UNPLEASANT OR GROUCHY
F. W. Small, shoe buyer and department manager for the Gilchrist Company, Boston, has this to say concerning the customer who is unreasonable in his demands for attention and service: “The grouchy, irritable customer is best served by the salesman who assumes a jovial, apparently unperturbed, light-hearted manner. However, he should always be attentive and courteous, for oftentimes these people are not as bad as they seem. Difficult circumstances, such as ill health and the like, have probably been responsible for their unfortunate manner rather than any wish or desire of their own. If the salesman loses his control and becomes indifferent or uncivil such customers become offended as much or even more so than the average person. On the other hand, if the salesman appears pleased and happy while serving them, although they may not show it at the time, it is invariably a fact that they are encouraged and benefited by having come in contact with an opposite disposition, which they must surely admire. Such a salesman will be singled out by them for all later business, because of a feeling they have that he understands them and their needs better than anyone else.”
It is not an easy matter by any means to accept with a smile continually unpleasant people, but it is good-paying business for the salesman. He can best understand them perhaps by considering them as mental invalids in need of some extra measure of consideration and service. As Mr. Small points out, they are not as bad as they may seem, and will remember every effort to please sometimes longer than will the cheerful customer.