REPEAT CUSTOMER
The worst part about working a customer service job is the customers that you have to serve. Many waiters and waitresses are young people working their way through school.
While they don’t get paid much, they have to deal with some truly rude and incredibly impolite people. Thankfully, their stories serve as reminders that sometimes people get what is coming to them!
GOING THE EXTRA MILE
I had a repeat customer who started watching me for hours at a time as I worked. He walked over to me one day, told me how beautiful I was, and asked about my love life.
I decided to transfer to another store when he started asking me to come over to his place for the weekend because he would be alone. When he found out I was leaving, he did something I’ll never forget—he grabbed my hair and started to cry. Reddit User: mmenomena
WHERE IS MY SECOND DRINK?
When I was a server, I was that server that everyone claims they would always be if they did one day become a server in a restaurant. I filled up glasses when they needed to be refilled without asking, I brought out a bowl of lemons if you asked for lemons.
If you wanted extra ice, you got a whole extra glass full of ice. Heck, I was even careful enough to write down every order even though I could easily memorize it and get it right.
One particularly busy night, I’m working a party of about 20 people. It’s a Friday night and the kitchen is slammed. Everything was going smooth, I thought—until I bring out the drinks and salads.
There is one idiot that starts off saying I didn’t bring her anything right (wrong dressing, drink had a lemon, too much ice, etc.). I play the gracious and apologetic server correcting the issue despite knowing she is wrong.
The meal comes out. It goes from bad to worse. She explodes about how I can’t seem to do anything right and what a screw up I am. I proceed to congratulate her on the fine example she is setting for the kids at the table on how to treat another human being, and what classy language she was using.
I then proceeded to show her where I wrote down everything she asked for. The type of salad, the dressing she wanted, how she wanted it on the side, pulled the straw I gave her from under her bread plate and told her that I did give her one.
I also talked about how I heard when her sister had ordered another dish, that she told her sister that she wanted that dish instead, and advised that she maybe should have simply asked for me to change the order instead of trying to play it off as if I was truly a “screw up” as she claimed.
I said maybe next time she would do a better job of making sure the server was not in earshot when she says something like that. I then told her that I would go and have the kitchen fix the meal she really wanted, instead of the one she ordered, and that it would take about 10 minutes before it was ready.
Needless to say, the whole table was quiet. Then came the most glorious moment. Her father piped up and simply said, “Honey, It’s about time someone called you out on your antics.” The old man gave me a $100.00 tip when he paid for the meal, strong handshake, and a thanks. Reddit User: TheLastBoyScout
SHOE SWAP
I was working at a popular Italian “fine dining” chain. We opened at 11 AM, but I was scheduled for 10:30 AM to do opening duties. Two middle-aged women were at the doors at 10:45 AM.
I prepared myself for two crazy Karens—but they were so much worse than I feared. We let them in because it wasn’t a big deal. However, they both ordered drinks, and our bartender didn’t get there until 11 AM.
I let them know, and they seemed ok with it. I dropped off a couple of waters while they waited for their drinks. The one woman said, “That’s great, honey, but that’s NOT what I wanted! HAHA!” They smiled, and it was clear she was just trying to make a bad joke.
I told them again that it was only 10:55 AM, and the bartender was not in yet. They told me to make the drinks. I couldn’t because of corporate rules, so I asked my manager to make the drinks. While he did that, I took their food orders.
By 11:05 AM, they had their appetizers and beverages and said, “UGH was that so HARD? FINALLY!” Other guests, including young families, began to arrive and sit in my section. They ate half the calamari appetizer and decided it was undercooked.
I asked the kitchen to drop new calamari in and cook it a minute longer than typical. That ruined the calamari. They hated it and said, “I’m not eating this garbage!” and I asked the manager to take it off their check.
They were taking up a lot of my time and asking for many little things. I went to take care of some other tables. But I wasn’t the only one who hated them. The customers at the other tables asked if I was ok and requested that the women stop swearing so much in front of their children.
When I reminded the women that they were in a family restaurant, they replied, “Blah blah blah free country. Oh, I want another DRINK!” I put the order in. Their meals were up right at that moment, so I returned within a minute to drop their food off.
They yelled, “WHERE IS MY SECOND DRINK?!?! HELLO!?!” Now they were banging their half-empty glasses on the table. They continued to yell at me to the point where I started to cry while still trying to take care of my other tables, which posed no problems.
I asked my manager to take over the rude folks and to let them know they were cut off. He tore them a new one in the way only managers are allowed to. They got upset they couldn’t order more drinks and asked for the check and left.
They barely left enough cash to cover the bill, but one came back and asked if she left enough of a tip. I said, “No. You left me a 2% tip.” She gave me five more dollars and, luckily, I never saw them again. Reddit User: iamsavsavage
NOT HOT ENOUGH
I work in a shoe shop. One of the services we supply is to check how well school shoes fit on our younger customers. Once a staff member has signed to say they are a good fit, the customer is able to bring them back if there are any problems.
This one time, a mother came back in with her son a week after being fitted with a pair, loudly mouthing off that the shoes were too tight and causing blisters. Even though she was being a psycho about it, we offered to get her a new pair.
Once back in the kids department, she spotted the girl who fitted the original shoes and went crazy at her, demanding that the girl should be there while a better pair was fitted so she wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
Despite the mom saying some pretty degrading stuff about her, the girl agreed to sit in on the re-fit in an attempt to help out. She remembered the customer, even to the point of remembering the child’s name, and was visibly upset about doing a bad job.
Returning to the till, the fitter offered to put the exchange through as a final gesture of goodwill. She then froze, realization dawning on her. “These aren’t your son’s shoes,” she said to the customer.
They have a name tag inside saying Tommy, and your son’s name is Billy. Turns out the kid had swapped his shoes with another boy in his class. Laughed that witch out of the shop. Reddit User: Jimbobthewonderkid
I WANT A NEW CAMERA
I was working at a restaurant when a nice-looking family of four came in. The parents ordered a sizzling fajita plate for two. When I brought out the fajitas on the skillet, they were sizzling like they are supposed to be. That wasn’t hot enough for them.
They asked me to go back and make them hotter. So, I took it back to the kitchen where the kitchen manager decided to pull out a blow torch. He heated the iron skillet up to burning red, then threw the fajitas back on the skillet and sent me back out with them to the table.
The father at the table was not very pleased with the profuse amounts of smoke billowing from the plate, and his next move was absolutely appalling—he decided to throw the thing at me.
Luckily he had bad aim and missed me. He just broke a window. The manager got his information, told him to get out, and we would be contacting him about replacing the window he broke. Reddit User: crooks23
THAT’S ONE WAY TO GET A GOOD TIP
I used to work in Best Buy services. It was sort of like Geek Squad before Geek Squad and it dealt with everything like TVs and VCRs and junk. One day we had a guy come in and complain about his little video camera not working.
