Business: Customer Relations
I had been working with the Valero Gas Station for about three years as a customer service attendant. This position gave me the exposure I needed owing to the fact that I had to attend to several customers in a day. Actually, the management of the Valero Gas Station took the initiative of taking me through a 3 months training program so that I could acquire the necessary skills to relate with customers. Therefore, from the time I took over the position of a customer service attendant I was braced for the challenges that came with the position because of the training I had received. It was very important for the station to retain its clients because the station was located in what was deemed to be a “rough” part of the city and only proper treatment of clients would keep them coming back.
I have since dealt with a number of customers both the understanding and the difficult ones. However, there is this particular incident with one of the clients that I could not forget due to its scandalous nature. On one afternoon during the summer of 2013, a customer came to the counter to lodge a complaint about a gas container, which her boyfriend had bought from the store. She wanted to exchange the gas container, and in my usual way, I first listened to her so that I could understand her reasons for desiring to exchange the gas container. According to her, boyfriend had purchased the gas container hurriedly and later realized that the container was much lighter than the standard weight.
After she explained her situation, I tried to build a rapport with her and empathize with her situation. I explained to her that the store maintains a policy of ensuring that the gas containers are weighed before the client so that they can verify that it meets their expectations. Even so, I apologized to her for that mistake as it was possible that her boyfriend had not taken the time to undergo this procedure because he was in a hurry. Therefore, I requested her to give me the receipt of purchase so that I could see how best to assist her. Surprisingly, she said she did not have the receipt but rather demanded that she wanted to be compensated either in the form of cash or merchandise. I insisted that she could not get a refund or exchange the gas container with merchandise if she did not provide a receipt.
This position led her to curse me in front of about 8 to 10 other customers who were in the queue. In response, I used a low tone to request her from using such harsh languages before other customers. To make matters worse, the friend who had accompanied her began to chime in with her demands of getting a refund for the gas container. At this point, I decided to reach a compromise and opted to look at the gas cylinder so I could decide what to do about the situation. Unfortunately, upon opening the lid, I perceived the smell of gasoline and I immediately knew that the container had been used, and hence it would be difficult to give the customer a refund. The two women became extremely annoyed, and they cursed and hurled insults at me as they left the store.
The woman said she would send over her boyfriend so that he could take up the matter seriously. In fact, she said that she would speak with her boyfriend so that he can sue the store for mishandling them and for their refusal to give them a refund. In any case, the women were later barred from getting into the store after an incident of theft. True to the woman’s words, her boyfriend came to the establishment to address the issue. Unlike his girlfriend, he had a calm disposition and hence explained the circumstances that had led the gas to leak. The good thing was that the problem was eventually solved after the boyfriend disclosed that he had paid for the gas can using a credit card hence it was easy to trace the record that showed that he had indeed purchased the item from the store.
