I lost my temper with a customer today
 

I had a cluster **** of a day, got bugged all day, and was behind schedule. Was trying to get a customers boxster done. I was getting sick of being pestered, so I locked my door at 3:15. Not ten minutes later, someone comes knocking on the door. He could not see me where I was working, so I ignored him, and kept at it. Not knowing he was still there stalking me through the window, I moved across the shop to get tools, and he spotted me through the window in the front door. He starts pounding my door and yelling at me to open up. My temper is boiling, and I really don't want to be bothered, and I am making an honest effort to finish up this car. I yell at him through the door, " can't talk right now, come back in one hour" . He bangs at my door really hard, punches it, then goes out in the lot and is yelling profanity's at me, and making a scene.
I instantly came unglued, fired out the front door and just blew up on the guy. He was bigger than me, but I was so fuchin' pissed, and screaming that I actually backed the guy up to his car. I held back nothing, He found my game on button.
We engaged in a heated argument for about a minute, and there was a brief period where I was ready to let it loose. Good on me, I cooled off, and diffused the situation. We both apologized and went our seperate ways.
Almost 20 years in the biz, and this is the second time this has happened. I am a little ashamed of my actions, but damn, I think the locked door,and me asking him to come back was more than enough of a hint that I did not want to be pestered.

Did he have a legit reason to knock on the door, like his car in the shop?

Just wondering.

Damn Mormons...

A couple of problems for you are:
a) It's not up to your customer to know you were having a bad day
b) You have regular hours of operation and locked the door anyway
c) You then ignored said customer even though he could see you
d) When you realized he saw you, you tried to brush him off and when that failed went ballistic on him

The good news is that your work load will be easier going forward as he's probably no longer your customer.

I don't view knocks on the door or ringing phones as calls to action. I speak to others at my convenience. Though I don't take this attitude when at work.

Based on your actions, you should probably deserve to not be in business for yourself. You might want to look inward about what happened today. Maybe the guy's pregnant wife was stranded in his car down the road and he needed help. Are you not in the customer service business?

It lies somewhere in between. Customers come to expect that they have access to a business during normal business hours unless otherwise stated on the door. And with no notice on the door, the guy doesn't know anything except he drove over there purposely to see about something.

Now, does he bang and yell profanities when the door is locked and he knows someone is inside? At that point I would have done as Fred did and good riddance to a pest. Even bill collectors behave better than that.

To Motion: Point taken, but when the guy outside went off first, Fred had the option. He took it.

I am a one man operation, and get hammered all day, phones, and walk ins, there comes a make it or break it point for me every day, and at some point I have to turn the phone off, lock the door and get down to business and do the actual work. This guy is not what I would call a good customer. In my past dealings with him, I would have spent 30 minutes answering questions. and pricing stuff that he needed done, which I am willing to do , it was just not the right time. I was under the gun to finish another job. Like I said, I am not proud of my actions, and if I could go back I would have acted differently. .

Weren't you talking about hiring an hourly front office person a while back? Until you do so, you should work by appt. only and not let people know you're in your shop unless you're expecting people. If you're that busy, you can afford to fire time vampire customers once in a while.

This is like your second or third hint that you need to hire someone to answer the phone and the door.

If you want to have a non-advertised, word of mouth, appointment-type shop, then do that. If you're going to advertise and have a sign out front and a door, then you are going to have to figure something out.

Well, you answered your own question. You brought it to us for redemption of your behavior. You didn't really have to. Good you didn't bust his mouth.

thats exactly what i was about to say jeremy......
at least for a few hours a day, that'll let you hammer on some cars uninterupted (to a point).
minimal wage to sit on ass and answer phone/take notes, should be an easy position to fill, that 20-30 bux a day will be easily made up by your time being freed up to work.....

