Old Yell-er

I work at a famous sandwich shop. This customer has been particularly rude and condescending to the staff each time he’s been in. After storming off the first couple of times I served him, he started flat out refusing to let me make his sandwiches.

Tonight, there is one other person working with me. He knows who the customer is and knows he doesn’t like me. The customer comes in, and after I finish putting the meat on the sandwiches I am working on, I give my standard greeting.

Me: “What can I start for you today?”

The customer looks up at me, doesn’t say a word, and then goes back to his phone. I help my coworker finish up the other sandwiches and tell him to help the customer. He refuses and starts doing mundane tasks like stocking things that don’t need to be stocked. I try my greeting with the customer again.

Me: “What can I start for you?”

Customer: *A bit rudely* “Can someone else make my sandwich?”

I hand him off to my coworker and go into the walk-in cooler to (figuratively) cool off. The rest is told to me by my coworker.

Coworker: “Do you have a problem with him?”

Customer: “Well, I don’t really like the way he makes my sandwiches.” *A few seconds of silence* “You don’t even know who I am.”

Coworker: “Oh, yeah, I do. You’re the guy that yelled at me on my second day here and almost made me quit.”

The customer mutters something inaudible under his breath, followed by:

Customer: “I do not yell. I always give all of my kindness to the [Store] workers.”

Coworker: “Look, you can either leave or shut up and let me finish your sandwich.”

The customer is mostly quiet after this until my coworker is done ringing him up. It is worth noting that there is a link at the bottom of the receipts that will take you to a survey about your experience.

Customer: “I do not yell. Put the receipt in my bag.”

After he and the rest of the customers in the store left, my coworker called our boss to tell his side of the story, almost certain he was going to be given a negative review. Fortunately, our boss didn’t care what my coworker said. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what the customer says in his review.