Lousy customer service exists, and it’s a fact of life. Some people are simply not cut out to be in the industry. Yet, they continue to take on their jobs while carrying a miserable attitude. Ultimately, it bleeds into the quality of service they provide, affecting the reputation of the company they work for. 

Today’s story is courtesy of Reddit user MistakeGlittering, who wrote about his encounters with a seemingly well-known pizzeria chain. He also spoke to Bored Panda to share his side of the story and why it ended the way it did. 

Getting shunned by people whose job is to serve you is never a good feeling

Image credits: Assedrani Official / pexels (not the actual photo)

The young man shared an experience involving a manager of a pizzeria who repeatedly hung up on him

Image credits: cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo)

As the manager quickly learned, his rude behavior had a profound impact on the company’s bottom line

Image credits: MistakeGlittering

Image credits: Airam Dato-on / pexels (not the actual photo)

The pizzeria’s revenue loss due to the manager’s actions is just part of a much more significant statistic. A Forbes report revealed that businesses lost $75 billion in 2018 because of poor customer service, a $13 million jump from two years prior.

The report gave five reasons why customers end their engagements with a business: feeling unappreciated, not being able to speak to the person in charge, being passed around to talk to multiple people, being put on hold for unreasonable amounts of time, and rude and unhelpful employees. According to the post’s author, he experienced all five. 

“The 1st person I talked to was just a normal worker, and she passed the phone to her manager. He left me on hold for 5 minutes and then hung up. When I said I was disconnected he didn’t seem to care and hung up again. To me, he knew it was wrong. 

“I’d ordered so many times from that store, and nothing he could say was going to change that he was wrong and didn’t care.”

The report also included a survey stating that 39% of customers would never use products or services from the offending company again. The author felt the company’s lack of sincerity, which urged him to sever ties.

“The manager tried calling once, which tells me it was forced. If he tried calling more than once, then it would seem he wanted to really apologize.”

However, statistics on the flip side are promising. Businesses that provide excellent customer service are 65% more likely to be recommended to others. They also get 65% more customer loyalty and increase their chances of making a profit by 48%.

Image credits: Arina Krasnikova / pexels (not the actual photo)

The manager could be dealing with something that caused him to act unbecomingly

While there is a slight chance that the manager is purposely sabotaging his career, he may also be dealing with burnout. An April 2024 report revealed that the restaurant industry has the highest degree of employee burnout. 

Burnout manifests in many ways, but another Forbes report identified two primary sources: exhaustion and emotional labor. The former is self-explanatory and shows itself through a lack of focus and less productivity. 

The latter happens mostly to employees who directly communicate with customers. Because of the job’s demanding nature, some are easily fed up. While it isn’t established, it could very well be the case for this story. 

Nevertheless, his actions cost the company money and a loyal customer base. What do you think, pandas?

People in the comments came to a unanimous agreement

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