Any tips for dealing with a crazy person?

[The_Eric]

Originally Posted By: 2015_PSD
Originally Posted By: dernp
I know she has told him everything and the fact he knows this information is concerning.
Why? She made it public knowledge by disclosing it in a public place. Please enlighten us.


Yes- would you better explain please?

 

[Eddie]

Let your BOSS deal with it. That is why he gets the big dollars.

 

[SeaJay]

Originally Posted By: Andy636
After two pages and nobody is asking how come this bat s**t crazy women is allowed to drive a car ???


Being sane is not one of the requirements to keep a license once it is granted. Maybe it should be, but in general it isn't.

 

[Papa Bear]

If I discovered that if I just kept talking at you that I didn't have to pay you I would keep talking too....

Present her with the bill.
If she starts talking interrupt her and tell her you need payment or you take it to the next step.
If she starts talking again point to the bill in her hand and walk away.
Take it to the next step.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: Donald
I would just tell her that you cannot do any additional work until the prior repair is paid off. If it never gets paid off, lesson learned. I would not involve the police unless she causes a scene that effects other customers.

Regarding your last sentence Donald, it might be wise to do just the opposite. Invite the police there (without her there) before something bad happens in order to get a record started. She might already have a bad history with the police. She might be a burning fuse ready to do something dangerous. IMO, its better to CYA in these situations. Now a days, law enforcement encourages people to be proactive to avert possible bad outcomes.

 

[gfh77665]

Cops. Cops, and more cops if necessary.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
Let your BOSS deal with it. That is why he gets the big dollars.
normally he would but he had an appt yesterday afternoon

 

[Alfred_B]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
We have a female customer that's got a screw loose. She thinks everything makes her sick. But shes a hoarder and drives around in her beat up old toyota pickup with trash piled to the roof.

She will pull up to the shop. If theirs a piece of trash in the parking lot she wont get out because it may make her sick. She will call us and ask us to remove the offending trash so she can get out of the truck.

She stayed in her house 5 days because there was a plastic piece of a bumper in the street in front of her house.

She talks for hours. Tells the complete story. Like what streets she took today. How many ambulances she saw on the way over. The color of the dress the lady at the store had and that she had 16 items in the express lane.

The truck is really beat up. She says people hit it on purpose but its the front that's smashed the most.

Shes very religious. To the point of being a fanatic. She will get on her knees and pray if someone says a 4 letter word.

She plugged a new electric heater in at her house and when it warmed up it put out a chemical smell! She moved out of her house over the smell. Afraid the smell will make her sick! She has not been in her house in over 6 months over this.

We have bent over backwards to help her. My boss made the mistake of letting her make us payments on a repair we did to the truck.

Her bill was about $650 and she has paid a total of $322 on it in 2 years.

Now the truck needs more work. Major work, She shows up @ 4pm but does not walk inside until 445pm. She was sitting in the truck talking on the phone.

When I told her that I could not fix it tonight she locked her self in the bathroom ! When she finally came out she asked to use our phone@ 5p. We close @ 5 sharp and she knows this. I asked what was wrong with her phone and she said she didn't want to use up her minutes.But she sat in our parking lot 45 minutes talking on her phone.

She went out to her truck to get something and I locked the door behind her. She then began beating on our door, screaming and making a scene.

I finally got out of there @ 530 after I had to explain why we can't fix it tonight over and over and why she should not drive the truck over and over and why she should have it towed.

She says she cant afford a tow but she has triple A.

The list goes on and on I can't even remember it all!

Ideas?



Why is she crazy?

 

[pbm]

Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Cops. Cops, and more cops if necessary.


The police deal with these type of people every day (crazies).

That's why I'm surprised that so many on this site never give a cop the benefit of the doubt but then again these people usually have an agenda.

I agree, tell her that you can't do business until her bill is paid.

 

[Bgallagher]

Originally Posted By: rsylvstr
Ummmmm call the cops.


+1 This woman sounds like she needs some serious attention. Besides owing the shop money from an old repair you can deny work until her debt is paid off. Good idea with record any rants she might go on and call the police. You have enough of a case to deny this woman service. You might be doing her a favor because hopefully the cops can bring her someplace where she can get treatment.

 

[mrsilv04]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: Chris142


i dont know what i can say to make her understand what im telling her.i answer 1 question and she has 10 more that are the samw just worded differently.


Hook her up with Engineer20.

Now I have coffee all over my monitor and keyboard... Quote of the day, right there.

 

[hattaresguy]

Simple fire her.


I'm to the point now where I won't deal with mentally ill people. Our system lets them roam around with no consequences.

I have had people like this approach me at gas stations, my response is [censored] off.

 

[mjk]

Have her sign up for this site. She'd fit right in.

Originally Posted By: Chris142
We have a female customer that's got a screw loose. She thinks everything makes her sick. But shes a hoarder and drives around in her beat up old toyota pickup with trash piled to the roof.

She will pull up to the shop. If theirs a piece of trash in the parking lot she wont get out because it may make her sick. She will call us and ask us to remove the offending trash so she can get out of the truck.

She stayed in her house 5 days because there was a plastic piece of a bumper in the street in front of her house.

She talks for hours. Tells the complete story. Like what streets she took today. How many ambulances she saw on the way over. The color of the dress the lady at the store had and that she had 16 items in the express lane.

The truck is really beat up. She says people hit it on purpose but its the front that's smashed the most.

Shes very religious. To the point of being a fanatic. She will get on her knees and pray if someone says a 4 letter word.

She plugged a new electric heater in at her house and when it warmed up it put out a chemical smell! She moved out of her house over the smell. Afraid the smell will make her sick! She has not been in her house in over 6 months over this.

We have bent over backwards to help her. My boss made the mistake of letting her make us payments on a repair we did to the truck.

