Business Wit & Wisdom: Kicking A Stone

Over the years, I have often found comfort, encouragement, wisdom, and even a few laughs from quotes and sayings. I believe that we can all grow and prosper from the words of others. It’s for this reason that I will be adding a new “Wit & Wisdom” feature to this site. I will also be adding my thoughts on the current quote. Feel free to join in with your comments. I love to hear what others think, even if they feel differently than I do, so don’t hesitate to comment. If you have a quote you’d like me to add, just submit it on the contact page.

Quote:

If you kick a stone in anger, you’ll hurt your own foot.
Korean Proverb

This quote reminds me of when I first started working in customer service. Years ago, the people I worked for didn’t want the support team to use names when we replied to a support ticket. Our id numbers were just added at the bottom of the reply.

My first months were tough. I had quite a few people send through demanding and even haughty customer service tickets. They more or less had the attitude of, “Do you know who I am?” and “I’m too important to be polite or considerate.” I fixed the problems and answered the tickets. I was nice, polite, and helpful. I did my best to keep the customer happy but I never forgot the names of those rude people.

Time passed and I started a Parenting site/business. Lo and behold, I was contacted by one of these “customers” and was asked to do a joint venture with them. At the time, I had just agreed to work on a project with someone else so I politely refused the offer.

Now, had I not been busy, would I have accepted the joint venture opportunity? I honestly don’t know. What I do know is that kicking this stone (me) in anger could have hurt the person’s own foot (opportunity to JV.)

What do you think about the quote? What would you do if you found yourself in my shoes? How does your customer service team handle “difficult” customers? I’d love to hear your thoughts.