I have bought a new tablet made by a major Internet retailer. In order to use my tablet, I have to create an account with said major Internet retailer. I have never needed to create an account with them before, so I am taken by surprise when it won’t let me use my email because “There is already an account with that email address.”

I call the retailer’s customer service line and finally get connected to a human representative.

Representative: “Hello, thank you for calling. My name is [Representative]. How can I help you?”

Me: “I’m trying to create an account so I can register my new [Brand] tablet, but it’s telling me that there is already an account with that email address. I did not create that account, so somebody must have used my email address for their own account.”

Representative: “You need to confirm the email to create an account.”

Me: “No, that’s not the problem. I did not make the account that is using my email. I would like that account to be taken down so I can use my own email for my account.”

Representative: “Oh, I understand. Can I have the name on the account?”

Me: “I don’t know what name the person used because I did not make the account.”

Representative: “I cannot cancel an account unless you are able to verify the information.”

Me: “How can I verify the information when someone else used my email address? Can you tell me what name is on the account, and I can tell you if that’s my name or not?”

Representative: “No, I cannot do that. What is your name?”

Me: “[My Name].”

Representative: “That is not the name on the account.”

Me: “I know it’s not. That is my name. Someone else used their own name, but they used my email address.”

Representative: “I am sorry, but if you cannot verify the name, I cannot cancel the account.”

Me: “So you’re saying that you are willingly allowing someone who is not me to use my email address for your website?”

Representative: “I am sorry, but if you cannot verify the name on the account, I cannot cancel the account.”

After trying once more to get the representative to understand my problem, I gave up and hung up. I tried calling the customer service number twice more to see if another representative could understand my issue, but no luck. So, eventually, I had to create a completely new email address JUST for [Major Online Retailer] in order to set up my new tablet.

I am working a late shift as a cashier when a trio of students from a local university, judging by their sweatshirts, come into my lane pushing a cart full of what is probably all the personal lubricant we had on the shelves.

Student #1: “Do you think this is enough to make a slip-n-slide indoors?”

Me: “Uh…”

Student #2: “Eh, don’t worry, [Student #1]. We have until Saturday. We’ll figure it out by then.”

They came in a few times after that, but most of their purchases were perfectly normal things. I wish I had asked them if it was enough.

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This Cannot End Well

This story is part of our Customer Situations That Will NOT End Well roundup! This is the last story in the roundup, but we have plenty of others you might enjoy!

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I enter a store and go directly to the corner where I know I’ll find the articles I am interested in. I make my choice and go to the counter. Nobody is there. I wait patiently, thinking the person who should be behind the counter needed a bathroom break or something. No one shows. I yell. No reaction. I try again a bit louder. Nothing.

Fed up, I go up the stairs toward the doors, leaving the things I picked up on the counter. The doors are locked. Now, I’m a bit claustrophobic and the fact that I can’t get out makes me feel like freaking out. I manage to keep my anxiety down by taking action — I usually can stop a full-blown panic attack by diverting my attention if panic levels are not too high — and start looking up the number for the local police station. Google to the rescue! While on hold, I hear something at the door and it opens. The store owner or attendant or whoever has the key enters. I hang up.

Owner: *Accusingly* “How did you get in?”

I’m a tad ticked off.

Me: “Through the door!”

Owner: “Which door? How did you find the back door?”

Me: “I entered through that door.”

I indicate the door she just opened.

Owner: “Well, why didn’t you tell me you were in the store?!”

I’m totally flabbergasted, with a lot of responses going through my head, varying from the less polite to the very much less polite.

Me: “Why didn’t you warn me you were leaving?”

Owner: “You should have told me you were in here!”

Me: “Well, in a minute, I no longer will be. You’ll find the articles I picked on the counter.”

I need to add that I was in an obscured corner in an otherwise open plan shop. No, I did not see her behind the counter — which is placed directly opposite the door — upon entering, but I knew there was usually only one person in the shop and, as I said, I thought she was on a bathroom break. Thinking back, she probably was getting her purse and coat in the back, and as I made a beeline to the screened-off part of the store, we crossed each other unnoticed. I do understand she was a bit shocked finding someone in what she thought to be an empty shop — I was in plain view when she entered –and I probably would have been more forgiving if she was more apologetic and less accusing. To this day, I have never returned and I don’t plan to.

I’m working at the jewelry counter of a big box store when I hear a noise from the purses, which are nearby. I then hear someone yell, “F*** this place!” and then stomp off. There is a customer browsing, and we give each other a look.

Me: “Sounds like someone is having a tantrum.”

Customer: “Yep.”

Me: “I should probably go check that out.”

I walk over to the aisle and see purses all over the floor. I walk out into the main aisle and see the supervisor and the manager standing there. I can tell by the looks on their faces that the customer had just stormed past them.

Me: “That customer just threw my purses all over the floor.”

My supervisor later told me that the customer was upset because the service desk wouldn’t take back her return, and on her way out of the store, she swept her arm across a clothing table and knocked all the clothes all over the floor. My supervisor also told me that the manager had said if the customer came back, she would be removed from the store.

I’m working as a cashier in a small chain store. A regular customer comes up with a few items. As I ring him up, he starts complaining.

Customer: “My family was here this morning, and one of your staff yelled at my two-year-old for touching things on the shelves.”

Me: “Do you know who it was? What they looked like?”

My supervisor walks over, having heard the “I’m Not Happy” tone of voice. She’s friends with the customer.

Supervisor: “Who’s been yelling at my little boy?”

Customer: “I don’t know. I know it wasn’t you or [My Name]. But he’s my child, and I’ll tell him when not to do something. It’s not your job to tell my boy not to touch things.”

Further questioning reveals that he’s complaining about the assistant manager, who would never yell at a child. We try to placate the irritated customer, but he’s still not happy as he leaves.

Customer: “She had no right to do that! It’s not your job to tell my kid anything. It’s not your job!”

My supervisor called the assistant manager to find out what had actually happened. The customer’s toddler had been playing with the lock on our entry doors and was about to pinch his tiny fingers between sharp-edged steel. The assistant manager had asked him nicely to stop messing with the door because he could get hurt. Apparently, the parents considered that “yelling” and didn’t want anyone but themselves ever telling their child not to do something.