This is completely the opposite of my experience and that of every other customer service person I've ever known. I've been yelled at for refusing to illegally sell items, yelled at for the central credit card computers going down, yelled at for not carrying products or for carrying them (as if it were my choice), yelled at for being a woman working in a game store, yelled at for refusing to babysit someone's child...

My manager was put through months of hell by one customer because said customer was furious that the manager hadn't played every game in the store. Once when I was the only clerk in the store, a customer threatened to kill another if he wouldn't let him cut in line. Of all the joys in my life, the fact that I will never have to work customer service again is way up there.

One thing that may help (it helped me), Neriana, is to remind yourself of all the times you've found yourself yelling at some poor slob in a store and realize that what drives you to do it, most of the time, is not fury but frustration. These are different states that are hard to tell apart from the outside, but if you keep your head you can distinguish them. The customer is yelling at you not because she holds you responsible for the credit card computers going down, but because you are the person in front of her when the frustration of not being able to perform a simple transaction overcomes her. The thing to do in that case is to join in with her frustration. "Yeah, technology's great when it works, but now all of a sudden it doesn't and there's nothing you and I can do about it and in the meantime you need your stuff. Let me ask the manager if there's some kind of workaround."

"Yeah, I know" is great when dealing with company policy, the implication being that you'd do it differently if you could but then you'd be fired. Or pass the buck to the insurance company - "Our insurance won't cover us for that and what if something happened to your kid?"

In the case of people growing abusive or trying to perpetrate crimes on your shift - like the people trying to get you to make illegal sales or threatening to kill someone - to evict them or threaten them with the police. Easy to say, I know, especially if you're alone in the store; but if you don't see a weapon you're probably safe enough (and the other customers may assist you) and most people will back down. But in that case, you're no longer dealing with a customer, but with someone who is endangering you and your customers. A trespasser.

A lot of hassle, for customers and for people dealing with the public, could be avoided with a little training. I've never worked anywhere in which I received any kind of training; I had to work this all out for myself and by observing people who were good at it, and by experiencing bad customer service. We could trade customer/employee from hell stories all night and neither of us lie or exaggerrate.

about messiness; several hacks I take can control messiness level. insimenator is one of them.
utilities; dirty, clean, ultra clean.
also remove at least these:: roaches, weeds, puddles. individual kind or all kinds.

I guess you could, I prefer to have my sims clean up. If a customer complaint (sims not rl) was actually valid such as heaps of flies or trash just left for ages then I would not mind them complaining at all but to complain about the puddle they just jumped in left over from the rain no, that's ridiculous and no my sims wont be cleaning it up.

The solution that I've found for dealing with the Home Business issue, is to remove all business stuff directly after closing shop. I think I need to explain this...

The only kind of home business I nowadays play, is where the residents sell home-grown crops and whatever fish they catch from their 'private lake'. I use SimWardrobe's packing systems to pack all that stuff up in crates. Then I use some of his shelves to display those crates ten at a time. Once I've used the open/close sign to close the shop for the day, disabling those shelves and putting them in the owner's inventory is done rather quickly. The only proof of a home business that remains, is the business tracker in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Visitors aren't aware of that, though. I have no problem interacting with them.

The above method may work for a home grocery/fish shop. But for most others kinds of business, this is an extremely impractical procedure to keep up. That's why for all other kinds of business, I *always* use comm lots.

I had one home business with a ticket machine-problems and one was a hick trailer where they sold junk-problems. I didn't think to put away the for sale items and since they were scattered on the 'lawn' that would have been a pain to do. I may yet give Cyjon's less complaining a whirl and see how it goes at home businesses although right now I am very use to having zero complaints.

Exactly! Both those kind of businesses should - in my dumb opinion - not be on home lots, Jo. Way too complicated to run anywhere except on a comm lot.

Well, I am happy if you do not have that job any longer. In my humble opinion - I blame management for most of your problems. First, I don't see why it should be necessary to explain about illegal products - management should put up a huge sign. Rules should also clearly be put up somewhere, including that staff may not be asked to babysit for customers, everyone has to wait in line, etc. Of course you cannot keep all customers happy all the time; some people are unreasonable, but striving to do so is important. And there should be security to get rid of persons trying to intimidate the staff. You'd be amazed how quickly a client calms down when he is asked "Is there a problem?" by a scary looking security guard.

I also agree with Peni - training is often inadequate in some businesses and no competent manager should have untrained staff.

The hick trailer business was meant to be like a garage sale, old junk and rocks and bones they dug up.

Really? I would blame the customer for every one of those problems. You shouldn't have to put up a sign saying you don't sell illegal things or don't provide childcare (when you aren't a childcare). Customers should use basic courtesy without having to be babysat (after all, this isn't a childcare).

Yes, in these examples the customers were quite horrible, yet I still believe that management has a responsibility to protect employees, though, and I think some businesses should expect to be asked for illegal products (game stores, DVD stores, music stores come to mind); and if people can play games at your business and bring their kids along, then it should be made clear to them that they have to bring their own babysitter. Putting up signs are not that expensive, takes up little time and can prevent a lot of issues.I tend to think that most customers will use basic courtesy; but there are always exceptions, so having some measures in place to deal with those would be, imo, good management.

Well no illegal items should be obvious lol.

People - or some people - will always take chances.
Beware of the customer that demands his kid's espresso and free kitten

You have to deal with people the way they are, not the way they ought to be.

Which things are illegal can actually be confusing and frustrating, though it's not as bad now as back when Blue Laws were a thing and items that were legal six days out of the week were illegal on a Sunday. It's easy to see how a hungry customer with low blood sugar might get frustrated and truculent when told they can buy the can of ravioli, but not the can opener to open it with, just because it's five minutes past midnight on Sunday morning! And laws on restricted things can vary from state to state, with legal drinking age being 18 on one side of the line and 21 on the other. When I worked in a knife shop we were always having to explain the state of the law concerning butterfly knives. If I recall correctly, it was illegal for us to sell butterfly knives to minors, but it was not illegal for them to own one - i.e. butterfly knives were rated NC-17 and if the 17-year-old wanted one he needed to have someone buy it for him. Which never happened.

Alcohol is not sold on Sundays here. So the relevant shops are closed, but supermarkets have "wine routes" - which is simply closed on Sundays with a sign and a little gate. Not much of a gate, really, but I have never heard of anyone throwing a tantrum about it. You can, though, drink at restaurants or hotels on Sundays. Everything else (except guns, you need to go for training and qualify for a license first) can be sold at any time if the shop is open. Shops do close earlier than normal, though.
Our laws are pretty straightforward here, and the same in all 9 provinces.

Being a southpaw myself, I know exactly what you mean. The same goes for the more advance mice (computer mice). I would be horribly handicapped if I had to use a right-handed one, but the special models are never available in a left-handed version.
So I'm eternally stuck with the most generic, universal models... DAMN YOU, LOGITECH!

I am extremely left-handed. My right hand is a dud. The only thing I consistently use my right hand for, is lifting stuff, and scratching places where my left hand can't reach.
But everything else, especially when *control* is more important than *strength*, is automatically a left hand job.

I *could* write something with my right hand, but it would take a long time, and would not be pretty. My table manners are reversed, too. I hold the knife in the left hand. I could not eat otherwise!
When I still smoked, I could roll a cigarette single-handedly. But ONLY with my left hand.

When riding a bike, I feel exactly the same as you, though. My left hand MUST grip the handlebar, the right hand I could probably do without, although I prefer not to.