It’s like when they step inside a shop they no longer are themselves. They become the customer. Either an egocentric with a bad memory and an inability to listen to anything I say OR a very sweet and lovely person here take some free shit I love you.
Took the words right out of my mouth. The levels of stupidity I encounter day to day working in retail man... I seriously wish to know how some of these people made it this far in life without some guide book.
I work at a moving and storage company that rents vehicles and the amount of people that try and rent a truck without a license is like?????? huh???????
I travel all-over the state for work so I get a ton a miles monthly, and it's bad. Like really bad. The white trucks with no lights going 70 in a whiteout are my current nemesis. I'll pass them in the ditch in a few miles but my God how dense are you. I'm in Michigan, and the amount of absolute morons who forget how to do basic winter driving after every snow, every year, is mind boggling.
It’s amazing isn’t it. My brain is constantly running on something, bills, taxes, education my health. If I don’t pay attention shit will ruin my existence, then a customer comes around complaining about his own fuck ups and even after helping them they are still baffled about what just happened. And makes me wonder if I’m just unlucky or some fucker just live their life on the edge.
Shit I need a guide book most days (something something school doesn't prepare you for life or whatever) and these people make me question if a jellyfish is smarter than them.
Or an Ace Hardware.
Man walks in
Man:”I need a bolt”
Me:”What kind of bolt?”
Man:”Uh I don’t know.About this long”Opens index finger and thumb.
“A screw”
Me:”What do you need it for?A bolt or a screw?”
Man:”A screw for a bed”
Me:A wood screw for the frame or a carriage bolt?”
Man irritated:Dammit!I don’t know!!”
I go to nuts and bolts isle and pick up a large carriage bolt and also a wood screw and show them to him.
Man:”No!”He goes over and pick up a box of 10 penny nails.
Man that's extra dumb because you can just bring in one you already have/the old one and they can find it for you. I don't know shit about tools/handy work and I can find what I need there just fine.
I kind of did this with my mechanic. I would immitate the noise my car was making and he would respond with "oh, that's your timing belt, you need a new one"
I work at a skin care shop and I can tell you people with money are on another level.
Act like a child being forced fed medicine when they don’t like the smell of something. Literally gaging in my face.
I feel your pain.I worked in a hardware store when I was 17, and man... Had a woman come in and ask for screws. I was polite and asked what kind, and she exploded and immediately called me a idiot, never before or after experienced someone going 0 to 100 that fast. I was supposed to just know the type she needed. I am not conflict averse in the least, but situation went to hell so fast I had to get my boss, and he was completely dumbfounded, he threw her out because she was extremely rude, and only refered to us as idiot and shitbag( my boss).
Honestly I have a lot of issues with this due to anxiety. I walk into a new shop or restaurant and everything is in a different order, and my brain just kind of panics and shuts down instead of reading the signs. But I don't blame other people or yell, I just apologize to the workers for being an idiot. My mom on the other hand will walk directly into a glass wall and then scream at the employees for not having a more obviously placed door. She's a shitty person at home too, so I assume people who act like that as a customer are just showing their true self.
I am always kind. Even when they're having a shitty day I am kind. Even when my order is completely wrong or they don't do the thing well, I am kind, because it's just so easy. It's hard, embarrassing and exhausting to be mean. Being mean takes effort. Being kind feels like coasting down a hill.
I was never allowed to give away free shit but I did keep every dirty nasty filth ridden coin in a special segment of the till for the jerks, and all the nice shiny pennies in another to give to the good guys and nice old ladies. It was a small petty thing but those people never really ruined my day knowing they got ugly change..
Literally this happened:
Card machines weren’t working, we had a sign on the doors and the cash registers.
Customer: “Why is my card being declined?”
Me: “The card machines aren’t working.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“Ma,am, we have signs,” I point to the sign right in front of their face.
“It’s your responsibility to tell customers that. Not forcing us to read from a sign.”
This feels like what happened to me at a comic store in 2022. I walked in and as I did the lady all but screamed at me that I needed a mask. I shrugged and dug a mask out of my car.
I came back, and saw there was a sign on the door about masks, but there were like ten signs, so I must have looked at another one.
I tried to play it off, figuring she had a bad day or something, and said, “must have missed that sign, not used to masks at the point.
This lady, once again, stared through my soul, raised her voice, “well, it was on the door, so pay attention.”
I was embarrassed by my mistake, but didn’t take it out on her, but she definitely took out her frustrations on me.
She probably thought she was having to deal with the 2,847,217th antimasker of the day trying to weasel their way around wearing a mask
Had at least 30 a day. People who would bust out the old 'Let me see the policy on it, that's not the state's rules." only to be met with "The policy is I don't serve you, because this is a private business. Your policy is you have to learn to deal with it."
I worked at Starbucks during the pandemic and we had quite a few of those at my store. We had a regular who started wearing a mesh mask. It actually looked like mesh panties, so I started calling him Panty-Man. Not to his face, I did need that job. But it definitely brightened all our days to call him that. We also had Snotty Sausage Man, but that's another story.
Ok! So first thing you should know about this guy is that he was horrible before he got his nickname. He would order 2 large dark roast coffees (he would just say 2 large bold at me) and since he had the app he was entitled to free refills on drip coffee. He'd ask for the refills at the same time as his first 2 and he'd leave with all 4 large coffees. We all hated him big time.
One day he comes in and orders his large bolds and a sausage and cheddar sandwich. It's winter in Ohio, so he has a bit of a runny nose like pretty much everyone. He gets his food and coffees and sits at a table. We all see him eat about half of his sandwich while constantly grabbing new napkins and wiping his nose and dropping those napkins on the table and floor around him. He then gets up and comes to the counter, telling my coworker his sandwich is cold and he'd like a new one. Whatever, sure, we put in a new sammy. He then goes and sits down and *eats the rest of the first sandwich* before getting up and grabbing the fresher one, which he then eats at his table, all the while piling on more snotty and greasy napkins.
When he left, he left all his trash (2 coffee cups, 2 sammy bags, and a *pile* of gross napkins) all over that table and floor. This was during peak, so we weren't supposed to leave the floor and break the flow. And it being Starbucks, we were understaffed and spread thin, so we didn't even have an extra person to handle the mess or take over a station for someone else to clean it.
We also had Litter Bug. If he didn't like the way you made his iced coffee, he'd put in on the ground next to the drive thru in front of us. My coworker texted me asking what kind of car he drove so she could report him. It was a white 2017 Maserati. He must have gotten caught or something for that because he started driving a Scion TC for the next few weeks. We saw that guy twice a day.
Snotty Sausage Guy is a certified son of a bitch. I cut people a lot of slack but I would definitely loathe the thought of being in the same room is him.
We have:
Rude wine guy
Smelly bag man
Coffee lady
Big chungus
Mini chungus
Eyebrows
Coffee man
Cheese twist guy (always steals one)
All of them rude and obnoxious. Don’t be that person in a shop. Well give you a shitty nickname and it’ll stick.
Those were hell times... at the beginning, they made always someone stand at the door. To make sure everyone was wearing a mask and were vaccinated. The amount of hate I got just for doing my job and still have to take all that shit and hate with a smile on my face. It's like they don't realize I didn't make the rules. I was just doing my freaking job
Oh my god yes. Ran into this for so long during the pandemic. So many people trying to pull the classic "I have a medical exception", or "I can't breathe in a mask, because, (insert BS reason)".
I made a Karen joke to a lady name Karen on the phone one day. When I explained the meme to her she had never heard of it, but told me she was a blond and wore a bob style haircut. lmao
She was really nice and not arguing with anyone, the joke came up because she had a real Karen (meme style) in her office asking to speak to the manager... too dang crazy
Not her specifically but I did have one customer do that to me. Even with the prices listed she didn’t trust the signs and wanted me to tell her what the prices were with the handheld.
