Rant: I spent 2 years being a pushover at the DMV counter
I worked the customer service desk at the DMV in Austin for two years and thought being nice meant saying yes to everyone. A lady came in with no ID, no forms, just a story about her dog eating her license. I was about to bend the rules again when my coworker Frank stepped in and told her flat out she needed proper docs. He got screamed at for 5 minutes but held his ground. That's when it hit me - I was just rewarding bad behavior and making my job harder. Anyone else realize they were being too soft on customers for way too long?
Man, Frank sounds like the real MVP. I worked retail for three years and I was the same way... always caving to customers who yelled the loudest. It took me getting written up once for a return I shouldn't have approved to realize being nice doesn't mean being a doormat. The worst part is those people don't even appreciate it, they just learn that throwing a fit works every time. You end up burning yourself out for no real reason, and management sure isn't going to back you up.
I saw this psychology thing once that said when you give in to a tantrum, you're basically training the person to keep doing it... like training a dog or something. It's wild how true that is with customers, they learn real quick who the pushovers are.