Employees Are Sharing Their Dumbest Customer Encounters, And It’s Hilarious But Also Painful To Read (40 Pics)
Welcome to Bored Panda, how may I help you? Ah, I see. So, you Pandas work in the food, retail, and services industries and started the week off dealing with some incredibly dense customers. Denser than the core of Planet Earth, you say? Well, don’t worry about it, plenty of us have been there.
In fact, our team has collected a whole bunch of examples of the dumbest things that customers have said and done, to make you feel better. Trust us, you’re not alone in this. Of course, this isn’t to say that all customers are dumb: most are polite and decent. However, a small proportion of them are nightmare material and don’t even know what chicken wings are. And here’s the proof. Grab a soul-healing cup of tea, scroll down, upvote the situations that made you laugh, and share your own retail nightmare scenarios in the comments.
Bored Panda reached out to Save the Student, a British project that advises students on how to make their money go further, about how the pandemic affected the job market and what to do if you feel like you're stuck at a job where you feel demeaned. Jake Butler from Save the Student said: "It does depend on location and other factors, but finding a job during the pandemic, specifically lockdown, has been extremely difficult for students. It's true that some businesses, such as supermarkets and delivery companies, have increased recruitment, but large student employing sectors such as retail and hospitality have really stuttered due to being closed for many months."
This post may include affiliate links.
Staff are slaves to that kind of lady. So "no people" in her mind.
Jake from Save the Student added that while some retail and hospitality jobs are returning, many students are "shunning them as there are worries about job security and also working conditions." According to Jake, one of the main worries that many have is that the market is weighted towards the employers and not the employees.
"For those that feel demeaned in their current job, I would suggest it's worth studying the rights you have as an employee," Jake told Bored Panda what we can all do if we find ourselves being treated less than humanely at our workplace. "Even during the pandemic, there is no excuse for an employer to break the law at your expense. And if you feel you're being treated especially poorly I would suggest looking to switch jobs, but doing so wisely."
It’s easy to stay professional when the customers who you deal with are nice, pleasant, and see you as a human being. But the challenges start when you come face to face with someone who demeans you, acts overly entitled, or simply asks incredibly dumb questions. All of which makes you question why the nation’s education system has set the bar so low.
Earlier, I’d spoken about how to deal with difficult customers with Alexander Kjerulf. He’s the founder and Chief Happiness Officer at ‘Woohoo inc.’ and knows a lot about helping keep employees motivated, happy, and using their skills at their best.
Alex put it very simply that if you feel like you’re forgetting that you’re a human being worthy of humane treatment at your job, then you should seriously consider moving on. “Quit, and find a better place to work, where they actually care about their staff. And quit sooner rather than later. The longer you stay, the more they will grind you down until you lose all the energy and optimism you need to move on and find a better job,” he told Bored Panda.
This keeps happening to me as well, and I thought I’m the only one, that something is wrong with me.. I work at a small gallery, and people keep asking the same stupid thing. I try to explain to then that me and my colleague are people too, but that doesn’t seem like a relevant answer to most of those who ask such question.
There is “I see dead people!” And then there’s “I don’t see people!”
I guess if there was no one there, no one could make her coffee.
once, at closing, we told this group of teens that we were closing. their response: what, do we have to, like, leave or something?' i just said 'no, we'll give you the keys, you lock up, we'll go home.' 'Really?' 'NO! you have to leave!'
Second time these people have appeared ... I think I'll call them... Dumthicks
At the store I worked at we asked customers to stand at the end of the belt while unloading their groceries and then, once the customer in front of them has left, move up to the plexi barrier in front of the register. Do not help with the bagging and do not reach over the bagger to grab something. 1 customer definitely did not see us as people. She started unloading her groceries in the middle of the belt and I repeated my spiel about where to stand. She backed up to the end of the belt but once the customer in front of her left she moved up to the middle of the belt to finish unloading. I told her again to unload at the end and she goes "Why? The other lady left? There's no one else here? It doesnt matter." Ma'am you are less than 3 ft from my face. Back up.
He said that it’s common in restaurants to treat their customers like kings. And some places complement this by treating their employees badly. However, this is far from all right! It shouldn’t be the norm.