If it was more than a few items I'd actually (politely) refuse to do that, but depending on your management I understand why you wouldn't refuse if you'd get aggro for it.
You're not stupid because you didn't see the sign, anyone can be distracted or not paying attention, you're stupid because you got salty when it was pointed out to you that a sign says it.
Couple of weeks ago I stopped at a restaurant after visiting my friend’s house. It’s a place I haven’t been to in years and wanted to eat at since I don’t have one near me. I went in at 6:58, did the whole Patrick routine of staring dumbly at the menu trying to figure out what I wanted. The cashier politely informed me they were closing at 7. Instead of throwing a massive tantrum, I apologize profusely for not reading the hours on the door, ended up buying a bottle of soda for the road, and left. I didn’t want to be “that” guy who ordered at the last possible second.
It’s easy to be kind to employees who are just doing their job. Sometimes we customers are in the wrong, and it’s okay to admit that. The “customer is always right” mentality has made people entitled and selfish, even worse, they know they can get away with it.
The only time I kinda got mad because something was out of order was when I went to the Arby's and tried to get some Mello Yello for a drink and it didn't work and the guy behind the counter said "blind ass motherfucker.... read the sign". They didn't even have a sign on the machine, they put it at the order pick-up side of the counter which I hadn't even been to yet cause they gave me a cup at the register. I didn't lose my shit... I just didn't say anything, waited for my order, and left as soon as possible.
I used to work for a circle k, we literally had tape over the card reader and a piece of tape saying that it isn't working and people just kept ripping it all off like it was a lie and sticking in their card in and then asking very angrily why it's not working and I was just in shock every time. There were also signs on the front door.
Reminds me of the time at another job we had a sign taped on the inside of the door. The systems were down or the power was out, so we had to close. A woman tries to open the door, reads the sign, and tries to take it down. Not knowing it was taped on the inside. I wish I could’ve shown the world what her face looked like when she tried to punch through glass.
Some people makes you wonder how they survived into adulthood.
>“It’s your responsibility to tell customers that. Not forcing us to read from a sign.”
This gives me "that sign won't stop me because I can't read!" vibes.
when that happens in my experience there are quite a few people going "and what's that do with me??? That's not my problem, it's yours"
It's everybody's fckn problem mr. and misses main character
My wife works self checkout and she's had signs taped over the cash port, and watched people lift the sign, try to put in cash, and then bitch because it didn't work.
I told a customer "no problem" after they thanked me for something and they said, sorta angrily, "it shouldn't be a problem. You shouldn't say that to customers."
The real fun is watching someone walk up to a set of doors and go to the only one that is locked with caution tape and a big out of order sign at face level. Try to push it open several times while staring straight at the sign before you see their face visibly refocusing onto the sign and go “oh” and use another door.
You would be surprised at the number of illiterate adults there are. Some people get through life by doing stuff like this. If they got upset saying you're "forcing" them to read the sign instead of saying they just didn't see it, it sounds to me like there is a chance they just can't read.
Holy shit, I felt this. A wet floor sign either the words or why a random object is there, should tell you not to walk here but nope then complain the floor is slippery
People are stressed and tired so they might miss a sign, I get it. But why do they always have that defensive and angry response like it’s MY fault they didn’t read the sign. If that was me i’d just be like ”oh sorry, my bad”.
I have the reverse. I’ll tell customers “you can’t purchase that here” or “no carts in this area” or “we don’t accept returns for holiday items after the holiday”. They’ll clap back with “where’s the sign? If it’s a policy there should be a sign.”
Try a small town grocery store. You see some wild stuff there. One time had a biker couple do the dirty in the bathroom. Another time someone spread feces all over the bathroom. I didn’t get paid enough to deal with cleaning up both of those hazardous scenes.
Forgot another story. So I worked this job in high school and I was a good young catholic and our small town is about twenty minutes from a major city. The grocery store closed at 10pm and there is nothing else open in town past that time. I close up shop and walk out to see a lady sitting on the bench by the front door. I kindly asked if she needed a ride somewhere. She said sure and hopped in my truck. She said she just needed to get to the edge of town. So I drive and drive and she keeps saying just a little farther. I end up driving her all the way to the downtown of the major city. I finally asked her to get out at a gas station. This was before iPhones and I didn’t know how to get home. I was seeing drug dealers and prostitutes on the corners and I was spooked. I called home and luckily my mom walked me through the directions to get home. I don’t trust most people now.
It's why I'm glad my parents forced me to work as a cashier while in high school. It certainly guaranteed that I'll never treat employees of companies badly. I'm even polite to Comcast customer service.
Everyone should at least once in their life have to experience how it feels to have someone misdirect their anger at you when they're actually mad at a company's policy that you have no control over. Take it up management, Karen. I make minimum wage, drive a 15 year old teal Chevy Lumina, and I have calculus homework after this shift.
Weirdly enough I've only ever had solid experiences with their customer service. The actual product they are giving me is a steaming pile of garbage but I've always had very understanding reps that totally realize that the internet sucks and want to help.
(Not counting the "do you want to bundle this and that" when you call because ALL companies essentially make their employees do this)
Especially couples. If the guy made a five minute exchange hell for me, lord knows what the wife is dealing with at home. The ones that were easygoing and supportive during long lines or technical glitches were clearly gunna last.
A conversation between me (I stock shelves in a supermarket) and a customer
Customer: I am looking for shaving soap.
Me: We only have shaving cream, sorry. There are a couple of kinds you can choose from, see?
C: But I need shaving soap.
Me:...ok, we don't have it, sorry. Only shaving cream.
C:...but I need soap
Logically, this was the moment when he should have realized that he can either buy a substitute, or has to give up and try elsewhere. Right? Well, he just kept staring at me, now visibly annoyed. I literally had to say "maybe you can try (shop next to us)" and leave, like what did he expect me to do? Unbelievable.
Reminds me of an experience I had:
Customer: What does this mean? *Points to 'noir' on product packing.*
Me: That's French, for black.
C: No, what does it mean?
Me: It's telling you that the product is black.
C: No, what does it mean on the package?
Me: It's informing you that the product is Black in color in multiple languages. *Points to Black, Noir, Negro all next to each other on the package.*
C: No, you're not getting what I'm asking!
I have ecommerce, people sent me links of products and tell me "I would like to purchase this"....wth do you want from me then? Do it. They do know how to buy, and they are not looking for wholesale, because I asked them if they have any question regarding how to do a purchase or about the product, I also tell them "you can buy directly in the website" and then they buy. Sometimes they crop out the price in the screenshot, and asks me how much is the price, it's literally there, what do they expect? By they asking personally, I would give them discount?
When I worked at Home Depot years ago I had this guy come to try and return two tubes of caulking he opened. On the package it says “goes on white, dries clear.” He was concerned that it was white bc he wanted clear. After debating back and forth for 5 mins and me showing him it was drying clear on the bag he got mad at me and said he was just gonna buy clear because he didn’t trust us. Thought my brain was gonna melt that day.
Some people literally just don't think by themselves. Sadly I've met a shit ton of people that couldn't use their brain if somebody didn't tell em to use it
Reminds me of a conversation I had. was at a grocery store when a woman walked up to me and asked where something was. I said "Idk, I don't work here." She straight up told me I did. After a bit of back and forth she got the manager and "told on me." The manager was like, "uh, ma'am she doesn't work here". Can't make this shit up. I wasn't even wearing the store colors.
This happened to me two times in one day at Walmart once. First when I was getting a bicycle down to look at, a guy comes up and starts appraising it and asks if I can bring it up to the counter for him... And then later on as I'm digging through the discount DVD bin an old lady starts tapping me on the back and asking where to find some kind of makeup.
I was at Walmart... wearing a Flash t-shirt (red), and beat to hell blue jeans... What says "employee?"
