





Posted by: Lance Liebl

A video from a Grand Theft Auto 5 midnight release at a GameStop is going viral. In it is a back and forth between a customer who acts poorly (which the video doesn't show), and who refuses to show anything more than a business card to pick up his pre-ordered copy of GTA 5. He was supposedly a jerk about it too, and you can see some jerkish behavior in the video. The manager in GameStop also handled the situation poorly, try to humiliate the customer by getting other patrons in the store on her side and also joking that everyone should email him and harass him. 

Firstly, you always need to bring identification when you are going to pick up a pre-order. Anyone can print up a business card, but that's not proof of identity. That's obvious, so let's get it out of the way. It was all over when he was walking out of the store with his copy of the game, but the manager makes the mistake of trying to embarrass him by addressing other customers and saying that we have his business card so we should all email him to thank him for holding up the line.

I don't know the outcome of this. Some people are saying the manager go fired, which would be a shame because she just made a poor decision after dealing with a disgruntled customer, but with social media, you have to always watch what you're saying and doing. Fact of the matter is, the offense she committed if punishable with termination at many establishments that have face-to-face interaction with customers. Regardless of how asshole-ish a customer is being, you have to be the bigger person.

I worked as a teller at Bank of America out of college. I hated that job. HATED IT. But it did teach me a few things: how to speak to angry customers without losing my cool, and to be grateful for this job every day that I have it. I've been yelled at, cursed at, spit on, threatened and just stared at blankly for an uncomfortable amount of time.

There was one lady, around Christmas, that was depositing a large sum of cash via the drive-through, which was separated from the main building. She was depositing over $10,000, which requires a report to be filled out for money laundering prevention. Unsatisfied with the amount of time it was taking, she demanded that I give her back her cash -- after I already made the deposit -- which I could not do, because you can't withdraw that much through the drive-through teller. I instructed her that I had to file this report, but she could go inside to the main building and they'd be happy to process her withdrawal.

That wasn't good enough for her. She berated me, yelling "f*ck this" and "you're a f*cking a**hole." But I just smiled and apologized for the inconvenience, all while repeating that she could speak to a manager inside if she liked. After four more minutes of her just cursing and causing four cars to pile up behind her, she called me a "d*ck" one last time, to which I replied, "Have a good evening, ma'am." For some reason, she spit out the window and onto my window, so I smiled and said, "Merry Christmas." Yes, that was to piss her off more, but I was never rude, nor did I lose my cool. She drove off and yelled "f*ck you" one last time.

Now, banking and GameStop are nothing alike, but both require good customer service. While I might have been sarcastic with my "Merry Christmas," I never tried to embarrass her by speaking about her in front of her with other customers. Nor did I joke that I have all of her information right in front of me, so we should email her. There's no reason to do that and embarrass him, because he's doing that himself. His requests for her last name, which I don't blame her at all for not giving, are ridiculous as well. While he might have been unreasonable and unpleasant to begin with, that really doesn't matter as soon as the employee acts out of line. You have to be above the customer, especially as a representative of a company.

Like I said, I hope she doesn't get fired over this. They were both in the wrong, so we should call it a wash. Just remember, everyone has a camera on them at all times these days. Watch what you say and how you act. 





Tags: Gaming Culture, GameStop, Awkward, GTA 5, YouTube

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