Exemplary customer service is typically a priority for most businesses. However, it only takes one bad-apple employee to ruin a customer’s experience. These angry patrons reveal their run-ins with an awful customer service representative, and their stories will surely leave you scathing! Content has been edited for clarity.
The Wicked Waitress
“One hot summer Sunday, my mother and I had just exited spiritual services. She had recently been reminiscing about a pizza parlor in a nearby town where ‘everybody,’ hung out when she was a teenager. My mother kept telling me about these specialty pizzas they offered, and how nobody else made bacon pizza like this restaurant. I read in the newspaper about how a guy from the area who had moved to Florida visited once a year to pick up a truckload of pizzas they froze just for him. People were passionate about this pizza, so I figured it must be special.
My mother wanted to go there for lunch, so I took her. Since it was a Sunday afternoon, the restaurant wasn’t busy. We were seated in a booth, and there was another party at a high-top table near the windows. They were men in their thirties, and several pitchers of drinks were on their table.
My mother and I waited and waited to be served, almost to the point of annoyance. Suddenly, a sullen-faced woman not much younger than I appeared. It was the waitress, and she asked us if she could take our drink order. We ordered two waters, a soda for me, and a coffee for my mom. The waitress turned and left.
Well, the waitress kept going over to the men with the drinks and laughing, flirting and chatting. She gave them great service but continued to ignore my mother and me nearly the entire time.
There was another waiter on the other side of the restaurant, so I tracked them down and asked if they could grab us some water.
‘Sorry for bothering you,’ I told the waiter, ‘But our waitress just hasn’t brought us anything yet.’
The waiter looked at me and snarled, ‘Your drinks are not my problem.’
Ok, fine. I sat back down again and waited and waited. No soda. No coffee. No water. Our waitress was still attending to the men at the nearby high-top.
The waitress went to walk by our table, so I stood up and physically blocked her path.
‘You need to bring us our drinks,’ I said, ‘Coke for me, coffee for my mom. You need to take our food order too. We have been waiting here quite a while.’
The waitress whipped out her order pad and begrudgingly took our order before stalking off.
Finally, the waitress shows up at our table with the pizza. But still, no drinks. I told the waitress we needed something to drink, and she walked away and disappeared again. The waitress only reappeared to grab the men at the high-top more drinks and food. My mom and I ate our pizza, without drinks. The waitress was careful to walk around our booth to the men’s table instead of past it, as she knew I would try to block her path again.
My poor mother was in tears, embarrassed at having wanted to come here. She drank a lot of coffee, and she was upset about never receiving any. My mother kept telling me to ask for coffee as if I had any control over what was happening. I was sick of watching our waitress fawn over the table of drinkers, so I decided to confront her.
I told the waitress, ‘I need you to bring us our check. Now. We aren’t staying here any longer.’
She turned red and walked away, but returned a few minutes later with our check.
‘This is the worst service I have ever received,’ I explained to the waitress, ‘There is no excuse for this. You have ruined my mother’s day. I used to be a waitress, and I am a good tipper as a result. However, you won’t be receiving a penny from me. I know you are betting the table with men will leave you a better tip, so you’re waiting on them at our expense.’
‘Oh well,’ the waitress chirped, ‘Get me fired if you want,’ she said as she placed our check on the table.
I was not going to wait for her to take my card, as she may never come by again. I carefully counted out the exact amount of cash to cover our meals. I contemplated leaving a penny for the tip but decided not to.
This occurred in the days before social media, so I couldn’t leave the restaurant a bad review. I contemplated calling the manager and telling him about our experience, but I decided it wasn’t worth it.
Parties with a lot of people often leave terrible tips. I hope the table of men stiffed her tip.”
Missed Flight Mishaps
“Years ago, I had to fly to San Jose, California to terminate my boss. My company was owned by out-of-country investors, so I was asked by the Chairman in Germany to inform the President about his termination. Afterward, I was to walk him to the office to collect his personal belongings. I was then to change locks and passwords, and meet with the staff to assure them all was well. It was a stressful day.
On the way to the airport this morning, I got caught in southern California traffic and missed my United flight. The employee at Southwest overheard my plight and got me on a flight that was just about to leave. They even walked me to the gate after calling and asking them to hold for me. It was exceptional.
After the long day, I headed back to the San Jose airport with plenty of time to spare before catching my flight. It was Thanksgiving week, and my son had a school performance the evening I was trying to get back home to attend.
