Robert Bacal

I am the General Manager of a hotel. After several incidents of hostile, abusive and rude guests, I realized that my staff and I have never really been trained in how to handle people who are not happy. We have simply been reacting and surviving. I purchased this with the hope that it would be a resource to begin training my staff so that their frustrations would be minimized, and our guest's issues would be resolved in a better way.

I believe this is a good place to start. The book is insightful into the causes of anger and frustrations of the customer, as well as into the reactions of the employee who is caught in the maelstrom. It gives practical advice layer upon layer of how to handle difficult people with finesse and respect. It also talks about online interactions, telephone interactions and instances where there is a "crowd" or audience for the angry person. I especially like the very end when Bacal gives various ways to practice what he has tried to teach, and to review.

There are quite a few proof-reading issues in the book, it is also slow and repetitive. The author says this is for a purpose, but it tended to frustrate me, and I think it might make a person who was a less avid reader discouraged. Sometimes it seemed he would only state the problems, not the solutions. However, if you stuck with it, by the end of the chapter there were some solutions.… (més)