Angelic Slayer
Daydream Believer
Ah finally, a thread devoted to my "people" :silly: Ug, every job I've had so far has been in customer service; and in every SINGLE job I've got a stupendously ridiculous amount of idiots to deal with. Living in a community that gets SO much tourism in the summer doesn't help either, I can't believe some of the stuff people try and pull!
Okay so my first job; an amusement park ride attendee. Just the kiddie rides, making happy memories; what's to complain about? WELL! The height regulations alone are something that folks seem to think you (as the ride attendant) cooked up just for them to ruin their day. I had a lady try and put a baby (that could barely sit up on its own, he was so young!) on one of out kiddie trains, by himself, in a spot where he could easily fall onto the pavement/electric tracks if he were to fall. And it didn't matter how much I told her that our safety regulations wouldn't allow it-- she insisted that it was okay because "I had her permission". Like that would make it all better if her kid split his head open on the pavement; no I'm *sure* the safety board would have no problem with that. Anyway, I put up with a good 5 minute argument before she finally went to another ride, and made rude comments to her older kids about my "incompetence".
Next job I was at a Grocery Store deli; and my first day of working there for a night shift we had a gentleman come in an hour before closing and ask for some pumpernickel bread. Now, I work in a deli-- the place where we serve meat. I'd barely been at the company a week and bakery staff had of course gone home for the day. I took a look on the shelf for him and politely apologized, told him that we were out and that if he likes I can have the bakers make him up a fresh loaf tomorrow morning.
His response?
"Look, I came in here expecting to get pumpernickel bread, and that's what I damn well want. So you'd better get your f**king a** back to the freezer and get out a f**king loaf of bread and I'll bake it my goddamn self! You understand me?!"
*insert a head-desk here*. I just looked at him in shock before trying to explain that I had no idea where bakery kept ANYTHING, and that he'd have to come back in the morning. He gave me another earful, complained to the poor cashiers up front and then stormed out of the store.:mad39:
Then I worked at a Subway and wholey macaroni! Has anyone else noticed how much grumpier people are about their food? I've had people cry bloody murder and *insist* that I remake their sandwich because I accidentally put on green olives instead of black. Had people run to the bathroom in the middle of us making their sub, and then come back and complain that it's cold by the time they get around to eating it (because they took ten FREAKING minutes in the bathroom in the middle of us doing their order!). Had one gentleman last summer that was calling one of my coworkers a "stupid b**ch", "idiot" because she couldn't understand what he was saying with his accent. It didn't matter how politely she asked him to repeat himself or how apologetic she was, he ended up getting *so* nasty with her that she had to excuse herself while on the brink of tears and I took over the sandwich. He felt the need to belittle her to tears, because she had asked him what kind of cheese he'd like too many times.
Or one day last summer, our debit/credit card machine went down in the middle of our lunch rush. Now, understanding that our store was only big enough for 3 two-seater tables (a tiny, tiny subway) we had posted FIVE signs letting people know that the debit was down. One sign by each entrance, two on the glass of our display and one sign by the cash register. And on top of that we had been warning people when they placed their order that we could only accept cash. We must have had at least 10 people that afternoon who tore a strip off our backs because we could only take cash, and then demand that we pay them the ATM fee from them taking out cash (and on top of that, it wasn't even our ATM! It belonged to another business!). We had a man come in and accuse us of lying about it being down so "we could rip people off and make money off our ATM" (which again, wasn't even in our building! It wasn't ours!). And one lady demanded her sub for free and rudely told us that we should post a "f**king sign" if the machine was down, before storming out the door. :looking:
Yupp, I've got loads of customer service stories. Some good ones of course, not all customers are pricks, but I'm always amazed by how easily some people can get infuriated. It sounds like you guys have some that are much worse though, it's nice to know that I'm not alone!
Okay so my first job; an amusement park ride attendee. Just the kiddie rides, making happy memories; what's to complain about? WELL! The height regulations alone are something that folks seem to think you (as the ride attendant) cooked up just for them to ruin their day. I had a lady try and put a baby (that could barely sit up on its own, he was so young!) on one of out kiddie trains, by himself, in a spot where he could easily fall onto the pavement/electric tracks if he were to fall. And it didn't matter how much I told her that our safety regulations wouldn't allow it-- she insisted that it was okay because "I had her permission". Like that would make it all better if her kid split his head open on the pavement; no I'm *sure* the safety board would have no problem with that. Anyway, I put up with a good 5 minute argument before she finally went to another ride, and made rude comments to her older kids about my "incompetence".
Next job I was at a Grocery Store deli; and my first day of working there for a night shift we had a gentleman come in an hour before closing and ask for some pumpernickel bread. Now, I work in a deli-- the place where we serve meat. I'd barely been at the company a week and bakery staff had of course gone home for the day. I took a look on the shelf for him and politely apologized, told him that we were out and that if he likes I can have the bakers make him up a fresh loaf tomorrow morning.
His response?
"Look, I came in here expecting to get pumpernickel bread, and that's what I damn well want. So you'd better get your f**king a** back to the freezer and get out a f**king loaf of bread and I'll bake it my goddamn self! You understand me?!"
*insert a head-desk here*. I just looked at him in shock before trying to explain that I had no idea where bakery kept ANYTHING, and that he'd have to come back in the morning. He gave me another earful, complained to the poor cashiers up front and then stormed out of the store.:mad39:
Then I worked at a Subway and wholey macaroni! Has anyone else noticed how much grumpier people are about their food? I've had people cry bloody murder and *insist* that I remake their sandwich because I accidentally put on green olives instead of black. Had people run to the bathroom in the middle of us making their sub, and then come back and complain that it's cold by the time they get around to eating it (because they took ten FREAKING minutes in the bathroom in the middle of us doing their order!). Had one gentleman last summer that was calling one of my coworkers a "stupid b**ch", "idiot" because she couldn't understand what he was saying with his accent. It didn't matter how politely she asked him to repeat himself or how apologetic she was, he ended up getting *so* nasty with her that she had to excuse herself while on the brink of tears and I took over the sandwich. He felt the need to belittle her to tears, because she had asked him what kind of cheese he'd like too many times.
Or one day last summer, our debit/credit card machine went down in the middle of our lunch rush. Now, understanding that our store was only big enough for 3 two-seater tables (a tiny, tiny subway) we had posted FIVE signs letting people know that the debit was down. One sign by each entrance, two on the glass of our display and one sign by the cash register. And on top of that we had been warning people when they placed their order that we could only accept cash. We must have had at least 10 people that afternoon who tore a strip off our backs because we could only take cash, and then demand that we pay them the ATM fee from them taking out cash (and on top of that, it wasn't even our ATM! It belonged to another business!). We had a man come in and accuse us of lying about it being down so "we could rip people off and make money off our ATM" (which again, wasn't even in our building! It wasn't ours!). And one lady demanded her sub for free and rudely told us that we should post a "f**king sign" if the machine was down, before storming out the door. :looking:
Yupp, I've got loads of customer service stories. Some good ones of course, not all customers are pricks, but I'm always amazed by how easily some people can get infuriated. It sounds like you guys have some that are much worse though, it's nice to know that I'm not alone!