Asshole-ish and Stupid Customers at your job

So have you guys had any irrate (bad attitude, asshole-ish) customers at your jobs?

I work at a video store and people will see me in my uniform putting movies on the shelf and they go "Do you work here?"

Also customers usually get these coupons in the mail which you can use to get rent one movie and get another free. They're only for the older movies and video games. They don't work for new releases. It even says so on the coupon. So this one time these people bring up a new release AND an older movie and they wanted to use to coupon. I tell them it won't work for new movies and they make a big fuss about it. My manager who was listening let them have one of the movies free. It's a good thing he did just to get them to shut the hell up. Read the damn coupons people it's not that hard.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I work in a restaurant in a hotel on sundays, and weeknights I work at a bar.

The hotel brings in a lot of impatient snobs who expect things to be done instantly - and naturally don't treat you like a human being. But in all fareness I have more issues with my fellow waitresses (who do nothing but chat and smoke instead of working) and my 60-year old manager.

The bar however isn't that bad. However, it's noisy - and some can't appreciate that hearing can be a problem! So they request their drinks quietly - Speak up you arseholes!
Though the customer I hate the most is the one that throws change at you! Careful or some particular bartender might throw a drink at you

There's nowhere I can't reach.

At my old job last summer, I encountered many troublesome and rude customers. I periodically had customers who questioned the validity of an item's price after I told him or her the total. One night, a woman didn't believe the computer and requested to see the manager. She ended up not buying anything after holding up the line for more than ten minutes or so.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I currently work in two jobs, but the customers that bother me the most are those who are "computer experts" at the Help Desk but ask me for help with things such as Microsoft Office and other forms of software. I'm a visual person, so I will have to click on menu's and play around for a few minutes in order to see if I can find simple steps to their problems. There was this one girl that asked me about goal amourization in Excel (which I am MOUS/MSC in) and about a minute into my playing with the menu's, since I haven't used goal tending in forever, she looks over at me and says gruffly, "Do you even know anything about Excel?" About a few seconds later, I was showing her the easier way of doing goal amourization.

I mostly work with a combination of students and professors, and professors are the second worse after the "computer experts". When I worked on Help Desk--they are a bunch of pricks--I was dealing with a future professor of mine and the main person in charge of MAC's was out. I tried to tell her that the main person was out and she said, "Well, that doesn't help me any now does it?!" In the back of your mind, you are reminding yourself that these professors may be the ones who determine whether you pass or fail and you hope that they don't recognize your voice.

Customers don't complain to me about my journalistic portrayal of them. They think I'm the most objective of all the reporters. However, after hanging around the Help Desk I am positive that I do not want my future job to involve techies who act like they know everything. I know that many of them are probably nice, maybe some on this forum, but a lot of them on campus act like they are using their grouchy, arrogance about computer technology to make up for their lack of intelligence in satisfying their blow-up dolls.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Ohoho~ I worked as a telemarketer for 10 days in month of June.

Surprisingly 95% of the people were polite, or more typically, "strained polite". However that very small amount of people that were rude were obviously angry at the whole system of random marketers trying to call their houses, in an attempt to sell them useless items they will never need in their lifetime.

The worst person was someone who was really sarcastic and said: "Oh yeah, I'll make an appointment...how about December 24th...6:00 a.m.....2008 because that's the only time I'm free."

I mean, if you'd rather waste more of your time instead of just hanging up or politely declining then go right ahead. These kinds of people seem to bring about misery to themselves the most.

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Food takeaway. Some guy comes in and wants some free chips, of course we don't do that and so he then nicks all the newspapers lying about. I can't imagine him having that for dinner...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I had someone call the airport I work at once, and ask me for a second opinion. His pilot told him that he couldn't land his plane at the airport, because the runway was too short... but he called the airport and asked me for a second opinion... I wish I could've slapped him through the phone for being that stupid... Who did he think was going to be flying the damned plane?

