Q. How do you recommend I handle profanity from a customer? What do you do when a customer becomes abusive with you? Loud, screaming,
and personally threatening?
Answer: I thought I’d put both of these together because they speak to similar situations.
“The customer is always right” is a nice cliché, but like every cliché, it is only partially true. Sometimes the customer is wrong, and sometimes he/she is a jerk. Just because he/she is a customer doesn’t give them the right to be abusive to you, or to anyone, as far as that goes.
First, on the issue of profanity. I try not to use profanity, and I am uncomfortable around people who do. The same is true of crude, vulgar, or highly sexualized conversation. It makes me uncomfortable. I’m not talking about the occasional suggestive joke or the forwarded email. I’m talking about crude and vulgar conversation.
