What customer behaviour have you seen that truly flabbergasted you?
Posted by ChoreomaniacCat@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 354 comments
Inspired by a post I just saw on here talking about jobsworths.
What is the most unbelievable customer behaviour you've ever witnessed in the UK that genuinely made you wonder about the perpetrator?
When I was working as a waitress at a buffet restaurant, I encountered three women on a bank holiday weekend who hadn't booked. We managed to squeeze them in, despite being rammed, then they immediately ripped into me that they thought they were "coming out for some burgers" and were "disappointed to see a buffet". So they made no booking, didn't Google the restaurant, randomly wandered in, then were disappointed that it didn't magically transform into the type of food they wanted.
One of the women even told me it was her birthday (even more perplexing as to why they didn't book in advance/look up somewhere to go for an actual celebration) and that we were ruining it because we weren't a burger restaurant. I apologised to them and one of them said "you're not really sorry though, are you?" I was genuinely flabbergasted and didn't know what to say to that.
What are some examples of British customer behaviour that you've witnessed/experienced and will never forget?
Silent_Rhombus@reddit
All of these in the same shop:
Big, seemingly able-bodied man got angry because my colleague wouldn’t carry the lawnmower he’d just bought to the train station for him. She was about 18 years old and 5 foot tall. The train station was a mile away, all uphill.
Lad wanted to buy an 18-rated video game but the only ID he had was a tramp stamp of his own date of birth.
Colleague was offered a bag of cocaine in return for stealing iPads from the stockroom. This generous offer was made inside the shop, in the middle of the day, on CCTV.
nafregit@reddit
no2 there, whilst not an official ID should've really been OK because who is going to get someones DOB tattooed onto themselves?
Silent_Rhombus@reddit
‘Someone as thick as that lad’ would have seemed like a valid answer at the time, trust me.
nafregit@reddit
to be fair I can remember a Royal Mail story when someone came to the callers office to pick up a parcel without any kind of ID so he was refused. He came back later with his neighbour who said that he was the person he said he was!
CaratacosPC@reddit
I worked a summer at a very popular youth hostel in a national park before going on to start my career as an engineer. Most customers were great, we had a lot of school groups and family's, and I genuinely loved helping people engage with the countryside.
That was until we had the Ramblers society come and stay for a national meeting... I have never met a group of more entitled and snobbish arseholes in my life. They complained from the very start, including: - The dorms they booked, were not private and had bunk beds. - The views were not what they expected. - The access was down a small country lane, and they thought it would be easier to find. - The meeting rooms were rooms weren't air conditioned (in a youth hostel) - There was a smell from the farms. - The path to the nearest village wasn't suitable for the elderly and went through a farm with dogs.
We were genuinely floored by the lack of understanding of both the countryside and what a youth hostel is.
This was compounded by the comments, they made constant referance to how poor quality everything was in front of the staff. I nearly jumped over the food serving counter when one guy said to his friend in front of us that at least it "provides employment for unskilled people".
The worst part though, I spoke to a friend who was a dry stone waller after and the ramblers had dismantled a wall so they didn't have to walk up to a gate, truly enraging behaviour.
JoyDepartment@reddit
Dear god
Aggravating-Corner-2@reddit
Was crouching down working on some low shelves, suddenly get a hard whack on the side of the head.
Look up to see woman adjusting her bag, she gives an insincere "sorry!" and her and her friend scuttle off sniggering.
I assumed she'd just been careless but when watched back on CCTV she'd deliberately swung the bag at my head.
Not the first or last time I've been assaulted at work but that really pissed me off.
JoyDepartment@reddit
Jfc, I'd like to have seen that in the newspaper looking to see if anyone recognised her mug then get an assault charge smacked on her. Bitch!
DangerplugMK2@reddit
Working at a supermarket (probably a medium-sized one), I had an old-ish couple come over and ask were ‘the second floor that has the clothes on’ is. Now, I know that there are quite a few very large supermarkets which do have a second mezzanine floor with clothes (none in my area, but still…) but this store was very clearly one storey - no escalators in sight. Anyway, I was somewhat caught off guard by the question. So I politely told them, no, we don’t have a second floor, all are clothes are xyz… Their response was instead to double down (in quite a rude fashion), and insist, no, we did have another floor with the clothes on, we remember. At this point, I was slightly taken aback and told them, slightly baffled-ly, all we had upstairs was a car park, and they walked off in a right huff, chunnering to themselves.
On a slightly more amusing note, I once had a man (politely) come up, point to a packet of biscoff biscuits in his trolley, and ask ‘do you have these, but in a jar?’. It was very difficult to keep a straight face.
FuckedupUnicorn@reddit
Maybe he meant biscoff spread? It is rather moreish.
NeedCake707@reddit
I can't buy it or I'll just keep going at it with a spoon. It's AMAZING with strawberries
JoyDepartment@reddit
Aldi do a version 😋
FridayNightClub@reddit
Worked in a pub and a customer complained that the portion sizes were too large - despite eating the whole meal.
kirkum2020@reddit
Pub on Christmas eve. We'd just closed and we're hanging around for a drink together when a woman started banging on the door. Normally we'd ignore but she was clearly in great distress so we quickly let her in.
She'd got engaged the same day and had lost her ring so we all stuck around and tore the place apart for her looking for it. And I mean literally tore apart. We lifted all the floorboards with cracks big enough and emptied every gross bin bag. Went through everywhere it could possibly be before giving up at 3.30am.
Instead of a 'thanks for trying' she accused us of stealing her ring, grabbed one of the girls' bags and tipped the contents out, started hitting anyone who tried to stop her, threatened to send her brothers to beat us up and set fire to the place.
The best bit is that we found out from a regular who was in her group that night that she'd put the ring in an envelope in her handbag for safe keeping and forgotten after a few drinks.
rizozzy1@reddit
Drunk people can be mental. Reminds me of a seemingly nice and normal couple we shared a taxi with from the pub one night. We got chatting that night and discovered we live round the corner from each other. So a shared taxi seemed perfectly normal.
They wanted to come in and meet our dog, which they did.
I then pointed out that she didn’t have her very large handbag with her. I offered my phone to use find my iphone.
But instead. she accused us of hiding her massive handbag somewhere in our house. She started pulling the sofa apart and looking in cupboards. Then she went onto accuse me of trying to steal her personal details through find my iPhone.
Her and her husband left shouting about us being thieves, and how they’d have to now sleep in their shed as their house keys were in her bag.
So bizarre!
AdhesivenessNo6288@reddit
Oh my god! Did you ever see them again, since they lived round the corner?
rizozzy1@reddit
We have! Frequently at another pub which is in walking distance from our homes.
We’re good friend’s with the landlord of the original pub, so we found out she’d left her bag at the bar that night.
I don’t think they recognised us though, as they’ve never acted off or embarrassed.
This was long before Covid, now they say hello when they see us. It’s never been brought up in conversation, so I honestly believe they don’t realise it was us who apparently stole her bag.
cari-strat@reddit
Waiting to see my dentist and a huge family come in, and basically try to claim they all have appointments. Receptionist says no, you have one appointment booked, for the father. He starts trying to argue that they said he could bring the missus and the tribe of kids to be seen at the same time but it's blatantly obvious he's bullshitting.
Receptionist points out quite logically that it's the end of the day and there's no way they'd be scheduling half a dozen people in at that time, and he literally just has a single 15 minute appointment booked but she can happily book appointments for everyone else.
Bloke, who appears to be some kind of south Asian Muslim heritage, throws a total fit and starts screaming and shouting, then plays the race card and accuses the white receptionist of discrimination.
By this point he's shouting so loudly that the dentist has heard him and quietly come walking out right up behind him, and gently says, 'Is there a problem?' at which point the guy swings round and discovers that not only is the dentist also of foreign heritage and a Muslim, so his racism crap gets short shift, but he's also a pretty big guy and not in the least intimidated by his ranting.
Undeterred, he continues to scream and shout, say he's getting the police etc, and in the end, the dentist, who has stayed totally calm and polite throughout, loses his patience and just says 'ok, you can leave now please, and don't bother coming back, you're no longer a client,' and basically shoved them all out of the door.
I'd taken my kids outside while all this was going on as they're autistic and I didn't want them in the middle of it in case they got upset and had a meltdown, so we were standing on the front steps, but the whole place is glass fronted so you could still see and hear all this unfolding.
Anyhow the family come out and the woman goes straight up to my daughter, who had been watching a video on her phone to distract herself, and demands the phone. I step in between them and ask what the hell she's playing at and she starts accusing my CHILD of videoing her kids. I say no, she's disabled and she's just watching a film, please leave us alone, but the fucker keeps pushing past me and trying to get at my kid.
I repeat my request to leave my daughter alone and tell the woman she's frightening her, but nah, she carries on grabbing at her and demanding to see the phone. In the end I lost my rag, got right in her face (and I was a good six inches taller which helped) and literally just bellowed 'GO AWAY!' at the top of my lungs and they finally left, but jeez what a shit show.
SignificantZombie729@reddit
They sound exactly like my neighbours. They do shit like that and are universally disliked by everyone else in the street.
darkerthanmysoul@reddit
I work in a dentist. Half the stories we tell never get believed because patients are rude to the reception and nurses but usually nice as pie to the dentists.
The usual stories are patients who arrive late and get angry we can’t see them. “I’m only 8 minutes late”… yeah to your 15mins appointment, we cannot do a full check up in that time.
My most unhinged behaviour I have 2 stories: - a patient who assaulted myself and the dentist who was 9 months pregnant because we were poisoning people with fluoride and it was created by hitler. We have a panic button and it’s the first and only time I’ve ever had to press it. He posted the video online and I’ve never been so embarrassed as he spat at me more time than I can remember.
TeaBaggingGoose@reddit
I had the opposite. 2:30pm appointment. Arrived EXACTLY 2:29 - Receptionists opening line was: "YOUR LATE!!" That's it. Now I know I wasn't as my phone clock is synced via GPS - very accurate.
Now I'm honestly the nicest person to staff, but she had an attitude on her that needed sorting out.
'I'm not, its exactly 2:29 - Oh wait, 2:30 now. Dentist must be ready for me now as I know you value timekeeping. I'll show myself up.' And without a moment to lose I launched myself up the stairs and knocked on the dentists door (I knew he was busy). 'Oh!' I said to the receptionist who frantically chased me up the stairs, 'YOU must be running late today. Try and do better next time. If I book an appointment at 2:30 I EXPECT TO BE SEEN AT EXACTLY 2:30 - unless of course, there is a little flexibility each way for both of us. Now be a good girl and go set your watch to the right time.'
