I work as an assistant manager at a large mall-based video game chain. I am well-liked by the customers because I give honest advice on games based on customers’ gaming preferences and I am low-pressure with sales. Customers often call the store on Thursday or Friday mornings to ask my opinion on new releases and get trade-in values for games before they come in on Friday nights.

One day, my district manager is visiting the store and walks in while I’m in the middle of a phone conversation. I know the customer on the other end of the phone well as he is a regular, and from my tone, [District Manager] assumes that I am talking to a friend during store hours.

As soon as I get off the phone, [District Manager] speaks to me condescendingly — not yelling, but certainly in an inappropriate tone — about how irresponsible it is and how I shouldn’t set a bad example. Before I can say a word back, one of the regular customers in the store walks up to him.

Customer: “I only come to this store to buy games, and I only buy them from [My Name]! I am treated exactly the way the customer on the phone was. When I buy games, I feel like I am taking the recommendation of a friend and not a salesperson! Do not talk to him in that tone!”

[District Manager] thanked the customer, shook my hand, and apologized, and a few months later, I was promoted to Store Manager. It felt really good to have someone who appreciated my hard work stand up for me!

This story is part of our Even-More-Highest-Voted-Stories-Of-2023-(so far!) roundup! This is the last story in the roundup, but we have plenty of others you might enjoy!

The Not Always Right 2023 Mid-Year Retrospective: 23 Top-Voted Stories

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The fire alarm has gone off in the mall where our store is located. We usher the few customers in our store outside so we can all head outside.

Me: “Excuse me, sir, we have to evacuate due to the fire alarm.”

Customer: “But I’m still shopping.”

Me: “You can continue shopping if it’s a false alarm and we can reopen, but we all need to leave right now.”

Customer: “I need to get a present for my wife! It’s our anniversary tonight!”

Me: “Sir, I am sure your wife would rather have you alive than have a gift.”

Customer: “…You haven’t met my wife.”

My very first job is at a fast food place in a mall food court. Working during the Christmas season is Hell on Earth, and we get a constant stream of some of the most irritable, irate, and unreasonable customers ever.

A mother with five out-of-control children comes up and orders a huge amount of food. I wish I could remember the exact order because it is massive. It’s crazily busy with lines of ten people or more at each of the five registers, all waiting for their food, and this mother and all five of her children are literally yelling, “Where’s my food?” and, “Helloooo?” the entire time they are waiting. Other customers are staring at them and wondering what their problem is.

Finally, they get their huge order, which amounts to two very large bags full of food, which is what was holding everything up to begin with. They head off to one of the tables in the food court to eat.

About ten minutes later, the woman comes back, with all five of her children by her side, holding her receipt and yelling.

Customer: “We didn’t get the food that we ordered!”

Me: “What do you think is missing from the order?”

Customer: “All of it! All you gave me was three bags of waffle fries and a package of chicken nuggets that were already chewed!”

That’s right; she said the nuggets were “already chewed.”

She throws a nugget box on the counter at me with what is definitely chewed-up chicken nuggets spat back into the container. First off, we obviously did not give her “already chewed” nuggets, and the entire kitchen staff has just madly scrambled to complete everything in her large order, and we handed her two huge bags of food with everything in it.

She starts making a gigantic scene.

Customer: “You ripped me off! Give me the food I ordered! Do it, or I’m calling the cops!”

There are gigantic lines of really angry people waiting behind her. At the point when she is threatening to call the cops, some random guy comes walking up and taps her on the shoulder to try and get her attention. She turns and he says:

Random Guy: “Miss, you left your bag of food under the table when you left.”

With that, he hands her a huge bag of food, the very food she is in the middle of accusing us of not giving her.

At this same time, one of her children yells:

Customer’s Child: “Those chicken nuggets tasted funny! I hate them!”

Customer: *Looking at the kid* “Shut up!”

She dragged her children away with her food. No one clapped, but plenty of them laughed!

Years ago, I had a job as a “concierge” at a large shopping centre. Basically, we stood around near exits to see if shoppers needed any assistance taking their things to their cars. Christmas was a particularly busy time, with people having trolleys of food as well as Christmas presents. We wore bright shirts with the centre logo on them, so it was pretty clear we were working there.

One day, I saw a prime target for assistance: a mother with a baby in a portable capsule, meaning the baby was only a few months old at the most, and a trolley packed with groceries, heading toward the carpark.

I approached her and asked if she wanted any help to her car, expecting her to give me the trolley, to which she said, “Sure,” and she HANDED ME HER BABY! I then followed her to the car, carrying her newborn. 

Who gives a newborn to an unknown? I can only guess that I either have a really trustworthy face or it was a case of baby-brain.

I work in a small store in a mall that requires minimal setup. Therefore, when my manager and I open the store, we usually only need to show up a few minutes before opening time.

Customer: “I came in yesterday, and you opened ten minutes late!”

Me: “Sorry, ma’am. The mall had a security alarm yesterday around opening time, so no one could enter the mall until security cleared the area.”

Customer: “Stop making excuses! If I was able to be out front of your store before you opened, you should have been, too!”

Me: “Wait, if you were outside our store before it opened, then you were in the mall before it opened, too.”

Customer: “The front doors were locked, so I used a side entrance. Very inconvenient!”

I think I know why the security alarm went off…