FELIPE NO

I work parties... only time I have to deal with assholeish behavior, is when some co-worker happens to be an asshole first. When I see this I normally cut in if able. I'm very agreeable, and tend to put people at ease, even when I screw up.

Actually, I'm a bit surprised I havn't run into any outright asshole patrons... although I guess food and drinks tends to make people more agreeable.

As a referee there was the real dick of a fan at one of the games. Under all normal circumstances I'd of thrown him out. I settled for halting the clock and yelling at him. Yes, we can do that...

Originally Posted by Visavi

I'm a visual person, so I will have to click on menu's and play around for a few minutes in order to see if I can find simple steps to their problems. There was this one girl that asked me about goal amourization in Excel (which I am MOUS/MSC in) and about a minute into my playing with the menu's, since I haven't used goal tending in forever, she looks over at me and says gruffly, "Do you even know anything about Excel?" About a few seconds later, I was showing her the easier way of doing goal amourization.

Am the same way. Use my hands alot to help me visual, spacially, different thing to help me remember. On serveral occasions, I've remembered order of events in history and such by where I recall seeing them in the textbook.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I work in the photo lab at the walgreens about 5 minutes from my house. Living in small town florida, more than 85% of the individuals that walk through that door are retired old farts. It's kinda depressing, being such a "youngin" myself.

So anyway, we have this self-service Kiosk called the KPM (Kodak Picture Maker). It features a scanner that allows customers to bring in their favorite print, and enlarge it up to an 8x10. One thing that commonly occurs is a series of rednecks attempting to save money by making copies of their Professional Pictures. BIG Problem. See, with current copyright laws, Walgreens as a corporation faces massive lawsuits when a professional photographer's work is replicated. It seems to be a concept that is more and more difficult to convey to potential customers. Anyway, the way the system is set up, anybody can just come up and use it. However, before it actually prints the final product, it asks for a password, which only our photo technicians and management team knows. Of course, after going through the hastle of scanning the picture, editing it, cropping it, all on the slow ass KPM, most customers get a little frustrated when I have to inform them that the photo they have is copyrighted. To me, your memories are worth no more than the $1.99 I charge you for them. Some common responses include:

"C'mon, just this once?"
"That's no law I've ever heard of."
"This picture is like, 30 years old." (Common guideline is we can copy it if it's more than 75 years old. Most copyrights expire after that ammount of time.)
"You're joking right? They never give me this crap at Wal-Mart."
"My (insert favorite relative here) took this picture."

On top of that, there's always at least one person that "doesn't have time for this" or "has to be to an appointment" or whatever and requests that we do the self-service work for them. I generally have no problem doing this, especially since we rarely have anything else to do anyway, aside from descending to the level of Stock Boy.

I had this one lady one time that had approached the counter with a hefty stack of 4x6 prints that she wanted one copy of each of. At the time, the good Kiosk was down, so I was forced to use the KPM. The reason she couldn't stay to learn the system herself and do it, was something to the effect of "my favorite television program is coming on. I'll be back in an hour." I humored her and offered to do the pictures for her.

So precisely as she walks out the door, a group of middle aged women walks through the door. I immediately realized what was about to happen. The night before I had recieved a call from a woman asking if we could make copies of pictures from prints, because her cousin's husband had died. They asked for my help, and I did the best I could within the limits of the machine.

Naturally, for a group of pictures for a funeral, there were a lot. And so they were there for quite a while. An hour later to the minute, the first woman walks back in the door. I come around the counter to inform her that I haven't had a chance to do her pictures yet. The KPM has been in use since the moment she left the store. I suggested that she can come back in another hour or so, or perhaps look around until I can finish the pictures. The women with the funeral pictures were almost finished. Of course, she wouldn't have it. She stood RIGHT behind me peering over my shoulder to see what I was doing the entire time I scanned the pictures. After ever picture, she would ask me if I was finished yet. After about 10 minutes of this bull shit, I turned around and politely explained the situation to her, that some people had come in to print pictures for a funeral using the same machine, and the insensitive bitch didn't even blink. I again politely offered that she look around while she waits. In actuality, it really does help to pass the time. when I had finally finished the order she would not let it go how "she gave me an hour to complete the order, and I hadn't even started when she returned." I made a mental note of her phone number when I punched the order into the computer, and I also put her in for an order of film. I closed it out showing no prints were developed or anything, but the order remains. Every morning at about 9:30 she is awakened by the Walgreens Automated Photo System reminding her that her prints are ready to be picked up.

