Question: How do I maintain staff morale when Customers are on the attack?

It's bound to happen! Sooner or later a customer is going to take their no good, lousy, rotten attitude out on, you guessed it, YOU!

It's happened (or will) to all of us at one time or another. You're the target of a customer that is determined to unload on you - personally! You pick up the receiver and get the "what for", being chewed from one end to the other. And most likely, you didn't do a thing, except pick up the phone at the wrong moment. So what can one do to not take the experience personally and maintain a positive attitude?


The Cow Patty theory is a simple, fun technique for taking the emotion out of the situation and thus permits you to go home without feeling like the center bullseye of a dart board.

Let's begin at the beginning:

"Cow": a large domesticated farm animal. You know - "moo, moo". Gives us milk.

"Cow Patty": a leave behind substance from said cow. Cow pie, Meadow muffin, prairie pizza. Something you'd prefer not to step in.

Got the picture? Now that we have the basics covered, let's leap forward to the theory.

Next time an upset customer begins the attack and starts to give you the "what for", visualize that they have just thrown at you a - you guessed it - a cow patty! (Hold the phone! Before your skeptic minds discount this entire idea, read the complete article!)

If a cow patty is flying through the room at you, what could you do? You're right, DUCK! Yet how often do we sit there watching and chanting- "Here comes a cow patty, here comes a cow patty, here comes a cow patty----splat!" We then spend the rest of the day bent out of shape because one upset customer hit us with a cow patty. No more, it's now time to duck!

Visualize the customer has thrown a cow patty at you and DUCK! Let the emotion go by and then take care of the customer and the situation. Read that last line again. It's the key to the process.


There is no reason to get hit by the cow patty! You simply mentally duck next time a customer begins the emotional bombardment. You let the emotion hit the wall behind you and take care of the customer, untouched (?) and cow patty free!

It's an easy, fun way to change the way you react to the attacks!

Help others avoid the cow patties! Next time you notice a co-worker or family member with their teeth clinched, knuckles white, shoulders up near their ears, eye balls bulging...show them the fake cow patty!

That's right, hold your hand as if a cow patty were in your grasp and come toward your co-worker or family member! If they know the "Cow Patty" theory, they'll see your hand and recognize it as the simulated patty. It's a tremendous tool for helping others see the emotion; helping them let it go by, then taking care of the situation.

A word of caution: If the person is NOT familiar with the theory, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, come at them with your hand held in the designated position! They'll really think you are off base and justifiably so!

So the next time you pick up the phone and hear that highly charged, angry customer looking for someone's hide, don't get upset...simply DUCK! It's much more effective than getting hit with another cow patty!