RetailEra, what’s the dumbest thing a customer has yelled at you for?

[Teh_Lurv]

I have to imagine this happened a lot, all over the place, over the last week or so. Really wish you could just let the person sign a waver and then sell it to them...

Click to shrink...

That was the crux of the lady's side of the argument: The salad was probably fine and she's willing to take the risk etc. The cashier & manager responded with a "Sorry, store policy says we can't sell any food under recall."

In the end, I think we call can agree that if this lady was allowed to buy the salad and did get sick, it's more likely than not she or her family would be lawyer-ing up to sue the supermarket.

 

[Fray]

This is the part that always bothered me in these situations. Customers can yell at me all day and I'll shrug it off but when I am right and am following policy and doing my job but a manager steps in to appease these idiots making me look like the bad guy...ugh the worst feeling, so demoralizing.

Click to shrink...

I get that. I always make it a point to inform my staff that I trust them and they have the right to defuse any situation, even if it means giving an "unwarranted" refund. I won't allow any of my staff to be mistreated and I see no good reason - within reason - to uphold refund policy when it means they will be subjected to abuse. I mean fuck, it's win win for everybody. The customer leaves relatively happy, the associate solved the issue without being subject to a uselessly hostile situation and I don't need to be called up and deal with some dipshit who is super fucking heated over something so stupid.
Some managers get off on being "important" and getting calls. Imo it is a total waste and a "them problem". Any good manager would only hire people they believe in and then empower them to make the right decision because they trust them.

 

[mattypacker]

I work for GAME, and there are plenty of examples, especially a guy who explained that he called the police to complain about Sony who told him to fuck off. He had called them after his account had been "hacked" (it hadn't) and the Sony rep had lost his rag at him apparently. Good times.

Also, one of my favourite questions ever was last week when a guy asked "is Black Friday once a year?"

And a woman yelled at me because she'd lost her receipt so couldn't return a game and said I had no common sense

 

[Whitemex]

Never ever eat the open samples of food at grocery stores.

 

[Aaron]

This is the part that always bothered me in these situations. Customers can yell at me all day and I'll shrug it off but when I am right and am following policy and doing my job but a manager steps in to appease these idiots making me look like the bad guy...ugh the worst feeling, so demoralizing.

Click to shrink...

Yeah this always fucking sucks, especially because like you said it makes you look like the asshole. That's happened to some degree at all my customer service jobs, but AMC was one of the worst about it.

Probably the worst instance of it happening there was when a supervisor had me go ask this Hispanic family if I could see their tickets, because he said he thought he saw them sneak into their movie. Turns out they'd already seen their movie and just ducked past the ticket person to get a refill on their popcorn, as the mom yelled-explained to me, pointing out that I was the one who tore her ticket three hours ago as if I was supposed to remember that. The supervisor apologized to them for it, and then as soon as they left scolded me for making a racist assumption like it wasn't his fucking idea in the first place.

By far the worst job I've ever had was working at a national call center for a law firm that handled peoples' disability cases. Only something like 46% of disability applicants ultimately have their application approved, and that's after a two year process going through the courts - 90% of applicants are denied on their initial application, and that number is only slightly lower on an appeal. The supervisors fucking sucked and what was worse was they'd send letters to people dropping them as clients without any explanation as to why, and they'd call us confused and upset (understandably!) and it wasn't always clear on our end, either since they had like three different programs where client information was stored.

To that end I got fired for resubmitting an application for a client we dropped, as the first system I checked her info in said she was only dropped because she missed a deadline. It turns out, in the second system there was a note that she was dropped because her income was too high and they knew it'd be a losing case. Guess what never got explained to the client! Fuck that place, I walked out and never looked back.

 

[CatAssTrophy]

Her: Do you know who I am?!?
Me: No
Her: I'm a SUICIDE GIRL...
Me: Okay, I don't know what that is though...

 

[AegonSnake]

A lot of these happened in a nice NY suburb when i was only 16 years old. These suburban men and women were some of the angriest assholes ive had the displeasure of meeting.