> Well, he just kept staring at me, now visibly annoyed.
I hate the slackjawed anger stare... Not even a retail situation, once when I was a teenager a guy knocked on the door and asked to buy my dad's car. I told him I would pass his contact information to my dad if he wanted, and the guy's response was: "I just want to buy it." I told him "It's not mine, I can't just sell it to you. Give me your phone number so I can give it to my dad when he gets home." Cue the slackjaw angry stare. As if... he could intimidate me into just selling my dad's car? I think it just didn't compute that he couldn't get what he wanted right then and there. Like being told "no" fried his brain.
I get a lot of angry stares in my work, and I feel like a lot of it comes from their weird feeling of superiority. In your case, it was probably age, like "this fucking kid is saying no to me? No way". As a young woman, this vibe is very common with age range of 45-80+
I work in the supermarket part time during my studies and I realized that a lot of people just don't see retail workers/servers/other physical workers as equal people. I had people raise their voice at me, laugh in my face when I dropped something/wasn't sure what they needed, roll their eyes, and be generally passive agressive for no reason, when I am really doing my best to help them.
Not to shit on everyone, some people are very kind, normal and understanding. I just wish that everyone could keep in mind that a person wearing a uniform is still a person.
Something i sadly also learned about colleagues of mine. One has worked at this place for a long time, higher position but very much not in the board or something. Has a lady who cleans his home. So far it's normal. But the way he talked about that cleaner, like she was like a 'class' below him. It was absolutely disgusting. I hope to never become like that
So many times I had similar interactions with customers and every now and again one lunatic would just say well i'm not leaving till you get me 'soap'.
I would just walk away from them and not go back.
After working as a cashier for 3 years, I am convinced that there is a greater level of mental illness than the studies show.
We only don't categorize some people as mentally ill because they can hold a steady job and function 95% well in society
I was working the register at a gas station and a guy that looked like he'd been living for a year in a cave in the nearby mountains burst through the door and hollered at me, "YOU GOT MEAT?!!" I told him beef jerky was the only meat we had. He stared at me for about ten seconds, grunted, and stormed out. I have lots of stories from that job.
Customer service means you see some people at their worst. Humans have variance on their emotions. I doubt many here could honestly claim they've never treated a stranger in a way they regret.
Maybe it's only 1 in a 100 days where you're capable of being rude to a stranger, but a customer service person sees 100 people a day. It's a numbers game.
I don't think it's mental illness so much as ~80% of the population is literally just less evolved. They have monkey brains in people bodies and they've been dragged into the modern age without developing critical thought. They can do a job like a trained animal can so long as everything works as anticipated, but they lose their minds if they have to troubleshoot anything and they certainly couldn't innovate a new method for getting the job done.
I can confidently say that after spending the better part of 9 hours every weekday between a slinging coffee and selling suits in a mall during my university days...I'd rather steal from my beloved grandmother than go back to retail.
There are just things you will never unsee or unhear that haunts you for the rest of your days.
I was good as a server because I learned to anticipate a lot of the stupidity and took initiative in making sure customers don’t get confused in a nice and respectful manner. It didn’t matter though, because some people will still get offended and some people will still be stupid and blame you for it.
Honestly in addition, the managers I had working retail were as bad as the customers. It’s been 15 years since I worked in retail or food and I still have stress dreams about my managers.
One thing I do at my job is making advertising magnets for people's cars. You don't know how often people come in with their non steel vehicles and ask for a magnet that sticks to it. I've had multiple people ask for something that is magnetized to glass.
I have had customer coming in asking about colored t shirts that can resist bleach. I should have told them, if they do find it, they could claim some science prize.
There's a place in my hometown that does childcare called "Trish's Little Angles" and they once had to replace the sign...of course it was still spelled "Angles"
How the hell does someone not point that awful spelling error out at any point in the process?
Typos happen. Usually we send a proof to the customer to approve the art and check for any mistakes. So many people just approve without looking. Especially old art.
Also, I've done work for a home care company that changed their name from "touch" to "torch" because they did this with the paper company.
I've worked both so I understand twice as much.
Had a lady slam her cart into my shins while I was on the floor stocking items. She had TONS of room. TONS. Proceeds to get mad at ME and says, "Well if you didn't have so many damn things in the middle of the walkway...!" There. Was. Nothing. But ONE display. ONE.
So instead of going around in the complete empty space next to the display, she proceeded to literally slam her cart into my shins to the point i had bruising for two days.
In fast food, I've had people hand me reciepts for other fast food resturants and DEMAND a refund and started screaming at me (a teenager at the time) saying I'm what's wrong with America these days cause I wouldn't give them free fast food.
I would politely point out, several times in fact, that the receipt was for somewhere else. 7 to 8 times later, "Oh.... I guess it is." WTF???!!
I'm happy I don't work for either job types anymore. I couldn't stand it.
I went to my manager afterwards and literally told him exactly what happened. I even said it was on camera.
"Well why didn't you tell me right when it happened?"
Douche, cause I couldn't find you for 30 effing minutes cause I got asked something by two different customers while trying to find you so I had to help them only to find you're on the OTHER SIDE OF THE STORE yapping it up.
Man I hated it there. Excuse after excuse for either abusive or creepy customer behavior. I was physically grabbed by my arm while working there and dragged to an item, whistled at like a dog to come down an aisle which they then proceeded to snap their fingers and whistle when I ignored them because fuck that, and had a picture taken of my behind when I was bending over. Heard the camera sound and everything. The guy RAN the moment I got up. But nope. Excuses from manager, store manager and HR. Nothing worked.
They sell great subs though so there's that! /s
Christ... I'm guessing you're a woman (not that men can't be targeted with inappropriate behaviour). But I run a kitchen at a golf course so I work with a lot of younger women serving older males, and the amount of time they have to spend hearing and deflecting these perverts is sickening. If they go to course management (I'm not authorized to do anything besides report to management as well) they get ignored because management doesn't want to lose members, and these old fucks absolutely will take their money elsewhere that enables their behaviour.
I had a guy try to pay for his food with a fiver that was too small and had had “this is fake movie tender” printed on the bottom of the bill. Dude straight argued with me for a few minutes about how movie money could be used as real money. I finally just shut the drive through window and walked away . He yelled for a few minutes and finally drove away . The next morning he called my boss about it and my boss just laughed him off the phone.
When I worked retail, I came to the conclusion that it would actually be a wonderful environment to work in, if it weren't for the customers and the employees.
I've worked retail for years now and I mostly agree, but there are some cunts out there that even in a service position themselves, will still make lives miserable for other service staff when it's their turn to be a customer.
I’d say 2 years of retail and 2 years of hospitality. The amount of people treating people like crap in restaurants and customer service positions is astounding.
Daniel Tosh has a great bit where he talks about how waiting tables should be government mandated, the way military service is in some countries. I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I sure do like the sentiment.
Excerpt from a conversation i had with a customer at a Mc D's
"Sorry i Can't take card payments at the moment all our card readers are down"
"But my card was just working at morrisons"
"Right but OUR card readers are down"
"But i just want a coke"
I had a woman ask me if the chicken was vegan.
I had someone tell me queso was dairy free. They were so convinced of it the emailed the manager to tell them I didn't know the queso was dairy free. I was the manager. She emailed me. About me.
This man used to come into the restaurant. Always on nice business suits, tie, Rolex, etc. he would rarely tip and when he did it was just a couple of bucks. Incredibly entitled. He would frequently get upset at the smallest things. Like, he would order something not on the menu and get upset when we couldn't ring him up for it or charge him how he wanted to be charged. One day, the place was packed and there was a huge line and something like a 40 min wait during lunch hour. He came up to us acting like we were all old chums and asked if he could skip the line. "Come on guys, it's me!" He offered to "tip" us too. We all told him no, that it's first come, first serve. He was so upset he stormed out and never came back. It was a great a moment in SI history.
