30 Terrible customers who were determined to ruin someone’s day

Anyone who’s worked in the service industry knows just how challenging nightmare customers can be. Whether it’s endless rudeness, unreasonable demands, or a level of entitlement that defies all logic, some people are simply impossible to please.

Though difficult customers are part of the job, a select few push the limits even further. Their outrageous behavior may not have made the news, but it was certainly enough to get them permanently banned from multiple businesses.

If they weren’t embarrassed, they should be

When Reddit user BurritoDiet posted what could easily be one of the nastiest devices ever encountered, they casually remarked, “Customer said their bathroom fan wasn’t working.” That’s quite the understatement, considering the uploader had to verify there was actually a fan buried under all that filth.

It’s truly surprising the fan worked at all after collecting decades’ worth of dust, mold, feces particles, and other gross buildup. BurritoDiet replaced it, but probably needed several showers afterward.

There was some surprising debate about this one

Reddit user Darthmayhem13 explained the scattered planks by saying, “Customer wanted the best boards in the pile.” Many could relate to the frustration—no worker enjoys cleaning up that mess, especially when some boards ended up damaged in the process.

On the other hand, some pointed out that the uploader might not fully appreciate how poor the quality of the boards being rejected often is. Many are warped or twisted to the point where it’s hard to imagine any practical use for them, making the customer’s approach seem like the only viable choice at times.

The problem should be obvious but it somehow wasn’t

Reddit user salv3tor13 shared that they work at a computer repair shop and recently had a customer bring in a device. The customer complained that his power supply unit kept blowing out repeatedly, and he seemed genuinely puzzled about why it kept happening.

What likely shocked him even more was discovering cockroaches crawling out of his computer. It’s safe to say you don’t need to be a tech expert to connect the dots between those two issues.

The shark found some weak prey here

Reddit user Batmo_bil shared a photo of a bag full of pennies, explaining that their coworker had accepted 30 euros in change from a customer, only for it to spill into other pockets of the register. But that wasn’t even the worst part.

The uploader had every reason to be upset with both the customer and coworker because the amount was nowhere near 30 euros. This meant the customer had scammed the store, and the coworker hadn’t even bothered to count the money to check. Apparently, “Trust me, bro” still convinces some people.

From a certain point of view, this is the best customer

Reddit user illlogic shared that this burnt car part resulted from a driver who didn’t know how to properly use a manual transmission. She always drove her Volkswagen Transporter stuck in third gear, causing the clutch to wear out so badly that just a year after it was replaced, it looked like this.

For the mechanic, working on her vehicle is a nightmare—it reeks and groans every time she brings it in. But from the owner’s perspective, she’s a blessing in disguise, since they can count on needing to replace her clutch annually.

Spare a thought for the poor employee who heard this rant

Whenever there’s an unusual or overly specific sign in a place of business, we can typically expect that it was necessitated by a lot of customers either messing something up or frequently complaining about something petty. In this case, the use of capitals suggests that it followed a legendarily harsh rant by at least one customer.

Apparently, the idea of a slicer daring to put conventional bread crumbs anywhere near their organic loaves was such an indignity that it led someone to write “the organic status of your bread will be compromised” on a sign. That’s probably the exact phrase that was screamed at them.

They must have been looking for an excuse not to tip

If you’re struggling to decipher the handwriting on this restaurant receipt, you’re not the only one. Fortunately, Reddit user ExtendedMacaroni provided some context—they had taken over for a coworker whose shift had ended, and the customer wasn’t pleased with the handoff. In response, the diner decided that neither server was worthy of a tip.

But instead of simply leaving nothing, the customer went a step further and wrote in a negative tip, suggesting the restaurant owed them $3.50. Something tells me the restaurant won’t be rushing to settle that “debt.” And if this customer ever tried to bring it to court, their paperwork would probably be just as messy as their receipt.

Good luck keeping your appetite with this one

It’s no secret that some Starbucks customers love to overwhelm baristas with elaborate drink requests—and apparently, the staff at one Subway can relate. According to a post, there’s a regular who insists on loading their sandwich with every single topping, turning it into more of an open-faced heap than an actual sub.

Not only does this make extra work for the employees, but you have to wonder about the next customer in line. Will there be any sauce or toppings left? The manager’s probably scratching their head trying to figure out where all the inventory is disappearing to. Personal taste is one thing, but this takes it to the extreme.

Whatever the reason for this, it’s not supposed to go there

By most accounts, this customer seemed perfectly pleasant—she left a generous tip and had no complaints about the service. But when the server came to clear her plate, they discovered she had left a sanitary pad sitting on it.

If it had been used, it would’ve been an obvious health and safety issue and an easy call to place her among the worst customers. But since the pad appeared unused, the gesture is just… confusing. Given how respectful she was otherwise, it’s hard to make sense of such an odd move.

The scary part isn’t the picture but the customer’s response

According to Reddit user Ben702, this terrifying mess is an air filter they removed from a customer’s car while working at a garage. Judging by its condition, it hadn’t been changed in ages—what’s clogging it looks more like alien matter than anything you’d expect under the hood.

