How do I deal with rude shippers / customers

It was.

 

A lot of shipper/receivers enjoy messing with drivers! Some parts of the country are worse then others. Got to a receiver about 7 one morning, unloading window to open at 8. Walk in and guy yells " I don't care who the F you are , What the F you got , I don't Fing want it " ! I walk over to his desk , lay my bills down and pull my pen out. R E F U S E D . He yells you can't do that. Yes I can . "But I did not know what you have". You said you did not want it . But , but. Called in and talked to dispatch , told to leave , drive down the road , turn around and return. So they could charge for a second attempt fee.

 

Heardo some o/o driver stories, the best one was a guy shows up for an unload and receiver says nope! After battling with them he opened his doors and reversed stopped until all the pallets flew of his trailer in the lot. Also I've seen a guy straight up pee next to his drives while in a door when I was backing up next to him. Shippers receivers deal with a lot of stupid garbage but be courteous and professional and some will turn around in the 1st minute of speaking with you.

 

Yup,happened to me in Laredo in an office full of Mexicans.I handed BOL to a young Mexican guy and then he said something in Spanish to his coworkers.They looked confused and I figured he said something about me so without even thinking I said "Huh?what did you say?!"He backed from the window.lol.and I must had looked upset because one of the girls smiled at me and said "Don't pay attention to him".
I must have had a lot of luck so far because I can only think of maybe 3 incidents within 2 years when I felt disrespected in any way and I am East European.I go many different places as I do partials and mostly meet cool people.
I am a nice person but make no mistake if I feel disrespected I don't think of any of this custumer,account,load ,waiting etc BS, I am snapping and I can't control it.I don't care about consequences and I don't even think about them.

 

I just smile say sorry you feel that way and say haave a good day as im walking away but there have been a few that actually almost pushed too far so i went and let supervisor know what and how there employee is treating their customers

 

Well, I'm white as the driven snow and I run into rude people all the time. Kill em with kindness, man. if I get to the point I need to say something, it's usually "Are you mad at something? Because I know you can't be mad at me because I didn't do anything wrong." Usually helps the situation

 

I wholeheartedly subscribe to the kill them with kindness and respect mode of communication. YOU don't know what they are up against. I might typically start a conversation with a receiver in an obviously backed situation with something like, "How in the world are you able to handle this? I couldn't do it."

That's usually followed by a "too much information" response that would put a whining trucker to shame. BUT I have made a connection by recognizing THEIR predicament. I can't say that approach gives me priority status for offloading, although I suspect it might have, but it SURE as hell makes it far more pleasant for all involved.

At oil rigs I often need to pick up tools that are "still in the hole". Their schedule is delayed. Invariably they apologize almost like they expect an irate trucker. My response is, "I'm here to serve YOU, not the other way around." Goes a LONG way to making happy customers and getting those positive calls back to dispatch.

 

Just curious but why is everything placed on the driver to be "kind"

To you folks that say the company may loose a customer if youre rude; you gotta know which people you can get into it with. Basically anyone on 3rd shift is fair game. Night workers, or "vampires" as I prefer, aren't usually greatly valued at their particular outfit. That's why they are hostling trailers around at 2 am. However the cute little thing with a new York attitude sitting at the receiving desk at 11 am is another story.

Op u would say you notice rudeness because of age, race, your company, and most of all probably because you ask questions after they give you instructions. I used to notice this when I first started doing frieght. It will get better