WHEW! That was a little more long winded than I expected. Sorry guys.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I had some insane fuckin dude at my dental office.

"Hmm... What do we have here? Looks like we have a... Yup. It's a cavity."
He immeditely sits up. "WHAT?! I HAVE NO CAVATIES! YOU PUT IT THERE!! I CAME IN WITH NO CAVATIES!!"

Damn I can't WAIT to come with an infected tooth. ROOT CAANNNAAL!

The worst is when you have these children who can't stop screaming. Some of them are real troopers who are going through major surgery, but some of these are just little brats who scream at the sight of a drill.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I work at Subway and this dude comes in, I make his sandwiches and we get to the paying part of our transaction. He hands me a $100 bill (who the F carries those things around everyday?) and I tell him I can't take anything larger than a 20. He gets pissed and storms off. About 5 minutes later, my manager returns from the bank and so does the guy.

He demands to speak to the manager and proceeds to yell at her that we have to take his money (it's apparently the law) and he wants the corporate number. I think the manager just gave him his food (he walked off without them initially) to make him leave. Since then, we have several signs asking for bills no larger than $20. Still some folks dont read those...

How ya doing, buddy?

Same photo lab, I had a customer the other day that went a little like this.

"Do you know anything about computers?"
"Yup. What can I help you with?"
"Will these headphones work with MP3s?"
I humored her...
"Sure will."
"Now do you KNOW that, or are you just saying it?"
Again, I humored her...
"Sony makes all their headphones MP3 Compatible."

Another one my friend angelo told me about.

"All these pictures are upside down!"

He took them from her hand, flipped them around, and handed them back without saying a word.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

One night I was getting gas after a particularly stressful day. I was waiting for the pump to let me select the grade, I was waiting for like three minutes at least. I go to this gas station a lot, I know it's not a pay-first station. Even still, I check everywhere for a sign, see nothing.

The teller has to come out of the store to yell at me that that particular pump is pay-first at night.

the sign was right behind my head.

...

This is why I don't complain about the stupidity of people at their worst.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I worked retail at Gap and once I was trying to cram this fat lady into a pair of jeans and she bitched at me that she was "definitely" a size 6 and that our jean sizes were off. I rememeber something said like "Did you really bring me a size 4 and that's why they're not fitting?"

Hey pig, our jeans run large and you probably need a size 14 packaging for your two rump roasts.

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Originally Posted by a lurker

One night I was getting gas after a particularly stressful day. I was waiting for the pump to let me select the grade, I was waiting for like three minutes at least. I go to this gas station a lot, I know it's not a pay-first station. Even still, I check everywhere for a sign, see nothing.

The teller has to come out of the store to yell at me that that particular pump is pay-first at night.

the sign was right behind my head.

...

This is why I don't complain about the stupidity of people at their worst.

Ya, I get that a lot. I work at a theme park, so people ask where the restroom is even though it's right behind me. Usually, they have that "oh damn. I can't believe it was just right infront of me" type of look. I mean, most people aren't trying to be assholes when they ask those types of questions. They just truly didn't know. After you understand that, it gets so much easier not to give an attitude to customers that ask those types of questions.

Oh and once, I was doing some grocery shopping. There was this guy with a box shelving some items, so I assumed he was a worker at the grocery store. So I ask here where so and so items were located. He responds back with, "oh I don't work here. I'm just shelving these inventories." I'm like "what the fuck?!" Later I learned that these guys are called "rackers". Grocery stores make money by selling shelving spaces. So sometimes it's cheaper for both the grocery store and the company buying the shelving space to use a third party racker.

