One curious Reddit user asked people who work with the public to share the most bizarre interactions they’ve ever had with customers, so below, you’ll find some tales that might make you count your blessings if you’ve never had to work in customer service. Be sure to upvote the replies that you find painfully relatable if you're all too familiar with the struggle of having weird patrons, and enjoy reading these stories that might make you appreciate your own job even more. Image credits: Dankmousenibbles Image credits: ApathyAndDepression Image credits: kingmobisinvisible Image credits: db_shayne Image credits: Tru-Queer Image credits: thelibrarina Image credits: CaptainJenno Image credits: PolecatEZ Image credits: mimieieieieie Image credits: anon Image credits: NormanPeterson Image credits: Kellymargaret Image credits: hotdoug1 Image credits: bombinabirdcage Image credits: Lockshala Image credits: Yalgamashi Image credits: SoreWristed Image credits: anon
#1
I have a million stories but today I'll share this one. It's been posted on social media before but it was a few years ago so let me try and remember how it went:
I was working at a theater one morning and an old man scoots by in a wheelchair. He lingers by the service desk so I ask him politely if I can help him. He responds in spanish, asking if I speak it. I understand it but can't speak it so i shake my head. "Parli Italiano?" I ask. He says no. Asks in French, if I speak French. I say no. We bounce between languages for a minute until finally he asks if I speak English. I sigh, because it was the language I greeted him in, and say yes. He asks if we have a lost and found and I ask him what he's missing. He holds up a hand missing a finger and asks if we've found one. I, unfazed, respond "no sir, not today" . He wheels off.
#2
Worked as a dog bather- and had this corgi named potato. He was friggin adorable. I don’t know what I really expected but when the owner came to pick him up he was this big body builder covered in tattoos and he had this lime green leash and when potato saw him he got excited and this big Greek statue looking guy just yells ‘potato! Stop that!’ And I still think about it.
#3
I was a supervisor at a call center for a major online retailer who was involved in a data breach a few years ago. As usual, we required all of our customers to change their passwords.
I had to take over a call from a lady who was absolutely refusing to change her password. I tried to explain as nicely as possible and she kept me on the phone for an hour insulting me and screaming about how wrong this was.
Ultimately she told me that I, personally, was worse than Hitler and that making her change her password was an offense worse than the Holocaust. No joke. I am not exaggerating at all.
#4
Once worked at a store and an old man bought a huge bag of carrots, and looked at me and said “these little guys make me real happy”
#5
I work at a pizza delivery business. Had a lady one day call in and order for delivery.
Sure, what’s the address?
“I’m not going to tell you.”
I’m sorry? If you don’t tell me the address, how are we supposed to deliver to you?
“I don’t know what the address is!”
Well, if you don’t know where you’re at, again, how are we supposed to deliver to you?
“So you won’t take my order?”
Not without an address.
“Well! I guess I’ll just order somewhere else, then!”
I guess you will.
#6
Librarian: oh, it looks like you have an overdue book. A biography?
Customer: Oh, yeah. Jesus told me to burn that one.
Librarian: ...
Customer: Will there be a fine?
#7
I've told this story somewhere else, but in a nutshell:
Back when I worked at a hardware store, I had a woman scream and cry at me for using my item scanner on her items because its laser would "make [her] sick" and/or "make [her] sickness worse." Her basket was stacked and she was effectively asking me to hold the line up for a half hour to dial in her product codes manually. She also screamed if I made eye contact.
When she left she told me something to the effect of "I don't want you to get hurt, but if something bad happens to you, it's because I'm thinking about it."
Retail!
#8
In my first years in the Army I also worked a part-time job as an optician in the local mall.
One day a lady came in with her mother (about age 40 and 60) and they were quite hyper and giggling at each other. I asked if I could help them and they had a prescription for lenses. No problem.
She then asks if she can use her existing frames, and I was like "Sure, we can just do lenses." She proceeds to hand me a pair of extremely cheap sunglasses she got from a dollar store.
I told her that there was no way those glasses would stand up to having lenses changed out. She insisted that I "already said she could." I asked her if she was sure, because it was almost guaranteed they would be destroyed in the process. She still insisted. I pointed out the sign we had up saying we weren't responsible for damages (it was next to the register) and asked her one last time. She said yes again.