But the real shocker isn’t the filter itself—it’s that the customer refused to replace it. Some speculated they planned to buy a cheaper one and handle the replacement on their own, but that level of DIY motivation doesn’t exactly align with someone who let their filter reach this state in the first place.

At least they showed they care, if in a misguided way

Reddit user NovacaneBay shared their frustration over this product return, mostly because they encounter customers with similarly odd logic on a regular basis. To be fair, there’s something oddly sweet about a person deciding that if the nectar doesn’t taste good to them, it isn’t good enough for their hummingbirds either.

Still, it’s easy to understand the exasperation—hummingbird nectar isn’t exactly crafted to please human palates. Unless the hummingbirds start lodging complaints of their own, odds are the product is doing just fine.

Did they think it was a coincidence that these fit together?

Reddit user xjsred3000 didn’t specify their line of business but made it clear that these laptops were meant to be carefully packed. Unfortunately, the customer didn’t take that to mean covering the laptops completely with protective foam blocks.

Instead, they seemed to think it was fine for the laptops to just bump against the foam as if the blocks were merely placeholders rather than proper protection. The fact that one of the laptops ended up broken definitely proves otherwise. Still, this customer won’t go from “bad” to “worst” until they refuse to admit their mistake.

Sometimes it’s not about what customers do at the register

Customers can be difficult in many ways when ordering or paying, but this situation was different. While Reddit user Eternally_Tiredxx was quietly enjoying breakfast on their break, a regular customer loudly and aggressively criticized how much food they were eating.

Even at the best of times, that comment was unnecessary and intrusive. But given the uploader’s history with disordered eating and digestive problems, it was especially hurtful. This incident is part of a broader pattern of judgmental remarks, and this one nearly brought them to tears. Luckily, they didn’t let it stop them from finishing their meal.

Had nobody ever told them not to do this?

It’s easy to shake our heads when someone takes an unnecessary risk, but not all risky moves are daredevil stunts. In fact, many people find out the hard way that some of the biggest risks come from social situations.

Take Reddit user CryptographerLost407, for example, who shared this photo after a customer mistakenly assumed she was three or four months pregnant. The awkward reality? She wasn’t pregnant at all. Hopefully, the embarrassment was mutual, giving the customer a good reason not to make the same assumption again.

Everyone hates this but I think they know that

Just because something is technically allowed doesn’t mean anyone with common sense should actually do it. Sure, you could pay for $60 worth of diesel with a bag full of dimes—but if you do, you’d better be ready for some serious death glares.

It’s almost impossible for the worker not to take it personally. The good news is that it gives them every excuse to turn the frustration right back on the customer by slowly counting every single coin. And if the total comes up short? Well, don’t be surprised when they make you pull out another form of payment.

What did she think was going to happen?

One customer ended up causing a major delay for herself and everyone else when she managed to drive straight into the service pit at this body shop. At first, it might seem a little harsh to label her as one of the worst customers over an accident like this.

After all, mistakes happen—even when people are trying their best. But according to Reddit user MinnesotaSux, she wasn’t exactly focused behind the wheel. She was texting and eating hot chips while pulling in. So yeah, it’s pretty clear she wasn’t giving it her best shot—and honestly, it’s a miracle things didn’t turn out even worse.

Why stores get uptight about bringing food and drinks in

Anyone who’s ever questioned why stores don’t allow food or drinks should hear about the customer who strolled into Old Navy with her coffee. She didn’t notice the cup was leaking—for a full ten minutes—and the results were a disaster.

She ended up ruining at least a couple hundred dollars’ worth of clothes, with no way for the store to salvage them. To make things worse, another customer nearly slipped on the mess left behind. Accident or not, that day she officially earned the title of certified menace.

The last thing that anybody wants to be paid with

Most people would rather get paid in bills than loose change, but honestly, even 100 pennies would’ve been better than the nightmare Reddit user meat_uprising ended up with. To their horror, the dollar they received left a sticky residue that wouldn’t wash off, no matter what they tried.

Luckily, another user—who seemed to have some mysterious firsthand knowledge—explained that the residue was from a certain narcotic. If anyone ever finds themselves stuck with a similar grimy bill, the fix is a cleaning solution with at least 90% rubbing alcohol. Good to know… and even better to avoid altogether.

Sure, this seems like a totally reasonable response

As Reddit user 14jander explained, a customer called their store to complain that their dishwasher was taking three hours to wash and dry his dishes. While that may sound inconvenient, the uploader said he got exactly what he paid for because it was a basic unit with advertised energy-saving features that make the process take longer.

However, none of these explanations satisfied the customer, who said that if the store didn’t take it back, he’d shoot the dishwasher and drop it by the business’s front doors. It’s unclear what he hoped to accomplish by doing that, but if nothing else, he was true to his word.

Gotta love the confidence, but not much else about this

As Reddit user gurksallad explained, one customer came in and told them the words no cell phone repair technician wants to hear. In their words, “I know how to solder, so I replaced the charger-port but now my phone is not working. Can you help?”

