One Rude Employee Can Cost a Business Big Money

In spite of winter's frigid temperatures, it's time for a Spring cleaning. These are challenging times and the domino effect of the economic downturn is hurting every industry. Businesses are laying off record numbers of employees. But are the right employees heading out the doors?

Do you have a certain co-worker who always seems to get away with doing the minimum amount of effort each day while the other employees are working hard? Do you find yourself apologizing to customers because of the way a particular employee handled their service requests?

In their book, "How Full is Your Bucket," Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton write: "It is possible for just one or two people to poison an entire workplace. And managers who have tried moving negative people to other departments to alleviate the problem know that 'location, location, location' doesn't apply to these people; they bring their negativity along with them wherever they go. Negative employees can tear through a workplace like a hurricane racing through a coastal town."

A rude customer service rep greeted me when I called my airline to report that 2,800 miles I had earned on a recent trip had not been credited to my frequent flyer account. She said she could only give me the miles if I provided her with my ticket number. I explained that I no longer had my ticket because the flight attendant at the airport had assured me that the miles had been credited to my account. Her reply? "That's your problem, not mine. You'll just have to call your travel agent and get the ticket numbers. Then you can call back and start over."

The next day I contacted the airline's frequent flyer customer service department. This time, I was greeted by a warm, friendly employee, who proved to be extremely helpful. I happened to mention the negative experience I had with the other rep. She apologized and asked if I knew the rep's name. I said it was Kayla.

At first, my comment was greeted with silence, then, with a sigh she said, "Ah yes. She tends to rub our customers the wrong way. You're not the first person who's complained about her. Everyone else in our department is so nice and we really care about our customers but her attitude makes us all look bad."

When customers and co-workers have attached a negative attitude label to a specific employee, it is time to evaluate that employee's cost to the organization. The cost of a rude employee can be measured in the following ways:

-Cost of losing an angry customer
-Cost of wasting time with re-work caused by the employee's refusal to handle the service properly the first time
-Cost of replacing good employees who leave because they don't want to work with this negative employee
-Cost of negative word-of-mouth advertising
-Cost of time wasted by managers trying to fix the employee's attitude

A rude employee is like a skunk in a field full of cats. She may look like the others but her negative attitude makes her service stink. Not only that, the behaviors of one employee can give customers the impression that the whole department and even the company stinks. Sixty-eight percent of customers leave because of an attitude of indifference by a single employee. Take a look at your field of great employees. Are skunks hiding there? How much damage are they doing to your co-worker and customer relationships? Are they worth it?

Lunacy In The Lap Lane

My husband and I were lounging by the pool at our health club when we were rattled out of our revelry by a commotion in the lap lanes.

For ten minutes or so we had been chatting while two women were swimming laps in the pool in front of us. They were in separate lanes. One woman was in her mid-40s and the other woman was around 70. Suddenly, the younger woman stopped swimming, and whacked the older swimmer on the shoulder with her Styrofoam kickboard.

She continued hitting the older woman with her kickboard while yelling at her, "You've bumped into me three times! Why don't you watch where you're going?"

She was yelling so loudly that everyone in the pool stopped what they were doing and stared at her. The older woman was shielding herself from the blows and apologizing. "I...I didn't mean to bump you. I've stayed in my own lane. I'm sorry," she said.

"Well, sorry isn't good enough," the younger woman replied. "I take my swimming seriously, and you should learn the rules." With that, she swam off.

It was like a crazy Saturday Night Live episode. Most of the observers were mildly shocked and angered by this woman's behavior. Some found it quite amusing. A few people sitting by the edge of the pool started laughing at the offending woman. Once again she stopped, looked up at the laughing group and said, "Oh sure, use me as your weekend entertainment why don't you?"

Now the kickboard is light and the woman didn't actually hit hard enough to cause physical harm. But the older swimmer was clearly shaken and upset. After a few minutes, she quietly exited the pool and headed indoors.

Regardless of pool rules, there is no question that the younger woman was way out of line. No one wants to belong to a family-oriented health club where this type of behavior is tolerated. I carefully watched the lifeguards and club staff to see if anyone was going to address the issue of inappropriate behavior with the woman who did the hitting. No one did.

One group of club members was so angry about the incident that they wanted the women's membership revoked. Others talked to the head of the aquatics program and requested that she at least address the issue with the swimmer who did the hitting. The director laughed nervously and said, "I don't know what to say to her. Let's just hope it doesn't happen again."

The health club staff's lack of willingness to act on this matter has caused a great deal of frustration with many members. Some are threatening to cancel their membership. As customers of the club, they feel they have a right to expect all members to adhere to the rules of etiquette and courtesy.

Their lack of ability to take action in this matter will cause the club to lose good members. Ironically, the woman who caused the problem is still there swimming laps as if nothing had happened. I haven't seen the older woman since that day.
Employees need to be trained and empowered to deal with customers who act inappropriately. When the nasty behavior of a single customer is not addressed, it can do considerable damage to the image of a business. It compromises the quality of service that all of the other customers receive. It also lowers the credibility of all employees who are present.

You owe it to your customers to deliver great service in an environment where they feel valued and safe. This means that no behavior that it offensive to other customers can be tolerated. The employees at my health club clearly were ill-equipped to handle this type of situation. Conflict management training is essential for employees who work in organizations where there is considerable interaction between customers.