That rude little person learnt a valuable lesson that day - rudeness (sometimes) has consequences.
AdhesivenessNo6288@reddit
Ew dude...
TeaBaggingGoose@reddit
;)
Unlock2025@reddit
Do you think that is necessary? I get your point, but could it have been done in a less patronising way?
TeaBaggingGoose@reddit
She had it coming. She had prevoius, very rude person. She deserves no symnpathy. She actually got fired a few months later and replaced by a lovely young lady of about 22 who is Politeness personified.
MrsCDM@reddit
Let's not forget the patients who pop their denture out and casually drop it on the desk because they want the dentist to "look at it", all the while it's still connected to their mouth by a line of dangerously quivering saliva!! And to add a few of my favourites:
- Patient eating popcorn in the waiting room whilst waiting for their check up
- *Several* patients who have told the dentists that they don't brush their teeth between visits because "that's your job"
- Many, many patients who have turned up a day/week/month early or late for their appointment despite having text and email confirmations of the date and time, and yet somehow it's our fault and they're going to make a complaint about it.
fckboris@reddit
I know feelings don’t really work like this but you definitely shouldn’t feel embarrassed for being treated like that or for people seeing it, the only one who deserves to be embarrassed in that situation is him. Nobody reasonable would watch a video like that and think “god that’s embarrassing for them”!
darkerthanmysoul@reddit
You’d be surprised just how many people are on the “Hitler created fluoride” belief. So most of the people were rightfully disgusted but yeah there was a group who agreed with him and a group who just have general hatred towards dentists.
fckboris@reddit
Well to be fair I did say nobody reasonable
bumpyhumper@reddit
Worked at H&M. Part of the job was cleaning stalls after clients (clothes left behind). Closing shift, so I do one last round with a friend. We enter a stall and find jeans on the floor. On them, a post-it note: “poop in the pocket”. There indeed was a turd in the pocket. Baffles me to this day.
DangerousCalm@reddit
At least they had the courtesy to pop it in a pocket. When I worked at Kwik Save, older customers would occasionally poo themselves and it would fall out of their loose clothing.
Most_Moose_2637@reddit
My first day working at a Wetherspoons I got introduced to the "shit stick", which was a broom handle with gaffer tape with "HOLD THIS END ONLY" in permanent marker. I got introduced to t because literally on my first check of the mens toilets I had to remove a pair of shitty boxers that someone had left in one of the cubicles.
Thankfully it wasn't a particularly busy 'Spoons, so was able to get it on the end of the stick, walk it through the empty beer garden, and get it to the bins.
Own_Art_2465@reddit
Why would you not bring a bin bag to it?
Most_Moose_2637@reddit
😂
Just did what I was told and didn't think about that at the time. First shift more or less so wouldn't have known where the bin aga were anyway.
Hippadoppaloppa@reddit
We had a guy at the Kwik Save i used to work at who was an alcoholic, super sweaty and stunk of wee. When he paid for his stuff it was always with a wet note from his pocket and we were never sure what the wetness was.
DangerousCalm@reddit
There was little more unsettling than a soggy note.
Hippadoppaloppa@reddit
And our supervisors would make us accept it too! Gross.
DangerousCalm@reddit
Genuinely grim.
A handful of sweaty coins was also unpleasant too.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
My sister used to work in a retail store too and she came home from a shift once where a man had horrific diarrhoea, cleaned himself up using the curtains and carpet in the changing rooms and then left like nothing happened.
snarkycrumpet@reddit
I worked in a big department shop in the 90s and a woman shit herself from the front door all the way back to the toilets one Saturday. it was a right mess. they pulled someone out of the Warehouse to clean it up
bumpyhumper@reddit
Yeah, we had a lady once who was trying LINGERIE on, shitted all over it and on the floor, and then just left it behind
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
So gross. And the number of posts I've seen from retail workers about people leaving behind their own underwear for the staff to clean up is seriously worrying.
SentientWickerBasket@reddit
I've heard - from Reddit so it's probably wrong - that people do this so that they can fish out clothes that fit them from the bins.
giddystratospheres1@reddit
Extreme method, I'd have thought.
PippyHooligan@reddit
I've got one poop in my pocket, and the other one's writing a post-it note.
NurseDiz@reddit
10,000 spoons when all you need is a (poop) knife
dmhrpr@reddit
A free poop, when you've already paid
Ambitious_League4606@reddit
At least they weren't giving out high fives
Digidigdig@reddit
I had a Saturday job at Burtons as a teenager. Some took a shit in the fitting rooms. I’d have appreciated them putting it in a pocket.
corobo@reddit
I think with that one you just gotta take the silver lining that they at least warned you
wtf lmao
evilnoodle84@reddit
Working in middle class women’s fashion, a very posh lady comes in to buy a gilet. Tells me repeatedly that I need to get an education because I’m pronouncing it Ghee-ley and they are ‘most definitely called Gill-etts (hard G). Complained to my manager, stating I was clearly too stupid to work in the shop.
Own_Art_2465@reddit
Still sounds like the least offensive person to ever want to wear a gilet despite that
Throwaway91847817@reddit
Mrs Bucket by any chance?
Similar-Road7077@reddit
So she thought it was similar to the brand of razors?
evilnoodle84@reddit
Yes! That would have been a much easier way of explaining how she said it.
Similar-Road7077@reddit
Thanks for sharing, it made me giggle. Would have had to bite my lip to avoid sending her to the nearest Boots.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Resisting the urge to risk your job and tell them that they're actually the idiot is another level of self-control.
DaisyRedado@reddit
Working in a bar - went to nicely ask someone to stop smoking inside. I was beyond polite, along the lines of "I'm so sorry to be a pain, unfortunately you're not allowed to smoke in here. I'm so sorry" dude apologises and puts out the cigarette. I thank him etc and he was super nice about it; then as I turn to walk away I hear him light another cigarette. I turn around and start to say "really?" When he climbs onto the chair and jumps on top of me (back then I was probably 110lbs soaking wet) and starts punching me like a maniac. I was in so much shock I literally just continued to stand there as he's on top of me then around me punching me all over. Stupid me thought "I'm at work, don't hit back."
Police arrived crazy fast and even now I'm still confused as to what the hell happened. I found out after that he was a boxer....lovely customer 😅
SentientWickerBasket@reddit
I was a GP receptionist in a previous life.
There's a reason they're snippy.
humanhedgehog@reddit
Honestly seems like the worst job in the world. Zero way of pleasing even half of the people you speak to.
Diligent-Way8231@reddit
It’s not like they try thi
SentientWickerBasket@reddit
Minimum wage, too!
Expensive-Concept-93@reddit
That part shocked me. I only discovered that when I went for a reception job myself.
pajamakitten@reddit
The NHS pays admin staff terribly. It is often why many are not great at their job: the best have the skills to get paid more in the private sector.
amlamba@reddit
They rarely ever seem to help, guess a "20 something" should never need a GP in the dystopia that is the 21st century NHS. Interesting how they find the time and appointments for pensioners to do their email talk.
Apparently alleging they accept bribes would be abuse, so I don't do that.
Ambitious_League4606@reddit
Some receptionists are rude even if you are polite.
SentientWickerBasket@reddit
When you're had 49 arseholes in a row, blaming you personally for the problems of the healthcare system in this country, it shows with #50.
Messterio@reddit
When you encounter 49 idiots in a row, maybe the issue isnt them.
SubstantialFly3316@reddit
Proctologists receptionist I presume
Left-Employment2479@reddit
A colorectal colleague once described themselves as "a doctor for arseholes and sometimes their bottoms"
Pornaltio@reddit
49 arseholes in a row would be a very efficient timesaver for the proctologist in a hurry.
Different-Employ9651@reddit
A conveyer belt of arseholes sounds like a euphemism for government, tbh.
NepsHasSillyOpinions@reddit
I've never had any trouble with GP receptionists.
They do answer the phone in a way that suggests they're ready for battle, which doesn't surprise me at all. For all they know, I could easily start screaming my head off or hurling abuse at them. Even healthy people aren't always the most reasonable bunch, and you're not calling a surgery if you're healthy.
So I wave the white flag early on and try to show them that I come in peace. They usually soften up once they realise I'm a calm/polite person who understands the job they have to do (at least somewhat). I work in a call centre so I deal with the public too and I have some idea of what these receptionists go through.
They're still a bit stern/clippy sometimes, but again, I can't blame them too much. Comes with the territory.
raygray@reddit
I used to work as a gp receptionist in one of the most renowned council estates in the uk (I grew up there so not being mean) but they were all addicted to tramadol and it was hell
Recent_Nose_5996@reddit
I feel like nobody talks about this, have had family in the nhs for a few generations and all took a lot of tramadol… it seems like a bigger problem than is being spoken about
raygray@reddit
It’s genuinely some kind of endemic in deprived regions and it is not talked about enough, we always hear about fentanyl in the US but honestly half of the council estates in the UK are on tramadol and also claiming PIP because of ‘back pain’
Recent_Nose_5996@reddit
It’s really not discussed enough as well the massive negative impacts it has on mental health over time and also on kidney function. Nasty nasty stuff.
raygray@reddit
Just the effect it has overall, these people prescribed it are too addicted to come off it, my experience being a GP receptionist was that the GP had stopped it unexpectedly and I got the absolute shit show from withdrawal, not their fault but I have no idea why so many GP’s still prescribe it, but my mum is addicted to codeine as she had back pain 20 years ago and they gave her some and now she won’t listen to me when I tell her she’s addicted to it 🤦🏻♀️ but now if I want diazepam because my anxiety is so severe I cannot get it
Own_Art_2465@reddit
Codeine is a lot easier and smoother than tramadol to come off. If you get the right stuff in and doctors help she can be over it in 2 days. I was a complete coward about opioid withdrawal but could always do codeine
k0nfuzeddd@reddit
Completely relate to this. I'm truly so sorry you're not able to access the appropriate medication to support your mental health.
