It’s no secret that working in customer service is not for the thick-skinned. I answered the phone for 5 years in a federal collection center and let me just say…people are really, really special.
These 13+ people have some killer stories, too. As do we all.
#15. So he went upstairs.
I had a customer storm upstairs to customer services to make a complaint, because we’d moved menswear upstairs, and he couldn’t get upstairs because of his knees.
So he went upstairs.
About all I could do was call the support desk and apologize for what they were about to receive.
#14. No problem.
Got yelled at for saying “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome.”
#13. She didn’t trust me.
Lady walked into my office, asking for one of my colleagues.
I explained to her that he actually works out of a different office, which is listed in his e-mail signature and our website. She was upset, as she had documents to drop off to him. I explained to her that his office is only 3 minutes down the street if she wanted to make the drive, or I could scan her documents and e-mail them to him. She refused. So I said, well, you can leave them here with me and I can ask the guy to come pick them up tomorrow.
She again said no, because she didn’t trust me. I explained that I am the director of operations for the company, basically my colleague’s boss. She then yells that she doesn’t know me and this is extremely sensitive information and storms out.
1 minute later, she comes in and asks for my business card to prove I am who I say I am, lol.
I give her one, and she leaves her stuff with me and storms off again.
#12. Not a Russian accent.
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.
#11. I was just a cashier.
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.
#10. She proceeded to sing the Big Mac song.
I was working at McDonald’s. A customer complained that there was not a tomato on her Big Mac.
I explained to her that Big Macs do not come with tomatoes unless special ordered.
She then proceeded to sing the Big Mac song to me in front of a lobby full of customers adding the word TOMATO into the song lyrics in an attempt to prove her point.
#9. A 10lb capacity.
Had an older gentleman order a food scale that was like a 10lb capacity.
The platform was a few inches wide.
He received it and called me yelling “how the hell am I supposed to stand on this thing?”.
We are a redistributor and he was also upset that we sold a product with someone else’s instructions and name on it.
#8. Stacked perfectly.
I think I’ve told this story once in a post somewhere else, probably with one of my old accounts.
I used to work deli for a New England grocery chain, working in Vermont. Working in one of the bigger stores meant that we would often be loaned out during ski season to small stores with “big” holiday booms (it was very busy for them, about normal for my store).
I was slicing cheese for a woman, who got real angry that I hadn’t stacked her cheese perfectly straight, which blew my mind. Who expects deli sliced cheese to be stacked perfectly?
The story has a happy ending though. Her exact, indignant words were “where I’m from in New York they stack the cheese perfectly straight.” And the guy behind her, a regular the local employees had greeted by name, piped up and said “well then maybe you should go the fuck back to New York.” Best moment I’ve ever had a work.
#7. I never had any clue.
A woman I had never met or seen in my life, asked me where her kids were.
I was confused and said “I’m sorry, I don’t know.”
And she yelled and asked where they put them.
She stormed off angry at me.
I never had a clue why she asked me.
#6. She did not like this.
My first job was in the produce department of a local grocery store. One morning, a middle aged woman came in and asked me if we have any organic pears in the back room because the ones up front didn’t look great. I explained to her we would be getting our shipment in the following morning and she could come back then to pick some organic ones up, or we have regular pears available in the next row.
She did not like this.
Aside from getting yelled at, she requested to speak with my manager who also had to get an earful of complaints. This isnt anything super out of the ordinary and I was kind of used to the occasional upset customer….. What killed me though is as she is about to walk away, she turns and says “I’ll be back tomorrow to get the pears, I dont know what my bird is going to eat today though. He has to eat organic.”
TLDR: person makes massive scene in store because her bird ONLY eats organic pears (and perfect ones at that).
#5. Have a nice day.
After I handed him his coffee, instead of saying “thank you” to him, l told him to “have a nice day”.
He sent an email to corporate and my manager telling them I was “rude” to him because I didn’t follow a “company standard”.
#4. Her vast knowledge of swear words.
A customer came in to buy hand sanitizer, she brought her bottle to the register to purchase it, saw there was some at the register, then proceeded to share her vast knowledge of swear words with great vigor with me, swearing she would never shop with us again.
What.
#3. I couldn’t get away from the yelling.
I was working at a coffee and wine bar when I had a man scream at me because he ordered “the Regular” and I didn’t know what he wanted.
It was my first time meeting him which, catastrophically, aligned with the first time I was left to take care of the register alone. I couldn’t get away from the yelling (“Where the hell do you think you’re going?!”) in order to ask the people in the back what he wanted.
His “Regular” got written out, laminated, and pinned to the cash register after that.
He kept screaming, “Do you know who I am” over and over, which – no sir, I do not know who you are. This is the first time we met. Also it turns out he was no one but a dick.
EDIT: Don’t remember all the particulars of his “Regular” but I do remember it was an espresso drink where he wanted you to put brown sugar in the milk before you steamed it, then add some boiling water to the top after it was all put together. There was probably another incantation involved but it’s been a while.
EDIT 2: Also, I don’t really blame the owner. It was a new family owned business (not a Starbucks) that she really wanted to have as a hangout for locals. She was worried about rocking the boat banning people. We only banned two people in my two years of working there and that was fun.
#2. Drama drama everywhere.
This lady at Walmart once got really pissed off at me because we didn’t sell pasteurized eggs. And this wasn’t the loud, screaming kind of pissed off. She just looked at me very intensely and spoke at low volume, over-enunciating every syllable, and said “Tell. Your. Managers. To order. Pasteurized. Eggs.”
This other lady grabbed my arm and started pulling on me telling me that the fact that we shut down our sewing department felt like we had killed her child, and that less and less people were going to come to Walmart because of stuff like that and that we would have to close down.
#1. He threw a metal bucket at my head.
Because I didn’t open up shop an hour before opening time.
Because “he was here now, so open the store!”
He kept banging on the door and then threw a metal bucket at my head.
Good times.
I can’t say I’m sorry to be in a different line of work, now (though online comments are their own beast)!
Are you in customer service? Have you ever had a situation like this?
Let us know in the comments!
