Working in retail is not a pleasant walk in the park. It’s more like hiking up a treacherous trail without food or water. Customers become entitled and have no shame yelling at you even if their problem is not your fault. Some retail workers share some of their worst experiences with customers while at work.
Thief
One man ran out of an auto parts store with over $60 worth of headlight light bulbs in his pockets. When an employee ran out to grab his license plate number, they saw the thief drive into a curb and blow out his tire. Luckily he couldn’t go anywhere and was arrested.
Trashed
While working at the drive through window at McDonald’s one employee had a bag of trash thrown at his face when he reached out to get the customer’s credit card. Before the culprit could drive away, he smashed right into the back of a police car.
Pizza Woes
While working at a pizza shop, a woman barged through the door and demanded that her pizza be remade because it was the wrong one. When she asked what the employees were going to do about it, they replied with “nothing.” She threw a fit and called them unbearable names. Then the employees explained that the pizza didn’t come from their shop, but the one across the street. She fell silent and slinked out the door full of shame.
AppleCare Scam
A woman came into her phone store and demanded a new iPhone because hers wasn’t working. The employee said that it wasn’t possible because her plan didn’t cover it. After being on the phone for two hours with customer support, they agreed to give her a new phone. As she walked out of the store, she dropped the phone and it wouldn’t turn on. She came back in asking what they can do for her and the employee explained nothing since she refused to buy the AppleCare plan.
Karma Hits Again
People who open food in the grocery store to eat and don’t pay for it are known as grazers. One grazer opened up a box of donut holes, but ended up choking on it and hitting his head pretty hard on a shelf. EMTs were called and he ended up being okay. However, he definitely learned his lesson.
No Dogs Allowed
A man tried to bring his dog into the grocery store, but when a greeter said he couldn’t because of health reasons, the man threw a fit. The manager gave in and let the customer through. Just five minutes later, the dog goes to the bathroom in the middle of the store and the man left completely embarrassed.
Backfired
During a hectic Black Friday, one angry customer complained that a laptop she wanted was sold out. She then threatened to call the Fire Marshall and report that there were too many people in the store unless she got the laptop. Later, the store called the Fire Marshall and let them know what she had said. She ended up being fired because she abused her power.
Reservations
An angry customer called a restaurant to make reservations the night before Mother’s Day for six of his family members. When the hostess informed him that it wasn’t possible because they were fully booked, he threw a fit and started screaming at her. When the manager got on the phone he insulted the customer for wasting the hostess’s time during the busy dinner rush and hung up on him.
Everyone Does It
While eating at a McDonald’s a woman complained that a customer had passed gas and asked the employee to tell him to leave. The employee said that he couldn’t. The man, overhearing the conversation, apologized and ate his meal outside. Just a few minutes later, the woman’s son also passed gas and a nearby customer who saw everything told her she had to sit outside as well.
Dine and Dash
A waitress had two customers dine and dash, so she called the cops with their license plate. Later that night, they were pulled over for a DUI and the officer recognized the plate. He brought the guys back to the restaurant and made them pay their bill and tip the waitress generously.
Premium Please
While working at a gas station, one customer in an expensive Mercedes asked for the Premium gasoline. However, the tankers were delayed and they were out, so the employee suggested he go down the street. The customer was so angry that he sped off and hit a curb on his way out. He damaged his rim so bad that he couldn’t even drive away.
Buddy Boy
While working as a waiter at a nice restaurant, a family came into the restaurant and said that they were waiting for their fourth person, their son, to arrive. They had been waiting for 40 minutes and the waiter offered a small appetizer to keep them from getting too hungry while also referring to the son as his “buddy.” The father got offended and said it was disrespectful. The waiter apologized, only to find out that the son was an old high school friend of his.
Shoe Monster
While working at a shoe store near a casino, one customer came in and made such a mess just an hour before the store closed. When the receipt machine wasn’t working, she yelled at the cashier. She then proceeded to get a security guard down the hall to complain, but it turns out he recognized her as a shoplifter and detained her.
Missing Money
A man came into his bank and yelled at the teller because $500 had gone missing from his bank account. After checking the account, they discovered he had paid $500 for a male webcam service and it didn’t actually go missing.
Protection Plan
While selling a Nintendo DS to a mother for her son, an employee explained the benefits of the protection plan. The mother was offended that the employee thought her son was irresponsible and would need a plan. As they’re talking, the son throws the box across the store for no reason. She bought the plan.
Guardian Angel
While working as a cashier, one girl told a customer that she couldn’t accept his expired six month old coupon. The customer started yelling at her and calling her names. He then gets a tap on the shoulder by the girl’s older, much bigger, brother asking the man to repeat what he had just said to his little sister.
Anger Problems
One customer tried to return spark plugs he had bought and used for many years. When the employee said they couldn’t be returned because he didn’t have a receipt, the man was so angry that he threw them across the parking lot and hit another customer’s windshield and breaking it.
Wrong Name
Wile working at a bookstore, a customer came in asking for a book she had placed on hold. When the employee went to look for the reserved book under her name, she couldn’t find it. The customer grew angry and started yelling. Turns out the reservation was under her husband’s name, not hers.
Pregnant Karma
While working at a grocery store, one woman had two carts full of food. As she was checking out, she kept complaining how slow the cashier and baggers were. Finally when she went to leave, a pregnant woman by the door puked all over the woman and her groceries. The woman then went to attack the pregnant lady and was arrested for assault.
