You Think Your Job Sucks? Then Take A Look At These 40 Employee Conversations With Clients From Hell (New Pics)
Everyone who has worked in retail knows that for every good customer, you get 2 horrible ones pulling up in the parking lot. It's a law. Like gravity.
But some people are so rude, so annoying, and so malicious, it's like they're on a quest to make as many workers miserable as possible. And sometimes they succeed.
When someone like that ruins your day, there's only one thing you can do. Vent online. I mean, you can't punch the jerk or anything—you're still in uniform. Pull off a stunt that damages the reputation of the company you're working for and you're out the door.
Bored Panda has compiled a list of these stories to show you that people in retail really deserve our respect; they go through these situations every day. For more similar experiences, check out our older pieces here and here.
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Glory hounding. Trying to do the right thing for the sake of appearances whether it kills anyone or not
In our piece on some of the most ridiculous customer demands ever, we mentioned one study that's relevant here as well.
Turns out, people treat retail workers worse when they're looking for bargains than if they were less price-conscious. The University of British Columbia (UBC) Sauder School of Business paper, which was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology in 2017, looked at several factors to determine how customers treated employees.
One variable researchers analyzed was the words customers used when speaking to customer service workers.
"When shoppers focus only on paying the lowest price, they become less attuned to understanding the human needs of others, or even recognizing them," Johannes Boegershausen, a UBC Sauder Ph.D. student who co-authored the study, said in a press release.
Researchers also analyzed customers' feelings towards the employees by showing them pictures of a flight attendant in the Ryanair (bargain) uniform, the Lufthansa (luxury) uniform, and a neutral uniform. Customers viewed the Lufthansa and neutral flight attendants as equally human, but they saw the Ryanair flight attendant in a poorer light.
"We simply varied the brand, and found that people ascribed lower capabilities for experiencing emotions and feelings to the Ryanair flight attendant," Boegershausen explained, adding that this subtle dehumanization can take many forms and is not necessarily intentional.
Another experiment had participants communicating in a live chat with a rude customer service representative. They were then offered the chance to punish the employee through a complaint. The researchers found participants were 18 percent more likely to give a rating that would lead to disciplinary actions against the employee when shoppers were adopting a price-conscious mentality than when they were not.
The researchers say the findings could help owners and management of discount stores, as the problem could affect their employee retention—previous research has shown that employees who experience rude and inconsiderate customer behaviors report higher levels of emotional exhaustion, job dissatisfaction, and burnout.
Judging from these posts, retail employees deal with a lot of dumb stuff. At least they're strong enough to laugh from their misery.
Ohhhh I've been there. I really have. There is genetic variation within every race... You can't say "you're not caucasian, because your nose is too big". I don't appreciate idiots who think they know your race better than you
It's so sad... Even if you don't like lgbt, you could at least be civil enough. Surely there is some area between best buddies and worst enemies. I know this because I met people who believe i am going to hell, but they're still my friends :)
I mixed paint in a hardware store for years and I can confirm that, YES, they can indeed be that dumb
Load More Replies...Wait, I'm confused... She wants this employee to mix two different paint colors so she can paint stripes with the two colors individually, but she asked that they get mixed so she doesn't have to pay for two separate gallons? But she thinks that somehow the two colors will still be individual? Am I getting this right??
Yup. Clearly for her/him the wheel is spinning but the hamster is dead.
Load More Replies...You buy two "stripe" cans, and lay one of them on its side, of course.
Load More Replies...She must have watched a Bugs Bunny cartoon doing it and though it was a home improvement program.
Not an ice cream- I wonder if she was low on sleep or something, or just trying to cause a scene
Little did they know, this is actually three four year olds in a trench coat
Yes, they are that dumb. Had a customer want camo paint (which if you don't know, comes in a kit with 3 cans of spray paint and some leaf templates). He honestly thought it came in one can and you just mash the button and it comes out CAMO. The terrifying thing is these people breed and vote.
“Yes, hi...I need these colours mixed, my son wants his room painted in a checkerboard style and I only want to use one can of paint...”