Her bill was about $650 and she has paid a total of $322 on it in 2 years.

Now the truck needs more work. Major work, She shows up @ 4pm but does not walk inside until 445pm. She was sitting in the truck talking on the phone.

When I told her that I could not fix it tonight she locked her self in the bathroom ! When she finally came out she asked to use our phone@ 5p. We close @ 5 sharp and she knows this. I asked what was wrong with her phone and she said she didn't want to use up her minutes.But she sat in our parking lot 45 minutes talking on her phone.

She went out to her truck to get something and I locked the door behind her. She then began beating on our door, screaming and making a scene.

I finally got out of there @ 530 after I had to explain why we can't fix it tonight over and over and why she should not drive the truck over and over and why she should have it towed.

She says she cant afford a tow but she has triple A.

The list goes on and on I can't even remember it all!

Ideas?

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
We have a female customer that's got a screw loose. She thinks everything makes her sick. But shes a hoarder and drives around in her beat up old toyota pickup with trash piled to the roof.

She will pull up to the shop. If theirs a piece of trash in the parking lot she wont get out because it may make her sick. She will call us and ask us to remove the offending trash so she can get out of the truck.

She stayed in her house 5 days because there was a plastic piece of a bumper in the street in front of her house.

She talks for hours. Tells the complete story. Like what streets she took today. How many ambulances she saw on the way over. The color of the dress the lady at the store had and that she had 16 items in the express lane.

The truck is really beat up. She says people hit it on purpose but its the front that's smashed the most.

Shes very religious. To the point of being a fanatic. She will get on her knees and pray if someone says a 4 letter word.

She plugged a new electric heater in at her house and when it warmed up it put out a chemical smell! She moved out of her house over the smell. Afraid the smell will make her sick! She has not been in her house in over 6 months over this.

We have bent over backwards to help her. My boss made the mistake of letting her make us payments on a repair we did to the truck.

Her bill was about $650 and she has paid a total of $322 on it in 2 years.

Now the truck needs more work. Major work, She shows up @ 4pm but does not walk inside until 445pm. She was sitting in the truck talking on the phone.

When I told her that I could not fix it tonight she locked her self in the bathroom ! When she finally came out she asked to use our phone@ 5p. We close @ 5 sharp and she knows this. I asked what was wrong with her phone and she said she didn't want to use up her minutes.But she sat in our parking lot 45 minutes talking on her phone.

She went out to her truck to get something and I locked the door behind her. She then began beating on our door, screaming and making a scene.

I finally got out of there @ 530 after I had to explain why we can't fix it tonight over and over and why she should not drive the truck over and over and why she should have it towed.

She says she cant afford a tow but she has triple A.

The list goes on and on I can't even remember it all!

Ideas?



Ignore her. Do not even look at her. If she gets in your face, keep doing whatever you're there to do. Act like she doesn't even exist.

I do this with my next-door neighbor. This M.O. works great.

 

[bubbatime]

When I started my career, I started working corrections in a state prison and than a country jail. Jails/prisons are full of these nut jobs. They talk and talk and talk some more and its generally hard to get a word in as they babble on and on about useless drivel not making any sense.

Basically, you need to do a few things. Step one, stop being nice. They like nice people because they can babble on and on. Learn to be rude and short. It's hard to be rude to a person because we are ingrained to be polite and nice to people in public, but some people understand rude and get the point better.

Step 2, is to talk loudly and forcefully (raise your voice so you sound serious) and to direct the conversation as you want it to go. You need to break their thought processes so that the "conversation" can go two ways and not them babbling for 30 minutes about nothing.

And absolutely don't be afraid to have the cops escort the nut job off the property if she wont leave. I can guarantee that the local cops already know this individual very well.

Like I said earlier, take the kid gloves off when dealing with this type of person. Stop smiling, stop being nice. If you see her pull into the parking lot, I wouldn't even let her get out her car. Approach her, ask her if she is their to pay her past due bill, and tell her that she is no longer welcome as a customer, please leave immediately, and have a nice day. A 30 second conversation at most.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime

Basically, you need to do a few things. Step one, stop being nice. They like nice people because they can babble on and on. Learn to be rude and short. It's hard to be rude to a person because we are ingrained to be polite and nice to people in public, but some people understand rude and get the point better.


Imagine you're a cold hearted hot chick. You know the type, you say "excuse me (you left your dome light on)" but they cut you off at "excuse me" because they think you're hitting on them like everyone always does because of hotness.

You won't hurt their feelings, because they get it a lot, and are immune.

 

[yeti]

Originally Posted By: Eddie
Let your BOSS deal with it. That is why he gets the big dollars.


this situation is causing you stress, as you state,and it's not even your shop.refer these customers, and other problems, to the boss.if he's not there, call him on his cell.let him deal with it, as it's his job, and, you'll have a lot less stress.if the cops have to be called, let him make the decision.

if some trouble starts because of a decision that you made -- guess who will be in trouble. remember -- feces always runs downhill.

sounds like there are some mental/medication issues,but talking a lot doesn't make her crazy -- it makes her female.

do the smart thing, and let the boss get stressed.

 

[NHHEMI]

If the OP is not the boss/owner then he needs to just stay out of it and let him/her handle it. If he is the boss/owner then he should tell the crazy person to get out and don't come back. Have her arrested and a restraining order placed on her if she ever comes back. It isn't complicated.

 

[Eddie]

He said his Boss agreeded to payments to cover past work. Just don't allow any more work to be done before the present bill is paid. Tell her that's the Bosses decision. The shop may need to eat this last bill. ed

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Sometimes you have to fire a customer.


Sure can be hard sometimes. I hate losing clients. But sometimes it is indeed appropriate.

My Mom always said you're not really in business if you don't know when to say no...