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50 Customer Service Workers Share Memorable Interactions That Continue To Haunt Them To This Day
Working in customer service is not for the faint of heart. There’s always a chance that customers will be rude, demanding, entitled or just plain strange. But you’ve got to provide service with a smile! Or at least service that's decent enough to keep you from being fired…
One curious Reddit user asked people who work with the public to share the most bizarre interactions they’ve ever had with customers, so below, you’ll find some tales that might make you count your blessings if you’ve never had to work in customer service. Be sure to upvote the replies that you find painfully relatable if you're all too familiar with the struggle of having weird patrons, and enjoy reading these stories that might make you appreciate your own job even more.
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#1
I've told this before, but I once worked at a pizza place and some dude came in and wanted a pizza with every one of our toppings. We had like 12-15 different toppings, and there was no way they were going to properly fit on a medium. We told him he could do it, what the price was, and that it wasn't going to cook properly because pizzas aren't designed to cook with that much s**t on them. He said fine. So we cooked it and it was all f****d up, and we gave it to him. A few minutes later he comes back and said "Yeah I f****d up. can I just get a meat lovers?" Paid for both, probably threw the first one away. Only time I've really ever talked to someone like that who admitted being the problem.
Igwe Daniel 2 years ago
Honestly, I always feel good inside me whenever I admit being the problem.
RedMarbles 2 years ago
It shows strength. Still blows my mind how many people are on the "never admit a weakness or a mistake" because they believe it makes them look weak in general. Maybe it's true only among their circle of people who see things that way too, but everyone else sees through it, and you're in a circle of underdeveloped human beings who are walking liabilities that will turn on each other before admitting fault.
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Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
What a nice guy, admitted his mistake and paid for both despite not eating the first.
unfilteredCigarette73 2 years ago
My dad did this while completely snobbed and I had once worked at this place and told him 15 times that if you order everything on the pizza its going to have tiny shrimp and sauerkraut..he was very disappointed when his $$pizza arrived
T.M.P Janssen 2 years ago
Seriously, if someone makes an absolute ridiculous order like this, service staff should make them sign a paper saying they have been informed of what might happen and they cant get their money back (for their own stupid stuff). I mean, the dude was reasonable but lets be honest, waaaay too many are not.
Onion Patch Petunia 2 years ago
Did some shopping at Safeway. When I got home, I discovered the checker had failed to charge one item. I went back to pay for it. I don't think they ever recovered!
Brenda Wallace 2 years ago (edited)
My husband and I called the server over cause bill was too low. One entree not on it. He looked at us as if we weren’t human, thanked us and we watched him go to the manager. Who stared at the check, did something at the register and then the two came back. Total check comped. We left a big tip, but stopped on the way out by server. Tip returned and server said management taking care of it as we tried to slip it to him quietly. Still think we had slipped into the Twilight Zone.
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#2
We was on a big job in a town centre and could hear some woman shouting. She was having a full argument walking towards us but we couldn't see who she was arguing with.
When she saw us looking over confused, without breaking stride, she said "don't mind me lads I'm f*****g mental" and went back to her argument, now obviously, with herself.
Norah Reilly 2 years ago
...as long as you don't lose the argument with yourself.
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David 2 years ago
For a few years I lived downtown on a street that had some "interesting people so once in a while you'd see a crazy arguing with themselves. high, mental health, whatever. But then while I still lived there those blutooth ear pieces for phones started becoming more popular. it was weird because it was sometimes hard to tell between the person arguing with the voice in their head and the person arguing with the voice in their head via a cell phone / bluooth. That person's arguing into the air but they don't look high or homeless. They look like they work at a bank. Of course those ear pieces are all over the place now.
Kimmie E 2 years ago
Yes! I always found this confusing and sometimes still do 🤣
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Karl Baxter 2 years ago
I grew up in a seaside town which had lots of “characters” - incl. one guy who argued with himself in three different voices and personalities. Harmless but mad as a box of frogs.
Corrine M 2 years ago
With BPD, I actually do this. Don't mind me, I'm just having a panic attack. "I'm not crying for real, I just can't help it. Anyways, I'm having a wonderful time on your first date, Larry... sorry I used your Star Wars shirt as a snot rag.
Yohualtica Studios 2 years ago
What is you tryna say?! Ain' t don't never gonna be nothin' wrong with talkin' bad!
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Philly Bobcat 2 years ago
My arguments with myself are usually done in the shower and i always lose, so there is that!
#3
I have a million stories but today I'll share this one. It's been posted on social media before but it was a few years ago so let me try and remember how it went:
I was working at a theater one morning and an old man scoots by in a wheelchair. He lingers by the service desk so I ask him politely if I can help him. He responds in spanish, asking if I speak it. I understand it but can't speak it so i shake my head. "Parli Italiano?" I ask. He says no. Asks in French, if I speak French. I say no. We bounce between languages for a minute until finally he asks if I speak English. I sigh, because it was the language I greeted him in, and say yes. He asks if we have a lost and found and I ask him what he's missing. He holds up a hand missing a finger and asks if we've found one. I, unfazed, respond "no sir, not today" . He wheels off.
David 2 years ago
10 minutes before that. Two bored men in wheel chairs in front of a theater. "5 bucks says you won't do it!" "You're on!"
I Am LoKitty Of Meowsgard 2 years ago
The OP, or the guy in the wheelchair? Or both?
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Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago (edited)
"Unfazed" what would disturb you if not that?
#4
I’m a nurse practitioner, I have hundreds of stories! My favorite is the old man who we prepped for an endoscopy procedure and part of the bowel prep was giving him apple juice mixed with a laxative. He was old and starting to show signs of dementia but later on he calmly and lucidly said “ma’am if you ever make my butt dribble like that again I will find out where you live and whatever hell juice you gave me and pour it down your throat too” deadpan! No grin no humor, to this day I don’t know if he was mad or kidding! 🤷🏻♀️
Tim Perry 2 years ago
I understand the way he feels. There is no more vile, disgusting tasting thing on earth than the colonoscopy prep liquid.
RagDollLali 2 years ago
I haven't quite reached that age yet but my brother just had to drink it for his first colonoscopy a week ago. He did not have good things to say about it.
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Lynn Reese 2 years ago
Colonoscopy* Endoscopies go through the mouth and scope the upper digestive track. You only need to fast for endos, not blow your back 9 out.
Brenda Wallace 2 years ago
Hubby had an Endoscopy and by the time it was finished the rest of it blew out ‘the back 9’. All they gave him was a small paper bag for his underwear. 👿
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Fizzer 2 years ago
Don't blame the old man, he probably didn't know what he was saying/ didn't know that the liquid was juice
William Beaton 2 years ago
I have no experience to draw on or education to support this, but I think such a situation would be jarring enough to rip even the most senile, most demented, most clueless mind back to reality for at least long enough to say something about it. That was, however, a rather specific and lengthy threat, so either one of the others is correct that he didn't know what he was saying, or that was one helluva situation and he experienced the most lucid anger he had in some time... A part of me hopes it was the latter.
BLONDTROBL 2 years ago
And talk about a misnomer, the stuff you drink for a colonoscopy is called "Go Lightly". A better moniker would be "rocket blast".
zero bandito 2 years ago
Understandable. I wouldn't wish colonoscopy prep on my worst enemy tbh.
#5
Worked as a dog bather- and had this corgi named potato. He was friggin adorable. I don’t know what I really expected but when the owner came to pick him up he was this big body builder covered in tattoos and he had this lime green leash and when potato saw him he got excited and this big Greek statue looking guy just yells ‘potato! Stop that!’ And I still think about it.
Anna Ekberg 2 years ago
I guess i will get downvoted but I don't understand why this story is on this list? I don't find it bizarre at all or is it just me?
Rachel Robertson 2 years ago
Stereotypes. Often times if you think of a big mountain of a man you tend to think scary maybe big and/or exotic pets. With corgis I think the stereotype is more cute small gentle owner. In that case the op is saying that they are both the opposite of what some people believe stereotypes to be, making it an interesting story to some.
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Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
That's adorable, big guy doesn't need big dog. Potato seems like a perfect name too lol
grotesqueer 2 years ago
I don't know if this is adorable or not. Was the yelling exited or annoyed?
𝕷𝖊𝖘𝖇𝖎𝖆𝖓𝕭𝖎𝖙𝖈𝖍️ 2 years ago (edited)
Based on context clues, im gonna say exited.
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#6
I was a supervisor at a call center for a major online retailer who was involved in a data breach a few years ago. As usual, we required all of our customers to change their passwords.
I had to take over a call from a lady who was absolutely refusing to change her password. I tried to explain as nicely as possible and she kept me on the phone for an hour insulting me and screaming about how wrong this was.
Ultimately she told me that I, personally, was worse than Hitler and that making her change her password was an offense worse than the Holocaust. No joke. I am not exaggerating at all.
Kise Miarse 2 years ago
People really throw that "worse than Hitler" thing around a bit to lightly, don't you think?
Jihana 2 years ago
That would not fly in Austria. There is a law against denying the Holocaust - or belittling it. There were people who wore the yellow star of David during demonstrations against the mask mandate. They endet up in court, though I can't remember the sentence.
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HEADLESS ROACHS SISTER 2 years ago
Did you die? Were you captured by the Nazis and forced to starve in concentration camps? NO?! THEN SHUT YOUR F******* MOUTH
FleurTangClan 2 years ago (edited)
This is my problem with customer service - those poor workers have to put up with horrendous verbal abuse sometimes daily. I wish all companies had a zero tolerance policy for this nonsense then these customers would have to learn that this behaviour isn't acceptable and doesn't get them what they want. Rant over 😆
Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
Yes Karen, me trying to prevent anything being stolen from you is worse than a man who is responsible for the death of millions.
真壁まつり 2 years ago
She had an hour to do pointless argument rather than use 2mins to change the password for her own good?
Discarded lithium batteries 2 years ago
Oddly enough that sounds a lot like my current social studies teacher…
Mark Fuller 2 years ago
Why is there not a clause for simply cancelling the accounts of vile customers??
Michael Largey 2 years ago
If she felt that strongly, she really didn't have to change her password. She'd have to accept losing all access to her account, but she could keep that password.
#7
Told before but it is good. Woman calls pizza restaurant for delivery and requests shortened delivery time. Manager tells her we can't do that. Woman gives up and calls competing pizza place. Woman calls us back and tells us that the other place could do what she wanted. My manager, confused, expresses that he is happy for her. She calls back again and tells the manager that nobody better vandalize her house because she cancelled her order, and if her house gets wrecked she will know it was us. My boss, even more confused, assures her that no one cares enough about her cancelled order to seek retribution, and that lots of people cancel orders. Seemingly satisfied she hangs up and we think that it ends there. About an hour later, 2 police officers show up to talk to the manager. This woman pre-emptively called the cops on a pizza restaurant for a hypothetical crime that hasn't happened and wasn't going to happen.
Jessica J. 2 years ago
Hope the cops visited her next, and explained what the potential consequences of a false police report were.
Teutonic Disaster 2 years ago
Well, considering she was calling for delivery to her home, she technically wasn't roaming in public. So, that evening at least, we were all safe.
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Elizabeth C 2 years ago (edited)
This happened to me working in an office. Lady decided she didn't want to go with us (it was for an insane reason that I can't recall, but whatever) so she demanded all of our information as leverage in case we wanted to leak hers in retribution for...thankfully being rid of her? She called the police and said they told her they'd be "looking into" us, but nothing ever came of it
Mario Strada 2 years ago
I couldn't get the cops to show up after a burglary where they stole all my guitars, cameras and a few laptops. Is this in a very boring location?
#8
Once worked at a store and an old man bought a huge bag of carrots, and looked at me and said “these little guys make me real happy”
jon gilbertson 2 years ago
that's because carrots are friggin delicious! raw dipped in ranch (oops, dead giveaway I'm American) cooked with dill or honey. so yum
Owen 2 years ago
I prefer mustard, soy sauce or piri piri. I slice them lengthways for dipping. Also works with cucumbers.
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Jeremy James 2 years ago
I don't see anything wrong with this. Carrots and carrot juice make me real happy, too.
Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
I love carrots, you can do so much with them. Adorable
Mike Fitzpatrick 2 years ago
Perhaps he cut them up and tossed them in his yard for the critters. Or, gave them to a horse. I had a horse once that would jump fences for carrots.
#9
I work at a pizza delivery business. Had a lady one day call in and order for delivery.
Sure, what’s the address?
“I’m not going to tell you.”
I’m sorry? If you don’t tell me the address, how are we supposed to deliver to you?
“I don’t know what the address is!”
Well, if you don’t know where you’re at, again, how are we supposed to deliver to you?
“So you won’t take my order?”
Not without an address.
“Well! I guess I’ll just order somewhere else, then!”
I guess you will.
Vasana Phong 2 years ago
I think when a stupid person gets bored this is what they do for entertainment
Idontworkhere 2 years ago
That would imply the ability to understand their actions are stupid and be amused by themselves lol
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Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
I'd like to say this was a prank, unfortunately I know people this dumb.
Jess Baldo 2 years ago
Seriously 🙄 I work in retail and I had an old lady who when I asked her number to pull up her reward account freaked out and would not give it we get through the transaction and she has a credit card with us and wants her points. I say well it would be great for you to just give me your number since it is in there and we can put this on your account... No doesn't want to she says I get my points when I use my card anyways. But what she doesn't get is she can't use her rewards from all those points unless I can actually pull it up so it's doing her no good lol ppl are so dumb.
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Michael Largey 2 years ago
Not knowing where I am is one of the two occasions where I get an acute craving for pizza, just like this lady. The other occasion, of course, is when I know where I am.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Some of these truly make me worried about the number of people suffering with schizophrenia without accepting any form of help because of the paranoia...
RosenCranzLives 2 years ago
I've lived in Rome. This can happen. Usually after a bottle of grappa. Or two.
#10
Librarian: oh, it looks like you have an overdue book. A biography?
Customer: Oh, yeah. Jesus told me to burn that one.
Librarian: ...
Customer: Will there be a fine?
David 2 years ago
Jesus told me your work here is done and I should confiscate your library card.
RafCo (he/him/ele) 2 years ago
Exactly, I would not lend this wacko another book.
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Jungle Empress 85 2 years ago
As a library page: WTAF. People who deliberately destroy library property are the absolute worst! F**k you and the voices in your head. Christ...
