Horrible customers and guests

[Brite]

Tried searching, didn't find anything, but if there's a duplicate somewhere, I apologize and will abandon this for locking.

 

 

After having a stressful week (I work in retail), I just felt like sharing experiences with bad customers. And I'm sure many of you have your own stories and you can come here to vent or rant about them. Here's just a few. My first job was a kids attraction so most of my bad stories come from there.

 

About two and a half years ago, a woman came with her son as she had booked a birthday party weeks before. She had some rather vulgar tattoos on her legs, and we weren't the only ones to notice. We started getting MANY complaints from parents and it's no wonder, they were graphic. She refused to cover them and pulled out the "discrimination" card against her "art" and threatened to have the news and crap on us. And before anyone questions, we DID offer her money back since she was not willing to cover her leg, but she basically called us some colorful names and was escorted out. And she DID contact several news stories. If you're that interested, I will post a link. The tattoos were THAT bad. So you tell me who was to blame.

 

 

 

~Removed~

 

Due to graphicness, I cannot and WILL NOT provide the link but to those who want to see it, google legoland woman kicked out for tattoos.

 

Other than that, I've seen a LOT. I HATE children (I only worked the entertainment for a week before transferring to the retail store) but I would've been a better parent than some I've seen from there. Parents that let their kids try and stand up on rides, try and climb out of the car on a shooting right (it was slow moving but still dangerous), some parents actually LET their children cuss us out. We've had many trashy people come in and try to steal things in the stores and the second worst I've seen was when a medium sized group of several women, young boys and a few girls came in. They were actually able to SNEAK in the attraction by using one of the girls skin disease as a pass. (We had an old policy of where people would get special lego stamps on their hand and could come back in later if they left by showing us this stamp. They told the employee guarding the exit that they couldn't get stamps because of her skin.)

 

Their kids were AWFUL. And the two oldest girls, no older than 13, were wearing POUNDS of make up on their face and SHORT shorts with weird long socks. This was during winter, so….yea. Several of the boys were beating on the screen in the mini theater and the employee running it told them politely to stop and that it could break. One of the boys turned to him and said "That's okay, we can pay for it, stop bothering us and start the movie."

 

The crud hit the fan when the girl with the skin disease was too small to ride a ranger car ride. The mother had a fit and claimed that she had already been on the ride, but no one in the attraction remembered her, so she tried throwing out other false "proof" such as "We have pictures of it." she never provided them. And when our duty manager finally asked "Were are your tickets?" she stutters and finally says "There with my husband…" there wasn't a man in the group

 

She threatened to have the place shut down and yadda yadda. Typical butthurt threats They finally hauled their butts out when the duty manager at the lego attraction was onto them and they went to complain to our Sea life section. Two attractions but we're all the same company. The manager there had NO idea what went on and just gave them free tickets to Sea Life as an apology for a bad experience. Let's just were all p***ed at the end of the night when we found out that they got into both attraction for free basically..

Edited August 14, 2014 by GhostChilli

[edwardelricfreak]

I like this comment from the link you posted:

her arguement is that its art , like a nude statue. no. most nude art isnt about sex, its about the human body. that is about sex.

 

I'm all about no censorship and stuff and I do like nude art an stuff, but her tat is definitely inappropriate. And even if it was simply nude art, I'd still rather a person cover that up when in a public children's park just for courtesy sake.

[DustyBelle]

You need to find another job, something which doesn't require you to deal with the public. I have no helpful ideas on tht at the moment, but maybe someone else does.

 

Behind the scenes or in an office might be best. Most jobs interacting with the public do have occassional nightmare shifts. You obviously had a couple. Hang in there and think of the end of your shift and the good customers. There are nice people who are not out to fleece you or your company and enjoy the entertainment or fare your company offers. Think of the happiness and joy you bring to some of these people and try to get through the sessions with the obnoxious offenders.

 

If it drives you too batty, consider quitting. Your sanity is more important get another job if this is the case.

 

Good Luck!

[Brite]

I'm quite happy. This is more about just vent stories, not advice.

 

Sorry Sock. *sheepishface*

Edited August 5, 2014 by GhostChilli

[Fortis]

Yeah, there's a lot of crazies out there. And a lot of dishonest people as well. Anyway, if you need to vent, try checking out this site. Not Always Right. It's a place for people to post stories like yours. I like reading it for the stories where customers like yours get what is coming to them, or the stories about unusually nice, understanding, or honest ones.

