Customer service jobs are deceptively difficult. One might assume that it doesn’t take much skill to ring up patrons at a cash register or serve up a burger and fries. But what makes these jobs incredibly challenging is the fact that workers have to deal with the general public.
For some reason, there are so many customers out there who are downright rude to service workers. But sometimes, employees decide that the customer is not always right. Here’s a list of stories featuring brilliant acts of petty revenge that workers deployed on the most entitled customers to put them in their place.
#1 Order A ‘Surprise’ Drinkfrom The Bartender? Oh, I’ll Make Sure You’re Surprised
So just a short dose of malicious compliance from my previous job where I was a bartender.
Too frequently for me to count, I’d have customers come up to order shots or a mixer, and say “surprise me”. I used to try and give them interesting shots, some more obscure stuff that don’t get ordered frequently, and the the customer would then complain that the drink tasted awful. So I started taking a different approach to these ‘surprise’ drinks.
Every time a customer came up and said “surprise me” I would give them a nice glass of water. Needless to say, they were surprised.
Image source: CssyJ, rawpixel.com
#2 You Say That You Order Is Less Than A Kilo? Let’s Weigh It!
Disclaimers: on mobile, English isn’t my language, if you want to share it elsewhere, drop a link.
A bit of background: I own and operate a bbq and grill restaurant. We run a special promotion for the Euro. We have a promotion for 1kg of skewers (pork or chicken) for 6,50€.
This happened on Saturday night. A group came to watch the match between Belgium and Portugal. One of them is a guy known to almost of the restaurant owners in town. Let’s call him D. D has a tendency to complain about the food, in order to get freebies (either something extra or the whole order).
They place their orders and about 20 minutes later they’re served. A few minutes later my head server, Mary, comes inside (sit downs are only permitted on the patio due to the pandemic) furious.
Mary: Give me the scales!
Me, slightly confused (I was sweating over the grill, since we had a lot of orders): What for?
Mary: Just give me the darn scales!
I give her the electronic scales, she grabs an empty plate and heads outside. I follow her, because I know that something is up. She goes to the group that includes D, puts the scales on the table and proclaims “Let’s weigh them!”.
You see, D had ordered the promotion and then said that his order was missing almost half of it and demanded four more skewers “to make it correct” (his words). Now, in almost any other place he would be probably right. Most of them buy their skewers already made and they weigh between 100 to 120 grams, which means that a kilo is usually 10 skewers. But we prepare our skewers in house and are much bigger, between 180 to 220 grams (which is written on the menu), so our kilo is usually six of them. So, basically D was demanding almost another kilo of meat for free.
Dick, smugly: Yeah, let’s weigh them and then you can bring what you still owe me!
Mary grabs the skewers and a fork and starts removing pieces of meat and placing them on the scales. Initially, D has a very smug smile. But he starts to frown when 3 skewers are emptied and the scales shows more than half a kilo of meat. Finally, with the second piece from the fifth skewer, the scales shows just above a kilo.
Mary, holding the remains skewers and smiling smugly: It seems you were right about the order not being correct. We put more. I’ll take those (waving the skewers in her hand) back to the kitchen. Enjoy your food!
Mary returned smiling to the kitchen and put the skewers aside, while D ate his kilo of meat sullenly and the rest of his group smirking.
Image source: BbqinHell, antalexstudio88
#3 Customer Asked To Check If His Change Is Counterfeit. So We Did Exactly As He Requested
A customer at my job paid us with a 100 dollar bill. We needed to give him 85 dollars change. We checked his 100 dollar bill using the counterfeit bill machine. The customer got offended that we checked his 100 dollar bill and requested for us to also check if the change we give him is counterfeit. We could have easily given him a 50, a 20, a 10, and a 5. But instead, my coworker got all the 1 dollar bills and scanned them one by one to waste the customer’s time and annoy him. He looked very annoyed. Such a boss move in my opinion.
Image source: aestheticeddy818, wirestock
#4 Annoying Customer Complaining About Getting Less Fluid Then He Paid For, Even Though He Got More And Ended Up Getting Less
So I don’t work in the gastro industry anymore but a friend of mine still does and he perfected this one technique that I’m going to tell you about. For any US people 1 dcl = about 3.3 fl.oz. Anytime a customer (its allways the unpleasant ones that do this) complains about getting a smaller drink for example 3 dcl. of fresh orange juice and they think its less because the glass doesn’t look that full even though its over 3 dcl. Or they get a different glass because sometimes you run out of a certain type of glass etc., well anytime they are rude and start complaining my friend tells them to please wait and says he will fix their problem, while the customer waits in front of him he proceeds to pull out a 1 dcl. measuring glass, starts measuring out exactly 3 dcl. and pouring them into another glass while looking directly at the customer, after he gets exactly 3dcl. he pours the rest into the sink while still looking directly at the customer (there is allways at least 0.5 dcl. that goes into the sink) he then takes the new exactly measured glass and hands it to said customer and says something along the lines of here you go sir its exactly 3 dcl. Works like a charm and they never complain again.
Image source: VerySlyKindaFox, pvproductions
#5 You’ll Only Be Served By The Attractive Bar Maid? Ok No Problem!
My friend told me this story and it was just too good not to share:
So the town we live in has lots of good old fashioned British pubs, and one that is a pub during the week and then turns into (sort of) a club at the weekends. Since it’s the only place open past 12/1am it tends to attract a lot of drunk jerks.