I agree to take a look at it even though there’s not much I can do but send it back to the manufacturer for him. It will take some time, but that was 90% of the problem people had with services.
Naturally, this guy wants a new one on the spot and he starts getting REALLY loud about it. So I call the manager. While I’m waiting for them to come up, I’m still tinkering with the camera in the back.
I get some tools out and, hey, look I got the thing open for the guy. When I saw what was on it, I knew we had him. A minute or so later I come back out when the manager gets there.
The manager is talking to the guy as I move a computer up to the counter. I jump in and say, “Hey, I don’t think we should give this guy a new unit.” The guy gives me dagger eyes and the manager is like, “Oh? why’s that?”
Then I play the footage of what is unmistakably someone running around a pool, dropping the camera, which tumbles into the pool. He had taken out the tape but it was recorded to the memory stick. Guy takes his camera and quietly leaves the store. Reddit User: barron42
YOU’RE NOT GONNA FIND IT HERE
I worked at a restaurant with my mom. I got the job when I was 18, and my mom had been working there for 25 years. She worked her way up from waiting tables to bartending and had been bartending for years by then.
The first summer I worked there as a server, it was a typical, busy summer night. My mom and I had been there all day. We had both been working double shifts, and it was coming close to 6 PM. The restaurant was set up with a bar side and a dining room side.
I was in the dining room with two other servers; one was an older lady. I remember hearing a horrible scream. The older lady ended up slipping and falling right in front of the kitchen to the door. She shattered her elbow and her knee.
She couldn’t move, so at that point, we were all waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Dishes were stacking up, and no food was going out of the kitchen because none of us could get in.
My manager that night had to take over all the tables from the server who fell had. Just before the server fell, I had a new table seated. Apparently, the host informed me she saw the couple practically fist fighting in the parking lot before they came in.
I greeted the table, and they seemed okay. They both ordered drinks, and I brought them promptly. They ordered their food and ended up getting FOUR entrees for the both of them. They were all expensive seafood dishes, and at that point, their check was over $100.
A couple of minutes after I put the food order in is when the other server slipped and fell. Therefore, the food for my table was taking a little longer. The food finally came, and my mom just happened to help me run it over.
We put it down, and the woman goes, “FINALLY.” We explained that an older server fell in the kitchen and had significant injuries. There’s no WAY they didn’t hear it. Then the man then said, “WELL, THAT’S JUST GREAT.”
The woman started manhandling the lobster roll she got, complaining it was cold. I told her we could get her another one right away and asked if they needed anything else. The lady said, “Well, now I NEED another drink!”
My mom was bartending and I had about five other tables going. So, my mom made the drinks and brought them to the table. The woman at the table said to her, “Oh, well, you’re really good at your job.”
My mom told her she had been there for 25 years, to which the woman responded, “Oh, so you have to pick up the slack for all the others?” My mom said, “No, we are a team and all help each other. Plus, your server is my daughter.”
The woman was looking to get a reaction, so she said the meanest thing possible: “Oh well, I’m really sorry about that.” Being a calm and collected person, my mom just said, “Well, I’m not. My daughter is pretty great.”
The woman lost her mind and began screaming and cursing at my mother at the top of her lungs in the middle of the dining room. The man at the table got up in the middle of the interaction and just went outside.
My manager ended up having to comp all of their food. Other tables that weren’t even mine were coming over to me and apologizing because they had seen what happened. They even overtipped me because they felt bad about what went down. Reddit User: emtc29
THE BEST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL
I used to work at an office that had an obnoxious guy come in. We openly advertise that we offer free water and coffee/tea to our customers, as we have a huge fridge at the reception and a coffee machine just behind it. He walked in demanding to speak with the most senior person. Unfortunately, that was me.
He sat down, and I came over to introduce myself. He straightaway handed me his coat to hang up without even saying anything. That was his first strike. Then, as I went to go behind the reception desk to hang up his jacket, I heard a whistle.
I didn’t think too much of it as I was trying to make room for his coat. Then I heard it again, along with a click of his fingers. I turned around and saw this guy beckoning me over, and now he had my attention. He said, “Oh, and I wouldn’t mind a cappuccino while you’re up.”
I stormed over, gave him back his coat, and ushered him out the front door. He demanded to know what was going on, so I told him, “If you are looking for your dog, you ain’t gonna find it here.”
The look on his face was priceless. The complaint that came in afterward was hilarious, and my telling him off was completely worth it. Reddit User: tatdiddymac
REFUSING TO SERVE
During high school, I worked at a Burger King. There was this one woman who would always come into drive thru during the afternoon and ask for a Whopper Jr with extra onions. And I mean, a LOT of extra onions. And no matter how many we put in, she always came into the store and complained that there weren’t enough.
Still, this was in the middle of the afternoon, so we didn’t care. However, one day, we had four buses full of US Army enlistees at the store at the same time. Convoys of chartered buses would go by periodically, and they usually stopped at our store because the bus drivers knew my boss.
Now, these people were always the nicest, most respectful people you can possibly imagine, which was a welcome change after dealing with jerks the whole day. They also always ordered a ton of food—all king-size, tons of double and triple whoppers, the whole nine yards.
My boss would always have me give them the “senior discount” (15% off), and they enjoyed that immensely, because it said that they were getting a senior discount on their receipts.
Now remember, the store is completely full of US Army enlistees. They probably have not had fast food for weeks (I think they were going from boot camp to get their first assignments).
Anyways, nice as they were, they strained our store to the limit because they ordered so much food. So we were almost literally going hammer and tongs to keep up, and then the worst happens. Onion woman comes into drive thru.
My boss told me to just grab two handfuls of onions and put them on the sandwich, because she didn’t need a scene when we were as far behind as we were. I could barely close the burger because of the onions, but I managed it and we gave it to her.
Now remember, the store is completely full of US Army enlistees. They probably have not had fast food for weeks (I think they were going from boot camp to get their first assignments). And the line was out the door.
So onion woman pushes her way past all of these people, rudely shoving them out of her way, and comes up to the counter screaming that she didn’t have enough onions. My boss is angry, so she takes the sandwich, hands it to me, and tells me to do whatever I want with it.
I knew just what to do. I dumped the ENTIRE TUB of onions on this (probably about 1.5 LITERS of onions), and wrapped it up really, REALLY tight, and taped it shut (Note that the wrappers were somewhat elastic…).
My boss hands it to the woman, and she opens it right on the counter to “make sure we have enough” even though it’s like six times bigger than normal. The thing EXPLODED ALL OVER. SO freaking awesome.
