Managers often have to deal with the problems that no one else wants or is qualified enough to take on. It's a hard job to do well, but when a rude customer comes their way, there's nothing they love more than taking them down a peg. These obnoxious customers got exactly what they deserved!
She Wanted To Speak With The Owner, So That’s Exactly What She Got
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“I used to own a store.
One day, I was at the register, watching TV, when a woman came up and asked for a refund. My policy was no refunds unless it was defective or something like that. She wanted to return a $200 item for her cash back. I told her sorry, but I won’t be able to make a return and told her why.
She got all huffy puffy and said, ‘Listen, I know the owner of this store, do not make me call him.’ I gave her his ‘new number’ (which was just mine) and made an apologetic gesture, telling her he’d tell her the same thing.
She actually called the number. I picked up on my cell and told her that we don’t make refunds unless the product is defective.
She looked at me with wide eyes and I told her, ‘Ma’am, I am the owner, I opened this shop a couple years ago.’
She walked out, muttering about reporting me to Yelp.”
He Treated That Worker Like A Total Loser
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“I worked at a big box electronics store. One day, I was walking around counting some inventory because of suspected theft when IT happened. This guy did all three things that tick me off in one fell swoop. He whistled, snapped his fingers, and said, ‘Hey, you!’
I was a little taken aback by the epic jerk level this guy was achieving. He was wearing Ed Hardy T-shirt, jeans around his knees, and some gold jewelry he must have got out of a claw machine at a bowling alley.
So I looked around behind me, then looked back at him and said, ‘Excuse me sir, are you talking to me?’
He was like, ‘Yeah, this box is damaged (had a small nick) and there ain’t no way I’m paying $50 for it, so why don’t you go get your manager and get him to give me a deal, aight, box boy?’
I replied, ‘Alright sir. One: I’m not a dog, so never whistle at me again. Two: I’m not a box boy, I’m the manager here. Three: the box is barely scratched, so you can pay the price or get out.’
He just stood there, stunned and catching flies then left. I guess his buddy down the aisle heard the whole thing because he was making fun of him on the way out. It was a good day.”
She Whined That It’s “Not Fair” That She Had To Pay A Late Fee
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“I run a textbook rental store. A chick came in with books so overdue that she had a $260 late fee. I wasn’t going to make her pay that, but the only way to pull that off without hardcore unbalancing my drawer was to have her pay the replacement fee so that she owned the books, then just sell them back to the store. I knew the sell back prices, so I knew she’d get out of the store paying less than $40 of her late fee. However, when I suggested this plan, the bimbo went bananas. She started talking about how she didn’t know the due date (it’s on the receipt we give them and I send out TWO reminder emails – if you didn’t get the email, sucks to be you), and that it’s not fair, not fair, not fair! When I pointed out to her that our store stickers were on her textbooks, which would have been a reminder of where she got them and that there’s a due date, she asked to see the manager.
I probably shouldn’t have, but I actually walked to the back of the store and then walked back up with a big, fake smile on and said, ‘Hello, I’m the manager. What can I help you with?’ She was livid. She tried to pull some, ‘I manage a store, too -‘ nonsense, but I cut her off and said, ‘If you manage a store as well then you understand that this is a business. I have policy to follow. No one at this store is your mother, and you are a COLLEGE STUDENT. If you can’t remember due dates, you got problems girl.’
Cue this ol’ chestnut: ‘I am NEVER coming to this store again, none of my FRIENDS are EVER COMING HERE AGAIN!’ I told her good, go write a Yelp review. Bimbo.”
She Was Totally Right To Refuse That Purchase
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“I’m the assistant manager of a makeup store. On one occasion, a lady had came in and wanted to buy the whole store. Our company has policies on purchases over a certain number of items/dollars to resist people reselling. Anyway, I explained that we needed her to fill out a form to approve the large transaction, which required her credit card to match her ID. The name on her credit card was a man’s name, not hers. I refused the sale because it’s money related stuff and I would definitely get fired if I allowed payment on that credit card (even if she knew the pin, which was her argument). Needless to say, she left the store screaming every profanity possible at me and said she would report me to head office to make sure I get fired. This was after she demanded to see someone ‘that has the power to make me happy.’
I smiled as hard as I could and said, ‘I am the manager, and there is nothing on my end to make you happy. This is credit card fraud.’ I happily handed over my business card and said have a nice day! A few weeks later, a man walked in, asking for the manager on duty, which happened to be me again. He asks if I knew if someone named blahblah had come in to buy something with a certain bank’s MasterCard. I said yes (because we write reports to flag customers).
To my surprise, he said, ‘Oh God, that’s my soon to be ex-wife. That bimbo ran off with my credit card and is trying to make me bankrupt.'”
It Didn’t Take Long For The Boss To Get Fed Up With Him
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“I used to work at a family owned auto service center and we got a call from a customer one day saying that we had left a bunch of tools and such under the hood of their girlfriend’s car. The thing was, he was saying they were really nice snap-on ratchets and sockets and such, which we did not even have in the shop.
