It's hard working in customer service, especially with irate customers. You need to be able to empathize and understand where your customers are coming from, show sympathy, and be willing to help them with their problem. However, if they come at you ranting and raving about an issue which clearly has nothing to do with you, well, then you're free to rant about them on the internet.
Reddit user, u/[deleted], wanted to know the rudest of the rude when they asked:
What is the most bizarre reason a customer got angry with you?
Sir, Do You Want Me To Change The Day?
GiphyI worked at a Burger King in high school. A guy comes in one day complaining he put in money to get a newspaper in the machine outside, and it wasn't this Sunday's paper. He wanted a refund. I told him we didn't own that machine, and we weren't able to give him his money back. I also mentioned to him it was actually Saturday, not Sunday. He flew into a rage, threw last weeks Sunday edition of the paper all around the restaurant and behind the counter. My manager comes out, and threatens to call the cops.
Dude leaves screaming about how we ripped him off. Sometimes you can't fix stupid.
Ma'am, Would You Like Me To Spell It Out?
A woman and her high school daughter walk up to me while I'm working in Bath and Body Works. Here's how the convo goes:
Mom: We don't know what they are called, but you know those things you can wear around your neck and you clip keys or badges to them? Do you sell those here?
Me: Oh, do you mean lanyards?
Mom: WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?
Me: Nothing, you said you didn't know what those things are called, they are called lanyards. Unfortunately we do not sell them here. Maybe check Hot Topic?
Mom: Whatever, thanks for wasting my time.
As they turned to leave, the daughter turned behind her moms back and mouthed, "I'm sorry," to me. Poor girl, that mom was nuts.
Ma'am, You Know Fudge Isn't Strawberry, Right?
Apparently when she said she wanted a "hot fudge sundae" she meant strawberry sundae.
Ma'am, You Know That's Not Me, Right?
Apparently I didn't greet her at the drive thru with enough enthusiasm.. but the real gag is it wasn't even me on the speaker and when I corrected her she got even madder.
Sir, You Know I Don't Actually Make The Product, Right?
Worked at Walmart and this guy went through my line buying something for his tires. He accidentally got two different things. One was a lot more expensive than the other. He got pissed (looking at his receipt) and demanded to know why one cost more money. I looked at the products and noticed one had some gel inserted in the product. I told him this and he demanded to know why this made the product more expensive.
I explained to him I knew nothing about cars and was just a cashier but he could go to customer service to exchange the more expensive product for the cheaper one. He then refused to leave my line until I lowered the price of the more expensive product. BTW I was working the express check out line on Friday at 5:30 and a huge line was forming behind this man child. My manger finally got him to leave the line and go to customer service. Though his son was in line behind him and apologized for his father's actions.
You Understand I'm Not From Russia, Correct?
They noticed I had an accent (I'm from southern virginia and north carolina area) and pointed it out as 'Russian' i don't know how they possibly thought my accent was russian but I corrected them and they got angry that I was being 'condescending' to them.
No, My Best Friend Told Me It's True
I work at a store that retails car parts, among other things. A customer got mad at me when she asked me if we had an extension for seat belts in cars. I told her that we didn't carry any extensions and we never have and she proceeded to yell at me because her friend who is an expert in seatbelt extensions(?) had told her that we carried that type of extensions.
Sure, trust your supposedly "expert" friend rather than the person who actually works at the store and almost knows the full list of items we carry by heart She argued with me for a full five minutes before giving up because I was 'stubborn' for not helping her.
Starbucks Problems
His coffee didn't taste like the one he drinks at home.
I suggested he should drink his coffee at home then.
Who Would've Thought Subway Would Be So Hostile?
2 stories from my experience in Subway.
I had a guy verbally abusing me over a cup. Yes... a cup. His wife asked how much it would be for 2 cookies and a drink. I told her it would be $4 for the cookies and a SMALL cup. She walked away with the food and her husband came back... and oh boy. He told me it was always $4 for the cookies and a large cup. I tried to explain to him what his wife paid for and he cut me off, telling me I'm useless and people like me shouldn't have a job. He demanded to talk to my manager and told her lies, saying I told him to "Go F yourself". Luckily she told him to leave.
Another, I called an old male customer mate (I'm Australian, it's part of my vocab) and he went off like a sailor! Shouted at me saying he's a mystery shopper and will tell head office about me. Never seen his face again.