My friend was working one night with two other bar staff. One other guy and a girl who I’ve been told was pretty attractive. It was about 11:55pm and a guy walks up to the bar, my friend wasn’t serving anyone at the time and goes to take his order.
“No thanks mate, I’ll wait for her”
My friend tried to explain that she was serving customers at the other end of the bar, and that he would be the one to take his order.
“No. I am ONLY getting served by her! No-one else!”
Sure mate, no problem.
My friend then waits for his colleague to finish serving her existing customer, by the time she’s done it’s around 11:57pm. So my friend turns to her and says “Hey, you’ve only got 3 minutes left of your shift, so you might as well leave now, we’ve got it covered”
So she leaves. My friend and the other guy working both refused to serve him for the rest of the night, as per his request.
Image source: Frannycesca95, fxquadro
#6 A Customer Was Upset I Didn’t Give Her The Right Amount Of Fish; She Was Right
I used to work at a mom & pop store that sold clothes, farm supplies, animals and sporting goods. Anyway, since we sold sporting goods we also sold bait fish. Fisherman would frequently stop by our store to buy them to fish with and they were sold by the dozen. Usually, when I scooped bait, I would give a few extra fish to my customers. I had one Russian lady come in to purchase bait fish, so just as I normally did, I scooped a net full of fish and started dumping them in the bag counting them individually, and added a few extra to the bag. The lady watched me do this but insisted that I did not give her the correct amount. I assured her that I not only gave her the dozen she paid for but I gave her a few extra. I literally just counted and have done this long enough that I was really good at eyeing when it was over a dozen. This lady just kept insisting that I didn’t give her enough so I said, ” Okay, let’s count together just to be sure.”
So I dump all the fish from the bag back into the net and we started counting together very slowly “1….2…3…4…ect…” We get to 12 and it’s very clear there are several extra fish still in the net. I look up at her and I was like “Ohhh you were right, I didn’t give you the right amount.” I then proceeded to dump the remaining fish back into the tank right in front of her and gave her exactly the amount she paid for.
Update: She ended up just looking bewildered when I handed the fish back to her and left. Really nothing more she could have done at that point but I did start applying this philosophy to the customers who bought crickets.
Image source: rcam_tv, caciomurilo1
#7 Lady Demands That I Stop What I’m Doing And Open My Register. Okay, No Problem!
I (M19) work as a cashier in a gas station in Miami Gardens, Florida. Naturally, the people that come into the store tend to be on the crazier side.
The store had a line of maybe 7 people. Now, at this point, i had the “register closed” sign up and i was stocking the vaporizers and accessories on the shelves behind the counter.
My coworker was handling the customers in line. I turn when i hear the door opening. Another lady walks in without a mask on. I politely ask, “Excuse me, miss, do you have a mask that you could put on?” She scoffed at me and rolled her eyes as she dug in her purse for a minute or two. Finally she pulls out a ratty little mask with only one functional strap and holds it to her face while she’s waiting in the line.
Well, apparently she couldn’t do that for very long. She comes to the front of the line ranting and raving about how the line is too long and that we shouldn’t be keeping a valued regular customer waiting. (I’ve been working here for 4 months and i’ve never seen her, i’m fairly confident i know all the regulars) I tell her that there are other things that my manager left for me to do before the end of closing and that i have to get them done.
She didn’t seem to like that all. “I DEMAND that you open your register RIGHT NOW” Okay, you got it, lady. I moved the sign and then i turned back to her. “Do me a favor and stand a little bit to your right” Surprisingly, she complied, albeit with her arms crossed and what i can only assume was an angry gaze firing through her mask.
Cue the malicious compliance.
“Next customer” i yell out into the store. It dawns on her what i’m doing but the next customer shoots up in front of the counter before she can even fully process it. I go about this transaction as normal, despite the fact that this lady is yelling at me at the top of her lungs (no longer holding the mask to her face, mind you).
I finish up with the other customer and I turn to her. She tries to yell over me so i raise my voice a bit and try to be as stern as possible. I tell her “Just because my register is open now, doesn’t entitle you to skip all the other people in this line who also have lives, and jobs and other responsibilities. Get to the back of the line, and be respectful or i have no choice but to have you removed from the store. (We don’t have security but we’re 2 blocks away from a police station and one of the cool officers who comes into the store gave me their personal number to use just in case we have any issues.)
The lady harrumphs loudly and walks dejectedly to the spot in the line she had before she left. In the amount of time it took for the rest of the story to occur, more people had gotten in the line. “I said the back of the line” i told her pointedly. She dropped her shoulders and walked to the back like a toddler.
People, man.
Image source: Fickle_Midnight5907, poppet07
#8 Don’t Like Female Servers? Ok
I used to work at a restaurant in an amusement park. It seemed like 70% of people turned into Karens and Chads the minute they step through the turnstiles, but maybe that was just my skewed perception of being in customer service. But anyways, we had this family come in one day, and they were sat at a table that would have them served by one of the nicest, most capable waitresses we had. The dad would have none of it, saying he didn’t want to be served by a female, he needed a male waiter because they do a better job. The waitress was a bit upset, took it kind of personally, and we all had to tell her how ridiculous it was that she would consider it to be true. Management caved and got him a different server, which I’m sure if they didn’t he wouldn’t have tipped her anyways, but what I loved was seeing who management gave him as a server.
