We are all aware of the saying, ‘The customer is always right’, but we should also be aware of how untrue it is. The customer is not always right and some customers need to be reminded of this. These workers share the time they refused to serve an entitled jagoff. Content has been edited for clarity purposes.
She Was Just A Teenager
“People are notoriously rude to fast food employees. I have worked in everything from fine dining to McDonald’s and the customers at McDonald’s are by far the worst.
If I heard you cuss at one of my employees, you didn’t get service. If you got rude or belligerent even if you didn’t cuss, I wouldn’t let my employees serve you. And you better hope I was in a good mood that day or I would tell you off while I refused your service.
Once at McDonald’s, a lady was ordering Happy Meals, and the cashier was having trouble hearing her answers to questions like,’ What do you like to drink? Want any sides?’
The lady in the drive-thru called her a freaking idiot. I was on the headset refusing her service before she could finish the insult. I made sure she knew she was yelling at a 15-year-old kid and told her that as she was driving to her next restaurant. Maybe she should think about how she would feel if someone talked to her kids that way.
If you can’t use basic manners and have some respect for EVERYONE no matter what their job is, then you don’t deserve service. At some point, our society got into the ‘customer is always right’ mindset. When in actuality, the customer is very rarely right. The customer should understand we are providing you a service, you don’t have to cook or clean up dishes that night. You should be slightly appreciative.”
Complimentary Breakfast?
“For over twelve years I have worked in various hotels. Working night audit means I have often had to deal with angry situations by myself. My favorite is when the afternoon shift will warn me about a guest in a certain room.
They’ll say, ‘During check-in, he was very rude.’
Often wondering to myself— if we know in advance someone is going to cause a problem, why are we checking them in?
For once, I was able to get ahead of that problem. I had a young couple come in. It was a guy and a girl who were both in their early twenties. I checked inventory, and prices and offered them a room at $120.This was the average price for the one ‘Queen bed’ room then.
They accepted and handed over a driver’s license and credit card. Not his though, as he didn’t have any money on his card at the moment.
He said to the girl, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll pay cash on the way out the door.’
As I started to take details to enter them into the system, the guy said, ‘Is breakfast included?’
I told him, ‘No, for this rate, breakfast is not included.’
He said, ‘Well, that sucks!’
I ignored his comment, but he kept going on and on about it.
He said, ‘Breakfast should be included! Your system sucks! Heck! The hotel down the street includes breakfast.’
I responded to that one, ‘Indeed they do. They are a low-end hotel, and they have to offer breakfast to compete.’
His next comment, ‘I think it’s stupid that you won’t include a freakin’ breakfast.’
As if I had the authority to give something like that out.
His attitude and demeanor got worse and I had yet to swipe the credit card. So I just turned to the girl and handed her driver’s license and credit card back.
The guy said, ‘Are you denying us a room?’
I said, ‘Yes since you are so unhappy with our not including breakfast here, I am going to recommend you go down the street to the hotel that does include breakfast.’
The girl looked at him and then looked at me. She finally spoke up, ‘Forget this, I’m going home.’
Not only did he not get breakfast, but he didn’t get lucky either.”
“I Was Uneducated?”
“As a hairstylist, when I have a new client, I always make sure I know exactly what they are looking for before I make one cut with my scissor.
I had a woman come in who was trying to describe what she wanted, but we were having a disconnect. So I suggested we pull up some pictures online to make sure we were on the same page.
Her reply was: ‘I teach English to children.’
So somehow, because I wanted to make sure she got the style she was looking for, I was uneducated?
I pulled the styling cape off and said, ‘Get up.’
She looked at me in shock.
I said, ”You’re going to have to find someone else to cut your hair because I am NOT going to be spoken to that way.’
Why was she surprised when I stood up for myself? Would she really rather I cut her hair after speaking to me that way? I’d think that would be the equivalent of yelling at a waitress and then hoping she doesn’t spit in your food.”
“He Won’t Bite Anyone”
“I spent 26 years working in veterinary medicine and there are times when you have to refuse service due to an extremely aggressive animal. We would tell the owner that they must come in with the animal muzzled (and in some cases sedated) or we wouldn’t treat their pets. Most were compliant and begrudgingly followed our instructions. And then there was one who didn’t.