David 2 years ago
Me - not a library page - but my grandmother was a librarian / retired from it and was a super awesome grandmother. So I grew up respecting / loving libraries and books. And in my head I also unreasonably equate all older female library employees to my grandmother. Not in a creepy way but I sort of assume they are also nice wonderful people even though I have little basis for it. (I do think choosing a career in our somewhat rural library system implies some good things though. Love of media, helping people etc)
Load More Replies... Weasel Wise 2 years ago
No, I'm sure she heard god speaking to her which means she can do whatever that voice says. Religious freedom! 🤣🤣
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Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
See my previous comment about the troubling number of people not accepting treatment for their schizophrenia...
LynzCatastrophe 2 years ago
Jesus has now said that the book was 49.99 and you are no longer allowed here. Please exit the building.
Carissa Boswell 2 years ago
What Jesus are you following? Last I checked Jesus doesn't tell people to burn books
#11
I've told this story somewhere else, but in a nutshell:
Back when I worked at a hardware store, I had a woman scream and cry at me for using my item scanner on her items because its laser would "make [her] sick" and/or "make [her] sickness worse." Her basket was stacked and she was effectively asking me to hold the line up for a half hour to dial in her product codes manually. She also screamed if I made eye contact.
When she left she told me something to the effect of "I don't want you to get hurt, but if something bad happens to you, it's because I'm thinking about it."
Retail!
Robert Trebor 2 years ago
And it will, if you don't look up from your phone before stepping into the street.
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RedMarbles 2 years ago
Oh, don't worry, I have a mental mirror that reflects those thoughts back at the thinker. Have a nice day.
Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
Type of lady to say there are microchips in vaccines and say "big pharma"
One strange Corinthian 2 years ago
Well I don't believe in the microchip thing but I do believe big companies and governments care more about control and money than they care about people. When the whole COVID s**t started I thought to myself they will make a fuss for a while and it will go away....I wore my mask, washed my hands and everything I brought in from stores etc, avoided crowded places but did not get vaccinated. I caught it twice, did not go to the hospital or doctor, did not even take medication other than painkillers for the terrible headache it came with and that was it. Now it's "over" or at least the big fuss is over. I guess I was proven right....🤷🏻♀️ In the mean time all of my friends and family members that were triple vaccinated and did catch it were hospitalised...some extended family members came down with illnesses they had for years but were kept under control but it seems they could no longer control after the vaccine and some even passed from such diseases without even catching COVID....
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Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Are all of these bad interactions with the schizophrenic? Beginning to look like it. How troubling and sad...
#12
I used to work at a store that sold movies, books, music, and video games. There were plenty of interesting characters that came in, but I'll never forget one customer in particular. It was the middle of the summer in Texas and had been raining on and off all day. This old man walked in wearing a trench coat, winter boots, and a trapper hat. He had a long, gray beard and feathers in his hair. He had a walking stick with all sorts of little rocks, beads, and bells tied around it that made noises when we walked. And he was accompanied by a wolf. An actual wolf. He breifly walked through the store and grabbed a small journal. When he got to the counter to check out, he noticed I was distracted by the wolf that was nearly eye level with me and holding a steady gaze. "Are you gonna ask if it's a service animal?" he asked, motioning towards his wolf. I shook my head no. "Good. The last person to ask didn't have a good day. It doesn't matter if it's a service animal when it's a f*****g wolf, idiot" He then tapped his walking stick on the ground several times shaking his head and walked off into a thunderstorm, never to be seen again.
Karma Black 2 years ago
I can't express how much I want to meet this man and his wolf. I'm sure this guy's got some stories to tell.
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
I got to pet some wolves once. Not nearly as soft as I wished they would be XD But the fur is incredibly thick, and even if you intellectually know wolves are larger than almost all breeds of dog, you STILL aren't prepared by how huge a wolf is when it's three inches away from you XD
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Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
As a wolf, I approve of this story. However, wolves do not make good pets in the long run, even if raised from birth :(
Baer 2 years ago
I had a husky/wolf growing up. The people we got her from lived in the mountains, and she stayed outside. Well, after seeing the act transpire, they kept her inside, but the deed was done. My aunts and uncles owned the siblings and all of them took the dads side. Best dog I have ever had and lived a very good long life with plenty of room to roam.
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Paul Pienkowski 2 years ago
...I think you missed the chance to have a conversation with Odin.
Jonny Man 2 years ago
Nah, Odin's more about ravens, plus he has only one eye. Plus, this guy was in Texas, so he's probably a tribal shaman-type or mountain man. His wolf is his spirit guide :) And lastly, they did indeed have a conversation - about how his wolf is indeed not, a service animal :D
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Trophy Husband 2 years ago
I have complained about "emotional support animals" so many times. My kids would point them out and I would say things like "some people enjoy breaking rules and don't care who they hurt" (like my wife with severe allergies) loud enough for them to hear me. And when I worked retail, I told them to bring a sheriff with them if they think she animal is allowed in my store because I won't put up with it. But I think I would have allowed this one just to have this story to tell!
Paige Hutchison 2 years ago
Some people actually do need emotional support animals. Yes, sometimes people lie, but some people do need them.
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Tanya Engesser 2 years ago
Considering what our society has simultaneously evolved AND devolved to… I’m gonna consider this plausible. ALSO, it sounds like a great opening scene from a movie.
#13
In my first years in the Army I also worked a part-time job as an optician in the local mall.
One day a lady came in with her mother (about age 40 and 60) and they were quite hyper and giggling at each other. I asked if I could help them and they had a prescription for lenses. No problem.
She then asks if she can use her existing frames, and I was like "Sure, we can just do lenses." She proceeds to hand me a pair of extremely cheap sunglasses she got from a dollar store.
I told her that there was no way those glasses would stand up to having lenses changed out. She insisted that I "already said she could." I asked her if she was sure, because it was almost guaranteed they would be destroyed in the process. She still insisted. I pointed out the sign we had up saying we weren't responsible for damages (it was next to the register) and asked her one last time. She said yes again.
Ok, I put them in the hotbox (a box of heated sand you use to loosen up plastic frames to get the lenses out) and they melted into goo pretty much instantly, as expected. She was over my shoulder watching with these wild eyes, and when I pulled them out after a few seconds she started screaming about how we destroyed her glasses and now we owe her free glasses. Her mom got in on the action at that point and started shouting also about how I did it on purpose.
I handed them back to her and said something like "Ma'am, I told you so." They went into even more hysterics and by this time were attracting glances from passersby at the mall. I just walked into the back room to the lab guy and was like, dude, you deal with this, I'm done.
I then watched as he masterfully over-charged her about $100 for a $20 frame (it was on the display rack for $100, but we had a pile of the same frames in the discount drawer for $20), giving her a "20% discount" in the process. I was there when she picked them up in about an hour, acting like she won the lottery at my expense because I was so incompetent.
I was still young and had no idea the insanity people would go through to save a few dollars and "stick it to the man."
Private Caller 2 years ago
Nah, it clearly states, "Not responsible for any damages." She woulda been leaving there with negative glasses
Pieter LeGrande 2 years ago
But without her glasses "Can't read the sign".
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Iwanna Iguana 2 years ago
These are the kind of people that go around leaving bad reviews to hurt businesses 🤢
Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
lol imagine thinking you were smart while looking like a complete idiot to everyone around you
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Sounds like a Tinker scam... Weirdly still common. It's the 21st century, for God's sake...
Kristina Atwood 2 years ago
I've actually seen this happen in an eyeglasses store, almost literally to the word. However, these women were standing behind me making fun of my options (coated lenses,etc.) that were completely covered by insurance because... I should just get cheap frames with what the insurance provides, complain and than get money back that insurance paid... to get my hair done. I was happy with the glasses my insurance paid for, but wondered what these women did at the hair salon.
mary norton 2 years ago
Why didn’t you refuse to do it? Then, she wouldn’t’ve had to have gone elsewhere and it’d be THEIR PROBLEM!!!
Paul Richards 2 years ago
No glasses for you because they clearly won't help you read THE CLEARLY POSTED SIGN
Charles Burdine 2 years ago
Maybe they were giggling because they knew the frames would melt and they were counting on getting free replacement frames.
michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Yeah, before agreeing to being able to comply with the request ask to inspect the frames first, then politely advise that wasn't gonna happen. Have a nice day 😊
#14
At a coffee shop, we had a customer come in one day and tell us in a very awkward and stilted manner that he would like to become a regular, but that he wanted a wordless transaction. He would come every day at the same time and get the same drink, and he wanted us to ring him up and give him the drink without anyone speaking to him. It was definitely weird, but we did it for him, passing the info along to the other staff as a kind of tribal knowledge, and he did come every weekday and buy his latte, without speaking to or looking at anyone. It worked very well until one day I was working with a new girl and I had stepped into the back room to get something, and I suddenly heard him screaming out front. The new girl had said, "Hi, what can I get you?" and he responded by screaming in her face, "What the f**k is wrong with you? I told you f*****g people not to talk to me!" and storming out. We never saw him again.
Mike Fitzpatrick 2 years ago
It was the "tribal knowledge" part that got me, lol.
Load More Replies... David 2 years ago
I want to laugh but maybe he was one of those people with extreme social anxiety and going out in public but not talking was an effort for him.
Ephemeral Mochi 2 years ago
I have social anxiety and it's exactly what would prevent me from yelling at someone.
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Thanatos Charles 2 years ago
Have a sad but happy one, at a local pub I worked at, man's name was Gabe, he would come in every single day and sit in the same corner having 2 beers, on Saturday and Sunday he'd sit there for hours having a good few, just reading and drinking, this apparently went on for years, eventually he stopped coming and we found out he had passed. We made a plaque above his corner, "Gabes silent corner" it hangs there to this day many years later, and all the locals know that that table is no interaction.
Rach Stock 2 years ago
Had a couple like that at the reataurant I worked. Did not want to be greeted or spoken to: they would just give you their order and chain smoke with scowls on their faces. EXCEPT once a year, on the anniversary of their son's death, they would order a beer, smile, and speak to the staff for hours.
Stay Off My Lawn 2 years ago
I wouldn’t have entertained his demand to begin with. Like, how bizarre…
XanthippeⓐWulf🇨🇦 🇬🇧 2 years ago
I think I would have. You just never know if granting a small request, no matter how bizarre, can make a difference in someone's life. As someone mentioned, what if he were agoraphobic, and just starting to try and get out again? Yes, I realize it's no excuse for the rudeness at the end, and he could just as likely be an a*s, but one should never lose their compassion. I suspect that the OP did it for the same reasons.
Load More Replies... Linda Duncan 2 years ago
I was a Waffle House waitress for a while, one guy would come in every morning, get half a cup of black coffee and a small glass of soda water (unflavored soda water) with ice. You made sure he never ran out, never gave him a full cup, and never gave him a check (I don't know what the story was behind that part) and you'd get a good tip. If you screwed up on one of the aforementioned, no tip. Generally, as a customer, he was pretty okay. He just intimidated me a little.
Doodles1983 2 years ago
I had a breakdown and for four months was verbal with one other person only and did not leave my house. The first few times out if anyone tried to talk to me, I couldn’t lose it. Went totally insular.
#15
When I worked in thrift store, it was protocol for the production workers to write a number with a red dry erase marker on all of the electronics, to indicate the date they went out on the floor. This would help determine which items to get off of the shelves if they had been sitting there too long and weren't selling. It was also our policy that electronic items were final sale because people would buy them and break them or remove parts, and then try to return them. A woman came in one morning trying to return a small flat screen tv. I explained to her that all electronics were final sale, and showed that it was indicated on her receipt. I was feeling generous that day since she was polite, and considered returning it anyway if it wasn't working, so I asked her the reason. She pointed out the little red dry erase number and said "I need to return this because it has the mark of the beast on it." I was taken aback and asked her to explain further. She explained that she took the tv home and when she plugged it in the tv displayed static and a low frequency sound that hypnotized her and her children. She said that Satan was trying to communicate with her through the tv. I didn't know what to say, so I just explained to her that the dry erase is just the date and showed her that it rubs right off with my thumb. The number was not 666 by the way. I broke policy and allowed her to exchange it for something else, all while having no idea how to react to what she just told me. You bet your a*s as soon as she left I went and plugged that tv in to see what happened and of course it was normal.
David 2 years ago (edited)
Well there's your problem: "Satan was trying to communicate with her through the tv" See, the TV was just a conduit. Satan actually lives in her DVD player which she left at home. The TV she hooked up to it was just a convenient visual/audio portal. EDIT: Thank you for the upvotes of my silliness.
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
It's all fun and games until your little girl disappears. (I hope people remember Poltergeist as they read that.)
Becca Kuehn 2 years ago
Omg! I definitely remember that movie. I was babysitting a sweet little girl when Poltergeist came out in the theater. I was shocked when I saw that the little girl in the movie looked almost exactly like the one I had been babysitting.😮
Load More Replies... Delta Dawn 2 years ago
I’m using that excuse next time I need to return something that is final sale.
Kristina Atwood 2 years ago
If l had a low frequency sound emenating from my tv that hypnotized my children? I could get so much done!
David 2 years ago
That's gold. So true! What are you doing? Cutting up vegetables. Why? To make dinner. Why? You said you were hungry. What's this for? Please put that down, and why is your sister covered in paint?
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Terry Tobias 2 years ago
I was waiting for the employee to take the tv to the back, erase the number on it, then bring it back out to present to her the "new" one that had just come in on a recent delivery.
#16
I work in the customer service for a hiking association and we had a lady come in, complaining about one of our staffed cabins. Got to the point where we had to call said cabin and inform them. Started phone call with - "I'm here with a nice lady..." As she proceeded to yell out - "I AM NOT NICE" Thanks for stating the obvious.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
More trying to soothe with a gentle word. Of course, if she catches you at it, you come off patronizing.
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XanthippeⓐWulf🇨🇦 🇬🇧 2 years ago
Love it! That's the word I used for my patients (vet) when they were being naughty! 😁 Nobody wants to hear that their precious little angel fur baby was being a demon, so it was always "Well, Ms. Smith, Muffin's being a little spicy today, so treatment is taking a bit longer than expected" lol
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#17
I used to work at McDonald's. A very well-dressed and well-groomed man asked for a cheeseburger without onions and we gave him one. He came back up a moment later, ranting about how the person who made his burger was trying to kill him. I started to take it back to the grill area to be remade, but noticed that there weren't actually any onions on it. I gently mentioned that I didn't see any onions but could he point out anything on the burger that he didn't like and I would get him a new one. He snaps up to his full height and announces, "OF COURSE THERE AREN'T ANYMORE." (I hadn't taken the burger out of his sight.) He told me in detail how the CIA was after him because of his top secret research. They had operatives all over the city to compromise his food and they had probably just switched it back when I wasn't looking. He certainly didn't blame me for the onions. I got him a new burger, and every time he came in after that, he waited for me specifically because he knew I wasn't a plant.
