Barnes & Noble Cashiers Could Use A Coach

Last Saturday afternoon I spent quite some time browsing the bargain books at the front of the local Barnes & Noble store.  I was about 10 feet from the cashier’s desk when the energy of 2 cashiers’ conversation sort of invaded my space.  They were standing about 15 feet apart, so as hard as I tried, I couldn’t tune them out.

The conversation started innocently enough with the cashiers comparing notes about how to handle returns when the customer doesn’t have a receipt.  Within a couple of minutes, it escalated into a feeding frenzy of blame, accusations, and disrespect.  I call it customer bashing. 

Three times the cashiers were “interrupted” by customers who approached the check out.  And three times, they chose to continue the conversation as soon as the coast was clear.

These unfortunate situations happen, sometimes in the presence of customers, when customer service people don’t have a trained professional to turn to after a difficult customer interaction. 

This cashier clearly needed someone she could talk to.  She needed to work through her frustration in a way that would help her manage her emotions and at the same time be empathetic and respectful of the customer’s situation.  In other words, she needed a coach she could talk to in a private setting.

This is certainly not the first time I’ve happened upon employees bashing customers.  But it is the first time I witnessed it happening so openly.  It’s also the first time that I noticed people so caught up in the conversation that they didn’t realize that at least 4 customers were exposed to the negativity.

How do you support your customer service people when they need to debrief difficult situations?