- Lady tried to steal a 12 pack of beer she left at the bottom of her shopping cart. I very politely asked her to let me scan it. She got super defensive and started yelling at me saying this one is rude and accusing me of stealing. She wanted to complain to customer service. i dont think she did because none of my supervisors or managers talked to me about it later that day.
- This one guy was grinning at me while i rang him up. I chuckled and asked what's so funny. He took it the wrong way and got so mad at me for that he threw change at me. Called me a fuck face and left. Then started yelling at me from outside the store.
- This other lady got upset at me because i put her eggs and bread in one bag. I always placed the bread on top of the eggs to make sure it didnt get squashed by anything else, but this lady was not having it. threw a total fit.
- This last one was the one that upset me the most because it was not even close to being my fault. Most people put their fruits and vegetables in plastic bags. Some dont give a fuck and just put them on the belt. This lady left tomatoes and peppers and all kinds of vegetables on the belt so i picked them, scanned them and put them on the other belt to be bagged later. She did not like that one bit. Wanted me to bag them right away and threw a huge fit.

Oh and every Sunday before 12, people would try to buy beer and our register simply wouldnt ring it up. No matter how i tried to explain it, they wouldnt have it. Managers would be called, long lines would form, people would get more and more agitated and it would cause a chain reaction of pissed off customers that would last like an hour. Their computer system always had issues with items on sale on Sundays since it was the start of a new sale week. That would mean a lot of price checks which would require overrides which could only be done by supervisors. More waiting. more angry customers. More bullshit thrown my way. 16 year old making $5 an hour back in the day. It was hell and probably turned me into the cunt i am today.

 

[Trace]

Worked 8 years at a grocery store, working Customer Service.

She walked up and asked for a refund on a product.

She didn't have the product.

She didn't have the receipt.

I was very confused at her thought process that day.

 

[Itsjustsurvival]

Coworker got yelled at because an iPad was destroyed when it got caught in an escalator. Customer could not see how this was not covered under warranty.

 

[Rob]

On holiday, I was working at GameStop back in '04. This father came in with his son to return two items. One was a sealed PS2 game that his kid got as a gift so he didn't have a receipt. The other was a used game priced at $9.99 from a B2G1 free sale we just had. I told him we could give him store credit for the sealed game and that for the used game, he'd just have to pick out another used game $9.99 or under. He said he was fine with both. After about 15 minutes, he brings up a used game that was $7.99. He then told me that he wanted the $2 in credit because the game his son choose was less than the one he returned. I told him that the game his son was returning was the free one, so this would be an even exchange. This got him furious and demanded that I give him credit. I repeated that I couldn't. So he decided to use the store credit from the sealed game to get the game his kid wanted. So instead of walking out of the store with the game and $20 credit, he walked out with $12 credit.

 

[WarpSpeedMolasses]

One time I got a phonecall with a pissed off lady. She demanded a manager and went on with "I was walking out of your store, and one of the street cleaners didn't stop his leaf blower for me and I got sand in my eyes!"

The streetcleaners that are, y'know, hired by the city.

 

[TheCthultist]

Worked 8 years at a grocery store, working Customer Service.

She walked up and asked for a refund on a product.

She didn't have the product.

She didn't have the receipt.

I was very confused at her thought process that day.

Click to shrink...

Yup, alright, I'll never understand it but we have it happen here at least once every couple weeks.

 

[Trace]

Yup, alright, I'll never understand it but we have it happen here at least once every couple weeks.

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Yea it's just like... do you just expect me to hand you some money? We had an extremely lenient return policy too, if you had a receipt or a product we basically would always refund you.

 

[Clockwork]

I was working in pc/home office at Best Buy circa 1999 or 2000. A customer who was with his girlfriend (reminded me of William Zabka from Karate Kid/Back to School) whistled at me to come over and help.

He wanted an office chair but the box on the shelf was a little beat up so he asked if they had any more. There weren't any in topstock and I knew there were none in the back warehouse area, so I told him that was the only one. He ordered me (very snottily) to check in the back so I did, then came back with the same answer. After grumbling to himself/sighing he was like okay we will get this one. So I was like "Great, I will go get a cart for you" and he was like "No, if I buy this you are going to put it together for me" (we didn't offer that service nor did I have the tools or coverage for me to disappear while I put together a chair). I told him that wasn't something I could do and that's when he is like "Are you kidding? Are you just too lazy or what? How about you just do your job or I'm not buying it. I shouldn't have to do it." Needless to say I had to tell him that I wouldn't be able to what he was requesting. He left without the chair while talking shit about me and making snarky comments under his breath on his way out.