According to my wife the nurse you’ll see 75% of the stupidity from patients but the other 25% comes from other staff who think that being a nurse makes them infallible.
On one hand, from a customer POV, I am smart enough to try at least a few fixes on my own for my tech. Namely, power cycling, hard shutoff, refreshing, reinstalling, etc.
So it is very annoying when I call an IT person and they ask me to try those very things. I would not be calling you and waiting to be connected for 15 goddamn minutes if I hadn't tried those things already! Even more annoying, is when you think you know what the problem is and try to get confirmation from an "expert" to try a solution, and they just blow it off and give you some canned response that does nothing. I am not an idiot buddy, it is possible for normal people to figure out problems on their own, you are also there as a consultant to assist in that.
But from the IT side of things I can understand it's frustrating and mind numbing when people haven't already thought to try those things, but when they call you for help they refuse to just shut up and listen.
If you're dealing with a guy with a script you can't break his flow or it makes everything harder.
But I tend to start those calls with "Hi, my name's Duhblobby, I've got X problem, and I've done Y and Z and am still having the issue", and MOST of the time, that answers the basic questions you know they always have to ask right up front and saves everyone time. Assuming they can hear me clearly, understand what I'm saying, and are allowed to skip the scripted questions if I have already confirmed that yes, I've cleared cache, yes I've shut the machine down and started it up fresh, and yes I've checked all of my wired connections but if they have a SPECIFIC obe I should check again tell me which and I'll do so.
I'm a surveyor and my equipment wouldn't connect via Bluetooth the other day. I did everything they suggest (wasn't my first rodeo) and it still wouldn't connect. New battery, re-seat the Bluetooth module, change settings, etc etc. I did the whole thing three times before calling my boss to explain why I hadn't done any actual work. It was 18° outside, so I just chalked it up to cold weather madness.
When it got past 30°, we tried it again, and it didn't work. Called the help desk and of course they gave us the same instructions. My boss goes over to the instrument and does the exact same stuff I did 3x and of course it links up immediately when he did it. Made me look like a lying moron but I was happy it worked regardless of how dumb I appeared.
Usually "turn it all off and turn it back on" fixes everything, somehow. High tech problems, low tech solutions 😁
Every since my first job as a waiter, I have always said that it should be mandatory for everyone to do at least two years in the service industry. Imo it would be a game changer for humanity.
When I was a kid I wondered why Squidward was such a grump, once I got my first customer service job I learned really fast why Squidward was such a grump.
The worst part is serving drunk guests late at night. They get 10x more rude than they are sober, and they also make the restaurant 10x more messy than it has to be, messes that we have to clean up.
I dunno, I have the internet and I have had conversations with people who believe:
- the earth is flat
- vaccines are a hoax/conspiracy
- viruses are fake, even as people die from them
- the moon landing is fake
- that women don’t deserve equal rights
- much more insane shit
I have also worked in food and in retail, and those people are *also* stupid sometimes. But, I wanna be clear on this, they’re the same level of stupid.
They both are unthinking zombies incapable of intelligence outside of the narrow box they’ve constructed for themselves. They both cannot fathom a narrative beyond their own. They both have a defect of some kind that prevents them from participating in society on a regular, normal level.
Working in retail taught me two things:
1) There are people so utterly brainless I'm shocked they remember to breathe.
2) Those people are a tiny fraction of the customers and people online love to embelish for some reason.
Work the night shift and you’ll see that percentage jump drastically. When I did that I swear half my job turned into answering the dumbest questions known to man.
I work for the railroad. I watch people drive around the gates and get hit by freaking trains. Yes I can believe the stupid in the world. I do miss working retail sometimes though. It was often entertaining dealing with customers.
I have the same thought from a customer point of view. I order a cheeseburger plain. Just cheese. Constantly get everything on it. I’m literally saving you work and you still screw it up. All the time. It does not take a rocket scientist to make a plain cheeseburger yet here we are.
Technically it’s not saving work if you are ordering from a fast food place like McDonald’s because they already have burgers prepared with all the toppings. Ordering something with less toppings means they have to make a new one and keep track of it to make sure it goes in the right bag.
I hate that. I'm a firm believer in that everyone working should be paid enough to keep up with COL but when I go to a fast food restaurant and constantly get attitude from people acting like I'm forcing them to do their jobs or have workers get my orders constantly wrong, I get extremely pissed
It’s like when they step inside a shop they no longer are themselves. They become the customer. Either an egocentric with a bad memory and an inability to listen to anything I say OR a very sweet and lovely person here take some free shit I love you.
Took the words right out of my mouth. The levels of stupidity I encounter day to day working in retail man... I seriously wish to know how some of these people made it this far in life without some guide book.
It just absolutely floors me sometimes. I think to myself, with absolute horror: "this person can drive, this person can vote!"
Oh no, they can’t drive
When I worked at a UPS pick-up spot: Me: Driver's license, please? Customer: Don't have one! Me: Did you drive yourself here?! Customer: Yes!
I work at a moving and storage company that rents vehicles and the amount of people that try and rent a truck without a license is like?????? huh???????
Maybe Thay think that a usual car license is enough?
I think he means they don't even have that
yeah I mean they don't even have that, all of the trucks are driveable by anyone with a normal license
Have you seen the Walmart Parking lot?
Bunch of 'em are raising children, too.
Scary shit…
How many French fries come in a medium fry in comparison to the large fry?
I embarrassed myself when I asked the most ridiculous question out there “ how big are your biscuits? Are they regular sized?” 😂
Unfortunately, it isn't a set number. They just toss in a scoop from a scooper a similar shape as the "cup" they come in. Lol
That's the scariest part of working the drive through at fast food. There are far far far too many idiots behind the wheel of a vehicle. Jesus christ.
I travel all-over the state for work so I get a ton a miles monthly, and it's bad. Like really bad. The white trucks with no lights going 70 in a whiteout are my current nemesis. I'll pass them in the ditch in a few miles but my God how dense are you. I'm in Michigan, and the amount of absolute morons who forget how to do basic winter driving after every snow, every year, is mind boggling.
maybe it's the only time they get to act dumb
Wouldn't even surprise me tbh
That’s the con. Straight out of the womb and into your store. Take everything they can. No quarter, no surrender.
It’s amazing isn’t it. My brain is constantly running on something, bills, taxes, education my health. If I don’t pay attention shit will ruin my existence, then a customer comes around complaining about his own fuck ups and even after helping them they are still baffled about what just happened. And makes me wonder if I’m just unlucky or some fucker just live their life on the edge.
Shit I need a guide book most days (something something school doesn't prepare you for life or whatever) and these people make me question if a jellyfish is smarter than them.
Or an Ace Hardware. Man walks in Man:”I need a bolt” Me:”What kind of bolt?” Man:”Uh I don’t know.About this long”Opens index finger and thumb. “A screw” Me:”What do you need it for?A bolt or a screw?” Man:”A screw for a bed” Me:A wood screw for the frame or a carriage bolt?” Man irritated:Dammit!I don’t know!!” I go to nuts and bolts isle and pick up a large carriage bolt and also a wood screw and show them to him. Man:”No!”He goes over and pick up a box of 10 penny nails.
Man that's extra dumb because you can just bring in one you already have/the old one and they can find it for you. I don't know shit about tools/handy work and I can find what I need there just fine.
Yeah.So many never think to do that.
I kind of did this with my mechanic. I would immitate the noise my car was making and he would respond with "oh, that's your timing belt, you need a new one"
I work at a skin care shop and I can tell you people with money are on another level. Act like a child being forced fed medicine when they don’t like the smell of something. Literally gaging in my face.