[igloo9201]

I know the one thing that could come close to dealing with people as horrible as the people who visit amusement parks; zoos.

 

Yep. I work at a zoo. Well, it's not a paid position, it's somewhere between volunteering and an internship for teenagers. It's awesome, I love it, but the PEOPLE. OH THE PEOPLE.

 

We have a....eh.....very bad-tempered (vicious) miniature pot-bellied pig. Despite the miniature title, he's still got a lot of bacon. And teeth. And hooves to kick people with. So, yes, this one lady picked up her toddler and put her into the pig's stall. Yeah...we made sure to stop that.

People have also reached into the llama's stall and started rubbing his face, coming within five seconds of getting spat on. Parents also pick up their kids and put them in the prairie dog exhibit, they try to pick up the goat, some kids actually tried bto smuggle a baby goat out of the farm under the fence...they chase the chickens, try to feed the animals, attempt to access keeper-only areas, yadda yadda, its a joy. The worst thing that I have seen, by far, is when two young children had a chicken backed up against a wall, and were kicking dirt and mulch into their face. What made it worse was the fact that their mother was sitting there, not only watching and not telling her kids to stop, but laughing and videotaping them with her phone. Yeeaah, animal abuse makes GREAT home videos, am I right? WRONG!!! Needless to say, we swiftly went over there and asked them to stop.

 

Then there are the not interested/plain stupid people.

Like, one day, I was out with a ball python, doing education stuff. And this emo chick walks up with her boyfriend, she sits there with her arms crossed with a stony i-hate-the-world look, and her bf sits there on his phone, texting or something. They stood there and said nothing for over a minute. Then the guy finally looks up and asks, in a really uninterested voice, "what's that?"

"This is a ball python, a snake native to Africa."

He just grunted and looked at his phone for another thirty seconds before saying "so, babe, what do you wanna do now?"

"Let's go look at something ELSE." She said it in a really dramatic voice and they stalked away.

Like....wtf? Why do you come to the zoo if you don't even care?!

And then, people barely ever care about, respect, or even know anything about animals. People have mistaken the llama for a CAMEL, the New Guinea Singing Dogs for wolves, and, my personal favorite; one woman thought that the emus...were actually llamas. AhahahahahahahaNO.

Or the inconsiderate people that never listen to what you say? They just try to grab whatever you're holding. They're kids, but still, theure usually old enough to know better.

 

And the butterfly garden...don't even get me STARTED on the billions of butterfly murderers I've seen come through there. Always trying to touch, catch, step on, stomp on, etc. Its terrible.

[DustyBelle]

I love customers who enter stores and try to get something by doing something stupid. Slipping as they are leaving the store. Sorry, but if you do it whenever it rains and try to get free merchandise each time or a cash settlement out of court you are a scam artist. Why does the boss not ban them from the store.

 

They wear rubber shoes on dry days and thin leather soles on wet days. They walk through puddles and then are surprised they slip when they carry rain into the store and it drips on the tile floor?

 

Sheesh!. Signs are up for a reason stating to be careful; the floor is wet.

[edwardelricfreak]

The sucky thing is, a lot of the time, the only way to really deal with them is to give them what they want because otherwise they sue or do something else that's just more of a hassle than trying to do something just.

[Rosedamai]

And the butterfly garden...don't even get me STARTED on the billions of butterfly murderers I've seen come through there. Always trying to touch, catch, step on, stomp on, etc. Its terrible.

Is there a way you can put up a sign telling them you will be FINED up to x dollars (preferably the price of your most expensive butterfly) if you do that because some specimens are very expensive?

 

Anyways this isn't my story, it's my friend's but here we go. She works at a rather upscale cafe that serves high quality tea. One day this lady comes in and she asks for some earl grey. So my friend brews some tea and gives it to her and she frowns and says "this is too weak. You don't know anything about tea, get me another one." Note that my friend has been working at the cafe foor more than 5 years and is considered almost like family by the owners. She knows her tea. So she puts double the amount of tea leaves and brews it and gives it to her and she says "ugh, are you serving me tea or tea flavored water?" All this time the tea master had been watching this so he gets furious, puts 5 times the required amount of tea and boils it for 15 minutes and gives it to her. And then she says "ah, just right. I knew it would take a REAL professional. Why couldn't you get it right first time?"

 

Ugh.

