Working in customer service can be challenging, especially when you’re dealing with rude and demanding clients. That’s particularly true for some teens, who work these jobs for part-time money and are often bullied by adults. Perhaps that’s why people are applauding these teen girls for the way they expertly handled an over-the-top customer.
An Angry Customer
It was a tough day for employees at Keke’s Snow Balls in Texas when an angry woman approached the window. She had placed a pickup order for a snow cone and because of a shift change, the snow cone wasn’t ready. Two days later, the customer came back and demanded a refund of $6.
A girl named Victoria was working the counter and listened to the woman’s complaints. According to Inside Edition, it was immediately clear this woman didn’t want to resolve things in the right way, and was trying to pick a fight. Another employee named Kaeley overheard it all.
“I was just listening in the back and, eventually, I could just hear she’s angry the whole time. So I was like, clearly she just wants to have a problem,” Kaeley recalled to the publication. “And I’m not about that, so I was like, ‘Okay let me just go give her $6 and we can move on, move past this.’ It was $6.”
An Unexpected Turn
At that point, the situation should have been resolved. However, Kaeley noticed the sign outside the window had fallen over during the dispute. So, she opened the window to fix it. That’s when the woman came by, slapped the sign out of the 17-year-old girl’s hand, and called her a derogatory name.
“M’am, please don’t act like that. You’re a grown woman,” Kaeley responded in a video that the restaurant then posted to TikTok. “You’re a grown woman. I’m 17. Get out of here. Don’t come back. Don’t come back. We don’t need your business.”
“I was scared and very confused,” Victoria added. “I wasn’t understanding what was going on.”
A Brilliant Online Reaction
After the owner posted the video online, it went viral and many people reached out to support the girls for their perfect reaction to the customer.
“People were traveling to come and see us from hours away,” the owner, Kyle, told Inside Edition. “We had people reaching out to us on TikTok asking how to tip the girls. We even had people going and leaving Google reviews that haven’t even been to the shop, saying they’re so proud of the girls and how they dealt with it,” he continued.
Kyle explained that he posted the video to remind everyone that the employees behind the counter are people, too. Adults, in particular, should try to remember that oftentimes, these are kids working to save up for cars, school, and other big life steps.
“Mistakes happen, but for you to go up and act like that as an adult, my whole point in uploading that video is to simply remind us all that we need to treat people better,” Kyle added.
“I am proud of the way our supervisor handled the situation,” he added in the initial post. “We must strive for better behavior and respect in all interactions. It’s all about just being a kind person and approaching every situation with willingness to come to a good resolution.”
We Are All the Same
As Kyle himself said, mistakes happen and no one is perfect. But demanding perfection of others can be a very lonely way to live. Rather than getting upset over an honest mistake and making someone feel bad or yelling at them, lead with grace and understanding. Not only will you help someone else feel respected, but you’ll probably get a better result from the situation, too.
When life doesn’t go our way, it can be easy to overreact or blame someone else. But by remembering that mistakes happen and this too shall pass, we can all live a little more peacefully.
Many of us are in these jobs because we’re trying to provide for our families or ourselves and our futures. Going to work can be hard enough, so remember to thank those who help you in the customer service industry and to tip well when appropriate. After all, we all want to feel appreciated at work.
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