Some may see this as a rant, and it sort of is, but I'm also posting this so we can more closely examine our behaviors as customers in various environments.

I work in a gym in the operations department. What does that mean? Well, yes, it means that I check you in, I give you a towel and I relay messages to your personal trainer when he or she can't come to the phone. This also means that I re-rack the weight plates you don't put away, I take care of the billing errors and update information for your membership (as well for hundreds of other members across the country), I do the laundry and I have a smile and a friendly greeting for you when you arrive. I love my job. I love the members at my gym who appreciate what I do for them. What I do not love are the people who let tiny, ultimately insignificant things bother them and proceed to take their anger out on me.

Just the other day, I was working at the front desk when a member asked for a towel. I inquired as to whether or not she had towel service. She explained to me that she did not, but that she was always given a towel as long as she handed over her keys. When I explained that this wasn't proper procedure, and that I would not be able to provide a towel under the circumstances, she became livid. She yelled, she bargained, she threatened to cancel her membership. Towards the end of the conversation, she called me a Nazi. I'm Jewish and I take great personal offense to comments like that. But the whole time I stayed calm. Should I have given her a towel to shut her up and give her satisfaction? Perhaps. Though, I don't feel that a tantrum should be rewarded.

I understand that many of us are much better customers than this particular woman. I would never, ever in my life, yell at a sales associate, but since this event I’ve become more aware of the way I treat people. I make damn sure I say please and thank you. I’m even more careful to watch my tone of voice. I think many misunderstandings stem from simple, harmless things said in a tone that is a little cranky or mean. Basically, it’s not just what you say, but how you say it. I know it means more to me when someone gives me a genuine “thanks” than those that are saying it because they know they’re expected to.

So why are some people so awful to others in service positions? Do they see us as less important than them because we aren’t lawyers, doctors or celebrities? Do people lack appreciation for the job that we do because they think we don’t work very hard, or have to be particularly smart to do it? I know that my job is both physically and mentally taxing in ways that you wouldn’t expect. I have to know the ins and outs of a complicated billing and membership system that could make a grown man cry. I lift a few thousand pounds of weights every day. I deal with broken equipment and scheduling the repairs. I also deal with those rude customers, who sometimes say very hurtful things.

So what about you? Do you make an effort to be a good customer? Do you have a job that you feel people don’t appreciate? And why are we such terrible customers sometimes?