Grappling with Modern Customer Service

Posted byNicholas RadfordPosted inUncategorizedTags:, , ,

In a professional setting, customer service also applies to coworkers and business partners. Good customer service includes treating everyone with respect and helping them feel welcome and safe. Failure to do so generally leads to corrective action.

This should also be the case in professional wrestling.

The term “customer” can apply to many stakeholders in a business. Good customer service is focused on providing assistance and support to customers. Ensuring they feel heard, meeting their needs, and validating them can all contribute to this.

Pro wrestlers have multiple stakeholders to serve when performing their jobs. The folks running the show like the bookers and promoters, the people who paid to attend the show, and the people involved in your performance–tag partners, opponents, announcers, and those in charge of lighting, sound, cameras, and other tech–just to name a few.

National Bullying Prevention Month is observed every October to raise awareness of and promote strategies to prevent bullying. This month-long event, which was established in 2006 by the National Bullying Prevention Center at PACER, is an opportunity to encourage the nation to take action at the local level to create safe and supportive environments, offer information and education about how everyone can prevent bullying, provide a platform to hold school and community events, share information about the issues, speak with public policy leaders about their roles in bullying prevention, promote dialogue between all parties involved regarding their roles in addressing and preventing bullying, inviting organizations to share information about their bullying prevention resources and help create a world without bullying.

Bullying doesn’t just occur in schools, and it doesn’t just happen to kids. Anyone can be a victim of bullying. Most workplaces devote an entire Human Resources team to preventing and mediating such issues. Pro wrestling and other performance arts are unique in that there often isn’t an HR department to handle bullying behavior, which frequently allows toxic personalities to run amok unchecked, even becoming the voice of authority in productions.

Understandably, people who get into running a wrestling show don’t consider the full weight of the responsibility that they are taking on. There’s much to do; many wrestling promoters want to have fun with their friends or make a quick buck. Nobody considers that owning a company puts that person in the executive position, which requires organization beyond just putting on the actual product. Addressing both external and internal concerns becomes the executives’ job if there is no human resources department to review these complaints. Actions to address these issues should be taken seriously and implemented with the proper level of respect. This sort of thing should be peer-reviewed by a diverse committee of people involved with the wrestling product, hopefully minimizing oversight due to bias and helping lighten the load on those making decisions. 

As performers, we open ourselves to many critiques, criticism, heckling, and other potentially harmful verbal assaults. To an extent, we bear this burden knowingly and are expected to handle harassment with a degree of tact. Those portraying villains are especially susceptible to harsh treatment from audience members in attendance and should expect a level of berating from fans–it comes with the territory. That said, a lot of shows have recently started making general “don’t be a dick” announcements beforehand, establishing a no-tolerance policy for anyone using language of a sexist, homophobic, racist, etc. nature. Despite these guidelines being clearly defined, audience members–and even fellow wrestlers–find it suitable to take potshots and low blows (in the linguistical sense) at performers. The onus of responsibility should never be put on how much abuse someone can handle with grace. Instead, the people attending a show–which we control–must learn to act appropriately by setting expectations early and following through. Given the current state of US affairs, it’s important to note these indiscretions and follow through with the punitive actions established. It becomes a slippery slope to let bad behavior slide nowadays–give an inch, and they’ll take a mile.

A great example of swift and immediate justice at a wrestling show is the now-famous “Drake Kwon slaps racists” incident. At a show in Canada, a fan was being obnoxious and abusive towards performers throughout the show until he began spouting anti-Asian sentiment at Drake and other performers of Asian descent. Upon hearing this inexcusable rhetoric, Drake rolled out of the ring and heartily slapped the fool across the face. Drake returned to the match, and the “fan” was promptly removed from the event by security, much to the delight of all others in attendance.

As those in power target more of our neighbors from vulnerable communities, it is up to us in the wrestling world to police ourselves and keep out those who might make our community unsafe. If this means having hard conversations with those close to us, so be it. We owe it to our peers and audience to hold ourselves and each other to a higher standard and create a space worth living in. 

THE WORLD IS YOUR BURRITO!

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