Is It Ever Appropriate to Swear at Customers?
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The situation was in a public house but it was the barmaid as she called herself, who was swearing at a customer from behind the pub so the whole pub could hear. All he had asked was were was his third of three pints he had ordered and it kicked off. Personally whatever the situation, it can be dealt with, without swearing.
I would say definitely not, customer facing staff should be trained to deal with difficult customers in a polite but firm manner. Having said that these days I find customer service in most places is virtually non existent and staff can often be quite rude and unhelpful towards customers and get way with it , sign of the times I suppose
Mango4 I agree with you, customer service seems to somethings that has been relegated to the history books which is sad for all of us as each of us is a customer somewhere. It just brings everybody down to a lower base level. Whatever happened to 'do as you would be done by'?
No should not swear at customers. However if the customers are being abusive to staff I would understand it.
JLouM I understand if a customer is being abusive but I do not think it is acceptable to swear under any circumstances. If you are working in an environment where you deal with customers you should know the correct way to deal with them.
eyeballkerry I disagree working a pub and most nights you have very drunk people giving you abuse sometimes you have to have a go back it's not offered it happens but it does customers are not always right or nice
Appropriate? Not really.
Understandable? Certainly.
Those who work in customer service are still only human and everybody has a breaking point.
RegularComper90 I can see where you’re coming from but the barmaid kicked off pretty quick. If you are working in this kind of environment where you are dealing with other people I would be worried if people had low breaking points.
No it isn't acceptable to swear at the customer. I understand customers can be demanding and sometimes annoying but it is never appropriate to swear at them.
MrsCraig Some pubs, clubs, bars and discounted shops deliberately employ "rough" staff. I constantly hear contention coming from the staff working there towards their customers and colleagues unlike a proper shop or bar whose staff are properly trained to handle all kinds of disputes or whatever.
As tempting as it must be to swear at customers. No, no it's not ever OK to swear at customers.
Depends on how the customer was acting.
If he/she was being really abusive and I was working in the pub, I'd jump the bar and stick one on them.
Well, no and by swearing that escalates the situation automatically so it's best to avoid swearing.
Years ago I was at a department store, think it was John Lewis on the toy section and a father was "moderately" hitting his daughter because she was crying. I feel bad not stepping in, but who knows what would have happened if I did, I certainly didn't want it to get worse.
No unfortunately, no matter how vile, nasty or offensive the customer is you cannot swear.
like everyone else I can understand why it happens but it certainly shouldnt. Staff should be trained to avoid it and if not possible then walk away. Not always possible though. Some customers really dont deserve any service though and I wish more companies stood by their staff and refused service where appropriate. A good friend of mine many years ago was working in a call centre for a few months (she was a student and needed the money!) She had one really abusive customer who was shouting and screamming at her. She kept her cool and thought she had followed all the instructions she had been given. In the debrief after the call she was told she had handled it fairly well, but she was still expected to thank them for their call at the end! She didnt return to work for them after that spell!
You cannot swear but you can refuse service or walk off as it is not worth being spoke to like rubbish in front of other customers and staff. I’ve worked in retail for over 8 years and it wasn’t a shock after a while but you just have to find a way of coping with problem customers without losing your temper, killing them with kindness but sometime I would humour them or even be a little sarcastic. But you should never swear back just either walk off and tell a manager or refuse service and if they don’t move or is still be verbally abusive then get a security or the equivalent
While I have never swore at customers and wouldn't do it because I've worked in retail I've seen what some customers can be like, absolutely vile and violent individuals at times. There is absolute scum out there. Twice now I've been in Iceland when someone is attempting to shop lift. The first I saw the person as the staff asked them to take out a cider bottle from their bag. A more recent time just a few days ago I couldn't see as it was the other side of the aisle and I could hear a member of staff asking the person to put something back. I didn't get to see that person but this must be incredibly stressful for staff. When I worked in retail decades ago it was nothing like that even though some people were rude and abusive. However even back then it was 99% fine just that 1% of vile people that make life difficult. I wonder if its still 1% today? It's clear the punishment level is not a deterrent to these people.
The old rule is the customer is always right even if they aint lol.Some people just drive you crazy but swearing is wholly out of turn.It seldom makes things better anyway.It's just venting.
It is never appropriate to swear at customers. I find that customer service is generally poor these days 
Very much depends on the situation & how you've been approached I'd think. If you've tried to deal with the situation calmly & politely & are still being met with resistance/hostility than there would come a point where you'd just have to unpolitely tell that person to go away.
I think you should always be professional at work and swearing can escalate a situation. We are allowed to put down the phone on abusive customers after warning unless you moderate your language, I will have no option but to terminate this call.
If a customer serves at an employee then why can’t the employee swear back? Too many customers think they are entitled.
Tbh it's not good but I can see situations where it would happen. If someone is being constantly abused etc then I wouldn't blame them for swearing.
I was a barmaid for years - if you are willing to work around drunk people you should know you will get a few customers who you would cheerfully strangle but i would never swear back at them. It sounds like the barmaid needs to get a different job !
I got far more abuse when I worked as a debt collector and we were told that if the debtor swears you give them one chance and tell them you will terminate the call - and i had to many times. You put the phone down then wander off somewhere quiet and shout every swear word you can think of - then go calmly back to your desk !
suevernon1968 I totally agree with you but when this did happen the barmaid did not reprimanded which I was thought was wrong.
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