A man came in with a wolf hybrid. For those of you who don’t know, someone thought it would be a great idea to breed domestic dogs and wolves to make a very large and terrifying breed. They are banned in countless states and are considered ‘wild animals’ requiring a permit to own. But this was before all of those rules were put in place and in walked a man with one of these dogs.
From the second the man walked in, the dog was growling and snapping at anything in the waiting room. He had a leash on the dog but that didn’t mean he had control, nor was he interested in getting the animal under control. He simply let the dog drag him around. So we literally had to bring every person and animal from the waiting into the back of the hospital for their safety.
I was the head tech and it was up to me to get this under control. As I began to walk through the door to the waiting room, the dog came for me.
The owner started laughing and telling me,’ The dog won’t bite anyone. You can come through the door.’
I immediately told him, ‘Sir, take the dog outside and put it in the car, or I will not speak with you at all.’
It was winter so there was no worry about the dog overheating.
The man decided he was in control. He wasn’t going to take the dog out and he demanded to see our vet. And that was It.
I demanded, ‘Leave and never come back. The safety of my staff, doctors, and the public is my only concern at the moment. You are banned from our office.’
He tried to convince me everything was fine and that I was overreacting, but I told him in no uncertain terms that if he didn’t leave immediately, I was calling the police and animal control to have him and his dog removed.
A few days later, we received a call from another clinic near ours. They told the same story of what had happened at their clinic and asked, ‘Why you didn’t warn other clinics in the area about this man and his dog?’
I told them that thought hadn’t even crossed my mind, and I apologized to them. I then spent the next hour contacting every clinic within a 20-mile range about what had happened and told them that should this man call for an appointment, they needed to set ground rules before he walked through the door. Including muzzling the dog before he came through their doors.
I found out later that a clinic didn’t heed my warnings and a tech was hospitalized with severe bite wounds. The police were called and animal control took the dog.
I never heard the final outcome, but in my opinion, that man should have never had the dog in the first place, and the breed should be banned.”
Things Got Pretty Heated Over Some Low Condiments
“I was about 19, working my first job. It was at a pretty big gas station and we had a deli inside. I worked in the deli section. It was a pretty slow day that day so I was the only deli worker on shift.
There were two or three cashiers working plus me. We all cleaned our areas, stocked, and made sure things were okay before we took our lunches. Since our lunch table was near the entrance, we saw everyone who came in.
There were about three or four customers who came in periodically, one of whom bought several hot dogs off of the grill. I noticed how he had jalapeños on all of them, and I made a mental note to go to the condiment stand and refill them once I was done eating and had washed my hands. However, since it was a slow day, I figured there was no rush to do it right then. Then, in walked this lady.
She had on scrubs and the logo on her name tag that let me know she worked at the nursing home across the street from our store.
Well, she marched in. We all said, ‘Hello, welcome in!’ to her, but she didn’t even acknowledge us. It was obvious based on her demeanor that she was in a bad mood. So she went over to the deli section, made herself some nachos, and then went over to the condiment stand.
By this time, I was done eating so I threw my items away and went behind the counter to the deli to wash my hands. As I was washing my hands with my back turned, I heard a voice behind me through the glass.
They said, ‘I don’t have enough jalapeños to put on my nachos. I want more.’
I turned around and saw the lady.
I said, ‘I’m sorry about that ma’am. Let me go grab some from the back a refill that for you.’
She squinted at me and said, ‘If you would have been doing your job instead of sitting around, you wouldn’t have to go to the back to get anything. This is taking time out of my lunch period.’
I ignored her remark, went to the back, and grabbed the jalapeños.
I came back out, and as I was opening the can, she barked, ‘Can you BE any slower? I am so unsatisfied with your service right now.’
Once again, I apologized for the inconvenience. She then had the nerve to slam her plate of nachos on top of the glass case that was separating us. Then she ordered me to put the jalapeños on her nachos. Losing my patience, I let her know how I wasn’t allowed to let the food that had been touched come on my side. So I grabbed a small cup and filled it with the peppers, preparing to pass them over to her instead.
