I work at a grocery store as the grocery department manager. During lockdown it has been absolutely insane for grocery stores all over the country. We’re out of a lot and it’s taking a while for things to get back in. We’re finding alternatives to give our customers SOMETHING to buy, even if it’s not their usual choice.

One of these is water. When crap really starts hitting the fan, the first thing to go (after toilet paper) is multi-pack water. It becomes increasingly hard to get our brand in, so I get with my Coke/Dr Pepper/Pepsi vendors and have them bring in the national brands.

The next day, an angry customer approaches me and speaks  loudly with an accusatory “GOTCHA” tone.

Customer: “So I see you guys have no problem profiteering off of this emergency!”

Me: *Genuinely confused.* “What do you mean?”

Customer: “Yesterday your water was $2.99. Today it’s $6.99.”

Me: “Well, sir, this isn’t the water we norma—”

Customer: “I can’t believe you guys would jack your prices up like this. I’m calling the…” *He turned to his wife.* “Who is it?… The… Better Business Bureau?” *He turns back to me.* “The better business bureau!”

Me: “Sir, you can call whoever you want. We haven’t changed our prices. Our cheaper brand of water is unavailable for the foreseeable future, so we brought in the national brands, so we’d have water for you to buy.”

Customer: “Well why isn’t it the same price as yours?!”

Me: “If you came in here wanting ground beef, and we were out of ground beef, you wouldn’t expect me to sell you filet mignon at ground beef price, would you?”

Customer: “…”

Me: “The national brands have always been this price, sorry it’s more expensive than you’re used to, but it’s the only water we can get in right now.”

He bought our limit of two and walked away without another word.

I manage an oil change shop. Today, I am working by myself as I happen to work the slowest store in the company.

An older lady (probably mid- to late sixties) pulls into my parking lot in a decent-looking car.

Me: “Hi, how are you?”

I can tell English isn’t her first language.

Customer: *Seeming upset* “Can you help me?”

Me: “Sure, what can I do for you?”

Customer: “Guy said car is junk and will give me $2,000 for it, and I don’t know what to do…”

I take a gander outside and see her car. It’s a five- or six-year-old VW Jetta. It’s not new by any means but looks worth way more than $2,000.

Me: “What’s wrong with it?”

Customer: “It’s running rough, and the door squeaks.”

I take a look under the hood, and the mass air flow sensor is unplugged. I plug it back in and apply some WD40 to the hinges. I start it back up and it runs perfectly.

Me: “I fixed it, but I want to blue book your car for you, so you know what it’s worth.”

Her car comes up as being worth about $7,500.

Me: “That guy was trying to rip you off. Don’t trust him.”

Customer: “The guy I took it to told me that the engine was junk and was only going to get worse, and that my door was about to fall off!”

Whoever this was clearly saw that she knew nothing about her car and would be easy to manipulate, and they tried to flip her car for a nice payday!

Me: “Your car is fine, and if you need anything, you come and see me!”

She started crying, gave me a hug, and went on her way. Didn’t charge her a dime. Coolest moment in my many years of customer service!

I’m a man in my early thirties, and I work in semiconductors. Recently, a female employee in her early twenties was moved to my area, and I had to train her. It’s a well-known fact at work that this girl is flirty and inappropriate. She has gotten several men fired and reported just as many to Human Resources. Her file must be thick.

As soon as she was moved to my area, I could see that she was shy with me and a little flirty. As the days went by, she became more and more flirtatious, very hands-on, and touchy-feely. She would even say how cute she thought I was, etc. I admit I played back with her but never in an inappropriate manner. She added me on social media, and we exchanged information as she had expressed interest in hanging out.

I guess one weekend [Employee] saw on social media that I had gone to the park one day, and when I came back to work the following week, she acted very odd and angry. It turned out that she was upset that I had never called her. She was acting very immature, and overall, it was just crazy that someone would get that mad considering we had never officially made plans or anything.

A few weeks later, the same flirty behavior was still going on. I ended up missing a few days of work due to a bad stomach bug. I couldn’t eat or drink anything. After a couple of days of being in bed, I felt well enough to look at my phone, and I had a ton of notifications. A few were from [Employee]; she was so angry that I left her on read, and she had tried to get ahold of me multiple times with no success.

The following Monday, I got to work, and of course, [Employee] was angry, but I just ignored her and kept working. Shortly after, the manager came up to me and told me to get my stuff because I was being moved. I kind of figured this had something to do with [Employee], but I wasn’t sure, so I asked. It turned out that she told them that I had asked her out repeatedly, she had turned me down every time, I’d been mean to her ever since she turned me down, and I refused to help her with work — all very untrue.

This was escalated to HR, and soon after, I got a call from HR explaining that there was an open investigation on me for what [Employee] had said. I denied all accusations and told them I had no problem sending them screenshots proving that she was lying.

I sent them all of the messages with her calling me “honey” and telling me I was cute. I sent them a message from three days before her complaint, where she had asked me to hang out when we had time off together. The last message I sent to HR was a message from [Employee] apologizing for slapping me in the face at work twice. She did this in an immature flirting type of way, but I was pretty mad and never said anything, just kept the texts.

After she made up lies trying to get me fired because I left her on read for too long, I figured HR would like to see a message from a girl who was admitting to assaulting someone at work unprovoked.

