Great questions for dealing with difficult customers Sybil. It's key that we offer positive ways to deal with stress, and effective ways to escalate the situation. The best way to train for crazy situations though is to deal with it. I'd show the video, or a similar video of an employee getting abused, show the WRONG way to respond, and then talk about why it was wrong, and how it could be handled better. It's a serious matter, but I find that light hearted training often brings out the real problems; that employees don't feel empowered to handle or escalate difficult customers. While the customer isn't always right...they are ALWAYS the customer, and should be treated as such!

Wow Andy, this is a big deal for you! Congrats! I just wrote a little bit about you over at my blog. Hope I can win your little contest. :)

Awesome article Vikk. I had never heard of the rule of 5 either, but it's a great rule to have. Thanks for sharing it!