THAT is ****** funny!:D

Maybe I am messed up, but if I attempted to go into any business, be it MDonalds, the local auto parts store, or whatever, and the door was locked. I would not stay there and bang on the door.
I AM in the customer service business, and was trying my ass off to provide good service to the customers car I was working at that time. Attempting to finish the work by the time that I promised.

you need a sign explaining "one man shop" on the door -- add some of the stuff in Rick's post #9

you can even include a little box for people to vote -

___ keep things as they are

___ pay more so Fred can hire a receptionist

Hey Fred, are you still smoke-less? If no, then maybe your "game on" button was already halfway pressed? How are you otherwise? I hope all is well.

You need to put a sign on the front door that explains your scheduling and for them to phone and leave a message and you will return the call at the top of the hour. It would be like an apology in advance for not having time to talk.

Edit: RWebb had me by two minuites!

Not going to rehash, BUT if you want to go forward, keep your clients and reputation, some friendly advice
If you are that busy that you need to focus solely on the repairs, you need to communicate that to your clientele in some effective manner. A friendly voice message on the answering machine, a note posted on the door will take care of most of the uninvited interruptions < this helps with the walk in traveling sales people too.

Your message (and note) should include how important the incoming call is to you, but you are busy with taking extra care of a current job and will get back to them as soon as possible. If its an emergency and you need a tow, please call XXXXX and they will get your car to me as soon as I am available. << we have agreements with several trusted tow companies to keep a car overnight in case of after hours emergencies.

Then you need to take a break every hour and get back to the messages. Either you are in business for yourself, or not. Every client is important and yes, you can politely have the time wasters or "can't you just" ones steered away, but keep the good ones in the culling process

This right here. If you are open 8-5 you have to be able to handle wearing "all the hats" during that time frame.

If things get backed up, your work schedule gets pushed to 7-6 or earlier and longer. I myself like to come in earlier if I'm slammed, helps to ease into the day. You really need help (not in a mental/agro way, more of a hire an employee way).

I would bet that your whole work demeanor would change, I'm sure you spend a good percentage of your day dealing with petty stuff, let somene else take care of your light work.

Still smokeless, and that is probably half the problem.
My weekend plan is to put up blinds on the windows , and make up a sign, and even leave a place for people to leave notes.
I am not hiring a gate keeper. I am keeping my operation small. An answering machine can do the same thing, and the way my bldg is laid out, everybody would still try to enter through the shop, and my poor secretary would be sitting up in the office doing her nails.
I am happy to spend time with people, answer their questions, and give them advice, but as I stated, there also has to be uninterrupted work time for me. I shoot for 4-5 hours straight work every day, and then will field customer requests, phone calls etc, for the rest of the day while muddling through little jobs . I am not always able to jump just because you are at my door, or ringing my phone.
I have no sign, do not advertise, and work by appointment only .
I appreciate your advice guys, even the ones who will flame me. I am a mere human

You will figure it out.

Congrats on being smoke free! That's GREAT news! I agree with Dudley, you'll get there. Press on.

Fred - I recall when you threw your cell phone away out the car window...Hope you can get a handle on the stress....It's not healthy for your body or your business.......

You've admitted you were wrong....No need from a lecture from me. Best of luck... (Loved the Mormon comment too!)

your customer may have been a bit peeved himself, understandably, having taken the time to drive to your shop, at 3:30 in the afternoon on a weekday, only to be told to "go away."

It's not an unreasonable expectation that someone will be there to do business with you at 3:30 on a weekday. To be told to go away (and that you've wasted your time coming) could be annoying. You can see that, no?

Maybe, since you are truly a one man operation, you should just post a change in business hours, maybe 11:00 to 3:00, or something convenient that would allow you (and them) a set time to deal with customers & still have time to get work done. Post for them to leave messages & try to handle that during your "business hours period." Exclusivity has its appeal to customers, when they have the impression you have so much work to do you have to make a special schedule to make time for them. Might be a decent solution.