GPs seem to think that anyone seeking diazepine are junkies, and are dismissed or have their excruciating symptoms downplayed. Same applies to those who genuinely need painkillers. My Mum was in so much pain she ended up in a specialist hospital for six months - for years, they wouldn't give her anything stronger than cocodomol. After years of fighting and advocating (being told she was essentially lying), when they finally realised just how much agony she'd been in for so many years, she was given a sublingual form of fentanyl!! I cannot stress how traumatising it was to be turned away by doctor after doctor for so many years - that's just me, my Mum has PTSD because of the hell and utter misery she was put through.
I was never able to work or function due to severe anxiety (couldn't hold a conversation, couldn't look anyone in the eyes, scared of leaving the house). I tried diazepam aged 19 and was flabbergasted that this made me feel 'normal' and able to live a happy life. I was given every antidepressant under the sun and told it would be reckless to prescribe me a benzo. It was only after - again - years of fighting that I finally got a prescription aged 28 - NINE YEARS LATER! Since then, I've lived a calm, happy life, I've risen quickly up the career ladder in the corporate world, got a promotion this year, and won an industry award last year. None of this would have been possible without diazepam - it's obviously not without it's faults, but it's provided me with the opportunity to live a normal life instead of wanting to throw myself off a cliff every day.
I hope you can find a medical professional who truly listens to you. They're worth their weight in gold - it's so refreshing after dealing with doctors telling you that you're lying or exaggerating. The system needs a complete overhaul in how we treat mental health.
Own_Art_2465@reddit
Don't understand why these people don't just go on methadone
raygray@reddit
Also to add you are told by gps to ask what is wrong to try and triage the call, I’m a nurse now so understand how frustrating it is for a receptionist to basically be in charge of who is important enough for an appointment
Blunder_Woman@reddit
Completely agree with this. My mum was a GP receptionist for about 15 years before she got her nursing degree, and she genuinely was the type of person who went above and beyond for EVERYONE, delivering prescriptions, helping people out, generally being a pillar of the community, and people STILL treated her like shit.
majesticjewnicorn@reddit
I've been an NHS receptionist AND NHS Complaints Officer beforehand. When you put patients on SAS, it is always justified.
Gingerpett@reddit
What's SAS?
mostwantedarab@reddit
Special Allocation Scheme. When the relationship between the surgery and the patient breaks down so much that they can’t provide the proper support that the patient needs. They’re basically put on report for a year and moved to a different surgery.
They’re usually sent to another surgery that has the right facilities to deal with patients who are aggressive. But in my experience it’s just another surgery that’s further away from their address, so they can’t access the service as easily.
Most of the time patients realise they’ve been twats and have no incidents for the year and move back to their old surgery.
Gingerpett@reddit
Amazing! Like the naughty step.
iEuphemia@reddit
The amount of times I've heard "If I die, that'll be on you!" is too damn high.
Fun-Swimmer2998@reddit
Yeah former vets receptionist here. Hard to believe people are so incredibly rude and stupid.
Acceptable-Bell142@reddit
I have so much admiration for vet receptionists. I had to have my beloved cat PTS in January. When his ashes were returned, I was in hospital, so it took me a few weeks to be able to collect them. They sent me regular messages to let me know they were "looking after him" for me. They kept him on a shelf with a good view outside so he could "enjoy the sunshine." When I was finally able to collect him, there was a lovely sympathy card from all the staff.
Their kindness meant a lot at an awful time and I'll always be grateful for them.
tiptoe_only@reddit
That's really sweet. Sorry for your loss.
VixenRoss@reddit
When my dad “went mad” from phenytoin psychosis the GP receptionist was so helpful.
My first words on the phone to her was “my dad’s gone mad! And then she heard him shout “she’s built a wooden prison around me, she’s building a wood platform to get rid of me”.
The GP phoned back within 5 minutes. Ambulance took about an hour.
GingerbreadMary@reddit
My husband is disabled and housebound.
Our GP receptionists are incredibly helpful.
RosieFudge@reddit
Yeah ours are always really nice. The problem is getting them to pick up the phone. (I don't blame them at all and nowadays I just walk the ten mins to the GP surgery to talk to them face to face
Jayatthemoment@reddit
You’re lucky they let you. Ours berate any older people or sick people that do that.
Diligent-Way8231@reddit
That’s classic British selfishness.
TrashbatLondon@reddit
Worked in a pub as a student. It was a local pub rather than city centre, it was in a decent area and it was the more expensive of the pubs in the areas. Suffice to say, it wasn’t a shithole that would be up to no good when it comes to ripping off customers.
A man came in, dressed in such a way that he wanted people to think he was “cultured”. He came to the bar and ordered “Smirnoff vodka and coke”. As I turned to get it for him, he called me back and said “can you guarantee that is actually smirnoff in that bottle? You don’t decant another vodka in there, do you?”
I told him that we absolutely would never do that, and that the idea of pubs cheaping out on booze is 99% urban legend as the labour cost alone outweighed any cost saving. I also informed him that Smirnoff was literally the cheapest liquid per unit of alcohol in the building, so there would be no incentive to “trick” people.
He paused, looked at me and said “no, no, there’s no trust” and left without getting his drink.
winobeaver@reddit
we absolutely used to switch out the vodka and there was a massive incentive to do so. We'd even put all the money from the vodka and spirit sales on top of the till rather than in the till to facilitate the landlords' scam. Even if it was £3 for a double, 750mls of vodka was potentially £45 worth of money, and the non-house spirits were a lot more than £3 for a double even back then.
FUCKINGmassivebulb@reddit
Well fucking futile.
TrashbatLondon@reddit
Registered in the Cook Islands, yeah?
Extension-Gift4987@reddit
I worked in a Greggs when I was at uni and it was a very small store with an odd layout, so we always had problems with the queue not moving around the store correctly. One busy Saturday, a guy in his 40s tried to jump the queue (a frequent occurrence) but I spotted him and told him where the end of the queue was. His wife was already in the queue, so he joined her. The guy next to his wife yelled at the man for trying to jump the queue and eventually it turned into a fistfight in the middle of the cramped store. A young girl got squashed against one of the cabinets, people panicked, and the police were called.
Imagine being in your 40s and having the police called on you because you fought in a Greggs.
PrisBatty@reddit
I once saw two men get into a fight in the queue for the Iggle Piggle ride in the CBeebies bit of Alton Towers. They didn’t appear to know each other but apparently one bloke had looked at the other bloke wrong. So a fight in the Iggle Piggle ride queue ensued. I hope they were proud of themselves.
Muggerlugs@reddit
As a 17 year old waitress I had an elderly bloke scream at me in the middle of a full restaurant that the table I’d shown him to wasn’t good enough (he was a walk in).
Managed to persuade him to carry on his tirade at the bar so as not to disturb everyone else who was eating and he carried on screaming at me. I told him to order a drink while I tried to figure something out, came back after he’d been served and he started yelling again and knocked his drink over. He demanded a new one and started yelling at one of the other girls about it and I got sick of him at that point and told him he could behave like an adult or leave.
His poor wife was mortified. I’m not phased by people being aggressive towards me but as soon as I see it happening to someone else I will shut it down.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
That sounds really awful. Grown men seem very comfortable getting aggressive with teen girls in hospitality.
When I was 18, a man made a "come at me" gesture at me (arms spread and thrusting his head forward at me) before yelling at me because the extra-strong teas he and his wife had ordered didn't arrive. The host had taken the order and didn't put it through or tell me. His wife sat there silently with her head down while he verbally abused me. No doubt he spoke to her the same way at home.
PrisBatty@reddit
I know it’s not the same thing at all, but when I was 19 I went to a football match with my boyfriend. It was his team playing. They were losing. They always lost. And the Cardiff fans decided despite the fact they were winning that they were angry and wanted to hurt us. One guy ran onto the pitch to try and beat the shit out of me. I was the one girl in a crowd of men. I had pigtails and a pink bobble hat on. I didn’t even give a shit about football, but no, he was eyeballing me and coming to hit me. I have no reason why he was so focused on me. Except maybe I was the only one he thought he could take? I still think about it today. He looked at a crowd of football fans, 90% of which were men. He was incensed that his team were winning. And he thought, I know what, I’m going to kick the shit out of the 5 foot girl in a pink bobble hat that’s barely even watching the game.
So many grown men suck arse.
Muggerlugs@reddit
It’s crazy that it’s so common!
I thought the same of this poor wife too, if he’s that comfortable being aggressive in a room full of people then I doubted she was treated any better at home. She called me over when he went to the loo to apologise but otherwise didn’t make eye contact or say anything herself when he was there.
swan--song@reddit
I (at the time 21F) was once followed in my car by an older man and his (presumed) wife. I had pulled out of a side road onto the main road, and he clearly took objection to how quickly I had done so. For full transparency, I probably should've waited. However, I was nowhere close to hitting him or anybody else. He just had to slow down a little. Anyway, I put my hand up to apologise and flashed my hazards too. I then continued my journey as normal as I was going to work.
After a few turns and clocking him still in my rearview, I flag it as a slight concern in my mind. More time passes. More turns are taken. He's still there. Ok, concern level now upped to potential threat. He may be following me.
I make several completely random turns to see if I wasn't going completely nuts. He made every single one.
So now I'm stressing a bit as I have no idea what he's going to do. I speed up a little and continue to make turns to try to lose him. But nope! He was determined. The first set of traffic lights where we came to a full stop, he's out his car and bounding up to mine. Gets to my window and is screaming and shouting, punching the glass. Never witnessed anything like it. Absolutely wild. I just sat there, safest place for me to be really.
One of my more visceral memories is of his mouth/teeth and the spit on the glass cause he was like a rabid animal trying to get to me. The other very clear memory is seeing his wife looking totally mortified and scared. No doubt she'd seen this side of him before. Highly likely she'd been on the receiving end of it too.
Wtf is wrong with people? I just can't imagine ever losing my shit like that (and over something so minor). I get road rage - been driving now for nearly 20 years - but I'm still shocked at how people behave on the roads (and in general).
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
That's terrifying. There's no way he'd have done that if you were some big, muscular guy. It makes me feel sad and scared for the wives of men like that when they just sit there like shrinking violets because you can only imagine what goes on behind closed doors.
_Frog_Enthusiast_@reddit
This was fairly recent, actually. I work in a pub that does Sunday dinners, and we had a WALK IN of 15 people
Like what possessed them to do a walk in? Anything more than 6 and I think of making a booking
txakori@reddit
As a former chef, I’m not sure whether I just had a panic attack or have just had a rage-induced stroke reading that.
