Those Sinful Cingular Boys

I had to go to the Cingular store yesterday to get a new cell phone. The guy behind the counter was young, but not too young. Maybe 28 or 29. He was pleasant to deal with, most likely because he spent the duration of our transaction process trying to hit on me. Hey, whatever. As long as he's being nice.
Another man, a customer, who I immediately recognized as Irving, one of Cafe Nasty's regulars, was standing at the counter next to me talking on the store's phone that sits on the counter top. I think he was on the line with a credit card company or something, just judging by the growing level of frustration he displayed as the conversation progressed. Anyway, he paused several times to pass the phone to Victor, the guy who was helping me, saying "You have to talk to them. They want to talk to the salesman who sold me the phone!" Victor repeatedly told him "Sir, I can't help them. I didn't sell you the phone, and the guy who did isn't here, so there's nothing we can do."
I came to learn that the issue was over the $100 rebate that comes with Irving's phone. But he lost the voucher and he couldn't get the rebate so he was very mad at Victor.
I understood Victor's frustration with Irving. Victor obviously had nothing to do with Irving's problem, nor did anyone at the store, considering the rebate is the customer's responsibility to take care of. I was bothered, however, by Victor's unwillingness to comfort Irving in any way, say by giving him his associate's business card so he could speak directly with the guy who sold him the phone and figure out what to do.
Irate customers really just want to be listened to and sympathized with. There's a chance that women in the service world fare better in this kind of situation than their male counterparts. I'm thinking of customers here as being angry babies who just need some soothing words from mother. It's kind of a Freudian thing I suppose. From my experiences, and from seeing guy baristas at Cafe Nasty fail miserably at helping problematic customers, I do think there's validity to the calming nature of womankind.
Regardless of my theories though, Victor had many options for dealing with angry Irving. Don't they have a customer service handbook at Cingular. It seems like the more expensive the merchandise, the better trained employees should be at catering to even their most difficult clients needs. It makes sense right? That the more money people spend, the more attention they'd expect from salespeople.
My needs were put on hold momentarily while Victor and Irving battled it out. Victor just kept telling Irving there was nothing he could do for him, that the rebate was his problem, not Cingular's. Hearing this, Irving got very mad. He said, "There is no courtesy here. What, you only pay me respect when I'm spending money here, and not when I have a problem. The man who sold the phone to me was courteous and you are being so rude. Fine I'll just take my business elsewhere. I don't have to come here anymore!"
And can you believe that Victor even interrupted him to say "That's fine sir, whatever you want. Have a nice day," just totally dismissing him and sending him on his way. I thought that screamed immature. Bad, bad Victor.
Then Victor committed another no-no. When Irving was gone, he started venting to me about what an asshole the guy is. I'm sure there was a little bit of machismo "I don't take shit from anyone" stuff going on, to impress me no doubt. But still! There were other customers in the store, standing right next to me!
It's a Nasty rule: you don't talk shit about customers in front of other customers. Gee, when I put it like that it just sounds like the most basic common sense. But apparently, not everyone adheres to it.