The amusement park hires a lot of international workers. There were people from all over the world. The guy they put on his table to serve him was from Colombia, English was not his first language, and he was a bit inexperienced as a server. The customer ended up getting worse service because of his generalization and demand.
Edit: To be clear, the worse experience wasn’t because he was Colombian. But because he was new and not a native English speaker. The waiter was an awesome dude, and did become an excellent server quickly.
Image source: [deleted], drobotdean
#9 I Gave A Regular Customer All Of Their Change Back In Pennies On Purpose
So I used to work at a now closed-down retail shop in the UK that sold cd’s, DVD’s, vinyl, that sort of thing.
We had a lot of regular customers that used to irk us, but in particular was this one guy who used to come in, buy roughly £20-£40 worth of things, and then pay for his entire transaction in coins, mainly pennies, 5ps, 10ps and 20ps. Not even pounds.
Each time we’d have to stand there and count each coin individually (otherwise the tills would be wrong at the end of the day), holding up the queue, while he stood there with a smug look on his face making jokes about how long it took us to process the transaction.
Now, I’m not the greatest at maths (I have dyscalculia) so numbers aren’t my strong point. I used to hide when this guy came in so I wouldn’t have to serve him because I knew I’d take longer than everyone else to count up his money and put it in the till and then I’d hold up the queue.
This time, there was no one else on shop floor, and the penny guy comes in. So I had to serve him. To my surprise, this time he actually gave me some notes to pay with, and secretly I was thrilled, because it meant I could now take revenge.
I processed the transaction and with a smug look on my face, start counting out £12 worth of change in pennies, 5ps, 10ps and 20ps. He questions what I’m doing and I say, sorry sir, we have too many coins in the till and we’ve been told to get rid of them (a lie obviously). He stands there for a good 10 mins while I count out his change, lose count, have to start over again all the while smiling and putting on my best fake sweet customer service voice.
The entire time he’s standing there getting red faced and impatient, tapping on the counter, sighing loudly under his breath until I finished and gave him all of his change.
He remained a regular customer, but never paid in pennies ever again!
Image source: throwaway105597, claudiodiv
#10 When You Ask For A Discount
For context, I work in a travel agency for accommodation, like Booking, Airbnb and stuff.
We recently checked-in a family whose reservation was for 2 adults and 2 children, but they showed up with 1 extra person. We brushed it off, even though it’s quite deceitful and rude to do something like that unannounced. While they were paying, we didn’t have the needed change and they ended up paying us €15 more. The wife said to keep the change, but my boss said that we will make a note and return it at the check-out.
A day before their check-out, the father sent a rather rude message to my boss, demanding the €15 back and a discount because they were having some problems with wi-fi.
My boss wrote back: “Dear [guest], thank you for raising concerns about these issues. Of course, we will return your €15 and compensate €50 for wi-fi issues. On the other hand, we will have to charge our set additional fee for the extra person in the apartment, which is €20 per day, or €120 in total. So during your check-out, I’ll come to collect €55.”
Image source: sjorbepo, rawpixel.com
#11 Customer Hits No, Cancels Transaction. I Leave To Clock Out
Recently quit my job at a convenience store. My two weeks were in, and it was my last day, minutes before the end of my shift. I notice a long line and jump on register to help. Two customers come to the register together, and one asks for cigars. Company policy, and state law, requires that I id both customers. I turn to grab the cigars after asking to see id from both, and one of the customers leaves the store.
Unfortunately, in this scenario, I cannot finalize the sale until I see id from both customers, regardless of if one leaves. I tell the customer this, and he argues with me. The manager is on the register right next to me, so I explain that no, I need to see the id, or I cannot sell either customer age restricted items.
It’s now 10:02. My shift officially ended at 10, though we are allowed to and encouraged to stay on the clock while there is a rush. The customer claims he doesn’t know the other guy, even though it was clear they were together. Annoyed but just wanting to get out of this interaction, I say “whatever” and set up the terminal to take his card. He puts his card in, and the reader asks “is this amount correct?” or something of that nature. Customer hits no.
A lot of customers do this, they don’t read and think the screen is asking if they want cash back, but if they hit no, it cancels the transaction. Usually, we would then reset it, walking them through to make sure they hit the right button. But then I think, what’s going to happen? It’s my last day, I’m supposed to be clocked out, I don’t care about this job, and company policy prohibits managers from giving references anyways. I say “okay, you hit no, so good night,” I put the cigars back, and I clock out.
After clocking out, I mention it to the manager, who says the customer looked confused for a minute and then just gave up and left, dumbfounded.
Image source: SometimesSmarmy, prostooleh
#12 “I Know What I Ordered, Just Make It!”
Years ago I worked at a local coffee shop. We served the standard coffee shop menu of coffee drinks and pastries we made in house. One of our coffee drinks on the menu was a macchiato. We served a traditional macchiato, which is a double shot of espresso with a touch of steamed milk and milk foam, but since a certain chain has named a very different drink the same thing I would always try to clarify what the customer was ordering when they asked for one.
One day a woman came up to the counter on her cell phone. She briefly pulled the phone away from her head long enough to mouth “caramel macchiato” at me. I started my spiel about how we serve a traditional macchiato, which is quite small, did she want that or one like the other place makes. She cut me off three words in and dramatically said “I know what it is! Just make it!” So I rang her up and made it.
I made her a tiny drink with espresso, caramel syrup and milk foam. When I gave it to her she finally got off her phone call and told me I clearly made it wrong. I explained I made what she ordered as she told me she knew what she was ordering.