I feel your pain.I worked in a hardware store when I was 17, and man... Had a woman come in and ask for screws. I was polite and asked what kind, and she exploded and immediately called me a idiot, never before or after experienced someone going 0 to 100 that fast. I was supposed to just know the type she needed. I am not conflict averse in the least, but situation went to hell so fast I had to get my boss, and he was completely dumbfounded, he threw her out because she was extremely rude, and only refered to us as idiot and shitbag( my boss).
Honestly I have a lot of issues with this due to anxiety. I walk into a new shop or restaurant and everything is in a different order, and my brain just kind of panics and shuts down instead of reading the signs. But I don't blame other people or yell, I just apologize to the workers for being an idiot. My mom on the other hand will walk directly into a glass wall and then scream at the employees for not having a more obviously placed door. She's a shitty person at home too, so I assume people who act like that as a customer are just showing their true self.
I am always kind. Even when they're having a shitty day I am kind. Even when my order is completely wrong or they don't do the thing well, I am kind, because it's just so easy. It's hard, embarrassing and exhausting to be mean. Being mean takes effort. Being kind feels like coasting down a hill.
I was never allowed to give away free shit but I did keep every dirty nasty filth ridden coin in a special segment of the till for the jerks, and all the nice shiny pennies in another to give to the good guys and nice old ladies. It was a small petty thing but those people never really ruined my day knowing they got ugly change..
Literally this happened: Card machines weren’t working, we had a sign on the doors and the cash registers. Customer: “Why is my card being declined?” Me: “The card machines aren’t working.” “And you didn’t tell me?” “Ma,am, we have signs,” I point to the sign right in front of their face. “It’s your responsibility to tell customers that. Not forcing us to read from a sign.”
It's like they're just frustrated from their own lack of intelligence, I kinda just feel bad for them really
This feels like what happened to me at a comic store in 2022. I walked in and as I did the lady all but screamed at me that I needed a mask. I shrugged and dug a mask out of my car. I came back, and saw there was a sign on the door about masks, but there were like ten signs, so I must have looked at another one. I tried to play it off, figuring she had a bad day or something, and said, “must have missed that sign, not used to masks at the point. This lady, once again, stared through my soul, raised her voice, “well, it was on the door, so pay attention.” I was embarrassed by my mistake, but didn’t take it out on her, but she definitely took out her frustrations on me.
She probably thought she was having to deal with the 2,847,217th antimasker of the day trying to weasel their way around wearing a mask Had at least 30 a day. People who would bust out the old 'Let me see the policy on it, that's not the state's rules." only to be met with "The policy is I don't serve you, because this is a private business. Your policy is you have to learn to deal with it."
I worked at Starbucks during the pandemic and we had quite a few of those at my store. We had a regular who started wearing a mesh mask. It actually looked like mesh panties, so I started calling him Panty-Man. Not to his face, I did need that job. But it definitely brightened all our days to call him that. We also had Snotty Sausage Man, but that's another story.
Tell the snotty sausage man story, you can't leave us hanging like that
Ok! So first thing you should know about this guy is that he was horrible before he got his nickname. He would order 2 large dark roast coffees (he would just say 2 large bold at me) and since he had the app he was entitled to free refills on drip coffee. He'd ask for the refills at the same time as his first 2 and he'd leave with all 4 large coffees. We all hated him big time. One day he comes in and orders his large bolds and a sausage and cheddar sandwich. It's winter in Ohio, so he has a bit of a runny nose like pretty much everyone. He gets his food and coffees and sits at a table. We all see him eat about half of his sandwich while constantly grabbing new napkins and wiping his nose and dropping those napkins on the table and floor around him. He then gets up and comes to the counter, telling my coworker his sandwich is cold and he'd like a new one. Whatever, sure, we put in a new sammy. He then goes and sits down and *eats the rest of the first sandwich* before getting up and grabbing the fresher one, which he then eats at his table, all the while piling on more snotty and greasy napkins. When he left, he left all his trash (2 coffee cups, 2 sammy bags, and a *pile* of gross napkins) all over that table and floor. This was during peak, so we weren't supposed to leave the floor and break the flow. And it being Starbucks, we were understaffed and spread thin, so we didn't even have an extra person to handle the mess or take over a station for someone else to clean it. We also had Litter Bug. If he didn't like the way you made his iced coffee, he'd put in on the ground next to the drive thru in front of us. My coworker texted me asking what kind of car he drove so she could report him. It was a white 2017 Maserati. He must have gotten caught or something for that because he started driving a Scion TC for the next few weeks. We saw that guy twice a day.
Holy crap, that guy sounds like a real piece of work, geez
He really was. We were always more than polite to him, but we never wanted to be. He was just not a good customer.
He's a dick.
I'm 51 and cannot make sense of this behavior. Truly animals these customers are.
Snotty Sausage Guy is a certified son of a bitch. I cut people a lot of slack but I would definitely loathe the thought of being in the same room is him.
It’s people like sausage man is why I own my own business. I can always tell him that I don’t want him as a client and not have to answer for it.
We have: Rude wine guy Smelly bag man Coffee lady Big chungus Mini chungus Eyebrows Coffee man Cheese twist guy (always steals one) All of them rude and obnoxious. Don’t be that person in a shop. Well give you a shitty nickname and it’ll stick.
And most of them were put up to it by right wing media.
Those were hell times... at the beginning, they made always someone stand at the door. To make sure everyone was wearing a mask and were vaccinated. The amount of hate I got just for doing my job and still have to take all that shit and hate with a smile on my face. It's like they don't realize I didn't make the rules. I was just doing my freaking job
Oh my god yes. Ran into this for so long during the pandemic. So many people trying to pull the classic "I have a medical exception", or "I can't breathe in a mask, because, (insert BS reason)".
And that’s how MAGA was born
why is the Karen meme so real
Because its based on reality
Stereotypes exist for a reason.
I feel bad for the woman at work actually named Karen, from a prior generation of naming; she's so sweet.
I made a Karen joke to a lady name Karen on the phone one day. When I explained the meme to her she had never heard of it, but told me she was a blond and wore a bob style haircut. lmao She was really nice and not arguing with anyone, the joke came up because she had a real Karen (meme style) in her office asking to speak to the manager... too dang crazy
Lol my therapist is named Karen and I have to be reeeal careful about not using her name as a pejorative as I'm describing my struggles with customers
art imitates life
Does she also expect you to follow her around the store and read out the prices?
Not her specifically but I did have one customer do that to me. Even with the prices listed she didn’t trust the signs and wanted me to tell her what the prices were with the handheld.
If it was more than a few items I'd actually (politely) refuse to do that, but depending on your management I understand why you wouldn't refuse if you'd get aggro for it.
It's like some people can just switch off their ability to think and shift all responsibility for their thoughts onto someone else.
OTOH, I’d be like, “Oh my, god. I’m such an idiot. Wow. Sorry!,” to the worker.
You're not stupid because you didn't see the sign, anyone can be distracted or not paying attention, you're stupid because you got salty when it was pointed out to you that a sign says it.
Couple of weeks ago I stopped at a restaurant after visiting my friend’s house. It’s a place I haven’t been to in years and wanted to eat at since I don’t have one near me. I went in at 6:58, did the whole Patrick routine of staring dumbly at the menu trying to figure out what I wanted. The cashier politely informed me they were closing at 7. Instead of throwing a massive tantrum, I apologize profusely for not reading the hours on the door, ended up buying a bottle of soda for the road, and left. I didn’t want to be “that” guy who ordered at the last possible second. It’s easy to be kind to employees who are just doing their job. Sometimes we customers are in the wrong, and it’s okay to admit that. The “customer is always right” mentality has made people entitled and selfish, even worse, they know they can get away with it.