All the guys trying not to laugh. One of their officers (a quite young 1st Lt.) was waiting by the counter for his food, and finally he just gave up and started laughing his butt off. The men took this as a cue, and she had about 250 men dying laughing at her.
One of the best days of my high school life. She didn’t come back for a month, and she never, EVER complained about not having enough onions. Reddit User: elmonstro12345
13-HOUR SHIFT
When I was bartending one night, I had two people come in who seemed a little loose but not so much that I shouldn’t serve them. I gave them a round or two, and they were having fun and interacting well with customers—until they weren’t.
They started crossing the line, so the time came to cut them off. I apologized and had to let them know that I couldn’t serve them anymore because they were being disruptive and were obviously very loaded.
At that point, one of the two started yelling at me for refusing to serve her. It got so bad that the customers around her began to defend my choice. She then started throwing a tantrum at them, as well as my manager after that.
And, somehow, she wasn’t even the worst one! Her friend had meanwhile retreated to the bathroom and set fire to one of the wicker baskets that we used as a trash can. Reddit User: Popolopagus
ACCIDENTAL TIP
I worked a 13-hour shift catering to more than 6,000 people—all bankers and their families. Towards the end of my shift, I was going around collecting all the glasses from the tables. I reached forward and picked up the glass sitting in front of an unhappy-looking granny figure.
Her head snapped up, and she started shouting that she hadn’t finished her drink. When I offered it back to her, she complained that I had touched it with my fingers, so I offered to get her another glass of red.
She agreed. So I brought it over and set it down in front of her, smiling amicably. But no smile could appease her—she started shouting again, this time that I had taken too long to get her drink and that she wanted to talk to my supervisor.
I walked around to look for one, but they were all busy working. Hence, I came back and told her that they would come and see her as soon as they could. Without a word of warning, the old woman threw the contents of her glass at me. Reddit User: [deleted]
NOT EVEN A THANK YOU
I was waitressing at a bar in Philly. I had a couple of patrons extremely upset with me because they didn’t eat their wings fast enough after they came out, so some were cold by the time they got to them.
Wings were $0.50 that night. They demanded a refund for this inconvenience, which I obviously told them, unfortunately, I could not provide them with. But karma got them in the end.
They accidentally tipped me. I found $5 on the table after they had left, so I took it. They came back looking for it. I never felt an ounce of guilt for not helping them search for it. Reddit User: honeyfiddle
BANNED FOR A WEEK
I was waiting on a couple at the steak restaurant where I worked. Suddenly, the man stood up and held his throat. He was obviously choking. He started turning different colors and was in need of help.
I began giving him the Heimlich maneuver, and after several tries, some steak popped out and the man could breathe again. It was a big spectacle. The customers and wait staff were shaken for a couple of minutes. Without even saying thank you, the wife of the choking man asked me to box up the uneaten portion of their meals.
But it gets worse—there was a crust of Texas toast left on the plate that I didn’t remember to include in their to-go box. The woman yelled at me for not including it and did not leave a tip. Reddit User: [deleted]
ARE YOU GUYS DONE YET?
I was working in an indie model/wargame/TCG shop. A group of kids around 13 years old turn up after school to play Yu-Gi-Oh inside. As their game drags on, one kid asks us where the toilets are.
We direct him to the bus station, but he complains about the 30-second walk. He remains playing. Suddenly, we hear laughter from this kid and a pool of moisture forming down his trouser leg and onto our carpet.
My boss and I stare in utter disbelief as this kid shakes his leg, and remains playing his card game. Boss goes crazy and forces the kid to clean the carpet before banning him for a week. Kid returns next week to the nickname Wazzers. Reddit User: wrongrabbit
THEY’RE JUST WIRED BETTER
I worked at a popular restaurant. During dinner service, we usually had 30-40 minute long wait times. People were told about this by the hosts. There was this lady who got fed up with the wait after 10 minutes.
She stormed into the restaurant, stood next to a table of four people, and literally asked them, “Are you guys done? We’ve been waiting for a long time now and would like to have the table if you guys are just chatting.” Reddit User: daofuu
10 ITEMS OR LESS
I used to fix computers for faculty members at my local university. One day, I went to the Women’s Studies department to fix some minor hardware issues.
The female professor I encountered actually asked me, “Is there maybe a guy that can come instead? Nothing personal; they’re just wired better for this kind of work.” I returned to my office and sent the least competent guy that we had. Reddit User: kesi
YOU’RE NOT BUYING ANYTHING TODAY
I used to work at Home Depot over the summer as a cashier. The very best was the woman who came up to my line with a cart that had only a single small box of nails. Odd, I thought, but maybe she just didn’t find what she needed the cart for.
So I ring her up and she says, “Well what about the rest of my order? I need 800 lbs of Quickcrete, 50 10′ 2x4s, ten 8′ 4x4s…” She starts reading off all of the ingredients she needs to make a massive deck, or a dock, or something.
She then asks me sweetly if I’ll help her get them while she waits in line, holding up the 10 people behind her while I pull an entire back yard’s worth of lumber and concrete out for her.
I told her we couldn’t do that, and gave her the number to call to have her order pulled. She freaked out. Spent about 20 minutes screaming at me, even after I called the head cashier and had him handle her.
See, she would run over to my lane while I was with other customers to tell me how “unprofessional” I was being, and that this is why everyone goes to Lowe’s nowadays, because there they care about the customer. Reddit User: ANewMachine615
100% SERIOUS
I work at Best Buy in the warehouse, and we cover breaks for the guys working the cameras up front. A co-worker was covering a break when this guy came up to one of the front lane registers. There was a bit of a line and we only had two lanes open. One of the front lane guys is handicapped.
It doesn’t affect his job, it just takes him longer to walk around. The customer finally made his way to the front of the line and paid with a credit card. The front lane rep needed to see the last 4 digits of the credit card and asked to see his card “real quick.”
The customer FLIPPED OUT. He said, “Oh NOW you want to do something real quick.” Then he muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear: “I should have known not to get in the short bus line.”
My co-worker who was observing the cameras saw everything and was not very happy. He walked up to the customer, grabbed all his merchandise, and said, “Nope, you’re not buying anything today. You can leave.” Never been so proud of him. Reddit User: WolfpackVolunteer
NO ONE DESERVES TO BE TALKED TO LIKE THAT
I was working at the Olive Garden when I had a guest ask me if a particular entree was good or not. I replied that the dish was amazing and one of my favorites on the menu and told them, “Honestly, if you don’t like it, I will pay for it.”
