(I live in a small Canadian town and the area is a well-known spot for touristic deer hunting, so it’s not unusual for us to have a number of American customers. I can tell this is the situation for one group of men that comes in one day; all are wearing full camouflage and have thick Southern accents.)

Customer: “You didn’t give me my change!”

Me: “Yes, I did.”

Customer: “You’re trying to rip me off, aren’t you?! You owe me two dollars change, and now you’re trying to convince me that this is two dollars! I know better than that! What are these gold things?!“

(He shoves his hand towards me… where he holds two loonies. I have a very hard time not taking my palm to my face.)

Me: *calmly* “That’s two dollars; in Canada, we have a loonie, which is a dollar coin instead of a dollar bill.”

(He said nothing and walked back to his table.)

(This was a few years ago. I worked at a popular sandwich shop. I was at the condiments area when one of my friends walks in wearing a sweater, khakis, and loafers. Mind you, we had gotten into a fight earlier that day.)

Coworker: “Hi, welcome to (shop), what can I get for you today?”

Friend: (In Mr. Rogers voice) “I’ll have a Chicken Bacon Ranch sub, neighbor.”

(She finishes putting all the ingredients on the sub and he gets over to me.)

Me: “What kind of condiments you want on this?”

Friend: (Still in the Mr. Rogers voice.) “Everyone can use a little more mayonnaise in their life, Neighbor.”

(I put on the standard amount of mayonnaise.)

Friend: “More please.” (I put some more on) “More.” (I put even more on) “Mooooorree.”

(I end up putting about half a bottle of mayonnaise on the sub. He sits down and uncovers it. The thing is trashed with mayo. Everyone else in the shop was just staring at him. He then proceeded to slam his face repeatedly into the sub, flinging mayonnaise everywhere. Then he stood up, launching his chair backwards, and shouted…)

Friend: IT’S SUCH A GOOD FEELING! A VERY GOOD FEELING! THE KIND OF FEELING WHEN YOU KNOW WE ARE…(Stops and approaching me. Now whispering.) Friends.

(He left, still covered in mayo. I quit the next day.)

(Had just finished putting a customer’s subs into the toaster with the help of a co-worker.)

Customer: “So ladies…do you have life insurance?”

(This wouldn’t even be a story if it weren’t for the fact that she paused dramatically and said it in a way that made us feel like we would need life insurance after that.)

(This was about a month ago but a friend of mine told me about this site so wanted to share) I work at a sandwich shop and its our normal lunch rush. We were shorthanded due to a co worker calling in sick in the morning. A customer comes up to my counter to share his concerns…
Customer: “Yo what is taking so long?!? I ordered my food nearly 10 minutes ago!”
(I ask for the number of his order and it so happens to be that his order is the one I am currently working on)
Me: “Im working on your order right now sir, it will be out in just a moment.”
(The customer had a fairly large order and one of his items was similar to another customers order so I made them at the same time. Since the other customer only had one item, I handed out the other sandwich.)
Customer: “Hey why did he get his order before I did? I ordered before he did!”
Me: “Well sir you ordered 3 of the largest sandwiches we make and one of yours was the same as one of his so I made them at the same time.”
Customer: “Well yall need to hurry up man I got my son in the car!”
(Today was an exceptionally hot day in Florida, and its is illegal to leave small children and pets inside your car unattended.)
(By now, my manager that was on my station with me has had enough of his complaining so she interjects)
Manager: “Well im sorry sir but were gonna have to call the police, because you know its illegal to leave your child in your car while its this **** hot outside.”
(The customer begs us not to and runs outside to get his son. Sure enough when he comes back his whole order is waiting for him in a on the counter. He rolled his eyes and walked out the door.)

(The next day he comes back in and apologizes for being the way he was the day before, he said he was in a hurry and he had no right leaving his son in the car and being out of line.)

(I work in a sandwich shop. I’m in the back, stocking back up after a pretty tough evening rush. One of my employees comes back and looks at me.)

Me: “You okay?”

Employee: “This lady out here in giving me some attitude…”

Me: “All right, what’s wrong?”

Employee: “She said her soup ‘stinks.’ It smells like it usually does; I could smell it when I poured it for her. So, I asked her if she wanted a different soup, and she said no, so I asked her if she wanted a refund and she got an attitude with me.”

Me: “That’s weird. Did she not want the refund?”

Employee: “No, she does.”

Me: “Okay, well, that will be fine. I’ll be out in a second.”

(My employee walks back out. I follow suit in about a half a minute to find the woman laying into my employee at the register.)

Customer: “No, he rung me up because you were busy. You were all so busy that I didn’t get the service I deserve.”

Employee: “I’m sorry, ma’am. I just was asking which register you got rung up on.”

Customer: “Yeah, it was this one. You, girl, you need to watch your mouth! You need to learn when to hold your tongue; you shouldn’t have such an attitude!”

(My employee is not known for being rude — quite the contrary, actually — and while the customer is verbally attacking her, she isn’t saying anything. I try to interrupt the customer but she won’t settle down. I finally get a word in.)

Me: “Ma’am, do you have a receipt?”

Customer: “No, I didn’t get a receipt because it was so busy! No one ever gave me one!”

Me: “Did you pay with cash?”

Customer: “Yeah! I did!”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, the register doesn’t automatically print out receipts for cash transactions, but it’s not a problem.”

(I nudge the employee over so I can get onto the register. The customer resumes lashing out at her.)

Customer: “You, miss, have a horrible attitude; you have horrible service! You need to learn to watch yourself!”

(My employee has not said a word, much less moved.)

Customer: “That’s right, you go ahead and fume! Go ahead and fume! Just go ahead and fume! You better get your act together!”

Me: *quietly* “[Employee], you can go in the back.”

(My employee exits to the back. I start a refund for the customer. I’m just as irate as my employee to the point that I’m shaking.)

Me: “Ma’am, was it just the soup that you needed the refund for?”

Customer: “Yeah, it stinks!”

Me: “Sorry about that, ma’am.”

(The customer continues to rant and rave as I process the refund. I can only do what I can to ignore her as I’m beyond furious at her treatment of my employee.)

Customer: “Can I go online or something? I have to let them know how bad your store’s service is! This was unacceptable; this was just horrible!”

Me: “You sure can, ma’am. We have a website and you’re free to leave comments.”

(I give her the address.)

Customer: “I’ll definitely be doing that; that girl was horrible! Way too much attitude!”

Me: “Okay. Thank you, ma’am.”

(I go into the back.)

Me: “[Employee], that lady was crazy. She’s going to leave a comment on the website, but don’t even worry. I’m going to take care of you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Employee: “She kept saying I had an attitude. I didn’t even say anything rude to her!”

Me: “I completely believe you.”