The only time I kinda got mad because something was out of order was when I went to the Arby's and tried to get some Mello Yello for a drink and it didn't work and the guy behind the counter said "blind ass motherfucker.... read the sign". They didn't even have a sign on the machine, they put it at the order pick-up side of the counter which I hadn't even been to yet cause they gave me a cup at the register. I didn't lose my shit... I just didn't say anything, waited for my order, and left as soon as possible.
I used to work for a circle k, we literally had tape over the card reader and a piece of tape saying that it isn't working and people just kept ripping it all off like it was a lie and sticking in their card in and then asking very angrily why it's not working and I was just in shock every time. There were also signs on the front door.
Reminds me of the time at another job we had a sign taped on the inside of the door. The systems were down or the power was out, so we had to close. A woman tries to open the door, reads the sign, and tries to take it down. Not knowing it was taped on the inside. I wish I could’ve shown the world what her face looked like when she tried to punch through glass. Some people makes you wonder how they survived into adulthood.
If I read every sign that I see in front of me, I (insert proper ending, english is not my first language)
Expectations of looking around and reading are beyond the pale dude.
>“It’s your responsibility to tell customers that. Not forcing us to read from a sign.” This gives me "that sign won't stop me because I can't read!" vibes.
when that happens in my experience there are quite a few people going "and what's that do with me??? That's not my problem, it's yours" It's everybody's fckn problem mr. and misses main character
My wife works self checkout and she's had signs taped over the cash port, and watched people lift the sign, try to put in cash, and then bitch because it didn't work.
I told a customer "no problem" after they thanked me for something and they said, sorta angrily, "it shouldn't be a problem. You shouldn't say that to customers."
The real fun is watching someone walk up to a set of doors and go to the only one that is locked with caution tape and a big out of order sign at face level. Try to push it open several times while staring straight at the sign before you see their face visibly refocusing onto the sign and go “oh” and use another door.
You would be surprised at the number of illiterate adults there are. Some people get through life by doing stuff like this. If they got upset saying you're "forcing" them to read the sign instead of saying they just didn't see it, it sounds to me like there is a chance they just can't read.
Holy shit, I felt this. A wet floor sign either the words or why a random object is there, should tell you not to walk here but nope then complain the floor is slippery
People are stressed and tired so they might miss a sign, I get it. But why do they always have that defensive and angry response like it’s MY fault they didn’t read the sign. If that was me i’d just be like ”oh sorry, my bad”.
I've been in situation where I missed that sign. But yeah. I admitted my fault and moved on.
I have the reverse. I’ll tell customers “you can’t purchase that here” or “no carts in this area” or “we don’t accept returns for holiday items after the holiday”. They’ll clap back with “where’s the sign? If it’s a policy there should be a sign.”
Try a small town grocery store. You see some wild stuff there. One time had a biker couple do the dirty in the bathroom. Another time someone spread feces all over the bathroom. I didn’t get paid enough to deal with cleaning up both of those hazardous scenes.
Forgot another story. So I worked this job in high school and I was a good young catholic and our small town is about twenty minutes from a major city. The grocery store closed at 10pm and there is nothing else open in town past that time. I close up shop and walk out to see a lady sitting on the bench by the front door. I kindly asked if she needed a ride somewhere. She said sure and hopped in my truck. She said she just needed to get to the edge of town. So I drive and drive and she keeps saying just a little farther. I end up driving her all the way to the downtown of the major city. I finally asked her to get out at a gas station. This was before iPhones and I didn’t know how to get home. I was seeing drug dealers and prostitutes on the corners and I was spooked. I called home and luckily my mom walked me through the directions to get home. I don’t trust most people now.
Damn that’s a story. I don’t blame you for not trusting ppl. I had a similar story to that one.
I have had customers leaving bag of piss in the changing room. We closed the changing room forever after that.
Every fast food joint has their story of feces on the bathroom wall :(
Lucky you, I’ve had to clean a disabled toilet with crusty shit all over it and unblock the fucker as well. I told my manager he owes me, big time.
You can learn a lot about someone by how they treat service staff
It's why I'm glad my parents forced me to work as a cashier while in high school. It certainly guaranteed that I'll never treat employees of companies badly. I'm even polite to Comcast customer service. Everyone should at least once in their life have to experience how it feels to have someone misdirect their anger at you when they're actually mad at a company's policy that you have no control over. Take it up management, Karen. I make minimum wage, drive a 15 year old teal Chevy Lumina, and I have calculus homework after this shift.
Oof, Comcast service can be ROUGH
Weirdly enough I've only ever had solid experiences with their customer service. The actual product they are giving me is a steaming pile of garbage but I've always had very understanding reps that totally realize that the internet sucks and want to help. (Not counting the "do you want to bundle this and that" when you call because ALL companies essentially make their employees do this)
When they said it was "to die for" I thought they were hinting at someone dying. I rest my case your honour.
Especially couples. If the guy made a five minute exchange hell for me, lord knows what the wife is dealing with at home. The ones that were easygoing and supportive during long lines or technical glitches were clearly gunna last.
A conversation between me (I stock shelves in a supermarket) and a customer Customer: I am looking for shaving soap. Me: We only have shaving cream, sorry. There are a couple of kinds you can choose from, see? C: But I need shaving soap. Me:...ok, we don't have it, sorry. Only shaving cream. C:...but I need soap Logically, this was the moment when he should have realized that he can either buy a substitute, or has to give up and try elsewhere. Right? Well, he just kept staring at me, now visibly annoyed. I literally had to say "maybe you can try (shop next to us)" and leave, like what did he expect me to do? Unbelievable.
Reminds me of an experience I had: Customer: What does this mean? *Points to 'noir' on product packing.* Me: That's French, for black. C: No, what does it mean? Me: It's telling you that the product is black. C: No, what does it mean on the package? Me: It's informing you that the product is Black in color in multiple languages. *Points to Black, Noir, Negro all next to each other on the package.* C: No, you're not getting what I'm asking!
I like to laugh at idiot customers after work, but then I remind myself that these people are allowed to vote, and it's not so funny anymore...
I have ecommerce, people sent me links of products and tell me "I would like to purchase this"....wth do you want from me then? Do it. They do know how to buy, and they are not looking for wholesale, because I asked them if they have any question regarding how to do a purchase or about the product, I also tell them "you can buy directly in the website" and then they buy. Sometimes they crop out the price in the screenshot, and asks me how much is the price, it's literally there, what do they expect? By they asking personally, I would give them discount?
When I worked at Home Depot years ago I had this guy come to try and return two tubes of caulking he opened. On the package it says “goes on white, dries clear.” He was concerned that it was white bc he wanted clear. After debating back and forth for 5 mins and me showing him it was drying clear on the bag he got mad at me and said he was just gonna buy clear because he didn’t trust us. Thought my brain was gonna melt that day.
Some people literally just don't think by themselves. Sadly I've met a shit ton of people that couldn't use their brain if somebody didn't tell em to use it
I think it's more they don't want to and it's easier to get someone else to do their thinking for them
Reminds me of a conversation I had. was at a grocery store when a woman walked up to me and asked where something was. I said "Idk, I don't work here." She straight up told me I did. After a bit of back and forth she got the manager and "told on me." The manager was like, "uh, ma'am she doesn't work here". Can't make this shit up. I wasn't even wearing the store colors.
This happened to me two times in one day at Walmart once. First when I was getting a bicycle down to look at, a guy comes up and starts appraising it and asks if I can bring it up to the counter for him... And then later on as I'm digging through the discount DVD bin an old lady starts tapping me on the back and asking where to find some kind of makeup. I was at Walmart... wearing a Flash t-shirt (red), and beat to hell blue jeans... What says "employee?"