Can't You Do Something About The Sun??
Ice cream shop - lady was mad because her ice cream melted. About 10 minutes after she ordered it (and apparently didn't care to start eating it), in 90+ degree weather.
Wanted a new cone.
When Your Whole World Depends On $0.50
The place I used to work at always had a sale on one product each month for typically 50% off. However, that month instead of being 50% off the product was $9 off, which meant that the total price of the item was $10 instead of $9.50. There was no advertisement anywhere in the store that said 50% off. Everything relating to that product said $9 off. It was a small store so I was working alone when this woman came in.
Typically people browsed around a bit and then asked questions when they needed help, but she came right up to me and started yelling about how we were doing false advertising and that she should get the product for $9.50 instead of $10. It turns out she'd called the head office yesterday and yelled at them, but apparently she also felt like she needed to yell at someone in person. She continued to demand that I sell her the product for $9.50 until another customer walked into the store and asked what her problem was. She left after that and as far as I know never came back
*flips the table
It really is alarming how many customers out there get easily angered over the smallest things in the restaurant biz. Lady almost flipped the table and started crying when I told her we don't have steak on our 3 for 10 menu anymore.
"You guys suck."
A crackhead/petsmart customer yelled across the store asking if we could put a $600 tank on layaway.
When I told her no, she screamed out "you guys suck" and continued shopping.
Just A Stressful Day
A man threw a tantrum because laundry detergent was not EBT food approved. I told the couple several times to keep it off the conveyor belt until the first transaction was over. He kept loading it up anyway. His SO and I both told him to leave it in the cart so that it wouldn't come up to my register.
He then started throwing heavy items until he ran out, just in time for me to not kick him out. He was perfectly fine after the tantrum.
Do You See The Mistake You Made?
I work at a local pizza restaurant and I once had a customer come in with his two daughters. I brought them out their food and a few minutes later he called me over. He asked, "What's wrong with this pizza?" I didn't see anything wrong so I guessed that he wanted extra toppings and he said yes. I told him I would have them make him a new pizza and bring it out as soon as it was ready.
About five minutes pass and he comes up to the counter and says, "I didn't want to say this in front of my daughters, but how f-cking long does it take to add some mushrooms to a f-cking pizza? We have somewhere to be I don't have all f-cking day." I explained the misunderstanding and he stomped back to his table. I immediately brought him his new pizza and he ate it, visibly angry with me.
My manager told me to comp the pizza to make this guy happy and he said, "Oh you don't have to do that! Thank you!" Also, as he was walking out he said, "I left you a good tip! Did you see?"
F-ck that guy.
Sir, Please Stop Hiding Items In The Wheelchair.
He got caught having his 4 and 6 year old nephews hide merchandise under his wheelchair for the THIRD TIME. Mostly video games and controllers.
He accused me of hating disabled people as he was being kicked out. I was just the cashier by the front door. Literally wasn't involved at all.
Would You Like Me To Wait Outside In My Car?
GiphyI used to deliver pizza.
I had someone get irate and refuse the delivery because they'd ordered it to be delivered at 7pm and I got there at 6:55.
Again, You Understand I Don't Make The Products, Right?
I remember being screamed at every time the cigarette prices went up. "How am I supposed to afford that?" I don't know, sir; I'm a 15 year old girl.
note: This was 20 years ago, I think the law has changed but at least at the time, yes, minors were allowed to sell tobacco products! And yes, as a then 15-year-old girl sometimes being yelled at did make me cry!
What's the one reason a customer became furious with you? Tell us all about it!
Redditor H5N1BirdFlu wanted to discuss the moments in life that left us haunted and shook, so they asked:
"What is the creepiest or most unexplained event that you have ever experienced?"
I've seen so much creepiness I wouldn't know where to begin.
Deal
Walter White Wink GIF by Breaking BadGiphy"One car from one direction, and another car from the other direction stopped in front of my house. Both drivers got out and one gave the other a briefcase. Now that I am older I am guessing it was some kind of drug deal or something but at the time I found it very weird."
yapastaocho
'The Entertainer'
"We had a little copper music box that would start playing on its own. It was a man sitting at a player-piano and it would play 'The Entertainer' song. Now, I know that music boxes and such can spring (for lack of a better word) forward and play a few notes, but this thing would act like someone had wound it up and would play for a minute or two completely at random."