_oh_for_fox_sake_@reddit
15!!!!! That's insane. I always book and there's only 3 of us!
Mountain-Ad6914@reddit
They randomly and spontaneously decided to pop out for a roast?
pajamakitten@reddit
Probably forgot to buy some meat or theirs had gone off and wanted a ln easy replacement.
_Frog_Enthusiast_@reddit
Who doesn’t love an impromptu get together with 14 of your best pals
Mountain-Ad6914@reddit
I am surprised everyone was free, cannot get anyone to meet for a walk let alone a meal without a few weeks notice minimum these days 😂
cactus19jack@reddit
I do agree but you were perfectly entitled to refuse to seat them and as soon as you gave them a table you forfeited the right to complain imo
_Frog_Enthusiast_@reddit
I’m Back of House, I have no control over who gets seated
KelpFox05@reddit
Fuck, I book if I'm going to a restaurant by myself. I'd book at McDonald's if I could. Maybe it's my anxiety but I think it's only sensible to make a booking well in advance.
Isgortio@reddit
I always like to book, and others have made fun of me for it. But I absolutely hate going all the way to a particular place and asking for a table and they're either so full they say nothing for the rest of the day, or we have to wait 2 hours for a table. Especially if the next restaurant isn't for another mile or so. I'd rather feel like a numpty for booking and it's an empty restaurant than feel like a numpty for being turned away.
KelpFox05@reddit
EXACTLY this!! I'd far rather just play it safe and maybe look a little silly for booking unnecessarily rather than ruin everybody's night by having to find a different restaurant because I didn't book.
fleapuppy@reddit
Back when I bartended years ago, there was a church group that would turn up after the service most Sundays. Always at least 12 of them and they would never book, then they would be the nastiest, most demanding customers imaginable.
Western-Edge-965@reddit
Was this is in Northleach? I saw this happen a few weeks ago and couldn't get my head around it.
PersonalityTough6148@reddit
Hahah this sounds like me 😂😂
We met some friends and went on a walk. My friend said we could finish at a pub and maybe get some food. I was like... We're a pretty big group.. have you booked?
"Nah it will be fine*
Obviously it wasn't.
randomdude2029@reddit
I've done a few walks/hikes through meetup.com, and the organiser often checks who will want to stop at the pub after for a meal (drinks usually fine as you can stand at the bar). The group is often 10-20 people so sometimes they can't even get a reservation as the pub won't do one for that many people all at once.
_Frog_Enthusiast_@reddit
Any day other than Sunday and yeah sure no problem, but everyone knows Sundays are for Sunday Dinners in quite a few restaurants
Even if they’d came in between 12 and 2, we could’ve squeezed them in
DameKumquat@reddit
Worst customer behaviour was some friends of mine. We were students and some of them were staying the weekend in a London hostel, for anyone of their nationality. So lots of other students too. I'd been invited to hang out. Around 7pm, we're hungry and being before you could get takeaways delivered, it was agreed to go out for curry.
21 people follow someone to nearby big restaurant with about 300 seats. They obviously ask 'have you booked?' Tiny little lass goes 'Yes, I did,' and lies through her teeth about her name and her long conversation with the manager.
Cue panic and shuffling of chairs, and we actually got a table! Followed by lots of other people turning up over the next few hours and understandably complaining.
It worked a few months later, too, but we didn't try again.
SnooGrapes2914@reddit
My personal best was a table of 27. Just wandered in in twos and threes
blozzerg@reddit
I can answer this.
I work around the UK organising events and I can have anywhere from 4 to 14 staff travelling with me, I stay in chain hotels like Premier Inn which historically have always had a restaurant attached and we don’t know what time we get finished so we can’t book a table.
By the time I do know an approximate ETA it’s usually within a two hour window of arriving so many places are either fully booked and it’s bar service only, to which they say is fine but then proceed to then complain when we arrive, or they don’t answer the phone so we just turn up anyway.
We’ve explained to them on many occasions that we don’t need to be treated as one big party, we’re happy to place the orders and let the chefs cook each one as and when and bring them out at different times rather than try to juggle multiple dishes to be brought out at the same time, but for some reason they can’t grasp this and will still struggle trying to cook everything at once.
bigfootsbeard1@reddit
A pub Sunday roast round my way requires a booking for 2 people, let alone 15!
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
We always book when going for a roast as a two, and every single table is always filled. Some people expect the establishment and other customers to bend to them because they didn't plan ahead.
_Frog_Enthusiast_@reddit
I’m just a dishie so I wasn’t doing any actual cooking, but my god. They also showed up at like 4pm, so we were basically out of food by then
-Rhymenocerous-@reddit
All it takes is one person to plant the idea or fuck up the dinner and all 15 of you are out that door.
BrokenBiscuit42@reddit
When I worked in car sales, I was showing a husband and wife a car that was outside after it had finished raining so there was some water beaded on the bonnet. The wife decided to wipe the water with her hand all onto me when was stood next to the car!! She got in a good two swipes before her husband said 'oh no you are wiping water onto the lady'. Some customers are so oblivious! ....they didn't even buy a car.
J_Cross_@reddit
I was working the closer shift at the fuel station I worked at, just me, only 19 years old, in a fairly rural location - outskirts of a large village, it was coming up to close, so maybe 10.30 - 10.45 and out of nowhere this woman came slamming through the door and screamed at me " why have you moved all the f*g road signs!?" She then tried to climb over the counter whilst still screaming about how I need to put the road signs back because she didn't know where she lived without the signs. I told her I haven't left the shop since 1pm, which then set her off again about my lying. I told her to go and look again at the end of the forecourt and see if the signs were there and as soon as the door shut behind her I locked it with the remote lock switch and called the police. She stayed on the forecourt for around 10 mins then ran off towards the centre of the village screaming like a banshee. The police turned up after I had locked up and was about to leave but nothing came of it and she never came back to the shop.
jellyantler@reddit
Worked as a zookeeper. Came round the corner to our farm area to see a boy, around 11, with his dad next to him, leaning over the fence and spitting on one of our goats (the goat was aggro, but that's just goats, he didn't deserve being gozzed on!). I went over and said "hey, did you just spit on that goat? Come away from the goat, stop antagonizing him". I could've kicked them out but didn't. As I walked away another customer stopped me and said the same kid had been winding up some of the other animals and to keep an eye on him.
I was desperate for a wee so went to our staffroom loo. Moments after I sat down my boss knocked on the door and asked if I had a sec. I said "spitting on the goats?", boss said "spitting on the goats". I went out to speak with them - the boy's mum and dad were outside. Adamant he hadn't spat on the goat and I was lying (who would lie about that?). Cue a THREE HOUR STANDOFF where the family wouldn't leave, my boss had to stand between me and the massive dad who looked like he was gonna knock me out, customers had to file past these parents absolutely foaming at the mouth in the gift shop, becoming more and more enraged. Some of them leaned in and loudly said what a nice time they'd had and what a nice little zoo it was as they were leaving.
Anyway, towards the end of this, just before the police arrived (who the MUM HAD CALLED, ON US), the mum said she would leave if we wrote down our full names so she could report us to trading standards. Fine, my boss said, and wrote down our names on one of the zoo leaflets. Then he slammed it down on the counter and said "that's it then, get OUT of my zoo". The mum slowly looked up at him, and said in the slimiest voice ever "that hurt me when you did that... That's assault". Boss laughed loudly in her face before pointing up at the security camera directly above the shop counter. He even took her to the staffroom to show her the footage of him being a literal foot away when he banged the leaflet down. Told her to be careful.
Then they left and kicked off with the police outside. Police came in afterwards and commiserated with us - said the family were extra touchy as they'd just moved to the area as they'd been "having trouble" in their previous town. We were like no SHIT!!
Closed an hour early so we could all get a pint and try to calm down. Loved my bosses and never had any like them before or afterwards. Clearly remember my boss angrily telling these people he trusted me implicitly and he was furious they'd lie to make me look bad.
Lots of other stories like this - you meet some incredibly weird and entitled people working as a zookeeper! Guinea pig theft, monkey vapes, people getting absolutely maimed by parrots despite their enclosures being plastered with THESE BIRDS BITE signage... It goes on.
r_mutt69@reddit
A customer who absolutely refused to pay their utility bill. Some people know how to play the system and really don’t care about the negative consequences.
Good0times@reddit
Worked as a FLC in financial crime for a while and I was amazed at the number of customers who lied. We received regular training on it. Sometimes they may be manipulated, other times they may be trying to pull a fast one. They would yell, scream, demand a manager and it made no difference, we had to break them down to stop lying. Why are you buying gift cards for yourself? What is this sudden interest in moving your life savings in crypto? How many times are you going to report your Amazon Prime subscription as criminal fraud? All fun and games.
CaveJohnson82@reddit
I used to work frontline banking, and the amount of people that get positively enraged when you ask them a question or say no to an obviously dodgy transaction.
I don't work frontline anymore, but I think the people that go to the papers/complain on forums must think there's like two or three people deliberately picking on them, not that each and every bank spends £££ trying to protect the most vulnerable.
Good0times@reddit
Yes one of the major reasons to leave was the amount of lying and acting outraged, you had to remain perfectly professional and gather data while they lost their minds. People would resort to yelling, screaming, animal growling, anything it took to try and get out of being honest
Mountain-Ad6914@reddit
What is an FLC?
Most_Moose_2637@reddit
Those guys that love running around robbing banks all whacked off on scooby snacks
PippyHooligan@reddit
Fun Loving Criminals?
cupidstunt01@reddit
Flying Love Curtains?
lennythebox@reddit
Give it up
Good0times@reddit
Front line colleague
VioletDime@reddit
I was in a steak restaurant and a lady was very upset that they didn't have vegan wine, the proceded to order and eat pork ribs and a beef burger.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
I once had a vegetarian get upset that the sauce we offered for the veggie roast dinner wasn't the regular gravy. I told her it contained beef stock, to which she said "oh, that's fine" and tipped it all over her vegetarian meal.
DryJackfruit6610@reddit
I used to work in car sales, a father and his son came in to look for a BMW 1 series for the son.
I explained the differences between the engines and specs on a couple of them, having worked there for 2 years at this stage I was very well informed.
The father proceeded to loudly 'correct' me and laugh in my face, he was just horribly rude during the entire interaction.
My manager came over and explained everything exactly as I already had, the father then said 'I just explained this to her, shes got it all wrong'
When in actual fact, he was saying the opposite.