David 2 years ago
You're right sir. This location has obviously been compromised. It is probably safer for you to dine elsewhere from now on. God speed sir, God speed.
The Original Bruno 2 years ago
Aw, don't mess with the schizophrenics. They're people, too. (I helped with a Christian ministry that attracted a lot of schizos. A lot of very NICE people. If you accounted for the fact that their inputs were feeding them wrong information, many of them actually seemed fairly well-adjusted and sensible. As if their inputs were messed up, but the way they processed that data seemed like a good way of handling that data; if their senses reflected the real world, their actions would seem very proper.)
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LeeAnne B 2 years ago
If the CIA was watching him then why did he eat at the same place all the time. Everyone knows that you have to keep changing your location to stay one step ahead.
Trophy Husband 2 years ago
As a kid, I was a smart aleck. And I didn't like to give people my driver's license to scan into their system. One store required that of me and I refused. In my defense, I was using a credit card for a $10 purchase and it was pretty silly. But I was an a*s and I got a manager and made up a story about being in the police explorer program and being told never to let someone write my id number down. The manager snickered, but he let me go without it. I don't know WTF was wrong with me, but one day I'm going to be reading one of these and it will be him writing about me.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
It's really àss that so many retail workers are expected to cope with so much untreated schizophrenics because our health care system is so incomprehensibly broken...
Sali Seydel Mounce 2 years ago
... Because the CIA would be most concerned with mc Donald's?! 😳
#18
I work at a paint store. There was a woman who came in several times, and was a massive pain in the a*s every time. The first time, she kept asking for a color called linen. It went something like: "my son had his house painted in linen and it looks so beautiful, he's got it under the chair rail through the whole house, and a darker color on top and...." Okay ma'am, do you want a sample of that color? "yes, I want linen" (I try to pull up the color) Okay, so Sherwin-Williams doesn't have a color called linen, but I have the formula from a Ben Moore linen, porter paint, and another competitor. Do you know which one it was? "it's linen" I understand, ma'am, but these are all different colors, and to make sure you get the right one, I need to know which company he got the paint from. "I want linen" Which linen? "I want linen" Seeing that this conversation is going absolutely nowhere, I pick one at random and send her away. A week or two later, I was working late on a Friday, which meant I was the only one working. I have a line out the door, and I pick up the phone while trying to juggle mixing orders and taking care of other customers. Surprise, it's linen lady. She wants an estimate for how much paint she needs. Easy enough, I try to get her to give me some rough measurements of the area to be painted. She starts in on this long rambling diatribe about her two tone color scheme and the chair rail through the house, while I try to interject every few minutes with a "yes but the measurements". After fifteen minutes, I simply cannot stay on the phone any longer because I can't do my job with her yapping in my ear. I tell her to consult her painter and hang up. The first and only time I've ever had to hang up on a customer. A couple weeks later and she's back in the store. She's unhappy with one of the colors she selected to contrast the linen. But she can't remember which color it is. I look through her order history and find nothing. She then tells me she got it at another store. Okay fine, I go into the online system to pull her orders from the other store. Meanwhile, she calls the other store to pester them about it. Thirty seconds into the call, I find the information, but she cannot be stopped. The other store finds the color eventually, and she picks a color chip off the wall and brings it to me. Says this is the color, and she doesn't like it. I ask if she wants me to adjust the color, or something else, but no, she just wanted to show me the color she didn't like, and went to pick out a completely different color. I still cannot figure out what the f**k is going through her head. Probably nothing at all.
Vasana Phong 2 years ago
I remember a story of when my mom( thick Asian accent) was at a sneaker store looking for some sneakers for my dad, she found the one she wanted for him, when the salesman came and asked her if she needed help, she said yes, can I have this in wigh, the man said, sorry ma’am I don’t have those in white just black, she said no wigh , wigh , again he responded the same answer, while my son was done laughing at the scene he told him, she meant to say wide
Carole 2 years ago
Your story reminds me of my aunt who's from Costa Rica and still has a Spanish accent. I don't know how people get money on their phones for calls in other countries, but in my country you have to buy these small scratch cards with a code on them and obviously each phone operater has their own cards. We speak French in my country so in French she would say "Carte Orange" (Orange being the name of the phone operator and carte being French for card), except that with her accent it sounds like "quatre oranges" (meaning four oranges). So one day she sends someone to buy her a phone card and the guy came back with four oranges! They were both very confused for a moment haha
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BLONDTROBL 2 years ago
My grandfather was a cook in a restaurant, very close to the Mexican border. They were short on wait staff, so he volunteered to help. Goes up to a guy sitting at the counter, with the coffee pot and asks "coffee"? The man answers "por favor". My grandfather poured four cups of coffee.
Karen Kirkpatrick 2 years ago
good grief...do all these stories contain people who need straight jackets?
Mario Strada 2 years ago
This sounds like almost everyone of my clients. The latest was this idiot that wanted some UI element "the same color as this brick wall". He shows me a picture of a very distressed brick wall with likely millions of colors in it. I tell him that's not how things work, but he insists I use the color picker to get his "brick color". Naturally, not a single sample looked like the frigging brick wall. I forget how it ended because I tried to clean my brain with bleach. Only partially successful.
LinkTheHylian 2 years ago (edited)
I want to know the specific store OP worked at. Not just because of the odd lady, but they had a "line out the door", "late on a Friday", at a paint store. So this store is either really popular, or really small.
Chintan Shah 2 years ago
From having worked on the medical side with many patients.. It seems to me like this lady must have dementia and or some other mental health condition. I'm not a diagnostician, so I leave that up to the doctors, but unfortunately this is common for many seniors in the USA. And broken families mean most seniors are on their own. No children looking after or caring about these day to day issues that seniors are facing
#19
A woman came in and wanted a morning after pill. While my co-worker was getting it, she told me about the sex which made the pill necessary, with focus on the guy's d**k (it had been a disappointment, and apparently why she decided she didn't want the guy's children after all). Since she didn't speak the language very well this was mostly done with gestures and facial expressions, but I unfortunatly got the gist.
Michael Largey 2 years ago (edited)
And I speak for the many who really don't.
Load More Replies... Jessica J. 2 years ago
At least she didn't tell you about being r.aped by the Russians when they occupied Berlin at the end of WWII. She was a German ballerina, and wrote a book about it, and would tell me not to buy it, but check it out from the library. I heard this everytime she came in. She would ask for me, by name. Luckily, when she came in my coworkers would give it a few minutes, then call me away, saying they needed my help.
Bobby 2 years ago
Suspect the dear lady had unresolved trauma. Older generations were expected to just 'deal with it.'
Load More Replies... Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Well, this is a pretty good story to keep justifying why these pills remain necessary...
Rebekah Jackson 2 years ago
She didn't want the disappointing d**k getting passed down to her son(s)
#20
When I worked at Home Depot, a customer tried to return a door that had been installed in their house for 20 years. Literally 20 years. I was only 4 years older than their door back then. I was floored by the situation. They had the receipt, but the receipt showed they bought it at some mom and pop store. That store had since gone out of business, and the customer argued, "Well, I'm gonna buy the new door here! This place has enough money to refund me and I have the receipt!" He kept screaming that he had the receipt and did not understand why that receipt being from another store made his point invalid.
David 2 years ago
wow. I once saw a lady return a glass coffee pot because it was broken in the box. Except she had purchased it six months prior. I thought THAT was unreasonable.
Nikole 2 years ago
My husband is in charge of returns at his Costco, and that place accepts any and every return. TVs that smell like they were in a smoky bar for years, highly used mattresses, etc…
Load More Replies... Adam Zad 2 years ago
You weren't floored by the door situation, you were in a jamb. Sorry. I'll get my coat and show myself out.
Linda Duncan 2 years ago
I caught it too, check out my reply!! (I hadn't seen yours yet at the time, incidentally.)
Load More Replies... Rach Stock 2 years ago
I saw a customer berate an box store employee over a candy item that rang up a few cents more than advertised. I understand not being over charged but she was absolutely unreasonably irate over a few pennies. I considered flipping her a quarter to save the guy, bit decided it was better not to have her turn her wrath towards me!
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
I had some real doozies back when I worked at a Home Depot in Minnesota. Most of them were some deep, ingrained misogyny. One man even complained about the photos of my children on my badge. Every worker had pics of their kids on their badges. But it was only bad for "the females" (his words) because it's pictures of what we "should be taking care of right now and not working". I can't make this shìt up, I'm not talented enough.
tabithapaquette98 2 years ago
Omfg! I don't have kids, but I don't think I would have been able to deal with him. How dare he! Did you jump over the counter and strangle him?
Load More Replies... Tanya Engesser 2 years ago
I used to work the returns desk at a once upon a time Home Depot competitor store. We got all sorts of crazy stuff happening. I bet this customer threatened to “never shop here again” …. At least 2-3 times a month 😉
Isa 2 years ago
Ohhh patience...this kind of thing makes me never return to retail ever...I don't know why but during my long time working at a telecommunications company. The only thing I got was lonely people that used to call very late in the night because they wanted someone to talk to...very sad...
Linda Duncan 2 years ago
Bless you for being one of those people who listened. I only call when I need to, but often wind up starting conversations.
Load More Replies... Kristina Atwood 2 years ago
I had a woman come in screaming with four toddlers wanting to know what bagger ate all of her bologna. The kids were very skinny and smelled very clearly of bologna. I apologized about "Frank, our little guy that loves bologna." There never was a Frank, she got a really big pack of better bologna and the oldest kid got slipped a very well wrapped parcel of roast beef. Poor kids were hungry! Mother drove a new model Escalade.
Linda Duncan 2 years ago
That woman should have her kids taken from her, if she hasn't already imo. You don't let kids go hungry. 😡🤬
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Donna Sempek 2 years ago
A good friend worked at a return window in a large retail store. It went something like this…a man came up with a toaster in his hand. He demanded a new toaster but it had been purchased at a different store. As my friend attempted to explain his need to go to that store he yelled at her to just stick it up her a… she quickly replied “sorry sir I already have a vacuum there”
#21
I used to work in a luxury perfume shop while at uni, and I had more bizarre interactions than I can count. My favorite was an old lady. She came in, wearing a dirty house-coat and slippers, violently searching in the store. I asked her if I can help, but she said no, and went on with her search.
After a while, she came to me, and said:
"Ok, I give up, and just ask. Do you have horsefood?"
I told her politely, we didn't. And she started agressively yelling:
"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT SO MUCH"
It took us at least 10 minutes to calm her down. She then filed a complaint, and left.
Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
Very bizarre, however it does sound like she has some mental illness. I feel more bad than anything.
Elizabeth Deighton 2 years ago
I had a very posh customer come into the shop and asked for a certain type of dress fabric. She kept insisting that I showed her some whilst I tried to explain that we didn't sell it only curtaining fabrics four times. The owner came over to see what the matter was. She turned on the charm, gave me a very nasty smirk and in very honeyed tones told him. Her face when he repeated that we didn't was a picture. She just turned and walked out
Rahim Carlock 2 years ago
No. Sorry ma'am. But there is some horse urine around here somewhere.
Paul Pienkowski 2 years ago
Was she, uhm, impaired? Or perhaps foreign and not familiar with perfume stores?
pineapple87 2 years ago
Considering the outfit, she probably had advanced alzheimers and had wandered off, and you maybe should have called the police.
#22
I have so many. I've done retail, food service, and call center work. The weirdest one was probably the Happy Meal guy from when I worked in rental car billing. That job I did both taking customer calls and responding to customer emails. I am so grateful this guy was an email, because I probably would have laughed in his face if he'd called. So this guy rented a car from the Phoenix, AZ, airport in July. For anyone who isn't familiar, this is a desert in the western part of the US and it gets ungodly hot in the summer. Cook an egg on the pavement hot. Anyway, when he gets to the car he goes to put the contract in the glove box. But when he opens it, he finds a half-eaten McDonald's Happy Meal. Cheeseburger, in case anyone cares. At this point I'm thinking that's disgusting and the dude wants compensation for us not cleaning out the glove box properly. But no, that's not his issue. He goes on to write that he naturally assumed this was a benefit of being one of our gold members, ***ATE IT***, and got sick. He wanted compensation for his medical bills, distress, and (I s**t you not) false advertisement. I gave him a coupon for a discount on his next rental and told him we apologized for improperly cleaning his vehicle.
Rebelliousslug 2 years ago
My grandfather used to sing this song to me, I don’t think I’ve heard (or seen) this song in about 35 years
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Spocks's Mom 2 years ago
I would say you're right, but I think the guy was lying to get something from the rental car company. My husband works for a car rental corporation and they are super thorough (at least at his company) when they clean and inspect these cars. I wish these a******s would stop trying to get the employees in trouble because they are too cheap to pay for the things they want.
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Ellie Ahmed 2 years ago
People are gross. We once had a patient brought to our emergency room after he fell ill at work. Turns out that he'd eaten pizza the night before that had been sitting in his car for five days. Unsurprisingly, it gave him food poisoning. The wild part is that he made us fill out the documents to start a workers compensation claim, I guess on the grounds that he was technically at work when he started feeling violently sick? Either way, they unsurprisingly did not pay his bills in the end.
Tired_antisocial_mom 2 years ago
I think all you need to do now is to work in a hotel/hospitality job to complete all your customer service hell training!
Gareth Baus 2 years ago
Or he is lying and secretly an intelligent a*****e.
Load More Replies... #23
I worked at a smoothie shop, I don’t have many wild stories other than the fact this dude came back and complained about how the smoothie was too cold and proceeded to yell at another employee. We didn’t know how to react, I was trying my hardest not to laugh, but... bruh. You go to an ice cream shop and say you want your money back after you discover ice cream is cold???
Edward Finger Hands 2 years ago
Wait...he said smoothie shop and smoothie and then ice cream shop and ice cream? I'm confused.
Mary Rogers 2 years ago
Shops often sell both. And smoothies are frozen anyway so the point stands.