He happily agreed to order it, and later, when I walked past his table, I noticed his plate was completely empty. I asked him how he liked the dish, and he replied he hated it and demanded I uphold my promise from earlier to pay for it. I laughed, thinking he was joking but soon realized he was 100% serious. Reddit User: vandykejk
YOU DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO CALL
I was around 18 years old and working in the lumber department at a home improvement chain. I was on the second story rack, standing on the forklift forks and trying to handle a solid-core front door, which was extremely heavy, out of the shelf to bring down to the floor for a customer.
I had it halfway out of the rack, precariously maneuvering it onto the forks when a little old lady walked up. She asked sweetly, “Excuse me, sir! Can you point me to the plumbing section?”
I replied, grunting, because the door was heavy, “One moment, ma’am. Let me get this door down, and I’ll show you.” Her response took me by complete surprise: “You idiots never have a product labeled right! I’m tired of this store’s garbage! Way too expensive, too!”
I froze, staring at her with my mouth agape. The original customer I was helping actually put his hands over his son’s ears. She was Jekyll and Hyde personified. Luckily, right when the old biddy started her rant, my manager happened to walk by.
He stopped, walked right up to the lady, and said, “I don’t care who you are, but no one deserves to be talked to like that. Leave the store NOW.” It was perfect timing. Reddit User: wjp3
IS THAT A THREAT OR A PROMISE?
One of my favorite stories from my brief time in customer service was when a man who called up the night after a minor hurricane started screaming that his service didn’t work.
He said that he had complained multiple times and this was the last straw. Clearly our service sucked, and it was our fault his cable was out. He kept cutting me off and calling me rude names. But I had the perfect response.
Finally, I just interjected: Sir, your cable isn’t out because of an issue with our service, your cable is out because a tree branch fell across the cable line. What’s that? How do I know? Because I saw the branch fall.
I’m the one who went out in the rain last night to get the branch out of the street. In fact, I know you know it’s a branch, because I could see you looking out your window at me moving the branch that fell on your property.
Not only that, but when I was done, I went inside and called into work on my day off to arrange a bucket truck to come out and rerun the cable so you could beat the rush of calls that came in all across the island due to the storm. You didn’t even have to call. A truck is already on route. Well, that shut him up. Reddit User: DesCo83
TOO SHOCKED TO SPEAK
When I worked in Domino’s, I had a guy throw a handful of pennies at me while laughing. The 30 odd cents was apparently my tip. He got mad when I turned around and walked away without picking any of them up.
But throwing the pennies wasn’t even the bad part. What he said next made me facepalm. “Oh, my money is not good enough for you? Fine, I’ll never order Domino’s again!” Reddit User: sixesand7s
NEVER SAW HER AGAIN
The cash register where we entered the food orders was situated about ten feet away from the bathroom. As I was entering someone’s order, this dude walked out of the bathroom, came up to me, and he did the most disgusting thing—he started wiping his hands on my arm.
“You’re out of paper towels,” he said and walked out of the restaurant. I was so shocked I couldn’t even say anything before he was gone. Reddit User: [deleted]
I’LL HAVE MY USUAL
I used to work for a grocery store in high school as a cashier. One busy Saturday, an older lady came through my long line with about $150 worth of groceries. Among her items was a prepackaged piece of meat from our deli department that is normally priced by weight.
Her meat did not have a printed sticker on the package and I would’ve needed to find a bag boy or manager to run to the deli to get it priced. Because we were super busy, I decided to wing it, and set it on my scale.
“Looks like it’s almost a pound, so…let’s say…$2.77? Does that sound fair?” I began to ring it as a miscellaneous item. Her answer sent a shiver through my spine. “No it does NOT sound fair!” she yelled in a screeching voice. “You need to get that priced!”
Groans from the line began behind her, as I found a bag boy to run to get the price sticker. A manager came by to see what the commotion was about and the lady explained the situation. I explained why I had made the decision I made.
The manager of course stuck up for the lady (which we laughed about later) and she accepted the apology. We then waited for what seemed like an eternity of eye-contact avoidance and thumb twiddling.
The bag boy came back and handed me the pork. I smirked and showed her the price. “$2.78. Huh, I would’ve saved you a penny!” The man behind her chortled. Never saw her again. Reddit User: rva_monsta
AN AWESOME SHOW OF STRENGTH
I used to work at a Starbucks right next to a Walmart. One of the Walmart employees would come in for lunch every day. She was in her 60s and was very strange and very demanding. She always ordered a spinach feta wrap on a plate with cutlery and a tall hot coffee with room for cream.
When I would see her, I would say hi and then say her order, and she would reply, “Yes, that’s right.” Then while I would type it in, she would repeat it very sternly. Then, while I would put it in the oven and get the plate ready, she would tell me again very sternly.
She would repeat her order a few times despite me displaying that I knew what it was. She was always angry and scoffing during the process. The next part of her ritual was somehow even MORE annoying. She would go find a table and rearrange the furniture VERY loudly.
She would drag the metal bottom of a table across the polished concrete floor. Then drag the wood chairs across it as well. Even some customers would offer to help her move them, but she always insisted that she could do it.
So for a solid five minutes every day, everyone in the store just had to listen to thunderous sounds. Next, she would go get her coffee ready at the little bar and make a HUGE mess. She always pulled out a bunch of sugar packets and spilled them everywhere.
Then she would take a load of napkins and come back to the counter without cleaning her mess. She would squeeze in front of whoever was currently being helped and say that we were out of napkins.
Then, she would go have her food and drink, leave the plate and cup there, go into the bathroom and throw all of the napkins on the floor, along with some paper towels as well. We always had to have someone go clean up after her.
She would go back to work and return later. When she returned, she would always complain that she had left her stuff on a table and that it was now gone. We explained that we had cleaned it up and that she could not reserve a table for herself.
She would be furious and demand a free coffee, which she automatically got anyway with her first order. So, I would give her a free refill and she would drag the tables and make a huge mess for us to clean up all over again. Reddit User: ittaltree
PROMOTING IMMORALITY
I was the sales manager at an electronics retail store. I was helping out on the sales floor when a young couple came in. The guy was probably about 6’5” and built. They were looking for a new computer, so we started talking about what they were going to use it for.
The guy excused himself to use the restroom, and I kept talking to his wife. Then, a young guy in a business suit came up behind me while I was still talking, grabbed my shoulder, and said, “Excuse me, I need your help. Do you have ‘Software X’ in stock?”
I told him that I didn’t think we did, but that I was in the middle of helping another customer and that he could go check upfront if he was in a hurry. I turned back and continued speaking with the lady I was helping.
About two minutes later, I felt a shock through my body. I felt someone grab my arm from behind me, twist it and start pulling me backward. The lady I was helping had a horrified look on her face as I got dragged away.
I finally spun myself around and realized it was the guy in the business suit dragging me over. He then grabbed the back of my neck, pushed it forward, and said, “See? You have the software in stock, and it’s right there. I want your manager and I want you fired.”
