Have you ever had a day when you just wanted to tell someone to shut the “F” up? I had one yesterday. Without going into much detail, let’s just say I had a long day at work. I was told by a visitor that I “didn’t need to be snippy” with her. And I didn’t think I was. I merely asked her for her name, so I could find her reservation. Of course, I understand “snippy” is in the ear of the beholder. Or the hearer. Or whatever.
It was just one of those days where you can’t do it right, no matter what you do or say, so the best thing would be to walk off and let someone else handle the situation, except there was no one else there to handle it. So, I just started coughing, and said “excuse me” and stepped to the back of the room for a moment to gather myself together, take a drink of water, and try to compose myself. What else could I have done?
I know sometimes when you work in a customer service type of job, that there is nothing you can do to prevent “snippy”. You can say an innocent sentence like “What is your name, please?” and the person on the other side of the counter will go off on you, because they have ridden in a vehicle with five whiney children for over a hundred miles, or they had an argument with their husband over which exit to take and the one they suggested resulted in over an hour added to their trip. And you are the next person they see. So, they either take it out on you outright, or they do it subtly by calling you “snippy”. Either way, it can make your workday hard to get through. How would you handle this?
