I Hate People! :(

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I wasn't sure whether to put this in the work forum or social skills forum but I think it overlaps both.

I work in a store doing PC repairs. This means that I have to deal with the public regularly, and having pretty severe social phobia makes this job extremely difficult for me. Every day I dread that something is going to happen to me and that fear was justified today. Some of you may not understand the details here but I'll explain it anyway.

I got a pair of hard disks in from a customer, he wanted the data copied from one disk to another. So I hooked up the drives and attempted a disk clone - it failed. I guessed that file system corruption was to blame so ran CHKDSK. However this converted every single file on the disk to unreadable fragments, rendering his data useless. I had no control over it and simply followed standard procedures for such a situation.

I was dreading having to inform him of this and it turned out I was right to be. He went absolutely insane at me, saying how I lost 100 hours of his work and that I should have left the disk as is. I said I was following standard procedure and apologised but he said he was fit to tear my head off. At this point I ordered him to stop shouting at me but when he kept it up I just walked out the door.

The ordeal had me traumatised, so much so that I left the job in tears for about 90 minutes and took a 5 mile walk. This is exactly the situation I dread every day when going to work and it's now made me think more and more about quitting the job and finding some other work which doesn't involve social interaction. I just don't know what to do. I probably need professional help but I'm not sure I could afford it right now.

/\ NTs, sometimes act like this. This is what they call an ripple effect. The guy, probably had a lousy day and was hoping this thing would turn at right.

He accuses you of incompetance, but he needs to look at himself. In service industries, such as this one, there are customers who are self-righteous and self-absorbed and use employees as tools to their ends.

Unfortunately, there are people like this in your business and indeed in related businesses. The brutal honest truth is that the service industry is the predominant industry in many first world and indeed many developing countries so you WILL have to deal with people like this, I am sorry

More so, to be fair, I wonder why your store's "procedure" doesn't involve asking what the customer has already tried.

If his HDD had an error and you try a straightforward copy, you could do further damage. If you knew the HDD to be copied had problems, you'd probably try something intended to recover potentially damaged files.

If you as for A and what you really need is B, how can you expect the other guy to magically know what the situation calls for?

I wasn't aware of any problems with the drive except that it was almost full. It had no physical damage. He tried nothing as he literally had no idea what to do.

I don't like dealing with the public either. I prefer a job where I can deal with the comp and its software all day.

I guess the chump needs to learn to back up his data. Anyway, I'd freak out if I got chewed out like that. That's a childish and stupid reaction to the whim of a computer... sometimes they're just arbitrary. At least, as far as we can tell from the outside. But you can't yell at a computer without looking like a danged fool, so they figure they yell at the human who was trying to fix it and somehow they look less stupid (which they don't). I think everyone who works with computers needs either a bodyguard or at least a front person to deal with the public and deflect angry customers. Maybe a trap door and a chute, press a button and the irrational customer is out on the sidewalk. And then have one of those cage door systems some jewelry stores have. And bank teller glass at the desk.

More people need to pick up a manual once in a while if only so as to prevent some problems. They can't stay stupid and then complain when something goes wrong.

Hi.

I am sorry that this encounter was upsetting to you.

Who knows - maybe the guy was an Aspie too and was having his own meltdown

You did the right thing in explaining what happened and apologizing for it.

As for someone flying off the deep end (like this guy did) - there are some techniques that you can use. Sometimes it is best not to use logic when someone is over-the-top angry (e.g. explaining that this was proper procedure, suggesting using back up disks, etc). When someone is over-the-top mad, all the blood that is normally nourishing their brain is going to other parts of their body (the 'fright or flight response). No nourishing blood to bring = no logical thinking. Sometimes it is just better to let them yell a bit, breath normally yourself, and after the angry person is finished yelling - acknowledge their anger by saying "I understand your frustration and anger at this, but I assure you that all proper procedure was followed). Then offer them information if they want it. Say, "For future reference, at this shop or any other shop - I would be happy to give you some information regarding the use of these disks and how to make sure that your data stay safe). If they accept - give them the info. If they get mad again and start ranting at you - it would be time to terminate the conversation. You might say, "I understand you are frustrated, but I will not be yelled at (or threatened or sworn at). I need to terminate this conversation now. I would be willing to discuss any further needs at a later time when we can communicate respectfully" - then, say goodbye and hangup if on the phone, go to your office (if you have one), enlist the help of a coworker to disengage from the customer or, if said customer is really over the top - call the manager/store security or even the police.

I would stay away from calling customers or anyone else who is less than computer savvy "stupid" or other names. Remember - we don't like being called names when we can't do something

Always remember - the customer is not really mad or angry at you, they are frustrated about a situation. Some people yell when they get frustrated. Heck, some get downright nasty. I don't go by the adage that "the customer is always right" (because this inaccurate - an abusive or threatening customer is most certainly NOT right). I go by the adage, "I am always the professional" - I endevour to do my job well and be respectful with my clients and fellow employees - even when they are over-the-top angry

Thanks for the replies.

The problem with me is that I can't really tell the difference. My manager said the same thing

She completely sided with me on this occasion and had no questions about the methods I used. They worked countless times before so I think it might have been the way the disk was formatted (as per Microsoft KB article 184006, FAT32 cannot use 64kb clusters and that's what his disk had so it must have been formatted a non standard way)

I came back to work yesterday after a 10 day break - I was due that time off anyway so it wasn't related to what happened. But since I returned it feels like I lost all confidence in the job, I felt pretty miserable in there today and didn't really want to talk to anyone. I just hope things improve as I certainly don't want to be feeling in the dumps again.