Call It A Customer Service Announcement

I’m in the break room. A manager comes by and speaks to a coworker who is at their locker, getting ready to head home.

Manager: “Did you call a customer stupid tonight?”

Coworker: “No, I asked them if they were stupid. It was a question, not an observation.”

Manager: “I see. Well, maybe next time, don’t ask a question you already know the answer to. They may be stupid, but they’re smart enough to know when we’re calling them stupid.”

Coworker: “Okay, next time I’ll simply state what stupid behavior looks like, and I’ll just look at them.”

Manager: “Don’t do that either.”

Coworker: “But I’m not saying anything about the customer directly, I’m just implying it.”

Manager: “Maybe just think it. Quietly. In your head.”

Coworker: “I tried that already, but I kept getting nosebleeds.”

Manager: “Maybe we need to put you in the warehouse more…”

In case you were wondering, while this was technically a ‘slap on the wrist’ kind of conversation, the [Coworker] and [Manager] had smiles on their faces, and no one was in any kind of real trouble. [Coworker] did try to rein in that tongue of theirs a little more, though…