I was too dumbfounded to speak for a second. Meanwhile, I saw the husband of the lady I had been helping return from the bathroom. He dashed towards me and the customer who had me by the back of the neck.
He grabbed the guy in the business suit by both arms and whipped him around and against the wall. He put one of his massive hands on the guy’s shoulder and pinned him against the wall so he couldn’t move, and with his other hand, he pulled out his badge. It was pretty awesome. Reddit User: smithysmitherson
I CAN’T DO MUCH, BUT HE CAN
I owned a bed and breakfast in a little southern town. It was a small business — just three rooms in an old farmhouse that was built in 1835. During the off-season, which was late fall through mid-spring, we would give away three-day packages for charity events, such as auctions.
We were never in charge of the money that was collected. A man and his wife booked for a weekend in late March. They showed up on Friday afternoon with their gift certificate from the charity auction, which we gladly accepted.
I greeted them as Mr. and Mrs., to which the guy responded, “It’s PASTOR.” I proceeded to show them their room, inform them of our policies, and explain that there was going to be another couple arriving that evening.
The next morning, I served both couples breakfast, and after the other couple left, the pastor said to me, “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have more than one couple here at a time. Why did you schedule us both?”
I told him that we were just like a hotel and it couldn’t be expected that we should only take one room at a time. He didn’t like that answer, not one bit. He said he found out the other couple was not married, and he was bothered by the idea that we would promote “immorality.” It got worse.
We had a huge farm with wonderful little gardens and nice spots to sit and enjoy the country. I walked out to the grounds and found the pastor, sitting on a plastic folding chair, right in front of the entrance to the farmhouse. I wondered about it, but I didn’t say anything.
Later that night, the lady of the other couple came to my door and told me that they were leaving because the pastor had blocked their entrance to the house and began to preach to them about being immoral. I apologized and offered her almost everything I could think of to have her stay.
She was lovely and told me that she knew it wasn’t my fault, but that their weekend was ruined. The following day, I was getting breakfast ready, and I saw the pastor putting his luggage in their car. They had another night left, so I was kind of confused.
I walked out the driveway, and I said, “I think maybe there is a miscommunication; you have another night.” He said, “Your air conditioning is broken, so we are leaving.” I told him that I could check on it since it might just not have been on.
It was still cool out, and, in fact, the heat might have been on. He looked at me and said, “No, it was too hot last night, and YOU should have known that. I want my money back!” For SOME reason, I was still trying to keep the whole thing friendly.
I explained to him that I didn’t receive any money from him, that the certificate he used was from a charity auction, so I am not even sure what he paid, to which he responded, “Well, I paid $110, and I didn’t pay that to sleep in a hot room next to sinners, so you better write a check.”
I told him that I would not be issuing a check since ONE night at our regular rate is $100. Therefore, his nightly rate was less than a third of that, and I didn’t receive any of that money. I walked back inside and began to shut down, making breakfast.
About five minutes later, he came back to the door and he caught me completely off-guard. He said, “We’ll be taking our breakfast and my check now.” I explained that I would be happy to put his breakfast in a box, but I was not giving him any money.
They left, and there was a letter in his room to me, telling me that he was going to call his lawyer. Two weeks later, I got a package in the mail with their name on the return address. I was both scared and intrigued to open it.
It was a letter from his wife, whom I didn’t hear more than two words from during their trip. She apologized for her husband’s behavior. She told me she knew I had not done anything wrong, that the room was charming, there was no issue with the heat.
She said that since her husband had become a born-again Christian and an online minister, he had become a complete terror. She included $200 in cash and asked that I not contact her since she was trying to get officially separated from him. Reddit User: papillon24
BROKEN GLASS ON THE BAR
I was working at a gas station in a very rich part of town. During a nice summer day, a prime example of the douchebag variety of the human species drove his super-expensive Lamborghini in and, in that haughty, I’m-rich-so-you-must-do-what-I-say voice, demanded that it be filled with premium.
Which the attendant started to do, only the guy immediately snatched the nozzle from him and screamed that “you’re too stupid to do this on your own.”
We’re in Oregon, by the way, where you can’t pump your own gas because of state fire laws. Well, being that he’s a douchebag and an idiot, gas spills out from the nozzle all over his sparkly douche-mobile. At this point, he truly flips out.
He storms into the store, where I’m working as the cashier and de facto manager. He immediately demands to speak to the owner, and that we are going to pay to have his car repainted AND he’s not going to be paying for his gas.
I try my best to calm the situation, but he’s got a good rage going and doesn’t want to be calmed down. While he’s spewing forth, I notice that an officer from the local department is about to come into the store to get snacks or a drink or some such.
This gives me a nice idea. “Sir, I’m afraid that the gas is in your tank and you pumped it yourself, so you are going to have to pay.” Cutscene of an explosion. Douchebag then asks, “So what, exactly, do you think you can do if I just go and get in my car and leave?”
Thank you, good Lord, for timing. He says this, at full bellow, right as the officer walks through the door. My response? “Well, personally I can’t do much, but the nice officer standing behind you will probably be able to do something.”
Douchebag turns around to see the officer, with a very predatory smile on his face, nodding vigorously. Yeah, he shut up, paid, and we never saw him again.Reddit User: Orsiris32
TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE
I was working at a busy bar in a major city. There was one guy who wouldn’t stop pounding his empty glass on the bar, rolling his eyes, and yelling, “I’M EMPTY OVER HERE.” It was 11 PM on a Saturday night, and the bar was packed, with a line around the block. I told him I would get to him as quickly as I could.
About 20 seconds later, I heard him slam his glass on the bar, AGAIN. I leaned over to tell him if he couldn’t stop mistreating my glassware, I was going to give him a plastic cup. The man proceeded to spit in my face.
I was honestly shocked. But don’t worry, he got what he deserved. One of my regulars grabbed him by the back of his head and slammed his face into the bar. A melee broke out, and at least 20 of my glasses ended up broken. Reddit User: SFT
PUT IN AN AWKWARD SITUATION
One day I was making drinks at the cafe I worked at. A coworker was at the register. We were swamped, so she missed writing down the specific instructions for one of the orders. All I knew was that the customer wanted a small black tea. So I made it and called it out.
The lady very rudely told me she wanted it in two cups. So, I split it up and put it on the counter. She then said she asked for extra hot water in both cups and told me I was terrible at listening to directions.
She was basically asking for two teas for the price of one. I didn’t have time to argue, so I just did it, and put it back on the counter. But she had more crazy left in her. She then spilled it on her hand while picking it up.
She yelled, “Ow!! Why did you do that?” as if I handed it to her myself and intentionally poured it o
n her. She then proceeded to go on a rant about how she would sue, and I would lose my job.
