Irate clients happen. Some pharmacies deal with multiple angry people on a daily basis, and usually it's just accepted as a fact of life. Sometimes, the client is just too rude to bear.
While I was serving another client, one particular client calls to make an order. Taking an order from him is hit or miss- sometimes he will be civil, other times he will yell over every little thing until you begin to imagine popping his head like a giant, angry zit.
"I need all of my medications for tonight."
"Well, sir, you're twenty days early on ordering your medications. Is there any reason why you want it for tonight?" This response is met with a string of swearing and insults so long that there would have been time to run across the street to a coffee shop, buy whatever hot beverage requires the longest amount of time to make, and run back across the street to pick up the phone before the client realizes that you weren't there.
The coffee option is also a good one, because if anyone actually listened to the tirade it might give them incentive to replace all of these medications with assorted laxatives. Or large amounts of sedatives, so that the person might be too out of sorts to call back in ten days to reorder everything.
If those options are unavailable for lawsuit reasons, the creative visualisation method is quite effective. Sure, an anvil falling from the sky onto the person in question, Looney Tunes style, might never happen, it certainly helps de-stress a lot after hearing every swear word and insult of the English language.
There is also the satisfying option of simply hanging up the phone, but then there may be consequences more dire if the client calls back to continue their rant.
Calling the client out on their douche-y behaviour might work, but in the case of pharmacies, where crazies are a part of everyday happenings, it may just lead to more trouble than it's worth. In that case, visualising the client falling off a cliff can help immensely, and is at least free of consequences at work.
While I was serving another client, one particular client calls to make an order. Taking an order from him is hit or miss- sometimes he will be civil, other times he will yell over every little thing until you begin to imagine popping his head like a giant, angry zit.
"I need all of my medications for tonight."
"Well, sir, you're twenty days early on ordering your medications. Is there any reason why you want it for tonight?" This response is met with a string of swearing and insults so long that there would have been time to run across the street to a coffee shop, buy whatever hot beverage requires the longest amount of time to make, and run back across the street to pick up the phone before the client realizes that you weren't there.
The coffee option is also a good one, because if anyone actually listened to the tirade it might give them incentive to replace all of these medications with assorted laxatives. Or large amounts of sedatives, so that the person might be too out of sorts to call back in ten days to reorder everything.
If those options are unavailable for lawsuit reasons, the creative visualisation method is quite effective. Sure, an anvil falling from the sky onto the person in question, Looney Tunes style, might never happen, it certainly helps de-stress a lot after hearing every swear word and insult of the English language.
There is also the satisfying option of simply hanging up the phone, but then there may be consequences more dire if the client calls back to continue their rant.
Calling the client out on their douche-y behaviour might work, but in the case of pharmacies, where crazies are a part of everyday happenings, it may just lead to more trouble than it's worth. In that case, visualising the client falling off a cliff can help immensely, and is at least free of consequences at work.
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