She now said she wanted one like she would get at national chain, which I happily made and charged her for. She did not get a refund on the first drink.
Image source: vassago1376, magnific
#13 You Want Me To Put A Fake Name On Your Order? Alright..
So this is about 3 years ago i was working at Papa Johns (in Canada) and was acting as the assistant manager. When we had customers order within the store we would just take the customers name so that we can call out their order once it’s ready and usually this isn’t an issue.
Well an older gentleman walks in 60-70 i’d say. He waits in line, approaches the counter places his order, but when I asked this customer for his name, I realized I had opened pandoras box.
Cus: “What do you need my name for?”
Me:”its so that when your order is prepared I can call it out for you sir. “
Cus: “You don’t need my name” turns to customers in line and says ” Watch out! The pizza guy wants your social security number.”
Me:” Sir if it is an issue you can just use a fake name” Cus: “just put Bob on it”
and so i did
10 Minutes later his Pizza is hot and fresh from the oven, i walk to the counter and yell out to the store “pizza for bob”. The guy doesnt budge. I realize now that this man has forgotten that he was ordering under an alias and doesn’t know his order is ready. The other customers in the store however knew what was happening because they just watched and heard the misery unfold, they turn to “bob”, they turn to me, they turn to “bob” and I can see it in their eyes, even the customers long for that malicious compliance. I continued to bring the other customers their orders, some who had been there before him, and once “bob” had noticed that i was serving food to those who ordered after him, he approached the counter [ at this point the pizza is getting nice and dry under the heat lamp] it’s been about 20 minutes since he’s ordered.
Cus:”Is my food going to be ready soon?”
Me:”Sir, it’s been out of the oven for about ten minutes now, i’ve called for the name you gave me several times but nobody came to the counter.”
At this point the guy is aware that he is getting his food late at his own demise.
I hand him the pizza and there is no more exchanging of words, he leaves and goes on his way, the customers who witnessed the misery unfold were all snickering as he left.
Not a bad gig.
Just deleted this by mistake, first time on the internet.
Image source: OneCoolUsernameGuy, stockking
#14 Malicious Compliance In The Deli (And A Karen Slapdown As A Bonus!)
I just witnessed the most beautiful piece of malicious compliance at my local supermarket. It has a deli counter where you take a paper ticket and wait your turn. There’s a digital display that shows the next number, but when it’s quiet, the staff often just serve the next person without advancing the number of the display and it gets out of whack. Today was one such day. I pulled ticket #87 and the display said “29”. There were 2 people ahead of me at the counter, some guy who was apparently 85 and what turned out to be a Karen at #86. While deli girl is helping man #85, Karen launches into a tirade about the display being on 29, yelling at the young girl behind the counter that she was lazy and causing confusion. I just rolled my eyes and threw a look of understanding sympathy to the girl behind the counter as she finished up with guy #85. What happened next was priceless. Karen sees #85 leave and launches into her order. Deli girl cuts her off with a saccharine sweet smile and says “one moment please ma’am”, picks up the clicker for the display and clicks it over, and over, and over again until it reaches 86. It took quite a while. Needless to say, Karen was pissed! She GLARED at the girl behind the counter the whole time, while I stood there with a huge grin on my face. And the best part? She couldn’t even criticize, because she was the one going off about it being wrong. After finishing Karen’s order, deli girl tried to apologise to me for the delay. I told her she’d absolutely made my day! It’s not often you see service staff being able to deliver a customer service slapdown, but when you do, it’s glorious to watch!
Image source: HereForTheJokes-13, Epic_Horizon
#15 Karen Wants Her ID Checked
I work in a casual fine dining restaurant in a downtown area. Prices aren’t crazy but high enough that we dont get a super young crowd… I would say average age of our dinner crowd is 30 to 60 although it varies more on the weekend. I only include this information so you understand why I didnt initially ask for identification (even though you should always check)
Thursday night a table of 4 comes in for early dinner. 2 Karens and their daughters. Excellent. I’m ready for them to split entrees and tip me 15%. Not the WORST type of table if we’re being honest, but nonetheless. They order a pitcher of sangria and I tell them I’ll be right back with that for them to which Momma Karen says to me “you really aren’t going to check these girls IDs? Her birthday was just last month. Aren’t you supposed to check anyone who looks under 40?” She is correct, of course that I should have asked for identification even though they girls were with their mothers and I was being lazy by assuming they were of age since their moms did not stop them from ordering drinks. I agree with her and tell her that I actually am supposed to check ALL IDs regardless of age, and proceed to look at all 4 of the ladies IDs. Unfortunately for Momma Karen, her birthday was a few days previously and her ID had expired. In the state of Michigan it is illegal to serve alcohol to anyone with an expired ID regardless of age so I had to deny Momma Karen a glass for the sangria, while her daughter and friend shared a pitcher.
I didnt reallllly have malicious intentions, however, it felt good that Karen’s antics backfired on her.
EDIT: I didnt include details of Karen throwing a fit when I denied her a glass of sangria. She informed me that she, a business owner, is more aware of the law than I, a mere server, could ever be. I simply couldn’t “just do my job” and bring her a glass. My generation doesn’t respect elders and blah blah blah. Her daughters were a little embarrassed I believe but I tried to move past it and serve them the rest of their meal normally. Karen kept huffing and puffing but said no when I offered to bring a manager over
Image source: SalviaMoria, funfamilyru
#16 Yes Sir, I’ll Be Happy To Honor Your Expired Coupon
The guys over at r/talesfromthefrontdesk sent me here.