I told him I wouldn't be dealing with his sexism any further and walked off.
ChoppingOnionsForYou@reddit
Now you get my upvote for clapping back! I did the same a few years ago.
I work in IT, got a ticket from a client with connectivity problems. I did the looking and checking, and worked out they'd been moved by their ISP to a different address. I said this is what I believed the issue to be, as it had all kicked off at that time and we hadn't changed any of their network information. He swore it wasn't anything to do with that and got quite shirty with me. I passed the phone to my (male) colleague, who said the same thing. "Oh, ok, I'll call them up about this." And guess what the problem was? Yeah, the ISP moving them to a different address!
Any time I got a ticket with his name on it after that I pushed it back to service desk and told them I wasn't dealing with this chap.
Honestly that was really the only time in my 42 years in IT that I've had to deal with sexism. Normally I just bulldoze through and make them accept. That this guy refused speaks much for his inability to accept ladies in IT.
Baseyg@reddit
Sounds like your standard BMW customer.
Peanut0151@reddit
As soon as we opened one rainy morning a customer came in and bought a pair of shoes. He said he was going to wear them so left us his stinking old ones to get rid of. He came back that evening saying the shoes, which he'd been walking around in all day in the rain, weren't a good fit so he wanted his money and his old shoes back
RhubarbSalty3588@reddit
Builder here, My company built a garage for a family,the lady who we had all the dealings with was the nicest customer imaginable,so thankful and full of praise for everything, the kind of person you felt you’d known for years. After completion a thank you card arrived in the post (with a picture of Jesus on the front)thanking us for the clean efficient job, how happy they were with works and requesting business cards to share with her friends at church. Weeks go by with no sign of payment,but I had no worries because of her nature. After a month I give her a call and we have a good chat,after a while I say "I was just calling to remind you about the payment" Her reply-" we’ve decided to not pay you as the job was completed to quickly" I realise after about 30 seconds of silence that she wasn’t joking!!!
NinjaSarBear@reddit
Please tell me you did get your money in the end?
RhubarbSalty3588@reddit
I thought about it for half hour in disbelief,then said il be down at first light in the morning to take the garage down. Within about 20minutes I heard my letterbox go,and a cheque was posted through the door. I’ve still got the Thank you card also.
nafregit@reddit
I've seen that kind of response before but how do you stand legally in that matter? I guess you'll probably say that you don't care but the ramifications are that you're trespassing and vandalising someone elses property. A good lawyer would destroy you in court.
RhubarbSalty3588@reddit
A good lawyer wouldn’t need to,because I would admit to it and make a video of my heinous crime. In my experience though,judges have taken a very sympathetic view to genuine trades people getting screwed over. It’s the solicitors who win at the end of the day.
nafregit@reddit
I was right, you don't care ;)
snarkycrumpet@reddit
omg mate, well played
Gauntlets28@reddit
This is a very good illustration of the difference between being "nice and polite" on a surface level, and being "good" deep down.
Negative_Chemical697@reddit
What happened then?
RhubarbSalty3588@reddit
Replied below.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
"You're so good at your job that you get to do it for free".
RhubarbSalty3588@reddit
I’ve tried this method in my local takeaways,I’m not paying you because you didn’t take two hours to cook it.Didn’t work!! Ha ha
ArcadeCrossfire@reddit
Got called selfish and that I’d ruined their Christmas for not being open on Boxing Day, meaning they’d have to cook their own dinner, immediately after they’d just finished their 7 course, champagne on arrival Christmas Day lunch.
takhana@reddit
I was in Tesco at the self service tills. A man (mid 40s) and his 10 - 12 year old son was standing at the till next to me. He was buying some alcoholic beverage with a tag on it and was livid at the idea of waiting more than 30 seconds for the 18 year old girl on the self service section to take the tag off. He genuinely screamed “FUCKING HURRY UP YOU FUCKING C***” At this poor girl as she made her way over to him. When she’d given it him back without the tag on he shouted another insult at her and stormed off out the store.
And we wonder why some kids have no manners.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
And the managers in these places rarely refuse service because "the customer is always right", so the teenage servers/workers have to take the abuse or risk their jobs. The number of times I saw a vile customer get rewarded for abusive behaviour in hospitality was shocking.
DaisyLea59@reddit
The original saying was "the customer is always right in matters of taste". Basically meaning sell them a suit that doesn't fit, dress too big etc, if they ask. Not that the customer is ALWAYS right. Been changed so Karen's can get away with all their shit.
squigs@reddit
No it's not. It's "The customer is always right". There are limits and people take advantage of it but in general, it's good customer service to give the benefit of the doubt to a customer. They're a lot more likely to return and most people actually are reasonable.
ambadawn@reddit
No it wasn't, that's a myth.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Exactly! I saw managers regularly give discounts/free stuff to customers who made things up, acted abusively, or simply complained for the sake of getting special treatment. All so they could make a bit of extra cash and embolden these entitled customers to act the same way in the future because it worked before. Money is everything to those managers.
Confident-Claim-689@reddit
I used to work as ASDA. The only time I have ever been called racist is when following challenge 25 rules. I am not racist and it really pissed me off. Loved it when they tried that on my college who just used to answer "I don't think my big black husband agrees" normal shut them up good.
DrMoneybeard@reddit
I've taken it upon myself as a fellow customer to rectify this. The 18 year old worker can't say anything about it, but I can sure give you the business about it. People are far too comfortable behaving badly because no one will do anything about it.
swan--song@reddit
I am also this person. I'll say something if it's necessary.
outsider247@reddit
How do you rectify it usually? Genuinely interested
DrMoneybeard@reddit
Speak up, say something. Tell them it's not okay to speak to the worker like that. Tell them they're embarrassing themselves. Find a manager and tell them that the other customer is harassing the worker and you, as a paying customer, won't stand for it. Give them social consequences. They may or may not stop, but at least they've heard the message. So has the worker, and anyone else around.
Admirable-Trouble789@reddit
Unfortunately the hospitality/retail industry has turned into a service in which people literally get paid to throw tantrums.
ShinyRotom37@reddit
I'd like to think if that happened in my store I'd refuse the sale and he'd get kicked out, but in reality the managers would probably come down and apologise for the inconvenience and give him the alcohol for free.
TheBikerMidwife@reddit
That poor child. If this is what dad does and finds an acceptable way to act in public, I guarantee the kid is in trouble behind closed doors.
takhana@reddit
Yep. He didn’t seem bothered at all either. :(
Leading-Goose4993@reddit
I worked at a small shop during the early days of COVID times and an older woman came in looking at the wines and asked what the most expensive wine we sold was for a special occasion.
I go and show her the few bottles of Chateauneuf du Pape and she seems happy enough, then she gets angry at how we didn't stock the correct vintage year for the wine and that is was disgusting we would try to sell her such swill.
She then pulls down her face mask, and does a really heavy cough straight in my face and finishes with "I have Covid, now you do too" and storms off.
Needless to say, she was right and I got sick a few days later.
Poo_Poo_La_Foo@reddit
Our (food) product is sent with ice packs to keep it cool in transit. A customer strapped the ice pack to a strained limb following a sports game, fell asleep and understandably became injured due to having ice in full contact with their skin for ??? length of time.
Tried to get us to compensate them for not having a warning on the ice pack that it shouldn't be strapped directly to skin... 🧐🤔🧐🤔🧐
How would you even put a price on that kind of idiocy? 🤷🏼♀️
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
These types of people are the reason why there are warning labels like "don't eat this" and "don't shove this up your bum". Common sense eludes them.
Poo_Poo_La_Foo@reddit
I understand maybe more in the USA, where people are more litigious...I guess I just expect citizens of the UK to be smarter. 😑😵
Like packets of peanuts that say "may contain nuts"....like....yeah.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
I thought so too, but then I saw labels at the buffet saying things like "fruit: vegan" and "milk: contains dairy".
jiggjuggj0gg@reddit
I’m lactose intolerant and the number of people who think eggs are dairy is mind boggling
Antisocial-Metalhead@reddit
Some fruit is coated with shellac or beeswax which then makes it unsuitable for vegans, but in general the warnings are generally quite annoying.
Poo_Poo_La_Foo@reddit
Tbf - I wanted to slam my head into a wall when I saw a multipack of plain bottled mineral water that proudly proclaimed "ZERO CALORIES" - like...yes.
Water doesn't have calories.
This is not news.
Alsiexmon@reddit
But what about asbestos? Is that water definitely asbestos free too?
frottagecore@reddit
we had a customer ask if the bread (baguettes, so not like brioche, or anything added to it) was vegan yesterday. there’s also a clear ingredients label on it
Antisocial-Metalhead@reddit
My father in law isn't the sharpest knife in the drawer and is obsessed with the idea that ordinary bread isn't vegan, despite multiple arguments that it is.
mimic@reddit
Peanuts aren’t nuts, they’re legumes, but they’re usually packed in a facility which also handles nuts so some may get in there. Hence the warning.
WorldAncient7852@reddit
I work in a remarkable building, unusual in every respect and I have a shop in it. So that comes with some responsibility to explain it away, I get that - which is why I've put a printed version of that in the window. I don't own it and I am not a historian or a tour guide. Every week someone will pop their head in the door, look in and - no matter what I'm doing, serving a customer, talking on the phone, whatever - they will shout "What's the history of this building?" at me or someone in my team. Once a week. At least one.
Last week a woman shouted at me because she thought it "should" be a theatre and it's not. People are mental.
Hoth617@reddit
The sheer level of unconditional entitlement shown by so many people in job centres regarding their benefits. It's like they somehow earned them.
jimmywhereareya@reddit
In my pub landlady days. A woman complaining because she was refused service because one of her party was under age. She was in full Karen mode claiming her daughter was 18 and she should know, when at 9.30pm my 14 year old daughter entered the side door and came to let me know she was home and about to head upstairs where we lived. She said hello to the alleged under aged drinker, I asked how she knew the girl, she's in my class at school. The Karen was asked to leave.