Stolen Credit Card
Two girls came up to a cashier with a total bill of $1,200 while laughing that their dad is going to be furious that they spent so much on his credit card. The next day a man came into the store shouting about how someone had spent so much money in that store and how they had let the transaction go through. When the cashier described the girls, she then asked if it could be his daughter. He went pale and slinked out of the store back home to deal with his daughter.
Small World
When a tsunami hit Thailand, a bar put out a jar for donations for the relief fund. When one customer tipped the bartender with a drink, she suggested that he put the tip in the donation jar instead. He laughed and asked why he would give money to people in another country. Later that day he got a call that a friend of his was in Thailand on one of the beaches that was hit by the tsunami. He started putting money in the jar after that.
Smoothie Down
A customer at a smoothie shop experienced just how terrible karma can be. While she walked out of the store, she tripped and spilled her smoothie all over. She came back inside and demanded a free one, but the employees made her pay for her replacement.
It’s the Law
A customer who was buying video games complained about the way the price was ringing up. One game rang up as $50, even though it was marked as $40. Before the employee could explain that they would give her a discount, she started yelling that it was illegal to charge anything other than the sticker price. The second game, which was marked for $40, came up as $15. So, the employee explained that he had to charge her $40 because that was the sticker price. She stormed away without buying anything.
Karma Strikes Again
A customer at a rent-a-car shop demanded that he have a yellow Hummer SUV. Unfortunately, it was already reserved for someone else. He threw a fit and started insulting the employee. He settled for another car but crashed it into a fence as he was leaving flipping off the employee. He also didn’t sign up for the Damage Waiter.
Illegal Parking
A lot of people would park in the Fire Lane because they were just running in and out of the store. When one employee said that a customer couldn’t park there, they threw a fit. Then the employee saw a cop writing the customer a ticket and felt much better.
Stealing Bottles
A couple of girls came into a liquor store one night and tried to steal a couple of bottles. Although, while they ran out of the store, one girl dropped her driver’s license. The license then ended up all over Facebook and in bartending groups.
Walked into a Wall
A customer was angry while ordering a sandwich at Subway because they were out of garlic powder and the employee refused to cut her meatballs in half. As she left the store screaming, she walked right into a wall and almost knocked herself out.
Thieves
Two teenage girls spent about an hour picking up things to steal in a store. They came up to the cash register to pay for a few cheap items, but started arguing when the cashier wouldn’t accept their expired coupons. After calling the cashier names, they went to leave but were pulled into the manager’s office and accused of stealing. Since they were both girls, there had to be a female employee present, which just so happened to be the cashier they had insulted.
Want Ice for That?
While working at an ice cream shop, one customer picked up her phone in the middle of ordering her ice cream. When the employee asked her to get off the phone because it was hard to understand her, the customer flipped. On her way out, she tripped over a chair and fell smack on her face.
No Tip
A delivery driver made delivery that equaled to $125. The customer didn’t give him a tip because he felt that he spent so much on the order that he didn’t have to. When he went to go inside the house, he ended up dropping five of the pizzas all over the floor.
Not Hot Enough
A Starbucks customer came back into the store complaining that his coffee wasn’t hot enough. It didn’t feel hot because the baristas had put two cups and a sleeve to keep him from burning his hand. When he slammed the coffee down, it spilled all over his hand and yelled about how hot it was.
Tripping
A woman came out of a movie theater and demanded she get her ticket refunded because it was a terrible movie. However, there was only 15 minutes left of the movie, so it couldn’t be refunded. She threw a fit, but when she went to leave she fell face first in the parking lot. She threatened to sue, but would lose because the parking lot is not the theater’s responsibility.
Racist Behavior
Working at a gas station in southern Texas, one employee who was half white, half Mexican, experienced some pretty racist customers. One customer complained that he didn’t want a Mexican to pump his gas. Although, he drove off without taking the gas hose out, then drove into three parked cars.
Towed Car
One customer came into Sears to complain about his lawn mower. He spent about an hour yelling at the employees. During his rant, a police officer came in and informed him that his car was being towed because he parked in an illegal spot.
Be Nice to People
A nurse’s car was towed after parking it at a hotel she wasn’t staying at. She yelled at the driver and threatened that she would let him die if he ever came into her hospital. When she went to pay the fee to get her car back, she had to pay an extra $50 because her bag was in the car. However, the driver would have let her get the bag for free if she had just been nice to him.
Too Hot to Handle
While flying, a passenger asked a flight attendant to turn the heat up in the plane because he was too cold. As they came around with beverages, there was some turbulence and his coffee spilled on him. It was a little too hot so he screamed out a little.
Bad Tippers
Some messy teenagers left a $3 tip on a $50 bill and accidentally left a retainer on the table. The server threw out the retainer out of spite. Then the teens came back asking for the tip money back and if a retainer had been found. The server gave back the tip, but never told them she had seen the retainer.
I Am the Manager
One employee worked at a makeup store and would handle makeover appointments. When one woman arrived too late to have her full face made over, the employee let her know. She threw a fit and asked for the manager. Well, the woman she was yelling at was the manager.
Reduced Price
A customer at a hardware store assured the manager that the door he was buying was marked for much lower than it was ringing up. The manager gave in and gave him the discounted price. However, while in the parking lot the door fell off of the cart and was run over by a truck. The new manager on shift didn’t give the guy the discounted price for the second door.
Border Control
A woman was struggling with border control automated machines, so an employee came over to help her. She refused to put her passport in because she didn’t want to share her private information. Eventually, she got through but was pulled into a secondary check where officers question her and look through her bags. She ended up missing her next flight.