I just remembered this one from a few years back.
I work nights at a hotel. Back then, the manager would place ads with coupons advertising rooms at a discount. In general, these coupons were a real PITA. They clearly said not valid on weekends or holidays and had expiration dates. I would regularly have to argue with guests because they were trying to use them in violation of the terms.
Anyway, one day. This guy comes in and slaps a magazine with one of our coupons down on the desk and stares me down. I sigh internally and look at the coupon. It’s a couple of months out of date.
Me: Our rate for the night is…
Him: I know the rate. It says it right here
He jabs his finger into the magazine just about punching a hole in our marble counter.
Him: Now you’re going to honor this coupon or I’m going to call my friend who owns the company.
I really want to tell him to go ahead because if he really knew the owner, he’d know that the company is a franchise and each hotel is privately owned. Instead, what I say is…
Me: Absolutely Sir.
You see, what I was going to tell him before he cut me off was that his coupon was out of date and from the height of tourist season. Since the season was over and we’d already gotten snow, our regular nightly rate was almost half of what his coupon said. Since he was insistent that I honor it, I saw no reason not to charge him almost double what everyone else was paying.
Image source: JMKellywriter, pressmaster
#17 You Want To Speak To My Manager Instead If Me? Sure
Phone user and Australian. Fear my autocorrected euphemisms. Tl:Dr at the end.
Prior to being a bartender I worked at a retail chain called Big W. I’m a nerd, I tend to switch to autopilot when tired (almost always at the end of shifts) and can be a jerk when annoyed. Me in a nutshell.
It’s a slow Wednesday afternoon, the A/C is broken again and it’s about 5 degrees C hotter inside than it is outside (29c). I’m in autopilot, rigor mortis smile on my face and retail greetings are droning out of my throat. A guy walks into my register, demanding a refund for something trivial. Probably his panties were the wrong colour, I don’t remember.
I inform him in a monotone voice that refunds are issued by my supervisor, not me. There’s a surprisingly substantial line at the supervisors desk, people wanting cigarettes, refunds or information. He informs me that he’s not waiting that long for something trivial.
He demands I do it, because “Even someone as dumb as you can do this”. Well that snapped me out of autopilot and the smile fades. I repeat, in a much more direct tone that “Only the supervisor can do refunds.” The customer is having none of it. “Refund my item.” He demands again, saying it very slowly as if I was the dumbest potato in the strawberry patch. “I am unable to-” He cuts me off.
“I want to speak to your manager, I don’t want to talk to you.” Now this is where people need to be careful with their words. As a cashier I report directly to my supervisor, one of the two at the desk. They’re in charge of me. My Manager sits out back managing the store, and usually never has to interact with customers unless the supervisor calls him.
So I nod, calling through the headset for my manager (let’s call him Fred). Fred’s a great guy, he tells good jokes, he’s always ready to help his friends and he’s a caring soul. He’s also a mute; and after wrapping his ute around a tree as a teen, he’s also deaf. As such he knows Auslan (Australian Sign Language), but can’t read lips to save his life. I also can’t speak Auslan at all.
This probably took about 5 minutes for someone to alert Fred that he was needed and for him to come down. All this time I’m smiling but not saying a word to the gentleman, as he told me to. He comes up to the registers, sees it’s me waving him down and pulls out his pda to communicate with me.
“What’s up?” Fred types. I take the pda and type “Customer has a complaint, wants to speak to ‘my manager’ not me.” Fred raises and eyebrow at me and I just shrug. The guy is turning red with anger, probably thinking we’re ignoring him.
Fred turns to the guy who launches into a full on verbal attack that would curdle milk chcocloate. Something about incompetent employees and terrible service. Fred just stands there. Eventually the guy runs out of breath and Fred has a chance to show him the pda with the words “Sir I am a deaf mute, please use this to communicate with me.” The guy practically screams and storms out of the store.
Edit: I didn’t quite expect this to blow up so much, so thankyou all for reading. Much as I hate working customer service, I do enjoy helping people. If even one person walks away happy it’s a job well done and I’m glad I could bring this to Reddit.
Tl;dr: Guy gets angry I can’t issue a refund and demands to speak to my manager, who can’t speak because he’s a mute.
Image source: Yiffparty_exe, jorfer
#18 I Muted A Bar Customer
When I used to bartend, I tried to have tolerance of people and their situations. Sometimes people would come in and have the worst attitudes. Usually by the time their night was over, there’d be some type of calm/ apologetic tone when they closed their tabs. Then there was this one girl.
She was in her early 20s and was with a guy friend sitting at the bar. I carded them and she immediately gave an attitude about it. Then after reading the martini menu (I worked at a bar that specialized in martinis), she made a few comments about how the martinis better be worth it. She ordered her first martini, a Thin Mint. Her friend ordered a Dirty. I made both at the same time and put the glasses in front of them and walk to other customers. I went to check on them 10 minutes later and she berates me for the terrible martinis I made and the Thin Mint tastes like ass, even though she managed to drink almost all of it. Her friend liked his martini and ordered another and apparently tried to calm her down. I gave her the benefit of the doubt, took the martini away and asked what she would like instead of that one and also, free of charge. She asked for a fruity martini with the same attitude. I made both martinis, set them down in front of them and walk away.
