Consumer Guidance on Preventing Customer Harassment
Overview
The Consumer Education Promotion Division has published consumer guidance titled “Tips for Better Communication: Pause and Think About That Remark — Toward Preventing Customer Harassment.” The booklet explains how dissatisfaction and impatience can become excessive depending on the situation, and presents the idea of objectively considering the other person’s circumstances and one’s own emotional habits from the perspective that “it takes two.” It includes a worksheet for reflecting on words and behavior, activities covering four practical scenarios, and expert comments on the characteristics of dissatisfaction and ways to prevent harassment. It can be used in classes, training sessions, and role-playing exercises.
Key points
- The Consumer Education Promotion Division published consumer guidance.
- The booklet includes a reflection sheet for reviewing patterns in words and behavior.
- An activity covers four settings: a call center, public transportation, a retail store, and a restaurant.
- The materials can be used in classes, training sessions, and role-playing exercises.
Overview
The booklet presents customer harassment as excessive expressions of consumers’ dissatisfaction or impatience that arise in particular situations. From the perspective that “it takes two,” it offers ways to stay composed by objectively recognizing that the other person has circumstances of their own and that one has one’s own emotional habits, along with tips for businesses to prevent harassment before it occurs.
The materials aim to deepen understanding of harassment, explain factors that give rise to dissatisfaction and impatience, and help readers review their own words and behavior.
Details
The reflection sheet offers review points and explanations for examining behavior while shopping or dining from three perspectives: “I may tend to put my assumptions first,” “My feelings may tend to rush ahead,” and “My frustration may tend to build up to the brim.”
The case activities cover a call center, public transportation, a retail store, and a restaurant. They give concrete examples of the conditions under which dissatisfaction or impatience on the consumer’s side may lead to harassment, and how employees’ responses may affect consumers’ dissatisfaction or impatience. They explain desirable communication from a psychological perspective and include worksheets for role-playing and similar activities.
The materials describe the characteristics of “structural dissatisfaction” and “perceptual dissatisfaction” that arise before conduct becomes harassment, and include expert comments on clues for avoiding harassment and points to keep in mind to prevent it from arising.