Working at a customer support job or any similar role can provide a person with many interesting stories. These stories can range from barely interesting interactions to some of the craziest things you have ever heard -- the scale of customers is always very wide.
And so, when an X user @WrittenByHanna asked people what the most outlandish requests from customers they received were, people did not shy away from sharing them. Today, we picked out some of the stories for you to check out and see how wild some clients can be!
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Image credits: WrittenByHanna
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
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Sounds like there are two options here: Sally needs to be taught about self-control; or she needs to be in nappies / diapers.
Nearly everyone has heard the phrase “the customer is always right.” It’s the phrase that was coined back in the 1990s, suggesting that the business and the employees should prioritize customer satisfaction above anything else. I guess we can be pretty sure that a lot of people from this list thought of this in their minds while these customers made the strange requests.
Yet, many experts are against this philosophy. After all, no one is right 100% of the time. Also, the customers believing they can’t be wrong can even lead to violence against retail workers.
"Why dies it smell manure?" "We gave up on pottytraning the hippopotamus.."
An example of a case of a customer not being right is when they make an unrealistic request (this list is full of examples for it) and demand it be done even though the staff can’t do it. So, experts argue that, in cases like that, customer service workers shouldn’t feel obligated to accommodate such a request. Ideally, they should try to work it out with the customer without taking on the blame.
Instead of jumping to the “the customer is always right” idea straight away, Marjorie Adams, president/CEO of Fourlane, a financial technology consulting firm in the US, suggests several things to do when dealing with customers:
- Ensuring the customer is heard;
- Not taking their words personally;
- Retaining the focus;
- Thinking about the other staff members.
I'd lose my mind if I had to answer questions like this on a regular basis.
To be fair, in this day and age where fruit and vegies are shipped around the world it's kind of a reasonable question.
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Yeah, stupid customer! You should’ve known the harvest seasons of papayas before asking an innocent question that wasted 10 seconds of my day! Everyone knows papayas can’t be grown in February.
And spend 10 mins posting about it!!! How difficult is a simple answer: “Papaya season will be around May month” Never thought a simple question could be made fun of.
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It depends upon how the tone of the question was. If it's along the lines of - "Do you know why fresh papaya isn't available during certain months?" then answer. Some people might not honestly know why it isn't.
My husband is a produce manager and he gets asked these kind of questions alll of the time. "Why are all of your products from Mexico? Why not this state ? Ma'am, there is snow on the ground, nothing is growing here right now!
Greenhouses and shipping exist though. I feel like this is a perfectly valid question.
Oh so I'm supposed to know when fruit have sex and spread their seedlings?
Third day working at a grocery store, I was asked "What's the difference between original oats and toasted?" I blue-screened, 'cause I couldn't think of an honest answer that wouldn't sound snide.
Whereas I wouldn't even have understood the question.
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Even Gen Z doesn't remember when you couldn't get fruits of vegetables out of season. Boomers know that anything other than apples was only going to be in the store for a few weeks.
"ah yes, madam. That would be our limited edition spit syrup - we reserve it for customers we know are going to be a pain in the butt"
So, I guess the best advice would be to be mindful of each other, no matter if we're customers or an employee. After all, we're all just humans who make mistakes from time to time.
Have you ever witnessed a customer making an outlandish request? Or maybe you made one yourself? Share it with us in the comments, and don't forget to upvote the most entertaining request from the list!
I like that instant water. All you have to do is add water.
Okay, so I pictured beans like the magical fruit kind, and was like "caffeinated farts, why?"
Yup, as a ´gardener’ and a female one, they seem to think that they’re doing you a favor , think they can pay you minimum wage when you use your own equipment and you can manifest wonderful gardens from F.A !
Not really surprised since these people expected a server to (?) comfort/ tend to a stranger's child. Entitlement- its a helluva druhg 🤷♀️
They may be enquiring so you have the opportunity to say "sorry, that one's just run out."
Sure, ma'am! With the additional batshit crazy customer fee, that'll be 1,000.00.
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We have these very bright, fluffy oversized beach towels for guests to use at the pool & beach. It’s common they bring/wear them back to their rooms rather than toss them in the dirty towel bins. We also sell an upgraded version with our logo embroidered at our gift shops for a hefty $70 each. It’s not uncommon for a cheap guest to try returning our beach towels to the gift shops claiming they purchased them & changed their minds. I think they see the towels on the shelves & assume they’re identical to the ones all over the property so they hatch a plan to mitigate the huge amount they spent to stay with us. We don’t even have to ask for a receipt since we can point out they’re not the same product.
Worked in a motorcycle store, we had two floors, one that you had to walk through to get to the stairs upto the floor I was on, they walked past at least 100 motorcycles on the ground floor, up the stairs, met me and asked ‘do you sell Subaru parts?’, when I replied that the Subaru dealer down the road would be best place to buy parts they huffed and said they thought we’d be cheaper. I did then explain that Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Buell all supplied us but Subaru stuck to car dealerships. They still seemed unhappy, people including me can be stupid sometimes!
I was visiting the owners of a little country store when a lady stopped in. They apologized for it being dark, and said the electricity had gone out a few minutes ago. She said "Oh no! Do you think the eggs are still good?" (In case anyone is wondering, the eggs probably would have still been okay the next day with no refrigeration.)
Not crazy but it was so random: we worked in a little shop selling electronics. One day a short little man popped his head in, very flustered and clearly frustrated and in rush: "I don't suppose you know where I could get a dickie bow, do you?" Well, we did not, sadly...Another one: our shop used to be an Asian hair and nail salon. About a year after that closed an another year after we've been there a lady came in, asking for a hairdo. We told her that all the electronics around her were not decoration, we in fact just sold those, we did not do hair. She blinked a few times, then asked: "And if we go upstairs, then you do hair?"