More people came in and it gets decently busy. The other bartender comes up to me and says that she wants to talk to me. I walk up to her and again, the martini (also, almost finished) was the worst and this is the worst establishment she’s ever been to and won’t ever come in again. I give them the tab to get them to leave. 15 minutes later, she is now yelling about the awful service and telling other customers that they shouldn’t stay in the bar with shitty drinks and how she could make better martinis. She was awful and after her friend paid the tab (no tip), I told her in no uncertain terms that she is never allowed back into the bar. She asked to speak to the manager and I said I was the manager.
Here’s the petty:
Two weeks later, her friend (Bea) is having a birthday party at the bar. Bea’s friends are all showing up to celebrate with her. In walks the girl who berated me, the bar, and the other customers. I looked at her and told her that she was not allowed into the bar and needed to leave. That I was not up to dealing with anything out of her mouth nor her attitude. She pleads with me to please let her stay as it’s her best friend’s birthday blah, blah. Bea asks if there’s anything she could do to stay. So I tell them that she can stay but she cannot say one word or sound the entire time she is there. If I or anyone else in that bar hears anything, she needs to leave. The entire night she had to use pen and paper or her phone to communicate. It was also even more embarrassing for her because a few of the regulars that saw her the first time let it be known to the entire bar why she was muted. It became a game with them to try to get her to make a sound.
TL;DR: Bar customer came in, was a nightmare and then got muted the next time she was there.
Image source: cozynite, milanmarkovic
#19 This Arrogant Client That I Keep Asking For His ID
Short one, I guess, but there was this customer (19M) who wanted to buy alcohol at the store I work at. I asked for his ID since he looks younger than 25 y.o. (as it is policy in the province I live in) and he decided to throw a tantrum; trying to shame me for asking for his ID, telling me he “was buying alcohol [at the place I work at] at the age of 14” and bla bla bla…. (Which is illegal, btw.)
So I decided to keep on asking him for his ID every single time he comes to the store for alcohol, no matter what the circumstances are. Petty and funny. Most of the time he “doesn’t have [his] ID,” and asks “is a picture okay?” No, it’s not.
You look and/are under 25, you get ID. That’s the rule.I’m not risking my job for your ego.
People, please ,always bring your cards with you, and don’t be a jerk about it or I’ll ask for your ID.
(Also, I’ll still ask him for his ID, even after his 25th birthday.)
Image source: llexii_writes, Imaginiac007
#20 Customer Pulls Up Behind Rental Drop Box & Demands Service
This happened while I was a supervisor for a multi-media retail store. The best way to describe this company (which is no longer in business) is if you combined a Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, and Blockbuster Video. As we dealt with movie rentals, we had a drop box in the parking lot for customers to pull up and return their movie rentals. I go out to the drop box to pull in the returned videos, and with my back to the rest of the parking lot as I empty the bin, I hear a woman start yelling, “Sir! Come over here and get my videos! SIR! COME GET MY VIDEOS!” I take a deep breath and ignore her. She yells again for me to come and get her videos, and I ignore her again. Its one thing to pull up to the drop box while its being emptied and ask the employee if you should hand it to them, but its a new level of lazy to park several parking spaces behind the drop box and yell for someone to help you. After ignoring her, I hear a car door slam and some clip-clop footsteps coming up behind me. Out of the corner of my eye I see her slam her videos into the basket I have on top of the bin, and just stand there looking at me. I stand up, act startled to see her there, then look in the bin, look back at her, and use the ASL sign for “Thank You” and say “Oh, dank oo” in a stereotypical deaf “accent”. She looks at me horrified, says, “You’re welcome”, and quietly walks back to her car. Biting my lip so I don’t burst out laughing, I go back into the store and immediately tell the store manager, “In case you get a call about your deaf employee, let me tell you what happened.”
Image source: NowhereManTK, asier_relampagoestudio
#21 Customer Made Me Stretch For The Money. So I Returned The Favour
I work in retail and one of the things that really annoys me is when a customer can’t move a little bit closer so you dont have to reach over the bench to take their money.
A customer I had today was being particularly annoying, not only was she standing a good two metres away in front of the other till, but she was also standing in the way of another customer being served at that till.
She handed me her money, so that I had to stretch over the bench to get it. She had change so I put it very deliberately close to me, so she had to either stretch or actually move her body.
Image source: [deleted], magnific
#22 Be Rude? Ok, Wait In Queue
Context: my 1st job was at a large (international operations) call center.
I did not love this job, but I genuinely tried my best to be helpful and do it well. This was a technical support account.
We were *severely* understaffed (this account had specific language requirements) always back to back, dealing with (righfully so) angry people. To be fair, service and policies were kind of bad. This company acquired other smaller companies in the same line of business, so the transition was not that smooth either. On a normal day, the waiting time to speak to a rep was 2-3 hours. Again, I understand why people were upset but it was not our fault (as agents).
Anyway, I was not passionate about this position but I couldn’t affort to quit. So I started applying to other positions, hoping I’d find a way out.
Fast forward, I land a position with similar responsibilities (actually the load was much more manageable), + much better compensation and opportunity for growth. The email offer comes in the middle of my shift, and I accept immediately. I need to start asap, so I quit on the spot, but commit to at least finish the day.
