Customer: “Do you have any ice?”

Me: “Yes, we do!”

(I point towards our freezer of ice. The customer opens the door to the freezer and shuffles around a few bags before turning back to face me with a disappointed look on her face.)

Customer: “Do you have any ice less frozen?”

Me: “Um… No, I’m sorry. We do not.”

(I work in the bakery of a grocery store. A customer comes and stands at the employee opening to the bakery, holding a half pie he bought the previous day.)

Me: “Can I help you with something?”

Customer: “Is [Coworker] working today?”

Me: “No, she has the day off. Maybe I can help you?”

Customer: “When does she work next?”

Me: “I’m sorry; I can’t tell you that.”

Customer: *getting agitated* “Why not?”

Me: “It’s against store policy to give out the schedule of employees to anyone. My manager and assist manager are both in today; would you like to speak to one of them?”

Customer: *now angry* Yes.”

(The manager comes down and talks with the customer. The customer takes a new half pie and walks off.)

Manager: “What happened with him?”

Me: “He wanted to know when [Coworker] worked next, and I refused to tell him.”

Manager: “He said you were very rude to him and refused to help him.”

Me: *explains what happened*

Manager: “That makes more sense. Okay.” *walks off*

(I turn around to see the customer hovering by the counter, listening to see if I got in trouble.)

Me: *“Have a nice day.” *smiles at customer and returns to work*

(I found out a week later he called head office to complain about me. Wish I had been a fly on the wall for that call! “That’s nice, sir; here’s a coupon.”)

(This story takes place barely a month after my husband and I returned from our honeymoon and began living together for the first time. My husband is preparing to lead a soccer tour to an African country, taking along a couple dozen students. Understandably, it has been a busy time, and he is dealing with the final preparations. On Friday, the evening before he is set to leave, he gets home from work and decides he wants to park his car in the stall we get at our condo complex, instead of leaving his car on the street for two weeks. Unfortunately, there is someone parked in our stall, and my husband says he’s noticed the same vehicle there before. Slightly stressed with everything that is going on, my husband panics, and sees a sign in the parking lot with a number to call if there are any problems. He calls, and a tow truck comes and tows the car away. Soon after, we get a knock on our door.)

Dude: “Hey, did you get my car towed?”

Husband: “Yeah, you were parked in our stall. Sorry about that.”

Dude: “That was a jerk move. You could have just left a note on my windshield!”

Husband: “I’m sorry about that. I just have a lot going on right now, and I didn’t know what to do. I’m really sorry.”

(Our neighbour gives him a few more choice words after that, says something about living next door to a condo board member and them saying it was okay to park in our spot, and storms off. My husband and I leave the condo for an hour or two afterwards, and as soon as we return, there is another knock on the door.)

Dude: “Hey, it’s going to cost $450 to get my car back.”

Husband: “I’m really sorry.”

(They went back and forth a few more times, the guy getting progressively angrier. The conversation finished with the guy threatening to take us to small claims court. Yeah. Small court claims because he was parking in OUR parking spot — aka stealing. I ended up calling the condo management company and speaking to one of the administrative ladies to explain the situation, just in case he called. As I was finishing my story, I’m pretty sure I could hear her softly chuckling. She ended up calling me a few days later and said she spoke with the person in question, that he was in the wrong, and that the situation was resolved. My husband definitely regrets calling the number, as leaving a note would have been nicer, but at the same time, the guy didn’t have any leg to stand on. He didn’t park in our spot again and my husband saw him only once more after that. It was late at night, around the parking lot, and my husband thinks he was drunk. He said something along the lines of, “That spot good enough for you?”)

(I recently got a new car insurance policy, and a month later, my husband’s car insurance is also up for renewal. As we weren’t married when we renewed our car insurance last year, my husband tells me I should cancel my new insurance and go on his plan to save money, which I agree with. But now I am a little concerned, as I don’t know what the cancellation policy is for my insurance. I have a conversation with the company.)

Insurance Agent: “There is no cancellation fee, but there is a charge, based on how long you have been on the policy and [a few other factors].”

Me: “Okay, so could you tell me what the charge would be, then?”

Insurance Agent: “Unfortunately, I am not able to do that. Because you haven’t been with us for long, I would recommend that you wait to cancel until your renewal date.”

Me: “So, there is no way to tell how much I would pay to cancel?”

Insurance Agent: “I couldn’t tell you that until you cancelled. I understand this is a little confusing.”

Me: “Confusing?! This is aggravating and makes absolutely no sense at all!”

(Fed up, I said goodbye and called my husband to tell him about the conversation. He was very confused and encouraged me to call back to see if I could get a clearer answer with another agent, but I was at work and had already wasted enough time with the call. A very short time later, my husband called me back, and told me he called the insurance company himself, and they gave him an answer right away, saying that I would either be getting back or paying between $5 to $20. I was baffled. If this other agent didn’t know, she should have asked someone! I couldn’t believe she told my husband literally the exact opposite thing that I had been told. I am now on my husband’s plan and we are saving approximately $800 a year on insurance.)

Related:
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 10
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 9
Not Much Assurance About The Insurance, Part 8

(I work in a small shop that sells sunglasses, shoes, and backpacks; basically, it’s an accessory shop. We are having a buy-one-get-one sale on our backpacks, but it’s only on certain brands, so we have signs set up inside and outside of our store. Everything is clearly printed; there is no fine print because our store manager knows people don’t read the fine print on sale signs, so she makes the font size 48 so people can see it clearly)

Customer: “I saw that there was a buy-one-get-one 50% off sale; I’d like to get purchase these.”

(She hands me two backpacks; one is included in the sale but the other is not.)

Me: “Unfortunately, this backpack isn’t included in the sale, but the other one is. The brands that are included in this sale are—” *lists all the brands on the sign* “If you need help finding a backpack like this one here, I would be happy to help.”

Customer: “No, your sign says, ‘Buy One Get One 50% off on all backpacks.’ It doesn’t say which ones are and which ones aren’t; I would like this one for 50% off.”

(I take her over to the sign and point out which brands it says are on sale.)

Me: “See, miss? It says right here. Unfortunately, the one brand is not included.”

Customer: “Well, no wonder I didn’t see it. Stores like these need to stop putting stuff in the fine print.”

(The customer walks out.)

Manager: “If I made the font any bigger, there would have been a store banner, and even then she probably wouldn’t have read it.”