And your resume sounds stellar

In hindsight, maybe the “dealt” lines in your comment should have been in your original post to make the point more acutely.

And I’m sure you’ll be pleased to know the word is nowehere withing my resume and I deal with customers all day long

What prompted this article was the myriad of resumes that I received from people that had “deal” or “dealt” in every line:

+ Dealt with customers.
+ Dealt with back end services staff.
+ Dealt with upper-management.
+ Dealt with extreme situations and stressful environments.

I mean, really, is there not a better way to express what you’re trying to say? All I feel is a little bit unsure about what you’re trying to tell me.

Your definition in the dictionary is entirely correct, and I agree with what you’re saying in that regard. I simply would like to see more expression of qualities and relevant points.

However, the terminology is still correct as far as the dictionary is concerned - and as I said in my above post surely this should be the final arbiter in the use and meaning of the word and not what you may or may not expect me to mean?

Are you seriously implying that you would discount me if I applied for a job and used the word deal in your context? Especially if I hit all the other right buttons for you?

Ah well - prejudice is alive and well in those that hire still. I on the other hand when hiring take the time to read everything written from everyone and try to work out the real meaning behind their statements.

So no, don’t “deal”- do. Specify, explain, and express the information that will give a prospective employer a better understanding about what you’re about.

So, in the case of this article when “deal with the customer” is referred to it would have been helpful for the author to state their meaning of the word / phrase. Because I disagree with the author’s usage but agree with the intent I head to the dictionary. In this case http://www.thefreedictionary.com/deal shows that deal has any number of meanings.

The relevant ones are the transitive and intransitive verb definitions of which some are:

v.tr. To administer; deliver
So we could have one ‘administer’ a customer as a meaning for deal.

v.intr. To be occupied or concerned
So we could have one being ‘concerned’ with a customer when we deal with a customer.

Jeff Kee is right in his approach that you appear to be picking holes for the sake of it but he is wrong in attacking you personally. And I believe, like you, he is wrong with his dismissal of the ‘little’ customer.

Your “education” and worldliness is leaving you looking at the employment standard with a rather myopic view.

I wonder what it is to actually “deal” with a customer. Tell me a concrete definition, please? Because I have to deal with traffic, stress, family problems, financial worries, and my own personal ineptitude’s from time to time… why would I want to translate that to someone who could potentially give me a job or not?

Your reply is little more than an attack on semantics, and I hardly see any education in that. Rather than split hairs, why not approach me with an argument that discounts the validity of what I’m saying, as opposed to attacking my personal character or objectives? Chances are that you’re someone who “deals” with your customers, and I bet that is also your main limitation.

You seem to have forgotten that the customers who cough up those “measly little sums” are also a multi-billion dollar market, and yes, you provide the best service that you can. That’s good business. I’m surprised that you’ve survived in business at all with such low regard for your customers.

So, with that in mind, I believe that your “education” and the amount of materials that you’ve read have resulted in nothing but a poor attitude and an even poorer amount of business sense. In either case, good luck to you- I know you’ll be back here again.

I’ve been customer service and sales positions at many varying levels - whether it’s towards the end user or towards a corporate customer. And often times, when I am “dealing” with the typical ignorant end user, the word “dealt” is more accurate as a matter of fact. A large part of customer service is to deflect the ignorance of the general public and to convince them of your own ideas to make them understand and make the purchase.

Maybe this is an arrogant trait I have, which most others do not have, while they treat their clients as equally intelligent beings, but the middle paragraph of this article sounds like crap to me.

Maybe it’s because I “Dealt” with clients that I am now in a position where I receive high-end corporate marketing contracts instead of “dealing” with the idiotic end users who can only complain while they assume that the measly little sums they cough up in bills should be sufficient to cover a 5 star service.

Good luck writing blog articles on a website that was bought out by somebody who “dealt” with clients from the previous owner who “dealt” with some idiotic visitors.

You are either so aloof in your own world in terms of what customer service is, or you have no idea what it is like and you are throwing around vague terminology to sound intelligent. Either that or you’re one of those wannabe smart-asses who try to point a small negative out and exaggerate it into a huge negative to write something that everybody would go “oooooooh” about but I’m too well read and educated to fall for it.