Mean People/ Things I Just Don't Understand

   There are lots of complaints out there about customer service. Those who work in the field are often accused of being rude, inattentive, disinterested and unintelligent. Rude and not helpful are the two things I have seen most often. I can understand. You often wait on hold for five to ten minutes to get someone that doesn't know how to help and couldn't care less.
  However, customer service workers, and I would include those who work in retail in the category, have to deal all kinds of people. Some of those people are not very nice. Years spent with people who are constantly angry and sometimes abusive can be wearing. If you wonder why customer service workers tend to dislike people, I'll give you a few examples.
  I started my career in the southern part of the state. I had two handicaps going into the profession. The first is that I am a woman in what was at that time a male dominated field. Yes, I know that women have been pharmacists for a long time, but until 15 years ago or so most pharmacist were men. The other was that I was young. Most weeks I ran into people who argued with me over whether I was actually a pharmacist. They wanted to talk to the "real" (male) pharmacist. I had a doctor who refused to give a prescription to me over the phone because, "Women can't be pharmacists". I am not making this up.
  I also had trouble with customers who thought if they yelled at me enough, I would do what they wanted. One guy was upset because his prescription for sleeping pills wasn't ready. We had to call the doctor because the prescription had passed the legal six month limit and we had not heard back yet. He accused me of making up the law as an excuse to not give him the medication that he needed. When he asked me what year the law had been put into effect I blurted out 1938. He was taken aback and then left. (There was a drug law passed in 1938, I'm not sure it had to deal with controlled substances.)
  During my years in the southern part of the state, I had customers who cursed at me, threw things at me and one guy who tried to spit on me. (It landed on the counter in front of me. He didn't have much distance.) I've never seen any of this happen to any of my male counterparts.
  As the years went by, things got better. I never was spit on again. Only one other time did a customer throw something at me. (He claimed it slipped.)
  These days I'm amazed at how angry people get over the oddest things. For instance we have one woman is comes and wants to pay for her medication with her groceries. We don't do that. All pharmacy purchases must be paid for in the pharmacy. That is the way it has been for as long as I've been working there. Every time she comes in we have the same argument. She doesn't want to write two checks. We've let her do it before. (not as far as I know) It's a stupid policy and I'm inconveniencing her. Any other store would let her take her pharmacy purchases up front. She's going to take her business else where. I've explained to her why we do it. She doesn't care, it's not her problem.  I've even gone as far as giving her the name of my district manager along with his contact information so she could express her anger to him. (I did send him an email to let him know what was going on.)
  The new pharmacy system we have has a few bugs in it. One of the bugs is that the automated phone system isn't working quite right. Some days everyone gets called even if they don't have something ready. Several people have expressed anger over this. Telling them we are sorry seems to make them angrier. We really can't help it. There is nothing we can do except to tell people if they get an automated call to call us back and check to make sure something is ready.
  Other people are upset over some new procedures that we have to do now that the new system is in place. A few people have complained about the number of times they have to sign to pick up their prescription. (although this is getting better). Some are upset that they have to give their birthdates. Actually this is something we were always supposed to do now it's mandatory. A few people have been upset that they now need an ID of some sort to pick up certain controlled medications. (I'm amazed at the number of people who don't carry their driver's licensee with them.)
  One thing I'll never understand is how people can get so angry over something that seems really small. I tell someone that it will take 15 minutes to fill their prescription and they act like I've just asked them for all their worldly possessions. Can't I get it done faster? They are in a hurry, they need to start it right away. It doesn't matter that I've factored in extra time for interruptions and possible problems with filling their prescription. It doesn't matter that scolding me for telling them 15 minutes will cause an even longer delay.
  It's no wonder that many of us in retail consider a vacation to be any time spent away from the public. It's also no wonder that many of us get burnt out and cynical.
  It's really hard to imagine why any of us stay in this field sometimes for many years. Why do we do it if it is so bad? The reason why is because of people like the last customer I helped on Sunday who said, "You do a good job taking care of me. " or the elderly man who had to pick up a prescription and didn't know what to do. I know who he is and his wife usually picks things up. I helped him and when he left he said, "You are always so nice to us." After a really bad day even one comment like that makes the bad stuff go away. That's why I do it.