“99% of people are nice, but the occasional rude client is unavoidable," Alex noted that you will have to deal with difficult customers sooner or later. It’s not something that you can avoid forever and ever, no matter how good (or lucky) of an employee you are. "You can learn tricks to deal with them, and that's great, but no one should have to put up with mistreatment."
The rule "an eye for an eye" should have been applied: "here's your HOT latte!" *splash*
Working in the service industry doesn’t mean that you have to be a doormat, however. If you find yourself constantly being walked over, belittled, and demeaned, you have to reach out to your manager for help. They should be willing to step in and help you deal with anyone who isn’t acting like a human being should.
I remember replying something about how if nobody came in to shop, they wouldn't open, and the customer continued to sympathize and wonder why they opened on a holiday
“You have to remember that in many cases a customer who behaves badly is not necessarily a bad person—it can be a good person having a bad day and that’s why they’re acting out. But the sad truth is that some customers act this way because they’ve learned that it works and will get them discounts or preferential treatment,” Alex said that some customers might be nightmare material by accident while others are very Slytherinish and sneaky.
This is not the first time I hear a pregnant lady be called fat by other woman. For the love of God, what's in their mind!?!?
Since you were there you could make him notice the size of the chip, so it could very hardly be injected with any vaccine (I bet he believes that too).
Make sure you never run out of blinker fluid. It's very important in traffic!!
Now I am curious how you explained it and what the customer finally understood.
It's the entitlement of "I orderded a cheeseburger without cheese and that's what I'm getting and paying for. You do not chance my order without my divine consent, you underpaid wage slave."
The guy's an idiot, of course, but who ever cuts anything in quarters at Subway? Sure, if someone asked, but they don't normally do that do they?
Note: this post originally had 59 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
I once worked on a customer service line for passport complaints. The list of dumbasserry is long, but among my favourties was a guy at the airport angry that he needed to show a passport for his flight, he was adamant you "don't need a passport for spain". Next one was a family flying london to Florida. The guy was furious that the airport wouldn't let his kids through without a passport. When I told him all kids needed passports to fly internationally, he freaked out and told his kids "this man won't let you see Mickey Mouse this year". They start crying and he demands I tell them why they won't be able to go to Disneyland. I oblige by telling them their dad is a deadbeat and hang up
As a student I worked at a theme park in one of the souvenir shops. It was common for guests to ask for directions to rides and we always gladly gave them. Background info: we had a white-water ride, but no log-flume. One day a lady asked me the way to the log-flume. I told her we didn't have that ride, but I'd happily direct her to the other water ride. Nope, she was adamant, she'd been on the log-flume last year, why had we removed it, this was ridiculous yadda yadda. After several futile attempts I sighed and gave her directions to the nearest log-flume > in another theme park on the other side of the country (including bus numbers and trains to take). She looked at me slightly stunned, so I just said, 'Or would you rather go to [white-water ride]?' She would.
A guy once asked me if the plate he was holding was for men or women. A simple plain white plate. Like dude, that's a round piece of porcellain it doesn't care about your genitals.
There's a difference between treating customers with respect and being helpful, and treating them like fücking royalty. The latter is what created entitled morons who "refuse to wear a mask because it's my right to breathe" in the middle of a fckn pandemic, or bïtches who demand refunds or complain to the manager even when they're at fault. They do it because their behavior is tolerated. Go ahead and pull one of that antics in my restaurant or at any store in another country and see what happens. I've kicked poeple out for a lot less. And the mask is non-negotiable. Don't like it, don't come. See how much I care. Wanna come to dinner? Kitchen closes ONE HOUR before restaurant does and you won't be served after that time. My staff needs to clean and go home.
We need more people like you who stand up to these entitled assholes. They keep doing it because people give in to what they want just to make them happy and keep the peace. They need to be told no and need to be put in their place when they treat people horribly.
Load More Replies...
I once managed a restaurant and we also served soft serve, and was interviewing a college educated lady and showing her what we do. Was mixing up a batch of ice cream base and she FREAKED out on me when I was mixing it up with a giant whisk “DON’T STIR IT COUNTER CLOCKWISE!!!” I stopped and asked her why?? She said “It will cause it to Unmix back into powder and water!! You can ONLY stir clockwise!!” This woman was 39 years old and dead serious! Needless to say she didn’t get the job!
