He Tried To Get A Little Thanksgiving Revenge
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“I used to work at a sad mini-mart of a grocery chain. It was a horrible little store that was open on Thanksgiving. I worked Turkey Day one year and was going through this long line of customers when some rude lady came up to me with a full cart and demanded I use plastic bags inside of paper bags inside another plastic bag. It was a stupid thing I’d seen some people do and never understood, but the problem was that I had NO paper bags.
I was very courteous, ‘I’m sorry, but I have run out of paper bags, I can still give you double plastic if that works?’ She gave me this look like she wanted to punch me in the face and I could tell she was choking on her own rage that I had the BALLS to deny her paper bags or something. She looked around and saw some paper bags at the register beside me. She nearly toppled over the skinny high school girl bagging at the next register, grabbed the bags, and slammed them on my station.
‘START BAGGING!’ she screamed at me. I didn’t say a word, I just bagged. She turned her back to me, talking to the customer behind her the entire time about what a worthless, incompetent piece of junk I was and all this other hate for retail workers. I put up with all of it, but I did put her eight 2-liters of soda on top of her donuts, eggs, bread, and fragile stuff, all in one bag. I was a casual weightlifter and this freaking bag made me grunt with effort as I put it into her cart. I like to think I ruined her day because she never came to my line again.”
She Didn’t Have The Patience To Wait For Her Food To Cool
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“I’m a college student and I used to wait tables part-time before it became too much for me. I once had a customer who initially seemed really nice; she came in alone and knew her order right away.
But then her food was apparently too hot and she became insanely angry when I apologized and told her everything comes out fresh from the oven/grill. She grabbed my hand and stuck it into her (very hot) food and yelled, ‘DON’T YOU THINK IT’S TOO HOT, DEAR?’ in the angriest, most condescending voice.
It was really hot, to be fair, but I had literally just brought it out to her. I was shocked and just started stuttering out an apology. My coworker saw it happen and immediately asked her to leave. I ended up crying in the back for a while. I don’t miss that job; I’m definitely too shy and introverted to stand up for myself when needed. Just treat employees like humans, people!”
Her Entitled Rudeness Was Off The Charts
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“I was working the register with a line out the door in a run-of-the-mill chain cafe. There were about seven customers in line when the she-devil walked in: a tall, middle-aged, ugly looking thing with way too much eye shadow on. She walked right up to the front of the line, pushing past everyone, dumped $2 on the counter, and demanded a soy chai latte. She didn’t even wait for my response as she walked on to the area where she’d receive the coffee.
I got someone else to take over the register and walked up to the woman waiting for her soy chai latte. ‘Excuse me…’ I said, trying to get her attention. She turned around and I politely informed her that she’d underpaid by about $1.50. Not much, but in a cafe where our transactions are all around that much, it’s considerable. She rummaged in her purse for about five seconds and then threw the money on the counter, where it bounced and knocked over our display. I looked at her expectantly, raising an eyebrow at her childish behavior.
My boss finished making her coffee and I handed it out to her. She took a sip, looked at me, and said, ‘How do you expect me to drink this? It’s cold…’ Keeping in line with her change toss, she then threw the drink down on the counter and it spilled, pouring all down my shirt. She then clucked at me and said, ‘Make another one.’
I was getting really frustrated at that point. Like I was seething and barely keeping my rage in check. I looked at my boss and asked him if he was going to do anything. He glared at me and said, ‘Don’t be so rude!’ I took a deep breath and tried my absolute hardest not to shout. I remade her drink ‘extra-hot’ in line with what she wanted. It was at that point that she started to refute the charge of the drink when I’d told her all along that it cost $3.50.
She started complaining about how in Italy (she had an Australian accent, which is where we were) she wouldn’t have to pay at all because drinks like that would be free for her. My boss glared at me and told me to give her ‘proper change.’ I had no idea what that was and the she-devil was still complaining quite loudly. I went over to the register and got her full $3.50 back out, shutting the til as loud as I ever had. Then I slammed the money on the counter and proceeded to stare that woman out of the shop. The boss turned to me to say something, saw me staring at him with as much rage as I could muster, and then swapped with someone instead so he could retreat to the other end of the cafe.
