I am working at a gas station. The place is small and pretty run down so sometimes the pumps don’t work correctly. In this situation, I accidentally put someone’s gas on the wrong pump. This is generally an easy thing to fix with the “move pump” button at the register. Of course, this time around, that button is not working for some reason and I see the lady waving me down from outside. I wave her back inside so that I can explain what happened.

Me: “I’m so sorry about that. It seems I put your gas on the wrong pump. I can fix it for you. Did you pay with cash or card?”

We are pretty busy at the time, so it is hard to remember. The pumps don’t specifically tell you how people paid; as I said, they are pretty old and outdated. They just show an amount.

Customer: “It was cash.”

Me: “Okay, easy fix, then!”

I simply pop open the drawer and close it again so that I can re-ring the gas at the correct pump. 

She goes outside and pumps around $40 worth of gas. It dawns on me when she’s coming back to use the ATM that she paid with a card, not cash, the first time around. Since I canceled the pump and re-rang it as cash, my drawer is now $40 short and the money will go back to her card. So, basically, she will be getting this gas for free if she does not pay for it again. If she had said it was a card transaction, I would have simply instructed her to pull around to the right pump and it wouldn’t have been an issue.

Me: “Ma’am, now that I think about it, you paid for your gas with a card, right?”

Customer: “Yes, I did.”

I immediately know that this is going to be an issue. People don’t understand that a pending charge is not the same as an actual charge on her account. It will be refunded in about an hour or so, depending on the bank.

Me: “You told me you paid with cash, so the gas you pumped was rung up as cash. That means it won’t charge your card. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but your gas hasn’t been paid for yet. So, I have to charge your card again or you give me cash to fix the drawer.”

She immediately gets irate.

Customer: “What do you mean, I haven’t paid yet? You charged my card! I can pull it up right here on my phone!”

She pulls up the bank app, and yep, there’s a pending charge. I try to explain to her that the charge will not actually go through because she never pumped the gas from that transaction. I even print the receipt from the gas she pumped showing it as paid with cash. She doesn’t believe me. At this point, I have not been rude and have been nothing but apologetic to her. I understand that it is a weird situation for both of us, but with the system I have, there aren’t many options.

Customer: “I want a manager now!”

I explain that there is no manager here, just me, but that I can call the owner and maybe he could explain it better. He is an immigrant who speaks English but has a hard time explaining things in depth. I dial the number as she’s staring me down. She’s on the phone with her bank while loudly explaining to everyone in the store that there was fraud on her account and that the cashier is trying to steal her money.

Thank God, the owner answers the phone. I start trying to explain the situation and the customer keeps shouting, “You need to tell him this is your fault because you put it on the wrong pump!” At this point, I shout back because I am over being screamed at for something that was both our fault. Plus, I don’t like being accused of being dishonest or a thief when I do everything I can for my customers.

Me: “You shouldn’t have lied and said you paid with cash when you didn’t! And I’m not giving you $40 of free gas! Call the cops if you want to! We have your plate on surveillance as well as everything else you said to me! Yes, I put it on the wrong pump! But that doesn’t mean I’m paying for your gas!”

I put the owner on speakerphone so she can hear what he has to say.

Owner: “We can not give you free gas! You pay, you have to pay again. Your card will get the refund! I promise you.”

She goes out to her car to scream at the bank for a few minutes. I keep watching her making sure she doesn’t drive away. I guess the bank tells her the same thing that I told her — that it is only a pending charge that will go away. She comes back inside with her card.

Customer: “Just charge the d*** card again! Guess I can’t pay my bills now!”

I’m hoping that the next time a customer service rep asks her a question, she will actually listen and respond correctly. And yes, I recognize the fact that I made a mistake, but so did she. If she had just called her bank calmly and asked if what I was telling her was the truth instead of screaming at me, I wouldn’t have had to shout at her. Thinking about her still makes me mad to this day.

I have just graduated college (with honors) for Graphic Design and have my BA in it and everything. I am looking for design work, but I work at a nationwide hardware store to make some money to pay some bills and whatnot.

We have a complete aisle dedicated to loose nuts and bolts and whatnot. We have numerous bright orange signs there CLEARLY stating that, even though we have the SKU on the boxes, we only need the quantity and price for us to ring it up and the SKU does nothing in the machine.

One day, I have this guy come in and get some items. He tosses his bag of nuts and bolts at my counter. I notice there are no prices written down.

Me: “Do you know the prices of these items, sir?”

The customer speaks in a condescending and irritated tone.

Customer: “Aren’t you supposed to know that? Plus, I even wrote down the d*** SKU for you.”

Me: “I can see that, but our system doesn’t ring up SKUs. We only need the price and quantity.”

Customer: “But the other stores need the SKU.”

Me: “Each of the stores is independently owned. It’s just how ours is run.”

Customer: *Getting madder* “So, now I have to walk all the way back there to get the numbers for you?”

Me: “I could always spitball some numbers. I see these come—”

Before I even finish, he storms off. I put his things aside and wait for him. Not even thirty seconds later, in a small store full of customers, he comes storming back.

Customer: *Shouting loudly* “They’re [three prices around twenty-five cents], but you may want to check with your manager.”

Me: *Typing the prices in* “These should be fine since I ring them as bulk.”

Customer: *Interrupts me again* “In fact, where is your manager? I wish to speak to them.”

I point to the other register across the way. My manager, who I love to death, has been right there listening to everything.

Me: “She’s right there.”

Manager: *Looks to the customer* “How can I help you?”

Customer: “Yeah, I’d like to report your F****** DISRESPECTFUL-A** STAFF YOU HAVE RIGHT HERE!”

