easier.

I remember one incident when a lady came up to my work and wanted to return a pair of jeans she had bought for her grandson. They were a year old.

Of course, any store usually requires you to have a receipt or tag proving you even paid for the item.

There were no tags and no receipt. She had bought the pair of pants almost a year ago!

I almost couldn't believe what I was hearing. This woman must be out of her mind!

It's hard to keep your cool when you know this kind of situation is just common sense.

But according to your agreement with the company, you have to have good customer service with your best attitude, which sometimes is hard to do. This was one of those times.

I explained to the lady what our policy on returns was, and she insisted on speaking to a manager.

In the back of my mind, I knew the manager would tell her the same speech I did, but I called anyway.

A manager showed up, and the woman gave her story and assumed the manager would sympathize with her. But she gave her the same information I had.

The woman still didn't want to cooperate and insisted on speaking to the store manager. It ended up that he wasn't in town, so we got lucky on that one.

By this time, the lady was getting impatient. She insisted that if she wasn't getting her money back, she wanted to give the store her credit card she bought the pants with.

I had never heard this before, and she was very serious. The manager explained that we could not accept her credit card, but she insisted she would not leave until we took it from her.

She told us our policy was not right and that we should have let her return the pants even without a receipt and with the pants being a year old.

Our policy has been the same for years. We gave her directions to customer service, because she wasn't leaving until her credit card remained in our hands.

This was just one of the few incidents that anyone who is dealing with the public has to deal with.

People should be more understanding and know that stores work with them the best they can.

They can't just make up their own rules and take back anything and everything.

Of course, after this I wanted to just die right there and think that this woman was crazy.

How hard would it have been to just accept what was offered? It's just common sense that after a year with no evidence, they might not get their way.

I don't understand, and I guess I never will. I was raised to respect others and not take advantage.

People need to realize that everyone is not perfect and that controversy makes situations so much harder than they really are.