Load More Replies... Steve Robert 2 years ago
I don't know but sometimes the ice cream in my freezer gets so cold, I have to stick it in the microwave for about seven seconds to bring it back to creamy state.
Mike Fitzpatrick 2 years ago
I had an oooold woman who used to complain that her beer was too cold. I told her that if she would let us know ahead of time that she would be in we would take steps to "take the chill off" a couple of beers.
Loverboy (He/him they/them) 2 years ago
I bet he's the same guy who will fake a story and give it 1 star after being kicked out.
Sierra Adam 2 years ago
When I was 15 I worked at McDonald's. This lady came through the drivethru and ordered 2 meals and one 10 piece nugget meal. She then came back to the store more than 30 minutes later. But this time she came into the lobby. She instantly started yelling at me and freaking out because she only got 8 nuggets instead of 10. I was only 15, like who the f freaks out at a young teenager for this? She should have asked for a manager instead of taking that out on me. Anyways I then proceeded to ask if if she'd like to speak with my manager. After he dealt with her he cam up to me and said it's been over 30 min since she left she probably ate them lmao. He also told me that I handled the situation well and told me good job lol.
StarlightPanda! 2 years ago
I have one: Someone wanted to return their Chicago Hard Rolls because they were "Hard." 😑
#24
I’ve had customers come in and ask if we sold water, cell phones, and phone chargers.
I work at a paint store...
Jessiebean 2 years ago
To be fair, a lot of hardware stores that sell paint also sell water and phone chargers lol
Jude Bennett 2 years ago
He didn't say hardware store, he said a paint store
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Pink kitty 2 years ago
I used to work behind the counter in a deli and someone asked if we sold phones
Karma Black 2 years ago
My local craft store also sells phone chargers, locally-made fudge, and a large variety of toys that aren't related to crafts whatsoever; so I can understand this one.
Nancy Marine 2 years ago
Why? Sherwin Williams does perfectly fine selling just paint and paint supplies. In fact, it's a multi-million dollar business.
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Hellsbunnies TV 2 years ago
You can sorta understand the phone charger. If you're caught or, with 2% power, you'd ask if they sold one in a funeral parlour, pet shop or brother!
Sky Heighway 2 years ago
This isy 'go to' Dad joke. Any time someone in retail asks me "can I help" I say "Do you sell tyres?". Unless I'm actually buying tyres. After the initial look of confusion I'll say "no? How about beer?" Because I'm in a brewery. Or whatever I really came in for. Sometimes it's funny. And, as a dad, it's also funny when no one gets it 😁
#25
I’m a cable guy. Back when I was doing installs and trouble calls, this lady told me her cable worked fine but asked if I could help with something else real quick. I had time so I said sure. She lead me to the bathroom and told me to be quiet. That was a quick change that made me feel very confused about what would happen next. She asks me if I hear a scratching noise. I listen and I do indeed hear it. She proceeds to tell me it’s her pet turtle whom she lets roam around her house freely. Apparently the little guy found his way into an air vent that she normally kept covered up and she didn’t know how to get him out and wanted my opinion. While this is going on, I hear what sounds like a little girl keep crying out “mama!” My confusion must have been pretty apparent because she then tells me that’s her Macaw. She leads me to the living room, takes the blanket off a cage I didn’t notice when I came in, and sure enough there’s a big white bird. It looks at me and just says “Hi!” It was very strange. She contacted animal control who I guess had a way to get the turtle out of the vent so he was all good. Not sure what they did but it worked so all is well.
zak 2 years ago
If she didn't buy (or, 🤞, crochet herself) a cowboy hat and some chaps for the bird, and put a tiny saddle on the turtle's shell so the bird could ride it, then that's a massively wasted opportunity and, frankly, not a world I want to live in.
BLONDTROBL 2 years ago
Is that you, Ang? Sounds like something my son would say. He was four when he declared that he was going to be a paleontologist/comedian.
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Simplysimple68 2 years ago
Albino macaws have blue wings. And are pretty rare. Probably a cockatoo.
Load More Replies... Paul Pienkowski 2 years ago
Smart bird. Kept itself hidden! My dog would go nuts if a stranger came within six feet of the house.
#26
I use to work in a small public library. There was an older business owner that came in for a weekly club/lunch meeting. These meetings were in a back meeting room that I had no control over. He came into the library a couple of times furious at me, because his chair was too cold. He informed me that for the rest of the winter I needed to sit in his chair before he got there, so his chair would be warm for him!
OmBoyGanesh 2 years ago
Ugh. I regularly deal with very wealthy customers. For the most part, they’re extremely easy-going. More so than entitled (upper) middle class. Occasionally we’ll get one that’s really demanding for absurd requests. I keep a calm bland demeanor and respond with, “I’m sorry, but no.” It usually works, especially if I don’t look away from what I’m doing. If they push it & double down, I simply say, “Sorry. You’re not that important. Nobody is. You’re no more significant than any other guest or employee here. Period!” They typically get the message. They’re not gonna get anywhere with me with that spoilt, b****y attitude. Now, if other business owners & managers would just get their employees backs to stand up to a-holes.
Kise Miarse 2 years ago
Yah that last line is the problem. I'm more than willing to stand up to overly entitled people - but I haven't worked a job yet where my supervisor wouldn't cave.
Load More Replies... jmdirks 2 years ago
I've had people yell at me.."DO YOU WHO I AM??" when I tell them they can't have/do something. I just say..."Don't know, don't care."
Janet McG 2 years ago
I once read about the same basic situation where an entitled twit yelled "Do you know who I am?" The clerk asked if someone would call the police for the poor person who didn't know who they were! I'd so love to be able to do that!
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Kristina Atwood 2 years ago
Had a weird thing happen when I was 17. My mother had encouraged me to quit school to work more hours. I gave in. The family patriarch of the chain of smalltown supermarkets, one of which I worked in, would periodically make rounds if his stores. Once, he brought what he called an "investor" to shop and give opinion on the store. I was delegated as personal shopper. Cool. Until I was asked to not only bag up everything that was bought, but also get into the SUV to unpack at its delivery. My hero that night was the store manager who also found out I'd quit school at my mother's urging (he thought I'd graduated early.) I'm ok, now.
Karen Philpott 2 years ago
Well, Sir, that incurs a payment of $75 cash per meeting to be directly paid to me for warming your seat before the meeting.
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago (edited)
What do you want to bet it wasn’t the temperature of the chair he was upset about. You can fill in the rest.
#27
I worked as an it support tech for an online company. Usually we do password resets and stuff. Had a woman call in because she forgot her password. Wouldn't give me any information that I could use to help her. She then accused me of racism. How could I know what race she was over the phone, without knowing anything about her. She yelled many times at me and demanded some free stuff cause...racism. she called me a honky and hung up. I'm not white.
James Frail 2 years ago
Ah, but everyone knows those birds are racist as heck.
Load More Replies... David 2 years ago
Ironic given 'honky' is a pejorative for white people, typically used by non-white people who are racist against whites.
The Original Bruno 2 years ago (edited)
Knew a guy who used to work for an organization often presumed to be conservative. He was routinely accused of being a white supremacist. People calling in to an organization's internet-published main office line couldn't tell he was Black. To be fair, the poor guy also occasionally fielded calls from actual racists who also presumed he would be OK with racism; although I'm not saying they were harmless, he had more fun telling them he was Black. They'd get mortified and apologize, as opposed to the anti-racists who would double down still try to convince him HE was a racist.
Apatheist Account2 2 years ago
Not the only story here where people play the race card inappropriately and in doing so, damage the cause of equality.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
My mixed friend once worked at an arcade. This huge bìtchy white lady with an 85' perm came in one day with her mixed kids. They were ROTTEN. My friend demanded they leave (they were openly breaking things) and this behemoth walked right up to him and accused him of being racist because her brats are mixed. (I'm sitting at a table nearby, waiting for them to get off work) and at this point he leans over the counter and doesn't yell, but the anger definitely boiling over and he said, "I AM BLAAAAAAAAAACCCCCKKK!!" He was VERY clearly mixed too. Her and her crøtch goblins earned a ban and left.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
Again, since it was on the phone, she could have been the one who was white and running a scam on you.
Máté Jancsek 2 years ago
Is not you, just to clear out any confusion: you don't have to be white, to be a racist
#28
ive worked at several restaurants. however...about a year ago, this is how a convo went with this lady: "hello there. what can i get you today" "i would like a sub" "ok, what type of sub would you like?" "ya know..a sub, just make me a sub" "ma'am we have over 12 different types of subs here..." *she points at my boss* "oh he makes it when i come in sometimes..he knows how i like it!!" my boss, very confused goes "oh yes..hi! nice to see you again" with a "who the f**k is this lady?" look on his face he says "and what sub am i making? what type?" she goes "ya know..my sub" he goes "..ok? what type though?" she starts to get very mad and goes "MY sub! the one you make me all the time when i come in" despite her coming in only once every month or something. he goes "i dont know what sub that is. was it turkey? roast beef?" she goes "sigh..no it's not it's a SUB" boss goes "italian? we call it "the sub" here. she goes "oh yes! that's it! a SUB" he goes "ok, coming right up" just wanting to say gtfo lol so boss says "what size bread?" her - "sized bread? what is sized bread?" boss - "we have three sizes, 6 10 or 12 inch" her - "idk...i just want a sub!! is that hard?" at this point i was getting pretty pissed off and so was my boss. i dont know if she was drunk? under stress? high? idk..she was getting pretty upset clearly. she goes "just give me the biggest one..biggest one!" he goes "want white or wheat bread?" this is when all education went out the door....she asks "white or wheat for what?" my boss..clearly pissed off..goes "for the bread.. would you like it on white or wheat bread" she seriously says "what kind of question is that? its a f*****g SUB ok?" at this point , if i were the boss i would have told her to please leave, dont talk like that to me, but my boss kept on asking her to the point she said "just make MY sub! biggest one!!" he makes her sub...white bread, default way we make it she says it's for here. she gets the super sub..which is our biggest sub and she goes "this was on wheat bread! why is it on white?" she throws the tray with the sub on it back on the counter by the cashier and goes "im not eating this f*****g thing! this isnt MY SUB like you made it before!" boss says - "ma'am..how am I supposed to know what you had for lunch in my restaurant a month ago? i have hundreds of orders a day..and you expect me to remember yours all the time?" she says "well you do it with others!!" boss says "ma'am...those people come in 3 sometimes 4 times a week and order the same thing..and have been coming in here for more than 8 years. she says "so what?! just make my damn sub!!" he said "i made your sub, it's right in front of you now i have to get back to making orders for the others you cut in line when you wanted to complain" she told us and raged "i hope somebody comes in a shoots you all up with a machine gun you f*****g a******s" and stormed out.... O.o we never saw her again. ever. THAT was the most f****d up thing that ever happened to me working with the public
Jeremy James 2 years ago
This reminds me of the customer who told me, "Give me the Starbucks." I tried to clarify, "Sir, do you want a Starbucks coffee? A Starbucks double-shot on ice?" He became irate, demanding, "No! The Starbucks! Give me the Starbucks!" "You want franchise information?" Finally, I just poured him a drip coffee, rang him up, and he walked smugly away like he'd won some kind of victory.
Yoga Kitty 2 years ago
Why was she served at all? Where I am from she would find herself outside and banned from that store pretty quickly...
Remington Greer 2 years ago
I think whomever came up with the phrase "the customer is always right" should have to deal with every single customer complaint, singlehandedly
Dekker451 2 years ago
There are three basic types of problem customer: idiots, a******s and people who don't know what they want. I can fairly easily tolerate one or even two of those traits (except maybe idiotic a*****e), but when peoole are all three like this sub woman, it drives me up the wall.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
More schizophrenia. In her mind she's a regular there, and you know her, just like Norm walking into Cheers. Fantasy has bled into her reality. They literally don't understand. Not that it excuses their behavior.
Rebekah Jackson 2 years ago
20ish years ago while living in Las Vegas I went into Round Table Pizza. I'm allergic to tomatoes so I asked for an Hawaiian with no red sauce and maybe Alfredo instead which is way more common now. Anyway, about a year later I go in again, same lady taking orders. She points at me and says exactly what I had before. I was floored.
Glen MacLeod 2 years ago (edited)
In my previous life in a b&b a woman from London was told by my sweet coworker that there was no smoking in the lobby. The woman took a drag, blew the smoke in her face and said "So?" Poor girl was stunned. When I came on shift, she was still upset. This is the south where rudeness is unacceptable. I waited for the woman to leave for dinner. Then I went to the woman's room and turned her thermostat down to 60. This is SC, in the summer. It was high 90s. When she returned she came out to the front desk and said her room was hot. So I walked down, looked at the thermostat and said (with my best southern drawl), "I'm so sorry mam! Your AC was set very low and it's frozen up trying to cool your room." Her eyes wide "What am I supposed to do?" "Well we can just shut it down for an hour or so and it will thaw." Then I smiled and said "Come on down and sit in the lobby until then." Then as I walked away I added "Don't forget, no smoking in the lobby." Rudeness is unacceptable, sometimes passive aggressive is.
#29
I had a lady hit me in the head with a plastic spoon becuase I told her I couldn't order the McDonald's "square spoons" for her shake becuase we were, in fact, Arby's.
Nicky 2 years ago
At least you didn´t have a customer throw an alligator at you like the Florida man did at a Wendy´s drive-thru.
Monosyllabic girl 2 years ago (edited)
I had a woman storm into the Hardee's i worked at and throw her large diet coke that i had just given her in drive through at me, drenching me head to toe, screaming "i said DIET!". It was diet, i just hadn't pressed the button in on top because it was the only soda that was poured at the time. I told her ma'am, that was a diet coke. You are the only customer so we didn't need to differentiate your soda from any other soda. Those tabs are for us workers to tell soda apart. She looked embarrassed but no apology so I put a cup on the counter for her and told her I won't call the police on her for assaulting me but she isn't welcome back at our store. It's unfortunately not the only time. Another threw an open full soda can at me from her car because I wouldn't take it from her and throw it away. Covid protocol. There was a garbage can ten feet in front of her but she threw it at me then called a complaint on me for refusing her garbage.
Kristine Flatt 2 years ago
Had someone throw a full large soda through the drive thru window at the McDonald's I worked for and it hit me in the face. The worst part? I wasn't working drive thru that day. I was grabbing my order for the front counter and the guy working drive thru had moved at just the right minute. I don't know if the customer was horrified or what, but they sped off after that.
michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Ummmm...police? This lady just assaulted me... Hey, lady get the f**k outta here and go to McDonald's!
