They Don’t Want To Hear “I’m Sorry”

Any customer satisfaction survey that is filled out with a 0/10 requires the employees involved in the transaction to be spoken to and see what we could do better next time. After this, management writes back to the customer to tell them what action we will be taking. This has to happen, regardless of the complaint.

My store manager calls me to the office about a survey. The customer has written:

Customer: “I told the cashier to stop listening to music. She said she wasn’t and wouldn’t take off her earphones. She said it was for the radio. I don’t care if she was listening to the radio or to an iPad. She shouldn’t be listening to music when she’s at work.”

I have hearing loss and wear hearing aids. People sometimes ask me about my radio headset, so I don’t have a specific memory of this customer interaction.

Manager: “Maybe make a point to say, ‘walkie-talkie,’ instead of, ‘radio,’ so people don’t get confused?”

I say that’s fine because I know this meeting is required and we have to suggest something. The manager writes back:

Manager: “The associate in question is hard of hearing. She was wearing her in-store radio walkie-talkie headset and was not listening to music. She has a special walkie-talkie headset because of her disability, but it does the same job as the earpieces that you see every team member wear. Team members are not allowed to listen to music on the sales floor. We are sorry for the confusion.”

The complaining customer also got a gift card and some special coupons for her trouble, but they still wrote back to us with another 0/10 survey:

Customer: “Do not hire deaf people. That is bad service. Customers deserve better.”

My manager said he’s going to send this survey to corporate and ask if the survey system can be changed.