By Ben Schnabel, PTMP:
Being a frontline staff person can sometimes test your faith in people. You will inevitably be presented with stories that might not be truthful, particularly if it involves people getting out of paying their fee. It doesn’t take long for frontline staff and supervisors to become jaded and mistrustful. How do you tell if this is just another story? And more importantly, how are you going to respond to them?
- Start every conversation with the premise that they are telling the truth.
It’s a much better outcome if you start by believing them and then uncover that it isn’t true rather than suspecting them of deceiving you to then find out they were telling the truth.
- Determine if they are trying to get something for free.
The effort that people are willing to put into getting a $2 charge for free is much higher than the effort they will put into getting a $4 charge reduced to $2. If someone is disputing the amount of the charge and they are still willing to pay something, they are more likely to be telling the truth or at least their version of the truth. If they are trying to get out of paying all together, there is more reason to be suspicious.
- Ask for details.
In general, someone that is trying to deceive, will not want to give details and someone telling the truth will give you as many details as you ask for. If the person that you are talking to is more than willing to give you their name, mailing address, email address, Driver’s license number, or work ID number, that’s a good indication that they are telling the truth.
This won’t protect you from every person that is being less than truthful, but it will let you build trust with the person you are dealing with and get a little closer to the actual story.
Ben Schnabel, PTMP, is an Assistant Director for Parking Operations at the University of Minnesota. Ben can be reached at schna015@umn.edu.
Forum Question: What training methods best prepare employees for ambiguous or gray-area disputes?