"Of course I have. The first thing I do is remind myself that this isn't personal, and then I start looking at the situation through the customer's eyes and focus on them. I make it a mission to find out what's bothering them and how I can quickly find the solution to the problem. The customer wants me to be pleasant enough, but I know from experience that they don't want someone to coddle them and tell them that everything is okay. They want someone who's just friendly and positive enough, for someone to acknowledge their frustration and take ownership of the problem that's causing that frustration. Then they want a speedy resolution.

I had a situation where an economy-class customer was yelling at me and telling me that I'm incompetent, he insulted my education and intelligence. I didn't let it get to me. I just focused on the fact that he had a problem and that I was the one to solve it. He needed to use the bathroom badly and the ones in that section were all occupied. So I led him to the business class lavatory and offered him a bottle of water when he came out. I also told him to take a couple of minutes to stretch out near the galley, and to let me know the moment he is feeling any discomfort. As we were deboarding, he thanked me and asked me for my name so that he could write about me on the comment card."