[edwardelricfreak]

Anyways this isn't my story, it's my friend's but here we go. She works at a rather upscale cafe that serves high quality tea. One day this lady comes in and she asks for some earl grey. So my friend brews some tea and gives it to her and she frowns and says "this is too weak. You don't know anything about tea, get me another one." Note that my friend has been working at the cafe foor more than 5 years and is considered almost like family by the owners. She knows her tea. So she puts double the amount of tea leaves and brews it and gives it to her and she says "ugh, are you serving me tea or tea flavored water?" All this time the tea master had been watching this so he gets furious, puts 5 times the required amount of tea and boils it for 15 minutes and gives it to her. And then she says "ah, just right. I knew it would take a REAL professional. Why couldn't you get it right first time?"

 

Ugh.

Geez, at home she must put in a whole box worth of teabags or something...

 

I think maybe she was just complaining because she wanted a professional to do it, not that the tea was too weak :\

[KageSora]

Mine aren't so bad, usually it's just idiot parents who refuse to heed warnings about the content they're buying for their very young child who later come back angry that we sold that filth to their kid. Like, lady it's not my fault you ignored it when I told you about the strip club okay. That's aaaaaall on you.

 

I was amused the other week by the guys trying to sell fake stuff. Sorry dude, but DIY labels printed off the 'net slapped onto a blue-backed CD isn't gonna pass as a legit 360 game. Especially not when one of them doesn't even have the correct disc art.

[Starscream]

The fast food industry I have been involved in for a good while has oodles of Horrible customer stories. I can be a bit of an Obstinate individual is presented with an arrogant, self entitled twit.

 

I will say first, that my experience in fast food has made me very considerate toward the staff in this places. I understand their day.

 

I am not a morning person. I never have been. I grew up with my mum calling me "baby grump" well into my early adult life, and again when I went to college. (just this past year) and this irritated me to no end. (this just give an idea of non morning person)

 

Working at a coffee shop (tim hortons (dreadful coffee, very nasty)) I came across several instances of customers that made me go O.o

 

I gave most nicknames for lack of known names.

 

Stench: this was a man who smelled so so so terrible, that I could wind him in a crowed from about 25 feet. Is odour was so very bad that the one day, I went to the back and threw up. When I caught sent of him, I'd move to the back and try to do something out there to avoid serving him. I would not serve him. I think I have a super sensitive sense of smell. What made it worse was he was friends with the Manager who's brother owned the place. And I am not exaggerating.

 

Wippotree: This was a store in the mall. The sold useless but cute trinkets. The staff there were rather snobbish, but that particular mall that I worked in was rather snobbish. They cater to a higher class of person, particularly women aged 25 - 35 and of middle class status. It is a particular fact of this place

 

As I stated before, I am not entirely a morning person. But I do put on a cheery face and greet people cheerily. This could me a chipper "Hi! how are you", "How can I help you", "Good morning, is it your usual?" But I probably had used my Hi! How are you line and got into this cranky pants bad books. She called the place and said I did not greet her with specifically a *Good Morning*. As a rule, I like to switch a greeting, change it around, toss in a few new words, sometimes reuse a phrase a bit later. But to greet 100 people or more every 60 minutes with good morning one after another, you start to wonder if someone is gonna smack you to get your needle out of the groove. Good morning after the 15th time in the row starts to lose meaning and after 30 times you sound fake and not genuine.

 

As it stood, the manager said "you have to say good morning to each and every customer" Being obstinate that I can be, I said to her I would not greet anyone with good morning AT ALL for as long as I remained at that job. And I didn't. It ticked her off, but I stubbornly decided that I was not going to let some entitled bimbo dictate how I greet people. It's not like I was being hostile. I just have a larger vocabulary than most of what shops at that place.

 

Mr Smiles: I do have a sort of stern expression from time to time, particularly if I get focused. Especially if I get a headache. And well, not mornings... takes a while for me to warm up to the world. I am not sure what I was doing, but one young guy who worked at sears asked me "don't you ever smile?" I mean if you know me, I usually have a goofy grin plastered on my face, I smile, I joke, I prank.... I am half comedian (one which tomatoes would be thrown at, but still one nonetheless). I simply said "No, I do not." and as a point I never smiled at him. But I was usually very polite or friendly.

 

It's for a child: I get this a lot when I was working at these places. "It's for a child" I think it meant give them extra free stuff, make hot chocolate cold, or Extra stuffs. I said that already... but I recall some woman asking for sprouts on a sandwich and that "it's for a child." I am not a kid person. I am not fond of children, I am nearly phobic about looking at babies....It's me. However I do not understand what they are asking for when "its for a child" am I supposed to woo and coo at it? I mean, as a child my mother never nerfed a hot chocolate. She told me to sip it slowly or blow on it. Small sips don't gulp. Few rounds of burned lips, or blistered palate - you learn. I had to bite my tongue on a few times on giving them my condolences.