As mentioned before, I was used to talking with angry people but didn’t take it personal so just did my best to help and deescalate the situation. So, this call comes in and it’s a classic one “I changed my wifi password and all my devices disconnected, I want a technician to come fix it.” Ok, before sending someone out we were required to offer to help guide the cust on how to do it. If they insisted, we could dispatch someone but needed to inform the cust it would be $$$.
So, I tell him that and he agrees to try and connect things himself with my help. At this point, I had already worked there for almost 2 years, so I knew my way around. I could tell this dude was not actually trying and being difficult. Ok, maybe he had a hard day. Maybe he’s frustrated he had to wait so long and the service is crap. Whatever, it’s my last day.
I never hung up on cust before (believe it or not lol) on purpose, solely because I believe on treating others the way you’d like to be treated. Well, this individual starts being rude **to me**. Normally, we’d be required to give people 3 warnings and be allowed to hang up if there’s no attitude change. At this point, I was fed up. I looked at the queue and it said that the waiting time was 4 hours. So, surprise surprise (you can probably tell where this goes based on the title lol). I hung up on him. I had already quit. What did I have to lose?
It was oddly satisfying to me, I literally told him “I’m sorry, I don’t get paid enough for this.” *line drops*. I think about that sometimes and laugh. Anyways, thought it was worth sharing. I hope my writing makes sense. Take care and don’t be rude to someone who you need help from.
Image source: Spoiledprincess_, Drazen Zigic
#23 Customer At Subway “Wants To Speak To The Manager”
I worked at a subway that didn’t have any authority/managers, just a couple minimum wage base level workers. I don’t remember what this particular customer was mad about but she was arguing with me and didn’t like the answer I gave her. She asked to speak to the manager, and there not being a manager I decided to promote myself on the spot and replied with “manager speaking, how can I help you.” This did not make her very happy because she realized she was not going to get a different answer and asked for a phone number to call. The owner has specifically told us never to give his cell number to customers so i gave her the store number. She gives me a grin thinking about how much trouble she’s about to get me in when the phone behind me starts to ring. I will never forget the face she gave me as I answer the phone, look her in the eyes, and ask her how may I help you.
Image source: trustfundkitty, katemangostar
#24 Customer Wants To Leave And Take The Recipe With Them
So recently a customer at my work told us that they were no longer going to use us to manufacture their products for them – we felt this was quite out of the blue, as they had used us for 40 years without any problems. We got over this, however they then asked us to give them the recipe for their product so they could take it to a competitor to make.
Now for context, when they started using us in the 70/80’s the provided us with their recipe to make their product the right texture, firmness, and look just how they wanted it. Over the years we’ve spent time and money finding new chemicals when certain ones have been discontinued, altering the mix of chemicals so that the products are still how they want them, and developing the recipe further to make it more efficient and provide better results. The way we were making their products now is completely different to how we were at the start.
Because of this, my boss was unhappy with what they were asking of us. But, complying with their request, he gave them the recipe to their products… the original recipe that is. It’s fair to say they’re not that happy that they’re going to have to spend their time and money to update it as we have over the last 40 years.
Edit: it’s not food lol (but I’m loving the guesses)
Edit: man you guys really like your dildos don’t you…
Edit to be clearer: We make X. We’ve made X for over 100 years and, expect for small orders, it’s always to customers specification. For example, a matt blue colour, with a soft texture. We don’t have contracts to supply X to customers, they just order it like you would order something online. This, ex, customer had come to us 40 years ago and asked to get X from us, and had given a recipe for how they had gotten it previously from someone else.
Over the years they kept coming back to us for X, but this recipe was no longer used. We still made X to their specification, but with different chemicals, dyes, pigments, and processes. Everyone was happy.
Now that they’re going to another business, they wanted to know exactly how we make X for them. We didn’t want to give this up, and instead gave them back the recipe they gave us 40 years ago and said that was all they’d get, as everything after was us. Because X is our main product, if we’d told the ex customer how we made X for them they could give it to a competitor who could figure out how we make all of our X, and run us out of business.
Edit: I did not know X meant MDMA lol
Image source: BigFatBazza, The Yuri Arcurs Collectio
#25 Cheapskate Argues Over $2.75 Iced Tea They Didn’t Like On The Bill, So I Happily Switched It Out For The $3.00 Soda They Ordered Instead
Some people are particular about their iced teas. Ours has a tropical flavor, which this woman didn’t care for. “Can I just get a diet soda instead?”
Not a problem. Trying to hunt down a manager to void out an iced tea for a soda isn’t worth the effort, especially for a negligible 25-cent difference between beverages, so I just let it ride.
When the check arrived, the party spent a good deal of time poring over how to split the bill. My manager had swung by to run their cards, and they apparently gave him the same lecture about how we should just have regular black iced tea and said I forgot to take it off the bill.
When he voided it off and checked with me, I told him, “Oh, that’s right, and they switched to a soda,” and rang it in. He just shrugged his shoulders like his time had been wasted.
I figured the table were either being cheapskates or dumb, so I happily dropped off the new bill and said, “So we took off the iced tea and corrected it with her diet coke.”
The guy took another 10 minutes staring at the bill and probably felt like the biggest ignoramus.
Image source: crummynubs, chandlervid85
#26 A Customer Ate A Donut While Shopping, So I Charged Him For Three
Back when I was a cashier in a grocery store, I was going about my business checking, when a guy approaches with only a can of Mikes hard lemonade.
Right as he’s getting ready to put his card in the reader, the check stand phone starts ringing and it’s my manager on the opposite side of the front end. She tells me she saw him eating a donut earlier.