The clerk at the United check-in counter explained, ‘You purchased round-trip tickets, but you didn’t use the first one. Since you didn’t use the ticket for the first leg of your flight, we can’t allow you to use the second ticket.’
I explained how I missed my morning flight and was not planning on using the first ticket again, so she could simply tear it up.
The employee responded, ‘No, sorry. You can’t fly on this ticket.’
I took a breath and asked why, and the employee simply said it was policy. She had an immediate attitude toward me during the entire encounter. I was trying to be as nice as possible and simply find a way to get home. I wasn’t a confrontational person by nature.
I asked the employee, ‘Can I speak to a supervisor?’
‘There isn’t one available,’ the employee replied.
I appealed to the other woman at the counter, but she simply rolled her eyes and waved me off.
“Okay, here. Keep both of the tickets and sell me a new one,’ I told the employee, ‘I will buy another ticket to get home in time for my son’s performance.’
She grumbled and snatched my tickets from the counter before tossing them in the trashcan.
Then, she announced with a sneer, ‘Sorry, this flight is sold out. There aren’t any seats available.’
‘It is not sold out,’ I pressed, ‘I had a ticket. You just threw it in your trash can. There is a seat available!’
I demanded to speak to someone with actual authority. The other employee at the counter suggested I go to the gate where the flight was loading, as sometimes they can do things to resolve such issues. I ran to the far end of the airport to find an empty gate cul-de-sac. There wasn’t anyone at any gate. The flight board showed the plane fully boarded, although I could still see the plane at the gate. I had lost.
I went back and insisted to know the nasty employee’s name so I could report her to the airport’s customer service department.
‘Wait a minute,’ the employee told me, ‘I need to make a phone call.’
I assumed I was finally going to get to speak to someone in authority, and it turned out, I was right. Two airport security officers showed up and walked me out of the airport.
The security officer said, ‘You need to get a cab or bus and get out of here.’
As I was walking outside the airport, I caught the employee at the United counter pointing at and mocking me. I paced up the sidewalk, as there were no cabs or buses available at the moment. I looked inside again, and a man behind the Alaskan Air counter waved me to come in. I entered a different door and walked up to his counter.
The man explained, ‘I watched the entire nightmare, and I want to offer you this one remaining flight to get you home. It is a red-eye flight, but it is better than spending the night. I have never seen such a horrible display of customer service.’
I was grateful for the flight, so I booked it and got home. I never flew with United Airlines again.”
Post Office Problems
“One time, I received a notice from the post office stating that I wasn’t home when they attempted to deliver a package. The notice included a statement about how I could go to my local post office and pick up the package. The next day, I went over to the post office to pick up the package, little tan notice, and driver’s license in hand.
Of course, the clerk was on her break, so I had to wait until she was finished. The other three clerks at the post office claimed they couldn’t help me, so I needed to wait. I stood as patiently as I could while the clerk finished up. Twenty minutes passed by, and a line began forming behind me. At forty-five minutes, the line was almost going out the door. Finally, the clerk was back from her hour-long break. I walked up to the window and handed her my notice and driver’s license.
The clerk took everything and walked to the back room to get my package. Ten minutes passed, then twenty, and I was starting to become irate. The other people in line were irritated, too.
When the clerk came back, she said, ‘Your package isn’t back there, and I can’t find it right now.’
I was angry, but I wasn’t in the mood to start arguing.
I replied, ‘It’s not a problem. Can I reschedule the delivery for another day?’
‘You can’t reschedule a postal delivery,’ the clerk snidely responded, ‘You need to come back tomorrow and wait in line again.’
‘On the missed delivery slip, it gives you an option to write in another delivery date,’ I told the clerk.
The clerk shook her head and still insisted I had to come back for my package another day. I asked for her supervisor, and she grudgingly called the manager over after much huffing and puffing.
I tried explaining to the supervisor what happened, but before the supervisor could respond, the clerk said, ‘Who do these customers think they are? What makes them so special?’
After the clerk said this, I was fed up. I tried to keep composed, but I began to raise my voice, ask for names, and collect statements from the witnesses surrounding me.
The supervisor apologized and agreed to my request of changing the delivery date.
I turned to the clerk and loudly stated, ‘This is what makes this customer so special, I can write letters. I will be writing letters to the postmaster general, branch manager, and to Washington, D.C. about how you are a nasty, poor, and rude worker.’