Not only does this make it hard to believe that they know how to solder, but it confirms that they have no idea when to solder. As a result, they ended up fusing all of the USB port’s parts together, thus shorting out the whole thing. In other words, no. The uploader cannot help.

It’s like they want people to spit in their food

Since it’s generally a minuscule percentage of the total bill, it’s hard for most servers not to be disappointed by a dollar tip at the best of times. Indeed, that’s the case for at least 30 years by now. However, there’s no way anyone can consider this the best of times.

Unless this customer caught the server making out with their partner or something, it’s hard to imagine what they could have done to deserve the indignity of fishing through the customer’s lemon water for a dollar. Does the customer get their paycheck by crawling under barbed wire?

How to turn a mechanic’s face pale in one easy step

In the abstract, one can understand that being a hoarder is a worrying symptom of a serious mental condition. As such, that can lead to an understanding that shaming a person for exhibiting those tendencies is not as productive as encouraging them to seek help for it and taking steps to clean their spaces.

That said, that doesn’t make those tendencies any easier for anyone else to deal with. So if a mechanic suddenly encounters the smells and infestation risks of a car like this and either wants to vomit or run away screaming, that’s also pretty relatable.

It’s hard to tell without context but it’s like the Devil did this

The food packages on this line are all intended for one customer. At first glance, that’s not exactly the end of the world. Some businesses need big orders and while it’s hard work to fill it, the payday should be worth the effort, right?

Normally, that argument could certainly be made. However, the customer that ordered all of this cancelled their order right after the employees were finished making it. If whoever did this gets banned from their delivery app for that, they shouldn’t be surprised. At the very least, they’re about to learn what a blacklist is the hard way.

Buyer’s remorse is not the store’s problem

As Reddit user rosspointsmiles explained, they’re a manager at a furniture store and recently had to deal with a dispute a customer filed with her credit card company. Her reasoning was that the fabric in this chair was awful, meaning that she didn’t like the look of it.

In a sense, that’s easy to understand because many people wouldn’t want this in their homes either. However, she gave the store’s management every reason to think she did because she custom-ordered this exact pattern. She went out of her way to have them make this chair, but now wants that to be the store’s problem.

Why do so many people do this?

As Reddit user SandwichesANDMilk_ explained, these five full carts were all abandoned by their customers and left for the employees working the closing shift. That means that every item in them has to be sorted, processed, and then put back onto the sales floor. Obviously, that’s a lot of work to make somebody do for no good reason.

Granted, sometimes there is a good reason to suddenly leave everything behind. However, it’s quite implausible for five different customers to have that kind of emergency at once. It’s also even more implausible for three to five customers to have that kind of emergency every night, as the uploader said they have to deal with it that often. So, what is the logic here?

The customer may have understated things a tad

Before anyone gets concerned, it’s worth noting that this mess is mostly composed of beans. Apparently, the customer was transporting a significant amount of frijoles a la charra and had a spilling incident that would make Kevin from The Office blush.

However, that’s not what makes them so easy to be disappointed in as a customer. After all, accidents happen. Instead, they asked Reddit user mimeofsorrow to get “a spot” out of the carpet. It’s probably more accurate to say that “a spot” is the only part of the carpet not covered in this stuff. At least prepare them for the job ahead of them.

Sure, there’s no better time she could have done this

While this woman was waiting for the teller at this bank to take care of whatever she wanted done, she apparently thought it was a golden opportunity to crouch down and start painting her toenails. Not only was this unlikely to endear her to the teller but also to the other customers waiting behind her.

After all, even if the service was slow enough that she had time to do this, it doesn’t exactly make it less frustrating for the other customers to smell the chemicals of her nail polish while they experience the same wait.

The only silver lining is that it’s being taken care of now

At least a year after she bought it, a customer came into the pet shop Reddit user im_tiny_nic works at with this gecko and attempted to get store credit for it because she was about to move away. Not only is that not how returns work but the uploader explained why she’s one of the worst customers.

Geckos live off nutrients stored in their tails when they aren’t fed and the fact that this one’s tail is so skinny — which the uplaoder had never seen to that extent — means it hasn’t been fed in about a year. Fortunately, a coworker has since taken it home and has been regularly feeding it worms.

Well, the problem shouldn’t be hard to figure out

As Reddit user l33ch842 explained, one of their customers apparently came in and reported that their computer was running slow. While there could be many potential reasons for this, it only took the briefest of looks inside to discover the culprit.

Indeed, it seems outright miraculous that the computer was running at all, so it’s definitely understandable that it wouldn’t be working at lightning speed. At least cleaning this out will probably take a couple of billable hours. It’s about the only silver lining to extended contact with this much dust.

Of course, why use a trash can when you can put it here?

We can only speculate on how this paper towel became stained with blood but the most optimistic theory is that a customer had a simple nosebleed. Regardless, however, there should be no world in which they thought that the best place to dispose of it was in this store’s cookie display.

It would be unsanitary to leave this on any of the store’s shelves but even if that was somehow unavoidable, there had to be a better choice than potentially ruining a bunch of food products. The worst customers are the ones employees and fellow customers alike hate.