Has You Running Around Like Busy Little Bees
(I work in a small independent arts cinema. The theatre is known locally for its wealthy and demanding senior clientele. A fashionable elderly customer, clutching a large expensive handbag, approaches me and a coworker at the box office.)
Customer: “Are you brave?”
Me: *smiling politely* “Umm, I guess so.”
Customer: “Well, a large bee or hornet just fell from your ceiling into my handbag and I want somebody to fish it out.”
Me: “Oh, okay. Are you sure it was a bee or hornet?”
(This is early January in suburban London, in a building that in four years I’ve never seen any bee buzz about in… let alone a hornet!)
Customer: *suddenly angry* “YES, I’M SURE! I don’t know what to do; can’t you reach in and get rid of it!”
Me: “Sorry but I’m not going to reach into the bag Why don’t you tip the contents out carefully onto one of the seats behind you?”
Customer: “Yes, you do that for me.”
Me: “Well, I have no space behind the box office to do that and I wouldn’t want to be at fault if I damaged any of the contents when I shook the bag out. Sorry. Why don’t you try emptying the bag into one of the large popcorn boxes?”
Customer: “Ugh, is that all you can offer me?! A popcorn box…? Well, you’ve been absolutely no help at all.”
(She stomps away… and I go back to serving customers. 30 minutes later I go to check on the cafe within the cinema building and see the handbag wrapped in two layers of clear recycling bags just dumped in a corner. The cafe owner sees me staring at the bag dumbfounded.)
Cafe Coworker: *laughing* “Some woman made me wrap her handbag up because she is terrified about the hornet that got stuck inside, so I’m suffocating it for her. Oh and she told me you and the box office staff were no help and she is going to complain tomorrow.”
(She never did complain.)
Did you find this story using our World Bee Day roundup?
Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