Quiet-Pomelo-2077@reddit
I worked in a pub and one night we had to cut off one of the regulars. My mate was bar manager and she made that decision, and informed them politely and discreetly. Cue him and his missus having an absolute toddler level meltdown. Telling us we didn't know the law because "we've been drinking in pubs since before you were born". It lead to threats towards both of us and the couple only left when we threatened to call the police. They then spent the next year telling everyone who would listen that I had banned them from the pub. They hadn't even been banned and if they had it wouldn't have been me that did it! I still see them around and chuckle at how pathetic they are
Dashingthroughcoke@reddit
'i had been drinking since before you were born' is not really a brag
EntryCapital6728@reddit
Tesco cashier.
Women who think its appropriate to pull money out of a place on their body that isnt a purse or a pocket.
Bitch I aint takin your bra money
Scr1mmyBingus@reddit
Ah the ol’ reverse-stripper.
OverlyAdorable@reddit
Every summer, I get holiday makers asking some of the dumbest questions imaginable and it makes me wonder how they manage to function in society. Lately, it's mostly been "Where's Tesco?" Or "Is this Tesco?" We are not Tesco. Tesco is directly opposite with the massive sign that you cannot miss unless you're blind and/or stupid. There was one I thought was trolling me because they then asked "Do they sell stuff?" When I asked what sort of stuff they were looking for, they just said "You know, stuff. You all stuff here, do they also sell things in there, too?" These were people with Northern English accents and it turned out they were deadly serious
Cumulus-Crafts@reddit
I was shopping in Aldi after my shift in B&Q. Still had on my orange apron and black windbreaker.
Someone came up to me and asked me where the bread was.
The worst part was that I'd served him in B&Q earlier that day. So he'd seen me working in B&Q and still thought I worked in Aldi, in my B&Q uniform.
OverlyAdorable@reddit
That's why I always change into my own clothes after work. No matter where I go, I get stopped and asked stupid questions if I don't.
One time, I was getting fuel after a late shift, still wearing my uniform when suddenly I'm greeted with a loud "oi, what the fuck are you doing here?" At first, I thought maybe a fight was breaking out between two people that actually knew each other and I wish it was that.
In another car that had just pulled up to the pump next to mine was someone from the same company but another store inside. She started having a go at me, accusing me of skiving off work. I told her I don't work with her but she didn't like that and shouted that I'm to report to the office at the start of my following shift as she's reporting me to my manager for my behaviour and attitude towards a higher up.
On my next shift, I saw my line manager and casually mentioned what had happened as I found it odd but somewhat funny. At some point after this, I was told they'd contacted the other store to report what I had told them and they'd fired her as her behaviour wasn't acceptable and had happened in the past
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Working in customer service (retail, hospitality, front desk anywhere) will make you realise that a good 80% of the public are thick as pig shit.
OverlyAdorable@reddit
Only 80%? That seems like a low number
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
I'll admit I was being a bit generous there, haha
msully89@reddit
Worked in a Spar in a rough area, my first job. After 9pm we had to serve through a hatch (like they do at petrol stations) and a customer comes along and asks for a microwave shepherds pie. I wander through the shop towards the fridges at the back and notice they're buy one get one free, so I grab two. The guy tells me he only wanted one. But it's buy one get one free though. "I don't care, I only want one". Bizarre, I still think about it sometimes.
ErectioniSelectioni@reddit
I used to provide technical advice for a construction adjacent company so we'd get a fair few old men wandering in to chat about their latest project.
This one bloke came in and we were discussing his (very simple, did not need to see pics) job but he insisted. Got out his phone and opened his files to find pics of whatever it was, sort of sanding adjacent to me with the phone tilted towards me soI can see it.
Titties. Porn titties everywhere. Just page after page of those fake tan, implants and photoshop cliché porn models.
I very firmly told him to put it away, I didn't want to see plastic tits on a tuesday morning. He kept it up for a few minutes and I just walked away.
Can only imagine the sad old bastard got his jollies forcing mid twenties women to look at his porn collection
CaveJohnson82@reddit
I've told this before, but the most unhinged was when I worked in customer complaints for a bank.
I had spoken to a man late one evening, he'd asked a colleague to make a payment for him and they'd done it wrong. They had compensated him for it, re-made the payment, and also given him a GOGW payment so no harm ultimately done.
However, he kicked off and the colleague had to escalate a complaint (normally they'd log one but resolve it at first point of contact because they'd resolved it) and he got me.
We had a conversation, I told him I would contact the manager of the colleague concerned to ask that they address it, and (at his insistence) I'd call him back the day after to confirm it was done. I very specifically told him I'd call him after noon as I was on late shift.
Get in the following day and he's already called twice, because of course he has. I call him back, he starts having a go and I point out I did tell him I would be in after 12. I tell him I've spoken to the manager and the error will be addressed to ensure the colleague didn't do it again (incidentally it was just human error). Customer wants to know colleague's name. I tell him I can't tell him that. So he says "do you have any children?" To which I reply, "I'm not sure why it's relevant but yes I do". He then says - no word of a lie "imagine if your children were murdered and the police wouldn't tell you who did it. How would you feel?".
I was honestly speechless. And so angry. I icily told him what a disgusting thing that was to say to a person who had done nothing but assist him, and that if he thought the two situations were in any way comparable he needed to get some perspective. I then asked him if there was anything else I could do, considering the situation was resolved and he had been compensated....and he said no thank you and politely hung up.
I am still gobsmacked that he said that to me. It was really upsetting. I told my manager in case he decided to complain about me but he never did.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Some people seem to think that nothing short of a firing squad execution is good enough for a staff member who makes a mistake. How exhausting.
CaveJohnson82@reddit
Exhausting is a good word for it.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
At least you have the comfort of knowing that his entire life is as miserable as the experience he put you through.
paytheferrymann@reddit
I worked at a stationery shop in a shopping centre. A woman came in and wanted to return a pen, which wasn’t one we sold. She was adamant we did. She ended up yelling at my 16 year old colleague who was close to tears so I took over, but she wouldn’t let me speak. I was desperately trying to tell her that the barcode label on her pen said paperchase.
I did not work in paperchase.
‘I think I know better than you, I bought the pen, it was HERE’
I ended up telling her to follow me. She begrudgingly did. I took the pen, took her to paperchase down the way in the shopping centre, showed her the pens, pointed out the one in her hand, the fact it said paperchase on the barcode label, then just… looked at her.
She snatched the pen out of my hand, called me a bitch, and stormed off.
(I apologised to the folks who worked in paperchase for sending her there but fucking hell)
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
It probably only cost a fiver too. When customers are that level of rude and stupid, it should be legal for staff to bitch slap them across the face.
codename_4p@reddit
I remember one of my last retail jobs,its in two parts and well over 12 years ago, i was helping a family, Mum and Dad chasing two of their 3 young kids, they stopped and asled the two youngest "Do you need the toilet" one of them said yes, and left with their Mum. Dad stayed with two others shopping, going on a trip, helping him out, one kid was a teen, could not give a toss, the youngest not a toddler but early school maybe year 2 or 3, old enough to know better, runs around the shop, being a nuisance but fine whatever, Dad is clearly fed up, we are chatting about products.
Kid stops dead in front of Dad and I, clearly says "I need the loo" proceeds to piss themself in front of the Dad, sibling and myself, puddle on the floor, its the middle of a Saturday. The kid then turns sheepish, the Dad dies a little inside seeing this, he looked at me, and i just said "go get him cleaned up." What else could i say? Dad said sorry, sibling was shocked, didn't see them again, i had to go down back grabbes all the cleaning products disinfectant, bleach, whatever and tell my team (supervisor at the time) to not go there as i got the mop, mopped up some kid's piss and then scrubbed the floor clean of any bacteria.
This stays in my mind. Never had anything like that in my time working retail jobs
What makes it worse, on my hands and knees, rubber gloves, looking exasbated cleaning up someones literal piss. Customer comes in, looks to me, on the floor, walks over and asks me to help them. My hands covered in anti bacterial crap, my colleague was free, but i got up and helped them like an idiot being a good little worker.
This customer didn't even think for a second, "hmmmm maybe the other sales rep" no just me. Hated that job.
LyingFacts@reddit
Sainsbury’s. 2008. Customer comes in looks and seems ‘normal’ pulls his jeans down and take a shit in the aisle with toilet rolls. Opens toilet rolls up wipes his arse leaves toilet rolls in the aisle whilst running and laughing maniacally. Sounds funny but colleagues and I were worried if he had a gun or knife on him as he had a long coat on like Doctor Who style. So odd.
RedTheWolf@reddit
Obviously couldn't remember where he parked the Turdis
Hollskipollski@reddit
Doctor Poo
Cumulus-Crafts@reddit
Working at Christmas for a luxury goods company. An American guy's order was delayed at the courier side (we'd dispatched it same day as ordering), so he was screaming down the phone at me like it was my fault. I kept trying to apologise on behalf of the courier, but he was going "YOU'RE NOT SORRY." and "You better figure this out, QUICK." and "If this doesn't get to me by Christmas, your job is on the line."
He then hung up on me.
Five minutes later, he called back. He sounded VERY meek.
"So, uh... My wife overheard the conversation we had. And, uh. I'm sorry for how I spoke to you. I just want my stuff before Christmas. It's a gift for her, you see. Uh... I'll pray for you." and then he hung up again.
I think he must've had the phone on speaker and his wife had overheard him yelling at me, a young-sounding girl.
Told my Christian colleague about the whole "I'll pray for you" thing. She was so angry about it that she went bright red and had to go for a long walk to calm down. Two years after it had happened, she was still bringing up how angry that made her.
Cumulus-Crafts@reddit
Worked in B&Q, this guy didn't understand why he couldn't send his 5 year old to the till to buy a glue gun, and why an adult needed to buy it
Ice_Bead@reddit
I had a customer come up to me, and she goes “I want a cappucino” (a bit snippy but ok) Me, putting it into the till: “of course” Her: “it’s Sunday?” Me: “yep, Sunday 15th” Her: “why are you working, it’s a day of rest!!” Me: “uh- that’s up to my boss? We’re open seven days a week-“ Her: IT’S A DAY OF REST WHY ARE YOU HERE??
Gauntlets28@reddit
Why the fuck is she there then, if she's so opposed to people working on a Sunday?
Random_Guy_47@reddit
To which the actual reason is "Because you're here you bell end. If you didn't come in and buy stuff on Sunday then the company would close for the day and we'd get the day off."
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Reminds me of customers who say "I can't believe they make you work Christmas Eve". Well, they wouldn't be working if you weren't in the store!