FELIPE NO

We have that at walgreens. We have a bunch of vendors that stock their own products and such on our shelves. Vendors can sometimes be as rediculous as customers though.

There is a keypad to get into the front hallway at our store, and in that hallway is the only enterence for the cooler with all the drinks. When our old soda guy would come, he got all frustrated that I had to let him in every time. He for some reason couldn't grasp the concept of me not having a high enough position to just GIVE him the code so he didn't have to wait for me to be finished with a customer to get in. That's a big Loss Prevention No-no.

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I've had a bunch of annoying people at JoAnn Fabrics, but they mostly run in the "holier than thou" vein. As an example, we've put in a new queue system at the front of the store, where the area in front of Guest Services is blocked off, and a line forms with a sign at the end saying "Wait here for the next cashier."

You would think people don't have issues with this, but they do. We have three rows of two registers each (one register on each side of this row, if that makes sense), plus a register at the Guest Services counter to help explain the setup. We've had this happen more than once, but there will be a line of people waiting, then some lady--always a lady, and usually a bitchy one--will walk up to Guest Services, move the poles that form our lines out of her way, then walk up to a busy register and demand to be checked out.

I always tell them I need to draw from the queue, but I usually get the "I have an appointment!" remark or something similar; the typical desire to knock their faces in notwithstanding, I just check them out, and don't say anything to them, where I usually tell everyone else what prices are, ask for coupons, and all those things.

Quote:

Read the damn coupons people it's not that hard.

Same deal where I work. Our coupons say 40% off any regular priced item, then in fairly large print under that say "Excludes Best Value items." Best Value is a brand of JoAnn's, I believe, but these are already quite cheap compared to our normal merchandise, and thus we can't accept coupons on them, but the complaints are oh-so-numerous.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Thank god I'm out of retail for the time being, customers being the absolute moronic mass that they are. However! Last week I was at Publix (grocery store around these parts) and the woman in front of us was raising a helluva stink. Apparently there was a wine sale. I looked over at the wine she had and at the sale rack which, luckily enough, was right across the way. The sales tag said $4.99" and smaller, but still prominently "with attached coupon". Now, the bottles of wine were $7.99. The woman was raising a stink because she thought that the bottles were $4.99 and that the $3 off coupon attached to the bottle brought them down to $1.99.

Wouldn't it take just a TINY bit of common sense to realize that no corporate grocery store is selling wine for $1.99 per bottle? I mean if she had enough time to stand and figure that she would be getting the $3 off shouldn't she have had the time to look at the sign proclaiming that the wine was $4.99 WITH THE COUPON?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Customers do similar things at walgreens where I work. We have a lot of items that are labeled with a "buy more and save" sticker. It's notorious on candy bars. Let's say there is a candy bar for 69 cents. A snickers, perhaps. The buy more and save sticker says "69 cents each or 2/$1.19". Obviously, this means that you get the first one for 69 cents, and if you get a second, you will only be charged 50 cents. A lot of other items end up being something like 1.99 each or 2/$3 and stuff like that, and people just can't seem to grasp the concept that you have to get two, for it to come up two for three dollars. Sometimes it's surprising how much people will fight over a silly 49 cents. Especially in this community where people own million dollar beach front property.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

In my work there are 2 assholes: my boss and the client. I work as consultor and every day think on making a vodoo doll with each one. Do you think it's possible get the necesary things to make it (in a Monkey Island 2 way )?

I work with a language called 'Web Focus' (yeah, it's quite uncommon). If we leave the fact of language and compiler difficulties, my everyday work is changing columns, some data and colors. But, what really pisses me off are the requirement documents bad written. You almost finish reading them and don't understand a sh*t. On data bases, fields bad descripted, or names doesn't suit exactly and all this leaves you all in doubt, bad format columns, and so. Now I undestand why projects takes so long to finish.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I work 2 jobs--both food industry. One, a pizza place, the other a restaurant. And I have my share of rudeness and stupidity at both.

