Title says it all really.
I work in a corporate coffee chain who naturally attracts entitled and rude customers.
Most of the time it’s fine, little things here and there we can brush off and continue on. But sometimes there’s that one customer who goes above and beyond trying to upset you. They insult and berate you to tears, and expect you to just let them do it.
I’m not usually one to let that happen. I’m never insulting or mean, but if they raise their voice at me or start insulting me personally I just answer them in ways that make it obvious they’re being ridiculous.
I had one such customer the other day. Rude, belligerent, insulting, downright nasty. Accusing us baristas of taking advantage of his disability to purposely make his drink incorrectly every single time he comes in.
I answered all of his questions he threw at me, I tried telling him no we are not out to get you or whatever his mind made up for him. He ended up telling me I needed to go back to school because I was too stupid to work in a coffee shop, and I answered “Ok!” And ended the encounter by just moving on to my next drink.
My supervisor was not happy with me, pulled me into the back room to tell me that if this was a small locally owned shop what I did would be okay, but because we work at ~big corporation~ we essentially need to “just take it.”
Just wanted to vent and also get some reassurance that what my supervisor told me is insane. It shouldn’t matter where we work, it’s NOT part of our job to take abuse from customers. It shouldn’t be expected or allowed in the first place.