I am the shift manager, working as a register backup when it’s busy. A coworker calls me up to get customer service feedback from a customer. The customer had come in to pick up an order and I was the one to physically hand her the order. You don’t get a paper receipt for an in-store pickup order; the receipt is emailed to the customer.

Me: “Hi, how can I help you?”

Customer: “The girl who just gave me my order didn’t do it right. I didn’t get a receipt and I didn’t know if I got charged; she just checked my order number and handed me my bag and didn’t give me a receipt. I think she was confused and now I’m confused. I don’t like how she acted.”

Me: “Was there someone else who helped you with the order?”

Customer: “No, just the one girl. She was confused and didn’t do it right, and now I don’t know if my order is right.”

Me: “Let me look your order up in my system and make sure it was right.”

Customer: “Does it tell you who did the pickup so that you can talk to her?”

I’m becoming increasingly aware that this customer is not joking.

Me: “Can you tell me what she looked like?”

Customer: “She has pink hair.”

I am the only person with pink hair.

Me: “Okay. I know who that is. I’ll make sure she knows about this incident and gets the proper training.”

Customer: “Thank you. That makes me feel better. I was so confused.”

Good to know we’re all interchangeable, faceless drones to some customers.

It’s a Thursday in January, and we’ve just finished a huge sale of basically everything in our “home decor” department. The sale ended on Sunday and we started a new one on Monday with only specific items on sale. A gentleman comes into my line to pay for three items. He checks my name tag as I greet him.

Customer: “Hello, [My Name]. I heard these were on sale.”

He’s got a hat, which technically would have qualified as half-off the week before because of which department it’s from, and two toys that have not ever been on sale in the three years I’ve worked here. They’re like $4, and the hat is between $10 and $15.

Me: “Well, actually, it’s just [specific items] on sale this week, so the hat won’t be on sale, unfortunately.”

I am checking the ad in front of my face as I talk.

Customer: “Can I get a discount on these?”

He indicates the toys. I genuinely can’t tell if he’s joking or not, so I try to stay apologetic but firm as I inform him that those aren’t on sale, either. I ring all three items up because he’s not saying much else and give him his total, between $20 and $25.

Customer: “That’s more than I wanted to spend.”

Regardless, he inserted his card into the chip reader, and I sent him on his way with his receipt. I realized much later that I forgot to bring up our store coupon, since the price was apparently a big deal to him. Sorry, dude. You don’t just get a discount any time you ask for one. Maybe he thought I was new and a pushover or something?

I run a small yarn shop. While I have my store listed on Google, it’s mostly for people to get information about my store. Reviews are nice, but they’re not my focus. I’m in the back when I hear a customer yelling at my coworker.

Customer: “What do you mean, you don’t have [cheap yarn]?! 

Coworker: “Ma’am, we—”

Customer: “Don’t ‘ma’am’ me!”

I come out of the back. I’ve worked retail long enough to know what kind of person I’m dealing with.

Me: “Ma’am, leave.”

Customer: “Who the f*** do you think you are?!”

Me: “I’m the owner. Leave.”

Customer: “Yeah, right! Just give me some f****** [cheap yarn]!”

Me: “We don’t carry that brand. We stock higher-end yarns that chain craft stores don’t. The closest we have is [wool blend].”

Customer: “Good luck staying in business, then! Nobody wants to buy your s***!”

Me: “I’m asking you one more time to leave.”

Customer: “Fine! But I’m gonna leave you bad reviews! I’ll have my friends do the same!”

Me: “Cool. I can mark them as fraud since, if they’re that willing to do that, they haven’t shopped here. And I can tell you now, if any of my regulars saw that, they’d tell you to f*** off.”

The customer glared at me and left. A couple of hours later, I got an angry review on my Facebook page. By the time I saw it, several other people had replied, telling the woman to go shop at [Chain Craft Store] if she wanted cheap yarn.

It’s the first snowfall of the year, but it’s one of those nights where it starts as rain at 5:00 and then by 9:00 turns into snow. At 8:55, all the customers have left the store, and since we close at 9:00, my manager closes the doors, only to have this interaction happen at 8:59.

Customer: *Pounds on the door* “It’s 8:59! You have to let me in!”

Me: *Looking confused* “Well, we already closed up. Are you sure it’s not 9:00?”

Customer: “Yes, look at your phone!”

Sure, enough my phone says 8:59.

Me: “Well, I really want to get home as soon as possible given the conditions of the road.”

Customer: “I really want you to get home safe, too… but it’s 8:59 so you have to let me in.”

I turn to my manager, who’s out of the viewing distance of the customer and looks extremely confused. We exchange glances for ten seconds.  

Me: *Pulls out my phone* “Oh, no! Look, it’s 9:00 now. Sorry, we’re closed.”

Customer: “It was 8:59 when I got here! This is terrible!”

The customer walked away.

Seriously, we’re open for twelve hours and she just decided she needed crafting supplies at 8:59? No crafting emergency is that serious! Luckily, my manager agreed.

I am working in a shop that sells sewing machines inside of a large store. I am taking in a customer’s machine for service. We’re talking while I type her information into the computer. It’s nothing new to get asked for help within the larger store as my shop is right in the middle; however, I draw the line at neglecting my customers.

As I’m working with this (very lovely) customer, I can see an older man out of the corner of my eye. I ignore him and carry on with my customer. I can hear him getting huffy as the work order takes a few minutes and I am not giving him my attention. He finally taps me on the shoulder.

Old Man: “I want to know where the stick-on letters are.”

Me: “Sir, I am in the middle of something; please excuse me.”

I turn back to my customer as he storms off. 

Several minutes later, I finish with my customer and sit down at my computer. The old man walks by me.

Old Man: “When a customer who is going to buy something that pays your salary asks you a question, you answer it. That’s good customer service.”

I don’t have a chance to respond that he was interrupting my customer and that I wouldn’t have been able to answer his question anyway. I am later relaying this incident to the manager of the larger store.

Manager: “You know what I say to those people? ‘Good customers get good customer service.’”