I am at the electronics store one day. I’m a bit of a videophile and have just recently upgraded my TV and Blu-Ray player to 4K models, so I am excitedly picking up a few movies on 4K to test out the system. I snag about four movies and go to stand in line. There is a man who looks to be in his late fifties or early sixties ahead of me. He turns around and glances at the movies I am holding.

Customer: “Pfft. Show-off.”

I am not sure I heard him properly.

Me: “What was that?”

Customer: “I said you’re a show-off. Buying that overpriced crap! My son is the same way. DVD was perfect enough! You don’t need this Blu-Ray, 4K, jib-jab nonsense! You’re just spending money to say you’re spending money! Go put them back!”

Me: “Okay… I’m sorry, I guess?”

Customer: “Go put them back!”

Me: “Uh… no?”

Customer: “Go. Put. Them. Back. You don’t need them!”

Me: “Dude… leave me alone!”

Customer: “You should put them back!”

He then scowls and turns back around. When he gets up to the register, he starts ranting and telling the cashier I’m a jacka**. When he is finally done and I get up to the cashier, he turns around as he leaves and shouts one last thing.

Customer: “F****** SHOW-OFF!”

I have no clue what the guy had against me buying 4K discs, but at least the story had a silver lining; the discs looked fantastic on my display! And “Go put them back!” became a bit of a running joke with my friends for a while after I told them the story.

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I am a store manager for a car audio store. A spry, clear-eyed, old woman walks in.

Customer: “I want a new CD player for my car.”

Me: “What kind of car do you drive?”

Customer: “Oh, a Pontiac Goole.”

Me: “Pardon me, a what?”

Customer: *A little testy* “A 06 Pontiac Goole! Young man, I assume you are a professional and have experience working in many cars and especially cars made in the USA. I happen to drive an American car which is a Pontiac, are you familiar with that brand?”

Me: “Yes, I am very familiar with every model Pontiac has ever made, and never in 26 years have I ever heard of a Pontiac Goole.”

Customer: “That’s absurd! How can you call yourself a professional when you have never heard of a Pontiac Goole?”

Now it starts to get real and customers are starting to tune into what is going down.

Me: “Is your car here now?”

Customer: “Certainly! I was hoping to get a new CD player but you inspire no confidence in your knowledge of vehicles or your customer service.”

Me: “Please, can I see your Pontiac Goole for myself?”

Three or four customers want to see this too, because they know cars and they have no idea what a Pontiac Goole is either. Out we go and there in my parking lot…

 …is a 2006 Pontiac 600LE.

 I then have to show her it is a Pontiac 600LE. We walk back in the store with tears down our face from laughing so hard. She was a peach and bought a new radio and then returned the next day with fresh baked cookies and brownies for the staff. She still drives and stops in every now and then with her Pontiac “Goole” and we still laugh.

Tell your tale for us! Have you been able to prove a customer wrong? The NAR community would love to read it! Submit your story and help us to bask in the karma!

(I work at a Canadian electronics store which sell a range of electronics from TVs to batteries. On most of the products we offer an extended warranty which covers products for an additional two years after the one-year warranty through the manufacturer. These warranties are either replacements, for cheaper products, and repair, for more expensive products. A customer comes in wanting to replace her two tablet cables)
Me: Did you get the extended warranty on these?
Customer: Yes
(I look up her information and see that she only has an extended warranty on the two tablets, not the cables)
Me: I’m not seeing a warranty for the cables, only for two [brand] tablets.
Customer: Yeah, I brought in the cables a few months ago and the guy replaced them with these ones.
Me: Was that at this location?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Well, he shouldn’t have done that, because you have a repair warranty which covers the tablet itself. The warranty doesn’t cover cable replacements.
Customer: But the guy here replaced them for me.
Me: But he shouldn’t have. Your warranty doesn’t cover cable replacements, it’s meant for tablet repairs.
Customer: Wow, what kind of people are you guys hiring? This is the second time something like this has happened to me.
(I realize then that this woman had come in about a month ago to send her tablets out for repair but they were sent back because they were still in their first year manufacturer’s warranty. My coworker who had sent them out had done so by mistake, and she was quite angry when her tablets weren’t fixed)
Coworker: What’s going on?
Me: She has an extended warranty on her two tablets and she wants to get her cables replaced. Apparently she brought them in before and they were replaced.
Coworker: They shouldn’t have been because the warranty doesn’t cover that.
Customer: But the guy did it for me!
Coworker: He probably did that just to make you happy, but he really shouldn’t have.
(This goes around in circles while she keeps getting angrier and angrier, demanding we replace her cables)
Me: I don’t know what we can do.
Coworker: There isn’t anything we can do.
Customer {frustrated): Well, I guess I’ll take these and I’ll never buy anything here ever again!
(She left in a huff, dragging her two children behind her. Other customers in the store were looking at us in shock at her outburst. We apologized and got on with the evening. I felt bad that there wasn’t anything we could do, but there was no need to question our hiring practices and keep berating us)

I am sorting out stock when I notice an angry-looking man approach my coworker at the counter. He produces an old iPhone cable. It’s a completely mutilated mess, and sadly, we know what he’s about to ask.

Customer: “Refund.”

Coworker: “On this cable, sir?”

Customer: “Obviously.”

Coworker: “It looks like it’s been seriously damaged, sir. May I ask what happened to it?”

Customer: “D*** thing stopped working. Refund.”

Coworker: “It looks like someone has cut the cable, and then tried to fix it by soldering the wires inside together.”

Customer: “Yeah, I did that to fix it, but it didn’t work. Refund.”

Coworker: “I’m afraid we can’t process a refund for an item that was willfully destroyed. You should have bought it back before trying to fix it.”

Customer: “Nope. Refund. Manager.”

Coworker: “I am the manager on duty.”

She hands the broken cable back to the customer.

Coworker: “I am afraid we won’t be able to help you in this matter, sir.”

The customer stares for a moment, almost shocked that he hasn’t got his way. He picks up his broken cable, and in an act so shocking I swear I see it happening in slow motion, he tries to WHIP my coworker with it!

Luckily, she happened to be paying attention, and she caught the cable in her hand before it could reach her face. Holding the cable tightly, staring at the customer dead in the eyes, she says:

Coworker: “Leave, before this cable isn’t the only thing that’s broken.”

Customer: “You’re all scammers!”

And with that he storms out of the store, leaving behind the cable. She takes note of his license plate as he drives off from the parking lot, and sends it to the police along with the camera footage of his attempted whipping.

Share your experience today! Ever had to deal with an unruly customer? Share your story with the NAR community! It lets others with similar experiences know they’re not alone!

I work at a computer store that offers fixed-price computer-virus and trojan removal.

Customer: “I think my computer has a computer-virus; it says something odd when it starts.”

Me: “Okay, let’s have a look.”

I boot the machine and it gives a message about a pirated copy of Windows.

Customer: “That’s the computer-virus!”

Me: “No, it says that because it has an illegal copy of the operating system. They release updates that include checks every now and then, and they’ve discovered yours is a fake.”

Customer: “The kids must have gotten that when the antivirus expired.”

Me: “Um, no. It’s been like that since it was installed.”

Customer: “You advertise computer-virus removal; remove it!”

Me: “It’s not a computer-virus; it’s an illegal piece of software.”

Customer: “You have to do it; you advertise it!”

Me: “I’d be happy to remove any malware from your computer, but it wouldn’t still remove the error message you are seeing. I can’t remove your operating system unless you want me to install a legit copy.”

Customer: “Thanks for nothing, nerd!”

The customer grabbed his laptop and then walked out, kicking the doors.