A lot of good suggestions here.....a sign on the door being the best:

"Sorry I am unavailable to speak to anyone until after 6PM. Please call XXX-XXXX and leave a message if you'd like and I will call you back as soon as possible. THANK YOU!" ~ The Fredster

The only other thing of course, which you already know, if you could go back and do it over again, would be to answer the door and ask the customer to "please come back in an hour (or X hours) because you are under the gun to get this car finished by X PM."

We all make mistakes, including customer relation mistakes. Lord knows, although I consider myself to be a relaxed and structured kind of fellow - over the years I have developed negativity toward certain customers and have let this impact our relationship - no shouting matches thankfully but just not handling things better. So don't be hard on yourself - these things happen. The important thing is you learn and move forward.

I really believe each person in business is wired a certain way which differs from anyone else. So it is up to each person to deal with their pressure in their own way and at their own pace.

FWIW - your customer no doubt knows he stirred up a bees nest when he didn't just walk away when the door knocks weren't answered. Which means he also is taking some responsibility for this internally, whether or not he knows it or admits it publicly.


My 2 cents anyway....good luck! SmileWavy

Dude, tough day man. Blowing up happens and the feelings afterward suck.

I know it happens once in a while with my kids; Frustrated by something entirely not them and then also frustrated by them --> BOOM!

It sucks.

It would suck worse if this had a negative impact on your business. It sounds like you're busier than you want to be but it would be a shame if that all dried up because of the way you have been handling your schedule.

I would most certainly consider communicating better with your customers.

1) Post hours that you are available at the front desk and publish that to your outgoing voice mail message. Post a sign in your office behind you for customers to see as you write them up and put it on your door for them to see when they walk up and find the locked door.
2) Explain the need for these hours: 'In an effort to speed up your repair - during X - Y hours I am asking you to leave a message. I will return your call during my scheduled office time which is during A - B hours each day.'
3) Consider and appointment type business model but that does not mean you have to turn potential customers away when they drive onto your lot. It just means that their future business with you should mostly be by appointment.
4) Be prompt and courteous when following the rules you're laying out for yourself.

These are just thoughts I had regarding your situation. If you like - cool - if you don't ignore them.

i think sitting down and typing this out..even on this forum is a great first step.

i admit, i used to be a HOT-head. i would blow up, much like you did. that feeling you are having afterwards? you know it. that sheepish, foolish feeling..like you know you overreacted. that is a warning. 2 weeks from now, you probably wont even really remember the details of the dispute.

me, i signed up for anger management. i was gonna give myself a stroke. i calmed the eff down. i just got done with another "group" thing..this one was more geared towards depression. i am not depressed but could see myself heading that way. hearing others with real depression helped.

help is out there..find it. now even a guy blaring his horn at me, flipping me off will rarely get a reaction from me. (i think deep deep down inside..it infuriates them more :))

i heard a good one:

anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. hahahhah. (true tho)

No need for all the unpleasantries. Just a sign on the door that says every knock is an extra $50 if the door is locked.

Porsche owners are the worst, their shyte don't stink. Ask them if they want to money whip it, and put them on the phone with the potential whipee.

Oh you could add to your sign outside, RECENTLY QUITE SMOKING TREAD LIGHTLY.

You are already are on your way to figuring this out.

Well done on staying smoke free.

Cheers Richard

was he driving a Mustang?

There is a reason my word of mouth, one man operation, is no longer in biz. It seems that you have one of two choices, stay small and do a good job where you won't be small for long, or add someone to deal with things so that you can keep wrenching. One idea is to get some local kid to sweep floors and take out the trash ect and tell people Fred is kinda tied up right now can you come back in about an hour. Just a thought.

So, you and McLovin are friends again now? :)

911
 

Damn Mormons

Don't think this is funny at all!!!!!!!!!!

Where's the PC on this site?????

That was hilarious.

many have shifted over to Macs

Put a sign up...'Bad Day and I'm Re-Loading'.....

Thin skin much? Good thing you're not a Catholic.

Fred so what happened with the guy in the end?

Damn Jehovah Witnesses.....izzat better?