Pizza Place (Little Caesars):
We answer the phone like this:
"Thank you for calling Little Caesars of (town). This is (name), would you like to try our large $5 hot and ready carry out only special today?"

Responses:
"You still have that $5 deal?"
"How much is your $5 special?" <--try NOT to laugh on this one.
"Can you deliver that?"

Certains items are available all the time, but "Hot and Ready" between certain hours. And we have signs posted. For example, Cheese Bread is a regular menu item, but you can get it without waiting between 4 and 8 pm. I have people come in at 10pm wanting the Hot and Ready cheese bread.

20 minutes before close, I had someone try to pay for a $14 order with a $100 bill. I didn't have the change for it.

My favorite:
Our ordering system is computer based, and we put notes in people's names in the info area. We used that when we delivered. Well, there was a note on one customer's info that said: "Nothing free WHATSOEVER." (they had a habit of complaining about things in order to get free food, so my Store Manager put that in) That told me that they couldn't even use coupons, and although I'm a manager, I can't go against my Store Manager's decisions. I tried to explain the situation to the young man who called about getting a free crazy bread, and he started yelling. His mom came to the phone and said she could hear me yelling at her son from two rooms away. I explained the situation to her, and told her that she needed to contact the Store Manager about the whole thing.

She continued to yell at me, saying: "I've been coming into that store for over 20 years, and this is the way I'm treated?" (The store had only been open for 12 years or so at the time.) She wanted the Store Manager's home number so she can call HIM. I told her that I couldn't give out HER phone number and SHE would be in in the morning. Finally, the woman threatened to do what I had been telling her to do all along--speak to the manager in the morning. I told her the manager's name: Debbie (not the real name), and she finally understood the Store Manager was a woman.

She called, and "Debbie" explained that I never raised my voice, there were witnesses, and considering the way the note was worded, I was within my rights to deny the coupon. However, a coupon was only to be accepted by them IF THEY CAME TO PICK IT UP. They couldn't use it for deliveries--no matter what they ordered.

Other job:
I'm a server, so I get all sorts of things.

No, we can't give you a Doggie Bag for the Buffet Bar. You CAN buy it to go and fill up those trays.

No, I am NOT stealing your server's table. If your original server had done her job, she would have told you I was your server now before she left.

Don't move your glass when I'm trying to fill it--things tend to spill that way.

Don't want me to reach over your plate to get your glass? Then put it where I can get it.

STOP telling not to take your dirty plates. You haven't eaten off them for 20 minutes, and I'm getting yelled at.

You want napkins? Look on the table--there's a dispenser right there.

Don't interrupt me when I'm telling you my name. Otherwise I won't say it. And on a side note: For those who DO let me say my name--why do you look at my name tag to see if I'm lying?

Watch your kids--dammit! I really don't want to spill hot coffee on someone because I had a kid run into me.

And top customer stupidity:
When a server is cleaning off a table or carrying dirty plates, they CAN'T get you clean plates or coffee or anything else until they wash their hands. So, stop with the dirty looks when we ask someone else who CAN get it for you.

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Don't you just hate drivers who drive in the wrong way in parking lots, especially where there is extremely busy traffic? I mean, when I worked at target, there was this one crazy woman who drove in the wrong lane which caused a big traffic commotion. An employee and I had to approach her at her car (we were taking in carts) to tell her that she was drving the wrong way and nearly crashed into another oncoming car, but she frickin wouldn't stop cursing at me. She wouldn't reverse for some reason, and all of these customers tried telling her she's going the wrong way and such. I had to bring out the manager, and it took like 10-20 minutes to finally get her out. Jesus, damn crazy people...

How ya doing, buddy?

At the summer camp where i work, some of the parents of kids are unbelievable.

