Comments on: Radio Shack employee charged with punching customer

A Radio Shack employee in Wisconsin got into an altercation with a customer who was trying to return a product. He faces battery charges--and not the kind Radio Shack sells.

[victdian]

And I as well work in customer service. It is not always easy however, I do my best to enjoy my job and my attitude comes across and helps to ward off angry customers. However, I know the person that got punch. Without being present I can tell the he is a mean mouth, belligerent, abusive person to deal with at most any given time.

[make_or_break]

Having worked retail a long time ago I know and still painfully remember those feelings; consumers can be real jerks. But getting physical over it isn't an answer, especially since it sounds like the staffer started swinging first.

Then again, having been a consumer too many times where the salesperson was the Grade-A hole it's not like there aren't times when you just wish you could b***h slap the fellow behind the counter, too.

The guy above said it right: people ARE retarded.

[coheeed2113]

i work at a radio shack and sometimes i wanna punch people in the face.

[Bowen88]

Doesn't matter where you go there will always be a**holes.

I had a electronics store quite a few years back. One day I sold a customer a tel/fax machine, however, the next he game back to say that the machine was defective and wanted to return it. Now, we are not like the big box stores that will just take anything back, and we don't make it a custom to give refunds. If the product is genuinely defective we will replace it. As I was opening the the box to investigate the problem, I explained our policy to him. Right away he went on the offencive and threatened to call the police, saying that I was stealing from him by not automatically giving him a refund. Now I am a very happy and jovial kind of person, but I do not take kindly to threats without provocation. Stopping briefly to look at him, I then pulled the thermal film (the machine used a thermal film transfer for text and images) and saw that there about ten pages of faxes received from India. Using my well built frame, I moved towards him and said in a very stern voice to get out of my store. Escorting him out of the store I hand him the box and told him to please call the police, but not in the store. I told him I would love to explain to the cops how he was attempting to defraud me. What I would really like to do, in my head, was to show him to the warehouse for some personal consultation. Of course, this was just the anger I was feeling at the time. My wife was at the store during this whole incident, and later conveyed her fear that I was actually going to literally THROW him out (I probably outweighed him by about 50 kilos). It would have been interesting if he actually called the cops, as all the local patrols buy their electronics from us.

I always try to be respectful to people. Whenever I need to talk to or deal with a rep I greet him/her with a cheerful attitude. Even when I have been really upset with the company I would let the rep know that I am in no way directing my anger towards them. Usually, but not always, they would find some way to resolve my problem. Sometimes I would need to be a little harsh, but not to the point of being disrespectful. My parents taught me better.

[SCFootballFan]

Ha ha! Ever wonder why all of you customer reps know so much (because you're trained to know how a cell phone works?) and you're customers (doctors, lawyers, engineers, health care providers, managers, etc...) all know so little? It's because we don't care about learning about how every Sprint phone works, all we need to know how to do our jobs... just like you need to know how to do yours. That's why customers pay/shop in your stores.

BTW, I used to work for Circuit City and a local cell phone/pager shop. I understand what it's like to work in customer service, and it's called "part of the job" when dealing with people that expect you to know about stuff that they don't know about.

[aaul]

AHhhhh....reading these comments just makes me look forward to the next customer to come into Sears screaming about how their "TV DOESNT LOOK AS GOOD IN THEIR HOUSE AS IT DOES IN THE STORE!!!" . Gotta love it.

[veruslite]

Honestly i think alot of the problem in situations like these is the whole corporate mentality. Back in the days of yore a sale was as good as your word and a handshake. Now you have peope scripted on what to say and how to deal with people(consumers to them). We are no longer a face but a number and a category. I would probably be less inclined to get upset about a given situation in a retail store as a customer if i didnt have some entry level employee whos either half my age and seems to function on a thrd grade education or some washed up geezer thats bordering on alzheimers reciting a ridiculous script to me very time i try to ask a logical question that would normally require a logical answer. Instead protocal takes the place of everything here. Talking to some of these employees is like talking to a See N' Say. Theres a certain point where common sense and logic are supposed to step up and take the place of protocal. So how else would you expect me to react to you as an employee when im making complete sense and your refusing my request because your scared ******** of losing your minimum wage job to make an actual decision on your own or even get someone above you who is qualified to make such a decision. Instead you keep reeating the same pointless diatribe to me , im assuming, in the hopes that ill get frustrated and walk away.

I like the idea of manatory courses on being courteous to customers and such but now when your expected to speak to customers like an robot stuck on repeat. Not only is it irritating most of the time. Its also a complete waste of my time in a lot of cases. NO I DONT FRIGGIN WANT TO SIGN UP FOR CREDIT CARD A,B,or C. and YOU DONT NEED TO GREET AND THANK ME AT THE END OF EVERY SENTENCE. JUST RING UP MY ******* ORDER AND LET ME PAY FOR IT ALREADY.

[drezjohnson]

Lets not forget that most of us are a part of some form of service industry. While I do agree with your point about corporate "protocol" it is important to remember that if this didn't exist then more people (service employees) would actually say what they are thinking and we would probably have incidents such as this one happening more frequently. Instead of getting the generic company responses employees might actually tell you what's REALLY on their mind.