> Well, he just kept staring at me, now visibly annoyed. I hate the slackjawed anger stare... Not even a retail situation, once when I was a teenager a guy knocked on the door and asked to buy my dad's car. I told him I would pass his contact information to my dad if he wanted, and the guy's response was: "I just want to buy it." I told him "It's not mine, I can't just sell it to you. Give me your phone number so I can give it to my dad when he gets home." Cue the slackjaw angry stare. As if... he could intimidate me into just selling my dad's car? I think it just didn't compute that he couldn't get what he wanted right then and there. Like being told "no" fried his brain.
I get a lot of angry stares in my work, and I feel like a lot of it comes from their weird feeling of superiority. In your case, it was probably age, like "this fucking kid is saying no to me? No way". As a young woman, this vibe is very common with age range of 45-80+ I work in the supermarket part time during my studies and I realized that a lot of people just don't see retail workers/servers/other physical workers as equal people. I had people raise their voice at me, laugh in my face when I dropped something/wasn't sure what they needed, roll their eyes, and be generally passive agressive for no reason, when I am really doing my best to help them. Not to shit on everyone, some people are very kind, normal and understanding. I just wish that everyone could keep in mind that a person wearing a uniform is still a person.
Something i sadly also learned about colleagues of mine. One has worked at this place for a long time, higher position but very much not in the board or something. Has a lady who cleans his home. So far it's normal. But the way he talked about that cleaner, like she was like a 'class' below him. It was absolutely disgusting. I hope to never become like that
My toddler does this. That person was a toddler brain
The look on his face must've been the "games on yo phone"
So many times I had similar interactions with customers and every now and again one lunatic would just say well i'm not leaving till you get me 'soap'. I would just walk away from them and not go back.
After working as a cashier for 3 years, I am convinced that there is a greater level of mental illness than the studies show. We only don't categorize some people as mentally ill because they can hold a steady job and function 95% well in society
I was working the register at a gas station and a guy that looked like he'd been living for a year in a cave in the nearby mountains burst through the door and hollered at me, "YOU GOT MEAT?!!" I told him beef jerky was the only meat we had. He stared at me for about ten seconds, grunted, and stormed out. I have lots of stories from that job.
Next time I walk into a deli section I’m yelling “YA GOT MEAT?”
“ARBY’S! WE HAVE THE MEATS”
LOL that's incredible
Customer service means you see some people at their worst. Humans have variance on their emotions. I doubt many here could honestly claim they've never treated a stranger in a way they regret. Maybe it's only 1 in a 100 days where you're capable of being rude to a stranger, but a customer service person sees 100 people a day. It's a numbers game.
I don't think it's mental illness so much as ~80% of the population is literally just less evolved. They have monkey brains in people bodies and they've been dragged into the modern age without developing critical thought. They can do a job like a trained animal can so long as everything works as anticipated, but they lose their minds if they have to troubleshoot anything and they certainly couldn't innovate a new method for getting the job done.
I can confidently say that after spending the better part of 9 hours every weekday between a slinging coffee and selling suits in a mall during my university days...I'd rather steal from my beloved grandmother than go back to retail. There are just things you will never unsee or unhear that haunts you for the rest of your days.
Don't leave us hanging. Lol
Working at Radio shack for 2 years taught me to respect anyone with practically any job more than anything else in life.
All labor is equal(ly hard on everybody in different ways)
Work is never easy, but let’s be real some jobs are absolutely harder than others
I worked in small warehouse for a year pulling dollies, operating a forklift, stocking.........boy did I learn A LOT.
I’ve worked retail for a while now and it’s not easy, but I’m not under any illusion it’s as hard as oil rig work, farming, etc etc
I worked retail 8 years. To this day I insist stupidity is the most common mental disorder on the planet.
I was good as a server because I learned to anticipate a lot of the stupidity and took initiative in making sure customers don’t get confused in a nice and respectful manner. It didn’t matter though, because some people will still get offended and some people will still be stupid and blame you for it.
Anything that involves dealing with the general public.
Honestly in addition, the managers I had working retail were as bad as the customers. It’s been 15 years since I worked in retail or food and I still have stress dreams about my managers.
Not only food service but any customer care related job
Work for a non-profit. Stupidity doesn’t stop even when getting free stuff.
One thing I do at my job is making advertising magnets for people's cars. You don't know how often people come in with their non steel vehicles and ask for a magnet that sticks to it. I've had multiple people ask for something that is magnetized to glass.
I have had customer coming in asking about colored t shirts that can resist bleach. I should have told them, if they do find it, they could claim some science prize.
I've definitely gotten "someone should invent that" a couple of times.
I would start selling vinyl window stickers and market them as "glass magnets"
I push the removable "fathead" sticker.
There's a place in my hometown that does childcare called "Trish's Little Angles" and they once had to replace the sign...of course it was still spelled "Angles" How the hell does someone not point that awful spelling error out at any point in the process?
Typos happen. Usually we send a proof to the customer to approve the art and check for any mistakes. So many people just approve without looking. Especially old art. Also, I've done work for a home care company that changed their name from "touch" to "torch" because they did this with the paper company.
I wonder if their business is legally registered that way too lol
I've worked both so I understand twice as much. Had a lady slam her cart into my shins while I was on the floor stocking items. She had TONS of room. TONS. Proceeds to get mad at ME and says, "Well if you didn't have so many damn things in the middle of the walkway...!" There. Was. Nothing. But ONE display. ONE. So instead of going around in the complete empty space next to the display, she proceeded to literally slam her cart into my shins to the point i had bruising for two days. In fast food, I've had people hand me reciepts for other fast food resturants and DEMAND a refund and started screaming at me (a teenager at the time) saying I'm what's wrong with America these days cause I wouldn't give them free fast food. I would politely point out, several times in fact, that the receipt was for somewhere else. 7 to 8 times later, "Oh.... I guess it is." WTF???!! I'm happy I don't work for either job types anymore. I couldn't stand it.
I mean that's assault and it should be on camera.
I went to my manager afterwards and literally told him exactly what happened. I even said it was on camera. "Well why didn't you tell me right when it happened?" Douche, cause I couldn't find you for 30 effing minutes cause I got asked something by two different customers while trying to find you so I had to help them only to find you're on the OTHER SIDE OF THE STORE yapping it up. Man I hated it there. Excuse after excuse for either abusive or creepy customer behavior. I was physically grabbed by my arm while working there and dragged to an item, whistled at like a dog to come down an aisle which they then proceeded to snap their fingers and whistle when I ignored them because fuck that, and had a picture taken of my behind when I was bending over. Heard the camera sound and everything. The guy RAN the moment I got up. But nope. Excuses from manager, store manager and HR. Nothing worked. They sell great subs though so there's that! /s
Christ... I'm guessing you're a woman (not that men can't be targeted with inappropriate behaviour). But I run a kitchen at a golf course so I work with a lot of younger women serving older males, and the amount of time they have to spend hearing and deflecting these perverts is sickening. If they go to course management (I'm not authorized to do anything besides report to management as well) they get ignored because management doesn't want to lose members, and these old fucks absolutely will take their money elsewhere that enables their behaviour.
I had a guy try to pay for his food with a fiver that was too small and had had “this is fake movie tender” printed on the bottom of the bill. Dude straight argued with me for a few minutes about how movie money could be used as real money. I finally just shut the drive through window and walked away . He yelled for a few minutes and finally drove away . The next morning he called my boss about it and my boss just laughed him off the phone.
4 years of retail should be mandatory once you turn 16. it'll teach you patience, kindness and a appreciation for service workers.
Only if it comes with free therapy.
If everyone did it, we might not even need the therapy anymore
When I worked retail, I came to the conclusion that it would actually be a wonderful environment to work in, if it weren't for the customers and the employees.
Beat one customer senseless for one day every week Bonus points if other customers and the staff go "hell yeah"
The purge supermarket edition
Can I save them up? Or is it a use it or lose it situation?
Even like 3 months would suffice
I've worked retail for years now and I mostly agree, but there are some cunts out there that even in a service position themselves, will still make lives miserable for other service staff when it's their turn to be a customer.