 

Mr. Hostility V.1 (I say V.1 because there is a V.2 who drives a bus)

I am at a loss as to recall his mans order, but he was in short, extremely rude. I was doing my best not to let him crawl under my skin. But he was a bit of a jerk about things. Elderly man as well. I handed him his coffee and say, I hope you have a great day" As he turned and left he said "you don't mean that" as in he knows he was a complete jerk to me. After he left and was ell on his way down the mall to probably meet with his best buddy Scrooge. I turned to the other girl who was with me and had witnessed the idiot's behaviour and said "I bloody well don't" just under my breath and loud enough for her to hear.

 

You bite the doughnuts: Simple description "I don't want that one, someone took a bite out of it" No.... we are not in the policy of tasting the products and putting it back on the shelf. If we decide we want a doughnut, we take it out back and have it on or coffee break. What happened was you ordered a sour cream glazed doughnut and the frosting or whatever that super sticky surgery stuff was, cemented to the doughnut next to it.

 

Freshest Pot: We have health and safety regulations regarding the removal of a carafe from a pot that is brewing. We are also a high traffic location and nothing sits longer than 20 minutes, and during peak periods no pot lasts more than 2minutes. Believe me, when I have an order for a a couple coffees, I am pretty much starting to reach for the next pot because the one just got used up. they don't have time to sit around and stew. Its next pot and next pot and next pot. I have also seen some severe burns from the high temperature water, so messing around and interfering with a pot in progress is dangerous. Not only for me, but for any staff member near the machine. ALSO, they insist the brew process is complete for the best flavour outcome of the grounds. It makes sense. It could be either too strong or too weak depending when it's removed.

 

The Manager (the one who had the smelly friend) gave me advice once, and I used it.... High traffic period just before the mall opened everyone is coming in for their cup of coffee and one guy asks "I want my coffee from that pot that's still brewing, it's the freshest" I told him no. He insisted. so I said, "If you want it from that pot, please go to the end of line and I will serve it when its ready." And that was what the manager had said I should say... because NO. it is dangerous and my safety will not be trumped by your selfish need to take from a pot still brewing. What you do at home is none of my concern. Don't make me burn myself for you.

 

The Fry Shop.

I worked at a fry joint too. Make sme wonder why I insist on working in up close and personal like this... I really am not cut out for stupid selfish people.

 

Miss, I'm in a hurry: This translates as OMG I left the kids in the house and its on fire, can please get some chips so I can get them out. Typically a person is gonna be in and out fast. However, chips cannot be rushed. no cooking can be rushed and be done right. You want good chips, it can take about 3 - 5 minutes. Cooked fresh and hot for you. I can't turn the oil temperature up any higher, it's dangerous... believe me, I had some real BAD burns. And the result would be carbonised dry twigs. They won't be nice.

 

SO I cook them as fast as I can, which is about average. It's not super slow either. It is cooked to the standard the fry joint insists it was also New York Fries. Rather than take them and run - I mean this lady looked more than capable of running a marathon. Thin, athletic and energetic. She promptly sat down in the food court and spent a good 30 minutes gnawing them down. And every time she came there after was the same thing "I'm in a hurry." that leaves me to think. "No you're fraggin not..."

 

McDonald's is cheaper: Old man came to the counter to ask why are the fries so expensive. Truth be told, they aren't. Yes you pay about 4 bucks or so a portion, but they are pound to pound cheaper than McDonalds. You get your money's worth, you get fresh cut potatoes cooked there on the spot. He bickered about it. I told him I don't set the prices, are you going to order? I was getting people lining up and this old man wanted to give me a hard time about prices. Frustrated with him, I turn and call out next. The next woman steps up and starts to place her order. He said "I'm not done yet!" I replied, "if you think our prices are expensive, then please buy from McDonalds, but I have more customers." He then left.

 

Working in face to face is not my ideal task. I enjoy cooking, but I am not a people person in the slightest. There are people out there who are amazing with people handling skills, I tend to get frustrated and tell them what I am thinking. This is why I work on the line now cooking food. I can make beautiful food, and hopefully make the person eating it happy. this makes me happy - Beautiful food.

