I’m ringing out a family. So far, they’ve been polite, and the mom seems happy with the total. As we don’t have a lot of counter space, a lot of customers just hold their items until there’s some room. I’m almost done when an opened package of gum is set on the counter. There’s none missing, but it’s still been unsealed.

Mom: “Oh, my son didn’t want this.”

Me: “Ma’am, you opened it.”

Mom: “Well, yeah, but he didn’t eat any. You can just tape it closed or something.”

Me: “It doesn’t matter; you’ve opened it.”

Our policy is that once you’ve opened any food item, you must purchase it.

Mom: “That’s bulls***! If he doesn’t want it, I’m not buying it!”

I’m shocked at her sudden change in demeanor. I page my manager. She comes up pretty quickly, while I’m still explaining that she has to buy the gum.

Manager: “What’s the issue here?”

Mom: “My son picked this up and didn’t want it. He didn’t eat any, but this b**** says I have to buy it anyway because it came open!”

Manager: “Yes, ma’am. We can no longer ensure it’s safe to eat, as we don’t know if anything has gotten into it. And since your son has opened it, you are responsible.”

Mom: “But he didn’t eat any! Why should I pay for it when he hasn’t even eaten it or doesn’t want to?!”

Manager: “Ma’am, if you found this gum like this on the shelf, would you want to buy it?”

Mom: “Of course not! It’s open!”

My manager waited for the woman to realize. It took her a second before she quietly put the gum on the counter again. I scanned it, and she didn’t speak for the rest of the transaction.

I buy a new house and set up cable and Internet service. The salesperson convinces me that paperless billing is the way to go. After a couple of weeks, I need to change a detail on my account online. In order to do this, the system requires a PIN they assigned that can “conveniently” be found in the upper corner of the bill. If you try to view the bill online, you get this helpful response.

Website: “Please enter PIN from upper corner of bill.”

Every month, you get an email with the total due, but the only way to view the bill is with the PIN, and the only way to get the PIN is from the bill. I call customer support and around we go. They just keep telling me:

Customer Support: “All you need to do is go online to view your bill and get the PIN.”

Me: “But it’s prompting me for the PIN to get to the bill.”

They then read from their script.

Customer Support: “The PIN can be found in the upper corner of your bill.”

They never did seem to see the problem.

It’s just a few minutes from close. Our fabric counter closes earlier than the store to ensure that customers are at the register by closing time. A customer walks in and heads straight for me.

Customer: “Where are your quilting fabrics?”

Me: “They’re just a section over, but our fabric counter is closed for the night.”

Customer: “So you don’t have anyone who can cut this for me?!”

Me: “We do, but they’re busy preparing the counter for when we close. The store itself closes in a few minutes.”

Customer: “But I need this tonight!”

She storms off toward our quilting section. I give the fabric counter a heads-up over the radio. A minute later, I see her heading over. My manager meets her at the fabric counter.

Manager: “Can I help you?”

Customer: “Yeah! I need ten yards of this!”

My manager starts to unroll the fabric to measure it but says:

Manager: “Ma’am, for future reference, our fabric counter closes ten minutes before the store. I’ve made an exception for you today, but please do keep this in mind for future visits.”

The woman crosses her arms and glares at him while he measures and cuts her fabric. She then storms up to the front.

Manager: “What the f*** makes this fabric so d*** important you had to wait until almost nine at night to get it?!”

I work in the drive-thru. One day, I have a customer come through early in the day and order three large combos with two milkshakes, which comes out to be a $25 order. When she gets to the window, she has a card. I’m trained to take payment while handing out drinks. I swipe her card on the register and it takes a minute, so I go ahead and hand her food out while I’m waiting.

This particular time, her card declines. I have already given her her food. So I try to swipe again, as we get errors sometimes. It declines once again.

Me: “Sorry, ma’am. Your card has been declined.”

Customer: “It shouldn’t be.”

Me: “Do you have another form of payment?”

Customer: “No, I don’t. Just let me go, since your card machine isn’t working.”

I try to ask for the food back, but she pulls off. I still have her card, as I have explained the situation and handed her both declined slips. She comes in the front and starts accusing me of stealing money from her card.

At this point, I get my managers as I’m supposed to do with irate customers.

Customer: “You stole from me! You just put $120 on my card!”

She starts speaking to our second manager and it switches to $20.

As [Manager #1] starts trying to calm her down and explain the situation, the customer turns her tirade to her.

Customer: “This isn’t any of your f****** business. Why are you f****** talking to me?”

She still has the food in her car with her boyfriend, and at this point, my managers have had enough, so they tell her to leave before they call the police.

This “customer” accused me of stealing from her and ended up getting twenty-five dollars of free food after throwing a fit about money she clearly didn’t have in the first place.

Related:
Don’t Take Declined For An Answer

I am a store manager in a seasonal Halloween store. Every year when it gets close to the end of the season, all sales become final and the store does a sale to try and sell last-minute items the days after Halloween. With that in mind, we have to put up sale signs for the sale that is coming up, and inevitably, someone will try to get the items that are normal price on the sale price.

A customer approached me and puts items on the counter.

Customer: “These items are on sale, correct?”

Me: “No, the sale starts this weekend, so they are still normal price.”

Customer: *Gets huffy* “No, your signs say that everything is 50% off.”

Me: *Smiling* “I am sorry, ma’am, but that sale starts on November third.”

I point to the small sign that we have at every register; the dates for the sales are clearly printed with the percent off they will receive on those dates.

Customer: “Well, I don’t read the fine print.”

She walks out. I shrug and put her items on the other counter to be put back on the floor when I hear an irate voice talking to my coworker. 

Customer #2: “No one told me that all sales were final! I demand to see your store manager!”

I turned around to see a customer that I had helped over the past weekend. I smiled and she grumbled under her breath. Turns out, she wanted to return a few items, even though I had told her on multiple occasions that all sales were final; she was trying to pull a fast one and get her money back. After she left, my worker looked at me and said, “Well, we have only been open an hour; what else is going to happen today?”

Related:
The Nightmare Customer Before Halloween