Afterward, I went home and composed all of my letters. I composed letter emails, and sent them by snail mail, too. I never saw the offending clerk at my branch again. I don’t believe she was fired, only transferred. After sending out the letters, I never had a problem rescheduling a delivery again.”
The Grouchy Grocery Store Employee
“I previously worked in customer service. I have many stories about awful customers, but as a customer, I experienced some terrible service the other day at a grocery store.
I get off work at eleven at night, and the grocery store closes at midnight. I had forty-five minutes to buy my groceries, and I already knew what I was getting. When I got inside the store around eleven fifteen, two women were standing at the checkout counter. Initially, I didn’t think anything of it.
I gathered my items and walked up to the checkout counter around eleven thirty-five. The same two women from before were still standing there at the counter. The employee working had absolutely no personality, and she was acting like the customers inconvenienced her. I hopped in line behind the women and waited to check out.
As I was waiting, I loaded all of my groceries onto the counter, which consisted of some individually packaged yogurts and small cans of cat foods. I noticed the two women in line in front of me were trying to use a food stamp card. The card wasn’t working, even though there was money on it.
One of the women pleaded, ‘I know there is money on the card. See? My balance says ninety-three bucks.’
The employee simply looked at the woman and responded, ‘Okay?’
‘Is there someone else who can help us?’ the woman questioned.
‘I’m not sure,’ the employee shrugged and responded.
The woman replied, ‘Can you at least void our order and help the customer behind us?’
‘I don’t know how,’ the employee replied.
At this point, all of us were just standing there in complete silence. It was eleven forty-five now, and the store was only going to be open for another fifteen minutes. The two women already bagged their groceries, so they sat on a nearby bench to make a phone call. The employee just stared at me with a blank expression.
I finally asked, ‘Should I just go use the self-checkout?’
The employee responded, ‘Sure, if you want.’
I proceeded to move my items over and scan them one by one as the employee watched. The self-checkout kept needing an override, and I had to call the employee over every single time to help.
As I was almost done, a manager came over and asked, ‘Is there a problem here?’
Before I could answer, the employee told the manager, ‘No, she’s fine. Our system wouldn’t take her card.’
The manager ignored me and completely believed the employee. Fed up, I finished checking out and stormed out of the store. I seriously believe the employee thought if she stood there and ran out of the clock, customers would magically leave at midnight. The situation was unbelievable.”
“The Whole Interaction Was Surreal”
“One time, I went to Wendy’s to pick up a large order for my friends and myself. We had both just gotten off work and were both tired and hungry, so we ordered a ton of food.
I walked into Wendy’s and scanned the menu for the food we wanted.
The employee asked, ‘Are you ready to order?’
I replied, ‘Yes. I will take two number three’s, medium, and four orders of the dollar menu nuggets.’
The employee blank-faced me and said, ‘Uh, number what’s?’
‘Number three’s,’ I patiently answered.
The employee continued to blank-face me until he whirled around and looked at the menu behind him.
‘Oh,’ he replied as he punched my order into the computer.
When he punched my order in, it came up completely wrong. I mentioned it, and he corrected it. Whatever.
I finally got my order and walked out to my car. I was starving, so I decided I was going to eat my fries on the drive back home. I opened the bag of food and blinked. The burgers didn’t look right, and there was a missing order of nuggets. I walked back into the restaurant completely exhausted.
I explained to the employee, ‘Hey, my order isn’t right. Here’s my receipt.’
The same blank-faced employee looked at my order and said, ‘I don’t get it.’
Losing my patience, I responded, ‘Dude, there are three nugget orders, not four. And we don’t have the right burgers.’
‘No,’ the employee replied.
I rolled my eyes and said, ‘Look. Can I just get a manager over here?’
The employee hurriedly shook his head and said, ‘No, I can’t get the manager.’
I just ended up walking over and talking to a drive-through employee to get a manager.
Eventually, the manager walks over to talk to me. He apologized half-heartedly and has a different employee make new burgers. When I went to pick up my new order, I looked into the bag before walking to my car. There were still only three orders of nuggets.
I told the blank-faced employee again, so he grabbed an empty nugget carton and began taking the nuggets already in my bag out. He placed the nuggets I had already ordered into the new carton, and sat them down by the bag as if saying, ‘Done!’