#30
The most bizarre was when an old guy (a frail, grandpa-esque person in his 70's maybe) spent about twenty minutes just... complimenting me. Telling me stuff like my eyes "shine with kindness and intelligence" and that my face is "the classic, innocent beauty of the muses" (cue all-encompassing "lolwhut" on my part). Then my boss called my name (a fairly generic one that I unfortunately happen to share with a fairly well-known poet's muse), which prompted him to launch into *a f*****g poem*. Never in my life have I felt more uncomfortable, and I couldn't even excuse myself because I just.... couldn't get a word in. He even asked his (similarly old, female) friend to come over and look at me as well. It was incredibly creepy and strange and awful. My boss had to shove a stack of (mostly blank) papers into my hand and give me a b******t task to complete, just to get me away from there with minimal fuss. The worst part? I saw the guy wandering around the store around closing as well, and he only seemed to scamper away when my boyfriend showed up to pick me up.
Katie Lutesinger 2 years ago
Sheesh, he sounds like a bad author trying to describe the one-dimensional Love Interest Girl.
SkyBlueandBlack 2 years ago
Sounds more like a potential serial killer, if you ask me.
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2CentSally 2 years ago
Something not quite as cringey happened to me when I worked retail. A man, probably early 60s, sitting in a chair at the front of store waiting for his wife, stopped me when I walked by and asked if I bought my jeans at the store, I said yes, and he said he wanted to go find some for his wife so she could look like me
michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Sick old bastard. His tired old pick up routine left the building about 50 years ago. Bye-bye. Keep an eye out for this guy, sounds like a nut job stalker 😜
Summer and Luna K 2 years ago
Sounds like a stalker rapist to me. I can hear Keith Morrison in my head now......
David Martin 2 years ago
I was once in line behind an elderly gentleman in a Disneyland gift shop who completed his transaction, and then in the sweetest, most sincere tone of voice you can imagine, tells the cashier "Thank you so much; You speak real good English for a Chinese!" And lord bless that women, she just held her smile and politely thanked him for saying that...didn't even phase her for a second
EmBree 2 years ago
Traveling salesmen had a thing they did in the past where they created improvised poetry, picture old guy rap battles but to sell what ever they were carrying. I worked as a waitress and had two of them compete in the restaurant, all about how I was the most beautiful woman and so on. It was embarrassing and amusing at the same time. I did not buy anything from them and they did have to pay for their food. The newspaper wrote about the last of the "oldies" when he died a decade ago. In a way, it's a shame the tradition died out, but they did have hard lives.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Hhmmnnnn this sounds like some sort of hyper fixation. Possibly dementia related.
Andrewsarchus42 2 years ago
That’s not what a hyperfixation is (source: I have ADHD which gives me hyperfixations). He was into op, and kept complementing her to get in her pants. She was creeped out, but wasn’t able to tell him off because she was working customer service. He only stopped when he saw another man “owned” her already. MIGHT be dementia, but most likely just a creep.
Load More Replies... #31
I have a really nice positive one for you. Still odd though cos it was Glastonbury. I was working the front counter in the cafe at the foot of the Tor, loved it, and would make people feel welcome. Well a guy came in, looking like a full on Buddhist monk. Orange robe, shaved head etc. He had started travelling, got a small house truck together with his family, and was asking a few questions about the area. My girlfriend and I gave him as much help as we could, even invited him to out house later. We made him feel good and welcome. Just before he left, he took my hand and pressed something into it and folded my fingers over. Told me "thank you very much etc" and turned to leave. I opened my hand and there was a bud of nice quality skunk.
Lauren S 2 years ago
“A bed of nice quality skunk” Does that mean weed? I can’t imagine this was actually related to the stinky animal 🦨 💨
jeff adams 2 years ago
Bud of quality skunk = an actual bud of aromatic primo weed
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Jeremy James 2 years ago
I have had customers put weed in my tip jar before. It's rare, but always appreciated.
#32
She bought one item and I asked her if she wanted a bag. She screamed, "I was hoping you wouldn't ask that stupid-a*s question! Is there some rule that black people don't want bags?!?!" and I still did not know whether she wanted a bag or not so I awkwardly put her item down in front of her. She threw it into a bag and huffed away.
David 2 years ago
Some folks try to make everything about race. They look for it so they find it, even if it isn't there to find.
Tanya Engesser 2 years ago
Sadly, I suspect that some people have had to deal with being on the receiving end of racism (both subtle and overt) for so much of their lives, that they have lost clarity of discernment. Also, sadly, in every subset of humans… there a few who somehow seem to seek out victim-hood.
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Terry Tobias 2 years ago
I had a terrible experience once when working retail. I was a rep in the electronics department of a local store. We would get busloads of people from the city and this was Christmas time so we were packed. This older black lady was at the counter and I asked her "How can I help you ma'am?" She looked at me and shouted "Don't call me ma'am! I ain't your mammy!" I was mortified! She kept shouting and yelling that I was racist and not to call her ma'am. Everyone was silent and people were watching her in fear. I finally managed to tell her that I would get the department manager to help her. Now he had also been working the customers at the counter and was a witness to all of this, but when he went up to the lady he said "What can I do for you ma'am?' You could hear the collective inhalation of breath from the crowd of customers before this lady lit into my manager with both barrels. It was awful! She finally left and every person that I helped after that was extremely nice to me!
David 2 years ago (edited)
It is sad when people are both ignorant about words and loud and rude about letting know of their ignorance. "maam - DATED•NORTH AMERICAN a term of respectful or polite address used for a woman. "excuse me, ma'am" BRITISH a term of address for female royalty. BRITISH a term of address for a ranking female officer in the police or armed forces."" EDIT: When I was a boy in school, saying stuff like "Yes Maam' to the teachers was a sign of respect. They were not black, they were not my mother and nobody thought it meant anything other than a respectful term for a female superior. In this example an adult who was my senior cuz me little boy.
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Fish Fingers 2 years ago
We had two sizes of bags, normal sized and really quite small. Lady bought two things, I said "Well I have a bag that's too big or too small!'. I thought it was funny, and obvious that I wasn't going to try to put her stuff in the bag that was too small, but no, she got shouty and arsey. NB, I have never in my life had a job that I needed more than my self respect...
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
More schizophrenia. Once had an older black lady scream at me for requesting her license to verify her check. It was standard practice at the time to put their license number on the reference line of all checks. This was absolutely standard for everyone paying by check. Got screamed at for being racist and singling her out and assuming she was trying to steal, etc etc. This went on for a solid half hour before management finally came out. So what happened after that? I don't know because I fücking left. I didn't quit yet, but I was completely done that day.
David 2 years ago
Yeah, I can recall when my DL was written on the checks all the time. In fact it was so common I had some of my checks printed with it on the check so they could just glance at my license and move on to speed up the process.
Load More Replies... StarlightPanda! 2 years ago
Whoa! Whoa! This happened to one of my co-workers at Publix a few years ago. Could OP be the same person? How many people actually make up this c**p out of thin air? The reason we ask people if they want a bag is because MOST people don't want a bag for one item! Jerks..
BLONDTROBL 2 years ago
My boyfriend and I were at his uncle's house. He offered us fig newtons as we were leaving, turned around, and started gently booting his wife in the butt, saying "get a bag, get a bag". We looked at each other and burst out laughing!
Shawn Brennan 2 years ago
Y’all are missing the point. Black people need the bag with the store logo because otherwise security assumes they are shoplifting the item. Happens all the time. They are just trying to protect themselves.
StarlightPanda! 2 years ago
We also had people who actually 100% stole, and we say something to EVERY customer who steals. These jerks said that we stopped them because they're black. No. We stopped you because you stole, and stealing is wrong. It doesn't matter who you are.
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Shannon K 2 years ago
This instance is ridiculous and has nothing to do with race however I do understand the frustration with the whole 'do you need a bag?' nonsense. I'm standing there with a trolley load of groceries, no bags of my own in sight and I'm asked 'Do you want a bag?' No I don't, I'll just use the force thanks 🙄
Karen Philpott 2 years ago (edited)
We had a woman in our store who was upset about people in our shop being racist to Maori, she was nutting off to my Volunteer and I. My Volunteer is obviously Maori. I am Maori, but not obviously so. And we were serving her. We put it down to her having had a bad experience somewhere else and we copped it.
#33
I was a page at NBC Studios in Burbank in the early 2000's and part of our job was working the gift shop and ticket counter for the Tonight Show.
Two guys come in and say "We're here for the Lakers game." I was like "Uh... I'm sorry, that game isn't here, it's over at the Staples Center." One of them just gives me a look and says "It's NBC, right?"
I proceed to explain to him that while NBC is airing the Lakers game, we don't shoot it at the studio, and we take our cameras and crew and shoot it at the Staples Center where the Lakers play.
The one guy turns around and scribbles on a piece of paper and hands it to me. It says "2 Lakers Tickets for [Insert Random Name]" and he says like "What about this, huh?"
Thankfully my supervisor jumped in and said "Oh, you'll have to come back Thursday morning, we'll see you then, okay?" and that seemed to placate them and they left. My supervisor tells me this happened quite often and when you tell them to come back, they rarely do.
Steve Robert 2 years ago
And I always thought it was little people playing in my TV set. Of course I was only three at the time
L Coffeen 2 years ago
When I was 4 I said to my mom, "I bet it takes a long time to make movies." And she asked why. "they have to wait for the actors to grow up from when they were little to play their grown up selves." My mom, while laughing had to explain to me it what two different people.
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Jane Hower 2 years ago
Had a neighbor years ago who wanted a bigger TV because he was tired of not seeing all the play on his small set. omg
Ani Charisma 2 years ago
My parents had me convinced that in all televised sporting events the players sat down and took a break during commercials.
#34
I used to work in a call centre form a mobile phone network. Many years ago a customer called as he had entered his PIN too many times and blocked his phone. After doing data protection checks I told him that I had a ten digit code that would restore his phone and asked if he had a pen and paper. He confirmed he had and I proceeded to read out the number, at which points he says ‘not on me’. Why did he think I was asking if he had a pen and paper if not to write something down! I wasn’t asking if he owned stationery. I also had one customer complain that he had glued tin foil to his phone to stop it giving him cancer, but now he could not get a signal.
Kioh81 2 years ago
Hahaha I worked for the tech dept for cell phone CS in college, back when 3G first came out and Internet on your phone was a new thing. I have sooooo many stories from back then that are hilarious and some just make you scratch your head and wonder how these people remember to breathe. Hahaha
XanthippeⓐWulf🇨🇦 🇬🇧 2 years ago
Well Rahim, gather 'round the campfire and let this elder millennial regale you with tales of waaaaay back in the early tens, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and there was this strange and magical thing called a landline...ooooh. 😆
Load More Replies... michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Well clearly he should have been wearing a tin foil hat! Then he could have used his phone to call and book a seat on the Crazy Train 🚆 🙄
Rebekah Jackson 2 years ago
Should have advised him the Tin foil needs to be fashioned into a hat and worn on his head and it's also he could store a pen and paper under it 😎😁
#35
Former Retail Manager here. I have a million, but the one that stuck out to me as the most was this weird guy who never spoke all and would always come in late at night. One night about an hour after we closed I was getting ready to leave when I start walking towards the alarm and there's the dude standing in the middle of the aisle staring me dead in the eyes. I froze for a good 10 seconds then asked him if he was OK and that we were closed. In response he frowned, pulled up his shirt and rubbed his belly. I repeated that we we closed, walked over to him and started to walk him towards the entrance. When he realized what I was doing he turned and ran deeper into the store. I was debating calling the cops, but I had been there for 11 hours already and didn't want to spend another hour dealing with them, so I decided to follow him and try again. I caught up for him in the bulk candy/nuts section. He was standing staring at banana chips. I told him we were closed and he started to wailing on the big making some high pitched whining sound. I broke and gave him so banana chips. He smiled and was passive enough for me to walk him to the door. When we got through the first set of doors I spun around and locked them, when I turned around he was inches away from me and gave me a big hug. Shocked and weirded out I sorta just stood there, then he pulled his face right into my face whispered "you big good" and gave me a peck on the cheek. I took a step back into the door, he ran his wet fingers through my beard, and skipped out into the darkness.
foryouwhynot IB 2 years ago
Who, the worker or the mentally out of it guy…
Load More Replies... unfilteredCigarette73 2 years ago
H€ll in the long run you helped someone who was having a bad night..we need more "big good" in this world
Leolynn Cauthron 2 years ago
Sounds like someone with intellectual delay who shouldn't have been out on his own. A child in an adult body.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Hmmmnnn this sounds more like the long term effects of brain injury, rather than your "average" schizophrenia.
Milena Perryman 2 years ago
As someone who's almost 40, with a TBI from when I was 9, no it most absolutely does not. Brain injuries are not degenerative over time. I urge you to fact check yourself in the future before posting your medical opinion; misinformation leads to unnecessary stigma and we need LESS of that, not more.
Load More Replies... Lakota Wolf 2 years ago (edited)
Sadly, these kind of stories are only too true, not a movie XD I worked retail for almost 3 years and was usually closing shift. We had... SO many weird people roll through the store at night around closing. I've even got one on video because we weren't sure what the dude was going to do, so my manager had me record him... the guy came into the store right before closing, jumped up on the produce display, pulled off his shirt, told our produce manager to "COME AT ME BRO", threw an empty shopping basket at the produce manager (and missed), yelled "I'LL KICK YOUR A*S", then looked me in the eye, and said "Not you, though, mama, you one fiiiiiine little mama." It was a surreal night XD
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#36
I work in a government office. A dude came in with a can opener to threaten the receptionist
Michael Largey 2 years ago
There are older types of can openers which have a blade sticking out. You would not want to be attacked with one
#37
I’m a bus driver, once had someone sprint like Usain Bolt to catch my bus, then proceed to tell me he has no way of paying the fare but needs to get the bus to the hospital as he has broken his leg! Needless to say, he didn’t get a free bus ride from me.
Kise Miarse 2 years ago
That's like the folks at the hospital screaming they can't breathe. Do you know how much air it takes to be that loud? I'm sure you're uncomfortable in some way - but ma'am you have air.
Karen Philpott 2 years ago
I was told, that at a car accident or any accident, it's the quiet ones you attend to more, as the ones yelling and screaming obviously have no problems with their airway or breathing.
