Crisis Averted

Daniel Handler once said, ~Temper tantrums, however fun they may be to throw, rarely solve whatever problem is causing them. Without a doubt, throwing a temper tantrum is most definitely one of the four basic human conditions with the other three being acceptance, indifference and hope. Of course, it’s instinctively natural for a child to react in such a way, but when a grown adult does it there’s a sense of absolute disbelief, which is a sight to behold. In any case, it’s a thought provoking situation indeed when an individual is left with no other choice/options than to throw a temper tantrum when he or she isn’t getting their way, especially in a customer service type environment.

If you think about it, with the advent of social media any person’s over the top, childish outbursts can be posted to the point where it not only goes viral, but lives on forever within the world wide web. Essentially, we’ve all found ourselves watching a video online or possibly there as a witness to a “Karen/Ken” situation and couldn’t help but be captivated by the chaos from beginning to end. Yet, it's not so much the childish temper tantrum itself that initiated the spurned outburst, but the reason behind it resulting in a public spectacle that will certainly have anyone shaking their head because of how embarrassingly ridiculous it was knowing it didn’t actually have to go that far.

As I said before, it’s instinctively natural for a child to react in such a way, but when a grown adult does it there’s a sense of absolute disbelief, which is a sight to behold. Sadly, it seems these days there’s a growing trend of adults losing all common sense and acting so foolishly they end up being savagely ripped apart online In other words, he/she reacted without even thinking about the ramifications of what was said/done, which is totally inexcusable when it comes to the individual’s abhorrent behavior. What they ended up doing was not only embarrassing themselves, but family, friends, co-workers, and not to mention the company they possibly work for or should I say used to work for.

Let me ask this question to my fellow customer service industry workers past and present who experienced the entitled side of human beings. How truly unreasonable were the customers/guests you’ve dealt with? I think it’s safe to say that no matter how reasonably helpful you try to be in providing service, there will always be someone who will be so painfully challenging they'd rather work against you instead of with you. Thinking about it further, to keep one’s professionalism and not to mention composure while handling a guest/customer who is going off on a furiously visceral rant/tirade because they’re not getting the service they wanted/expected is an Owen Grady facing off against the caged raptors in Jurassic World skill level of mastery.

In retrospect, dealing with someone who is throwing a temper tantrum in the world of customer service can be a lot like the raptor stand down scene from Jurassic World that involved Chris Pratt’s character Owen Grady. For the most part, you're focusing on setting the overall tone by not letting that individual assert their dominance in order to take control of the situation while at the same time being highly aware of additional challenges that may try to sneak up on you. What it primarily comes down to is not showing any sense of fear because if that happens you lose the high ground, in a manner of speaking. In the end, when you have the experience and attained the tricks of the trade of being able to de-escalate a customer service temper tantrum knowing they'll try to break your focus then its crisis averted.