Needless to say, a couple of weeks after the investigation began, [Employee] was fired, and all was right in my world again.

My state has increased the minimum age for tobacco purchase to twenty-one. Every gas station in my local area now requires everyone, regardless of age at all, to show a valid ID to discourage the already ongoing issue of purchasing for underage people.

Customer: “Marlboro 100s.”

Me: “Sure, we do need to ask for ID.”

Customer: “What? Dude I’m like, twice your age.”

Me: “I’m still required to as part of my job, I completely get the frustration though.”

I’ve found that appearing sympathetic to a certain point can avoid issues sometimes, but not always…

Customer: “Yeah, I guess you conveniently forgot to card the pretty little white girl a minute ago, huh?”

Me: “Actually, she had just come back in after getting her ID since she had left it in the car and I couldn’t sell it to her otherwise. Again, I get it, but I still need to card everyone regardless of if they’re twenty-one or a-hundred-and-twenty-one.”

Customer: “F*** outta here, I’m going up the road for the cigs.”

Me: “Just the gas then today?”

I puts the cigarettes back in the slot.

Customer: “You really are gonna be a little b**** about it, aren’t you? You’re lucky if I don’t decide to sue you discrimination of age or attempting to steal identity information.”

I am seriously irritated and there’s a line forming which isn’t helping the stress at this point. 

Me: “Sir, I have to do my job regardless. If you really feel inclined to do so, I can’t legally try to stop you, but for now, if you’re still getting gas, please let me know… I don’t mean to sound rude but I’m the only one with a register open and there’s a line forming.”

Customer: “Right, now you’re just being a dumb-a**, but it’s cool. College isn’t for everyone I guess. I’ll just get the gas up the road.”

Me: *Internally fuming at this point.* “Understandable. Enjoy the rest of the day though!”

Customer: “What, you thought I was serious? $25 on nine.”

Thankfully he shut up until he got to the door after finally pre-paying for the gas… then blurts out that the company should be recognized for employing special-ed kids.

He was banned from the property after being caught giving two others a hard time like that too, once during the next shift after me, and once the following day to my manager directly.

Related:
No ID, No Idea, Part 51
No ID, No Idea, Part 50
No ID, No Idea, Part 49
No ID, No Idea, Part 48
No ID, No Idea, Part 47

I work in a hotel. We had an older couple who had booked a prepaid, nonrefundable reservation through an Online Travel Agency (OTA). The man was the one I interacted with while checking them in; the woman kind of just stood back and waited.

I asked [Man] for the same items I ask of everyone: a driver’s license and a credit card.

Man: “You don’t need my credit card.”

Me: “Your room is prepaid, but I do indeed need your credit card on file for incidentals.”

Man: “I’m not going to give it to you. You hotel people always hold the money for way too long.”

Me: “Sir, the amount of time it takes for an authorization hold to drop is completely dependent on your bank. We don’t choose when to release the funds.”

Man: “Well, I’m not giving it to you anyway.”

Me: “Okay? Well, you can do a cash deposit of $150 if you’d prefer. You’ll get it back in the morning if there’s no damage to the room.”

Man: “That’s too much. How much would it be if I used my credit card?”

Me: “It would be the same amount: $150.”

Man: “That’s way too much. I already paid for the room. We just need a place to sleep for the night. I’m not paying for incidentals.”

Me: “Sir, bottom line, I can’t give you a room if you don’t have a card on file or a cash deposit.”

Man: “Is $50 okay?”

Me: “No.”

Man: “$100?”

Me: “No.”

Man: “Why not?”

Me: “Because that’s our policy: $150 cash deposit or a card on file. You will literally get it back when you check out in the morning as long as you don’t trash the room.”

Man: “Are there at least two beds in the room?”

Me: “No, it’s a single queen room. One bed.”

Man: *Huffing* “That’s not what I booked. I booked two beds!”

Me: “Okay, well, you’d have to take that up with the third party you booked through. That’s what the reservation says, and I can’t change it.”

Man: “Are you kidding me?”

Me: “No. I can’t change the room type for you. You need to take it up with the Online Travel Agency.”

Man: “Can we just cancel it? This is getting ridiculous.”

I agree; this WAS getting f****** ridiculous.

Me: “I can’t cancel it. You need to talk to your OTA.”

Man: “So, you’re refusing to refund us?”

Me: “I don’t have your money. You have to call the OTA.”

Man: “Well, if we can’t cancel it, I guess we’ll have to take the room.”

He rolls his eyes and takes out his wallet — his thick wallet with plenty of cash in it — and hands me $150.

Man: “I want a receipt for the deposit.”

Argh. We don’t typically put the deposit in the folio since our system lumps it in with our drop total and messes up the drawer. We make a note in the reservation, note it in an email that goes to the front desk, general manager, and front office manager, and fill out a paper that’s clipped to the deposit money in the drawer. But okay, I’ll put it in the folio to get this guy out of my hair.

I put it in the folio, printed him a receipt, and then reversed the payment so my drop total wouldn’t be messed up.

I handed the man his room keys at last, and he had one more thought to add:

Man: “My review of this hotel will not be good.”

[Man]. Dude. Bro. Man. You didn’t even book with the hotel; you booked with an OTA and then tried to haggle over an incidental deposit. And in my experience, anyone who tries to get out of paying for incidentals is most certainly planning to f*** up the room in some way.

Don’t be a [Man].