Ok, I put them in the hotbox (a box of heated sand you use to loosen up plastic frames to get the lenses out) and they melted into goo pretty much instantly, as expected. She was over my shoulder watching with these wild eyes, and when I pulled them out after a few seconds she started screaming about how we destroyed her glasses and now we owe her free glasses. Her mom got in on the action at that point and started shouting also about how I did it on purpose.
I handed them back to her and said something like "Ma'am, I told you so." They went into even more hysterics and by this time were attracting glances from passersby at the mall. I just walked into the back room to the lab guy and was like, dude, you deal with this, I'm done.
I then watched as he masterfully over-charged her about $100 for a $20 frame (it was on the display rack for $100, but we had a pile of the same frames in the discount drawer for $20), giving her a "20% discount" in the process. I was there when she picked them up in about an hour, acting like she won the lottery at my expense because I was so incompetent.
I was still young and had no idea the insanity people would go through to save a few dollars and "stick it to the man."
#9
I used to work in a luxury perfume shop while at uni, and I had more bizarre interactions than I can count. My favorite was an old lady. She came in, wearing a dirty house-coat and slippers, violently searching in the store. I asked her if I can help, but she said no, and went on with her search.
After a while, she came to me, and said:
"Ok, I give up, and just ask. Do you have horsefood?"
I told her politely, we didn't. And she started agressively yelling:
"I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT SO MUCH"
It took us at least 10 minutes to calm her down. She then filed a complaint, and left.
#10
I worked at a smoothie shop, I don’t have many wild stories other than the fact this dude came back and complained about how the smoothie was too cold and proceeded to yell at another employee. We didn’t know how to react, I was trying my hardest not to laugh, but... bruh. You go to an ice cream shop and say you want your money back after you discover ice cream is cold???
#11
I’ve had customers come in and ask if we sold water, cell phones, and phone chargers.
I work at a paint store...
#12
I use to work in a small public library. There was an older business owner that came in for a weekly club/lunch meeting. These meetings were in a back meeting room that I had no control over. He came into the library a couple of times furious at me, because his chair was too cold. He informed me that for the rest of the winter I needed to sit in his chair before he got there, so his chair would be warm for him!
#13
I was a page at NBC Studios in Burbank in the early 2000's and part of our job was working the gift shop and ticket counter for the Tonight Show.
Two guys come in and say "We're here for the Lakers game." I was like "Uh... I'm sorry, that game isn't here, it's over at the Staples Center." One of them just gives me a look and says "It's NBC, right?"
I proceed to explain to him that while NBC is airing the Lakers game, we don't shoot it at the studio, and we take our cameras and crew and shoot it at the Staples Center where the Lakers play.
The one guy turns around and scribbles on a piece of paper and hands it to me. It says "2 Lakers Tickets for [Insert Random Name]" and he says like "What about this, huh?"
Thankfully my supervisor jumped in and said "Oh, you'll have to come back Thursday morning, we'll see you then, okay?" and that seemed to placate them and they left. My supervisor tells me this happened quite often and when you tell them to come back, they rarely do.
#14
I work in a government office. A dude came in with a can opener to threaten the receptionist
#15
Got all sorts of perverts back when I was in the dry cleaning biz.
Had a guy just take off all of his clothes sans underwear in front of me and ask me to dry clean all that. Walked out in his skivvies.
#16
I work as a waiter/bartender at a hotel and last summer we had this frech woman who put so much sugar in her coffee that it was turned into this mush that she’d eat with a spoon.
#17
A guest refused to have his wife check her coat. Our venue doesn't allow guests having their coat in the hall because of fire safety reasons. He got up to the point of furiously shouting while his wife was trying to tell him it wasn't a big deal. He only let up after we told him we were within our rights to deny him entry and would be able to call the police...
Our coat check service is free btw...
#18
Had a regular come in and repeatedly ask which shampoo and conditioner to use for her hair. I once had to read out the chemical ingredients on the back and improvise their effectiveness at hair maintainance lol. Nothing wrong with worrying about your hair but she was asking a dude who used to use shower gel as shampoo