At this point, I was tired and frustrated. I went back to the drive-through employee and had them grab the manager, again. The manager became angry at me, picked up several orders of nuggets from the ready rack, and tossed them into the bag haphazardly.
The whole interaction was surreal. It took half an hour longer than it should have just to get some greasy fast food.”
“He Couldn’t Handle A Heartfelt Response”
“A while back, a new Greek restaurant opened up in my neighborhood, so I went to try it out. I was disappointed not to find hummus on the menu, but the waiter assured me that the fava bean dip was an equally tasty substitute. I ordered the dip, among a bunch of other things.
When the food arrived and I took my first few bites, I was quite disappointed. Plus, the fava bean dip seemed to have no seasoning whatsoever.
The waiter returned and asked the stock question, ‘How is everything tasting?’
I wasn’t planning on saying anything, I rarely do.
But since he asked, I politely told the waiter, ‘The service is good, but the food is average. The fava bean dip lacks flavor.’
I had expected the waiter to either express sympathy or ignore my feedback, but his next question surprised me.
The waiter asked, ‘Have you ever been to Athens?’
I replied, ‘Well, actually, yes. I have been to Athens.’
I don’t think he was expecting my response, and it seemed to throw him off slightly. Nonetheless, he recovered and carried on.
‘Well, sir, if you had this dish in Athens, then you would know the taste is authentic. We cook the dish the same way as it is cooked there.’
I just smiled, nodded, and kept quiet. No point in discussing it any further when the other person doesn’t care.
When the bill came I gently toned down the planned tip, smiled on the way out, and resolved never to return.
Not for the first time, I wondered why people in the restaurant business ask how the food was when they can’t handle a heartfelt response.”
“I Haven’t Returned To The Store In Over Five Years”
“One time, I bought a nice blender from Walmart. When I brought it home, I opened the package only to find the handle broken on the blender. It must have been a manufacturer error, as I was the first person to open the box.
I was gone from the store for no more than thirty minutes before I took it back for an exchange with my receipt.
I walked right to customer service, and the customer service representative refused to exchange the blender for me. The representative was very loud and mouthy, and the whole customer service area could hear everything she was saying.
I asked the representative, ‘Can you have a manager come over and help me with the exchange?’
The representative snottily replied, ‘The manager is busy doing other things right now.’
I was irritated, so I picked up my blender and receipt and took them to a different Walmart. I was able to exchange the blender without an issue.
This experience turned me off from going to Walmart ever again. I haven’t been to Walmart in over five years since it happened.”
“My Whole Family Was Disgusted”
“A couple of years ago, my family and I went on a trip to Louisiana. We stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights, and our room seemed nice enough.
After the first night in the hotel, every single one of us woke up covered in bites. We called room service, and they found a huge nest of bed bugs right underneath our beds.
My whole family was disgusted, but we weren’t angry or mad at the employees. For all we knew, the employees were completely unaware of the bed bugs, too.
When my family went to the front desk to ask about switching rooms, we could tell the attendant was already annoyed.
The employee looked at us, rolled her eyes, and snidely asked, ‘Can’t you just shut up and deal with it?’
My family is relatively nice, so we just left and found a new hotel. We wrote a report to the hotel’s corporate office, but they never responded. I hope they fired the front desk employee.”
“She Flicked The Change On To The Floor”
“Years ago, I went to a pub with a friend for lunch. We paid in cash, and I had some bills and coins to pay for my meal.
When I paid, the waitress took my cash and proceeded to pick out the coins and flick them onto the floor in front of me. She didn’t smile, comment, or look at me. Whatever her issue was, I would never know.
Someone told me the restaurant swept the change up and gave it all to charity, but I never had it confirmed. The waitress could have told me the restaurant donated the change instead of just tossing it away.
I never returned to the restaurant, and I was put off by this encounter.”
“The Situation Was Embarrassing”
“A couple of weeks ago, I needed to go to my local Urgent Care. I was checked in, spoke with a doctor, then went to the front desk to pay. Before coming in, I checked my bank account to make sure I had sufficient funds.
I swiped my card, and the receptionist immediately announced, ‘Your card declined.’
She said it so loudly, but thankfully, nobody else was in the waiting room. It was so rude! The situation was honestly embarrassing.
Come to find out, their card reader was broken. The receptionist’s co-worker told her after my card declined on their reader about manually entering it into the computer.”