I couldn’t keep going after that, having him ridicule me in front of a witch of a customer when I was clearly in the right and hadn’t done anything wrong. I went out the back and bawled out of frustration, then told him I was leaving for the day. Luckily he apologized the next day.”
The Grocery Store Turns Everyone Into Animals
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“A while back, I worked as a cashier at a grocery store. One Sunday afternoon we were absolutely slammed; everyone was coming up with huge orders and the lines were really long. I was ringing up this one lady, working as fast and efficiently as I could, when she said, ‘Oh, I forgot something,’ and walked away. I was almost done scanning everything and by the time I had all her items packed she hadn’t come back.
I sat there like a doofus with her incomplete order and then the old guy who was next up started to absolutely lose his mind. I understood his frustration, but I was just a 16-year-old kid in the middle of it all and he was getting really aggressive.
To shut him up, I suspended the lady’s order and started working on his. In wonderful timing, the lady came back and was ticked at me for pushing her order off to the side, so I was in the middle of a bunch of turmoil with everybody against me.
The only respite I got was that things calmed down just in time for me to see that lady and old guy screaming at each other in the parking lot. I wish they would have thrown punches. I haven’t seen this happen again in a really long time, but for chrissake, please, if you forgot something and no one is with you to complete the transaction, just finish up your order, pack your stuff, and go back in afterward.”
She Couldn’t Grasp That It Was Just Store Policy
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“I used to work customer service at Kroger and one time I had a customer who was receiving money through Western Union. According to the law, I was required to check her ID and write down her ID info. As I was doing that, she peeked over the counter to watch exactly what I was doing. When she saw me writing numbers, she yelled, took the paper from me, and ripped off the piece where I wrote her information. Then she refused to let me have her ID back and proceeded to scream at me.
I called the store manager, took a deep breath, and backed a few steps away from the counter as I ignored her. My manager ran up and immediately took the force of her rage. She was making a scene for the entire store to hear while swearing in his face. At one point, she randomly stopped to look over at the front office where there was an employee watching and yelled, ‘What do you want?! Do you want to come fight or what?!’ Then the argument proceeded into the parking lot as he tried to get her to leave.
Five minutes later, he returned with her, asking me to process the transaction and give her the money. One of my biggest regrets of my college years is not telling them to buzz off and refusing process her order. I carried out her $50 transaction with all the contempt I could muster.”
The Man Thought His Position Put Him Above The Rules
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“I work in the food service area on a college campus. One day, a man walked behind the counter (which would be a huge write up if an inspector or a higher-up saw) and knocked on the door of the back area to get the cook’s attention for food. I said to the man, ‘You can’t go behind the counter.’ He replied, ‘Oh, it’s fine,’ so I doubled down with, ‘No, you can’t be back there.’
Then he started screaming, ‘I was knocking on the freaking door! Maybe I should talk to your boss! Maybe you should get a different job, you prick!’ Several possible reactions popped into my head like I was in a role-playing video game. Out of all of the things I could imagine to say (or do), I decided to be perfectly silent. In my mind, I told myself, ‘Yes, he should talk to my boss. My boss will have my back in this scenario.’
If I had known that my boss would, in fact, not have my back in that situation, I would have chosen a different course of action. Since he turned out to be one of the deans of the college, he got a free pass to do what he wanted and be as mean to me as he pleased. I guess I was the only idiot on the entire campus that was under the false pretense of ‘rules should always apply equally to everyone.’
Do I still work there? Yes, I’m not getting a new job just because some moron with a fake job thinks he’s above federally mandated health code. Did I get punished for it? Being called a prick to my face and not being able to stand up for myself was punishment enough (besides, standing up for myself would have caused more problems). If there had been a writeup or any sort of formal punishment, you can bet your bottom dollar I would have called HR on the spot.”
