They say that the customer is always right. But those who work in commerce will easily prove this otherwise, just by telling you a couple of stories from their own experience. After all, some customers tend to forget about politeness and respect for other people when they shop. But shop assistants themselves are often no angels.
Shoe shop. A woman wanted to return the winter boots that she had obviously worn. She claimed loudly and demandingly that she hadn’t worn them and that they were not warm enough.
When she was asked, “How do you know they’re not warm enough if you haven’t worn them?”, she hesitated for a second and then said, “I stuck my feet in the boots out of the window.” © Zarema Kolomiets
I worked at a beachside restaurant. A customer bought 3 sandwiches for her children, and they went to the beach. 30 minutes later, she returned and demanded new sandwiches for free. When she was asked what the problem was, she said, “The kids didn’t finish the sandwiches and went for a swim, and when they came back, they found that the crows had eaten them all!” © Maria Lerman
I have my own beauty shop. One day a woman came in to find out about the products. I consulted her, gave her some samples. She left without buying anything. A month later, she came again — asked me different questions for an hour and then, “Thank you, goodbye.”
Yesterday, she came back again. I asked her politely, “Will you be taking anything today?” And she answered without blinking an eye, “No, thank you, I order everything online!” Honestly, I was flabbergasted. I put my heart and soul into my work, have reasonable prices, and I can’t understand how people can be like this. © Podsushano / VK
I was furiously yelled at my first day by a lady for putting grapes and blueberries in the same bag. © 1991mgs / Reddit
Large grocery store. I’m standing at the checkout counter, my groceries being rung up. Suddenly, a girl about 6 years old runs up, grabs a chocolate bar that has already been rung up and runs away. I notice it at the last moment and ask the cashier to cancel it.
She asks if it’s my granddaughter. I reply that I have no idea who she is and again ask her to cancel the chocolate. She replies that she’s rung it up, so I must pay.
I realize that the conversation has reached a dead end and say, “I want to cancel everything, I won’t buy anything here.” At that time, the security guard comes up and goes to call the manager. I decided not to wait for anyone and just left. © AndShug / Pikabu
This guy came up to me and asked, “What’s the difference between cranberry juice and organic cranberry juice?” I was 15, and I knew nothing, so after a pause I replied, “Like... 8 dollars.” The guy was laughing so much, he didn’t even care for a real answer after that. © ***manthatsmyjam / Reddit
I used to work at a pet store. A customer tried to use a coupon from another pet store. They complained when I told them it was for the wrong store and claimed, “But I’ve used one here before!”
Sure, our store had price matching if the item was a different price online or at a competitor’s store. But you can’t use a coupon from another store! © Alexis Collins / Quora
I worked in a “high end” hippy store. A lady came in with her dog despite the mall’s No Dogs policy. Told her “no dogs allowed” but she insisted she “knew someone at corporate.” It’s a lie, but whatever, I don’t get paid enough to argue.
Dog immediately pisses on the floor. She looked over at me with this “well?” look like I was supposed to rush over and wipe it up. Nope, sorry, lady. I just tossed a roll of paper towels at her and went back to folding. © Chrissbattle / Reddit
I used to work in a jewelry shop. A customer comes in and starts yelling at us from the doorstep. It turned out that she bought stud earrings, but didn’t find the fasteners in the box. She showed the box, the receipt, even the branded bag, and demanded the full refund.
We looked at the time and date on the receipt and checked the cameras. We see the process of sale, the cash register, then the sales assistant packs the earrings and puts the fasteners with a tag under the earrings in the box. We send this video to the customer, she watches it, silently takes her bag and leaves. What was that all about? © Full.stop / Pikabu
A dad put his 2-year-old daughter on the conveyor belt. She is standing there, him holding her hand, while the belt is moving her closer to the scanner. “Uhm, excuse me...please remove your child for safety reasons. Not only that, but people put their food on this belt and heavens knows what stuff is on the soles of her shoes.” He didn’t seem all too pleased that I was putting a damper on his princess’s happiness. Oh, well. © Irene Pugh / Quora
Many years ago, I worked as a checker in a major grocery chain. I was 17 at the time and soon learned a lot about human nature, both the bad and good. Our store at that time handed out “Green Stamps” based upon the amount of the purchase, Wednesdays were “Double Green Stamp Days,” the customer would get twice as many stamps for each purchase. These Green Stamps could later be redeemed for merchandise.
A very agitated man came through my check-out one morning. All he had was a frozen pizza. I rang him up, he paid, and I gave him his stamps. He counted them and then said, “Where are the rest of my Green Stamps, gimme my Green Stamps!” I politely informed him that Double Green Stamp Day was on Wednesday and today was Tuesday.
He picked up the frozen pizza and threw it at me, striking me in the stomach. He then looked me straight in the eye and said, “Give me the damn money back now!” Needless to say, I complied... © Larry McNeely / Quora
I work in a supermarket. The other day, the lights went out. When the lights came back on, I saw a guy sitting on the floor and greedily eating chips from a big bag.
I tell him he’ll to have to pay for the chips, and he looks at me with terror and says, “I thought it was the end of the world. The apocalypse!” That’s the man’s priorities: eating chips before the end of the world. © Ward 6 / VK
I went to the groceries yesterday and some woman made a fuss over 6 cents. The whole line became indignant. The people offered her to pay for her purchases, so she would leave. At one point she decided to leave and muttered something insulting. The cashier couldn’t stand it and threw those unfortunate 6 cents to her.
The woman with the words, “I don’t need your charity!” picked them up and threw them back to the cashier. They ended up throwing the coins back and forth for another 3 minutes until everyone started laughing, including themselves. Only then they apologized, laughed and parted ways. © Chamber 6 / VK
I’m a cashier. A woman came in with a child. A boy about 3 years old snatches a bag of marshmallows from the holder, and says, “Buy it to me.” The mother says, “No.” The kid throws a tantrum, falls on the floor, hits the floor with these marshmallows.
Well, I think she’s going to punish him. Instead, the woman turns round to me and shouts, “Did you put candy here on purpose?” No, we built the store here on purpose! © Podshearshno / VK
Bonus: a story that restores faith in people
After work, I went to groceries, quickly picked up some food, went to the cash register and realized that I couldn’t pay for all my purchases because my phone was dead. I didn’t have my credit card with me, and I didn’t have cash either. I apologized to the shop assistant, asked her not to put these away, and promised to come back and pay for them.
But suddenly the girl who was standing behind me held out her card and said that she would pay for my purchases, and I would just have to transfer the money to her card when I was at home. I was in total shock! I ran home, charged my phone and immediately transferred the whole amount to her, even a little more. © Chamber 6 / VK
But problems can happen not only in physical shops. Online purchases can be no less frustrating. Check this out.