You Broke Your Bed, Now You Gotta Sleep In It

(The customer I am with assumes everything I am doing is wrong, thinks I am stupid, and flat-out insults me to my face. I am just getting one of their last items, a simple hide-a-bed, which is a decently bulky item that we keep on the floor for convenience.)

Me: “Since you’re getting furniture, anyway, would you like me to bring this into the warehouse so they can load it with the rest of your purchase?”

Customer: “Sure. Whatever. Just hurry up already.”

Me: “All right, just let me finish filling out this ticket, then, and I’ll get that all set up for you.” *hands the customer the ticket* “So, once you pay for this at the till, you just need to drive around to the back and ring the buzzer, and the boys’ll load it up for you.”

Customer: “Fine.”

(I bring the hide-a-bed back and let the warehouse crew know about the purchase, so they can prepare it. It had been a busy day so they need to finish a couple of other orders first. During this time the customer has paid for their purchase and is waiting at the front door. Around twenty minutes later…)

Customer: *walking up to till* “Where’s my stuff? I’ve been waiting for about twenty minutes.”

Coworker #1: “I’m sorry? Let me check.” *walks up to me* “Yes, this customer is waiting for their stuff. Did you say you’d bring it out here?”

Me: “No, I informed them all of their furniture is in the back; they’ve just got to drive around.”

Customer: “What about my hide-a-bed?”

Me: “I brought it to the back like you wanted.”

Customer: *storming out, muttering various insults and cursing under their breath*

(The customer proceeds to drive around to our warehouse where our warehouse crew is still busy dealing with a couple of large orders that happened just before my customer. Warehouse crew has to check receipts on all orders, and the warehouse is exclusively employees only. This customer storms into the warehouse, grabs the hide-a-bed, and literally THROWS it into their vehicle.)

Coworker #2: “Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you doing?”

Customer: “Well, this is mine! I’m taking it with the rest of my furniture because that idiot employee out there wasn’t listening.”

Coworker #2: “You can’t just walk in here; this is employees only. Let me see your receipt.” *the customer reluctantly hands over the receipt* “All right, yeah, this is the hide-a-bed I was told about. All due respect, though, because of you trespassing and not showing me the receipt before taking this, you are liable for any damages that may happen to that hide-a-bed.”

Customer: “Yeah, whatever.”

Coworker #2: “I’ll get the rest of your order. But for the record, I was on the other side of that door when he sold you the hide-a-bed and he did exactly what you asked. I don’t think he’s the idiot.”

Customer: *continues to fume while my coworkers finish the order*

(After they load up their vehicle they speed off. Around twenty minutes later, we see this vehicle return and most of our staff let out a collective groan.)

Customer: “This g**d*** hide-a-bed you sold me is broken. I demand a replacement.”

(As it turns out, the customer throwing the hide-a-bed broke the slats.)

Coworker #2: “It wasn’t damaged when I inspected it, and as I told you, because of you mishandling it, we are not liable for the damage.”

(The customer completely lost it, making up various curse words until our manager came in to resolve the situation, and when the coworker explained it, our manager restated what the coworker had said, pointing out the distinct “Employees Only” sign and the fact that the customer didn’t follow store policies. After all this was done, my manager, who had been keeping an eye on the situation, came up to us and congratulated me for handling the situation properly. Then she got grumpy with [Coworker #2], but admitted that she herself would have done the same thing.)