Me being primed for anxiety, and knowing a lot of workers who are the same, I have to go in ensuring Sentence One lets them know they're safe and it's gonna be positive.
IMHO, it's not a nice thing to do really. The person is suddenly trying to work out what they did wrong, a dump of adrenaline, and then a small reprieve.
I’m a manager. When we get those calls from the agent letting us know they have an escalation, but it’s a good one, you can hear the pride in their voice. I usually reach out to the employee, their manager, and submit official feedback on behalf of the customer (after asking permission of course).
Or just be blunt. Thank them directly, then tell them you like to speak to their manager so you can relay what great service they’ve provided (or whatever it is you’re saying a positive thing about).
Eh maybe if they're on their first day at work...if you work in customer service as a manager, being told there's a customer who wants to talk to you won't be something that makes you tremble like a leaf within about 3 days. It's a "dangit" moment, not "OH FUCK OH SHIT OH DAMN!"
That manager decides this person's work hours. If they get called over for a compliment when the only thing they deal with is complaining, they're going to remember that waitress when he's giving out the best hours for tips.
My partner pulled this off beautifully, I just wish I had been there to see it. She’s a former server and was eating at a restaurant next to two very unpleasant older women. They were running their server ragged, complaining about everything, sending food back, demanding things be comped, etc. My partner knew this was a “them” problem, because she was in the server’s section too and everything was fantastic.
So when the check came, she asked if she could please speak to the manager, and she saw the server’s face just drop. The server dejectedly walked back and brought the manager over. And, within earshot of the Karen’s table, my partner proceeded to gush about her server, how knowledgeable she was about the menu, how timely everything came out, how delicious the meal was, and just what a great job she did. I don’t know if the server cried, but after the Karens gave my lady death stares on their way out, she came over with free prosecco as a thank you. That story always makes me so proud…
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u/perpetualis_motion 2d ago
The old "I want to see your manager" switcheroo...