I am not condoning the actions of this person because lets not forget that we are all customers whenever we leave our jobs and go home each day. I have seen some very incompetent employees but I have also had the opportunity to see some extremely rude and childish customers. From personal experience I've found that if you show others respect then they will reciprocate (and will do everything they can to assist).

If someone is going to be disrespectful then it's human nature for one to defend themselves regardless of how many classes you've taken. Now obviously we all have different breaking points but your last statement is a perfect example of the type of condescending behavior that no sane individual could tolerate unless they were high on the corporate mentality.

[techie1234]

All these comments from Radio Shack employees/managers really makes me want to buy something from Radio Shack... NOT. I don't dispute that there are some customers that are unreasonable, but the vast majority of sales reps at most electronic stores are not very knowledgeable. If a customer abuses a store employee, ask them to leave, if things escalate call the police. There is NO excuse for what the store employee did in this case!

[drezjohnson]

Agreed...this guy just lost his job and will most likely face some form of legal consequences. If this customer was a jerk today then he will probably be a jerk tomorrow. He should have just let it go.

[jskrenes]

May as well throw my stories down here as I also paid my dues at RadioShack. And yes, it is spelled that way, no space and caps on each word. I had one customer that after he was declined for a credit card, demanded all my paperwork because it had his social on it. I said he could have a copy, but the original was mine. We went roundabout with him saying 'my social security number,' and me saying 'my paper.' I figured if I didn't keep a copy of the app, and he got the letter in a few weeks saying he was formally declined, he could sue me claiming he never gave me permission to run the app. The paper copy was my only proof. If he wasn't in his 80s he would have punched me.

Second one, a customer came in asking if we had capacitors. I said yes, and he said, 'how about this one?' and it was about the size of my fist. I asked him where it came from, and it was his air compressor. I asked if he was aware that if a capacitor that large was not properly discharged before removing it that it could kill a person, he asked how to do that, I said I didn't know for sure. He then said, 'how do I know if it was discharged?' and I said 'because you're still alive.' Then I told him we didn't carry capacitors that large, and he said the thing that THEY told him we had them in stock. I'm on commission, so I don't make money if you leave the store with all of yours, so if I had something in stock, I'd sell it. OK, not as good as some others here, and I have a few others from my non-RS days, but that's for a different post.

[jpmccloud01]

As a sales person or customer it is just plain hard these days. Nothing is simple to many choices and to many people giving advice; confusing sales people and customers alike. As a customer you come to a store looking for x product being told you need something that you where told, bye your buddy that everyone has it, only to find out that it is only available at certain stores. As a sales person your expected to have a PHd, be a mind reader, and a door mat, because the customer has an Idea in their head that pigs fly and want to see one do so wright now not in a minute, but as soon as they step into the building. I have been in retail for 20 yrs and find it comical how much I need to keep learning every month or every day just to keep up with the stuff we sell. As for the customer getting punched bye Rat shack employee, the question I have is, how many times I have dealt with insane people threatening me because someone said they could, who is this someone? I don't think it is wright to come to blows with people in the work place, it's way unprofessional. Sales Pro's do there best and most customers aren't looking for a fight, but the few that really are causing the problems aren't band because " the customer is always right " policy is still used some 75% of the time and almost used 99.9% of the time. The real problem is that not enough emphasis has been put in simplifing the industry as it is. If things are purceived bye customer and sales pro alike most of the insanity that cause this kind of stuff would be eliminated. Hope the customer is OK and hope the sales pro gets help

[SouthsideTed]

I have worked as a RadioShack Manager for nearly 29 years (yeah I know I need to seek professional help and why am I still there ..... etc. etc.)

I have had or seen or been a part of every horror story mentioned here. Yes, at times the folks in FW will seemingly grant the most crazy claims. There are times when I have wanted to to really ask someone to leave who has been obnoxious, rude, and filthy mouthed. There is no end to these kind of folks.

I have also witnessed RadioShack store managers be willfully obnoxious, stupid, and un-caring. All in the name of maintaining some type of control. The wind seems to blow both ways.

But in my 29 years I can also take pride in the countless people who have come into my store and said stuff like "Man we're glad you're here ... we don't trust anybody else to give us a straight answer." (which of course is very flattering) or the old man who came into my store with an older ladies watch and needed a battery. I managed to get the battery installed and set the time for him. He was so quiet it was weird. "Well I guess your wife will have her watch back and running fine now." "No" he said, she died last week and she was wearing this watch when she did. She may be gone but I want to keep the watch running....." and he broke down and it all came out. 45 years and he was suddenly alone.

Or the woman who had a broken cassette tape from an answering machine and I fixed it (when we still had to stuff to do that with) because it was the last thing she ever heard from her husband who called to tell her he was getting on his flight home and of course the plane went down.

Yeah there are jerks, but there are a lot of wonderful people who come into our stores. I don't make much money, and sometimes I do screw up, but the blessings I have received from people have been worth it all. And I didn't tell you about the 4 dozen cookies story either .....

