(I am in an expensive clothing store with my mother, shopping around for last-minute school clothing. We are in the women’s section and my mother wanders like she normally does while I watch the cart. Suddenly, this lady appears from around the racks and grabs my arm, dragging me to the shoe aisle. She snaps out demands to me, pointing to different shoe boxes and telling me to take them out for her to try on. She is rather brisk, snippy, and rude about my appearance. Finally, she decides on a pair and says I wasn’t very helpful. I have a speech problem. I can’t speak quickly, or rather, timely as everyone would expect. Almost like magic, my mother appears:)

Mother: “It’s time to leave.”

(An actual worker appears:)

Worker: *to the lady* “Can I help you with anything?”

Lady: *huffs and points to me* “She isn’t a very good worker, and didn’t say anything to be friendly as she assisted me.”

(Both my mother and the employee look bewildered before my mother laughs:)

Mother: “Well, she likes being helpful to everybody, even if she can’t say much. I trust she helped you find what you were looking for, even if she isn’t employed here?” 

Lady: *looks shell-shocked before looking to me appallingly* “You don’t even work here?!” 

(I shake my head sheepishly, unable to form a sentence to even describe what is happening. The employee notices this and laughs at the situation.)

Worker: “You thought she worked here? Our uniform does not consist of Metallica T-shirts, shorts, or doodled-on Converse. Our manager would send us out the door!”

(The lady looks so flustered as she storms away without an apology. By that time, however, I manage to compile a sentence:)

Me: “At least you’ll be sent out… in style.”

(Today is the first day of my store’s big clearance sale, where all clearance items are an additional 30% off the orange sticker price. A woman comes up with a pile of items and I begin ringing them up. A few scans in, we encounter a problem.)

Customer: No, no, no. Those all have clearance tags on them. They’re ringing up as full price!

(I look down at the clothes and see that these are all new merchandise items we have just put out on the floor today, all ranging about $30-$40 a piece. However, they all have orange stickers on their tags for less than $10, albeit a little torn and obviously tampered with.)

Me: I’m sorry ma’am, but we just got these in today. They’re at the front of the store, and our clearance is in the back. There’s no way these are supposed to be marked down as clearance.

Customer: Well, they have the stickers on them! I should get 30% off that clearance price!

Me: I’m sorry, I don’t know how they got there. And I’m really not allowed to do overrides this big, I could get in trouble.

Customer: But someone messed up, that’s not my fault! I should get what the sticker says, plus my percentage off!

(Though very uncommon, there are times when our markdown team may mark the wrong items down on clearance. I quickly have someone check the identical items on the floor, and of course none of the others have clearance stickers. At this point it’s becoming very clear that the woman tore the stickers off actual clearance merchandise and put them on these new items. At the same time, my manager comes up to help.)

Customer: These have clearance stickers on them, but she won’t give me the clearance sale price!

Manager: I’m sorry, but the best we can do is give you the sticker price. I can’t give you the additional percentage off.

Customer: That’s ridiculous! You’re robbing me!

Manager: It’s the best I can do. This is already a bigger override than our policy allows.

(The woman huffed for a while, but in the end only bought one of the items, and my manager gave her the fake sticker price. Sometimes I wish we would actually stick to policy and not give in to customers like this… hopefully she never tries it again!)

I had just started this job not too long before this happen and I had to step to the back for a minute and when I came back this is the conversation that took place. I work in a clothing store and it was me and one other manager. She goes on to greet him and ask him what she can do for him.

Customer: I’d like to return this shirt.
Manager: Okay, let’s see what we have here. Do you have the receipt with you today?
Customer: Yes.

As he begins to pull the shirt out I notice that my manager has an odd look on his face.

Manager: I’m sorry sir, but I can’t return this.
Customer: And why not?
Manager: Because there was a video of you on Facebook last night at a bar (a popular one I suppose) IN THIS SHIRT dancing in it drunk.
Customer: Did I have my pants off?
Manager: No?

Surprisingly the customer leave without a problem and seemed satisfied he wasn’t caught dancing in his underwear on Facebook. After he had left she looked at me and also told me it hadn’t been washed. It still smelled of sweat and beer. Gross!

I have been at the store for two weeks. A customer comes over with two different scrub sets.

Customer: I am looking for scrubs in this color , but in this style.

Me: I can help you. What size are you looking for?

Customer: I come in here all the time . (insert manager’s name) knows my size.

Me: I am sorry, but (manager’s name) is currently not here. Now what size are you looking for?

Customer: I came in two months ago and ordered scrubs. Go look up my name.

Me: Sir, you never told me your name, nor do I know your size.

Customer: How do you not know who I am? I told you I was in here two months ago.

Me: I have only been here two weeks. Either tell me your name, size, or leave.

Customer: Oh…my name is…

How hard was that?

(I work in a chain store that sells children’s clothing. We have a very strict return policy, and deviating from it at all can result in a write-up. At least once a day we have a customer take issue with our policies.)

Customer: “This shirt is too small for my granddaughter, and I need to return it. She took the tag off but I have a gift receipt.”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but without the tag, I have no way of scanning it to issue you a refund. The best I could do is swap it for the same shirt in another size, but unfortunately, we sold out of this one a few weeks ago.”

Customer: “I can’t return it? Well, what’s the point of the gift receipt?!”

Me: “Well, the gift receipt is also needed to return or exchange, to show how much was paid and to prove that it was purchased and not stolen. But we need the tag.”

Customer: “Well! I don’t know why you offered me a gift receipt; obviously, it’s useless! I’m never shopping here again and I’ll be canceling my credit card with your store, as well!”

(The customer stomps out, shouting obscenities at me on the way. Almost two months later, she comes back.)

Customer: “I talked to your corporate office!”

Me: “Oh?”

Customer: “They looked up my purchase on my credit card and emailed me the original receipt, so now you have to give me my refund!”

Me: “Actually, ma’am, our refusal to issue you a refund had nothing to do with your receipt. If you recall, it was the lack of a tag. Did you bring in the tag for the shirt?”

Customer: “No! I don’t need it. This isn’t a gift receipt; it’s a regular one.”

(The customer shoves her phone into my hand and I look over the receipt.)

Me: “Again, ma’am, it wasn’t the receipt that was the issue. I cannot take this shirt back without the tag. Also, you’re now beyond our return policy by over a month so I wouldn’t be able to take it back, anyway.”

Customer: *red-faced, shouting* “What?! That is not right! I have my receipt! You need to give me my money back now! What am I supposed to do with this stupid shirt? I’m calling corporate back right. Now!”

Me: “’Kay.”

(Corporate tells her the same thing I told her. She rants a little more about canceling her credit card, then spends another $200 on said credit card.)

Customer: “…and make sure I get a gift receipt, just in case my granddaughter pulls the tags off.”

Related:
The Gift Receipt That Keeps On Giving