‘YOU don’t tell ME what you can or can’t do! You need to do whatever I tell you to do,’ she yelled.
Excuse me?! I thought to myself. Who on earth does she think she is?!
‘Ma’am, if you continue to treat me and speak to me the way you are, I will not serve you,’ I exclaimed.
‘You HAVE to serve me! You don’t have a choice! You’re dumb,’ she said.
‘I actually do have a choice. And as a matter of fact, I am making that choice right now. I am done helping you,’ I said.
She then went on a rant about how she was going to make sure I got fired and started calling me all types of names. She yelled, ‘You’re going to lose your job today you stupid prick!’
When I walked to the back to gather myself, she actually ended up getting kicked out of the store due to her language, yelling, and disorderly conduct. So not only didn’t she get her jalapeños, but she didn’t get her nachos either. I’m pretty sure that after all the chaos she caused, her lunch period was over.
About an hour or two after that incident, another employee from the nursing home came into our store and stared at me, gave me ugly looks, and rolled her eyes at me the entire time she was in there. So I think it’s safe to say the first lady went back to the nursing home and told her coworkers about the ordeal. Luckily, I never saw her again.
And no, I wasn’t fired.”
Ma’am, Please Listen To The Medical Professional
“I’m a pharmacist and one of my jobs is to correct assessment and accuracy. Sometimes it cannot be rushed. Any error could be dire, so I won’t allow a customer to cause me to do something I’d regret later.
If customers are argumentative or unrealistic, I try to reason with them by explaining why something is happening the way it is. It’s really not because we go out of our way to upset and delay you; it’s because we care about your health and we want you to walk away feeling confident you’ll be in a better space after you visited us.
One woman came in in the early morning looking for a medicine to aid with constipation. But she was in a great hurry to get to work, so she spoke to the three people ahead of her in the queue and got a free ride to the front.
I was the only pharmacist on duty at the time and was waiting for the other staff to arrive. We worked staggered shifts.
I was busy with an asthmatic boy who had had a severe bout of asthma and had been rushed to the emergency room.
The impatient woman interrupted me while I was talking to the boy’s mother and said, ‘Hey! I’m in a great hurry! All I need is something for my constipation. I’ll pay in cash, so you don’t have to process anything.’
I explained, ‘I will still have to process it. And ma’am, you will have to pay at the cashier.’
Then I reiterated to her my commitment to the asthmatic boy. Although she hooed-and-haahed and sighed every few seconds, she didn’t say anything else as I served him. She did, however, stared belligerently at me for the longest time.
When I’d finished with the unfortunate young man, Miss Impatient marched forward.
‘How long have you been constipated?’ I asked her.
She said, ‘That question has no relevance.’
I said, ‘It does have professional relevance, which is why I’m asking it.’
‘Two weeks,’ she barked, ‘which is why I need it now!’
I asked her a couple more questions which she answered through clenched teeth. She claimed she hadn’t passed any stools for a fortnight and was struggling to urinate. She’d tried everything she could think of to unblock herself: sennosides, lactulose, prune juice, bisacodyl suppositories, and even a soap enema.
Now she demanded a phosphate enema.
I knew, based on what Miss Impatient was telling me, there was a definite possibility that she had an intestinal blockage. And as a phosphate enema can work quickly to expel feces from the colon, its rapidity of action can also cause damage if there is a blockage as it might force the compacted fecal contents out and tear the tissue holding it back. Therefore, I insisted it would be best for her to see a doctor to access what was happening before further treatment was attempted.
She replied, ‘There is no way I’m doing that! I don’t have time to see a doctor. I’ve had this problem before, and enemas always worked.’
I asked, ‘Why didn’t you try the phosphate enema at the beginning of the two weeks?’
That was when she lost it completely. I was told what my job should entail, that I had no choice but to give it to her as it is an over-the-counter medicine and doesn’t require a script and that I had been rude and insensitive, keeping her waiting unnecessarily when she had to get to a meeting at work.
She then demanded, ‘Give me the enema right away, otherwise, your job is in jeopardy.’
I kept calm and explained again, ‘It is in your best interests to be checked properly by a doctor so that the best medicinal option can be administered. Especially because what you have tried had not worked.’