"Hey, I wanted orange & green stripes, but the paint is brown on my wall !"
so when we gave your kids striped tooth paste they grew up and expected ....
I also would like my milk and orange juice mixed in the same jug so I can have orange juice for breakfast and milk for lunch.
Well, yeah-the paint separates when they open the can. Or dip the brush.
Oh boy will she be disappointed. I would really record the conversation for when she comes back demanding a refund or compensation or something unreasonable.
Yes you can. I had a client in 1995 at my computer store who told me I was "behind the times" because I couldn't build her a computer that would read her mind and write documents for her. Not voice input, I suggested that, not ocr, but actually telepathy with a device she had seen in a magazine. Headphones.
Must think you can buy it packaged like goober grape the peanut butter an jelly combo.
I would love to call this fake on the grounds that people cannot be that stupid, but I worked in a humane society shelter for years and had someone freak out on me because they could not adopt a female pitbull unaltered (they wanted to breed her to their male). Hon...the reason there are SO many dogs in shelters is partially due to backyard breeding.
This is making me so confused. I used to think I was intelligent. What is happening?
When I worked in a garden center, a really friendly customer laughed and told me he had just embarrassed himself at another garden center by asking employees there, “Do you have chlamydia?” He said they just stared at him for a moment, so he followed up with, “Do you know where I can find chlamydia?” He then realized that he meant to say “clematis” and immediately turned around and left. I helped him find our clematis, and, as he was leaving, said, “At least you didn’t say you were having trouble finding the clitoris!”
Ok, we'll rename this fee to education-fee and raise it by 50%. The lesson you've learned is that you don't pretend to be rich when you haven't got a dime to spare.
I'll try that with HMRC (UK's equivalent to the IRS). They’re sure to see the funny side.
Surely that’ll pass no way he could go broke Definitely going to pay you back Yep. 9th times the charm!
Ooooh, so you can't handle things on your own. Need to the help from your solicitor, do you? Well, I have a solicitor too and she's better than yours.... See you in court!!!
And then the blood clapped. And then the OP gets given a nobel peace prize.
Oh, and peacock feathers, but not too many; i don't want them to exceed the number of cherubs.
To be fair, the customer gets my vote with this one. I am tired of going into a certain stationery shop here in the UK to buy a newspaper, maybe you know, other bits of stationery and have the cashier ask me if I want to buy 2 massive bars of chocolate for a reduced price. I saw the bars, I had to walk past them in order to get to the till. If I had wanted them I would have picked them up. So please do not push us to buy what we did not come in to buy.
Perhaps you need to start stating up front that locked PDFs will be sent straight back as you can't work with them, and start doing that?
Sorry, but the initial question by the client seemed like a reasonable request? And the reply comes across as patronizing. Am I missing something?
Are any of these real? What is the point of this thread? (I've only read the first few so far...)
Me too, I had to stop because it's difficult to believe these are real, however, when you think about it, people can be pretty stupid, so who knows? (I read about four, and yeah, they just get worse and even more difficult to believe that some people are THAT stupid)
Load More Replies...Customers can suck. My mother received a call from an African American lady, a person she made a cake for. The cake was said to be cut on a Saturday. She received the cake on a Friday. She called again to say the cake was uncooked and that's why they wanted her to keep it in the fridge, now she wants a refund. What actually happened was she ate a slice of the cake. It was totally fine, and then she took a 4 day trip to Vegas without putting it in the fridge as suggested. Since the cake contains butter, when she came back, the cake was collapsing. My mom tried to tell her this, The lady called my mother a fraud and that the "real" restaurant was owned by a white man.
Jeez some people are like Neanderthals when it comes to common sense. I was like 😵🤦♀️ the whole time reading this. 9_9
I can handle naively dumb. I qualify there frequently. But mean, self righteous and stupid? We had a president like that. He’s gone. Let’s keep the likes of him under a large Boulder please.
I work in customer service - these are not fake. I had a man two days ago demand a refund and repurchase using "mall gift cards" tell me I could do it while he was outside my store during a lockdown. He didn't understand that I can't use my register for any reason. My registers are closed: I am a fulfilment centre only: as his order clearly states.
