I work at a large department store in the jewelry department. We’re severely understaffed and I am the only person in the department. I’m wearing multiple crystals along with large, witchy-looking earrings. I have just helped a woman pick out some jewelry and I look back to see a line forming at my register.

Me: “All right, ma’am, now that we’ve found something for you, if you’d like to get in line, I can check you out as quickly as possible.”

I walk to my register and start checking the other customers out. I finally get to this woman after just a couple of minutes.

Customer: *Before I can say anything* “Get me your manager. Now.”

Me: “Of course, ma’am. Was there anything wrong with your experience today?”

Customer: “Manager. Now.”

I call my manager, but it takes a couple of minutes for her to come downstairs and get to my department.

Manager: “How can I help you?”

Customer: “Your employee was helping me and then made me go to the back of the line to check out. I want to buy these, but I don’t want her getting credit for it.”

We have sales goals that she somehow knows about.

Manager: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but that’s not possible. She’s the only employee today, so she’s the only one able to check guests out in this department. I apologize.”

The customer throws down all of the jewelry she is holding.

Customer: “Then I don’t want any of this. How can you hire such rude people to work here?!”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but the other customers were waiting in line and I’m required to help customers in order of the line.”

She glares daggers at me, and then she sees my jewelry.

Customer: “You are the rudest employee I have ever met. The customer is always right! I’m… I’m gonna put a hex on you!”

She storms out of the store.

Me: *To my manager* “Did I do anything wrong here? I’m the only one, and I called for help but nobody came.”

Manager: “No, you’re fine.” *Walks away*

I guess some people think they deserve the rules to bend for them and nobody else.

A few months ago, I decided to go shopping for new jeans since I hadn’t updated my jeans since the middle of college.

I was standing in the middle of a department store, wearing a cat-hair-covered sweatshirt and basketball shorts. I had just picked out two pairs of jeans and was comparing them to see which I liked best. That’s when an old man came walking up to me.

Man: *In an accusatory tone* “Where are your sunglasses?”

I couldn’t comprehend what he had just said to me. My mind was doing mental gymnastics. I was thinking, “My sunglasses? Does he mean my mask? Oh, no, did I forget my mask in the car?! No… I am wearing my mask. But I also never wear sunglasses. What does this dude mean?” Meanwhile, I was just staring at the man with my brow furrowed and my mouth open. All I could stammer out was:

Me: “My sunglasses?”

He then took a step closer to me and repeated:

Man: “WHERE. ARE. YOUR. SUN. GLASS. ES?”

It finally clicked in my head that he wasn’t looking for my sunglasses but the store’s sunglasses.

Me: “Oh! Yeah, I don’t work here.”

Now it looked like he was doing mental gymnastics. Luckily, an actual employee nearby who had been restocking clothes the entire time jumped into the conversation and took the old man off my hands.

I still can’t comprehend how my outfit seemed appropriate for a department store uniform; I thought it was borderline acceptable to even be seen in public considering how much cat hair was on it. The entire experience couldn’t have been more than forty-five seconds, but boy, did it feel like an eternity. Luckily, at the end of the day, I have two more comfortable pairs of jeans to wear.

Our corporate decides to do a “One-Day 40%-Off Sale” for cardholders. I’m not working the sale, but I am working the day before, and unfortunately, everyone wants special treatment.

Customer: “Can I get the 40% off today?”

Me: “No, I’m sorry, but that’s for tomorrow only.”

Customer: “Oh… Well, can you hold [massive cart of stuff] until tomorrow?”

Me: “No, we’re not doing any holds until tomorrow. That wouldn’t be fair to the other customers.”

Customer: “Oh… Well, can you check?”

The very first time this was asked, I asked my manager over the radio for the customer’s sake. The manager said no.

Customer: “Oh… Well, will your manager just give me the 40% off today?”

Me: “No. The sale is tomorrow.”

Customer: “Oh… Well, can you call her up here and ask her?”

Me: “No. She’s not going to break the rules just for you.”

Customer: “But I’m here now! Can’t you just make an exception, so I don’t have to come all the way back here tomorrow?”

I start imagining how nice it would be if I could just strangle the person.

Me: “No.”

Cue angry huffing and storming out. That scenario repeated all day. On the plus side, I did get quite a lot of pleasure at telling customers “no” and not budging for them.

During Black Friday, a woman comes to my register with a large bag full of expensive brand-name clothing with the tags still on and a stack of receipts. Our store officially has a two-week price adjustment period — which has its own function in the register — but customers think they’re clever and will ask us to do a return and repurchase to get around the deadline.

Our registers have no built-in deadline for returns and can find transactions as far back as six years as long as the merchandise number is still in the system. This is also during the period where corporate had the genius idea to “Just Say Yes” to the customer; it took them three years to figure out that this policy does not actually make money.

So, when this woman shoves the stack of receipts at me and asks me to check if any of her twenty items are cheaper today, I just smile politely at her. Even though there is a price scanner not far from my register. Even though I can see she’s repurchased her items for cheaper prices several times within the past six months, and will probably continue to do so until they don’t come up in the system anymore.

I scan her first item, and it’s the same price as what she paid before, but there’s a coupon she can apply to it. I tell her the price and start to explain about the coupon, but she puts her hand up and says she just wants to know which ones are cheaper, nothing else. I continue to check her prices, figuring I can try again at the end.

She mentions a sale item she saw on our website that she’s looking for, and a manager who is ringing at the register behind me turns around to let her know that the website has its own Black Friday deals that are separate from the store. After my manager leaves, the customer proceeds to give me a lecture involving a convoluted argument that our store has to honor any price a customer has seen because that’s what [Other Department Store] does, tacks on the customary, “I’ll need to talk to a manager about this,” and ends with, “I can’t believe you don’t know that.”

I nod, explain to her that it was actually my manager who spoke up, give her back her items with a smile, and say they are all the same price. I could tell her a way she could use her coupons to save another hundred dollars. But if you choose to be an a**hole to someone in the service industry, they’re not inclined to make exceptions to store policy for you. I can’t believe she doesn’t know that.

My sister works as an assistant at an international department store during the school holidays. The store policy is for the staff to greet the customer as they pass you.

Assistant #1: “Good morning, ma’am. Welcome to [Store].”

A few minutes later:

Assistant #2: *In passing* “Good morning, ma’am.” *Walks past*

A few minutes later:

Assistant #3: *In passing* “Good morning, ma’am.”

The customer looks annoyed.

Customer: “Get me your manager!”

[Assistant #3] is puzzled but complies.

Manager: “Good morning, ma’am. How may I help you?”

Customer: “Your staff won’t stop bothering me while I shop!”

Manager: “How have they been bothering you, ma’am?”

Customer: “They’re so pushy and keep trying to make me buy their products! I just want to buy [item]. I’m not going to buy anything else! You can tell them to stop harassing me!”

The manager was able to placate her. Later, he gathered the staff in the back room and asked them about it. They explained that the most they had done was to wish her a good morning, and they could vouch for each other as they were all within hearing range.

I guess some people just don’t want to have a good morning.