Anyone who has worked in retail knows that there are good customers, there are bad ones, and then there are people who have just come out of hell and are on a mission to make everyone's life miserable.
Recently, Twitter user Pigeon Fancier posted a question: "What's the most ridiculous demand a customer has made of you?" and the answers have been flooding in nonstop! From returning a fully consumed rotisserie turkey because it was too dry to demanding a book with real dinosaur photos, here are some of the wildest replies.
Image credits: isabelzawtun
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One study found that 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 study, which was published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology in 2017, looked at several factors to determine how customers treated employees. One variable researchers looked at was the words customers used when speaking to customer service workers.
her brain cells clearly weren't permanent, must've gone for a walk
They found that customers at the cheap airline Ryanair used fewer humanizing trait words than those who were flying Lufthansa. Researchers believe that plays a big part in how customers treat people who are working there to help them.
Even if you worked there, putting a finger on your face and threatening to get you fired is beyond disgusting. Who do these people think they are??
I hope the police were called on him. In front of his kids. A lot of the time religion is stupid.
"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.
What do you mean? You can obviously change the weight of the bags easily. Using essential oils! Laws were made to be broken.
"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.
a bit like arguing with the creator of Dairy Milk because it doesn't taste the same as a supermarket knockoff
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.
For lords sake, This is why I'm not a retail worker. People are STUPID.
No there should not be a door here. Windows are used to bring in light. Specsavers appointment long overdue.
An elderly relative once asked me to photoshop a group of people out of an old photo "so I can see the building behind them"
I probably would have told him that if he managed to suck it out and spit it into a bucket, I would be happy to give him a refund. 🤔🤭😵
Do many places have smoking and non smoking areas anymore? I know in SA that it is illegal to smoke anywhere indoors (except home). It is also illegal to smoke a certain distance near a park, bus stop, school grounds etc. Pubs, Restaurants, Sports clubs have a small seperate section outdoors designated for smokers but no food is allowed and it is literally like a closed in box with no roof, some plants, maybe a couple of chairs/stools and maybe a table or two with ashtrays (if your lucky), sometimes it is standing only with ashtrays.
And yet they ate.. It all? They must like dry things then. Like their personality and scamming tactics, for example.
Was sitting in on a 911 call to see if I wanted to work as a dispatcher. Woman calls and asks for a police officer. Says her and her boyfriend got in a fight and he took the car and left. Then she questioned the woman.."Was it your car?" No. "Did he take anything of yours..purse or possessions?" No. "did he hit you or harm you?" No. "Well then what do you want me to do ma'am?" Make him come back!
I now don’t feel so bad that I get the vowels in the wrong order (Clemitas).
Had a guy come into the repair shop and demanded we repair a generator that "just stopped working." The mechanic opened up the fuel lines to find sand pouring out. Turned out the guy had taken the generator to a dirt bike rally in the desert and buried it to "Keep it safe." When we told him his new generator, which he only used once, required a repair not covered under the warranty, he screamed at us, marched himself to our local store, and convinced a salesman that he should be given a replacement for free because the previous one was "defective."
“I’m sorry...I must have forgotten to tell you that I’m colorblind. My bad!”
Pretty sure that it wasn't about solving homelessness but rather about removing them from the stores property so that customers like them won't be "bothered" by homeless people (especially their existence).
My mother-in-law once had parents that told her she needed to change her class schedule because their son needed to take Geometry, but the only times it was offered interfered with his band practice. Uh...Imma say "No"
I would have given her directions to the other two stores. "Buh-bye now...drive safe!"
What's worse about this is the people that get upset because they just show up at a restaurant with a party of 14 and expect to be seated immediately. Call ahead of time and let them know you're coming so they can make arrangements and reserve tables for you. It's called being courteous.
I had that happen because I mistakenly wore a royal blue t-shirt at Walmart. Boy..those Karen's get a little testy when you say you're not an employee....
" Sure. " and proceed to hold it upside down. Don't drop it though..
So many people dumped human ashes at the haunted mansion at Disney that it became illegal.
I used to work at a movie theater that was one of five in a local chain and one of the five was having the last screening of something I’d really wanted to see but hadn’t been able to get to before then. I arrived about 15 minutes late and when I asked if it had started yet—had no idea how many previews they were showing—they said “No, no...we waited just for you,” which is something I often wanted to say when people showed up late at our theater.” So I sighed and said something like “Yeah, yeah...very funny” and then they said “No, really, there’s no one else here and we knew you were coming.”
She meant the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security, because you're obviously are trying to bring division and civil unrest to the country. On the other hand, it might be the start of a career within the GOP...
Reminds me of the time I worked in an independent TV/video/satellite/audio retailers and this sweet old lady would pop in and ask us to look at her VCR because the videos were not playing. A few questions later and it turns out that she didn't realize the autoplay feature only works on videos with the tab removed such as on a bought movie and she was expecting the same from a home recording video with the tab intact. She looked embarrassed and said "I am a silly bugger arn't I!" We got called out to her house a lot for this problem. Turns out she was in the early stages of dementia and we called her son about it but she kept popping in to let us know the video player was still working. Boss always made her a cup of tea and we chatted with her for about an hour. She was awesome!