Most likely had a mental illness condition involving obsessive compulsive traits.
Load More Replies...
I work for a seafood company and had a lady ask where 'Alaskan' King crab come from.. I wanted so badly to tell her Mexico but my boss was right there.
I work in a drive thru liquor store. Today a man threw his lit cigarette at me and told me to f**k off and die because I wouldn’t sell alcohol to his 15 yr old son 🤷♀️
I was an international telephone operator back in the 80's before all the tech. Sometimes there was a waiting list just to book an international call to certain countries. I was picking up live traffic one night, an a guy wanted to call Ghana. I said "I'm sorry sir, there are no calls available now. Can you please call back in in four hours?" The customer said "Four hours here or four hours in Ghana?" Me: ummm... Loooong pause. Customer: oh.
My sister worked for a loss adjusters in household furnishings insurance. I know this is strictly not retail but it's of a similar vein. Customer had called my sister on a Sunday morning complaining that the nearest Carpet Right shop was shut. My sister pointed out that it opened at 10am which was in about 10 minutes. Customer yelled 'I KNOW THAT!!' She demanded my sister find another Carpet Right store which she did but it was 30 minutes drive away, which the customer decided to go to instead of waiting 10 mins for the store she was outside to open.
Back in the mid-90's, I was working for JCPenney. It was after closing on a Saturday night, the store was dark, all the registers had been pulled, and I was on my way off the floor when I heard a cellophane-like rattling. I found a woman and her son still shopping. She didn't believe me that the store was closed even though it was dark and wanted to continue shopping. I finally had to have a manager deal with her. Even he had a difficult time getting her out of the store. I don't think he ever convince her that the store was truly closed. On another occasion, a little girl asked me if I had a family and if I ever got to see them. She said that her mommy told her that all the workers had to live at the store. I assured her that was not the case and that we did get to go home. I never cease to be amazed at the things people come up with about retail and its workers.
I said this at work the other day - one of these days I'm going to go into some random store and just start folding clothes or putting stuff away so that when a customer asks me if I work there I can just say "no" and walk away. The number of times I get asked that at work - where I'm dressed to the dress code, and wearing a nametag with the store name on it - is depressing.
On the flip side, I do often hang up or fold up clothes other people have scattered in the store if I'm also rifling through or happen to see it on the ground. I've been mistaken for an employee often enough.
Load More Replies...
I used to get a lot of great stories from former IBM techs. Like the man that said every time he used his mouse, the cursor would disappear only to learn that he was putting the mouse directly on the monitor over the cursor.
One can not put their mouse on the monitor and have the cursor be under the Mouse. It will be in front or to the side or off of the monitor completely. Not underneath.
Load More Replies...
When people are customers does their IQ drop by 50% automatically or what? After working in retail myself i think it does tbh.
I once worked in a grocery store. A lady came in and wanted to return the toilet paper she had just purchased. When I asked why she told me "when your boy was bagging it he poked his finger through the plastic and contaminated it". So, holding back laughter, I told her she could get a new pack. But that wasn't good enough. She wanted her money back and a free pack of toilet paper and she wanted the bagger to be retrained or fired for not bagging her items correctly.
I used to work at a sandwich shop in the financial district of a predominantly tech industry area. The name of that restaurant was "The Toaster Oven". The entire decor of the restaurant was antique toaster ovens from different time periods and different countries all over the wall. The place where customers would tell us their sandwich orders was directly in front of a huge industrial toaster oven that gave off a great deal of heat. So I had a customer ask me first why was this area of this restaurant so much hotter than the rest. So I explained to her that that is because you're standing in front of our industrial toaster. A few moments later when she had decided what sandwich she wanted she then asked me were we able to toast the sandwiches here. And then the girl she was with said oh yeah I want mine toasted too. Of course all the people in line near them rolled their eyes dramatically but as the manager I have to keep it together. So I very calmly and with the straight face said yes at The Toaster Oven we toast all sandwiches unless you ask us not to. Sadly she still didn't get how stupid her question had been.
Seems like the majority of these are repeats and I know I've seen several of them multiple times.