We have a coke machine in the corner of the main lodge which is used only for rental groups. Our manager empties it, and unplugs it during the summer.

Just two weeks ago I'm wandering around the main lodge, making sure all my campers are in the cabin, and not where they're not supposed to be, when this parents walks up to me with the fire of hell in his eyes. He tells me that he put a toonie (two dollar coin) into the machine, and it won't give him a drink, or his money back. He demanded a refund. Rich, the manager, wasn't there, and neither were any of the directors, but it didn't matter, cause none of the staff except for the manager have anything to do with that machine. I threw him a toonie out of my own pocket to get him to shut up. After that he continued to walk around the lodge as though he owned the place.

Also, once last summer, i had a camper who was violently ill. He threw up six times in one hour, and we finally decided that we couldn't keep him here. The nurse needed rest, i needed to be with the rest of my campers, and the directors couldn't stay up with him either. We called his parents, and it turned out that he lived about a 10 minute drive away, which was really nice. When his father arrived, he looked pretty mad, and spoke in a way that blamed me for bringing him out at 10:00 PM (which really isn't that late). He wasn't that friendly to the nurse either, as she tried to give advice on how to keep his son hydrated. He just looked at her with tight lips, and rolled his eyes every now and then. I couldn't believe how rude he was being. This woman had just sat with your son for an hour and then some watching him throw up repeatedly. Thankfully, i haven't seen this parent around this summer so far. Something tells me he'll be there on monday though.....

How ya doing, buddy?

Used to work at a shoe store, not anymore thankfully.

But one annoying thing. The way the store worked is that everything was out on the floor, there wasn't any back room. Also, we didn't have uniforms, name tags, anything which seperated us from the customers. The service people working there had name tags, dressed up better and had these walktalkie headphones things which made them look like they were working there. Anyways, I was part of the operations team where I clean up the store, stack boxes, do inventory, only help customers if I'm not busy. For some reason the customers would walk by lots of service team members and comes to ask me questions. I'm obviously holding up 6 boxes finding out where they go... and they ask me? There's 4 other people around me who can help you! I guess that's more of the dumbass setup of the store than the customer though.

Also, customers who bring in their whole family, oh you know the ones I'm talking about, and the mothers search around for shoes. Their kids ransack the place. They walk out not buying anything. OR they buy one thing, come back a week later to return it. They're usually the messiest as well, usually pick up the products, walk to the other end of the store and drops it off. It's like they're purposely screwing the store up for us.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I work at a charity, as a sort of telephone solicitor. I call people and ask them if they want to get rid of any old clothes or household items they might have. If they say yes, the driver picks them up on a certain day, the items are sold, we get money, everyone is happy.

Lots of people are happy to help out. It's for a good cause, after all. (To help people who suffer from Cerebral Palsy) But of course, there is a good number of people who are NOT happy (at all) and think they're the mighty kings of the world. ANYONE who calls them is inherently evil and wants to kill their children and drink their blood.

It pisses me off when people respond with "I'm eating dinner right now!" Oh I'm sorry, it's kind of hard to keep up with 100,000 different dinner times, seeing as how people eat dinner at any time from 4 pm to 8 pm. If you're eating dinner, and picking up the phone bothers you, then why the hell are you picking it up? Please use your brain; other people aren't going to use it for you.

Sometimes people say "Oh you called me so many times this morning!" when we only call once in the morning. If I ask them if they know for sure it was us, they usually don't have a clue. If that's the case, then why did you mention it?

Just today, this person tells my coworker "Oh you called me at 9:30 pm last night!" Which is funny, because we close at 8:30 pm. Of course we called at 9:30. We also called at 1 am, 3 am, 5:59 am and 6 am just to piss you off. Seriously.

In the end, I realize that whether you're a telemarketer or not, people will get pissed off when you call them, but a "no thanks" is a good enough response. Hell, hang up in my face and quit wasting my time with stupidity. Thank you.

Jam it back in, in the dark.