Crazy Customers

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For those of you who have to work around people... Let's hear your crazy stories about customers you're encountered. About things people do that annoy you, people who ask you to do strange things, people who act crazy, etc.

A couple days ago i had two unusual encounters. First, some lady asked if we had a particular laptop in stock that we'd been advertising... Now, this was a few days after it had gone on sale, and these sort of things generally sell out in the first couple days... If someone really wants something like that, they need to come on the first day it goes on sale if they want to guarantee that they will get one. So, i told her that we were sold out but that another store one town over still had 20 of them(i had previously called around about it for another customer and found out). She said "i can't go to New Bern!" So i told her that she could go to our website and order one, then have it sent to the store.. She said "I can't order it if i don't have a computer yet, can i?!" So i said "well, most people have a computer, so i thought you might have another one" and she said "well, i don't!! !" So, i just said "ok then...." and she said "well, what am i supposed to do?!" and i said "i don't know..." and she said "Can't you order one for me?!" and i said no because that isn't something we can do. We get what we get.. Not even our manager orders certain things for customers. So, she just pushed her cart out in front of her, left it there, and walked off acting angry toward the front. I don't get how she can get mad at this. First, she should have come earlier if she wanted it that bad. Secondly, i gave her two easy options(even if she doesn't have a computer, she should be able to find a public computer or something).. Not to mention the fact that we have other laptops on sale for similar prices.. And there was really nothing else i could do. It seems to me she was expecting me to magically make the laptop she wanted appear there.

Then, some group of women were talking to the cell phone person about getting a new phone.. when the cell phone person went to the back to get something, one of them asks me if i know about a certain kind of chewing gum she likes. I said i hadn't heard of it, but that if we had it it would be over in the food section on the candy aisle. She says "ok, so get me about five bags".. I just stared and said "what???" and she says "go over there and get me about five bags of it." The candy aisle is on the other side of the store, and at that point i was the only one back there, because the cell phone person was in the back(and there has to be someone in electronics). I wanted to say "get it yourself," but i didn't want to get anyone mad so i said that i'd go as soon as the other person comes back. So i went all the way over there, looked through the aisle three times and couldn't find it.. then i came back and said that we don't have it. Then she says "oh, we'll go double-check after we're done here".. If they can do "double check," then they could have gone to look in the first place instead of telling me to! I don't work in the food section or know anything about the candy. Stupid stupid person. I think she was just trying to annoy me intentionally.

I've had more than my fair share of run ins with crazy customers over the years.

One of my favorite memories of a crazy customer was when I was shopping with my mom to get a birthday present for my dad. It was one of the few "normal" outings with one of my parents. I was not an employee of the department store we were in, but just another shopper trying to help mom pick out something nice for my dad. I was dressed nicely, & because I hated purses, didn't carry one. An older woman approached me & said she needed MY help NOW! She then got angry when I said I'm sorry but I don't work here. LOL She then got even more mad & said something about me not carrying a purse, & insisted I must be an employee. She threatened to talk to "my manager" & have me fired for not assisting her. I told her to go ahead. I don't know what happened with her but it still gives me a good chuckle all these years later.

Now I deal with even crazier customers who have no logic or sense of humor or patience. Because of all the instant gratification, people want everything right this minute. I work for a business that custom makes furniture & it's time consuming. I try to help them to the best of my abilities but sometimes they are so rude & obnoxious it makes it hard for me to care any more.

When I was working at block buster this lady would come in every Tuesday and pick like 20 DVDs both rentals and for sale, plus two diet cokes. She would buy the cokes and ask us to put the DVDs on hold for next week. Every week she did this and never bought or rented a single DVD. If you did not put them on hold for her she would go right to the manager demanding for you to be fired on the spot.


A week before Christmas I stopped at best buy after work to pick a memory card for a camera. As I made my way to the back of the store I was stopped once by another customer but she saw my shirt and said sorry. I was also stopped by three best buy employees because they did not know where this or that was (I did know) I also yelled at an employee who was being rude to an old lady who wanted to buy a game system.

When I was working at block buster this lady would come in every Tuesday and pick like 20 DVDs both rentals and for sale, plus two diet cokes. She would buy the cokes and ask us to put the DVDs on hold for next week. Every week she did this and never bought or rented a single DVD. If you did not put them on hold for her she would go right to the manager demanding for you to be fired on the spot.


A week before Christmas I stopped at best buy after work to pick a memory card for a camera. As I made my way to the back of the store I was stopped once by another customer but she saw my shirt and said sorry. I was also stopped by three best buy employees because they did not know where this or that was (I did know) I also yelled at an employee who was being rude to an old lady who wanted to buy a game system.

a few decades backs i worked at a hot sams hot soft pretzel vendor in the springfield mall in northern virginia, and the NCOs/officers from the local army base were the most rude, spiteful control freak customers i have ever seen. they would make a complicated multi-part order, and i would have to write it down and they would sneer at this, saying "why can't you just remember my very simple order to you?" ordering me around like i was one of their privates or something. so i would fulfill their order, and they would examine it as though it were crawling with bugs or something, then sneer at me "what's the matter with you, ret*d? this isn't what i ordered!", and when showed 'em their instructions i wrote down, they'd uniformly threaten me with something along the lines of "i'm telling your boss! i'll have your job, you slacker!" a coworker of mine who didn't take crap from anybody including military brassholes, would point to a sign saying "we reserve the right to refuse service to ANYONE!" and would corral mall security to get the military types to pipe down or leave the mall. these GI officers were bullies to a person. they didn't seem to get to wield enough power during their work day so they had to take it out on us worker bees at the mall once they were off-duty.