No matter how good your day has been going, there is always a chance that you’ll encounter other people whose day has not been going as well as yours. No matter how nice you are, there will always be people who do not have the same disposition. And being in the kind of business that deals with different kinds of passengers day in and day out, we know just how stressful it can be when you encounter an irate one.

Here’s how we deal with irate passengers at Universal Taxi:

• Master the art of listening. This is really hard, especially if you take offense quite easily. However, people who feel anger often need a way to vent. Although it is quite unlucky that they had to vent it out on you, the storm will pass once they have let it all out. Just listen and wait it out.

• Respond in a different manner. It is human nature to respond the same way you are being treated. However, this does not work when dealing with an irate customer. Responding in anger will only add fuel to the flame, and would make matters worse. Respond in a calm manner and your passenger will eventually realize that they’ve been wasting energy on what could be a trivial matter.

• Don’t take it personally. It’s your passenger’s bad day, not yours. Your passenger may be mad at the company you work for, the way you drive, or someone else. At the end of the day, their anger should not change the way your day is going. Let them choose anger and continue having a bad day. Just drown it all out. After all, you’ll only meet this person once. And that’s a really short time to know someone to let them affect you in a huge way.

• Apologize and sympathize. Sometimes, a passenger only wants to hear some sort of affirmation from someone else. The best way to do this is to apologize and sympathize with the customer, even if it’s not your fault. This may be all that your passenger needs to calm down.

• Breathe in, breathe out. Once the passenger gets off, take a breather of your own. All those minutes of trying to be nice to a person who’s being difficult will definitely take its toll, and you might end up passing the hostility off to your next passenger. Breathe in and out and start driving once you believe you’ve let it go.

Dealing with an irate passenger is not that easy, but it’s not impossible. This is part of the strong commitment that Universal Taxi has, knowing that every passenger’s happiness is ultimately our success.