Have you ever encountered a rude customer in your entire career? If yes, then you should know how unsettled you were while handling such a person. But then, we are humans. Nobody likes being spoken to rudely. 

Unfortunately, some customers don’t care. They’re so mean to support agents or salespersons. Some take their rudeness to the extreme. They may even embarrass the company’s staff in public or drag them to social media. 

Many things would be going through your innocent mind when you encounter such rude customers. But as a professional, you need to act cool and calm the situation down. 

Nevertheless, we cannot shrug off the fact that such rudeness by some customers is superfluous. But then, if you want to solve a problem, you first have to know the cause of that problem.

Some customers are often litigious, which is not helpful for a business but there are some cases where a rude customer is rude for a reason. For example, some customers request the details of a personal injury lawyer is a must after they suffer an injury in your business premises. However, rude customers are not something any business owner has to tolerate for the long term. In fact, it’s something every business owner needs to truly understand so that they can overcome the problem. 

This leaves us with the question, “why are some customers so rude.” Continue reading to figure out. 

1. Customers Act Rude When They Have Had Enough:  

A happy customer you had business with today can become a torn on your flesh tomorrow. Why? He or she might have had enough. If a customer keeps having challenges with a company’s products or services, his or her discontent will turn into anger and explode one day.

So, if a customer starts acting rude because of a problem you tagged small, don’t jump to conclusions immediately. There might be bigger issues the customer has been bottling up. 

Now, put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How would you feel if you keep getting the wrong items delivered to your doorsteps? You’ll certainly be angry and lash it out on the salesperson or support agent one day. 

So, a customer acting rude might have had a similar experience or probably worse. And he or she feels the only way to force your company to start doing the right thing is to act rude. 

2. Customers Act Rude When A Company Fails To Fulfill A Promise:

Customers believe a reputable company that has professional customer service agents should always keep its promises. But that doesn’t always happen. Instead, most companies make promises they don’t fulfill. For example, some might promise to deliver a spare part for a product, issue a refund and so on, but fail. 

In either of these scenarios, you don’t expect a customer to keep calm. Instead, he or she would react angrily or rudely. The rudeness or anger is a sign of disappointment. 

So, when customers hold your company in high esteem, and you don’t deliver, you should expect such a customer to get angry. Even the most gentle and loyal customer on earth has a breaking point, you know. 

With that said, never make promises you know your company can’t keep. Don’t claim if a customer does XYZ; then you’ll do ABC. When a customer plays his or her part, and you failed to keep your promise, it’s going to be a disaster. 

3. Customers Act Rude Because They’re Originally Rude:

There are many impolite, impatient, and mean people in the world. They have a reputation for being rude to others when they open their mouths to speak sometimes. Additionally, even the slightest provocation can make such people start acting up. 

So, keep in mind that some customers are just rude. They address people rudely, regardless of age or status. They also have short breaking points. Little things get them upset. 

You might think it’s your fault that a customer is rude. But when you sit down to analyze what transpired, you would discover that you did the right thing. 

When you encounter such customers, keep calm and observe them. Don’t say too much unless there’s a need to do so. Sometimes, your apologies might even seem like insults to them.

4. Customers Act Rude Because They Feel Entitled:

“Customers are always right!” You probably would have heard this statement a thousand times as a customer service agent. Most customers know this. That’s why, when a customer isn’t satisfied and acts rude, the blame might fall on the support agent. 

Some customers also have and show too much pride. They have this wrong conception that the company can’t survive without their patronage. Some customers know that they can speak rudely to a support agent and receive an apology from the company.  

You may also have encountered another class of entitled customers who feel support agents or management needs to treat them like demigods. But when they don’t get the “special treatment,” they start acting up. 

Interacting with such customers can be quite challenging. But it’s the best thing you can do to calm things down. Apologize for any delay or whatever triggered the customer’s anger. 

An apology is just a word. And saying it won’t make you less of a human. Rather, it would calm the tension between you and the angry customer. 

5. Customers Act Rude When They Think You Aren’t Listening: 

Customers like it when businesses respond to their needs on time. It makes them feel loved and can boost the confidence they have in a company. But when they don’t get a timely response, they may start acting up.