MercuryCrest
He?
"Me and and someone I used to know in high school way back when met to catch up. We were talking about our views on religion at some park. When we were walking back to our cars some guy said he had overheard us. We interacted a little and then went to our cars. I told her how awkward I felt knowing he overheard everything. She looked at me and said, 'He?'”
"After some comparing notes we realized we’d seen and heard entirely different people. She’d seen an elderly woman. I’d seen a middle aged man. Only problem is we only talked to the one person."
AccomplishedAuthor53
Overnight
"I usually go hiking and stay in the forest overnight, sleeping in a bivy and sometimes under a tarp. Now it's important to say I'm based in Europe. So no wild animals to be afraid of because usually they just boot it as soon as they notice you."
"So one winter night I'm sleeping under my tarp which connects to the ground on one side. It's in an area where there were fierce battles in the forrest on the border between Germany and Belgium in WWII."
"I hear something walking in the leaves, which is normal. There are always deer and ferral pigs on and about. But this time it comes closer and closer until I hear it right on the other side of my tarp and it starts growling. Its a noise I gad never heard and for a moment I was frozen trying to figure out what it might be and what to do."
"But I just decided to yell back and that did the trick. The animal walked a few steps and then turned back to growl once more before finally retreating."
"Let's put it this way, I didn't sleep for a while after that. I looked up the noise and think it was a badger."
Forest_Walkin
Devoured
Episode 4 Abc GIF by The BachelorGiphy"My family used to raise cattle. One morning I came out to check on them and I found one of the heifers had been more or less completely devoured."
"This same cow was perfectly fine the day before. There was nothing left but some hide, bones, and intestines. Thing is none of the predators that are in my area would be able to kill and eat an entire cow within the course of one night. Much less leave so little behind."
Aussieshepman
Poor cows. They live a rough life.
The Night Before
Get Out Omg GIF by Get Out MovieGiphy"When I was a kid, we lived in a kinda rural area. One night we came home late from an Uncle's house and there was a car parked up the road from our house with the headlights on."
"My mom suggested to my dad that we go see if they need help, he said no, so we went inside. Next morning police knocked on the door, a cyclist had spotted a body in the ditch exactly where the car was parked the night before."
Tpeest
Documents
"I have had a strange thing happen recently. I was waiting for my tax documents to come in so I could do my taxes. I had three documents that I put on my bedside table until I had the time."
"I decided to do it the other day and I couldn't find one of them. I tore the house apart, quizzed my husband (who swore he never touched it), checked the garbage, etc. I had resigned myself to the fact I would have to request another one, when it arrived in the mail."
"It was the same one, exact same information. I was really confused but grateful. I checked into it, it was not sent twice as far as the office could tell me."
"I don't know what to think. I KNOW I had that document because I had done some calculations with it. It's been itching at me like crazy."
monitormonkey
About 30 Feet
"A few months ago I was sitting in my living room on the couch, watching tv with a family member late at night. We have a high ceiling with a couple of rectangular windows at the very top of the wall just under where it meets the ceiling. The windows are so high (about 30 feet) we really only have them for natural lighting."
"So on the night in question, a green laser beam suddenly shown down through one of the windows, seemingly scanned the entire living room before stopping and pointing the beam right next to my family member for about 10 seconds and then disappearing entirely. It had to be either a drone or from some sort of flying aircraft. I live in a relatively secluded place which made the situation all the more unsettling."
0friday
Find Her
"Pretty sure I witnessed a kidnapping once and it still lives rent free in my head (the woman lost her slipper when she was trying to get away and i took a picture of it that i still have for some reason). I did indeed report it to police right after I saw it occur but they were pretty blasé about it and I never ended up being able to determine what they did to investigate."
ergaster8213
From Behind
the exorcist shadow GIFGiphy"I was in Jr High and had really long hair. I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and almost tripped on a shoe on the floor. I bent down to move it and it felt like someone grabbed my entire pony tail and yanked it. I also could not sleep facing the wall for the longest time because it always felt like someone or something was right there behind me."
cheeseburgerphone182
Never face the wall. Life lesson.
These were some harrowing experiences, and we're glad these Redditors made it out to tell the story.
Do you have any similar experiences? Let us know in the comments below.
