Twice Bitten, One Goodbye

(We have an information and special orders desk on the upper level of our store. A customer has just taken it upon himself to come behind the desk to throw trash away despite the fact that there are several public trash cans around our store. I happen to see him do so.)

Me: “Excuse me sir, please do not come behind the desk. This area is for employees only.”

Customer: “You need to put trash cans where we can find them!”

Me: “Sir there are three in the cafe, one over there, one in the restroom, and you’re welcome to ask an employee to assist you.”

Customer: “Well I shouldn’t have to!”

Me: “Sir, entering an employee’s only area of our store is technically a theft prevention issue and I’m afraid that I’ll have to ask you to leave the store.”

Customer: *gets inches away from my face* “Bite me.”

Me: “You need to leave the store right now.”

Customer: “Bite me!”

(He stomps off as I call my manager to assist me. He returns having heard me page my manager and ask to speak to my manager.)

Me: “He’s already on the way.”

Manager: “Hi, I’m the manager, what’s the problem?”

Customer: *turns his yelling to the manager* “Your employee was completely out of control. I walked behind the desk to throw my trash away because I got food at your cafe, and—”

Manager: “Wait. You walked behind the desk?””

Customer: “Yes! I needed to throw my trash away and your employee was completely rude to me.”

Me: “Sir, with all due respect, I was merely informing you that you had entered a customer restricted area.”

Customer: “Your behavior was completely rude and unprofessional woman! If your store is going to have a food establishment in it, you need to have trash cans for your customers.”

Manager: “Sir, there are three trash cans in the food establishment part of the store alone, and you could have asked her to throw the trash away, we are happy to oblige.”

Customer: “Your employee was rude! I should not have to deal with such thing!”

Manager: “I understand. I’m hearing your side of the story, and I’m hearing her say she was not rude to you. And sir, I understand that your response was to tell her to bite you?”

Customer: *defensively* “Well, yeah!”

Manager: “If that was actually your response, I’m inclined to side with my employee. You need to leave the store now, or I can call security.”

Customer: “Well I can see talking to you is a waste of my time.” *stomps out*