 

But, there is at least One instance I can recall of a super picky, finicky woman. She was over the top and the Managers were on my side because they knew I was doing my best and my best did not cut it.

 

Boomerang Salad: I will be the first to say that the lettuce at Turtlejacks could be absolutely frustrating as hell. Due to the lack of a decently functioning salad spinner, we used a house hold one to do the job. Wet lettuce it seemed went brown frightfully fast. Sometimes.

 

It was about 2PM and the Lunch rush was just about over and I had several orders up, And I was making them in turn - because each order this time was different. Not a problem, I am quite good at this. I have an order up for a Caesar salad, which is simple. Dressing, romaine, parm and bacon. Simple and hard to mess up. But the brown bits on the lettuce, I fished a few out then plated it. It was god.

 

The server returns, with the plate. Brown leaf. WHoops, not a problem, I missed that one. I remade the salad because the person wanted it remade. The manager and server watched as I carefully selected better leaves because yes there were a few brown bits. It was fresh cut this morning, but a few edges sneaked in. It happens, we remove it.

 

Few minutes later the salad spun back. This time I was getting frustrated. The woman nit picked the fact that the leaves had some "bruising" on it. Because we cut the leaves, we spin the leaves and they get a bit wrinkled and broken. It happens, this is the nature of the salad. I told the manager this, and she said, "just make it a greek this time." I responded that the "greek comes from the same lettuce bin. It won't be any different." SO the Manager watches and helps remove anything remotely offensive. She then said to the sever "I'll take the plate" So at this point the Manager takes the plate out to the guest. I asked the server later How it went because, no boomerang. "Oh she liked it, but said the manager had an attitude." If only I could have been a fly on the wall for that exchange.

 

I did say to the manager during the whole ordeal "if she is that fussy, eat at home"

 

My goal is to provide beautiful food because I can do that. I am really not a people oriented person and I am so glad there are people out there who are good and I envy them.

 

I bet my husband could write a small novel on his accounts of customer service......He works in a warehouse at Canadian Tire, but he interacts with the population from time to time. He like me, is not a people person. We're more like introverts.

 

Sorry for the length.

 

 

[Obscure_Trash]

This isn't one where anybody was obstinately rude or anything but years later it still kind of bothers me.

 

I worked at a community center over a few summers. We have lots of kids who have come from abusive situations, lots of kids with divorced parents, lots of kids being taken care of by grandparents or aunts and uncles and etc, and lots of kids who have parents they have a protective order against. So for various safety reasons people who are allowed to pick the child up have to be on a form. No matter what - even if we recognize and know the parent/guardian/whomever, they have to check in at the front desk. This way we have a record of who checked the child out and when. At the front desk, they verify the pick-up person is okay to pick the child up. The front desk then radios us to send the kid. It doesn't actually take that much time and it's just to keep the kids safe.

 

One time I had my group at the front playground which is right outside the front doors. One parent came up and saw us, like many parents do when they come, and tried to call their kid in with them. We're not allowed to let the kid go with the parent until they've been called because often once parents get their kid, they'll leave without checking out at the front desk. Now if I'm at the back playground and a parent I know stops by, I'll often take a few seconds after the parent leaves and then send the kid down to the front desk. I know the front desk will see them and the kid will get properly checked out. But I can never send the child directly with the parent. So when this parent called their kid over, I wandered over and gently asked for the parent to go check their kid out at the front desk first. I explained that this was for safety reasons and that once the front desk called their kid in, I'd send the kid into them.

 

Now instead of listening to me or doing the reasonable thing and just going inside so their kid could go with them five seconds later, they decided they wanted to stand there and argue with me about it. "But why!? This is my child!?" I explained the exact same thing "It's just for safety reasons to insure that the kids are going home with the right person".

"But I'm their parent!"

"I understand but I don't know you and I just need you to verify with the front desk. We have all parents do this to make sure our kids are safe and going home with the right person."

"I'm going right inside; I don't understand why my child can't come in with me!?"

"It's for safety reasons. If you check out at the front desk, I'll send your kid right in."

Eventually she got tired of my answers and wandered away. Fortunately one of the supervisors (the person in the position directly above me; all the supervisors are much older than me and the other leaders and aides) was out there and the parent went to them. I noticed the parent go in to the front desk a few minutes later so I wandered over to the supervisor. She let me know that the parent was just wondering why she couldn't bring her kid in for her. The supervisor said the same exact thing as I did and the parent just accepted it, thanked her, and went in to properly check her child out as all the parents know they have to do because it's explicitly explained to them when they sign up for any of the programs.