Additional-Weather46@reddit
It’s not so much the act itself, but I am truly shocked by the the frequency with which I see customers who immediately assume the equipment they are trying to use is broken, rather than the actual answer, which is that they are an idiot.
jeffreysan1996@reddit
Worked in a Sainsburys at uni during Christmas, old man comes up to me to ask where the whiskey is, I point to a bottle of Jura. He goes "that's a bit expensive, but you have to keep the jews happy". Guys starts telling me about the "Jews" whilst I stand there confused. I always wonder what he would've said about me (black) to a Jewish guy
bobdebilda@reddit
I believe the Sainsbury family were/are Jewish which might explain his comment.
codeacab@reddit
I dunno, the kind of people who blame the worlds ills on "the Jews" tend not to need that kind of coherence. He'd have said the same in Morrisons or Tesco's no doubt.
bobdebilda@reddit
The founder of Tesco was Jewish as well.
Gauntlets28@reddit
Not really that surprising when you consider that grocers like Sainsbury's and Tesco were the forebear to today's corner convenience stores. The history of corner shops and takeaways are the history of immigration to Britain.
jeffreysan1996@reddit
That give a lot of context to something that has confused me for years
Jayatthemoment@reddit
Oof. I was wondering, not being Jewish myself. Jewish prefer a more peaty, western isles kind of taste profile?
Supernewt@reddit
Oo I can answer this, I worked in a bank around 2011. It was in a run down area of Birmingham and we had alot of benefit claimants as customers.
Three stories:
-two women in their 80s, both on zimmer frames, decided to have a literally fist fight becuase one jumped the que. Lots of racial slurs and granny punching...20 year old me stood between them both shouting "surely you pair are too old for this, out both of you".
Many many more spring to mind but that will do for today.
soozdreamz@reddit
Was in my local KFC when someone I knew (lived a few doors down from his sister) got fed up with the - admittedly very slow - service, jumped the counter, decked one of the staff and filled his own bargain bucket. Went down for 18 months for it. That was around 18 years ago. He’s just started a 14 stretch for rape.
barrysxott@reddit
Got threatened in Sainsbury’s with violence after telling someone we had no Easter eggs left.
throwaway768977@reddit
Worked in a Tapas restaurant in Leeds, this middle aged women dressed in 80s office wear walks in midday on a Sunday. She ordered one tapas plate and a tap water, then whips out her iPad and starts watching pornhub on loud and we are all like wtf. My manager goes over to tell her to stop and she was just like “oh okay” and wasn’t even embarrassed. She then demanded we bring her crushed ice, explained we didn’t have so she said we need blend some up in the kitchen for her? We asked her to pay her bill of £4 and leave. So bizarre.
Weird_Tip@reddit
Sounds like Mindy St Clare from the medium place
SWTransGirl@reddit
Can you all leave now, it’s my masturbation time.
pickindim_kmet@reddit
Saw an old fella in the library last year watching porn on an iPad. Specifically looking for large women, it seemed. No shame, no care.
Tsukidaisy@reddit
God this just reminded me of when I went into Starbucks to do some uni work with a friend and we were sat at the long bar table thing when some guy sat down next to me with his laptop. He got set up, opened his browser and it just loaded back onto some hentai website. He shut that laptop so fast, just apologised to me then dipped. Absolutely killed us off, poor guy
powpow198@reddit
Sounds mentally ill TBH
SlightProgrammer@reddit
Really?
powpow198@reddit
Yes.
ReddyBlueBlue@reddit
Is this that "girlboss" stuff I keep hearing so much about?
Immediate_Debt_@reddit
Live unapologetically, wank loudly. Love live laugh.
onegirlandhergoat@reddit
You win, witnessing this would be so surreal. Unhinged behaviour.
Otherwise-Bid621@reddit
Where’s Beasle?
MrsD12345@reddit
Not in the UK, but on holiday, the British woman in front of me at the buffet ladled up some soup, tasted it FROM THE LADLE AND PUT IT BACK. I did not have any soup the entire holiday and always asked for new tongs to pick up food.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
This is only acceptable behaviour if she shoved the entire ladle into her mouth like that man with the whisk on Come Dine With Me.
Enough-Ad-8378@reddit
A delightful customer asking if I wanted to reach into his pocket for his ticket... (am a train conductor).
ShinyRotom37@reddit
I worked on a till at a supermarket and as a customer was paying she said "I need this wrapping as it's a present for my nephew". I said something like "oh that's nice, he'll like it". And she stared at me and said "I need you to do it".
I said we didn't offer gift wrapping service as we are a supermarket and she went off on a rant about how she's disabled, can't use her fingers, and we need to do it for her otherwise she's suing the store for discrimination.
I told her not only do we not do it, we don't have any gift wrap, or tape, and I was needed on a till and didn't have time to do it for her. Not only that but a queue had started to form behind her.
She then said "If you don't, find someone that will. I'll come back at 4" and then walked off.
Our manager felt sorry for her so actually paid for paper and tape and wrapped it up. I was praying she wouldn't, but I think she wanted to avoid an argument.
The lady came back a few weeks later and wanted us to wash her car for her because someone had dropped a bottle of milk in the car park and it had splashed on her tyres. I just laughed at her and let the manager deal with it.
PregnantTamara@reddit
Working on the counter in a pharmacy on a Thursday before the Easter bank holiday weekend. The place is absolutely insanely busy, queue literally around the building and it’s only me on the counter. Everyone has put their request in yesterday and wants their items right now. I’m so stressed that I have physically disconnected from the situation and am running purely on autopilot and the promise of a 5 day weekend.
“I’m picking up a prescription for my mum.”
“It’s not ready yet, can you come back on Tuesday?”
“Can’t I have it now?”
“It’s not going to be ready until Tuesday.”
Pause.
“Alright, so if she drops down dead on Monday, what do I do then?”
Blank stare, unable to fathom the stupidity, hoping he’ll just leave. He does.
To be honest, if she dropped down dead on the Monday, I don’t think pouring her monthly bottle of Gaviscon down her throat would have done much to help.
RedTheWolf@reddit
Perhaps she has a rare form of heartburn where your ticker actually catches fire if the little firefighters don't leap out the bottle and into action on time?? 😂
Cuntinghell@reddit
A customer in Tesco was upset that a special offer on printer ink meant that buying 2 was cheaper than buying one, I think it was £20 normally but the deal said 2 for £18.
So I explained that there are just some good deals sometimes, but he won't drop it and he gets increasingly more angry. Eventually, he demanded I get the manager and the manager pretty much has the same conversation that I just finished.
Eventually, the manager being very frustrated, politely offers to sell him one ink at £9 to replicate the offer and this seems to anger the customer even more.
The manager then bluntly asks, "right, which ink is it you want and how much do you want to pay?" to which the customer replies, "I don't want any ink, I just want to understand how you made up these prices". Manager is fuming and tells the customer to bugger off, then the manger stormed off and gestured for me to follow. The customer then continued to ask the customer service lady the same thing! We tannoyed the customer service lady to report to the office, just to get her away until the bloke left.
Honestly, that guy wasted about 20 min of his life arguing over something that he didn't want.
gogoluke@reddit
Worked in a pizza shop. The bosses were a lovely Iranian guy and his lovely English wife. Customer tells me I'm a "race traitor" for working for the "mud man" and that they are all "animals" 30 seconds later he tries to prove the point by throwing coins at me then lunges over the counter trying to grab a knife and I have to push him back over. Never been a fighter but almost punched him out. He was the local psycho so glad I only pushed back rather than threw a punch.
Oceansoul119@reddit
Tried to return a kettle as unused whilst it was full of water and limescale.
Bought a big tv ~55 inch, took it out to his car then came back to return it. Only rather than the tv that had originally been in the box he'd replaced it with a maybe 19 inch at best. Insisted that's what was originally in the box despite the fact that I'd had trouble carrying it to the counter for him yet I could lean over and pick the returned box up without effort.
Someone returned a lawnmower as unused despite the thing not being electric and thus reeking of it's fuel seeing as they didn't bring the fuel cap back with it.
Not seen but heard of from those who were there: smacked a manager in the face with the bar from a set of weights. Wish I had seen it as the manager was an annoying cunt to the staff.
niabais@reddit
Way back when I was first working in retail, I was 19 and had some serious mental health issues, and this middle aged white woman started screaming at me that we were out of 'her' shampoo. Apparently, I should have known that she came in once a month to get it and should have anticipated her visit, so we should have ordered more in (not how restocking worked, but anyway). I told her I could check the back, but it was unlikely we had any in if it wasn't out on the shelves. This caused her to scream that my parents should have aborted me bc I was a disgusting person for daring to talk back to her. My manager came running over and sent me out for a fag to calm down, and when he was told I should be fired, not rewarded, he plainly said that he sent me away because I was about to slap her (he wasn't wrong). She tried complaining to customer services, but luckily my manager had my back and sent over the cctv footage of her getting in my face and screaming at the top of her lungs. She was the banned from the store.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Managers who have your back over the customer are rare. Sounds like you had a good one!
niabais@reddit
Ironically he was an awful person, I ended up adopting his dog and his 2 gerbils bc his family had 'lost interest' in them, he would bully people and lie to and about them, and he eventually got fired for stealing, but I was a good worker and ended up as a team leader at 20, and he knew it would look bad if I slapped a customer in front of him without intervening.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Really? Well, I take that "good one" comment back, but at least the horrible customer got her just desserts (and the awful manager too, eventually).
Tsukidaisy@reddit
I have a few.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
People are the absolute worst. I think knowing that you're at work and so in a limited position to speak back emboldens them. It makes them feel powerful to be in the "superior" position because they can threaten you or your job if they feel like it.
Doc_Eckleburg@reddit
I used to work in a bookies. Saw a lot of sketchy stuff but the one that sticks out was just sad.
A guy, probably in his late 40’s used to come in every day, sauntering between the bookies and a pub around the corner. Always putting 5p round robins and accumulators on dog races. One day a race had just started and he came running up with his betting slip, practically threw it at me I asked if it was for this race, he said yes and I said I couldn’t take it as it was already off. He got really angry telling me to put it through, I was trying to explain that I couldn’t, the computer was automated and would just reject it as he couldn’t bet on a race that was already half way through. He said “Take the fucking bet, this is just a fucking job for you but this is my fucking career!” I just thought that is so sad, how bad must it be that day time drinking and 5 penny dog bets (this was mid 2000’s btw) has become your career. Still didn’t take his bet though.