Nothing kills me more than someone asking what pump they are parked at (Travel stop cashier, everyday occurrence). I know the numbers well enough usually can help someone find their pump, but sometimes they make it hard by trying to tell me what their vehicle make/model/color is as a marker. The numbers are right there on the pump and the pillar as well, and you pull up but don't check this yourself?! 😑 Sometimes I wish we had full service stations in Florida.
I'm not gonna lie, I've done this but only because the credit card reader didn't work on the pump and I had to go in and pay and I didn't think about looking at the number until I was at the register. And I couldn't read the number because it was on the other side of the pump.
Load More Replies...
Back when everyone could by R-12 a customer once brought a can of freon to the auto parts counter and asked my new counterman to open it for him. He pulled out a can opener and was soon missing his mustache, eyebrows and his hair line had moved back a bit; froze them right off.
Wow wow wow.... I can't even understand how people can be literally this stupid. Like how? How do they live by themselves and raise families and pay bills and such?
I used to sometimes get customers insist that they used to be able to do something that was never true. And they’d keep arguing with me like they thought they were going to catch me in a lie, Yes sir we used to offer that but took it off to annoy you, pls hold while I reprogram the system all on my own.
When I worked at $ Tree stores. Customers would come in and ask how much was something. Everything is a dollar. I'd say.
I worked for years in a job where I dealt with the public every day, but I'm just not buying some of these. Nobody's that stupid.
I wonder how much of this is asshättery, how much is stupidity, and how much is mental illness.
Its a little known fact that, somewhere in the population of the USA, there are folks that can send people to the moon and back.
I used to work @ my parent’s plant store in the 80’s. An older lady would regularly come in & ask about all these plants, how to care for them etc & never bought a thing. I knew she would just go to the super market & buy cheap plants. So one day I finally had had it. I just couldn’t take it anymore! When she asked I just said I was sorry, but I couldn’t give her info if she didn’t buy something. She yelled @ me saying she was never, ever coming back into the store! So I yelled back Good! I’m so glad!
I truly don't understand why the following has not happened to all of you by now: concussion from repeated face palming, fractured jaw from it hitting the floor so many times, frozen facial muscles from having to maintain a straight face so as not to burst out laughing, double vision from rolling your eyes so much, and needing to wear a helmet at work to stop your brains from exploding and making a mess. I must say I admire your restraint in not punching some of these people just to get them to shut up. My admiration and gratitude to all of you. And as for bosses who don't back you up or discipline you unjustly, I encourage them to go do something that is anatomically impossible.
Happened to my hubby, not me: Hubby's client showed up at our door at home (ah, 2020, good times). She was screaming it was his fault she was getting divorced, b/c when HER spouse applied for a re-finance on THEIR home... the credit report showed some sh*t, the re-fi was denied, and he asked some questions. She complained to regional, but they blocked *her*. Justice!
Possibly because it's usually a woman who does the shopping. In stories from restaurants it seems to be pretty 50/50.
Load More Replies...
You've never worked w the public before have you. A lot of people are truly that stupid, have to always be right even when they know they're wrong or having brain fog. It's treacherous out there.
Load More Replies...
I once worked on a customer service line for passport complaints. The list of dumbasserry is long, but among my favourties was a guy at the airport angry that he needed to show a passport for his flight, he was adamant you "don't need a passport for spain". Next one was a family flying london to Florida. The guy was furious that the airport wouldn't let his kids through without a passport. When I told him all kids needed passports to fly internationally, he freaked out and told his kids "this man won't let you see Mickey Mouse this year". They start crying and he demands I tell them why they won't be able to go to Disneyland. I oblige by telling them their dad is a deadbeat and hang up
As a student I worked at a theme park in one of the souvenir shops. It was common for guests to ask for directions to rides and we always gladly gave them. Background info: we had a white-water ride, but no log-flume. One day a lady asked me the way to the log-flume. I told her we didn't have that ride, but I'd happily direct her to the other water ride. Nope, she was adamant, she'd been on the log-flume last year, why had we removed it, this was ridiculous yadda yadda. After several futile attempts I sighed and gave her directions to the nearest log-flume > in another theme park on the other side of the country (including bus numbers and trains to take). She looked at me slightly stunned, so I just said, 'Or would you rather go to [white-water ride]?' She would.
A guy once asked me if the plate he was holding was for men or women. A simple plain white plate. Like dude, that's a round piece of porcellain it doesn't care about your genitals.
