No phone to hide behind. Not just an uninterested voice that appears after 5 menus asking you to push this number or that.

No. Customer Services at a holiday centre is a different world. Face to face with the guest, how do you deal with them all; timid, arrogant, brash, downright rude.........every day of the week.

5 years of this particular area (Butlins in this case) has given me some interesting experiences.

The Customer is always right. WRONG!!!

An old adage perhaps but fatal if you adopt this attitude.

The customer is never wrong! Slight difference. They may have been misinformed, misunderstood or misinterpreted something, but they are never wrong.

Who are easiest to deal with. Well both ends of the spectrum actually. The timid you want to help as best you can and will often go out of your way to do so. The downright rude can be told that you will only deal with them if the act in a responsible manner and, if you let them rant and rave without interupting, just nodding etc, then they mainly run out of steam and don't know what to do next.

The middle range of arrogant or even stupid complainers are very difficult. There's no come back on them for being rude and they're not going to back down. Just have to do your best.

But at the end fo the day, they are all on holiday and want to be enjoying themselves, so as long as you can do something to aide this you've won.

Tricks of the trade?
Never interupt or try to sound like a know all. Take notes and say you understand although you may not agree with their points.

Never try to be clever and make them feel silly for complaining.

Smile when you greet them but don't overdo it. They'll think you're not taking them seriously.

Be firm but not overpowering with your answer.

Know you subject. You can't deal with a complaint if you have no idea of what they are talking about
.

Scams??
When faced with a customer who insisted on seeing someone higher a colleague an I used to just swap guests, claiming to be the next person in the hierarchy. The answer was still the same but the guests went away assuming they'd put their point to the manager.

As one of the other reviews states, the back office is a haven from all of the shouting and screaming. You can pull faces, laugh and scream and generally joke about the complainers until you go back through the door, straight faced again.

Overall it was great fun.I only had 2 people in 5 years actually swear at me, and I swore back. Put them completely off their stride and they calmed down.

And being a holiday centre we could all go out after work and get plastered and forget everything...........until the next day. Complaints with a hangover....now that's another story!!