I work part-time at a discount retail store while I am home from college. One day, during the summer, I am working at the register when a customer comes up looking to check out. In her haul are two pairs of earrings. As I scan them, the customer suddenly becomes confused.

Customer: “Those are supposed to be ‘Buy one, get one 50% off.’ There’s a sign that says so!”

The register automatically applies those discounts on its own. I glance at my screen and notice that the discount didn’t pop up. That’s odd.

Me: “Huh. Can you show me the sign that you saw? Maybe the register doesn’t have the sale in its system yet.”

Together, we walk to the aisle where she got the earrings. On the shelf are a variety of necklaces, earrings, and boxed jewelry sets. These sets are aimed at kids and contain a set of earrings, a ring, and a necklace that all match with each other. She gestures toward the big sign that says, in bold letters, “Buy one, get one 50% off all boxed jewelry”.

Me: “Oh, I see the problem. The sale is only on the jewelry that comes in the boxes like these.” *Picks up one of the boxes to show her* “The earrings you picked up aren’t in a box, so they aren’t on sale.”

Customer: “You should make your signs less confusing to your customers.” 

I just stared at her in disbelief. She didn’t even read the sign and wants to blame me for it? I didn’t respond to her and just walked back to the register in silence. She didn’t get the earrings.

My husband and I are driving home, and we decide to drive through [Fast Food Chain] for lunch. Important to know is they are selling quesaritos at this time. We have a little trouble ordering, but we attribute that to bad speakers.

When we pull up to the window, it is clear the guy at the window is high. After we finally pay for our food and get the bag, my husband asks me to check we got our food. We are missing a quesadilla.

Husband: “Excuse me.”

Worker: “Yeah, man.”

Husband: “We’re missing a quesadilla.”

Worker: “Oh! I thought you wanted a quesarito.”

Then, he just smiles at us, hanging out the window, completely amused by the mistake. After a minute or so goes by, my husband speaks again.

Husband: “So, can we have our quesadilla?”

Worker: “Oh! Oh, sure. Yeah, man, you can have a quesadilla.”

Then, he just stands there again, looking at us.

Husband: “So, do you want to get it for us, or should we come inside?”

Worker: “Yeah! Yeah, I can get it for you.”

He closes the window and hopefully asks someone else to make the food. He opens the window to give it to us.

Husband: “Do you want us to give you back the quesarito?”

Worker: “I mean, like, why?”

Husband: “Because we’re getting our quesadilla?”

Worker: “Nah, man, you should eat it! It’s good. We’re all good.”

The window closed and we drove off.

I’m working at a candy store that gives out free samples. The location of this store means that there are gaggles of teenagers and kids lurking about, and a lot of them get the free sample, maybe buy one single item, hang out for a couple of minutes to chat with their friends, and then leave.

One particularly busy Friday night (I think there was a movie release), the store is SWAMPED. I mean, you can barely move, even behind the counter, because of all the people in the store.

There is finally a break. I’m breathing normally for a moment when I glance down at the counter in front of me to see if it needs to be wiped down. I just served a group of preteen boys, and one of them has left his mobile phone on the counter.

Mind you, it is a black phone, about five inches long, on an almost pristine white counter. How do you forget a GIANT BLACK PHONE on a WIDE WHITE COUNTER? I tell my manager, and put it on the counter behind me. I wipe down the counter, and wait for the next wave of customers.

The boys don’t come back. It’s been about half an hour, and I’m concerned. We get another break in customers, and I glance at the phone. It’s ringing, and the caller ID says “Mom.” I tell my manager I’m going to answer it, and I walk out of the store for a second to do so.

I answer it, and I am met with the voice of a woman who is fed up with her child.

Woman: “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! I’VE BEEN TRYING TO CALL YOU FOR AN HOUR! YOU NEED TO PICK UP YOUR PHONE—”

Me: “Ma’am, ma’am! I’m so sorry, my name is [My Name]. I work at [Store]. Your son left his phone in our store.”

There is a moment where I swear I can hear the gears in her head turning.

Woman: “Well! He’s going to lose his privileges over this one!”

Me: “Ma’am, he was with a group of other boys. Do you know any of them? Do you know their phone numbers?”

Woman: “He’s with his friends. No, I don’t know who they are, nor do I know their phone numbers. Wait! My daughter is there with her friends, too. I’ll let her know, and she’ll pick up the phone. Would that work?”

Me: “That’s just fine, ma’am. We’ll have the phone here waiting for her. What does she look like?”

Woman: “She has red hair; she looks just like him.”

Me: “…that’s fine. I’ll have the phone here.”

Woman: “Oh, thank you, thank you!”

We hang up, and I put the phone back on the counter. I’m wondering because of her tone if this isn’t the first time this has happened. I shrug and go back to the waves of teenagers.

About twenty minutes later, a teenage girl with reddish hair walks in with her friends. She’s smirking, and her friends are giggling.

Girl: “Hi! I’m here to pick up my brother’s phone?”

Me: “Oh, yes, you’re the sister. Here you go. Does this happen often?”

Girl: “Thanks. Yep, that’s the fourth time he’s left his phone somewhere.”