Redditor NeedSomeSparkInLife wanted to know who would be willing to share, so they asked:
"What makes you not want to be intimate with your SO?"
I'm an easily turned off person.
So it doesn't take much.
Desire
Bored Season 5 GIF by The OfficeGiphy"Taking a moment to realize I'm the only one that makes sexual advances in the relationship. Makes me not want it. People think men only want sex for face value but a lot of men actually want the feeling of being desired more so."
Relative-Hour-9359
Anger Issues
"I've always heard of fighting then having sex after. Fighting has always made me not want it. The last thing I want to do when someone pisses me off is have sex with them. What made it worse is she always wanted to when we were arguing which made the argument worse when I refused."
DaMoonRulez_1
"I think you're supposed to resolve your fight, realize that you care for each other a lot, move past it, then have the passion because of that. Not fight right into sex."
Ksp-or-GTFO
Take a Shower
"My ex and I were together for nearly 7 years, but his hygiene never improved, so we stopped being intimate like, 3 years before I finally broke up with him. He showered only once a week, but he worked in kitchens, so he was sweaty and greasy all the time."
"He had an infected tooth, so he constantly had bad breath, but he refused to visit a dentist, even when he had the money to afford dental work. He stopped working out within the first year of us being together, which sucked because he would get jealous if I went to the gym by myself or with my girlfriends, but he refused to come with me."
GreenChorizo
Sober Time
"Personally, the only issue I have is my SO's drinking. He just becomes an unattractive person when he's drunk. It's one thing if we're both out socializing and drinking together occasionally, but he drinks almost every day, sitting on the couch in front of the TV and to the point of sloppy drunkenness way too often. His face changes, his posture changes, his personality changes... I just get so turned off."
WeptSiren3113
Hang Up
Art Hello GIF by LINDSEY L33Giphy"When they are glued to their phones non stop! Put that s**t down and look at me before we go to bed!"
Palmwine
"I really dislike this too. Makes me feel alone in the relationship."
RealBrownPerson
No phones in bed. Hard rule for many of us to follow.
Step Back
Be Quiet Go Away GIF by Ryn DeanGiphy"When I make a move, and then get the feeling she's not really in the mood/would only do it to please me. I want us both to have a good time, not only me. So when she seems not into it, I take a step back."
Level-Plate8372
Calm Down
"To be brutally honest, her anxiety and insecurity makes sex such a hassle. She doesn’t believe anything I say about wanting her, she can almost never relax during sex, she doesn’t take time to enjoy it, and if God forbid I have any trouble finishing, she takes it more personally than anything, which of course puts more pressure on me to finish, which then makes it almost impossible."
Ben_Franklinstein
When at Wal-Mart
"When they’ve done something really nasty/unkind that day. Cruelty is the most ugly thing a person can show, in my eyes. I had a boyfriend that I went to Wal-Mart with and he ended up flipping off and storming right past the sweet little old man that checks the receipts at the door."
"It was partially about how I used to check receipts and I remembered how I felt when people treated me like that- but I also remember the look on the little old man’s face and just how disgusted I was with my partner being so nasty about it."
"I couldn’t touch him after that and I got grossed out when he touched me. And then I started to notice how he was nasty to other people as well. It eventually led to our break up."
spxdergirl
33 Years In
"My husband used to dislike his job - he’d come home and do nothing but bi**h. After awhile, I just gave up trying to cheer him up with sex - you can only try so long. So, we had a long dry spell - like, whatever you think a dry spell would be, it’s longer. When someone is constantly annoyed, well, it’s hard to feel amorous."
"Anyway, he early retired (54) like a month before Covid kicked in and by autumn that year, well, let’s just say we’re back to what we were like when we first met. He’s not pissed off all the time. (I’m retired as well, and let’s just say, afternoon nookie is such a perk, as is morning nookie and 3am nookie because you can sleep in!) I’m glad we stayed together. Going on 33 years and we’re just so happy."
NicInNS
Rage
Angry Inside Out GIF by Disney PixarGiphy"Feeling angry. I hate feeling angry. I don't like being around other people when angry. So I'll go for a walk, a drive etc, and just clear my head."
jackfaire
It seems like "dead bed," as some folks call it, can stem from many things, from mood, attraction, hygiene, and more.
Do you have anything to add to this list? Let us know in the comments.
