try not to be sacrificial

the sacrifice fly. taking one for the team…

…all relatively known concepts in the sports world. but what about the world of customer service?

to wit, i present the sacrificial customer.

i have the firm belief that customer service folks, and service industry folks in general, would benefit…heavily…from being able to just go off on one customer every week or so. it has to be earned – you can’t just attack some sweet person. but if you’ve been at a job even a few months, chances are you know the higher maintenance pain in the ass ones before they speak. you see them walk in the door and an involuntarily, inaudible, “oh, shit” leaves under your breath. you know the ones. now think if you could go off on em once. just once.

then all is well.

yeah, they might not come back. but knowing that it’s a possibility they might be the one might chill em out a bit? or you might lose their business – but is that necessarily bad? i think it would help with the overall mental health and well being of a large segment of our population. who’s with me?