I was so mad that I started crying. I guess that made her feel bad because she returned after she finished her tea to tell me her hand was okay, so there was no need for any recourse.
She was an insane piece of work that I had to deal with a handful of times. Her brother, who came in with her, would often apologize on her behalf. Reddit User: graceful-monkey
I’LL FIND BETTER SERVICE ELSEWHERE
I worked at a laser tag center in an indoor amusement park. If we weren’t busy, customers could start a 15-minute session right away. But if we were busy, customers would have to leave their names on a list, and I would tell them when their session would start.
I would call it on the loudspeaker five minutes before it would be scheduled. It was a Saturday mid-day, and the place was packed. A woman had a day-care group of at least 20 kids, and she was the only one watching them.
She put her party’s name on the list. I told her when their session would start. The time came, and she and only about five of the kids showed up. She told me to wait for the rest of the kids to get there. This put me in an awkward situation.
Twenty minutes passed, and the next group was waiting to play. Another ten minutes passed, and there were fewer of the woman’s children there than there were before. I let the next group in and told her that her group would be the first ones in once they were all together.
My manager interrupted the game I was attending to send me home. The woman screamed at me, saying I was discriminating against her. I quit after that. Reddit User: squidwalk
BUY ONE GET ONE
I worked at a photo printing lab, and we got people in all the time who claimed we were stupid and had messed up their pictures. One woman had us print 800 vacation pictures. They were bad quality, dark, and out of focus. Basically a nightmare to work with. But that wasn’t all.
When she came to pick them up, she insisted that we had ruined them, that they were perfect in her camera, and that she had a very expensive camera and so there was no way the pictures could be dark or out of focus.
We finally gave her her money back, even though we had done nothing wrong and were out a lot of time and paper. She called us 30 minutes later and told us she was at a store across town, and they had reprinted all of her pictures and they were beautiful, in focus, and nice and bright.
I had to tell her that the same person who owned our store also owned the store across town, and that not only would it have taken that store several hours to reprint 800 pictures, but their printer was down that day, so they couldn’t have printed anything. She hung up on me. Reddit User: laidymondegreen
SENIOR DISCOUNT
At the pizza shop where I worked, we used to do a “buy one large get one free” deal on Tuesdays. This deal was stackable, so it was always hectic. One week, the deal changed to “any large pie for $15.” They were generally between $20 and $24.
One woman was irate, yelling about how we would lose so much business by not giving out the free pizza. She said she knew people who couldn’t afford meals but come to us on Tuesdays and that she will now never come back. I smiled, because I knew exactly what was coming. She came back the next week and even pre-ordered. Reddit User: NiceTyrant
THE KIDS WERE MORE POLITE THAN THEIR PARENTS
I worked in a restaurant that was in a 55+ community. During our busiest night of the week, Thursday night karaoke, I was bussing tables. I was trying to get all the empty glasses because the bar desperately needed them.
When I grabbed a clearly empty glass from in front of a woman, she pierced my hand with a fork. It drew blood. She yelled, “I’m not done with that!” Mind you, the only thing left in this glass was a droplet at the bottom that had dried up. Reddit User: captain_longbeard
MY HEART SKIPPED A BEAT
In high school, I worked as a waitress at a pizza place. The manager would hire mentally challenged people to wash dishes and bus tables during the weekends. One weekend, we were swamped, and things were getting a bit crazy. A woman with four or five kids was sitting close to the waitress station.
It wasn’t my table, but I could tell she looked angry. One of the mentally challenged workers was busing tables and walked by her. The woman grabbed the worker’s arm and swung her around. She yelled at her for not bringing out the appetizer or something.
I walked over to the woman, told her that the woman was not one of the wait staff members, and asked what I could get for her. Her reaction shocked me. She then got out of her chair, called the worker a name, and walked off. I was speechless. I felt horrible.
I don’t think the woman knew what she had just said. Then one of the woman’s children told me, “Sorry about my mommy. She is mean.” I told her, “It’s not your fault,” and patted her on the head.
The woman came back, grabbed her kids and coat, and left. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to tell the woman that her daughter was more grown-up than she was. Reddit User: indseymoo
THE OWNER WOULD NEVER STAND FOR THIS!
I was working at McDonald’s, and during one of my first days there, an old man and his granddaughter came through my line. He wanted a Big Mac without this and with extra that. I was just learning the register, so I had him repeat the order several times.
I apologized constantly and I could feel the sweat gathering at my brow. He started mumbling, “Idiot,” and, “What a bunch of morons they have working here,” as I fumbled for the right keys. He finally got his sandwich, and they went to eat.
A while later, the granddaughter appeared in my line, and my heart skipped a beat because I thought I would have to deal with her grandpa again. She said, “I wanted to apologize for my grandpa’s behavior.” It makes me mad that she felt responsible for the old man’s bad manners. Reddit User: scuppie
THE FOOD ISN’T AUTHENTIC
I used to work at a restaurant chain that started about 15 or 20 years back and has about 15 stores in total. People all the time would complain and release their vague threat “I know Tommy! (The owner, guy who started the chain) Do I have to call him to get some good service?”
It came from so many people, but we had to put up with it because that’s what you do in the restaurant business. But one time when this happened, Tommy was actually in the restaurant.
He would come in once every couple months or so and just act like a regular customer, just to kinda evaluate how things were running from a non-owner perspective (of course everything magically went smoother for him than any other customer, imagine that).
Anyway, this lady (that had been a total witch the entire night) starts complaining, talking about how her meal was cold or bad or whatever, even though she had powered through 4/5ths of it.
She wants her money back for this atrocity! And then she drops the bombshell. “I know Tommy! He wouldn’t stand for this!” The only thing was, Tommy was sitting almost directly behind her, and pretty obviously didn’t know her, and she didn’t recognize him.
After getting a bit of the old discreet “Go ahead” nod from him, I just said, “Ma’am, Tommy is in the restaurant right now. If you could just point him out I’d be glad to let him know what you think of his restaurants.”
She stammered, gave the, “No he’s not, I would’ve seen him!” until the owner stood up and said hello. He put on the kind of sickly sweet personality, where you’re ever so polite but a total dick at the same time. She shut up and paid pretty quickly after that. Reddit User: PoonGnarfler
SUSPENDED FOR TWO WEEKS
I worked at a local Italian restaurant, and one night, I had a couple that came in, seated themselves, then demanded their menus. I was leery. When I came over, the man told me how he was from Italy, and he had already noticed that the carbonara wasn’t made like REAL carbonara.
Apparently, authentic carbonara has four types of cheeses on it. Cue my eye roll—but he was just getting started. He made me check with the kitchen to see if they could make it the real way, which they couldn’t. However, he still decided to get it, knowing he wouldn’t like it.
