如果他不喜欢那里的咖啡,为什么要在意这个禁令呢?
-------------------------------------一个关于Tim Horton 禁止一个顾客到它店里消费的评价。
我在多伦多一家时装店工作的时候,一条街上G经常上门来谈天。G是一家店的老板,本地人,作为老板,有时会在店里卖货,但是他似乎是坐不住的人,把进货和售后服务都抓在自己手里,经常在外面走动,跟人说说笑笑。
他的手机办得早,区号后面第一号码是9,跟我们那个区域的固定电话号码刚好一样,所以他把自己的手机作为售后服务电话,随时掌握。
有天他买了咖啡到我这里跟我一起喝,顺便聊聊街坊新闻。刚好一个电话进来,他放下咖啡听电话。
是个关于产品的咨询电话,对方是个女人,似乎语气有些急躁。G不紧不慢地解释着,最后脸色严肃起来,我听他说:“MS,please control your words!”
他重复了很多遍,对方的声音依然很高,高得我都觉得过分。
他掐了电话。
于是他跟我说,很容易的事,她按照我说的做就没事了,可是她说粗口!然后他跟我讲了很多对付刁钻野蛮的顾客的故事。
我头一次听说,很好奇地问:“不是说顾客是上帝,上帝总是正确的吗?”
他反问:“你听没听说过Customer Abuse这个词?买与卖在人格上是平等的,如果对方说写侮辱性的话,你有权把他们请出去,必要时可以叫警察。”
在国内,经常可以看到一些激动的顾客对着商店的售货员或者主管经理大喊大叫,仿佛声音越高,态度越恶劣气势越盛,越能引起对方的重视,给自己解决问题。
这一套,似乎在国内也特别有用。
但是在西方,你如果还用这一套方式,恐怕会给自己带来巨大的麻烦。
就在文学城的某些论坛,就有网友说过自己的退货经历——在WINNERS与店方发生争执,网友的声音高了,态度也激动,被店经理叫保安请出了商店,甚至给了书面的禁令——不欢迎她去所有的WINNERS店。
这位网友从来没遇到过这种事,十分想不通。有些网友了解加国的法律,告诉她店方这么做是合法的。
可见态度很重要,不管你有理还是没理。态度表现了你的修养,学识,素质和精神状态。商店只是卖商品赚你的钱,并没有把人格卖给你,你无权侮辱它雇员的人格。
听了的许许多多事例,我才明白,在西方,我可以对粗鲁,对无礼,对侮辱名正言顺地说不,即使我是商家。
之所以发这么一个感慨,是因为读了一篇关于Tim Horton 的新闻。Tim Horton 是我最喜欢的咖啡店,物美价廉。
我最喜欢的是它的卡普奇诺。
下面附上这条消息——
Jimmy Craig of St. Andrews, N.B., has been banned for life from two Tim Hortons outlets for complaining one too many times about burned coffee.
Photograph by: John Kenney, Gazette file photo
A coffee enthusiast has been banned for life after complaining three times to a Tim Hortons store owner about decaf coffee he says tasted burnt.
"One time, I got one so bad that I almost threw up in my kitchen sink," said paramedic Jimmy Craig, who frequented the Tim Hortons location in St. Andrews, N.B. "It was like burnt brown water, it was so bad."
Despite a few "burnt" coffees, he kept going back because the coffee wasn't always bad.
"The odd time I got a burnt coffee, they would go back and replace it and it would be fine," he said.
Craig said the coffee got better after his first complaint, but this year, he started getting burnt coffee again. He then took his complaint to the corporate office, and got a meeting with Edwin Dow, the St. Andrews store owner.
But apparently, three complaints and you're banned, said Craig. Instead of addressing the complaints, Craig said Dow served him with a letter banning him under the province's trespass act from ever entering the store in St. Andrews or nearby St. Stephen again.
"I feel like the victim of a bully," said Craig. "What kind of a businessman treats customers like that? It just baffles me."
Craig contacted a lawyer last week to see if the ban can be overturned.
Carl Dow, general manager of the store in nearby St. Stephen, refused to comment on the customer ban. He also said Edwin Dow, store owner, is unable to provide comment as he is out of town.
Edwin Dow was quoted in one media report saying staff went the extra mile to satisfy Craig, brewing fresh pots of decaf on request.
The social-networking website Twitter has been grinding out news of the ban, with "Tim Hortons" being one of the site's top trending topics.
"If he hates the coffee, why does he care about the ban?" writes one Twitter user.