 

Super frustrated that she wouldn't accept my word presumably because of my age. She can trust me to watch her kid for seven hours a day (my work hours) and another person around my age for the remaining five hours she can leave them there and keep them safe that whole time but as soon as she shows up, what? I'm suddenly not doing my job? Being unreasonable? Trying to punish her rather than keep her kid safe? What was her logic there?

 

As I said, nothing rude to me like the other stories here, but very frustrating.

 

~

 

Ugh, people can be so horrible to people in retail and service jobs. I don't know why people think that's okay. =\

/has spent lots of time on sites like the customer is not always right

 

That tat was def inappropriate for a child's place! Does it really hurt to cover that up? Geez. >_>

[Starscream]

Ugh, people can be so horrible to people in retail and service jobs. I don't know why people think that's okay. =\

/has spent lots of time on sites like the customer is not always right

I think this is in part for the fact a number of these people consider themselves better than those who work in service industries. To be quite honest, we have to put up with a lot of stress and unpleasantness, so the odd day when a smile is not shown because of life, indicates we are more than serving robots, we are actually human and feeling.

 

I can sense someone who is being insincere with their smile and you can tell they are troubled. But that is me again. I tend to be rather empathic. I can often see the thoughts running across their mind, in their face. I know when they are asking "why me?"

 

That is part of the reason I can't work face to face with people in this industry anymore, I see so many thoughts running around, not a lot of them are good. Christmas is the worst time and all that was the reason, I had my huge nervous break down. I couldn't handle the constant flow and the emotional or "psychic" barrage. I know this makes me sound a little insane. But for a while after, several months, I had a huge bought of Agoraphobia. This situation has mostly resolved. But I refuse to work directly with people where I can't handle it. My issue with trying to obtain a new job was them seeing me being a service industry person, working the cash, and wanting me to go back into the situation I was trying to avoid.

 

I had another food story to share. One I meant to throw in last night but I didn't because I was SOOOO tired from my new job in... DUN DUN DUN! the service industry. Back as a Line cook!

