The amazing words I used to calm down an angry customer in few seconds
It was almost 4 pm yesterday when I rushed into my bank to withdraw some money. Immediately I picked up a withdrawal slip, I heard a man 'shouting' and raising his voice at the lady in the counter and the lady keep saying 'I am sorry...... I'm sorry'. This guy was screening and saying 'you cannot keep me waiting any longer!.......... I would close my account in this bank'. And I could sense the lady was scared, helpless and felt unease.
Seeing this, I thought it was an opportunity for me to use the amazing skill of Nonviolent Communication to calm down the situation. So I went over, looked at the man and he asked me 'what do you want?' I put my amazing words together and said to him "Sir, I guess you really just wanted to be understood for how difficult it is for you, when things do not worked out the way you wanted it" The man looked at me and said 'Oh yeah.. yeah....exactly what I wanted her to understand.' So from the huge intensity and anger, he calmed down. Amazing! I was surprised how the whole event turn out.
Do you know why my words worked out?? The man simply needed to be HEARD and UNDERSTOOD --that was his greatest NEEDS at that particular moment.
The lesson is that if you learn to listen for the NEEDS behind people's insults, harsh words, blaming etc you are better of at making peace and creating deeper, more meaningful relationships with yourself, family members, partners, friends, co-workers, customers among others.
#Nonviolent Communication