Arguing with customers

[antcpfc]

How far can you go?
Some old school tory was telling me all about how disgraceful the strikes are and we must lose our Spanish practises etc, I let him finish and tehn told him straight he did not have a clue and should try to read something other than the Daily Mail.He told me that he did not like my attitude to which I replied that he brought the conversation up and if he didn't like it then dont engage me in chat again.I was waiting for a call to our manager but it did not materialise.
Why should we be expected to just listen and not answer back.

[97gaz]

S

[pickaname]

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[concerned]

Sadly a lot of the general public believe everything they read in the papers. Especially the daily mail. If it's in there then surely it must be true.

sad and infuriating. Which is why i think your union should press for the Mail and the Telegraph to make a public apology or at least withdraw their statement. In fact, better still - why do you do a timesheet for your hours and send in to both newspapers so they can assess and see where these Spanish Practices are?

[kanuuuuuu]

I also love all the "lazy postmen" comments you see because mail is now getting to some customers at around 1,2,3 pm. We get the blame for Royal Mails policies !!

[flaminmoses]

luckily most people i talk to on my rounds support us
if i sense anyone is aginst us....first line that aways comes out is....."we have to win to save what customer service is left for you"

[PrestwickPostie]

luckily most people i talk to on my rounds support us
if i sense anyone is aginst us....first line that aways comes out is....."we have to win to save what customer service is left for you"

same here, most of my customers support us as well

[Jack Mehoff]

Sadly a lot of the general public believe everything they read in the papers. Especially the daily mail. If it's in there then surely it must be true.

The answer to this, is to invite a Daily Mail reporter to spend the day with some Posties when they are on the Picket line at their DO. Then he can listen to what is really going on, and if he has any bottle he can write it all down. Also he can have a chat with the local people as they pass by and get their opinion on what they think is really happening.
But I wonder if his bosses would let it go to print.
Better still would be to invite a reporter from a red top as well. It's going to cause a bit of friction between them when they both realise there is more to this story than they actually know, and then hopefully this will be enough to force their bosses to go to print.
There's nothing like a bit of rivalry to sell extra papers, because it comes down to money first and everything else second in the newspaper game.
And make sure you record everything with phones etc and if they ask why you want to record everything tell them that it's not that you don't trust them but computers, especially newspaper computers, can play up sometimes and print different different things by mistake.

[Stormproof]

I'd love to show a reporter how to to this job especially next week as I'm 'Report To Office' everyday so I'm going to get any old shite thrown at me.

[mailman71]

one of my customers was saying that we were all things bad,till on my day off my walk was'nt covered and she did'nt get her mail.
this i said to her was part of royal mail's vision of the future plus they are going to want us to start later so her mail when she gets it will be later result 1convert to our cause.

[revilo88]

Im started to get fairly tired of people telling me exactly what they think of these strikes in a very condescending manner, when truth be told they dont have a scooby as to what exactly goes on behind closed doors.

Although to be fair the vast majority of customers ive encountered are very supportive, just a shame theres the odd bad egg

[darth]

one of the dangers of talking to the press is unless you have a prepared statement they have the potential to exploit people who engage mouth before brain.even the most docile of local journalists to national can distort a story which can often backfire on the interviewee.

[jarvisthesquirrel]

Most of the people who say condescending things about the strike and lazy posties are all the ones who clearly don't have jobs and sit on their arses all day and drink special brew (other beers are available....)

[opgpat]

In response to the question about how far you can go I'd say a quick punch to the solarplexus while no one is looking would be acceptable with a really annoying customer.

In terms of a verbal exchange if it's just you and him/her it's your word against theirs at the end of the day and if you were disciplined for anything I'd put in a harassment form citing lack of evidence.

[krussel]

If at all possible DO NOT argue with a customer as your really on a loser straight away and if they complain the manager will almost always take the customers side. Better to say you simply dont agree but have not got the time to argue as you have a job to do. When you get back to the office you can always report them as an aggressive customer and watch their post like a hawk for missed surcharges etc