I also said, ‘I can not professionally and in good conscience give you something which might create a bigger problem than the one you have.’
She told me, ‘You’re a freakin’ loser. I want to speak with your boss.’
I said, ‘My boss will be here in another hour. You’re more than welcome to talk with her.’
However, as I proceeded to write down my boss’s name and contact details, I added there were ill people waiting with prescriptions in the queue behind her that needed my help and, as the pharmacist-patient relationship had been compromised by her behavior and refusal to accept my professional advice, I could no longer continue assisting her. She was welcome to go to another pharmacy and seek assistance there, or she could return to us when the day staff arrived, but I was not going to help her any further.
I called the next person in the queue, but Miss Impatient stood in front of her, insisting I was not going to help that patient until I’d helped her.
I walked to the phone and called security, ‘Look on your (CCTV) camera and take note of the woman in the navy-blue business suit. She is interfering with my patients and I want her removed immediately.’
Security arrived and coaxed her away. She insisted on seeing the company manager, who had coincidentally come in earlier than usual for a meeting. The company manager arrived with Miss Impatient and I explained the situation quickly and concisely. The manager nodded and said to Miss Impatient how the pharmacist was correct and that it would be best for her to see a doctor.
Miss Impatient threw her bag against the wall in a rage and that was when security took her outside.
In every service industry, there is always the irrational, rude client that turns the room upside down. I have come across many in my years of servicing the health needs of the public, but I always insist on doing what is professionally ethical and giving the most appropriate advice for the situation.
I do hope that Miss Impatient ultimately had her pipes unblocked as it is never comfortable to be full of it.
Free Food For Pets?!
“There was the man who ordered an extra side of gravy, which cost fifty cents. When he realized he had been charged for it, he came back to my counter glowering. I looked over his receipt, and everything was correct.
I calmly explained, ‘Yes, extra gravy costs extra.’
He exploded, cursing and screaming, in my dining room full of families. I asked him three times to lower his voice and stop cursing so we could come to a solution. He did not. So, I asked him to leave. When he refused, I gave him a choice: ‘Leave under your own steam, or I will call the police to help you find your way out.’
He raged that his family was still eating, ‘Do they have to stop eating and leave too?’
After a glance at his table, I told him, ‘No, your family is behaving appropriately and not causing a disturbance. They are welcome to finish their meal. You, however, is not, and must exit immediately.’
When he asked where he was supposed to go, with his family still eating, I said, ‘Anywhere but here.’
He threatened, ‘I’m never coming back here.’
I said, ‘I insist you don’t. As a matter of fact, you’re banned.’
All over fifty cents.
Another time, there was a woman who asked for a free burger for her dog.
I informed her, ‘We do not offer free food for pets.’
She raged, saying, ‘You should give free food to pets because pets are expensive.’
I apologized and repeated the policy.
She huffed, and tried to hand me her money, saying, ‘Fine then, here, you little wench.’
I said, ‘Ma’am, your money is no good here.’
She looked surprised, watching as I used my manager override card on the register. She asked, ‘Are you giving me the food for free?’
I said, ‘No ma’am, I’m refusing service. Your order has been canceled, and it is time for you to leave.’
She screamed at me, the only intelligible phrase being ‘You can’t do that!’
I merely smiled, and pointed at the sign saying ‘We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.’ Then I closed the drive-thru window in her face.
She waved her arms and banged on the window until I told her, phone in hand, ‘I’m going to call the police if you don’t leave immediately. You’re no longer welcome and will not be served if you come back.'”
Threats
“Dunkin’ customers are the absolute worst. I dealt with more rude, entitled, verbally abusive pricks there than I did at any other job ever. I have no idea how things work at those East Coast Dunkin’s. I’ve heard there’s better staffing, more products, etc, but I, unfortunately, worked at a Dunkin’ in Arizona that was number one in sales every week which meant way more customers than anyone can handle. It didn’t help that the bosses were so focused on labor that they couldn’t properly staff enough people to where things could move quickly.
Anyways, I worked the afternoon/evening shift five times a week with one other person. And as you can imagine the donuts were never fresh by the time we’d come into work. We would also be out of a lot of donuts by then because it was important to Dunkin’ to minimize waste instead of having a full selection all day long. It didn’t bother me because it would be fewer donuts we’d have to throw away.