 

[Liquidsnake]

A guy threatened ti kill me if I didn't give him a refund for a silent hill game.

 

[mhayes86]

While working at a deli, we had a lot of grumpy people during the holidays since lines would form. Your back is turned while cutting, so you can't really pay attention to who was next in line since there was no numbering system and customers would just crowd the counter. There were several instances of customers getting agitated for not getting service, or sometimes arguing between each other of who was there first. There was also a time where I tossed out the end of some meat product since it was no longer safe for the slicers and wasn't a product that we saved for anything else. Some older guy at the counter berated me for wasting food and told me to take it out. I basically said no and that it wasn't sanitary. At the same place, a co-worker had a sandwich he made thrown at him (missed and hit the wall) because he either forgot a condiment or added one that the customer didn't ask for.

As for retail, I worked in the backroom of a Target for a few years, so I didn't deal with customers very frequently. I know there were some dumb customer (guests, per Target lingo) moments, but nothing really memorable.

 

[Oinone]

Dude bought something via eBay classifieds in a different town and wanted it delivered to himself by us. He was an idiot, it already took several phone calls to get even all the needed details. I.e. he didn't have the complete address nor the name where to pick the stuff up.
In the end it turned out our driver should pay his item when picking it up, what he never mentioned before, but he was sure he did. So we had a little "I did" - "No, you didn't" thing going on, which I quickly interrupted, saying that this leads us nowhere and offered him to shift the pick up to tomorrow, then I could arrange that anew. But now he suddenly threatened to sue me, cause I would accuse him of lying. That made me giggle "sure, wanna see that judge". He repeated once more his lawyer would contact me, then hung up.
Still waiting for that letter.

 

[gaugebozo]

Her: Do you know who I am?!?
Me: No
Her: I'm a SUICIDE GIRL...
Me: Okay, I don't know what that is though...

Click to shrink...

She wanted you, lol

 

[Dokkaebi G0SU]

replying to the title -

when i worked at Target behind the "food ave" section i was yelled at. the older lady was upset that we did not have any more cinnabon pretzels available. She thought i was lying and didnt want to make one fresh for her because reasons.

We would receive them in a box that would need to be kept in a freeze. That's just to give you an idea of how amazing they are. They would just thaw out in our pretzel warmer that uses distilled water when we put them out for the day. We didnt have any because every time we put them in for the day, no one buys them and they get stale/hard after a few hours.

she was so upset that we didn't have them that she told the shift manager. i told the manager i didnt care and i quit like a month later.

ugh, guess that's a memory that makes me dislike target a lot, which is funny because i go there weekly now and take my kids to look at the dollar spot and toy isles LOL. love/hate relationship i suppose.

 

[CatAssTrophy]

She wanted you, lol

Click to shrink...

She wanted a huge discount off an item that didn't have a price sticker even though we had plenty on the shelf with stickers in tact. I was just an means to that end... (I didn't give it to her)

 

[Astral]

Some lady didn't get a discount on some gum. It was a 25 cent discount. She wanted to return it and buy it again. I literally just opened the register and gave her a quarter.

 

[Jive Turkey]

And my absolute favourite:

A man walks in looking to buy motor oil.
"What's your car's make and model?"
"2017 Porsche (can't remember the model)"

At this point, I know it's going to be a 5-20 or 5-30 Euro spec fully synthetic oil. I enter the vehicle details, locate the correct type, point one out to him and he replies:

"Knew you'd say something like that. Fucking scammers, the numbers and synthetic ratings of oils don't mean anything, they're all the same!"

So after arguing for a while, he leaves with the cheapest oil we had - 30w70 mineral diesel oil for trucks. Says he's going to use it for everything on the car.

He returned a few months later with a bill over $10k for auto transmission repairs and a top end rebuild, expecting us to cover it. I recalled the conversation back to him and he stormed off calling us all fuckheads "for not stopping him".