He points right at me and my hands shoot up. How was I disrespectful to him when I was telling him what our store does? My manager speaks to him for a second and then he grumbles and begins paying. As he does, he signs the screen for the card payment, nearly breaking the screen when he hits “Done,” and storms out before his receipt even prints. The whole time he is grumbling, saying this is the reason we will be shut down and that each store in this chain is usually shut down in six months. I pay him no mind, but I am put off by him. He continues screaming and pointing right at me as he stands at the door. Then, I snap.

Customer: “YOU NEED TO GET A F****** EDUCATION!”

Me: *Shouts back* “I HAVE MY COLLEGE DEGREE!”

My manager was right next to me and told me I could go calm down in the break room. I was crying back there and she came back and helped to calm me. She even said he was the one who needed an education, and I smiled at that. The other manager on duty was there, too, and said if he ever comes back, we will refuse service to him. The next person I helped when I got back to my register was the nicest lady ever. I even got a high-five from a coworker for standing up to myself.

The best part? The manager who helped me calm down is my husband’s step-mother. She set us up and we have been together for four years and married for two.

I am a monotone introvert by nature and working retail or anything customer-service-oriented can be difficult at times. I have to make a conscious effort to put some emotion into my voice and have learned through trial and error over the years how to deal with customers.

I have just come on shift and relieved a coworker for her break. My first two customers are an elderly mother and her middle-aged daughter. The daughter tears off something from a product.

Daughter: “Here. This has a coupon.” 

Me: “Sure thing. Let me scan it through.”  

I scan the product and then unfold the coupon to put it through, as well. Immediately, I receive an error. That’s not a surprise, as the coupons only work about 50% of the time for various reasons; I’d just been hoping this wasn’t one of those occasions. I look closer at the coupon and realize at once what’s wrong.

Me: “Ah… I’m sorry, but this coupon isn’t for the product you’re buying.” 

Cue simultaneous squinting of narrowed, angry eyes from both mother and daughter. I quickly show the coupon to them and start explaining.

Me: “It’s for other products by the same manufacturer. See here? It gives a list of other options you can buy.” 

I’m talking quickly, forgetting about any type of customer service voice, because they’re both still glaring at me, but there’s not much I can do about another company’s coupon. So, they apparently hone in on the only thing they can think to complain about.

Daughter: *Snatching the coupon back* “I don’t like your tone of voice! You need to learn better customer service! Just ring everything else up so we can get out of here.” 

I stay quiet and go through the task of scanning their many groceries, not bothering to make eye contact if I can help it. They stand there, the daughter muttering to her mom, while I work. At one point, I’m carefully placing a particular food item in the bag when I hear the mother speak up. But she is talking so faintly, even though she’s standing a few feet away, that I can’t hear what she says and assume she is speaking to her daughter. I don’t look up but stay focused on the bagging. Big mistake.

Daughter: *Scoffs loudly* “She’s not even paying attention to us now!” 

Me: *Inwardly cringes and looks up* “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear—”

Mother: “I said for you not to bag the pie sideways! Bag it flat!”

Me: “Oh!”

I lift up the bag to show her.

Me: “I already did. I—”

The daughter snatches this, too, out of my hand while leaning aggressively close to my face.

Daughter: “Don’t argue with customers!” 

I considered telling her that I wasn’t arguing and just reassuring her mother that I had already done what she wanted, but I realized that in itself would be arguing and it really wasn’t worth the headache.

The rest of the transaction was awkward and tense and they were still grumbling to each other after they left my line. I saw the daughter less than a minute later up at the customer service desk, presumably to lodge a complaint against me, but I was never approached by a manager about it. That’s not the worst experience I’ve had with a customer, but it makes me very glad to have found a non-retail job that requires very little interaction with the public.

I was checking out customers at the registers and heard screaming from a couple of registers down. It turned out the customer was attempting to buy $100 worth of alcohol without a valid licence.

Her licence was expired by two whole years. When the cashier told her that he couldn’t sell her the booze, the woman called the man who gave her the money. Yes, it wasn’t even her money.

Then, she started filming the employee and screaming that she didn’t care about his job; she just wanted her booze. He didn’t back down even though he was scared and she left pretty fast.

I’m kicking myself now that I didn’t call the police on that woman.

I work in a gift shop that is open all year round. We have a senior discount that comes with an unfortunate policy: you have to ask to get it. We cannot ask because it offends customers and we get yelled at, we can’t assume because it offends customers and we get yelled at, and we aren’t allowed to modify complete purchases if we aren’t informed before the transaction is completed because then our accounting department yells at us.

We loophole this by having signs with bold lettering in the windows and on each countertop at every till.

A man who has purchased an item previously comes back in to buy two more items.

Me: “Hello again! Found something else?”

Customer: “Yes, and I saw you had a senior discount.” *Pointing at the sign* “I bought something before; can I get it?”

I’d peg this man at maybe forty-five tops, but we’re pretty lenient and don’t ID people. You read the sign, you have someone in your group over the young age of fifty-five, and you get a discount if you tell us before the transaction is finished. This note is also on the sign.

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t! You need to tell us before the transaction is finalized to get it. I can put it on this transaction, though! We have been yelled at for assuming, we’ve been yelled at for asking, and the people who pay us get mad at us for editing transactions, so…”

Normally, this explanation quells anger with most people or at least stops us from getting screamed at. Apparently, that is not the case with this man.

Customer: “Well, those just sound like excuses for not giving it to me.”

I pride myself on customer service, but this comment makes me internally snap. I admittedly break my customer service face a bit and drop my friendly tone for a more serious tone and deadpan stare.

Me: “Well, sir, I would love to just save people money without being verbally abused for it on a regular basis.” *Changing to a sickeningly sweet voice* “Your total is [total]!”

The rest of the transaction was completed in silence on his part. Seriously, people, there is a reason why the cashier can and cannot do things!