An Unexpected (And Wildly Inappropriate) Grilling

CONTENT WARNING: Suicide (mentioned)

A few years ago, I was working at a home improvement store, and I was in charge of selling grills and other outdoor items. It was the day before the Fourth of July, so we were selling tons of grills.

A customer came in and asked for a very specific type of wood pellet grill that he had seen on the website for his Fourth of July party the next day.

Me: “No problem. I’ll look it up to see if we have any in stock.”

The inventory tool said that we had three in stock in the back.

Me: “It says we might have a few in the back, but I need to verify that they are not already reserved.”

Customer: “Okay. Make it fast; I have other errands.”

I checked the back and found the three grills. They all had reserved tags. As I walked back to the customer, he yelled:

Customer: “What the f*** took you so long?!”

Me: “Sorry, sir, the grills of this specific kind have all been reserved already, but we have a few other options if you would be interested, or I could put in an order to get you this grill with about a five-day lead time.”

Customer: “No, I only want this grill, and I need it today.”

Me: “I am sorry, sir, but there is nothing that I can do to get you this type of grill by tomorrow.”

Customer: *Screaming* “You are f****** worthless! I promised people that I would have this grill for my party tomorrow!”

This got the attention of everyone in the area, including my manager, who started heading our way. I was p*ssed off at that point.

Me: “Maybe you should plan ahead next time.”

He really didn’t like my response.

Customer: “F*** you! Go kill yourself!”

Manager: “Are you kidding me? It’s just a grill, and you are yelling that at him? You need to leave now!”

The customer was then escorted out of the building while yelling about how I’d lied and needed to be fired.

I wish this was the only bad experience that I had that summer when grills were out of stock, but people really wanted their new grills that day.