Customer: “No! That perfume is 50% off!”

Me: “No, ma’am, this brand is not on sale.”

Customer: “Your adverts said everything is 50% off!”

Me: “No, ma’am, we have a sale section at the front of the store, and all those perfumes are 50% off. Everything else is the regular price!”

Customer: “That’s false advertising! Your adverts said everything in the store is 50% off!”

Me: “Can you please show me the advert that says that? If you can find one that does, I’ll honour that discount for this purchase.”

Customer: *Starts looking around* “Look! That sign there says… Well… But the sign on the front is… Okay, maybe the wording is… Look. I know I saw one! I think it was on your website! Whoever is putting adverts up on your website is making a mistake!”

I pull up the website on my phone.

Me: “You mean this site? The sale banner says, ‘50% off select items in store’.”

Customer: “You changed that just now!”

Me: “I’ve been talking to you this whole time, ma’am.”

Customer: “Give me 50% off! I’ll find the advert that said it later!”

Me: “I can give you the discount after the sale, ma’am, if you can find that advert, but I can’t wait for you to find it here. Please either purchase at full price now, or come back later with the advert.”

Customer: “I’m not moving until you give me the sale price!”

Me: “You’re holding up the line.”

Customer: “Deal with it!”

Me: “Ma’am, would you rather deal with me, or deal with the increasing number of people you’re holding up?”

She looks back and seems surprised to notice five angry-looking customers in line behind her getting increasingly impatient.

Me: “Mind you, they can walk out with you.”

She left quickly after that.

Related:
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 25
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 24
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 23
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 22
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 21

CONTENT WARNING: Blood Drawing

I call a patient from the waiting room in for a blood draw. While we walk to the lab, the patient complains about the wait being longer than normal — while not rudely, they do slow me down while they do so.

After I’m finally allowed to verify their information, we have this exchange.

Me: “Do you have an arm preference for the blood draw?”

Patient: “No, whichever is easiest for you is fine. I just want to get out of here.” 

Me: “All right, can I take a look at your left arm?”

The patient pulls up their sleeve, and I spend about two minutes looking for a good vein without any luck.

Me: “I can’t seem to find a vein on this side. Do they have any trouble drawing your blood?”

Patient: “They don’t usually have trouble, but they never find a vein on that side. They always look there and then go to the right side.”

Me: “Okay, can I take a look at your right side, then?”

Patient: “Sure, go ahead.”

The patient takes their time rolling down the left sleeve and then slowly pulling up the right one. I begin looking at the right arm, and I think I find a vein.

Patient: “Did you find a vein?”

Me: “I think so, right here.”

I put slight pressure on the spot, and they look at where I’m indicating.

Patient: “Oh, good. I’m in a hurry. I’ve been here for much longer than I was planning.”

The patient rambles on about what they are planning on doing the rest of the day while I attempt to draw their blood, but I just can’t get into the vein.

Me: “I’m so sorry, you seem to have rolling veins, and I think I may have to start over. I missed this one.”

As I pull the needle and bandage up their arm, I’m given this bit of information.

Patient: “Oh, that’s all right. Everyone always tries to get that vein, but no one has ever gotten blood from there. They try and try, but this is the only spot that anyone has ever managed to get blood from.”

They then turn their arm over and point to a vein on their wrist by their thumb.

Patient: “Do you think you can draw my blood from this spot next? I’m in a hurry.”

Me: “Sure, let me see.”

I manage to get the blood drawn in about a minute after being shown where to look.

Me: “Okay, you’re all set. Have a good day.”

The patient then stood in the draw room and continued to complain about the wait for about five minutes while I tried to usher them out the door so I could call my next patient.

I work in a high-end cosmetics store.

Customer: “I need to replace this; it just stopped working.”

She hands over a very expensive deodorant sold by a specialty company. My manager can’t tell if it’s defective or not, but we’re quite busy, so she just lets her walk out with a new one, and we think nothing more of it.

A couple of weeks later when we’re quieter, I notice that she’s back.

Customer: “I need to replace this; it just stopped working.”

I swear it is the exact same wording.

Me: “Oh, that’s strange. Is this the replacement we gave you for the one that stopped working last time?”

Customer: *Shocked that I remembered* “Oh… uh… maybe? I don’t know.”

Me: “Well, let me have a look-see. You seem to just be having the worst luck with this brand!”

I open it up to find that it’s been completely used up and is empty.

Me: “Oh, well, there you go! It’s not defective; it’s just been used up!”

Customer: “Oh… already? That went by kinda fast.”

Me: “Well, it’s a four-ounce tube, so it’s a standard size. Either way, I am soooo glad I have been able to figure out this mystery for you. Now you don’t have to come in claiming it’s defective every time it runs out!”

Customer: “Uh… yeah… uh… Thanks.” *Slinks out*

An older gentleman comes into the store with his digital camera.

Customer: “It’s broken; it’s not powering up. Can you repair it for me?” 

Me: “Let me have a look.”

It seems like it’s out of power, so for troubleshooting, I replace the batteries, and it seems to work just fine.

Customer: “Oh! What did you do?”

Me: “It just needed new batteries.”

I play around with it a little and test a few functions.

Me: “I think you’re all set.”

Customer: “Thank you! I was worried because I thought it was broken. How much do I owe you?”

Me: “Nothing, you’re all set. There’s no repair job to pay for.”

He hands me a twenty.

Customer: “Here. Take this, then.” 

Me: “Seriously, no charge.”

Customer: “Son, let me tell you: I am paying you for your expertise. It might have been a simple fix to a young man like you, but to me, that is knowledge that I am willing to pay for. Never undervalue yourself and your knowledge in this world, ya hear me?”

Me: “I hear you, sir.”

Customer: “Good. And if you really need more justification, I’m paying for those nice new batteries you put in my camera!”

And with that, he was gone. My all-time favorite customer.

Back when I was reviewing games whilst at uni, I had a developer go mad at me when I very honestly put some constructive criticism in the review.

As a game design student, my reviews were more analytical than standard, and they were never overly negative, always with the requisite that they were my opinions when talking about something subjective.

I can’t remember what the problem was now, but it was very fairly summarised, and all of the positives were listed, too.

But they came for me, trying to get me to take it down and calling me slurs. It was ridiculous. They were the only ones out of multiple games to do it, too.