h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I work for a record label in the sales department and I aget more than my share of angry phone calls. Customers who want to know where their orders are, why their local record store doesn't carry the band they want, why our label won't sign their band, waddaya mean my credit card was declined!?

Whenever someone becomes intolerably belligerant, I put them on hold and either let off steam with my coworkers or calm myself to literally counting to ten. This invariably makes my coworkers laugh, which makes me laugh and realize that the person p***ing me off has no bearing on my life and I shouldn't be taking the situation all that seriously.

When I get back on the phone with them, I'm calm, cool and instead of shooting stupidities right back at them, I use logic, tell them what they need to know, thank them for their call and hang up.

I'm looking forward to hearing what others have to say about dealing with overly enthusiastic individuals. I don't know what to do with the cheerleader/pep squad types. I usually just want to punch them in the back of the head and have done with it.