How would you handle an upset or irate customer?

Your professionalism and kindness. The interviewer wants to know you can avoid making the customer more upset and calm them enough to get help. This could be assuring the customer that you understand their concerns and acknowledging you will do everything you can to help them find a solution to their problem. Typically, you would be encountering a person either on the phone or in person and would likely have to refer them to an Account Manager, but you want to show the interviewer that you could keep the situation under control until you found the answer.

Saying you would just tell the customer to wait or put them on hold while you find a supervisor. You want to be very sensitive to their concerns, while conveying that although you cannot answer their concern personally, you will expediently find someone who can.

"I would state that I am very sorry they are having trouble with XX situation. I would ask them if they could assist me by telling me their Account Manager's name so that I could locate that person as soon as possible. In the interim, I would tell them that I would only place them on a brief hold, and I would keep track of the time. If more than two minutes goes by, I would get back on the line to assure the customer I am still trying to locate their manager."

"I would state that I am very sorry that they are having trouble with XX situation. I would ask them if they could assist me by telling me their Account Manager's name so that I could locate that person as soon as possible. Then I would offer them coffee or water and a comfortable place to wait while I located their manager to help them."

"I would tell them that I was so sorry to hear about their issue! I would ask them to please let me look up their account so that I could figure out a solution and proceed accordingly. If I could not help, I would assure the customer that I would find out the answer for them or find the appropriate person as quickly as I could."