Where is the Complaint Department?

Let's get right to the point:  what happens when a customer complains about something which has happened in our store?
I need you to know that we rarely get complaints.....and that is because our staff is top-notch, committed to customer service and to making all our customers feel welcome, at home and treated well.
Yet sometimes something goes wrong.  It is usually a miscommunication or a misunderstanding which, with a little effort, can be turned around and the problem solved.
A critical aspect of making things right is listening to what our customer has to say and not working up an excuse while the customer is complaining.  Believe me, that can sometimes be difficult.  It seems personal, even though it isn't usually so.  The complaint can be hurtful, can bruise our egos and we have to learn to separate the complaint from our personal feelings.

Now, a little secret...one us folks in retail don't like to admit.  Sometimes a customer is simply in a bad mood, crabby, and gruff and when he or she comes into the store, that customer is looking for a reason to complain.  And how do I know that?  Cuz sometimes I am just that sort of person, too.  Every day is not always the best for all of us and when things go wrong, and we are walking around with a black cloud over our heads, we can haul off and get upset about the least little thing.
Occasionally we forget that the person on the other side of the counter is not to blame for our bad mood.  And sometimes we forget that the person who is ringing up our purchases is equal to us in every way.  There is a kind of hierarchy in the retail world which may place the worker at a less important level than the customer.
In reality, we are all customers of some store.  We all want to be treated respectfully.  We all want to get the best assistance possible.  We all want compliments and praise for the choices we make.
In our case, as a local retail store, there is no far away corporate office.  There is no CEO somewhere in a highrise building we can email or write to with our complaints.  We are onsite everyday.  So when there is a problem, we are right on it, to solve it and put things in their proper place.
In this holiday season, when we are under a little stress, when there doesn't seem to be enough time to get everything done, when we don't know if we are coming or going, we can be a little gruff.  Take a deep breath and put that smile on your face.  It means a lot to the person behind the register.