“Good manners sometimes means
simply putting up with other people’s bad manners.”
H.Jackson Brown, Jr
I always worked with the public. First, as a hairdresser then managing a card and gift shop and many years in furniture sales. For the most part, people were nice, polite, and pretty easy to get along with. Of course, there were those few that could ruin a day in a matter of minutes if I let them.
When I was a hairdresser it was easy to weed out the difficult clients who never seemed pleased with my efforts. If they didn’t move on to another stylist on their own I simply told them I thought that perhaps they would be happier with another stylist. Usually, that did the trick and they would see someone else. But sometimes they would talk with me and we would come to understand each other better and continue our relationship with more patience.
Card and gift shop…most customers were pleasant and easy to get along with. Every once in a while there would be a problem but nothing big. After a couple of years, I quit because I was bored with the job and to be honest my good manners were not all that good at the end.
Furniture sales I loved. I learned a lot and had great clients. There were those few that were difficult but I understood that furnishing a room or house or office can seem overwhelming to some. For me, it was a fun challenge for the most part and I enjoyed the interaction with clients. Of course, there were problems and bad days with dissatisfied customers but rarely were their problems ones that couldn’t be solved. It just took time and patience and a little more work. It also helped that the management and staff were wonderful to work with.
In my working life, I did learn that sometimes bad manners happen and the best thing to do is not get upset and make the situation worse by responding with bad manners. When I was young, I started working at 17, I wasn’t the best-mannered person and often was offended when someone thought differently than me and bluntly let them know what I thought.
As they say…with age comes wisdom.
I learned to treat others as I would like to be treated
and to meet bad manners with good manners.
Makes the days, and people, nicer and more pleasant.
Patricia's Place 
I was in the insurance industry my entire career, however, in various segments of it. Before I got into underwriting I was a customer service rep. My patience became thin many times. I remember my mother used to say “kill em with kindness”.
Customer service is a hard job! I try very hard to be well mannered when calling customer service remembering my years of serving customers helps.
Me too!
tis better to meet bad manners with good manners……in the end you are far better off.
Yep, everyone is better off when good manners rule.
It’s a great quote. Tolerance is a virtue too! 😀💜
Yes, tolerance encourages good manners.
Exactly 👌
I worked for a Christian accounting firm, and nearly all our clients were delightful. I feel sorry for people who have to put up with rude customers. Grandson David says Burger King customers are more rude on Friday than any other day.
Sounds like you had a great work environment. Interesting that Friday is a bad day for BK. Seems people would be in a good mood because it is Friday and the weekend was next. Although, all my working life I worked most Saturdays and Sundays.
I usually had Saturdays off except during tax season. Saturday morning was choir rehearsal time. I am enjoying retirement!!
Working with the public can be most trying. I worked with difficult people for 25 years. It’s very important not to act as they do. It just escalates things.
I linked this post to Awww Mondays as always.
Have a fabulous day and week. ♥
I worked with the public for 50 years! I think age got me to a place where I realized most often the problem people weren’t troubled by me but with other stuff going on in their life. I just happened to be there when they lost their cool.
Thanks for linking this post to Awww Mondays…I put a link back to you at the bottom of this post.
Jobs with high people interaction were always exhausting to me. I spent many years as a trainer. It was fun because in the corporate world people usually want to go to training to learn something for promotion.
It can be exhausting trying to just get along with people who all seem to have their own agenda. Took me time and tried my patience getting to a place where I could take a deep breath and move on.
I learned not to take on other people’s issues. Sounds awful but it protected me.