Whoa, it just happened. The one thing you’ve been trying so hard to avoid has happened. It’s here. A customer is angry with you and you need to do something about it now. But not just anything. You need to turn the situation from anger to happiness.

And how do you do that? Especially when you have someone giving you attitude because their Dry Cleaning order isn’t ready yet. How do you make that person smile. But more than that, how do you make that person want to come back and do business with you again?

Find Happiness

Happiness Can Help.

And not coincidentally, that is also the name of my business. And I chose Dry Cleaning because I also work at a Dry Cleaner. So here we go; true story case study here (names have been changed):

There once was a customer named Casey. Casey was grumpy for reasons unbeknownst to me, the worker at the cleaners. But for some reason, Casey was mean to me; rude to me even.

And then it happened, Casey actually had a reason to be rude and mean to me! What reason? His wife’s pants were not complete when we told him. Details about why don’t really matter. I mean, what dry cleaner has never been late on finishing something? Really!

But Casey, unlike most customers, was very displeased. And he was not afraid to tell me so. Casey came in everyday for four consecutive days despite us telling him to come in once on the last day.

I got tired of Casey being tired of us, but was not going to take my tiredness out on him. That’s probably the worst thing you can do to a person; and a horrible thing to do when you are a businessperson. So, how did I deal with Casey? With laughter and happiness.

“I’m sorry. They still aren’t ready. I know you wanted them today but they’ll be ready tomorrow. You can hit me if you’d like. I know you’re angry and you’ve got to take your anger out on someone!”

“I don’t want to take it out on you.” Casey said. And then it happened, for the first time I saw Casey smile. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, he says, “I’ll forgive you if you promise me you’ll wear the pants when they come in.”

Then something I never expected to witness happened right in front of me; Casey laughed. And he continued to laugh for several seconds.

And I laughed. And I was pleased knowing Casey was happy.

So, with the help of happiness, laughter, and permitting harm to myself I turned a negative situation into a positive one. But I also made Casey happy; something that really was not difficult but was not attempted prior.

And you know what, Casey came back the next day. Expect this time he came in and seemed happy to be there. And there were no snide remarks. No meanness.

So there you have it. Happiness Can Help! I can say that because I literally just PROVED it.

How do you deal with difficult, and sometimes angry acquaintances? Let us know in the comments section.

Interested in learning the very same tips that were applied in this article? This article was written by Logan Lindabury, the Happiness Coach from HappinessCanHelp.com. He’ll share these very tips, and many more with you so you can always find happiness.