Phyzzi 2 years ago
I was a bus driver for two years and among the many interesting things I saw, someone got on at a hospital bandaged but still not in a good way... they ended up having a bandage soak through and I had to call the bus in (blood is considered a biohazard and has to be taken seriously). I of course had asked if I could get him help etc. first. My worst "no money/fake ticket" experience was some teens who had gon to great effort to peel the foil off some previous monthly passes, printed out passes in the current month's color and taped the foil on the printed ones. I am sure they worked hard, but the color was way off so I instantly knew they were fake. I asked to see them then told them "you can ride, but don't forge passes, you can get into real trouble with that, and by the way, you aren't getting these back". I felt bad but woof that was a lot of trouble for ultimately really bad work.
michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Adrenaline rush maybe. Should have told him let me call 911 to get you an ambulance to take you to the hospital 🏥
#38
This one was really weird and creepy. I work at a restaurant and it's a Subway style place, food is prepared in front of the customer and it is relatively quick. It is a family restaurant. I was 17 and my coworker was 19 at the time, both of us are girls. Customer comes in with his family, man is about 30+ and has three small children, wife's attention is on the kids. He asked if my coworker and I were my boss's daughters, which we get asked a lot because he has a daughter our age and she used to work there before moving out. We laugh and say no, but that he's like a dad to us sometimes because he's really nice, remembers our birthdays, gives us life advice and treats us like family. We say this to the customer and he smiles in a really creepy way, and says, "So does he take you to the back and spank you if you're being naughty?" I didn't know what to say so I just laughed and asked what he would like to order. Any time he comes by the restaurant, my coworker and I send someone else to help him because he really creeps us out.
Katiekat 2 years ago
That's sexual harassment. You should say it to him, to his face, report it to your boss, and tell him if he ever says it again, you're calling the cops. He gets away with it because you're young and inexperienced. Standing up to these creeps and showing power, control, and dominance is the only way to get them to shut up, back down, and back off.
michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Nope! Very loudly (enough so wife hears)ask why he wants to know "if the boss takes us in the back and spanks us if we're naughty, does that excite you? Please leave, this is a family establishment not a porn store!"
Jessica J. 2 years ago
Tell the boss. If it were me, I'd be looking into hidden cameras with audio, so I could record it and send it to his wife. She deserves to know the creep she is with. I would want to know. And I would have evidence for the divorce and custody hearings.
#39
I’m a dental technician so I just make dentures. I don’t deal with the patients too often unless the assistants ask us to come out there and take a look. We had a call from a lady that said her teeth were moving so they told her to come in to the office. She shows up and they call the technicians out there and we’re looking at her teeth and thinking there’s an absurd amount of plaque around the base of her teeth but we notice the teeth aren’t really wiggling or anything. When we brought up the plaque she corrected us and told us it was gorilla glue to stop the teeth from moving around. Don’t do drugs kids.
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
I didn't think it would adhere to the moist tissue of the gums/teeth! I superglued my eye/face in my 20s because I was building a figurine and the glue wasn't coming out of the tube, so I (of course) turned the tube over and looked into it to see what the problem was... and squeezed for some reason... of course, superglue shot out and got into my eyes, nose, and mouth XD I went to the ER where the doctor told me I was lucky because superglue won't adhere to moist surfaces (like my eyeball itself), though it had glued one eye shut because it had stuck the eyelashes together. Maybe Gorilla glue is a different formulation... XD I'm astounded this woman was able to tolerate the smell/taste of it for long enough for it to set!
René Sauer 2 years ago
*shudder* I sometimes dream that all my teeth were loose and moved around...
Scott Bujak 2 years ago
Your have to activate gorilla glue with water. It starts to foam up before it dries.
Megan Lauhon 2 years ago
Ha! The sh*t you see in dental! Recently heard a story from an orthodontist about a patient who bought ortho brackets off the internet,cemented them on herself (with what we don't know)., and wanted to know how much JUST the wire costs.......
LynzCatastrophe 2 years ago
I'm going to throw up. And then brush my teeth about a dozen times.
Telmo Belo 2 years ago
Reminds me of the 911 call of the lady with the heart beating backwards.
#40
I work at an adult store. Door is open, lights are on, music is in. Guy walks in, I greet him and he asks if the shop is open. I reply yes, he turns around and walks out. Still not an actual clue what that was about.
Johnny 2 years ago
Maybe he went out to the car to get his wife/girlfriend but she decided she didn’t want to go in after all.
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Jennifer Checki 2 years ago
I’m guessing this was about the employee’s gender. I got this all the time from male customers when I worked at a video store with a thriving “adult” section. They were NOT ready to rent porn from a (very young) woman. It could have been age as much as the woman part, idk.
Michael Largey 2 years ago
I prefer this guy to the ones who show up an hour after the store has closed and bang on the door demanding why the store wasn't open.
Lindsey Beth 2 years ago
My friend and I went to a sex store once just to kill time and some weird guy kept following us around the store staring at us through the shelves. When we went to the cashier to ring out he walked out. The bouncer told us he would walk us to my car and sure as s**t the guy was crouched behind my car. I got to see the most amazing beat down ever, the bouncer kicked the s**t out of that guy and police came and got him.
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Lots of guys chicken out before walking around. Too much stimulation for them.
#41
When I was a delivery driver in college I was taking an order over the phone. The woman said she wanted to pay with card. When I asked her for her card number she FLIPPED OUT. Started to literally scream at me at the top of her lungs over the phone, accuse me of being a thief, saying she “knew who I was” and I how I was a “bad guy” (for clarity I have no idea who this idiot was). Eventually she just hung up and we canceled the order. All of this because I asked for her card number when she was trying to pay over the phone with her card. I have no idea how this woman thinks credit cards work or how she was able to function in the world at all.
Gary Fleming 2 years ago
No, I think it was the Knight of Spad--oh wait, the knight doesn't really exist... Unless it's French Tarot...
Load More Replies... JahJahBinx 2 years ago
My mother in law did the some thing. Tried to book a room over the phone and wanted to pay in full but wouldn't give it to the guy on the phone cos she said he could be a scammer. I couldn't stop giggling.
Lea Dandelion 2 years ago
Well, depends what year this story is. You can pay the delivery on portable card machine the driver has right on your own porch here for at least 15 years now, some places even longer.
#42
I work at a hotel. Once, an asian top company that was going to stay for two months rented a supreme room for their noodles. Yes, their noodles! The living room, bathroom, balcony, every part of the hotel room was filled with noodles from the floor to the roof - it was even noodles in the trashcan. I think that's the most bizarre things I've experienced in my job.
Kise Miarse 2 years ago
Why do I find myself wondering if these are packages of noodles . . . or cooked? 😂
Anike 2 years ago
Same here 😂😂 I kinda pictured cooked noodles everywhere
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#43
Got all sorts of perverts back when I was in the dry cleaning biz.
Had a guy just take off all of his clothes sans underwear in front of me and ask me to dry clean all that. Walked out in his skivvies.
Dekker451 2 years ago
Well, was he sans (without) underwear or was he in his skivvies (underwear)?
No Name 2 years ago
In this case I think OP mistakenly thought they could use sans to mean "except", not realizing that in context it would read like he'd had no underwear to take off.
Load More Replies... michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Leave the clothes on the floor and call the police. This dude needs a 51/50 stay at the local loony bin
Florence O'Grady 2 years ago
At least he didn't ask you to dry clean his skivvies. What happened to his socks?
Nancy Marine 2 years ago
I'm calling shenanigans on this one. Sans is french for without and skivvies means underwear. How was he "sans underwear" but managed to walk out in his skivvies?
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 2 years ago
He took everything except his undies off
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Nykky 2 years ago
Would still rather deal with that than the literal s**t stains on the walls of my place that I worked. It was everywhere. I have no f*****g clue who did it, but it was bad. It took a good hour and a half to clean. The one time I wasn't complained to to get back to the registers because nobody else wanted to clean it. I really should have had a bunny suit for it.
Insono 2 years ago
Guy was probably homeless and didn't have any clothing beside what he was wearing at that time
#44
Old guy kept coming up to my register with his oddly silent, uncomfortable wife. He gave me a cheesy grin every time before he rolled back around and said, "I see why they keep you up here, sweetie. You're the charmer, huh?". Mind you, I haven't said much to this guy outside of ringing up his wife's stuff. He wouldn't let it go either because they hung around the store for a solid two hours. Guy would watch me over the displays and if I met his gaze, there goes another cheesy grin. He comes up again and at this point, I'm quietly bargaining with God to strike me down cuz I don't want to deal with this creep anymore. He makes his wife buy a hat so he has an excuse to come up to my register. "Have you thought of going to charm school? You don't need it, dear!". I force a laugh and hope my personal hell is over, but that's wishful thinking. One more goddamn time, this man and his wife (who is now eyeing me up like she wants something) stroll by. He leans in and I lean back cuz I don't want any of what he's offering. "You better cancel that application to charm school...see you around!", and off they finally go.
zak 2 years ago
Sounds like the start of a horror movie, where she's pregnant and they want to steal the baby 😳
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Some men actually think this is slick. I could tell dozens of nearly identical tales...
LynzCatastrophe 2 years ago
I really hope you had a friend with you when you went home. A lot of kidnapping stories take place because the man has a woman with him because it doesn't seem as threatening, when in reality, she's helping.
EmBree 2 years ago
I was 14 and working in my mother's restaurant when a creepy guy showed up. I made a couple of rounds to his table and things kept getting creepier. I decided it was enough and told mom. She left the kitchen to check him out, and ... It turns out he was my uncle. I don't know the relatives on my father's side and had no way of knowing. He on the other hand knew he was at my mother's restaurant, and I'm a younger version of her. Creepy.
michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Sick old fart! What the hell is wrong with the wife? Sounds like a bad creepy movie 🎬. Sizing you up for possible kidnapping and hostage scenario 🤔
Lea Dandelion 2 years ago
Sounds like she is abused, the way she looked at the staff but still not said anything.
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#45
Worked at a deli when I was 18. An old man grabbed my arm, pulled my shirt sleeve up to uncover my tattoos that were peeking out, and scowled "You're taking those to the grave with you". Like, yeah no s**t, they didn't come out of a gumball machine. Oh also, a woman in the drive through who had her car PACKED with misc belongings, told me she had a dream that God told her to move to a city 7 hours away. And then she gave me some candy.
Kat Kelly 2 years ago
Unless it was poisoned. Or drugged. Then again, some drugs might have been bonus. Hm.
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D00FINSHMERTZ 2 years ago
Never take candy from strangers! Especially ones who talk to "God." Did she say which God it was? It could have been Cthulhu. Those elder gods don't F around 😁
Ephemeral Mochi 2 years ago
Yeah, I HATE being touched, especially by strangers and/or without permission. If anyone touches me without asking outside of my family or trusted friends, they're getting smacked.
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Rebekah Jackson 2 years ago
Odds are she found that candy is a random, dirty place while moving lol
BLONDTROBL 2 years ago
I worked at the grocery deli. Would gag when I had to slice head cheese; looking at it, touching it. And there's absolutely no cheese in it.
Heather Vandegrift 2 years ago
Was at Starbucks putting sweetener in my coffee one time when a random guy lifts up my short shirt sleeve to see my right upper arm tattoo. I must have liked like I was going to rip his fingers off because he immediately apologized, saying "I'm SO sorry! I'm a paramedic and I'm so used to getting into people's personal space that when I saw your l the colors on your tattoo I just wanted to see the rest and completely forgot!" I was a massage therapist for over a decade, so I understand the comfort level you can get with touching strangers (though because of the nature of MY work, they always consented beforehand, whereas paramedics often have to touch people without asking because their are saving lives!)
#46
I work as a waiter/bartender at a hotel and last summer we had this frech woman who put so much sugar in her coffee that it was turned into this mush that she’d eat with a spoon.
Samuel Pelatan 2 years ago (edited)
Diabetic type 1 here : Maybe she needed sugar. Our blood sugar is not regulated, that mean we can have too much but also not enough sugar (if we take too much insulin for instance). And when we need it we can be a little akward because our brain doesn't have enought fuel lol
Erica Knapp 2 years ago
Thank you. My mom was like this....not this bad, but when the sugar was down and she was out around town she would sometimes have to get a bit creative.
Load More Replies... jon gilbertson 2 years ago
that's gross. coffee deserves 2 things, a somewhat clea mug, and when it's winter, a shot of Bailey's
SarahBee 2 years ago
In Chinese restaurants, my MIL used to put four packets of sugar into her tiny 4 oz cups of tea. (120 ml?)
Lea Dandelion 2 years ago
I will raise you one better, I have SEVERAL friends and colleagues who put 3-4 sugars in their ESPRESSO. Espresso is about 30ml give or take.
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Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
Odd, my French friends have always complained about how over sugared American food is...
#47
A guest refused to have his wife check her coat. Our venue doesn't allow guests having their coat in the hall because of fire safety reasons. He got up to the point of furiously shouting while his wife was trying to tell him it wasn't a big deal. He only let up after we told him we were within our rights to deny him entry and would be able to call the police...
Our coat check service is free btw...
David 2 years ago
Why is it a fire safety issue to wear a coat? Or is this about them ending up on the floor later?
TheElderNom 2 years ago (edited)
I'm assuming it'd be fine if people kept them on, but since pretty much everyone takes off their coat inside it is a tripping risk.
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Maisey Myles 2 years ago
I went out with a new boyfriend (many many years ago) for dinner. I thought I'd be cute and wear a lightweight coat but nothing under it. They kept asking me to take my coat. I finally had to say 'you really don't want me to take this off' with a wink. After the waiter figured out what was going on, we'll, let's just say the service was fabulous after that.
JahJahBinx 2 years ago
What kind of venue doesn't allow people to wear their coat. I almost always prefer to leave my coat on.
Jane Hower 2 years ago
But is it safe?? My coat got stolen when I left it with coat check place.
LynzCatastrophe 2 years ago
Uh... hey wife? Are you OK? And does your coat feel heavier than it should by any chance?
michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Another macho man who refuses to listen to his wife or anyone else 🤔. Dumbass!
#48
Had a regular come in and repeatedly ask which shampoo and conditioner to use for her hair. I once had to read out the chemical ingredients on the back and improvise their effectiveness at hair maintainance lol. Nothing wrong with worrying about your hair but she was asking a dude who used to use shower gel as shampoo
Angi 2 years ago
I worked in a baby department and would literally answer customer questions by reading it off the box right in front of them.
kaycee14 2 years ago
I've worked many types of retail, and often answered customer questions by reading from the packaging.