When my manager told the guy this, the guy got completely belligerent over the phone, saying it had to be us, we were the only people to work on her car. Again, my manager denied it and of course, the guy wants to escalate things above my manager. Here’s the thing, my manager was also the owner of the store so the preceding conversation went something like this:
C: ‘I want to talk to your boss.’
M: ‘I am the boss.’
C: ‘Then I want to talk to the owner.’
M: ‘Funny story, I’m also the owner.’
C: ‘Then give me the corporate number.’
M: ‘We are a family owned company, there is no corporate number.’
C: ‘Then who is in charge of you?’
M: ‘Jesus.’
And he just hung up on the guy. Absolutely one of the funniest interactions I’ve ever had the pleasure of witnessing. My old boss was a G when it came to dealing with irate customers.”
They Could Tell Right Away That She’d Be One Of “Those” Customers
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“I work in a retail outlet store. We receive all the older merchandise from the main stores in the district so they can make room for newer collections, and we sell the old stock at a reduced price. There’s nothing wrong with the clothing, it’s just from an older collection. However, because of the reduced price, everything is final sale. We won’t take returns or exchanges. Before every transaction, we remind the customer of this. And then once the transaction is completed, we stamp their receipt with ‘Final Sale.’ Of course, sometimes exceptions can be made – if the item is defective or the customer is really nice, we will make an exception.
One day, a lady comes in and I can tell she’s one of ‘those’ customers. Cuts me off as I’m greeting her to tell me that she wants to return an item because it didn’t fit her or something like that. I explain to her that look, I’m sorry madam, but there is nothing that I can do, everything is final sale. She replies that she was never told this. I take a look at her receipt and I see that it’s been stamped final sale, so I tell her, ‘Look madam, somebody must have told you because your receipt is even stamped.’
Immediately she goes off on me – yelling, screaming, swearing, saying how incompetent I am and that’s why I’m working in retail because I can’t find another job and blah blah blah. The whole time, I’m just staring at her. She finally finishes her tirade by saying that she shouldn’t listen to a lowly employee like me and then she asks for the manager.
I cleared my throat. I looked her dead in the eye with a grin on my face, ‘I’m very sorry for you right now, but I am the manager.’
She just deflated. All the gusto goes out of her. Swears under her breathe and leaves the store. The part that really gets me though is that the shirt she was trying to return…it cost $5.”
The Teller Kept Explaining The Rules, But He Just Wouldn’t Listen
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“Worked as a Teller Supervisor for about eight months. I wasn’t the highest person in the chain of management, but because I closed, the Branch manager was gone pretty quick after I got in, leaving me the highest ranked person there.
So there was this one customer in the drive-thru lane who wanted to cash a check not drawn off of us. He had an account with us, but it was overdrawn a good bit. I had already been there for about five or so months at this point and had never seen this guy before. After looking over everything, I proceed to tell him that I, unfortunately, wouldn’t be able to give him cash, but if he wanted to deposit it, his money would go in that night. He got visibly angry with me and proceeded to tell me he didn’t care and wanted to cash it anyway. I once again told him that we wouldn’t be able to do that, but told him he could take it to the bank it was drawn off of, which was right down the street, and see if they would cash it. He got even more angry at this point and pulled out a stack of hundreds, told me to deposit it to make his account positive, and then cash the check. I explained to him our policies again, and even though I could budge a little, he was being a jerk, so I said no.
He then asked to speak to the manager on duty. I told him it will be one moment while I grab him. I did a little 360 and told him that my manager had left for the day, leaving me the manager in charge. I gave his option one more time and he deposited the check and left.
I have never felt more triumphant in my life than at that moment.”
It Was Like He’d Lived In Those Shoes For The Whole Six Months
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“I worked retail at a concept shoe store. A customer walked in with a pair of our shoes in a holey grocery bag and plopped them down on the counter. These shoes have taken a beating: separated soles, holes in the upper, ripped laces. The man handed me a crumpled receipt and demanded a refund, saying he’s within the 180-day mark. I was impressed with how much wear he had put into a pair in less than 6 months, but there’s no way I was refunding them.
I just blinked at the man and told him I couldn’t take the shoes back. We argued for a bit and he demanded to see the manager and for good measure added, ‘I am a paying customer, I will not be treated like this by a 12-year-old boy.’
I calmly smiled and let him know that I was the manager. Ended up having to call security on the dude cause he just flipped out.
Also resulted in me deciding to sport a beard because me looking like a 12-year-old boy wasn’t good for anyone.”
She Thought The Rules Shouldn’t Apply To Her
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“I used to work at a large independent video store in Portland, Oregon. I once had a woman come in nine hours after renting a new release and say she needed to exchange it because ‘It didn’t work for us.’ So I asked what was wrong with it and she said, ‘Oh, well there’s nothing actually wrong with it, we just thought it was a cartoon and my kids didn’t like it.’ The movie was March of the Penguins.