However, many people were outraged by this on a daily. It became something so normal.
Well one night, this woman came through the drive-thru ordering five specific drinks (something that’s really annoying late at night with only two people working) and was requesting basically every donut we didn’t have. I was professional over the speaker of course and was making all of her drinks.
My 16-year-old coworker, who we’ll call ‘Lilly,’ was helping her at the window.
Then she looked over at me and said, ‘She wants to talk to you.’
I figured it was going to be the typical complaining about having no donuts, but I was wrong.
She started going off on me about Lilly.
I was beyond confused that I had to stop her and be like, ‘Wait, what happened?’
I was standing right next to Lilly and I didn’t see anything go down.
She said, ‘That little girl told me if I’m happy, then I can go to the Starbucks next door.’
Inside I was dying because honestly, this lady was wasting her energy being upset over donuts. Lilly basically told her she was free to leave the drive-thru. I was loving it, but I was trying to hear her out. I just apologized and told her we didn’t have a lot at night so it was best to come early or pre-order.
She didn’t like that answer either because then she started ranting about how we were scumbags and how she was going to beat us up. But after her spiel, she tried to hand me her money. The audacity. Did she really think that after she threatened me, I would take her money? Like nothing happened?
I straight up told her, ‘No, I’m not going to tolerate that.’
Then I slammed the drive-thru window in her face. Anyone who’s worked drive-thrus knows how satisfying it is to slam the window in a rude person’s face.
I thought, ‘BYE FELICIA! Have fun paying $20 more for your stupid drinks at Starbucks.’
I happily dumped all of her drinks I made down the drain with no regrets.”
“You Will Take My Abuse”
“I was working for a Local Authority. My phone rang. Some guy wanted to complain about some roadworks but kept swearing at me and calling me an idiot. I politely asked him to refrain from personal abuse.
He started swearing even more and said,’ You’re just a public servant and will take my abuse. I’m paying your salary!’
I explained how my job was not to take abuse from anyone, and if he continued, I’d hang upon him. He continued verbally abusing me, so I hung up.
The phone rang again and it was him again.
Again swearing, I said, ‘I will hang up again.’
He didn’t stop, so I hung up again. He rang again and started swearing as soon as I answered. So I hung up for the third time. I then filled out a ‘violence at work’ form, as I expected some fallout. Before I completed the form, the phone rang.
This time it wasn’t the man, but the the secretary to the Director saying there was someone complaining about me. Then she patched him through and I introduced myself.
As soon as he heard my name, he started swearing again. I just hung up. He phoned again, but this time he didn’t swear at me. I listened to his complaint and explained how the location he was complaining about was the responsibility of another Local Authority and I gave him the contact there.
I telephoned the contact there and warned him about this rude person. I never heard back from that very rude person again.”
Different Day, But The Same Problematic Couple
“A couple came in every Tuesday and ordered the same thing (drink and food) and every Tuesday they would complain about the same thing. Eventually, you grow wise to people trying to get free things or discounts.
The manager had changed into her normal clothes as her 14-hour shift had finished, when an influx of people had come in. The couple also came in and immediately started complaining. The manager had carried on working to help us out as most servers had been finished and sent home (due to obviously busy period died down and wasn’t expecting an influx of new customers). Anyways, the manager had taken their complaint on the chin and had their food remade even though NOTHING was wrong and changed their drinks even though they had plenty of fizzes.
They complained again, but to me, stating the manager was very rude and hadn’t sorted their complaint out, they wanted their food remade after it had just been remade.
When I removed their food from the table, I then went back and removed their drinks from the table. I told them the only people in the restaurant that were rude, were them.
The woman stood up and said, ‘How dare you speak to me like that!’
Well, of course, I laughed in her face. I told her, ‘Every week you and her husband come in, order the same thing and complain about the same thing. This time, I’m not interested in your nonsense.’
As I passed her her coat off the back of the chair, I said, ‘Leave! You both are no longer welcome here. You can take your miserable attitudes and complaints elsewhere, as we don’t have time for people who waste not only food but time, that can be spent with genuine customers.'”