Retail is just joy after joy.

Click to shrink...

I know this story really happened because it's just too damned stupid.

I worked in a footwear department and one funny story.

I was in the stock room and a Co worker came in asking do we have anying bigger in this type of kids shoe. When I looked at it it wasn't ones we sell.

I said it wasn't one of ours and a few minutes later I was called to the till and asked the same question this time by the customer.

I told her they were not ours but she demanded to buy them. She concluded that we didn't sell them they must be free. At that moment another customer appeared saying those were her daughters shoes she took off to try on another runners. The first customer were red faces and left the shop.

The second customer turned to me and blamed me for not watching her kids shoes.

There was no winning.

Click to shrink...

Ah, the ol' "There's no tag on it so it must be free!" joke. 'Cause that never gets old.

 

[hydruxo]

When I worked in asset protection at Best Buy, part of my job was to check receipts of customers as they went out the door and a dude flipped a shit and threatened to kill me. Over a receipt. Doubt he was entirely serious but yeah, I worked there for another month and dipped out. Terrible job.

 

[starfox]

Oh and every Sunday before 12, people would try to buy beer and our register simply wouldnt ring it up. No matter how i tried to explain it, they wouldnt have it. Managers would be called, long lines would form, people would get more and more agitated and it would cause a chain reaction of pissed off customers that would last like an hour. Their computer system always had issues with items on sale on Sundays since it was the start of a new sale week. That would mean a lot of price checks which would require overrides which could only be done by supervisors. More waiting. more angry customers. More bullshit thrown my way. 16 year old making $5 an hour back in the day. It was hell and probably turned me into the cunt i am today.

Click to shrink...

this is hilarious and sad.

 

[MindofKB]

*Customer tries to buy three laptops*

Customer: Here's my credit card.

Me: I'm going to need to see some ID.

Customer: I'm not going to show you.

Me: I need to see it or I can't ring you up.

Customer: You can't just trust that this is me?

Me: No, because I know this is your dad's credit card, MacKenna.

MacKenna: ????

Me: Yes, I know your father. He's my parents' real estate agent.

 

[deimosmasque]

I was once yelled at by a customer for not instantly knowing the phone number to another store that was owned by different people.

 

[shintoki]

The husband and wife who came in to steal right at close while screaming how their kid shit everywhere was a great one.

The lady who was fighting with me over how I can't just automatically put back 150$(She used already on other items) for returning the vacuum cleaner... who then sees the one manager coming over who doesn't budge and will call the cops. She packed her shit up in 5 seconds and ran out.

Literally getting screamed at for tearing up a coupon(not even the customers but one that was floating the entire line through after everyone else used it), boss comes over, makes her happy... second she leaves, "Fuck that bitch"

 

[gilded_Pb]

Didn't get yelled at but years ago a dude told me I shoulda serve him faster when he was waiting at the cigarette counter while I was serving another customer because he was in a hurry due to him somehow thinking it was a good idea to double park and that it was my responsibility that he doesnt get in trouble for it. I told him that I dont see how it is my problem which made him a little angrier.

 

[Layell]

I worked at a candy store, a lady pulled out bulk candy with her hands instead of the scoops. I asked her to use the scoops, she asked if I had tongs and I said we don't and went to the back room.

I come back later and the lady complained to a cashier I yelled at her and made her daughter cry. I mean first of all the store isn't that big, and nobody believed her. My manager and the cashier had a laugh about it.

 

[VG Aficionado]

Ah, the dark ages. I was a shop assistant for 9 months and it truly was the worst job ever. I was yelled at for no reason at all other than doing my job.


Old man: *leans over counter, groans*

Me: "Hello sir, may I he..."

Woman I just assisted: "I'm sorry, before I go, can you tell me where (name) street is?"

Old man: *groans some more*

Me: "Sure, *gives directions*"

Woman: "OK, thanks, bye!"

Me: "Hello sir, ma..."

Old man: "IS NOBODY EVER GOING TO ASK ME WHAT I WANT!"

Me: "I'm sorry sir, I was just giving her some dire..."

Old man: "WHY WON'T YOU ASSIST ME!"