 

~~~

 

Tim Horton's and the Screaming Child.

 

As one of my recent threads suggests, I get migraines and I can get them bad. Food Service industries are great places to gather stress and sometimes trigger a migraine to come to fruition.

 

I was raised a little with the belief that children should not be screaming in public. Whenever I, or my sister, made a fuss, we were taken to the car or settled down. And this was done because my parents considered how other people would feel. Also my mum gets the same Migraines I do, so she'd understand what a train whistle screaming child can cause.

 

I really should not have gone in that day as it stood. I was on my day off, I was also feeling a migraine coming on. It was already to pain stage but not unbearable. One of the girls who usually called in sick on friday called in. me being fairly good natured, said I could cover, I will be down in about 15 minutes. An epically unwise decision. I should have said no. I really should have said no.

 

The mall is but a 5 minute ride from home about 1km - Quite nice to get a job there. Close to home, great for all weather commuting - I ride a bicycle. Bicycles are not great things to ride when a migraine is pending. It gets the blood pumping through those tightly clamped veins making the feeling worse.

 

So I appear on work, and I am stressed from this headache, but things get worse. In the middle of the line crowed there is a child. that is SCREAMING. I don't mean bawling, I mean that sharp, shrill shriek that the let out that can rip paper from the walls and shatter glass. That was it, one or two blasts from that child with those screams and my migraine took a turn for the worse. Full on throb and pain I was practically trying to duck from. And the parent did not try to settle the child. She allowed him to scream his lungs out. by the time they got there, I was in tears from the pain and feeling nauseated. I could not handle it. I looked at them and left my station. Someone took over.

 

I am throwing up in the garbage can in the back when the manager comes after me and screams at me for leaving and that we lost the customer. I told her that "its my day off and now I got a full blown migraine thanks to that kid." I couldn't give a damn if I lost my job or not. I just knew I should not have come in for that woman. She did this to me every time I had a day off on a Friday. That is my problem though I tend to "sure I'll come in" when people ask. They almost never come in when I need it.

 

The woman with the child might have been an nice person ordinarily but in this respect she was horrible for allowing a child to behave like that in public and near so many other people. But what it comes down to, it was my poor judgement to go in that day - I was really not feeling well.

[Daydreamer09]

I think this is in part for the fact a number of these people consider themselves better than those who work in service industries. To be quite honest, we have to put up with a lot of stress and unpleasantness, so the odd day when a smile is not shown because of life, indicates we are more than serving robots, we are actually human and feeling.

I actually had a customer tell that to my face once when I was attending fitting room at my first job. She wasn't very happy with me when I had to count the garments she was taking in. And she made the snide remark that she earned more money than I did as if it made her higher up. Of course when she came back, she threw her clothes at me and stormed out.

 

Quite a few hurtful things have been said to me over the years in that fitting room. The worst being called racist.

[Starscream]

It is hard, but try not to let these sort of people needle you. I bet she could not do the job you are doing if she was forced to... She may make more money than you or I, but at least we have more respect for people. That makes us richer.

[Daydreamer09]

It is hard, but try not to let these sort of people needle you. I bet she could not do the job you are doing if she was forced to... She may make more money than you or I, but at least we have more respect for people. That makes us richer.

Thanks. And that is so true.

 

I've come to think of horrible customers as if they were carrying around a disease. They're unhappy and they want to pass that on to others. You can let what they say or do get to you, thus contracting their disease and helping it spread. Or you overcome it by ignoring those few bad apples and move on to something more worthy of your time and thought.

Edited August 10, 2014 by Daydreamer09

[MoonShark]

I have a story from a few years back, in a different section of customer service. Namely, a library.

 

Now, this happened probably five or six years ago, but I still remember it. My library is a pretty lax place - we ask parents to keep their kids from running around and screaming, but running around in general is okay. I think we've had a few complaints but we handle them as necessary. This isn't a shh-ing place and if you're that bothered by the sound, go read in the back rooms (the library is shaped like an L with the children's area being the lower part and the back being several connected rooms of adult fiction/non-fiction)

 

We also had a dog policy for letting dogs in as long as they were on a leash. The librarian even brought her cute little dog in, who was gentle and sweet and would hide in the office if she got tired of kids chasing her.

 

This place, by the way, is run by volunteers with the exception of the head librarian and the other two librarians, because alone the head librarian would never be able to handle everything; there's just too much to do with shelving and checking out books and running our book sale, etc etc). I mean, there were days when she'd call us (my sister and I) and ask us to come help if it was not one of our normal volunteer days, because she was alone and needed some back up. She's the type who won't even go to the bathroom if no one is there to watch the desk.

 

Anyways, it was children's storytime day, when we have a huge crowd of kids gathered around the volunteer who runs storytime. At this point I can't be sure if I was there for this incident or simply have heard the story so many times that I can "remember" it, because even without being there I know exactly how the head librarian would handle it.

 

Remember how we have a dog policy? Well, someone came in with two german shepherds. Growling german shepherds, who were not behaving well and were standing by their owner at the circulation desk, which isn't even twenty feet from where children's storytime takes place. The librarian asked them politely to leave their dogs outside. The person refused several times, even getting to the point where they were insisting they had a "right" to bring their dogs inside. No. The dog policy is not a right, it's a courtesy. And if we ask you to take the dogs out, then you need to comply. I've known germans that were, if not sweet and cuddly, at least well-behaved and not liable to bite your hand off at the wrong move. These dogs were not kid-friendly, we had a lot of children running around that day (though thankfully story time was keeping them engaged at this point). The librarian finally forced the patron to leave (I think they threatened to never come back to the library again - why would we care?!), but after that, the dog policy had to be revoked. There were still a few people with special privileges, including my family with our gorgeous golden retriever who didn't even care if there were children climbing all over her, but after that day, people had to leave their dogs outside or at home.

 