She Started Out Kind And Gracious, But Then Things Went Downhill
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“I’ve worked in retail for almost two and half years as a cashier/customer service associate (as I was recently moved up), and one event that I will surely never forget happened two years ago, just two days before Thanksgiving. I was working the self-checkout area when this middle-aged woman came up to me with her son and just started rambling on about random stuff while I nodded and smiled.
For some reason, she kept mentioning to me that she had five mixed children. ‘Okay, I honestly don’t care about your lifestyle,’ I thought to myself. ‘That’s cool, you do you, lady.’ It was information I really didn’t need or care about. She seemed like she was insecure about it. While scanning her items, she realized there was a hole ripped in the side of her frozen turkey. No problem, I asked another employee to grab her a new one. She was extremely kind and gracious when the new one was brought to her.
Then the woman received a phone call, during which she seemed flustered and stressed. She tried to pay but the machine wouldn’t allow her to continue as she’d told her son to start removing their groceries from the scale to place in their cart. I calmly walked over while the woman was still on the phone and explained politely to the sweet kid that he had to put the groceries back on the scale so his mother could continue checking out. He smiled and nodded, but I told him it was really no problem and that I’d lift all the bags for him at the end.
Out of nowhere, the woman whipped the phone away from her ear and barked at me, ‘What are you doing?!’
‘Oh, I was just telling him that in order for you to finish, you have to keep the groceries on the bagging area.’
‘You think my son is stealing or something?!’
‘No, of course not, that’s an insane accusation. I’m just following the policy.’
Then the woman went back to her phone call and I walked away. Once she finished paying, she asked me to speak to a manager. Since it was busy in the store, one of my managers was only a few feet away. I pointed at her and said, ‘Yeah, she’s right there.’ The lady, who was now furious, said, ‘never mind’ and stormed out with her son.
About 10 minutes later I got called into the manager’s office. The lady called management from the parking lot and told them I’m a quote ‘racist shrew’ who accused her son of stealing because he was black. Umm, what? I have no idea what I did wrong but apparently, I’m a racist? I explained the entire situation and luckily my manager said she sounded crazy on the phone and believed my side completely. However, the whole situation ruined my day and was definitely the worst retail experience I’ve had to deal with.”
Whenever Crazies Got Out Of Hand, He Was There
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“I used to work the service desk at a grocery store, but I mainly dealt with the backroom stuff. I’m also something of a giant, 6’5, 275 pounds, broad shoulders, and I lift weights. The girls at the actual service desk were all super short and it became pretty common for me to be called to the desk if they thought customers were going to get physical or abusive. I’d stand there and chat with one of them, just being big in everyone’s presence. I’m actually a pretty big teddy bear.
I’d never gotten physical with any customer, but the closest I’ve come was when the lottery machine wasn’t working. This older guy was screaming at the girls up front as if they could magically fix it. He tried to shove his way behind the desk, yelling at these girls the entire time. I didn’t touch him, but I put my hand down between him and the desk entrance, a bit hard, and stopped him from going in. I’ve never gotten into a fight and never hurt anyone intentionally. I don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t left.”
She Was Clearly Unfamiliar With How Ice Cream Worked
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“I used to work in a store which served ice cream. One day a lady came up to me and asked to purchase a family sized tub, which cost around $5 and had nine scoops of ice cream in it. She paid and I went over to the ice cream counter. The lady hemmed and hawed as she looked at the selection of nine or so flavors. Then she said, ‘I don’t like any of these, is it possible that you have anything fruity?’
I said that I wasn’t sure, but I’d have a look in the back freezer and see if there was something that she might like. So off I went, leaving my coworker to continue serving the other customers. It wasn’t too busy, so he was fine by himself.
I returned with two flavors, strawberry and raspberry ruffle. I showed the lady and she said that she’d have a little bit of both if it was ok. I said it was and gave her a small warning that since the ice cream was just out of the freezer, it’d be rock hard and extremely difficult to get through so she would have to wait a little bit as I scooped it out. She said that was fine, so I began the most strenuous exercise my right arm had ever done, and being a 16-year-old boy, that’s saying a lot.