There's a difference between treating customers with respect and being helpful, and treating them like fücking royalty. The latter is what created entitled morons who "refuse to wear a mask because it's my right to breathe" in the middle of a fckn pandemic, or bïtches who demand refunds or complain to the manager even when they're at fault. They do it because their behavior is tolerated. Go ahead and pull one of that antics in my restaurant or at any store in another country and see what happens. I've kicked poeple out for a lot less. And the mask is non-negotiable. Don't like it, don't come. See how much I care. Wanna come to dinner? Kitchen closes ONE HOUR before restaurant does and you won't be served after that time. My staff needs to clean and go home.
We need more people like you who stand up to these entitled assholes. They keep doing it because people give in to what they want just to make them happy and keep the peace. They need to be told no and need to be put in their place when they treat people horribly.
Load More Replies... I once managed a restaurant and we also served soft serve, and was interviewing a college educated lady and showing her what we do. Was mixing up a batch of ice cream base and she FREAKED out on me when I was mixing it up with a giant whisk “DON’T STIR IT COUNTER CLOCKWISE!!!” I stopped and asked her why?? She said “It will cause it to Unmix back into powder and water!! You can ONLY stir clockwise!!” This woman was 39 years old and dead serious! Needless to say she didn’t get the job!
Most likely had a mental illness condition involving obsessive compulsive traits.
Load More Replies... I work for a seafood company and had a lady ask where 'Alaskan' King crab come from.. I wanted so badly to tell her Mexico but my boss was right there.
I work in a drive thru liquor store. Today a man threw his lit cigarette at me and told me to f**k off and die because I wouldn’t sell alcohol to his 15 yr old son 🤷♀️
I was an international telephone operator back in the 80's before all the tech. Sometimes there was a waiting list just to book an international call to certain countries. I was picking up live traffic one night, an a guy wanted to call Ghana. I said "I'm sorry sir, there are no calls available now. Can you please call back in in four hours?" The customer said "Four hours here or four hours in Ghana?" Me: ummm... Loooong pause. Customer: oh.
My sister worked for a loss adjusters in household furnishings insurance. I know this is strictly not retail but it's of a similar vein. Customer had called my sister on a Sunday morning complaining that the nearest Carpet Right shop was shut. My sister pointed out that it opened at 10am which was in about 10 minutes. Customer yelled 'I KNOW THAT!!' She demanded my sister find another Carpet Right store which she did but it was 30 minutes drive away, which the customer decided to go to instead of waiting 10 mins for the store she was outside to open.
Back in the mid-90's, I was working for JCPenney. It was after closing on a Saturday night, the store was dark, all the registers had been pulled, and I was on my way off the floor when I heard a cellophane-like rattling. I found a woman and her son still shopping. She didn't believe me that the store was closed even though it was dark and wanted to continue shopping. I finally had to have a manager deal with her. Even he had a difficult time getting her out of the store. I don't think he ever convince her that the store was truly closed. On another occasion, a little girl asked me if I had a family and if I ever got to see them. She said that her mommy told her that all the workers had to live at the store. I assured her that was not the case and that we did get to go home. I never cease to be amazed at the things people come up with about retail and its workers.
I said this at work the other day - one of these days I'm going to go into some random store and just start folding clothes or putting stuff away so that when a customer asks me if I work there I can just say "no" and walk away. The number of times I get asked that at work - where I'm dressed to the dress code, and wearing a nametag with the store name on it - is depressing.
On the flip side, I do often hang up or fold up clothes other people have scattered in the store if I'm also rifling through or happen to see it on the ground. I've been mistaken for an employee often enough.
Load More Replies... I used to get a lot of great stories from former IBM techs. Like the man that said every time he used his mouse, the cursor would disappear only to learn that he was putting the mouse directly on the monitor over the cursor.
One can not put their mouse on the monitor and have the cursor be under the Mouse. It will be in front or to the side or off of the monitor completely. Not underneath.
Load More Replies... When people are customers does their IQ drop by 50% automatically or what? After working in retail myself i think it does tbh.