There are plenty of other stories from my time at the library but this one bothered me the most, simply because of how obstinate the patron was and oblivious to the fact that their dogs should not be near children, especially since children tend to run up and try to pet an animal before getting permission.

 

I've also dealt with people who try to check something out and get angry because their account has been locked because of hundreds of dollars of overdue movies and then refuse to pay their fines, a former junior librarian who spent more time socializing than getting work done (I spent three weeks working in his position one summer, while he was away. I cataloged all the backlogged books, movies, etc that had been sitting around for months. And I did that in the first week, in-between shelving books and handing the circulation desk), kids who try to check out R-rated movies when their parents aren't around... In that last scenario, we legally can't refuse to check something out to someone despite their age, all we can do is put it off until their parents get there and hope they'll handle the situation.

 

Despite all the chaos that sometimes happens, I honestly miss my library and wish I could still volunteer there... If only it wasn't so far away.

[Rosedamai]

Geez, at home she must put in a whole box worth of teabags or something...

 

I think maybe she was just complaining because she wanted a professional to do it, not that the tea was too weak :\

I have no idea. But I have noticed that customers often become quieter when the exact same thing is said to them by a person in a "position of authority" rather than a "lowly servingperson".

[edwardelricfreak]

I have no idea. But I have noticed that customers often  become quieter when the exact same thing is said to them by a person in a "position of authority" rather than a "lowly servingperson".

Yep, pretty much! My mom has dealt with THAT a lot.

 

They also seem to like wanting to speak to managers or whoever else is in charge because if they whine and complain enough to them they can get free stuff...

 

It drives me nuts whenever a manager tells the customer something contradictory to what the employee said, even if the employee was following rules and what the manager said to them. It REALLY undermines the employee and makes them look bad in front of the customer. I realize no one likes some tiny problem getting out of control just because one customer had to be a whiny b****, but seriously, to all current/future managers that might happen upon this post, do NOT NOT NOT undermine your employees just to "please" a customer! Amazingly, NO, the customer is NOT always right.

Edited August 11, 2014 by edwardelricfreak

[KageSora]

I will never understand the "I'm so much better than you" mindset. Even if, somehow, that were true (but of course paychecks being bigger don't make you a better person), does it MATTER? These people act like they're so superior, but if it weren't for us at the base level... How in the hell would they get the stuff they're buying?

 

SOMEBODY has to fill these positions. We do the jobs they think are below them, but if everybody up and got a better job stores wouldn't be staffed, warehouses wouldn't have workers to fill and ship out orders, delivery drivers wouldn't exist, nobody would be serving food to you, etc.

[Dimar]

Heh. For the past couple of years, I've had a part-time job as a cashier at a grocery store. There's some very nice customers, especially the regulars who come in often and we get to know quite well. But there's always those that make things difficult... luckily it's usually minor issues as opposed to huge crises, though. Those get taken care of pretty quickly, but can make me quite stressed.

 

A few weeks ago, though, I had to stay 40 minutes after closing due to a single customer. She had come in the week before and ranted during the whole transaction about how her animals had been seized by the sheriff or SPCA when neighbors reported her, and compared it to a FBI raid. I was polite and acted sympathetic, though as a natural skeptic I was privately wondering what kind of medical treatment her animals were getting, considering she mentioned a horse with a broken leg and a sheep who was infected from a mauling in 2013. She took a long time to check out, as she ended up deciding not to get half of her items after I had rung them up.

 

So on the night I had to stay late, I was looking for the manager a few minutes before we closed and found the customer ranting about the animals to her. I rescued the manager and the customer continued shopping. My store isn't in the habit of kicking shoppers out, so we lock the doors at 10pm and wait for the last customer to finish. 10 minutes after official closing time, the manager sent the other cashier home because she was complaining, and we only needed one cashier and one clerk to finish closing anyway. 25 minutes after closing, the woman came up to my register with very few items for the amount of time she had been there.

 

Checking out took another 15 minutes, as the woman decided to give me and the clerk the same speech about her animals while I rang up her items (obviously she didn't remember me from the week before). Finally she realized that she didn't have enough money. She hemmed and hawwed and had me remove some items, then add them back on, then remove others, and eventually the manager had to come help since there's a limit on how many voids you can do on the registers and it needs a manager's key to override the restrictions. She asked for a calculator in order to do 74 minus 60... I just told her the answer. So she finally got $45 worth of items down to under $14, which included removing the one thing she said she came in for.

 

So yeah, that was fun. I knew what to expect when I saw the woman come in, but the clerk and manager looked like they were about to snap. >.<

Edited August 12, 2014 by Dimar

[annageckos]

...my personal favorite; one woman thought that the emus...were actually llamas. AhahahahahahahaNO.

Many many years ago I was at a place that had bison, there was also a llama or two. My friend and I were watching the animals when a woman exclaimed while looking at the llama "LOOK! An emu!!" We busted out laughing. I never realized that llama and emus were confused for each other. Your story cracked me up and reminded me of that incident. I've worked in pet stores and around animals and sometimes the stupidity of people amaze me. I haven't worked in a while due to health but I'll have to remember some stories.

[Brite]

It happens everywhere, a customer will call an employee a liar or unfair, but when the manager says the same thing the employee said, the customer suddenly turns sweet and understanding.

 

My friend quit working at DQ because a girl there was having a physical relationship with the manager and was getting away with a lot of nonsense that would've gotten any other employee fired.

Edited August 14, 2014 by GhostChilli