Me: “Oh, jeez. Well, there go his privileges?”

Girl: *Rolling her eyes* “Yeah, my parents always say that. He’ll be grounded for a week, and that’s about it. Thanks!”

And with that, they flounced out of the store. I hope the boy didn’t get into too much trouble, and hopefully, he learned his lesson!

I work in the bedding section of a department store. I take a phone call from an angry customer.

Customer: “The fitted sheet I bought didn’t fit my bed!”

I verify that he has the correct size for his bed

Me: “It might have been missized from the factory, but you can bring it in for an exchange.”

About thirty minutes later, he comes in, visibly annoyed. I process the exchange and send him on his way with an apology for the inconvenience. About fifteen minutes later, the phone rings with the same customer on the line.

Customer: *Irate* “The sheet still doesn’t fit!”

After a minute or two of his yelling, I ask him:

Me: “Are you sure that you’re putting the sheet on in the right direction, with sheets being rectangular and all?”

Pause.

Customer: “Oh.” *Click*

I work for a real estate company that has offices in two states. We have just adopted a new website platform and have had a lot of frustrations with the transition. One recurring issue we are having is that the pages showing specific property listings will display names and contact information that do not belong to the agents representing those listings.

I open an email ticket with support to get this addressed.

Me: “There is an issue affecting some of our property listing pages. For properties listed by [Agent], the page is showing someone else as the listing agent and a phone number that is not her cell number, nor our office number.”

Support Person #1: “I just took a look at your account, and [Agent #1]’s ID number was entered incorrectly in our system, so I fixed it. As for the phone number, that is a number assigned to your company by our system to capture customer contact information. It can’t be changed, but don’t worry; sale leads will still be directed to the agent representing the property listing. Have a great day!”

This explanation suffices for my team, and the fix they applied seems to do the trick… until I realize the same issue is happening with a handful of other agents. I reach back out to support.

Me: “I had a ticket open about agent information displaying incorrectly on property listing pages. I have now discovered that this is still happening for the following agents: [list of names].”

Support Person #2: “I see the ticket you had open with [Support Person #1]. Unfortunately, you cannot change the phone number displayed on property listing pages. It is a number assigned to your company by our system to capture customer contact information. Don’t worry; sale leads will still be directed to the agent representing the property listing!”

Me: “Okay, that’s fine and actually not what I’m concerned about. There are a handful of agents who are not showing up on their own listings. The last support person applied a fix to correct this for one agent, so now I just need that same fix applied to these other agents.”

Support Person #2: “I have put in a request with our developers to allow you to change the phone number in the future, but unfortunately, at this time, it cannot be changed. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Me: “Okay, as I already said, I understand that the phone number can’t be changed, and I’m not concerned about that. I need to ensure that the correct agent is displaying on property listing pages. For example, [Property Listing] is currently showing that [Agent #2] is representing this listing, but they’re not. This listing is represented by [Agent #3], so [Agent #3]’s name and photo should be on this page.”

Support Person #2: “That information is actually all random. The agent displaying on the page won’t always be the agent representing the listing. If you don’t want an agent showing up on these pages at all, you can turn that off in Settings.”

They send me a screenshot showing that they have ALREADY DONE THAT in my account. I rush into my account and turn that setting back on.

Me: “Actually, we aren’t allowed to turn that off. Our regional real estate commission requires the correct information to be there. I know for a fact that it’s not random because the last support person already fixed it for me once. Also, in the example I just shared, the agent displayed on the page is not even licensed in the state the property is located in, so they couldn’t even legally represent a buyer for this property. I really need these specific people’s information to be fixed.”

Support Person #2: “Unfortunately, at this time, the phone number cannot be changed.”

They go into the same spiel about the assigned system phone number.

Me: “I understand the system phone number, and that is fine. I really need the other part of my issue addressed.”

Support Person #2: “I have put in a request to allow the phone numbers to be changed, but at this time, they can’t be. I understand that this is not an ideal solution for you, and I apologize.”

Me: “Okay, is there someone else I can speak to about this? Or maybe we could get on a video call? It seems that my actual concern here is still being misunderstood.”

Support Person #2: “Sure, I’d be happy to get on a video call with you! Here is a link…”

We get on a video call, and I am able to share my screen, show them the exact place on our website where the incorrect information is being displayed, and prove to them that in most cases, it IS displaying the way we want to and not randomly.

Support Person #2: “Okay, I do apologize for the misunderstanding. Let me reach out to the first support person you talked to and find out what fix they applied so that we can correct these other agents.”

I breathe a sigh of relief, thinking I have finally gotten through to this person… until a day later when I get this response.

Support Person #3: “Hi there. I spoke to the previous support person on this ticket, and they were able to explain that they assigned you a system phone number to match the area code of your primary office. Unfortunately, at this time, this number cannot be changed, but I have put in a request with development to allow this in the future. I understand that this is not an ideal solution for you, and I apologize for the inconvenience. Have a nice day!”

I don’t think I’ll ever head-desk any harder than I did at that moment. This conversation was primarily over email, and it would sometimes take days for Support to respond, so this entire exchange took well over a month.

I still haven’t found out how to fix the problem.