We have a very hospitable system here in Clinton County. Get upset or act irrational and you get a nights free lodging at a local establishment with an almost free meal. Its called the Clinton County Jail and it does include an interview, souvenir pictures and fingerprints, plus your information entered into a database for a greater prize and a chance to explain your side of the story to people that are really interested in hearing your viewpoint as they sit in their black robes. A town of 3400 people that grows to 250,000 on a Holiday weekend, must have a procedure and plan to deal with complaints. 
Guys, thanks for understanding (sort of, anyway), I really mean that. Sadly, when you are by yourself at a show, just dashing to the restroom is a gamble - trying to find the TWO rent-a-cops in the crowd? (Not too long ago cell phones used to be just for really rich folks - And they still often don’t work real well inside most convention halls)… Raise your voice and chances are, unless he’s a thief, the promoter sees you as the problem (he’s their customer, too)… And some folks don’t seem to understand subtle hints like “You break it, you bought it”, or “Shoplifter will be prosecuted”, or the sign I had, “Prices subject to change due to customer attitude”…
Ralph Berg said:
I'm sure the percentage of "jerks" is probably the same across the board.People have simply become too hateful and jaded.
Yesterday I was driving back to the shop after making a delivery. I was behind the owner of a local retail landscape supply.
He was pulling a trailer with a John Deere and traveling from 20-35 mph below the speed limit. A dozen cars are piled up behind me, including one riding my bumper.
So I passed him on a long straight. No traffic coming from the other direction, just a simple pass.
I get back to the shop and my boss tells me he got a complaint about me driving crazy and way too fast. That I was possibly drunk. The man didn’t give his name, but stated he was pulling a trailer.This man is apparently so miserable in his own life, he has nothing better to do than try to make other people miserable too.
Ralph
He was mad because you passed the sacred truck, none shall pass
This is just your typical a-hole driver, they are quite common. I was driving from SF to LA, came up on a big Jimmy 4x4 pulling a trailer full of off-road bikes in the #1 lane driving 55-60, after driving behind him for a couple miles passing even slower semi’s, the road opened up, it was immediatly apparent he wasnt going to move over to the slower #2 lane - so I did, and when I began to accelerate to pass him, he accelerated, so I punched it, he punched it, I could see him leaning over looking at me like, “Ya aint passing my sacred Jimmy, no ya aint!!!” diesel smoke was pouring out of his tailpipes like a steam locomotive!! I just dropped it into 4th and shot ahead of him and he had the balls to flash me with his headlights like “How dare you pass me, how dare youuuu!!!” I hadnt cut him off or anything, just passed him in my little Scion. Didnt see him again after that, I think he broke something on the Sacred Jimmy while trying to be King of the Road. LOL
There’s no doubt that there’s been a very real decline in civility in our country in the past few years, just look at what’s happening on the floor of the congress lately. If you’re a jerk then you probably don’t see it and it doesn’t bother you. But if it does, then you have a responsibility to not add to it it by giving it back in kind. Ive dealt with thousands of clients over the last forty years and have had very few unpleasant experiences. However I’ve always drawn the line at personal insult. You may say what you want about my company or our product but leave me out of it. If they crossed that line I just said goodbye and walked out. In most cases I was asked to please come back and received an apology before I got to the front door and that was the end of it, forever. No shouting, no finger pointing, no anger.
Getting back to the point of this thread, I’ve always believed that the “Business”, which can be a vendor, supplier, salesman, or consultant needs the customer much more than the customer needs him and therefore needs to defer to the client. The customer may not always be right, but he is always the customer.
walter sarapa said:Except, if he hasn't bought anything and dealing with him is like having a root canal, a proctoscopy, a biopsy, and your mother in law visit all in one, is he STILL a "customer"?
The customer may not always be right, but he is always the customer.
Mik said:Until he/she walks away, yes.walter sarapa said:Except, if he hasn't bought anything and dealing with him is like having a root canal, a proctoscopy, a biopsy, and your mother in law visit all in one, is he STILL a "customer"?
The customer may not always be right, but he is always the customer.
You may choose to “fire” him/her, but until one of those two things happens, yep, he/she is still a customer.
It is up to you to “qualify” him/her.
Were were always trained that "the true mark of a salesman or company is not at the point of sale "anyone can make a sale!! The true mark of a salesman begins when the sale is made, and then a problem arises!! It’s how you handle the problem when a problem comes up, after the sale that is the “true mark of a good salesman”
Oh and also you never show anger in front of a customer you wait until you leave, and get clear out of the customers view down the road THEN you can tip your car over give him the finger, and or anything else that is NOT an asset to your business or is NOT a positive reflection on you, and or your company!! Regal
Oh and remember we are in the USA U Sue Anyone!! Hah LOL heard that on one of the judge shows yesterday, think it was on the “peoples court” A guy was suing a truck driving school, he said after they trained him (he did not take an additional course on how to back up to a dock!! and the guy was suing because he couldn’t get a job. He was not thrilled with truck driving anyway. He was asked why, and he stated his first trip over the Rocky Mtns. I presume coming down I-70 just outside of the Evergreen exit and coming down into Denver. Lots of accidents happen there with truck drivers and brakes they use the sand off ramp all the time, when I was a route driver and going from Denver up to Evergreen, and Idaho Springs and Conifer!! Winter was even nastier!!
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2376715040_d6a1f31049.jpg)
(http://www.pops-shop.com/sawyer/images/UnattendedPuppy.JPG)
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/4430182941_a98388e083_z.jpg)
Mik said:
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2069/2376715040_d6a1f31049.jpg)
(http://www.pops-shop.com/sawyer/images/UnattendedPuppy.JPG)
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4071/4430182941_a98388e083_z.jpg)
Mik, Those signs are great icebreakers and have probably diffused 50% of the potential problem encounters you might have had. If I approached a booth with those signs I’d be arriving with a smile on my face and ready for a pleasant chat. And if someone was dumb enough to take offense at them You’d be perfectly justified in shooting him on the spot… there’s a limit to PC. (edit spelling)
Walter, I used most of em, usually two out at a time. Kids would ask, “what kind of puppy?”
When things were really slow I also had one that said “This ain’t no museum, this junk is for sale!” If it was really, really slow, I had one that said “Please help! Need gas money to get home!”… usually good for a few $2-25 sales late in the day. Did a model engineering show once in the dregs of a hurricane out at Leesport, Pa, so we had 'rainy day specials", meaning anything with damp box was 15% off - same thing the day after I had 5" of running water under my tables one night from a microburst in Ohio.
If the signs diffused 50%, I’d hate to have seen without. But then, guys who set up all over the Northeast would tell me we (W. PA, E OH) had the highest rate of “stubborn, cheap ba----s” of anywhere they traveled… must be all that Scots and German ancestry?
I proudly wear the title of stubborn, cheap bstrd. I worked hard for it, just ask jb! 
I know a guy who does shows, went to one in Phoenix that said the price of booths included “accomidations.” The “accomidations” turned out to be a huge tent outside the venue with cots.
Yeah.
One thing I remember from college (my Bachelor’s is in Business…) is simply this: If you think the customer is always right, go into a lingerie shop and ask for snow tires for your refrigerator!
Thanks, Robert
Round some parts," accommodation’s " are a store bought toilet seat in the outhouse 
Ralph
Ralph Berg said:i remember, when i did buy one for our outhouse from the capital... our visitors were very astonished. that was in 1981 - two years before i installed the first privately owned WC in the county. our hospital had already two! (but gladly our area caught up a little more on modern comodities since then)
Round some parts," accommodation's " are a store bought toilet seat in the outhouse :D Ralph