Some people just think they know it all! Even worse, they can’t ever be wrong! You’d be better off talking to a brick wall. However, working in customer service means you have to always be courteous, even if it means letting the customer believe they are right. Here, these employees share their testimonies about how the customer isn’t always right and how they put the most stuck-up customer in their place.
All stories have been edited for clarity.
Does It Fit?
“I was managing a little key shop and a guy came in to get a copy of his Audi key.
I didn’t have the same kind as the one he showed me, but I did have several keys that had similar black tops. When I apologized and told him I couldn’t make his key, the guy angrily told me I could and would make his key for him.
‘Oh?’ I raised an eyebrow.
The customer then pointed out the blanks with similar tops hanging from my key racks. I explained that the tops didn’t matter. It was the shaft of the key that mattered and I didn’t have any to match the key he had.
‘You don’t know how to do your job!’ the man snapped.
‘Oh?’ I said again, unfazed by his certain outburst.
The customer then asked if he could see the three blanks that looked like his Audi key. So I reached up and set them down on the counter for him to see. I thought this would put an end to this discussion. I was so sure the customer would see the major differences and would take my word.
But, to my surprise, I saw an invisible lightbulb go off as the man made a major discovery.
He exclaimed, ‘This key is an exact match!’
In his mind, that was.
I sighed and held his key next to the key he pointed to and I showed him how the shafts didn’t match. That’s when he said, ‘I bet I can get this in my car door.’
‘Well, you can probably get a thin stick or teriyaki chicken skewer into your car door too, but I wouldn’t recommend it,’ I told him.
‘I’m going to get this in my car door and then you are going to cut it for me like you should have from the beginning,’ the customer announced before snatching the key off the counter marching away.
I called after him, warning and begging the customer not to test his horribly flawed theory. But he wouldn’t listen.
The man was gone a good twenty minutes before he finally came back in. He approached the counter with a look of defeat and asked if he could use my phone. The customer had to call a locksmith to get the key he forced into his car door.
You see, an uncut key will slide into the proper lock if it is the right key. It just simply won’t turn the pins. The customer told me that it took some effort to shove it in.
I had no words for that. All I had was a powerful feeling of satisfaction.”
Need A Trim?
“At the restaurant, I work at, I went to check on a woman who received her order minutes ago.
I saw her staring at the food with a troubled look on her face. I asked, ‘Is everything okay with your meal?’
Without warning, the woman started shouting about there being a hair in her food.
‘This restaurant is so disgusting!’ the woman hollered. She then demanded compensation because she was nearly sick and threatened to call a health inspector.
I spoke softly to try to de-escalate. ‘I’m so sorry, let me take this away for you and bring you something fresh. May I see the hair?’
This, however, only made the woman even more irate. ‘Are you calling me a liar? Who the hell do you think you are? I want the manager!’
The whole restaurant fell into an awkward silence and awkwardly watched the woman have a temper tantrum. My coworkers were watching with concern as they waited to see what would happen next.
The woman wouldn’t hand me the plate, so I looked down and saw a single long dark hair draped neatly across the meal. The woman hadn’t even taken a bite, but I did see a piece had been cut off the meat to look ‘eaten’.
I spoke again, ‘I’m not calling you a liar, I just wanted to see the hair to establish which of our staff it came from so I can remind them of the importance of having it pulled back.’ I paused for a moment then continued. ‘There’s one thing though. This hair doesn’t belong to any of us’.
Without waiting for a response, I called over the other two waitresses and ask one of them to quickly grab the chef and sous chef. Nearly everyone employee came over to the table.
‘As you can see,’ I explained. ‘We have two redheads, two blondes, and a bald man. This hair is long and dark. In fact, it looks remarkably like your long dark hair. Things like this happen. Would you like to finish your meal?’
The woman was clearly embarrassed but she still played it off like it was our fault.
She scoffed and said, ‘I wouldn’t eat in this hellhole even if you paid me.’
I smiled and said, ‘Not a problem. It’s probably best then if you leave. Don’t worry about paying for the drinks. Perhaps you can use the money towards sorting out those split ends.’
The woman glared and opened her mouth to object but by then I was already walking away. The other customers either laughed or commented on what a complete plank the woman was.
I felt mean making a sarcastic comment, but you don’t get to swear at me or the staff and not get something in return. I didn’t think getting loud or volatile back would be productive.
Calm and firm seemed the best approach.
It felt good.”
“You Were Right”
“I’m a waitress at a well-known restaurant. We were a bit busier than usual on a Sunday because Valentine’s day was right the next day.
A couple sat down in my section and I went over to start them off with some drinks. Before I could even open my mouth, the lady asked if we have the Valentine’s set menu available.
‘The Valentine’s set menu doesn’t start until the fourteenth,’ I said politely.
‘But I’ve paid for the Valentine’s set menu,’ the woman insisted.
“Unfortunately, that menu doesn’t start until tomorrow,’ I repeated.
The woman’s partner jumped in and said, ‘But we paid ten pounds per person for that menu.’
I maintained my composure and said, ‘We have been taking £10 deposits from everyone this weekend, but it’s not for that specific menu. It doesn’t start until tomorrow.’
The woman’s face turned beet red before she snapped, ‘Well, that’s not what is said on the website.’
I ignored her and ask them both if they wanted any drinks. I had wasted way too much time going back and forth with them. While her partner ordered, the woman pulled out her phone and searched for our website.
I left to fetch the drinks and to take a moment to calm down.
When I returned, the woman flashed me a helpless glance and sighed. ‘You were right, it doesn’t start until tomorrow.’
She didn’t offer an apology or anything, but it didn’t matter. I walked away with a pep in my step.
It wasn’t often a customer admitted to their mistakes.
It made my day.”
Wrong Place
“I was in the back of the store when I heard a customer being obnoxious to my cashier. I jumped up to intervene and was met by a fuming woman with crossed arms.
The woman, who I had never seen before, was there to pick up an order, but the cashier couldn’t find it. The woman insisted it had to be here because she called early to be sure it would be ready at seven o’clock.
‘You’re really ruining my plans!’ The woman shouted. Then she went on to say how she had heard such ‘good things’ about us but clearly, we must have written the Yelp reviews ourselves.
As she carried on, I clicked through the caller ID without finding her name or number so I asked how she placed the order and what was it for. The woman let out an overly exaggerated sigh and rattled off a list including a bread bowl salad, which we don’t make.
Then the woman told me I needed to find out what we did with her order or just make another one.
‘Don’t expect me to pay for it either,’ the woman retorted.
Calmly, I asked if the woman ordered from her cell phone. The woman shouted, ‘YES’, at the top of her lungs but wouldn’t show me her phone.
Seeing that we didn’t have many other options, I asked her to call the store with her phone. The woman made another remark about our stupidity and called.
As the dial tone played, we all stood there without saying a word. When the phone finally picked up, the woman realized her mistake. A totally different restaurant that was twenty miles away had her order ready.
I was glad to see her go.”