Rude, overly demanding, frustrated and impatient customers are hopefully few and far between, but it is essential to know how to handle these situations when they do occur.

Dealing with angry or unhappy customers is a part of all public-facing jobs and pharmacy is no different. It’s never nice or easy to handle these situations, but knowing what to say and, importantly, how to say it, can help to solve the problem.

Often, the reason for a customer’s difficult behaviour will be out of your control, but occasionally, it may be a direct result of the pharmacy’s actions (e.g. not ordering the right product, or providing a sub-standard service). Either way, the following seven tips will help you to navigate difficult situations and hopefully resolve them.