[MikeMJ]

For every salesperson or customer service rep I've encountered who clearly doesn't give a dam', I can cite two or three who have gone out of their way to be helpful. And I would be delighted to shop in your store.

The older I get, the more I realize that, as a customer, the greatest power I have is the power NOT to shop at a store, or with a company. If i encounter bad service, I go elsewhere. If I encounter good service, I continue to shop there, even if it costs more, because I'm confident that the company with which I'm dealing will stand behind their products and that my "total cost of ownership" will be lower.

But this is not an equal situation. While customers can just walk away, alespeople can't. As an employee, you have to stay there and take whatever is thrown at you (and all too many of these posts make it clear that we mean that LITERALLY).

I've worked in the computer industry all my life. I've done enough support (both by phone and face to face) to understand just how easy it is for intelligent people to leave their brains behind when they're dealing with something in which they aren't experts.

I was particularly struck by jpmcloud01's description of the need for continuing product education to enable salespeople to provide good service. That's why Circuit City is gone; that's why Best Buy will be next. When Circuit City started, they hired real salespeople, provided training, and paid them enough to stick around and to keep up their skills. Then corporate management made a decision to reduce all salespeople to minimal salaries and commissions, which led to replacing expert salespeople with newcomers who had no product knowledge, no salesmanship, and very little incentive to develop customer relationships. What do you know -- pretty soon they had no customers!

There's no excuse for any company to treat sales or customer service positions as unskilled, miinimum wage jobs. When they do, we as customers have every right to vote with our feet. But when a company hires and trains good people, they have the right to be TREATED as people.

[Maxfli82]

Wonderful heartwarming stories that still show there is some decency and caring in retail selling. I agree with another post on here that the corporate mentality has made every worker cookie-cutter and taken away some of recurring personal relationships interactions between customer and employee. The small guys who try to keep the old-style selling are forced out of business by category-killers like Best Buy because everyone is looking for the lowest price. Well low-price comes with employees who just don't care sometimes. Not putting any one down, just the realities of corporate America.

[Treiz]

I work in electronics at Walmart, I had a black guy who wanted to buy an ipod for his daughter. When I explained that we were sold out and that I wasn't sure when we would get more, he called me a racist and yelled at my manager.

Thankfully there was another customer who was waiting and saw the entire event, who also happened to be black, who stood up for me. I could have lost my job just because some bigot jerk wanted an ipod. >.<b

[czarak]

See this from Best Buy in Spartanburg, SC:
http://www.scpronet.com/point/9603/p04.html

[Bill Veik]

this has NOTHING to do with customer or rep. If it was, it would be just customers or just reps. This is about people, and their misguided idea that it is all about THEM, and what THEY want to do. Problem is, less and less of those things have the requirement of being "right" or "ethical", or "common sense", or that pesky "legal" thing. It's about doing what they want, and "wanting to" automatically qualifies it as OK.

That tailgaiting A&&-**** who pushed you, swerved around you and sped on without warning or signal? It's living by that code. I suppose if we kept it to speeding (and not returning grocery carts to the cart corral) we would be OK. But others are living it too, and taking it further. People like....

Columbine
Virginia Tech
Congress

Society believes that it's about how far you take it. The small wrongs aren't really wrongs......problem is, the REAL issue is that we all believe its OK to take it ANYWHERE AT ALL.

That is what self-governing really means. Not about country, about individuals. You are by yourself, deciding about right and wrong. Nobody will know. What do you do? Right now, we all fail that test.

[ikecon2]

After asking for an up-grade video card for my Mac Pro 2007 model, the Apple Store Employee said they didn't make a 2007 Mac Pro, they came out in 2008.

[jordiw]

The really odd thing is it true that the employees at (fill in the blank) who have to deal with "stupid" customers NEVER buy anything themselves from stores where they do not work? They never THINKK they know about something they purchase that they really don't know anything about? All I can assume from many of the comments above is that customer service workers sleep in drawers in their desks and never have to be customers themselves somewhere else because they never leave the place where they work and know everything there is to be known. We are all customers somewhere, and nobody thinks they deserve to be punched when they ARE a customer.

[J G M]

"Not passing judgement either way"? Come on. One party is a customer, the other is a store employee. There is NO scenario short of clear self-defense that supports the store employee assaulting a customer.

[johnoftaiko]

I work at Lowe's.
We see the same kind of stupid customers. In fact, we promote stupidity. We do everything for them.
It seem that most of them leave the brain at home when they go shopping.

50% of the worlds population are mental midgets.
50% of the remainder are mental midget wanna b's.
Now that doesn't leave very many sharp ones, does it?

[Lipl1]

Sorry to do this but in defense of some Radio Shack stores that do have intelligent & reasonable managers. Due to my hours & travel sometimes I will buy an odd part at one in one city and return it in another. So far no problems other than figure out how to give me all my money back, different sales taxes in different cities. Note the items are packaged items and I had the receipt.

I worked for MCI for 5 years, and I hated everyone, and I mean everyone, that called our service center, even those that only wanted to know the time in another time zone. Go RadioShack guy! Punch away!