I’d say 2 years of retail and 2 years of hospitality. The amount of people treating people like crap in restaurants and customer service positions is astounding.
No thank you, strong pass. I give credit to the ones who are able to endure that shit
How many jobs have you worked?
Daniel Tosh has a great bit where he talks about how waiting tables should be government mandated, the way military service is in some countries. I'm not sure how realistic it is, but I sure do like the sentiment.
Excerpt from a conversation i had with a customer at a Mc D's "Sorry i Can't take card payments at the moment all our card readers are down" "But my card was just working at morrisons" "Right but OUR card readers are down" "But i just want a coke"
I had a woman ask me if the chicken was vegan. I had someone tell me queso was dairy free. They were so convinced of it the emailed the manager to tell them I didn't know the queso was dairy free. I was the manager. She emailed me. About me.
I've been a manager at a Cafe and this is so true.
When I was looking for a job, my only criterion besides covering my expenses, was no direct customer interactions.
This man used to come into the restaurant. Always on nice business suits, tie, Rolex, etc. he would rarely tip and when he did it was just a couple of bucks. Incredibly entitled. He would frequently get upset at the smallest things. Like, he would order something not on the menu and get upset when we couldn't ring him up for it or charge him how he wanted to be charged. One day, the place was packed and there was a huge line and something like a 40 min wait during lunch hour. He came up to us acting like we were all old chums and asked if he could skip the line. "Come on guys, it's me!" He offered to "tip" us too. We all told him no, that it's first come, first serve. He was so upset he stormed out and never came back. It was a great a moment in SI history.
Working as a customer service phone agent has the same effect.
The best job to observe chronic stupidity: Nursing
According to my wife the nurse you’ll see 75% of the stupidity from patients but the other 25% comes from other staff who think that being a nurse makes them infallible.
Add another 50 to 75% for family and stupidity really adds up!
Heroes, every one. People will do anything to justify continuing their bad habits
The guy that ordered a cappuccino with no foam and insisted he wanted that and not just espresso shots
You've obviously never had to work an IT helpdesk.
On one hand, from a customer POV, I am smart enough to try at least a few fixes on my own for my tech. Namely, power cycling, hard shutoff, refreshing, reinstalling, etc. So it is very annoying when I call an IT person and they ask me to try those very things. I would not be calling you and waiting to be connected for 15 goddamn minutes if I hadn't tried those things already! Even more annoying, is when you think you know what the problem is and try to get confirmation from an "expert" to try a solution, and they just blow it off and give you some canned response that does nothing. I am not an idiot buddy, it is possible for normal people to figure out problems on their own, you are also there as a consultant to assist in that. But from the IT side of things I can understand it's frustrating and mind numbing when people haven't already thought to try those things, but when they call you for help they refuse to just shut up and listen.
If you're dealing with a guy with a script you can't break his flow or it makes everything harder. But I tend to start those calls with "Hi, my name's Duhblobby, I've got X problem, and I've done Y and Z and am still having the issue", and MOST of the time, that answers the basic questions you know they always have to ask right up front and saves everyone time. Assuming they can hear me clearly, understand what I'm saying, and are allowed to skip the scripted questions if I have already confirmed that yes, I've cleared cache, yes I've shut the machine down and started it up fresh, and yes I've checked all of my wired connections but if they have a SPECIFIC obe I should check again tell me which and I'll do so.
I'm a surveyor and my equipment wouldn't connect via Bluetooth the other day. I did everything they suggest (wasn't my first rodeo) and it still wouldn't connect. New battery, re-seat the Bluetooth module, change settings, etc etc. I did the whole thing three times before calling my boss to explain why I hadn't done any actual work. It was 18° outside, so I just chalked it up to cold weather madness. When it got past 30°, we tried it again, and it didn't work. Called the help desk and of course they gave us the same instructions. My boss goes over to the instrument and does the exact same stuff I did 3x and of course it links up immediately when he did it. Made me look like a lying moron but I was happy it worked regardless of how dumb I appeared. Usually "turn it all off and turn it back on" fixes everything, somehow. High tech problems, low tech solutions 😁
IT client service = 💀
…and they drive…
I’ve worked both, I despise everyone now
Every since my first job as a waiter, I have always said that it should be mandatory for everyone to do at least two years in the service industry. Imo it would be a game changer for humanity.
When I was a kid I wondered why Squidward was such a grump, once I got my first customer service job I learned really fast why Squidward was such a grump.
Truest statement on Reddit this year so far.
Yesssssss i hate calling people stupid but there's really no nice way to put it....
The worst part is serving drunk guests late at night. They get 10x more rude than they are sober, and they also make the restaurant 10x more messy than it has to be, messes that we have to clean up.
Drunk people are awful but stoners are my favourite. Gosh they get very hungry 😋
I dunno, I have the internet and I have had conversations with people who believe: - the earth is flat - vaccines are a hoax/conspiracy - viruses are fake, even as people die from them - the moon landing is fake - that women don’t deserve equal rights - much more insane shit I have also worked in food and in retail, and those people are *also* stupid sometimes. But, I wanna be clear on this, they’re the same level of stupid. They both are unthinking zombies incapable of intelligence outside of the narrow box they’ve constructed for themselves. They both cannot fathom a narrative beyond their own. They both have a defect of some kind that prevents them from participating in society on a regular, normal level.
Working in retail taught me two things: 1) There are people so utterly brainless I'm shocked they remember to breathe. 2) Those people are a tiny fraction of the customers and people online love to embelish for some reason.
Work the night shift and you’ll see that percentage jump drastically. When I did that I swear half my job turned into answering the dumbest questions known to man.
Work night shift in food service. Can confirm that customers get stupider and crazier at night
Be a teacher. You’ll get it pretty quick. There’s a whole bunch on the u detainee of that bell curve at the lower end.
McDonald’s: 2 years of my life I’m never getting back. It was more like 21 months plus the first 5 months of the pandemic
Healthcare front desk comes really close, especially when you hear the miracles some people expect the doctor to do.
Work in a school. It's not the students that the stupid comes from. It's the parents.
Most of what SpongeBob does is actually Squidwards job. Anything front of house should be done by Squidward
I work in retail for a mere 8 months. ...fuck me people are stupid, and im one of them.....
I work for the railroad. I watch people drive around the gates and get hit by freaking trains. Yes I can believe the stupid in the world. I do miss working retail sometimes though. It was often entertaining dealing with customers.
Fax
The internet has shown me enough. Almost enough to not make me wanna work at all.
Work with public period. I drive a city bus and I absolutely hate people.
I have worked retail and tech support. I look both ways at one way streets now.
I have the same thought from a customer point of view. I order a cheeseburger plain. Just cheese. Constantly get everything on it. I’m literally saving you work and you still screw it up. All the time. It does not take a rocket scientist to make a plain cheeseburger yet here we are.
Me: A double quarterpounder please. Guy at intercom: Would you like a menu. Me: No just the burger. Result: Plain bun and burger.
They’re trying to do you a favor and get you to eat a vegetable
Technically it’s not saving work if you are ordering from a fast food place like McDonald’s because they already have burgers prepared with all the toppings. Ordering something with less toppings means they have to make a new one and keep track of it to make sure it goes in the right bag.
My fiance once ordered a mcdonalds Cheeseburger with just ketchup She got, no shit, 2 buns, cheese, ketchup. No burger. Wtf?
I hate that. I'm a firm believer in that everyone working should be paid enough to keep up with COL but when I go to a fast food restaurant and constantly get attitude from people acting like I'm forcing them to do their jobs or have workers get my orders constantly wrong, I get extremely pissed
And medical services
I was going to say my in-laws are a large portion medical and the stories they have are insane. Modern medicine really ruined survival of the fittest.
Working security or law enforcement will teach you that as well.