Me: *nervously stammers* "I... I was working..."

Old man: "FUCK YOU! GO TO HELL!" *storms off*

Me: *red face and dropped jaw, hears other customers laugh*

On top of that, a self-righteous coworker told me that I had handled the situation poorly, that I wasn't kind enough... yeah, sure... Later on, I found out the old man used to be the city mayor from way back, and that he had been nuts for a while.



Also, the boss and me were once robbed by an old gypsy woman. She walked in on a slow afternoon, made small talk and asked nicely for a 1€ flashlight, insisting on paying with a (real) 100€ bill. It was super suspicious but I obliged. She demanded her change in small coins plus a 50€ bill, being awfully adamant about it. At this point the boss came out and she began her act: went full-bitch mode, threw the flashlight back to us and demanded her 100€ back. I told her to give the 50€ bill back first, but she insisted I never gave it to her. This went on for a while until she screamed at the boss and told him to check her purse to see she wasn't lying. Nervously, he actually opened the purse but immediately gave it back to her since the whole thing was ridiculous. Right after that, she started touching her deformed breasts and "sensually" said we could do a body check. The boss asked her to leave and just like that, she got away with 50€.

At least I wasn't told off by the boss, he was probably more humiliated than me.

 

[take_marsh]

*Customer tries to buy three laptops*

Customer: Here's my credit card.

Me: I'm going to need to see some ID.

Customer: I'm not going to show you.

Me: I need to see it or I can't ring you up.

Customer: You can't just trust that this is me?

Me: No, because I know this is your dad's credit card, MacKenna.

MacKenna: ????

Me: Yes, I know your father. He's my parents' real estate agent.

Click to shrink...

Hahahaha, damn that's pretty awesome

 

[Noobcraft]

I can't think of a time I've been yelled at, but when I worked a retail job one woman called in asking if we had eagle repellent in stock. We let her know we didn't stock eagle repellent, and didn't know anyone who did. She then asked if we had anything that would stop eagles from swooping down and flying away with her kittens...

 

[AGoodODST]

Not retail but I sometimes have to take calls where people (mostly women for some reason) are going mental because there is PPV porn on their bills and of course no one in the house would possibly do that so it's not their fault and they want a refund.

It's always amusing when they refuse to accept that's why the bill is higher and demand you read out the name of the purchase. "Yeah so looks like it was XXX Milfs Nightly XXX". Usually makes things worse and it's hard not to laugh.

 

[Linkura]

A former employee of the store (Gamestop) came in asking me to reseal a game for him with our resealer. He was fired for theft a year or so before.

Obviously I said no.

 

[Deleted member 268]

Worked in a cinema for 2 years as a supervisor.

Lies, verbal abuse and threats of physical violence were a common if not daily occurrence.

We were located in a large resort shopping mall of sorts with a casino and lots of other amenities, and a dedicated security team around the clock, and that was in addition to security hired by the cinema during big releases, so when shit did pop off, there was rarely any real threat.

No angry dad furious that his 8 year old son was denied entry to watch Deadpool was gonna fuck around and tempt fate when he saw some of the dudes working security there. It's like they exclusively hired ex rugby and basketball players.

It was quite amusing to see the inevitable shift in disposition and instant pacification.

 

[Yourfawthaaa]

Usually the return policy, some customers don't understand the 30 day window. And it's written on the fucking receipt how it works.


I also tried doing technical support on the front of house answer desk, never again.

 

[Yautja_Warrior]

It's quite scary how many stupid people are out there lol

Someone called up the office by mistake (wrong number) She then asked me for the correct number of the person she was trying to speak to........ How the hell would I know what number she was trying to dial ???? She then told me I was useless because I didn't know and hung up....... Lmao

Always makes me laugh thinking about that one.

 

[TheCthultist]

this is hilarious and sad.

Click to shrink...

That honestly kind of sums up the entire thread. Hilarious and depressing all at the same time.

 

[Crimson-Death]

My grandmother used to own a business, there were some characters but nothing too bad coming in compared to the 18 years of retail I had no choice putting up with. Don't even know what to pick honestly, at least I had more control in how to handle the stupidity of people and constantly told them off, got in a couple of fights, but later on I developed more empathy and manipulated them to leave as soon as possible without giving in to their games. That kind of control helped in purging their idiocy from my soul.