Now, I know Happy Feet was also released around the same time, but more of an issue was just how long she had the movie. Because of this and the fact we used a third party called Rentrack that took some of the profits, we couldn’t accept returns nine hours after the fact when the movie still worked. We guaranteed that it would function, but not your satisfaction as movies are subjective. I told her this in a nutshell and she said, ‘You need to fix this.’ I said I was sorry, but I couldn’t. She said, ‘I want to speak with your manager.’
I said, ‘I am the manager.’
She said, ‘YOU NEED TO FIX THIS NOW, OR I’m never bringing my other movies back either!’ She said this while storming out.
As she left, I said to her, ‘If you decide to go that route we’ll send you to collections.’ She never brought them back and was charged for late fees on all three of her movies and full retail price on each of them as well.”
Some Male Customers Didn’t Want To Listen To Her Because Of Her Gender
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“I’m a woman who works in a fairly male-dominated profession. Some customers don’t like this. Once, I was helping a customer when one of our new guys wandered over to learn more about the product. The customer actually interrupted me to say, ‘THIS GUY looks like the manager,’ and start addressing only him with questions.
My coworker, bewildered, tried to explain that I was the manager. The customer refused to continue speaking to me. I decided to let my coworker try and answer his questions, which he couldn’t beyond basic info. So it turned into a game where the customer refused to ask me questions, but my coworker would struggle and direct it back to me. The customer eventually left in a huff.
Back when I was a regular employee, one guy hunted down my store manager and asked him all the same questions he’d asked me. It was so gratifying to have my store manager walk up to me with the customer in tow, explain that I was the expert in that department, and ask me the same exact questions.”
Normally They’d Approve It, But He Just Had To Say Something Disrespectful
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“I had a customer try to use a coupon on an item was wasn’t eligible due to it being on sale. The customer asked if I could ring it up as full price and then apply the coupon, thus saving him like three dollars compared to the sale price it was currently at. I told him I couldn’t do that. He then asked to speak to the manager, I told him that I was the manager and that again, I wasn’t going to change the price.
Now, we have a policy of just taking care of the customer in certain situations so that it doesn’t escalate because our district manager will just give the customer whatever they want anyway. So I figured, if this guy was going to push the issue, I’d relent because it was only three bucks difference anyway.
But the very next words out of his mouth were, ‘Well, isn’t it your job to give me what I want?’
No. I repeated my refusal and he ended up buying the item and later returning it the next day.”
She Gave The Woman A Very Generous Offer, But The Lady Wasn’t Smart Enough To Take It
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“I was being trained as a manager a few months ago. On my first day managing the floor by myself, a customer from earlier in the day came by demanding to speak to the manager on duty because (to make a long story short) we royally screwed up her ‘$45 order’ and that we had to replace everything.
Now, I’m a rather petite lady, and I have a baby face. I also didn’t have a manager shirt yet (my size had to be custom ordered), but I was a full-fledged manager.
I said I was the manager and asked what her name was so I could check my ‘problem customer’ book in the office and see if her name was there. It wasn’t. No problem, I just asked to see her receipt. Surprise surprise, she doesn’t have a receipt from about two hours ago. Sorry, lady. You aren’t in the problem book and you don’t have a receipt. Best I can do is some free food coupons, like ice cream or a free sandwich. She asked to speak to the manager. Honey, I AM the manager tonight. She said I was, ‘inadequate as a manager’ and that I deserve to be fired or something. I’m paraphrasing here. I told her I was sorry, but I couldn’t replace her order and at most I could give her one free meal. She screeched and stormed out.”
He Didn’t Look Much Like A Manager To Her…
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“I was working as an inventory manager at a large chain. Two people had called in, and we were so shorthanded that I was getting sweaty helping to unload a truck.
I got a call that a customer wanted to speak to a manager, so I quickly pinned on my name tag (we don’t wear one while moving boxes because it snags and can rip shirts) and went out to the floor.
I greeted the customer and asked her how I can help. She eyed me skeptically. I was flushed, sweaty, dusty, and not looking very managerial.
She pointed to my name tag and said, ‘That says ‘supervisor.’ Is there an actual manager here?’
I looked down. Oops, old name tag.
I said, ‘Excuse me. One moment, please.’
I went in back and put on my manager name tag. Took a second to tidy myself up.
Walked back out with a big smile, ‘Just got promoted. How can I help you today?'”
They Only Had One Rule, So Of Course This Couple Had To Try To Break It
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“My friend and I own a karaoke company. We have one rule: No Grease songs. When you tell people that they can’t sing a Grease song, they freak out a bit. We drink, sing, and have a nice time while we are ‘working,’ so I guess we don’t look like owners. Once had a lady say she wanted to sing ‘Summer Lovin’ (the worst of the Grease songs) and that she and her husband were the best at it. I told her she couldn’t and she spazzed out, yelled at me. She wanted to talk to the owner, I handed her one of our business cards and said, ‘This is his phone number.’
My partner, who was at the bar getting us shots, soon got a call. Listened to what she had to say and just said, ‘Shut up, that song sucks anyway.’ It was awesome.”