He didn’t mention any donut, so as a punishment for his dishonesty, I charged him for three. Unfortunately right after his card processed he walked off, so he didn’t get his receipt and couldn’t see what I’d done.
Image source: coojies, pvproductions
#27 Customer Was Rude To Me So I Denied Him His Pizza
Not the most hectic of stories but I thought I’d share it anyways.
So I’m a delivery driver at Dominos and had a I got a delivery that was in a street in a small suburb out of town and got to the place but it looked dark and uninhabited. I decided to ring up the guy and ask if he could come outside and said yes. Waited about a minute, then two, nothing. I then wondered if I was even at the right place and thought maybe the address on the receipt was supposed to be another street nearby that had a similar name and so I rung him up again to try and confirm this but then he became rude towards me like “Mate, ya turn right on so and so street! It’s not hard to find, I’ve been waitin’ a long time for my pizza, now hurry up!” After that I decided his place was only a minute from where I currently was. So I did the most the responsible thing.
I took the pizza back to the store in the main part of town. I explained what happened to my manager and he said it was fine and he’d take care of it. I then took a different delivery (customers this time were much nicer) and we never spoke of that little incident again. That initial delivery either got cancelled or delayed even further. Moral of the story is don’t mess with the people who handle what you eat. XP
Image source: Afternoon_Master, KamranAydinov
#28 All You’re Doing Is Inconveniencing My Drive Thru Customers, Enjoy Your Wait, Sir!
So a long while ago I worked at a popular fast food restaurant, in a town that’s mixed with travelers and locals. I had worked for this chain for close to three years and had just transferred to a new location because of a better pay scale.
About a month after this change, I’m getting in the swing of things and getting used to how this new location works, I was learning the regular dinner customers orders during the evening as I was often the closing manager. One week I was put in charge of a random 12:30-21:00 shift, nothing I haven’t done at other locations but a nice change for this new store.
Things are going as the lunch rush is progressing, sales are on track but my drive thru is moving a little slower than my lobby. I ask the person running orders in drive thru how I can help, she tells me that this customer refuses to move his truck to a waiting spot even though he has a two minute wait on his fries.
Me, being my very calm, cool, and collected self proceeds to try and ask the customer my self if he would move, to which he responds “my truck is too big for your tiny parking lot, I don’t have insurance that would cover getting hit… besides it’s not my fault you’re so slow.”
Once again keeping a very calm demeanor, I try to explain that there are orders ready behind his that are smaller, and by him not moving it’s messing with other people getting their food.
This is the point where he rolled up his window on me mid sentence.
I had three orders ready behind him, and had already explained to him that he had a two minute wait regardless, if he refused to move then there was no reason the customers behind him had to wait for their meals. I took each order out that was ready behind his, four total, explained why they had such a long wait, and gave them free meal coupons for their next visit.
Once I was done Mister I-won’t-move’s fries were up and I happily handed him his ordered. He angrily asked why the other customers got their food before him, to which I told him I already explained their orders behind his were smaller, that he had to wait regardless, and to have a nice day.
Service with a smile
Image source: offmyhighhorse, demanna
#29 Make It Hard For Me To Buy Something? You Can Give It To Me Free
I look after the maintenance of 70 convenience stores, some with Quick Serve Restaurants as part of the site/business. This particular QSR has recently gone from crappy automatic coffee machines to barista made coffee machines.
As part of the fit out, a steel frame with a rubberised bar, Knock Out, is fitted into the counter to knock the “puq” from the group handle… the disk of used coffee grounds from the handle you put into the machine, and the coffee comes out the bottom.
The problem was, the rubberised bars were weak and would break within a week so site would just use the edge of the frame.
This pissed me off because I would have to fix it when the site complained. It wasn’t too much of a problem but took a few emails for a warranty claim. After I had replaced one a couple of times in a month or so, I asked what was going on. The Project Manager told me there was a Knock Out V2 that was much stronger so I got them to supply that on the third go round.
I knew there was a couple of sites that were older and their knock outs were messed too. These guys just didn’t complain so much.
With 70 sites to manage, I had more important things to worry about, but I still like to look after my sites, and it was at the back of my mind and the bottom of my to-do list.
Today I grabbed it to get it done. Because I like to help the contractors I use, I put in the leg work with the supplier. I got part numbers and pricing as well a contact details so my contractor just had to order the parts and go and install them. The units were only a couple of hundred dollars each, all in the greater scheme of things, and easier to just buy and install. I checked, and the contractor had ordered from this supplier before so this was going to be simple… right?
Well no. The supplier, incorrectly, said the contractor couldn’t order it and the store had to submit some request nonsense. I check with the QSR Ops Manager and they had no clue what that was about so I went back to the supplier, still no.
Time for the PR. I replied to the final refusal email as follows:
Alright, there is a simple solution. The original units were not fit for purpose hence the need for you to supply the Knock Out V2. Can you please supply, as WARRANTY replacement, two units, delivered to Site 1 and Site 2, and i gave the delivery details.
The supplier called right after that email. He checked, and one site had the install less than 12 months ago so it was a legit warranty. The other was closer to two years, but I used the “not fit for purpose” and “we spend loads with you” arguments and they relented.
The jobs to the contractor will still be needed, but for install only, no supply.
TL;DR
Won’t sell my contractor the parts they need? Fine. You can give them to me FREE as warranty.
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