It all boils down to this, it explains the entitled dumbasses, I want to frame it in my room.

 

[linkboy]

It's quite scary how many stupid people are out there lol

Someone called up the office by mistake (wrong number) She then asked me for the correct number of the person she was trying to speak to........ How the hell would I know what number she was trying to dial ???? She then told me I was useless because I didn't know and hung up....... Lmao

Always makes me laugh thinking about that one.

Click to shrink...

I had something similar. I work for a Verizon store, dude calls up asking me to patch him through to customer service. I let him know that I can't re-route the call, but if he calls 611 from his cell-phone, it'll directly connect him. I get this response

"I can't dial because I have maculer degeneration and can't see the keys on my phone. You're fucking useless and I wish you never had answered this call"

Phone rings 5 minutes later, I answer it and it's him again

"I don't want to talk to you"

Click.

 

[NCR Ranger]

Probably a pretty common occurrence for anyone who does/did PC tech support but I have had a customer yell at me because we, Dell, wouldn't help them with their HP i think it was. Also had a customer get all sorts of pissed off when I told them their PC was 6ish years out of warranty and we wouldn't fix it for free.

 

[Fat4all]

speaking in a fake british accent

 

[Deleted member 14887]

I had customer yell at me to waive her installment balances for her phones so she can switch carriers because a store rep broke the screen protector he was applying.

 

[MMarston]

Never worked in retail but I was once in the awkward position of witnessing a worker having to explain to this punk rocker fella why he can't use the demo computers for taking multiple shirtless webcam selfies.

Fella got livid.

 

[Congo Jack]

One that always stands out in my mind is when I had an older guy grab me by my shirt collar because we only had one pair of black ankle socks and he wanted two pairs.

 

[Yautja_Warrior]

I had something similar. I work for a Verizon store, dude calls up asking me to patch him through to customer service. I let him know that I can't re-route the call, but if he calls 611 from his cell-phone, it'll directly connect him. I get this response

"I can't dial because I have maculer degeneration and can't see the keys on my phone. You're fucking useless and I wish you never had answered this call"

Phone rings 5 minutes later, I answer it and it's him again

"I don't want to talk to you"

Click.

Click to shrink...

Haha funny how he could dial the fist time but now can't dial a different number. I hate it when they try to use a disability to get what they want.

 

[rycisko]

I have plenty but the most recent interaction I had was a customer who requested a manager (always means trouble), so I walk up and the guy wanted a HP Spectre that was a weekend doorbuster deal off almost $1,000 that every store was sold out of, on Saturday.

The guy not only complained about how we wouldn't put it on hold in a store a state away (Only store who showed 1 in stock), but then went off about how he'd even pay full price but since we cant get him it, we didnt want his money.

"I've never been told my money's not good enough, really $2,000. Never been told no one wants that. That's so unbelievable, so what you're saying is you dont want my money?" For TEN STRAIGHT MINUTES.

I wanted to knock the guy out. He had a shit eating grin the entire time. Asked him if he owned a cell phone to try calling the other store and good luck with the drive and just walked away when he finally gave me a second to speak.

Rich Douche.

 

[HardTimesFamilyPride]

"I've never been told my money's not good enough, really $2,000. Never been told no one wants that. That's so unbelievable, so what you're saying is you dont want my money?"

Click to shrink...

I fucking hate this line of thinking, from both companies and customers. If you're a piece of shit asshole hell no I don't want your money.

 

[ciD_Vain]

A customer yelled at me in front of everyone saying I need to stop smiling so damn much.

 

[Temascos]

Not sure if this counts as retail but I used to work at a famous historical site on the outskirts of London which had a maze. People could buy tickets separately for the palace, gardens and maze or all together, just to give you an idea.

Bit of background about this maze, it's 400 years old and has largely remained the same in layout.

Middle-aged woman comes in after a look around at the maze, face red with absolute fury, and yelled at me and my colleague "THIS MAZE USED TO BE SQUARE!"

"But it hasn't changed in 400 years, I assure..." by that time she already walked away.