Eventually, a queue started to form and my workmate asked for a hand. I excused myself from the lady, informing her that there was a line and it would give the ice cream time to soften. She said that was fine and off I went.
After five minutes of putting customers through, this lady STORMED over with a face as red as a beetroot. ‘I HAVE BEEN WAITING TWENTY MINUTES FOR MY ICE CREAM! WHY THE HECK SHOULD I HAVE TO WAIT SO LONG?!’
I was quite taken aback, as was the customer I was serving. I replied, ‘I apologize, however, as I said previously, the ice cream was the freezer and it’s rock solid, so…’
She cut me off, uttering a phrase so stupid that my reaction could’ve gotten me fired or slapped by her, ‘WELL WHY IS IT IN THE FREEZER THEN?!’ I looked at her, then at the other customer (who was a friendly regular). The customer I was serving scrunched up her face, trying not to laugh. I couldn’t hold it. I laughed. I laughed and I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. She stormed out and that was the last I saw of her. I still giggle when I think about it.”
She Acted Like A Child When She Didn’t Get Her Way
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“I had a pretty bonkers experience last year working at a bakery. One day a woman came in asking for a Fortnite cake. Since the game is licensed and we had no design for it, I told her that sadly we couldn’t. That’s when the yelling started.
‘I HAVE BEEN TO 18 STORES, GIVEN THIS DESIGN TO EVERY ONE OF THEM, AND THEY ALL SAID NO! WHY IS THIS LLAMA, BATTLE ROYALE BANNER, AND WEAPON COPYRIGHTED?!’
I tried using superhero logos as an example for her. She wasn’t having it, and proceeded to try and sell me Fortnite as the greatest thing since sliced bread. ‘SO WHY THEN, CAN I NOT GET IT?!’
Again, I told her it was for copyright reasons, but she just threw the order sheet at me and stormed out. For the record, I know our city has 10 bakeries and at least one of them takes commissions for illegal copyrights and just charges an extra $5.”
She Was Going To Get Someone Sick…Or Kill Them
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“My husband works as a butcher and one day I was waiting around for him to get done with work when this middle-aged woman came up to him and asked which salmon was fresher, the organic or the wild caught. She then proceeded to tell him that she was making sushi and wanted the freshest salmon she could find, as she was serving guests that night.
My husband went into retail mode and told her, ‘Sorry ma’am, you can only use sushi grade fish if you are going to serve it raw. Since we aren’t a fishmonger, we don’t offer that. If you are going to cook it, however, it doesn’t matter which one you use.’
Then she got all huffy and informed my husband that she used the organic salmon last time and everyone was fine, so she wanted it again. I stood there, jaw dropped, looking at her like she was the stupidest woman in the universe. If she fed her guests that salmon, there was a good chance they’d get food poisoning or parasites. Also, that brand of organic salmon was farmed, so if anything it would have a higher risk of making people sick, which is why we cook it before we eat it.
This entitled witch wouldn’t listen to the professional who has to have his food safety training, among other things. When she left I asked my husband how he put up with such nonsense, and he said he did his duty by telling her it wasn’t safe to eat raw and anything after that was her choice.”
She Regretted Her Choice And Took It Out On The Poor Girl
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“I work in a grocery store bakery as a cake decorator and people really freak out over their cakes. I once took an order from a lady who wanted a Transformers cake for her son’s birthday but she didn’t like the two options we had. She could either get the cake decorated with the toy on top or have an edible photo of the Transformers on the cake.
She kept showing me photos of other cakes on her phone and I had to keep telling her no since we were working under strict copyright laws and could only decorate what we have been given permission to decorate. She relented and ordered the toy one…or so I thought.
Later, the husband picked up the cake, said it looked fine and left with it. A while after that, the lady called the store saying she wanted the image one, the cake was ugly, and her 6-year-old son was crying. She then rounded off the whole experience with, ‘I just want to come in there and smash the cake in that girl’s face!’ I had never in my 10 years of retail been threatened before and for that threat, she did not get any sort of refund and got chewed out for making threats.”