I once worked in a grocery store. A lady came in and wanted to return the toilet paper she had just purchased. When I asked why she told me "when your boy was bagging it he poked his finger through the plastic and contaminated it". So, holding back laughter, I told her she could get a new pack. But that wasn't good enough. She wanted her money back and a free pack of toilet paper and she wanted the bagger to be retrained or fired for not bagging her items correctly.
I used to work at a sandwich shop in the financial district of a predominantly tech industry area. The name of that restaurant was "The Toaster Oven". The entire decor of the restaurant was antique toaster ovens from different time periods and different countries all over the wall. The place where customers would tell us their sandwich orders was directly in front of a huge industrial toaster oven that gave off a great deal of heat. So I had a customer ask me first why was this area of this restaurant so much hotter than the rest. So I explained to her that that is because you're standing in front of our industrial toaster. A few moments later when she had decided what sandwich she wanted she then asked me were we able to toast the sandwiches here. And then the girl she was with said oh yeah I want mine toasted too. Of course all the people in line near them rolled their eyes dramatically but as the manager I have to keep it together. So I very calmly and with the straight face said yes at The Toaster Oven we toast all sandwiches unless you ask us not to. Sadly she still didn't get how stupid her question had been.
Seems like the majority of these are repeats and I know I've seen several of them multiple times.
Nothing kills me more than someone asking what pump they are parked at (Travel stop cashier, everyday occurrence). I know the numbers well enough usually can help someone find their pump, but sometimes they make it hard by trying to tell me what their vehicle make/model/color is as a marker. The numbers are right there on the pump and the pillar as well, and you pull up but don't check this yourself?! 😑 Sometimes I wish we had full service stations in Florida.
I'm not gonna lie, I've done this but only because the credit card reader didn't work on the pump and I had to go in and pay and I didn't think about looking at the number until I was at the register. And I couldn't read the number because it was on the other side of the pump.
Load More Replies... Back when everyone could by R-12 a customer once brought a can of freon to the auto parts counter and asked my new counterman to open it for him. He pulled out a can opener and was soon missing his mustache, eyebrows and his hair line had moved back a bit; froze them right off.
Wow wow wow.... I can't even understand how people can be literally this stupid. Like how? How do they live by themselves and raise families and pay bills and such?
I used to sometimes get customers insist that they used to be able to do something that was never true. And they’d keep arguing with me like they thought they were going to catch me in a lie, Yes sir we used to offer that but took it off to annoy you, pls hold while I reprogram the system all on my own.
When I worked at $ Tree stores. Customers would come in and ask how much was something. Everything is a dollar. I'd say.
I worked for years in a job where I dealt with the public every day, but I'm just not buying some of these. Nobody's that stupid.
I wonder how much of this is asshättery, how much is stupidity, and how much is mental illness.
Its a little known fact that, somewhere in the population of the USA, there are folks that can send people to the moon and back.
I used to work @ my parent’s plant store in the 80’s. An older lady would regularly come in & ask about all these plants, how to care for them etc & never bought a thing. I knew she would just go to the super market & buy cheap plants. So one day I finally had had it. I just couldn’t take it anymore! When she asked I just said I was sorry, but I couldn’t give her info if she didn’t buy something. She yelled @ me saying she was never, ever coming back into the store! So I yelled back Good! I’m so glad!
I truly don't understand why the following has not happened to all of you by now: concussion from repeated face palming, fractured jaw from it hitting the floor so many times, frozen facial muscles from having to maintain a straight face so as not to burst out laughing, double vision from rolling your eyes so much, and needing to wear a helmet at work to stop your brains from exploding and making a mess. I must say I admire your restraint in not punching some of these people just to get them to shut up. My admiration and gratitude to all of you. And as for bosses who don't back you up or discipline you unjustly, I encourage them to go do something that is anatomically impossible.
Happened to my hubby, not me: Hubby's client showed up at our door at home (ah, 2020, good times). She was screaming it was his fault she was getting divorced, b/c when HER spouse applied for a re-finance on THEIR home... the credit report showed some sh*t, the re-fi was denied, and he asked some questions. She complained to regional, but they blocked *her*. Justice!
Possibly because it's usually a woman who does the shopping. In stories from restaurants it seems to be pretty 50/50.
Load More Replies... You've never worked w the public before have you. A lot of people are truly that stupid, have to always be right even when they know they're wrong or having brain fog. It's treacherous out there.
Load More Replies...