The Aggressive, Demanding or Bully Type Customer

What sort of behaviours will they display?

Short tempered, rude, verbally or physically aggressive, highly critical, arrogant, they may scream or shout.

Safety first!

First and foremost, if the customer is verbally aggressive towards you or if you feel they may become physically violent then the safety of you, your colleagues and the customers must come before any other considerations. You should remain calm, alert other colleagues and be prepared to take further action such as calling the police if the situation escalates. At this point your manager or pharmacist will likely have intervened and you should follow any instructions given to you by your line manager.

The NHS has a zero tolerance policy to violence towards its staff (which includes community pharmacy services) and staff are allowed to refuse to serve the customer and ask them to leave the premises. This guidance does change slightly in the case of dispensing a prescription as it could be argued that it goes against principle 1 of the GPhC Standards for Pharmacy Professionals which states that a pharmacist must make “the care of the person their first priority”. Only a pharmacist can make the decision to refuse to dispense a prescription to an aggressive customer/patient and this should only be a last resort. A compromise should be offered such as referring the customer to another pharmacy in the area (as long as both the customer and the other pharmacy agree). In Northern Ireland the PSNI standards of conduct, ethics and performance states at point 1.1.5 that “If, for any reason, you are unable to provide a professional service, you have a professional responsibility to take reasonable steps to refer the patient or service user to an appropriate alternative provider for the service they require”.

How can we manage an angry customer?

Staying calm is the key to handling this customer type. Maintain a calm and positive tone and mind your body language – make sure to avoid crossing your arms so you do not appear defensive and keep your facial expressions neutral. Do not tell the customer to “calm down” – this has never made anyone feel calm and is likely to come across as condescending or patronising.

You need to find out the root cause of the customer’s issue so actively listen to what they are saying, make gestures like nodding to show you are listening. Look at the customer’s body language as this will help you determine when they have calmed down. It may also show you other clues such as if they are getting upset. Knowing the customer may help you with this e.g. a customer with a daily methadone script may become anxious if they have to wait for their prescription.

If the customer begins to calm down, you can start to deal with their issue. Once the customer has finished speaking empathise with their issue. Use phrases such as “I realise the long wait for your prescription is inconvenient and for that I am sorry”, “If I was in your situation I would be frustrated too”. Avoid sympathy as it is the customer’s emotions we are trying to understand and manage.