Once, MANY years ago when I worked for Walgreens (d**g store with other things in the USA), I had a guy call the store and I answered (I was working at the front register by the door) and he asked me, I kid you not, what size condom he needed. I told him he needed to speak with a male manager and transferred him. Then I got off the phone, looked at the customer in front of me, and just laughed hysterically. I told her what the guy on the phone asked. We both laughed, along with all the other customers in the line.
Stood in front of the eggs, "where are the eggs?". "There madam". "No, the normal eggs". "Sorry, what do you mean by normal?". At this point she's screaming in my face and I know full well what she's after but I'm playing dumb. "The flucking normal eggs, none of your free range or barn eggs, I just want normal eggs". "Do you mean battery farmed eggs?". " Yeah, the flucking normal eggs". "Sorry, we don't sell them any more due to animal welfare issues". "I don't care about the flucking animals, why don't you have normal eggs?". "I'm afraid that's above my pay grade madam, maybe you can write a letter to head office and ask them". Storms off swearing about "useless c***s". This was probably around 1990, and in fairness they had so many complaints about the absence of normal eggs that battery eggs were back on the shelves within 4 months.
Not a server, but my dad witnessed this interaction on a cruise ship. Lady is served some sort of roasted chicken dish, and exclaims to the waiter when he explains what it is "but I ain't never had chicken that didn't come out of a box before!"
I worked in a bookstore. A young woman asked me to help her pick out tarot cards and a book on tarot so she could find out if she was pregnant.
Had a customer call and ask if we sold liquor. I said, "Ma'am, this is a Wal Mart at 10 pm on a Sunday night in UTAH." Please, try in actual liquor store...might need to cross state lines.
Possible customer was from out of area and didn't know whether or not alcohal is allowed to be sold in grocery stores in Utah.
Load More Replies... Worked at McDonald's. A customer came in with a coupon for a free Whopper. I took it and offered him the choice between a Big Mac or QPC. McDonald's policy is to accept all competitors' coupons.
We have these very bright, fluffy oversized beach towels for guests to use at the pool & beach. It’s common they bring/wear them back to their rooms rather than toss them in the dirty towel bins. We also sell an upgraded version with our logo embroidered at our gift shops for a hefty $70 each. It’s not uncommon for a cheap guest to try returning our beach towels to the gift shops claiming they purchased them & changed their minds. I think they see the towels on the shelves & assume they’re identical to the ones all over the property so they hatch a plan to mitigate the huge amount they spent to stay with us. We don’t even have to ask for a receipt since we can point out they’re not the same product.
Worked in a motorcycle store, we had two floors, one that you had to walk through to get to the stairs upto the floor I was on, they walked past at least 100 motorcycles on the ground floor, up the stairs, met me and asked ‘do you sell Subaru parts?’, when I replied that the Subaru dealer down the road would be best place to buy parts they huffed and said they thought we’d be cheaper. I did then explain that Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Buell all supplied us but Subaru stuck to car dealerships. They still seemed unhappy, people including me can be stupid sometimes!
I was visiting the owners of a little country store when a lady stopped in. They apologized for it being dark, and said the electricity had gone out a few minutes ago. She said "Oh no! Do you think the eggs are still good?" (In case anyone is wondering, the eggs probably would have still been okay the next day with no refrigeration.)
Not crazy but it was so random: we worked in a little shop selling electronics. One day a short little man popped his head in, very flustered and clearly frustrated and in rush: "I don't suppose you know where I could get a dickie bow, do you?" Well, we did not, sadly...Another one: our shop used to be an Asian hair and nail salon. About a year after that closed an another year after we've been there a lady came in, asking for a hairdo. We told her that all the electronics around her were not decoration, we in fact just sold those, we did not do hair. She blinked a few times, then asked: "And if we go upstairs, then you do hair?"
Once, MANY years ago when I worked for Walgreens (d**g store with other things in the USA), I had a guy call the store and I answered (I was working at the front register by the door) and he asked me, I kid you not, what size condom he needed. I told him he needed to speak with a male manager and transferred him. Then I got off the phone, looked at the customer in front of me, and just laughed hysterically. I told her what the guy on the phone asked. We both laughed, along with all the other customers in the line.
Stood in front of the eggs, "where are the eggs?". "There madam". "No, the normal eggs". "Sorry, what do you mean by normal?". At this point she's screaming in my face and I know full well what she's after but I'm playing dumb. "The flucking normal eggs, none of your free range or barn eggs, I just want normal eggs". "Do you mean battery farmed eggs?". " Yeah, the flucking normal eggs". "Sorry, we don't sell them any more due to animal welfare issues". "I don't care about the flucking animals, why don't you have normal eggs?". "I'm afraid that's above my pay grade madam, maybe you can write a letter to head office and ask them". Storms off swearing about "useless c***s". This was probably around 1990, and in fairness they had so many complaints about the absence of normal eggs that battery eggs were back on the shelves within 4 months.
Not a server, but my dad witnessed this interaction on a cruise ship. Lady is served some sort of roasted chicken dish, and exclaims to the waiter when he explains what it is "but I ain't never had chicken that didn't come out of a box before!"
I worked in a bookstore. A young woman asked me to help her pick out tarot cards and a book on tarot so she could find out if she was pregnant.
Had a customer call and ask if we sold liquor. I said, "Ma'am, this is a Wal Mart at 10 pm on a Sunday night in UTAH." Please, try in actual liquor store...might need to cross state lines.
Possible customer was from out of area and didn't know whether or not alcohal is allowed to be sold in grocery stores in Utah.
Load More Replies... Worked at McDonald's. A customer came in with a coupon for a free Whopper. I took it and offered him the choice between a Big Mac or QPC. McDonald's policy is to accept all competitors' coupons.
