Friday, July 11, 2008

A Headline with a Whole Different Meaning for Library Staff

Link to July 10 Reuters article, "Desk rage spoils workplace for many Americans".

The focus of the article is anger among employees in the workplace, not between employees and customers.

Excerpt:
Anger in the workplace -- employees and employers who are grumpy, insulting, short-tempered or worse -- is shockingly common and likely growing as Americans cope with woes of rising costs, job uncertainty or overwhelming debt, experts say.

"People are coming to work after a long commute, sitting in traffic watching their discretionary income burn up. They're ready for a fight or just really upset," [John Challenger, head of Chicago's Challenger, Gray & Christmas workplace consultants] said.

How to deal with library rage?

The January 2002 of Library Administrator's Digest suggests that libraries must incorporate the five principles of customer service that are common to the best stores and corporations:
1. Giving respectful attention to customers

2. Providing adequate information
3. Offering service at the customer's convenience
4. Having reasonable guidelines for in-store behavior
5. Making sure people are comfortable

Easier said than done sometimes.

From past -- and gratefully infrequent experience -- I've learned that sometimes you just have to stand there stoically and let people vent. (And have staff and/or police intervention procedures in place if a cool-down doesn't occur within a few minutes.)

Stories with constructive solutions to share?

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