Droning On With Outrageous Demands

Bizarre, Colorado, Denver, Impossible Demands, Retail, USA | Right | September 26, 2017

(People can put their orders in online and then come in later to pick them up. Since I am the most comfortable with computers, I am put in charge of that department. I get an order that has a multitude of items that are currently out of stock. I assemble the email informing the customer that their items are not in stock yet, and that we will contact them when their order is ready, and I send it out. A couple of hours later, a woman comes up to my desk.)

Customer: “Hi, I’m [Name]. I’m here to pick up my order.”

(I punch her name into the computer.)

Me: “I’m sorry, but we’re still waiting for a restock. We will send you an email when we have the items in stock, and you can pick them up then.”

Customer: “No, you don’t understand; I need them now. Are you sure you haven’t checked the back?”

Me: “Ma’am, I know for certain that we don’t have these items in stock. Did you receive the automatic email saying we would notify you when your order is ready?”

Customer: “Yes, but it’s junk so I deleted it. Do you have my stuff or not?”

Me: “No, we don’t, because we still need to restock.”

Customer: “Then why do you offer this in the first place?! Can’t you have your drones fly faster?”

Me: “Pardon?”

Customer: “You know, the drones in the [Online Shopping Center] commercial! Once you order something, they can fly a piano straight to your house within 24 hours!”

(Apparently, this woman thought that a single ten-pound drone could easily lift a 400-pound piano and get it to its destination in the blink of an eye. The conversation continued, as I tried to tell this woman that things take time to get here due to traffic, weather, drivers, etc. I reassured her that we would have her things in a few days. She ended up leaving in a huff, yelling that she would prove me wrong by ordering her items from [Online Shopping Center] and having them in her arms in ten minutes. The next time I saw her, we made eye contact, she turned bright red and hurried through self-checkout, and as she stormed past my counter she gave me the finger. I guess she didn’t get her items in ten minutes.)

This story is part of our crazy-online-shoppers roundup!