A small business manager is prone to exposure to all sorts of hazards.
One of the most difficult hazard to deal with is the chronic complainer.
Now the chronic complainer can be member of staff or even a customer.
When you are dealing with these people you have to understand the differences between those unhappy people with a genuine and legitimate complaint and the chronic complainer.
Whether they are members of staff or customers, they both share the same ability to eat up your time with unreasonable demands and seem almost impossible to pacify.
There is a tested strategy to deal with these irritating people.
The first stage in the strategy is to clearly identify whether or not this person is a chronic complainer.
When you've tried all the normal practices and nothing seems to be working, check out the following signs:-

• The first sign is that they are always looking for someone else to blame.
  Their world is different to anyone else's.
  They perceive that nothing is an accident, it's always somebody's fault and if you are close they will point their finger at you.
  
• The second sign is that they never, admit fault or any responsibility.
  They see a world where they are totally without blame and the victim of the incompetence and inefficiency of others.
  They even hint that it could be deliberate.
  
• The third sign is that they have strong ideas and an unshakeable beliefs about what other people should do.
  In their world they believe that is their fundamental basic right to define other people's jobs, duties and responsibilities.
  If you hear a complaint that starts to describe what other people should do and contains words and phrases like, "always," "never," "must," or "must not" you are probably in the presence of a chronic complainer.
  
• The fourth sign is the ability to continue complaining without the need to draw breath.
  The tidal waves of complaint after complaint is a clear indicator of a chronic complainer.
  

The next time you are faced with one of these chronic complainers try this tactic.

1. Use active listening to try and discover what is beneath the wave of complaints.
   In your own words, re-phrase what the complainer is saying.
   To do this, you may have to interrupt the complainer by saying something like, "From what you are saying, we failed to deliver on time and this upset you.
   "
2. Try and establish the facts because the chronic complainer will tend to generalise and exaggerate.
   If the complainer says, "I kept phoning all day to find out if the job was finished but nobody could tell me," try and verify the actual number of times the complainer phoned.
   
3. Although it may be a natural thing to do, do not apologise.
   The reason for this is that the complainer is trying to blame you or your business not to try and solve problems.
   If you apologise it is seen as an open invitation to keep on blaming.
   Instead, ask questions.
   "What you want me to do to make you happy?"
4. Throughout the whole episode, your objective is to get the complainer to produce some solutions.
   This is especially important if they reject your ideas.
   Another tactic to employ is to say, "I have another meeting coming up in 15 minutes.
   What can we work out in that time so that we are both happy?" The objective here is to convert your complainer into a problem solver.
   

When you are dealing with a chronic complainer there can never be any guarantees that your tactics will work every time, but at least you will be comforted that you have taken a professional approach to dealing with a difficult situation.