Rule #1: The Customer Is Always Right

I don't mean to boast (well, maybe a little...) but I very rarely make mistakes at work.  At any job, really.  Since I started my first job at Aeropostale (you can laugh) when I was 16 years old until now at Maryam Flowers, I just don't make mistakes.  During my time working at the clinic, I would see other people make appointments incorrectly, give people the wrong information, etc etc. But me?  Nope.  Never :)

OK.  In other people's defense, I guess I can say that part of the reason I never give people wrong information is because I say whatever I want with so much confidence that people rarely know that I'm bullshitting my way through a conversation.  But I mean, how is anyone supposed to know so many details about laser hair removal...or flowers.  So, in their defense, they may be more virtuous in their work ethic, but I'm way more efficient in mine.

So, I was quite surprised earlier today when I was confronted over the phone by a disgruntled customer.  Not, not disgruntled, IRATE.  Before I even finished my warm answer on the phone of, "Maryam Flowers how can I help you?" the woman was already yelling at me.  At first I grew panicked.  I didn't know whether it was my fault that she was yelling, or whether "miss grumpy-pants" had just woken up on the wrong side of the bed.  But after I listened to her screaming from the other end of the telephone, I realized that it was in fact, not me, who had made the error, but her capricious demands about the flower arrangement she had ordered had confused her and she was just taking her confusion out on me.  An innocent bystander.  A victim of unnecessary belligerence, if I do say so myself.

Still, I was quite thrown off guard as she was yelling at me and ended up trying to compromise a situation in which she would hang up, a happier customer.  She did end up getting what she wanted.  But only because I really really really wanted her to stop yelling so I could hang up the phone and start laughing.  From the other side of the window separating the front of the store from the workroom in the back, I could see Maryam, Heather, Victoria, and Mersad, looking at me with confused looks on their faces, wondering what I was doing holding the phone about a meter away from my ear, holding back giggles that were building up in my throat.

Finally, when I hung up the phone and explained the story, Maryam said that it happens, that people sometimes forget what they had ordered and demand that their order be changed.  I assured her that this was not mere forgetfulness but complete CRAZINESS.  The woman was deranged.  It happens.  I get crazies calling me all the time at work.  By now, I'm used to it.

But, it WAS the first time a customer ever yelled at me.  I have to say that in retrospect, it was quite thrilling to be put into that situation and coming out of it with complete control of my emotions, and not crying my eyes out because my feelings were hurt.  In fact, I look forward to the day someone tries to belittle me again at work by thinking they're right and I'm wrong.

Rationally speaking, people pay money for services because the cost of doing it themselves would be much higher than if they go through a middleman, in this case, a florist, to fulfill their needs.  Moreover, as the florist, clearly we know more about professionalism, efficiency, and overall knowledges of flowers, than say, the average person on the street.  Unless of course they were biologists with an expertise in plant life.  So, the only rational conclusion is that the customer is very rarely ever right.  Probably, they're actually most times incorrect in anything that they argue about.