Customers also like it when support agents listen attentively to them. When you speak when they’re still speaking and have so much to say, they’ll think you’re trying to shut them up. 

So, if you’re a support agent, try to let your customers speak and remove the anger they have bottled up before responding.

If you don’t understand a customer’s complaint, you can ask them to repeat the specific problem to enable you to proffer the right solution. 

A Handy Tip: In addition to giving an audience to customers, body language also matters. Don’t make nasty sounds or hiss when the customer is talking. Endeavor to make eye contact when interacting with an angry customer face-to-face. 

Please have in mind that looking somewhere else would make the customers feel you have no interest in his or her complaint. Your gaze should also be natural, not threatening.   

6. Customers Act Rude When They Feel Cheated:

If you don’t treat your customers well, they will react angrily. Customers can act rude once they discover that you have been short-changing them. 

Now, how do businesses short-change customers? 

It’s simple. Most businesses short-change customers from the moment they start focusing on profit rather than the customers. 

Unfortunately, such businesses didn’t start that way. And now, instead of providing the best product or service to solve the client’s problem completely, they prefer to cut corners.

This is what these greedy businesses are doing. They want customers to keep bringing their problems to them.

The company understands that the more customers bring their problems around, the more money they’ll make. They don’t want to provide the right product or service. Because, by doing so, they might lose the cash they make from the customer.   

Another way companies short-change customers is by allowing their sales-hungry salespersons and support agents to convince customers to splash the cash on a product they don’t need. They will try everything possible to make the customers buy that product for selfish reasons.  

When customers discover a company is trying to cheat them, they’ll lose their respect for the company. And when respect isn’t there anymore, everything goes. Customers can start acting rudely to support agents.  

With that said, it is high time companies stopped short-changing their customers. Instead, they should deliver the right product or service to the customers. Even if you think the best solution to a customer’s challenges would cost more money, it’s better to inform the customer beforehand.

Additionally, salespersons should be more professional and truthful. They should stop playing with the trust customers have for them. No customer would take a piece of advice from a salesperson he or she doesn’t trust. 

7. Customers Act Rude When Staffs Misbehave:

It’s inappropriate for a company’s staff to exchange words, fight or speak rudely to a customer. Even if the customer is rude to you, act professionally. 

It’s crucial to remind employees that they’re representing the company and themselves. That’s why when an employee fights with a customer; the company may suffer the consequences of such action.   

So, staff should always act professionally in any situation. It’s better to calm an angry customer down than challenging the person. 

Don’t try to justify your actions or make a customer feel you’re against him or her. Please note that if you act rude to customers, they’ll do the same thing to you. 

A Handy Tip: When a customer asks too many questions, and you’re tired of answering, politely request the person to check online for more details. You can even provide the link to the customer to make things a bit easier.  

Don’t try to make the customer feel you’re tired of answering him or her. If you do this, you should expect the customer to reciprocate. 

8. Customers Act Rude When They’ll Dealing With Poor Support Agents:

Before customers consider your business to be reputable, they expect you to be at a level. That’s why customers don’t take certain things lightly from some companies. They want the quality of product, packaging, pricing, and quality of support agent to be top-notch. 

So, when such a customer finds out that your business uses poor-quality support agents, he or she might go ballistic. It will even be worse if the support agent in question starts acting confused. 

It will make the customers feel you don’t value them. If you do, you would have hired professional support agents to handle their problems, not amateur ones. 

A Handy Tip:  Ensure your support agents get the needed training and exposure to deliver their duties satisfactorily. Please don’t throw them into support because you’re desperate to fill the spot with someone. 

Conclusion

So, why are customers so rude? We hope we have answered the question in this post. But then, have in mind that you’ll likely encounter such customers in your career. 

There are reasons why a customer may want to act rude. And the best thing to do in such circumstances is to find out what the problem is. If being rude when interacting with people is the customer’s forte, you have nothing to do to change that. You have to give the customer a listening ear. Then apologize and calm the angry them down.