I know, I read a few then stopped cos I already read these on their website. And yes, to those saying they're a bit unbelievable, sorry to say customers really can be that entitled, which is why they started this vent site in the first place!
Load More Replies...It's natural for us to ridicule and scoff at those who do stupid things. But, friends, those people are still human. The more intelligent we are, the more responsibility we have to understand that those who are less intelligent need help, support, and patience, not ridicule. Just because "everyone" laughs at these, doesn't make it right to do so. Bored Panda, I love you but you make fun of people all too often, and that is not only cruel, it sets poor standards for readers.
Not a client but a vivid memory of me and my brother. I asked him to help clean up before our mo got home and he said no. I offered him a piece of gum if he did help clean up he agrees. We clean up and I have music on, I toss a book into the hallway asking him to put it away. No response, I look up. He's not there, he sitting in his room with his laptop. I ask him why he isn't cleaning, he says, "Yeah I did." We go back and forth, I never gave him gum and mom was on my side saying he had to clean up till it was all clean and THEN he would get gum.
It's entertaining yes but I sincerely hope most of these are made-up. I would lose too much faith in humanity otherwise.
Fair point. I am glad that these are probably fake.
Load More Replies...Some of these give me headaches, some of these are obviously fake, and some of these make the customer seem like an idiot when in reality they really aren't.
This entire thread could be titled: "Life In A World With Boomers"
Are any of these real? What is the point of this thread? (I've only read the first few so far...)
Me too, I had to stop because it's difficult to believe these are real, however, when you think about it, people can be pretty stupid, so who knows? (I read about four, and yeah, they just get worse and even more difficult to believe that some people are THAT stupid)
Load More Replies...Customers can suck. My mother received a call from an African American lady, a person she made a cake for. The cake was said to be cut on a Saturday. She received the cake on a Friday. She called again to say the cake was uncooked and that's why they wanted her to keep it in the fridge, now she wants a refund. What actually happened was she ate a slice of the cake. It was totally fine, and then she took a 4 day trip to Vegas without putting it in the fridge as suggested. Since the cake contains butter, when she came back, the cake was collapsing. My mom tried to tell her this, The lady called my mother a fraud and that the "real" restaurant was owned by a white man.
Jeez some people are like Neanderthals when it comes to common sense. I was like 😵🤦♀️ the whole time reading this. 9_9
I can handle naively dumb. I qualify there frequently. But mean, self righteous and stupid? We had a president like that. He’s gone. Let’s keep the likes of him under a large Boulder please.
I work in customer service - these are not fake. I had a man two days ago demand a refund and repurchase using "mall gift cards" tell me I could do it while he was outside my store during a lockdown. He didn't understand that I can't use my register for any reason. My registers are closed: I am a fulfilment centre only: as his order clearly states.
I know, I read a few then stopped cos I already read these on their website. And yes, to those saying they're a bit unbelievable, sorry to say customers really can be that entitled, which is why they started this vent site in the first place!
Load More Replies...It's natural for us to ridicule and scoff at those who do stupid things. But, friends, those people are still human. The more intelligent we are, the more responsibility we have to understand that those who are less intelligent need help, support, and patience, not ridicule. Just because "everyone" laughs at these, doesn't make it right to do so. Bored Panda, I love you but you make fun of people all too often, and that is not only cruel, it sets poor standards for readers.
Not a client but a vivid memory of me and my brother. I asked him to help clean up before our mo got home and he said no. I offered him a piece of gum if he did help clean up he agrees. We clean up and I have music on, I toss a book into the hallway asking him to put it away. No response, I look up. He's not there, he sitting in his room with his laptop. I ask him why he isn't cleaning, he says, "Yeah I did." We go back and forth, I never gave him gum and mom was on my side saying he had to clean up till it was all clean and THEN he would get gum.
It's entertaining yes but I sincerely hope most of these are made-up. I would lose too much faith in humanity otherwise.
Fair point. I am glad that these are probably fake.
Load More Replies...Some of these give me headaches, some of these are obviously fake, and some of these make the customer seem like an idiot when in reality they really aren't.
This entire thread could be titled: "Life In A World With Boomers"