At that point, I knew that I was going to get a lousy tip because he ordered something he wasn’t going to like. I got them their complimentary bread, and he complained that it wasn’t hot enough, so I had the chef pop it in the pizza oven.
The dude still wasn’t happy with it, so I had to wait for the kitchen to prepare fresh bread, and, in the end, he barely ate any of it. Without any surprise, he hated the carbonara, and he, of course, chewed me out over it.
He told me how disappointing he thought our restaurant was and how he would have to drive back home to Miami unhappy. I comped his bill, apologized, and told him I hoped the rest of his night went well. His wife sheepishly smiled at me, and they left no tip. Reddit User: Gingershred
THE MUSICIAN AND HIS ENTOURAGE
We were cleaning up after a wedding reception at our facility, and I had begun the cleaning process on our espresso machine. The party had been over for almost a half-hour. The cleaning process takes 12 minutes.
People were still milling about as the party slowly let out, and the bride’s father asked me for an espresso. Since we had a strict policy of always trying to satisfy a guest’s needs, I told him I could get it to him, but the machine was cleaning, and it would be done in about 10 minutes.
He began ranting about how much he paid for the wedding and stormed to our banquet managers. He told them I refused to make it for him. The manager started tearing into me.
I showed both of them that the machine was just finishing the cleaning process, and it was impossible to make it beforehand. I got suspended for two weeks. Reddit User: whomper13
HE GOT WHAT HE DESERVED
I was working as a valet and bellman for a lower-end hotel. One night, LL Cool J was playing at the club down the street and staying at the hotel for a night. I was working the mid-shift when he and his entourage returned in a limo.
One of the women from his group came up to me and explained that her husband was wasted. She told me that he would probably come down sometime later and try to drive. LL’s group had left, so I asked for her last name so I would know who he was if he came down.
She told me her last name and said that her husband was one of LL’s bodyguards. I said okay, figuring he wouldn’t come down. A few hours passed and I had nearly forgotten about it when the biggest man I had ever seen came stumbling through the lobby.
As soon as he opened the front doors, he screamed, “HEY, VALET.” He stumbled over and shoved his ticket in my face. He exclaimed he really needed his car, but I looked at his ticket to confirm that it was the right guy.
Not wanting to risk getting stomped into the ground by telling him that he was too trashed to drive, I took his keys and ran towards the parking lot. That’s when things started to get heated.
I looped back around through the bushes to a house phone on the side of the hotel and called security. I could see him through the bushes getting angry that it was taking so long. He started walking toward the valet lot, screaming, “VAAALET, HEY VAAALET!”
I looped back around and met him. I apologized and told him that I thought his car was in the other lot. He cursed at me and told me to give him the keys. I told him to wait and that I would have it right up.
He was having none of it and he came after me, missing my shirt by only a few inches and almost falling on his face. I ran toward the valet desk while he gave chase. Luckily, I was able to make it around the other side of the desk.
We then proceeded to play ring around the Rosie while he swatted at me across the desk with his five-foot-long arms. Finally, the head of security showed up alone, and his eyes popped out of his head when he saw what was going on.
He passed some code on the radio to call the authorities and managed to calm the guy down a little bit. The guy argued with security for a few minutes while lunging at me for his keys every so often.
Law enforcement finally came screaming in, and the guy bolted for the door and the elevators. The two officers were no match for the guy. He threw one of them to the ground while they tried to cuff him.
While the one man was down, the elevator door opened, and he got in while the other officer drew his taser. Four more officers showed up while the one with the taser yelled something at the guy in the elevator. He then lit him up, and then I heard a thud.
I saw the guy’s feet kicking out the end of the elevator. All the officers stormed in, cuffed him, and dragged him out. They struggled to carry him. While carried out to the cruiser, he saw me sitting at the valet desk with his keys still in hand and cursed at me as he was stuffed into the back seat. I just smiled at him until they drove away. Reddit User: reir
CAN WOMEN BE MANAGERS?
I was a thin, young woman working at a small beach restaurant when I was in college. I had a customer punch me in the chest because the restaurant was crowded. He said his dinner took too long to get to him.
I went down like a ton of bricks, dropped the tray of food I was carrying, and wiped out a whole table that some other family was sitting at. It happened so fast I didn’t know what was going on.
It was bad, but he got what he deserved back—several male customers charged the guy and threw him against a wall. He was taken into custody. Reddit User: DIGGYRULES
HOW COULD YOU WORK ON A SUNDAY?
A family of four came in, and the dad started slamming drinks. He probably had four or five before they got their appetizers. The couple was a little rough around the edges in general—loud, blunt, and without good manners.
The two daughters, who were about eight and ten, were quiet, though…**and I could quickly see why.**As the dad got more and more intoxicated, he was really touchy with the girls. He made them sit on his lap, etc. They were visibly uncomfortable. I felt so terrible for them.
I brought out one of the appetizer dishes, but the other one took a little longer to cook. I had alerted them of that when they ordered. The dad got angry, saying that the appetizers needed to come out together.
The dad started yelling at me, pointing at me, and calling me a terrible server while the daughters and their mom stared at their laps. He asked to see my manager, so I went to get her. She came out to talk to the guy. He was furious that there wasn’t a “male boss” available.
He was spewing gems like, “Are you kidding? I need to speak with a man about this. You’re telling me that the only manager here is her?” I had never dealt with such an insulting, crude person before. Reddit User: schmyd
WE DON’T USE ANY MILK
I worked in a restaurant. On multiple occasions, I served a Sunday post-church brunch crowd and they told me the most peculiar thing—apparently, I was going to rot in heck for working on a Sunday.
The funny thing was that it never occurred to them that I wouldn’t HAVE to work on Sunday if not for them coming in to eat. Not only that, but they would proceed to leave me Bible tracts instead of money as tips. Reddit User: Wadka
ALL YOU CAN EAT
I worked at a concession stand for a children’s baseball park. It’s a large park (nine or so fields) and we get lots and lots of customers. Having lots of customers, we have to make things in large quantities and the quality isn’t especially swell. But hey, it’s a concession stand, not a restaurant.
Anyhow, it’s about 20 degrees out and people are ordering hot chocolate by about five cups at a time. Only two of us are working. The process for making hot chocolate is putting an extremely large container of water in our extremely large microwave, and then stirring in an extremely large amount of cocoa powder.
It’s nothing fancy, but it tasted pretty good all things considered. Late in the day, I was working the register, and my co-worker is running around making everything. A lady came up to the side window, screaming at my co-worker about how he’s ruining the hot chocolate.
My co-worker can’t hear her, seeing as how she’s yelling through a window. At a guy working around a lot of refrigerator fans, among other things. She finally comes to the front counter and tells me he’s ruining it. “Why” I asked.
