Customer Service

I am supposedly a receptionist at a large car dealership but I’m really kind of an all-around plug-in employee. As my father would say; a jack of no trades. I might end-up going wherever I am needed just so long as it doesn’t involve actually doing anything to a car. I do various kinds of paper work, filing, mailing brochures, sometimes I will even find myself in the service department desk interacting with customers. Usually that happens when they are shorthanded, and even then I am there only for a very short time, usually just a few minutes.

Yesterday I was manning the service department customer counter for all of about ten minutes. While I was there, one of the technicians came up to the desk and began chatting with me. His name is Dane. I have talked to him briefly once or twice before. He is maybe in his mid-thirties and funny in a quiet sort of way. Yesterday he was jokingly complaining how his coveralls had gotten dirty, and he had planned to wear them out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. I replied that he would look much better once he put on a necktie, and that no one would even notice the unsightly coveralls. He thought that was pretty funny.

Anyway, I had been there occupying the service desk and talking to Dane when an angry customer bolted through the door. He hotly stated that someone in the service department had driven his car while it was in for repairs, and had put 50 miles on it. I told him that I was going to be at the desk for just a few minutes until the supervisor returned. I did not know what else to tell him.

Dane began chatting with me again as the customer anxiously stood nearby, waiting for the service department supervisor. Finally the customer stepped forward and heatedly said something like, “Little girl, is your manager coming back or not? I can’t wait around here all day. First you people drive my car, and then you have no customer service.” I don’t know if those were his exact words, but they are pretty close.

It was then that Dane said something like, “Sir, if you can just remain patient, I’m sure the supervisor will be here in a second.” His voice was very calm, pleasant, and even had a friendly tone to it. But the agitated customer just gave him a quick glance and huffed out, “I’m not talking to you, asshole.” It’s funny but I know those were the customer’s exact words. It is as if they are glued into my memory.

Dane kept leaning against the counter, but he said to the customer, “You really don’t want to call this lady "little girl",and you definitely don't want to call me an "asshole"…” a few seconds passed and then Dane added, “do you?”

The worked-up customer didn’t respond, he just continued to fidget around anxiously. It was then that Dane stood up straight and barked a very loud, very scary “Do you!?”

Right at that moment I wanted to be anywhere else but behind that counter. Apparently the customer wanted to be somewhere else too. He spun around and hurried out the door. Dane turned to me, smiled slightly, and said, “Now there’s some customer service for you.” He then said a very calm goodbye, and walked back to his work station.

I don’t know if Dane has, or will get into any trouble for his actions. I know that my hands didn’t stop shaking for fifteen minutes. My ex-boyfriend was a little like Dane; a soft-spoken, amusing guy, but a guy you definitely did not want to mess with. My ex-boyfriend once told me that because he was so easygoing, some people thought that they could intimidate or bully him, only to find out differently when it was too late. God help me for saying this; I think there’s something kind of cool about guys like that.