Oh dear...crazy cat lady! (I’m a cat lover, but I’m definitely not a CCL)
Oh, I have one that's similar. I work in company law in a small European country. Guy contacts me via e-mail, claims he's from India and is currently in Turkey. Cool. He then proceeds to pester me RELENTLESSLY (I'm talking 6 e-mail chains, twice a day, for three days straight), telling me to go to the local tax office, get him a local tax number (it's needed to found a company here), then PRINT OUT the copy of his passport he sent me, pretend it's the real thing, and either sign everything in HIS name (so fool the lawyer into thinking that I, a white woman in my 20's, am actually an Indian man about 10 years my senior and forge his signature on legal documents) OR give my own name and personal documents as HIS REPRESENTATIVE, while he stays half a fuckign continent over. Needless to say, that's not a service I provide, much less for the ~$100 we charge normally. He was baffled.
Well, fish that smells fishy is often not as fresh as it should be, so she might (repeat, might) be justified.
Was sitting at a restaurant waiting for my order when I noticed an old man at the bar giving the waitress a kiss on the cheek and squeezing her butt. I questioned my waitress about it. She said "Oh..he comes in every week and does that. He tips his waitress $60 for letting him do it." I'm like "WTF?"
If you sell bath bombs, then obviously you sell other pyrotechnics... right?
Why would you spill our retailers secret? What’s the first rule of retail?
I don't know if people think saying things like that work, but it definitely does not and just makes them more upset with you. Don't do it
A lesson I have learned a long time ago: First ask for details. You'll find that the emergency isn't an emergency, the newly bought pc is in fact 15 years old and the expensive car is actually a $200 rustbucket with a seized engine and no tires.
Read the Bible! Spoiler alert. He dies! In the sequel, he came back to life 3 days later. 😉
This is where you can take liberties. "Oh, yeah, the Shell Gas station there? Oh, yeah. They had a horrible infestation of dragons. Almost impossible to catch once they found the energy drinks. They had to shut the pumps down because the dragons were just throwing flame w***y-nilly as they toasted themselves some roller sausages and the odd passerby. Made up? Tell that to me Uncle Willers. My uncle Willers went in and they got him. My aunt Edna saw them slather him in nacho cheese. Not that its much loss, Willers ne'er was too smart, I reckon. Edna's glad to be rid of him, to be honest."
Next time tell them that plastic flowers aren't as ecofriendly but they last for decades.
You ever wonder if they hear themselves when they speak? Like..does it process that it made no sense whatsoever?
That's when you get you and 49 of your closest friends and family to do the transactions. Have you learned nothing from watching the big families at the grocery stores.....
Isn't this a consequence of idiot policies of some companies that will take in any product because "the customer is king and always right"?
So many questions like 1. Why would you need an address for a return? 2. What are you going to do with that information? 3 . How would it help you if I told you that my address is 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20500 in processing the return?
i work at an art store too and tbh i know of multiple customers who have that few braincells
Throw them out. If you aren't ordering , you aren't going to keep a table occupied.
Why not change the policy so people get two free, customers who want any more can buy them for a small additional charge.
And this is why women need clothes with regular pockets..like the men get.
Charmander is really common either way. Not worth the hype, I think it's overrated.
Back when I was working at a restaurant for a bit, I had a customer call up and ask if I could print and mail them directions, from their house, to the restaurant. Turns out they lived on a different continent, and also wanted me to arrange their flights and hire a car for them. They also asked, in all seriousness, if I could compile some sort of itinerary for their 2-week stay, and to include recommendations for other restaurants on the list. I suggested a travel agent might be a better fit for their requirements, and they said I had a lot to learn about "going above and beyond" in my customer service 😶 This was about 15 years ago
Wow. I have so many questions. Where were you working? A fancy restaurant? From where was the person coming? Were they going to pay for the international postage?
Load More Replies...I worked in a Tourist Information centre, in a small village. I had once a lady asking me some information about a traffic circle which had statues of pilgrims on it, and I didn't know what she was talking about. She also asked me questions about the village, but what she was describing didn't exist in here... She lost her temper and started yelling at me, saying I didn't know the area I was working in, etc. I made a Google search on this specific traffic circle (fyi, in France we have tens of thousands traffic circles...), found it, and showed her the photo. Turned out she fell asleep while her husband was driving, and she didn't realize they drove more than 100km... I saw she felt stupid, and she left without any apology...
Back when I was working at a restaurant for a bit, I had a customer call up and ask if I could print and mail them directions, from their house, to the restaurant. Turns out they lived on a different continent, and also wanted me to arrange their flights and hire a car for them. They also asked, in all seriousness, if I could compile some sort of itinerary for their 2-week stay, and to include recommendations for other restaurants on the list. I suggested a travel agent might be a better fit for their requirements, and they said I had a lot to learn about "going above and beyond" in my customer service 😶 This was about 15 years ago
Wow. I have so many questions. Where were you working? A fancy restaurant? From where was the person coming? Were they going to pay for the international postage?
Load More Replies...I worked in a Tourist Information centre, in a small village. I had once a lady asking me some information about a traffic circle which had statues of pilgrims on it, and I didn't know what she was talking about. She also asked me questions about the village, but what she was describing didn't exist in here... She lost her temper and started yelling at me, saying I didn't know the area I was working in, etc. I made a Google search on this specific traffic circle (fyi, in France we have tens of thousands traffic circles...), found it, and showed her the photo. Turned out she fell asleep while her husband was driving, and she didn't realize they drove more than 100km... I saw she felt stupid, and she left without any apology...