Her: “He’s going to ruin the milk! He’s going to ruin it in the microwave!” Me: “There is no…” Her: “HES GOING TO RUIN IT!” Me: “Peter!” Co-Worker: “Yeah?” Me (pretending to get super angry) “DON’T RUIN THAT MILK!” Her: stares at me
Co-Worker: “What milk?” Me (still yelling): “THE HOT CHOCOLATE MILK!” Co-Worker (comes up to the front looking VERY confused): “There is no milk!” Me (to the lady): “Hmm. I suppose we don’t use any milk.” She left looking very scared to talk to us ever again. Reddit User: [deleted]
SHE WAS MORTIFIED
I worked at a local chicken joint. To help drum up business, my boss made an “all you can eat” deal. The only stipulation was you couldn’t order one all-you-can-eat for multiple people. It was reasonable enough, and often it wasn’t an issue.
However, one evening as we were near closing, a couple of guys wandered in, and one of them ordered this all-you-can-eat deal. He started sharing it with his friend, and we told him that he couldn’t do that.
Since we were getting ready to close anyway, my manager told him that we wouldn’t cook anymore for him because of it. But rather than throw out what we had already cooked, he could just have that.
The guy had a tantrum and threw the food across the entirety of the restaurant once we turned our backs. There were french fries and ketchup everywhere. However, he kept the chicken though. Not only that, but the next morning we found that the restaurant’s windows had been vandalized. Reddit User: TVA_Titan
AS IF HE WAS NEVER THERE
I was at a family restaurant. Everyone was ordering the special that day, so they ran out of an ingredient for the dish. There was a customer complaining to the waiter as if it was HIS fault this happened.
Then as my family and I were about to pay our bill and leave, that same woman yelled out to me, “You would be handsome if you weren’t so fat!” Her daughter was even mortified and actually called her out on it. Reddit User: Feeling-Fan
NO TIP FOR YOU!
I had a family come in for their daughter’s birthday with a handful of her friends. They ordered a round of drinks that I promptly brought to the table. When I gave the father his pint, he requested that I bring his drink back in a frosted mug, not a frosted pint glass.
I informed him we didn’t have any mugs in the house, which sent him into a rage. He called me a liar, flipped the table—breaking several of the gifts, and punched the wall on the way out. This left me, the family, and all of the patrons in a state of shock.
The daughter started to cry, and the mother apologized profusely. She said they would pay for the drinks and leave. I tried to be as graceful as possible and suggested they stay as it was still the daughter’s birthday.
I got someone to bring fresh drinks, got help cleaning up the mess, and took their orders. I told the kitchen and management what happened, and everybody pitched in to make the evening better.
Their meals were comped, and I made a dessert bonanza for the daughter. By the end of the meal, it was as if the father was never there. Reddit User: jesuisnapoleon
FAMILY-OWNED GAS STATION
I was working at a sub sandwich shop with my manager. We had just finished cleaning everything up, and my manager had his hand on the door lock when a woman desperately came running to the door screaming, “WAIT! WAAAAAAAAAIT!”
My manager gave me the most “Oh God, I’m SO sorry” look and let her in. We proceeded to unwrap ALL of the sandwich-making material. This involved pulling plastic wrap off of EVERYTHING, re-filling sanitation sinks to wash any dishes we dirty, and basically having to completely re-do all of our closing procedures.
The woman ordered somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 sandwiches for ten different people. It sounded as if it was for a party because for each separate sandwich, she had to talk to a different person.
She was shouting into her cell phone and breaking into random bits of other conversation while my manager and I were sitting there trying to get information from her on what to put on the sandwiches.
We got her sandwiches done about 25 minutes later and waited for another 10 minutes for her to finish her phone call and come up to the register to pay. But it gets even worse. She only had a $100 bill, for which we didn’t have proper change.
She became exasperated, flustered that she had to use her credit card. Finally, we got everything sorted out, and she gathered up her sandwiches, looked at the clock overhead, and said in the most condescending voice I’ve ever heard, “Don’t you think you guys could have made my sandwiches a bit quicker?
“Now I’ve missed 10 minutes of my TV show! No tip for you!” She then walked out the door. It took us another 20 minutes or so to re-do all of our closing procedures.
My manager felt so bad about being the one who let her in that he gave me the full share of the evening’s tip, which was usually split 50/50. Still, people like that lady make me SO GLAD I don’t work in food service anymore. Reddit User: jangleberry112
PRECIOUS EMPLOYEES
I used to work in an old family-owned gas station/garage in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Since it was family owned, about 90% of the business came from regulars who had either business accounts or got their families’ cars fixed at the shop (and had for generations on both sides).
As such, the random passers-by getting gas on their way to and from cities on either side of the town made up a mostly negligible amount of business. The gas station side of the business made up maybe 2% of the business, and of that maybe .5% was non-regulars.
So my boss couldn’t care less about some of the annoying customers who came in. One day we got a particularly witchy soccer mom. This was during the summer a few years ago, so the gas was very high compared to the rest of the year.
She was convinced that our pumps were purposely calibrated incorrectly so that less gas was pumped. Her proof was that she always got $XX.XX in gas and it always went to XX% full.
Well we had just had our equipment recalibrated for the year and knew it was all good. She kept complaining to me about it, and being a high schooler I didn’t care, either. But I kept up appearances and was polite, kept telling her that we had just had our pumps calibrated.
She didn’t care and kept complaining. Eventually she asked for the manager. But I knew something she didn’t. The office was right behind the counter, and my boss was in there listening the whole time.
As soon as she asked for him, he simply yelled out “SCREW OFF!” And that was about it. I just shrugged at her, and she left. My boss was awesome with jerk customers. Reddit User: [deleted]
I worked at a library. The post office was down the street and around the corner, about three blocks away. A lady waltzed into the library with that angry “Karen” face and haircut and slammed her pointer finger on the table.
She said, “I JUST called and was told the post office was open. I drove all the way down here, and it’s closed. WHY was I told it was open if you’re just going to close after you hang up?”
I had a dumbfounded expression on my face. I had no idea who this woman was or why she was shouting at me. I responded, “They must have closed early, but ma’am, you never called here. This is the library.”
That was a huge mistake. She said, “I JUST CALLED. I know it was you I spoke to. I just had to dress a screaming two-year-old and drag her into the car, so I could get my mail, and you lied.”
I knew I was in big trouble because my boss was in the other room, and she always wanted the patrons to be pleased. I went and got my boss anyway, so I had a quick chance to tell my side of the story first.
Shockingly, my boss took my side instantly and screamed at the woman for yelling at her “precious employees.” The lady fell silent and stomped away like a mad toddler. I was a happy librarian that day. Reddit User: FuzzyOwlFeet