Picture this: you're the bar manager. Things are going pretty much as usual, when all of a sudden a customer starts screaming at one of your bartenders.
Not okay. But we've all seen something like this happen or been on the receiving end of the screaming.
Including Alicia Rogers, Bar Manager at Jeremiah’s Tavern.
When Alicia dealt with angry customers as a bartender, she felt that very human urge to become defensive. It’s only natural—you want to demonstrate that you were right (which you probably were), and you may even want to match their screams with your own.
But when she moved into management her thinking changed. When an angry customer arrives, the goal is to end the situation as soon as possible. It isn’t to be right or to be heard. Just get the issue ended.
What ending a situation like this actually looks like can vary—you can escort them out, you can engage them in a conversation so that they feel heard, you can give them something for free. Follow your instincts as a manager and figure out what's going to get this ended.
Because when you end it, you've kept everyone safe and also (hopefully) prevented the bad vibes from reverberating throughout the rest of your business.
Check out the interview clip for more from Alicia on angry customers and how a recent customer actually apologized for their behavior.