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Katie Lutesinger 2 years ago
Oh man I thought the punchline here was going to be "I had to explain to her that this was a wine shop" because I thought those pump bottles in the foreground of the picture were wine bottles!
Paul Pienkowski 2 years ago
Yeah, at Pizza Hut this happened too. You're asking the guy who eats week old pepperoni which pizza is healthier for your toddler. None of them. Ever.
Jessica J. 2 years ago
I work in a pharmacy, but I am not a pharmacist, and it has always baffled me why people are willing to take my advice. I even have regular customers that find me for their medical advice, rather than ask the pharmacist. We're not supposed to give them advice. However, I did go to college, and majored pre-med and Biological Life Sciences before settling on Psychology, Sociology, and Anthropology. I have also been a pharmacy technician for 18 years or so, so I can answer a lot of their questions. Basically, I start every time with they should ask the pharmacist, and if they persist, I tell them what their options are, the efficacy of those options, the downsides of each, and which one I would choose, but at no time do I ever tell them a specific course to take.
Jez Sellers 2 years ago
So… the point of this story is that you know nothing about the department you work in? A customer asking for recommendations for their hair type isn't bizarre, and they would have no way of knowing your personal haircare history. It'd be bizarre to ask that of a random delivery driver or cashier, but not if you actually work around these products all the time
Poppy 2 years ago
I once worked for Lush. I had a man come up to me and ask me if any of the products would be harmful to his wife who was pregnant. I advised him to stay away from anything with peppermint as it's a emmenagogue. He turned to his very visibly pregnant wife who was outside and beckoned her inside and she stubbed out her cigarette and walked into the shop.
Dawnieangel76 2 years ago
Why is it that guys can use an 11-in1 cleaner for their hair & it's gorgeous, but we women need 6 separate hair products to not look like we emerged from a tornado?
Jane Hower 2 years ago
MEN, using anything but SHAMPOO to wash your hair can and will cause it to DIE!!!! Do you want to be BALD???
#49
I work at wawa (a convenience store but better) and I asked this guy if he wanted a plastic bag because he had quite a few items as well as a drink, and he says yes. I start to bag his stuff and he tells me not to worry about it, he’ll do it. He then proceeds to put his cup of coffee in the plastic bag and carry everything else.
Chintan Shah 2 years ago
Me too Jerrica. I'm an ex Philadelphian but an eagles fan for life.
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Heidi Siebels 2 years ago
Wawas are originally from the Philly area. They have excellent subs and other takeout food. They have spread, and anyone who has one near them loves it.
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CertifiedCatServant 2 years ago
it’s a really nice convenience store that makes subs and sandwiches
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Ash Conner 2 years ago
I saw this doordash driver getting an order from Wawa one time and he asked if the Smoothie was in the bag with some hot food. I will never order doordash. Hot food hot cold food cold. Common sense. Also common sense you wouldn't put a Wawa smoothie and a damn bag
UrWhyteFright IsUrProblem 2 years ago
I mean I clearly understand. If I spill my Wawa Hazelnut coffee I'm sour about it all day
#50
This past summer I worked at a museum for a lighthouse. The policy is that people have to sign waivers and pay a fee- it’s still a functioning light for the lake and the Coast Guard owns the lamp in the lantern room. It’s mandatory too that people wear shoes with a strap on the back so that it doesn’t go flying off and hit people below you in the staircase. This lady comes into to one of the buildings bitching that she “just wanted to climb the damn lighthouse” because our museum cashier staff said they couldn’t sell her a ticket. She was wearing this huge maxi dress that would have made it hard to even get step to step. And then when she was done, she left and I saw she was wearing thick 2inch platform sandals. The tower going up to the balcony is no joke, the steps are extremely steep and thin. So glad I don’t deal with guests who have no idea what they’re talking about anymore
Heather Talma 2 years ago
Shoes with a strap on the back? What even are those and who even has them?
michele mbennett1010@att.net 2 years ago
Hell no, she's looking for an opportunity to have an "accident " so she can sue. Offer to let her climb up the outside wall or go p**s up a rope!
#51
So I work in optical sales, this is about the strangest customer my manager and I had ever dealt with. So, I walk in to work, and my manager is working with a patient, and there is another one seated at another desk waiting to be helped. I clock in and introduce myself to the man: "Hi there, my name is LoSpeed, how can I help you today?" He points at my manager and says "Actually, she was helping me." "Oh okay," I turn to my manager "Manager, would you like for me to pull up his insurance so that you can just run him through real quick when you're available?" She replies "Yes, absolutely. Sir, LoSpeed is just going to pull up your insurance, and then I'll help you." I turn back and smile to him, and ask "So, what's your DOB so I can look you up?" Here's where things start to go downhill. The guy leans in, inches away from my face, and whispers "*Can you not take no for a f*****g answer?*" So I noped out and just stood up and went in the back until he left. Fast forward 3 weeks and this guy ordered his glasses with my manager and has received them. Loved them according to her. He calls the store and gets me. "Yeah, so I bought these glasses, and I think I want to upgrade to transitions. How much would that cost?" "Oh no problem sir, what's your DOB so I can look your profile up?" "Is manager available?" "No sir, just me today." "I think I'd like to talk to manager, she (AND I QUOTE) *sounds nicer than you on the phone.*" *click* He eventually gets a hold of her and orders the transitional lenses. Loves them according to her. Again. Fast forward another 3 weeks. He calls in and get manager on the line. Immediately starts telling her about how he doesn't like the glasses and wants to return. She's tired of his shenanigans, so she just says that's fine, and he can bring them back whenever he feels like it. He then says "Excuse me, I paid for the glasses over the phone, why can't I return over the phone?" He's sounding very upset at this point. My manager just looks confused, "Sir... You still have the glasses, moreover, I couldn't process a return over the phone if I wanted to. Our system literally will not allow it." "Well this is just ridiculous. What if I just mail you the glasses then?!" "Sir, we still can't process a card return over the phone." "Okay, then what if I mail you my card?!" "E-excuse me...? Mail us your credit card? Really?" "No, my debit card!" At this point my manager was just floored by this guy and finally broke character. "So you want... To mail us... Your *debit card*?" "YES DAMN IT!" "Sir, I'm sorry, but that's the worst idea you've ever had." *Click*
#52
I worked at a tiny gas station on overnights. A man came in about 2AM and was walking around randomly saying, "Shut up!" When he finally made his purchase he asked, "How can you stand that?" I said," What do you mean?" He said, "Those people having sex in the walls!" I was like, "Ooooooh I guess I just tune it out." He said, "I don't know how you do it." Then he left.
Jeremy James 2 years ago (edited)
Sometimes you have to buy into the crazy to diffuse the crazy.
Spocks's Mom 2 years ago
Yes. You absolutely do. You should never call a "crazy" person out. It could result in a very dangerous and deadly situation. Personal experience. 😔
Load More Replies... #53
Lifeguard here. A guy came into our pool; long greasy hair, looked uneasy. Asked us if it was cool if he wore a speedo. No prob man, enjoy the swim. Homie drops his towel revealing the tightest bathing suit I’ve ever seen. “It’s not actually a speedo, it’s a girls bikini bottom. A toddler girls bikini bottom.” I mentally clocked out and let my coworkers deal with it
#54
So this is a key part that I am mixed with Chinese and Cambodian and look predominantly Chinese, but my family speaks Khmer. Anyways, at my first job years ago I was grabbing a drink from our soda station and I had a white customer speak to me very clearly and fluently in a language I did not know. And he continued to do so even as I stared at him bizarrely and told him I had no idea what he was saying. His words in English were, “You’re not Korean?” Clearly not, otherwise it wouldn’t have been a mostly one sided conversation. 🤷🏻♀️
#55
I was working at a cookie shop and a guy who seemed tweaked out of his mind came up. I did my " Welcome we're doing a..." spiel and he looked at my display and said, " Dude why are you making the cookies f**k out in public like that?" I was like "WTF!?!?" again he was like " That's perverse!" and started to throw his coat over the display. Needless to say, he was escorted out by security.
Anton Swanepoel 2 years ago
This sounds like Tucker Carlson and his perverse fascination with M&M's.
Ourania Walker 2 years ago
Those damn perverted cookies, the nerve of the cookie shop making them do such things! They never said what kind of cookie shop they work at, maybe it's an adult cookie shop where they make cookies shaped a penises for things like bachelorette parties. Maybe the penis cookies fell onto the vagina cookies...lol. I wish this story came with a picture, I want to see what's going on with those cookies...
#56
A customer tried to argue with me over the price of CRV... I told her that the state controls how much CRV costs, not the store. She then goes on about how the grocery store across the street charges less for CRV and so I asked her, “Did you buy a 24 pack of water?” She replies, “No.” I explained to her that the state charges 5 cents per bottle. 24 bottles makes $1.20. And since she’s buying (2) 24 packs that totals to $2.40 for CRV. She waves me off annoyingly and hands me the money to pay. When I gave her her change, she picks out a penny and says, “No I don’t want this one. Give me a cleaner one.” So I took the penny from her, reached down to my till and then handed her the same penny back. She didn’t notice. When I worked at McDonald’s my senior year of high school, a homeless man in a wheelchair demanded that I sell him a lottery ticket. He was obviously not all there and so I decided to just roll with it. Suddenly like a switch, he flipped out on me. He yelled at me saying he works closely with the police and that if I was a prostitute, he would report me and have me arrested. This lasted for a good 10 minutes when finally one of my shift managers decided to step in and help me. The homeless man ends up buying one hamburger but he sat in the lobby for the rest of my shift (2 hours). So many customers complained about his smell and when my managers tried to kick him out he started swatting the air, yelling profanities. We called the cops and an hour later they showed up to wheel the man out. Never seen the man after that, hope he’s doing okay.
#57
I worked a door-to-door charity fundraising job two summers ago. One man let me get through my whole talk. He was asking questions and seemed genuinely interested in the cause. He let me get out the payment form and started filling it in and everything. I was buzzed, since we could get paid more if we got a few more sign ups as a team that week. Then he hands me the form, turns around and walks back inside. "Have a nice night mate, hope you find some donors" is all I got from him before he slammed the door. I'm sure he had a valid reason, but it just left me feeling really confused. It was especially frustrating since we were close to our signup goal that week. A colleague of mine from the same job told me about a man called Boris who opened the door wearing just a bathrobe, which he opened as the conversation went on. So I guess she saw Boris' Johnson.
SkekVi 2 years ago
Yeah I had a similar thing happen to me when I worked a survey call centre. You can actually feel that they don't view you as a person and are just tormenting you for fun.
Load More Replies... #58
Bit late to the party, but a few years ago I was working night shift at a convenience store. A cop comes in, and as I'm ringing him up we make small talk about how annoying drunk people can be, as both of our jobs involve frequent dealings with them. A few hours later some lady comes in, practically hysterical, and asks me if I can call the police for her. I ask what's up, and she tells me she's an Uber driver, and the dude she's driving is black out drunk, won't tell her where he needs to go, and threw up all over her minivan. So I call the cops, and who should come in but the exact same one from earlier. We exchanged no words, but gave each other an exasperated look, then he and his guys went out and dragged a very slizzered man out of the poor lady's van.
April Caron 2 years ago
Except you enter the address you’re going to when you order an Uber. Passed out, threw up all over her minivan… I have no trouble believing all that… but she’d have known where to take him.
Lakota Wolf 2 years ago
Uber drivers do not see their passenger's destination before they pick them up. When the driver gets the request and accepts it, they get a first name and location where they are picking up their passenger. The driver does not know where they are going until the rider is in the car and starts the trip. This is to stop Uber drivers from discriminating/cherry-picking the drives too much. Drivers do get a warning if the destination is 45+ minutes away, however. It's also possible that the Uber driver was just, you know, CONCERNED about the blacked-out drunk person and didn't know if she should take him to the hospital or not.
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Carla Phillips 2 years ago
If she was an Uber driver she would 100% have a phone to call the police and there's even an emergency button on the app to get help.
#59
I work at a very well known coffee shop. I was pregnant and I had a customer ask me if I was with the father of my unborn child in a shameful sort of way.
Spocks's Mom 2 years ago
"Not sure, Mam. I am waiting for 10 paternity tests to come back."
Load More Replies... Ourania Walker 2 years ago
Should have said no, I'm a lesbian, I've never been with a man. Let her think on that...she was rude for asking a question that was none of her beezwax.
Mrs. EW 2 years ago
I would’ve said no and explain some tragic and brutal accident, in detail, that resulted in his death. Now leaving myself with no other option but to raise my child as a barista with low pay and hoping that the tips are better today than yesterday. Screw that person trying to shame you for being pregnant. They deserve to feel embarrassed, humiliated and learn a lesson on proper interactions with people who are serving them.
Paul Pienkowski 2 years ago
I would have said no. If she brings up the Bible, tell her Mary didn't stay with the father of HER son, after all.
Phyzzi 2 years ago
Well, her first son. Let's not forget that the bible specifically mentions Jesus' brothers when his mother tells him to stop embarrassing the family (semon on the mount).
Load More Replies... #60
From a previous job, when I was an admin assistant for a housing association, I once took a call from someone who wanted to complain about his neighbours tree. Me: "So what's the problem with the tree?" Them: "Well it just got done blooming, and now it's dropping petals everywhere." Me: "Uh-huh, and what's the problem?" Them: "Well the petals are all over my path, and they're very slippery, and I fear I might fall over and hurt myself." Me: "... So what do you expect us to do?" Them: "Well, can you chop the tree down?" Me: "No sir, we can't just hop down trees, especially when we don't own the land they're on." Them: "So can you send someone round with a broom to sweep the petals away until it's done?"
Jeremy James 2 years ago
And don't get me started on the Sky! Is that your department or is there a separate number I need to call.
OmBoyGanesh 2 years ago (edited)
I mean, we have rubber slip guards at sidewalk crossings because people slip on concrete when it rains. Yes, even weather is a hazard. Imagine this person attempting to function outside of their home and path. Life is hazardous at times. Nature presents obstacles such as slippery petals. Nature also has relied on Darwinism to allow the strongest, heartiest of species to survive.
Della 2 years ago
I worked for a small town, answering phone at admin desk. Had a guy want us to cut a tree down because when he parks his car under it , birds poo on his car. I told him to stop parking under the tree....another time a lady called to say the police were pulling her over and what could they want...I told her I'm sure they will let her know as soon as they get to her car...and a lady who wanted me to make the wind stop in town. Yup, sending someone out right now. 😵💫😵💫😵💫
#61
I've seen many crazy people in the short amount of time my work required human interaction, I really dont know how people do it. One time this woman came into the place where I was working. Behind me on the wall were some abstract black and white photos that were not showing anything special (one was maybe just showing a really blurred female face although it's more my interpretation of the shape rather than the source image, the others were just "artsy" stains.) She was normal at first, then she noticed the photos and started to get really upset. She asked me what the hell that was and why would we put something like that up. Then she went on to say the images were depicting abuse and terrorism, apparently the face one she saw as some beaten up abuse victim and the stains looked like terrorism to her. She went on and on about it, they really traumatized her.
OmBoyGanesh 2 years ago
Anything can be a trigger. The deal is: we’re responsible for our own triggers and shouldn’t make them others’ problems.
Kristal 2 years ago
Yup yup yup. I have a few serious ones and I try not to give in to the trigger emotions. It's one thing to break down a smidge cause of emotional distress, it's another to take that distress out on other people.
Load More Replies... #62
I work in the biggest grocery store in my city so there is A LOT OF CUSTOMERS all the time and it’s usually hard to hear if someone calls for you and I was putting up carrots in the shelf. I noticed that there was a lady in a wheelchair in the middle of the fruit section, but it looked like she had a helper with her so I didn’t think about it.. later she randomly came up to me and started to scream so hard at me in a different language for no reason and then hit my box with carrots and left.. I still don’t know what that was about Sorry if my grammar is s**t, I’m not english
#63
I have a friend who works at Waffle House and they have regulars like every other restaurant has but this one was a true crack addict. She would come in and talk to the workers as they were yelling out orders for other people. The thing is, she would talk about her dead son all the time. She said that he died in a car crash but he killed himself. She’d also talk about the kkk. No one liked her but they kinda just went with it because if they didn’t then she’d lose her mind. She’d call the work phone but she never ordered anything, she just wanted someone to talk to. She finally got banned from that specific Waffle House. I got to meet her before she got banned and she gave me coupons for ibuprofen from CVS and kept touching my friend who wasn’t working that day.
#64
I work in a bakery, I don't normally serve customers unless it get really busy. Once had a woman start ranting about how the government is putting something in flour to make it addictive so people get fat from it and somehow easier to control. She then started pointing out all of our products that were dangerous because of how you could "seriously hurt yourself" if you bought them... and then decided to buy a pizza roll because "she's allowed those because they're completely safe from the government". We still debate over if she was crazy or stoned.
Paul Pienkowski 2 years ago
The secret ingredient to the Krabby Patty has been flour this whole time!?
#65
I work for Starbucks, and three weeks into my time with the company, this drunk, homeless man threw a chair through one of our store's windows. He got upset because he was asked to get up and leave after being found sleeping outside of our store. A shard of glass from the window he broke lodged into the back of one of our chairs, barely missing the back of a customer that was sitting in the chair. It was wild, and for a good while after that incident, I hated hearing the sound of glass breaking. Edit: He was not asked to leave, but to wake up.
Jeremy James 2 years ago (edited)
I was working in what was the busiest (and least tipped) Sbux in Los Angeles County before the Staples Center location opened up. One day, a 90lb crackhead walked in, reached down the back of his pants, squatted, and then threw his feces into my line of customers. We had to evacuate the store, call the police, take statements, and bring in a hazmat crew. My manager pushed back on that last part because it came out of his operations budget but heck no I'm not cleaning biohazardous waste for $7.25 an hour.
Missy Coy 2 years ago
It could be that, because of the way homeless people are handled, the guy hadn't had any actual sleep in an extended period of time, due to being woken and told to move on repeatedly. After so long without restful sleep, you are no longer legally responsible for your actions. I hope the guy found somewhere to sleep peacefully.
Phyzzi 2 years ago
I know you meant it in kindness but that last sentence sounds threatening.
Load More Replies... #66
I’m a supervisor for a certain pharmacy that also has an ice cream station; this company is the first and only one I’ve worked for. Anyways, I was only about 2-3 months into the job and this middle-aged woman comes up asking if I could give her a few scoops of Mint N Chip in a cup. I said, “Sorry Ma’am, we’re out of that flavor; is there anything else I can get you?” Suddenly this sweet lady flew into a rage, took the case of beer in her shopping cart and chucked it at me. She stormed out of the store screaming, “This is ridiculous! How do you not have Mint N Chip?! What the f— is going on in this world?!” She never returned, but this really made an impression on me and shaped how I perceive customers that complain. If you don’t like the selection at a place, go somewhere else. Please. Retail workers aren’t paid enough to be your target practice dummies.
jeff adams 2 years ago
I was told I was "The face of our corporation" by a trainer of a large convenience store operation. Worked there 3 years. One evening, a kid came in w/his mom and picked a Yukon bar out of the ice cream bin. We don't carry Yukon bars - it was an outlier from the delivery man. I explained that to them and said "it looks like this is lucky day!" and gave it to them. They were delighted and grateful. Told my manager the next day, and they wanted to fire me for "giving away company product". The face of the corporation my a*s! Quit 2 days later.
Mary Rogers 2 years ago (edited)
Pretty typical in the US. Pharmacies are usually also convenience stores.
Load More Replies... #67
Used to work as a the manager of a residential property; didn't have many problems, most tenants were cool... but we had this one older lady who'd call the office every month like clockwork to complain about how high her phone bill was. She'd launch right into some spiel about her long distance charges (which I guess are still a thing) as soon as I answered the phone. First time or two I figured hey, she's got the numbers transposed, just calmly tried to talk her through the fact that I wasn't the phone company. Third, fourth, fifth etc time it got a little harder to keep a straight face. She was eventually moved to an assisted living facility, I think
What do you think ?
Jeremy James 2 years ago
Not a customer, because this was in the alleyway behind my cafe, but: late one night, I was leaving work and started whistling, "If I Only Had A Brain." This man stumbled out of a parking structure and did the whole Scarecrow dance in front of me.
CanadianDimes 2 years ago
Many years ago I worked at a large retail chain. When I was on a till and a customer was buying condoms, they’d often be very embarrassed and ask that I scan and bag them first so no one else would see. One evening a woman came to my till with a small basket of items, including condoms. She didn’t say anything or act embarrassed and when the transaction was done, I handed her the bag and said my standard “thank you and have a good evening”. She gave me a huge grin and said “oh, I will!”. She was my favourite customer EVER.
Adam Zad 2 years ago
It's best when she buys the economy-size box and says "I hope that's enough for the evening. How late are you open?"
Load More Replies... James Tartaglione 2 years ago
my favorite was when i worked at a print shop. lawyer argued with me that the gray cover stock we used for her project was not "gray" but was "dark white". she did not like the fact i countered with "actually it looks more like a light black"
Amanda 2 years ago
My all time favourite complaint story from when I worked on social media for Marks and Spencer( UK , likes to think of itself as upmarket) Please bear in mind, this interaction took place on FB and may still be searchable if I cared to look. So..... Angry customer complained that m&s didn't make it clear enough that chicken, BACON and mushroom pie contains pork. She wanted a warning label on the packaging to say it contains pork. I resigned shortly after
T 2 years ago
I worked in a deli within a small grocery store and we regularly had samples out for whatever was new in the deli case. This one day we had cashews that were used to make a dressing for the salad. Older woman comes in and wants some things from the deli case. As was customary, I pointed out the cashew samples while I gathered her things and she said, "oh, no thank you. I've already had my cashews for the day." Years later and still one of the most mundanely interesting things anyone's ever said to me.
zak 2 years ago
Might have just been a joke with a dry delivery, cuz that sounds like something my Dad or I would say lol
Load More Replies...
Susan Bosse 2 years ago
I was a mgr at Applebees. Had a table eat/compliment everything until their bill came. They wanted the server to have me take their spinach artichoke dip off their bill as they didn't like it. (They'd eaten it all except one chip.) The reason? They "didn't know it would have so much spinach." Uh. Duh. It's the first word of the dish's name. I would have argued them till the death but not worth $8.99. I figure they didn't have enough money to cover their ticket and needed it removed.
Susan Bosse 2 years ago
Was a server at Chili's. Guy tells me it's 21st birthdat. Meal goes fine. Party of 5 or 6 there for about an hour-ish at lunch. At the end he said "I think I want to order my first legal drink. The only thing is that, if I do, I won't have anything left to tip you." He ordered the drink and then tipped me $1 on about $50.
Load More Replies... zak 2 years ago
I work in the mortgage industry, in departments that deal with delinquent loans (foreclosures, modifications, short sales, etc). I wish I could save some of the letters and court documents we receive from the "sovereign citizen" people lol, they're bonkers. They respond to court filings talking about how money isn't real since the U.S. stopped using the gold standard, we have no jurisdiction because they declared themselves their own country and now they aren't subject to our laws, etc. Pages and pages of nonsense, but they're hilarious and worth reading every word, since it's way more entertaining than the regular drudgery 😆
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
For everyone wondering about my schizophrenia comments. I have had the distinct misfortune of being born into a family with a schizophrenic Great Aunt, Uncle, and 2 of my 12 cousins. I am unfortunately extremely well versed in what it's like to be around. Especially when they refuse all forms of treatment. People on the outside have a hard time understanding that the bonkers realm inside their head is their reality. The beings completely invisible to us are 100% real to them. It is a cruel disease, not just to the sufferer themselves but everyone around them too. It's so prevalent and untreated too, and in my experience only gets worse with age.
Christian Fuller 2 years ago
Decades ago, long before superstores became a thing, I worked at a retail bookstore. I was restocking the children's section in the back, when a customer came up to me and asked where the VCRs were. I asked, "Are you looking for videos?" which would have a modicum of sense, and they replied, "No, VCRs." I had to tell them that we didn't carry them, we were just a bookstore.
Apatheist Account2 2 years ago
Reminds me of the bloke who asked for an audio book with subtitles. That would be - a book.
Load More Replies... Jeremy James 2 years ago
Not a customer, because this was in the alleyway behind my cafe, but: late one night, I was leaving work and started whistling, "If I Only Had A Brain." This man stumbled out of a parking structure and did the whole Scarecrow dance in front of me.
CanadianDimes 2 years ago
Many years ago I worked at a large retail chain. When I was on a till and a customer was buying condoms, they’d often be very embarrassed and ask that I scan and bag them first so no one else would see. One evening a woman came to my till with a small basket of items, including condoms. She didn’t say anything or act embarrassed and when the transaction was done, I handed her the bag and said my standard “thank you and have a good evening”. She gave me a huge grin and said “oh, I will!”. She was my favourite customer EVER.
Adam Zad 2 years ago
It's best when she buys the economy-size box and says "I hope that's enough for the evening. How late are you open?"
Load More Replies... James Tartaglione 2 years ago
my favorite was when i worked at a print shop. lawyer argued with me that the gray cover stock we used for her project was not "gray" but was "dark white". she did not like the fact i countered with "actually it looks more like a light black"
Amanda 2 years ago
My all time favourite complaint story from when I worked on social media for Marks and Spencer( UK , likes to think of itself as upmarket) Please bear in mind, this interaction took place on FB and may still be searchable if I cared to look. So..... Angry customer complained that m&s didn't make it clear enough that chicken, BACON and mushroom pie contains pork. She wanted a warning label on the packaging to say it contains pork. I resigned shortly after
T 2 years ago
I worked in a deli within a small grocery store and we regularly had samples out for whatever was new in the deli case. This one day we had cashews that were used to make a dressing for the salad. Older woman comes in and wants some things from the deli case. As was customary, I pointed out the cashew samples while I gathered her things and she said, "oh, no thank you. I've already had my cashews for the day." Years later and still one of the most mundanely interesting things anyone's ever said to me.
zak 2 years ago
Might have just been a joke with a dry delivery, cuz that sounds like something my Dad or I would say lol
Load More Replies... Susan Bosse 2 years ago
I was a mgr at Applebees. Had a table eat/compliment everything until their bill came. They wanted the server to have me take their spinach artichoke dip off their bill as they didn't like it. (They'd eaten it all except one chip.) The reason? They "didn't know it would have so much spinach." Uh. Duh. It's the first word of the dish's name. I would have argued them till the death but not worth $8.99. I figure they didn't have enough money to cover their ticket and needed it removed.
Susan Bosse 2 years ago
Was a server at Chili's. Guy tells me it's 21st birthdat. Meal goes fine. Party of 5 or 6 there for about an hour-ish at lunch. At the end he said "I think I want to order my first legal drink. The only thing is that, if I do, I won't have anything left to tip you." He ordered the drink and then tipped me $1 on about $50.
Load More Replies... zak 2 years ago
I work in the mortgage industry, in departments that deal with delinquent loans (foreclosures, modifications, short sales, etc). I wish I could save some of the letters and court documents we receive from the "sovereign citizen" people lol, they're bonkers. They respond to court filings talking about how money isn't real since the U.S. stopped using the gold standard, we have no jurisdiction because they declared themselves their own country and now they aren't subject to our laws, etc. Pages and pages of nonsense, but they're hilarious and worth reading every word, since it's way more entertaining than the regular drudgery 😆
Cassi Lyris 2 years ago
For everyone wondering about my schizophrenia comments. I have had the distinct misfortune of being born into a family with a schizophrenic Great Aunt, Uncle, and 2 of my 12 cousins. I am unfortunately extremely well versed in what it's like to be around. Especially when they refuse all forms of treatment. People on the outside have a hard time understanding that the bonkers realm inside their head is their reality. The beings completely invisible to us are 100% real to them. It is a cruel disease, not just to the sufferer themselves but everyone around them too. It's so prevalent and untreated too, and in my experience only gets worse with age.
Christian Fuller 2 years ago
Decades ago, long before superstores became a thing, I worked at a retail bookstore. I was restocking the children's section in the back, when a customer came up to me and asked where the VCRs were. I asked, "Are you looking for videos?" which would have a modicum of sense, and they replied, "No, VCRs." I had to tell them that we didn't carry them, we were just a bookstore.
Apatheist Account2 2 years ago
Reminds me of the bloke who asked for an audio book with subtitles. That would be - a book.
Load More Replies...
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