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
As a new starter in a call centre I had a customer say to me that he hoped I got cancer.
Loads of customers in that job were very personal with their insults, regularly swore at us and we weren’t allowed to warn them about their language or disconnect their call
TheWyrdSmyth@reddit
Same here - I've also been told to kill myself. My response of "I'll go do that now, would you like to be placed on hold while I do so?" garnered spluttering and then a hang up.
I've also been called the F slur, threatened to be "gutted like a fish", all sorts. One of my favourites was being told he's got a hunting rifle and is waiting outside my office (I WFH). I advised him that he's more than welcome to wait there for me. I then called my manager, advised of the caller, who then phoned the police (we had all his information on file, including his address etc.). That was fun.
A colleague had a woman tell him that she hoped his mother died. She recently had as well, so when he started to say that she already had, and that what she said was unacceptable, the caller laughed and said "good. I hope she's in hell".
The public are just rotted evil bastards.
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
I’m quite proud of myself for saying “sorry sir I am not prepared to do that”
TheWyrdSmyth@reddit
That's a solid response!
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
Looking back I can mention probably a dozen things that properly made me laugh from those days
20127010603170562316@reddit
Why weren't you allowed to warn them?
When I worked in a call centre, customers got two chances if they swore. But it had to be AT you, not just in general.
Spoke to a South African or Australian, and every other word was "fuckin'" this and "fuckin'" that, but it was conversational not personal.
Customers who called us cunts or whatever would get one warning, if they used language like that again the call was terminated and management backed us up on that.
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
Company policy unfortunately
Honestly it was awful there
Longjumping_Kiwi8118@reddit
Being threatened with physical violence because I would not rent someone Independence Day on the day of VHS rental release as HQ had specified everyone must have their card.
Offered to keep a copy behind while they went and got their card. Having NONE of it, reaching across the counter, loads of verbal.
Wrote them up. Did the manager do anything? Did she bollocks. Apparently I needed to work on my customer service.
Fuck you Kerry.
BraveLordWilloughby@reddit
Man with one leg travelled 4 hours to purchase a power harrow. Was about 8ft long and 6ft wide. probably weighed a tonne, I'd say.
The vehicle he had was a Micra / Ka sort of thing, with a tow hitch. The trailer was a quad-bije trailer, 4ft long, 4ft wide, no sides. The type of hitch it had is rated to 750kg, but the actual trailer was probably rated far less. It also had off-road tyres.
If the initial journey took 4 hours, the return leg must've taken 6. The vehicle could hardly pull it and the trailer would've made the ride terribly uncomfortable and unsafe.
Though that's assuming he made it home.
Fluffy-Rhubarb9089@reddit
I once cycled home through London with 25kg of plaster in a rucksack. Nearly toppled under traffic a bunch of times, quads nearly gave out.
Never tried it again, but I figure if you make it home in one piece it wasn’t a bad idea.
kifflington@reddit
I feel I need to say well done 😄
Fluffy-Rhubarb9089@reddit
Thanks but I didn’t do it for the applause. I did it because I was too cheap to pay for home delivery. And to see if I could.
I also once cycled home from an off licence at 5am while near paralytically drunk and fell off onto the pavement. A few feet further along and I’d have donated some teeth to a bollard. I also considered that a win. Yes I continued drinking when I got home.
I no longer drink.
kifflington@reddit
Oof, you got lucky. Bloke I knew years ago got punched while very drunk and went down like a sack of spuds, smashed his head on the kerb and never woke up. Praise be to lessons learned in time. Happy days to you, anyway.
Fluffy-Rhubarb9089@reddit
Nsm but at least I’m not drinking like that now.
That’s horrific, poor bloke. Any consequences for the murderer?
kifflington@reddit
There was a manslaughter charge but I don't think it stuck. It was all a bit of a mess, and a long time ago (about 30 years now; flippin' heck).
AdaandFred@reddit
What's a power harrow?
kifflington@reddit
First you plough the field, then you harrow it because ploughing tends to leave the soil in big, solid lumps that seed just drops between. Unpowered harrows are racks of spikes or chains trailed along the ground behind a tractor; power harrows usually a rotating shaft of blade-like bits that's powered by the tractor PTO*.
*Power Take Off - the collared shaft that uses the tractor engine power to power towed machinery.
GruffScottishGuy@reddit
Breaks up the soil ready for seed planting.
BraveLordWilloughby@reddit
Fartmachine hit the nail on the head. A harrow that is powered...
It chops up the topsoil, to make it more suitable for planting. The working end is a long bed with blades coming off it.
https://forgie.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Kverneland-farm-sale-da-forgie-northern-ireland-soil-power-harrow-s-series-1.jpg
fantasmachine@reddit
A harrow, that is powered.
PanielleK@reddit
I had a customer open a bottle of water realise it was sparkling water then put the lid back on, he then placed it back on the shelf and picked up a non sparking bottle of water.
He had no idea I was watching him and started laughing when I told him I watched all of that.
Dangerous_Lunch1678@reddit
Worked in a clothing store in the West End, London. We had the police come in and say we needed to evacuate the store immediately as there had been a credible threat made against the store (this was back when announcements like "if you see a package unattended call the police" were a daily occurrence). So as members of staff we had to get all the customers out of the store and we ourselves had to go to the fire meeting point around the corner. The manager is the last person to leave the store as they had to lock the doors.
The threat against the store was serious, police everywhere but the amount of customers who were selfishly asking if they could quickly try a dress on, could they quickly pay for their purchase was unreal. You have police swarming all over the place, and you want to try on a dress because you want something for a summer party. Some people are just so into themselves they do not give a crap about people who are putting their lives on the line to save you and all you care about is buying a dress.
hungrybuniker@reddit
I've had this before. Actively evacuating my store, trying to explain to this lovely lady who didn't speak a lick of English that we needed to leave and this one woman (who I've already told about the evacuation and speaks perfect English) comes BACK IN to "ask a question". I admittedly dismiss her quickly saying "no, we need to leave" and return to guiding the other poor lady. She yells at me that I "have time to answer a question". Clearly, I wasn't speaking her first language: pure idiocy.
Yes, we guided the other lady put to safety. No, I didn't lock the dumb-ass entitled Karen in the changing room to burn.
deadliftbear@reddit
Many years ago I worked in a branch of Argos in Northern Ireland. One day, about a year after the Omagh bombing, we were ordered to evacuate the store, and we reassured customers that goods could be claimed with an unstamped receipt. Apart from one man who demanded, loudly, that his just-purchased item was picked and handed to him.
Him: “I’ve come all the way from Omagh for this!” Cashier: “Omagh? Well you should know better. Get out!!”
Specialist_Emu7274@reddit
I used to work in a garden centre so we were open during lockdowns which really showed how odd people can be. One guy came in pissed on the carpet (he appeared sober but I mean idk) then came to the one of the staff and said he saw a dog piss on the carpet. We had CCTV. Luckily the carpets were being replaced the following week
No-Tank483@reddit
Worked in a spoons when I was younger in a small town. - Old bloke, regular, always popped in mid day and ordered a medium rioja. Explosive diarrhoea that came out the bottom of his trouser leg, just got off and said nothing. We watched it back on the CCTV. - Drunk lad launched an empty wine bottle across the bar at a colleague one night, missed and smashed against a bottle fridge, before trying to come behind the bar. I blocked him and a regular dragged him out by his neck.
Probably countless other stories but that was 13+ years ago.
Worked in a gym for years - A lot of people shit in places they shouldn’t - we had shits in the showers, a shit outside the shower in the communal bit, a shit on a treadmill. - Couples thinking because the jets in the jacuzzi are on it isn’t immediately obvious they’re getting intimate - in a massive open pool side with other members in. - 2 guys jumped and slashed a lad in broad daylight on a Sunday afternoon - the gym was on a busy retail estate and it was full of Christmas shoppers.
NeedCake707@reddit
Omg was he ok?
Dracilla112@reddit
Years ago when I was working in a cafe, a woman came in with her young son and asked me for an ice cream. I apologised and said the ice cream machine had been shut down for the season and everything in it was defrosted. She kicked off big time at me, said it was unacceptable as she had "promised her son an ice cream." The entitlement was insane. It wasn't like I could magic up a solid ice cream for her.
Escapismrocks@reddit
I used to work for a well known coffee chain in the UK. After 12 years I have a number of harrowing customer behaviour stories. From the kids who tried to pierce their own ears in the toilet. The guy who we had to ban because he kept pooing in the sink of the disable toilet. You also wouldn’t believe the number of secret drinkers that stash their empties in a toilet.
But for pure obnoxiousness the guy who screamed in my face and started swearing at the staff because we’d run out of whole milk. Not all milks, not a dietary requirement, but whole milk at 3:30 on a Sunday (when we closed at 4pm). Needless to say I banned him from the store. As I understand it he was later banned again by the next store manager for inappropriate behaviour.
catschimeras@reddit
I remember being in a Costa around November/December, and a lady ahead of me in the queue had an actual screeching fit because the shop was out of those red takeaway cups that look like Santa.
Like, not out of the drink she wanted (though that wouldn't have been worth screaming about either), just out of this specific novelty cup.
Absolute unadulterated buffoonery.
InviteAromatic6124@reddit
I was working in my home village pub about 9 years ago when two lads came in and ordered food. Before the landlady could take their order they brought out their own bottle of strawberry wine and started drinking it, saying "you probably don't have this" without even asking first. The landlady told them they would have to pay a £10 corking fee for bringing their own wine, which they seemed ok with.
When their food came out they ate their food really quickly and just as they were being brought their bill they did a dine and dash out the back entrance. The landlady chased after them and they swung the back gate at her, knocking her off her feet in the process. Her husband phoned the police and shouted "two lads just left without paying and assaulted my wife!".
Unfortunately the pub had no CCTV and nothing could be done. I'd expect dine and dashes in towns and cities but not in a tiny village pub on a busy weekday evening.
Consistent-Pirate-23@reddit
Funniest was a customer that “enjoyed” the call to me, my very small town manager was listening in to the call, her various expressions of confusion and then disgust were a sight to behold.
What was funnier is her trying to discreetly enquire what he was doing and me being autistic meant I needed it spelling out to me, and I hadn’t realised he had until she pointed it out
mcb89x@reddit
A woman told me she was gonna burn my house down cause I got a security guard on her for shoplifting
NighthawkUnicorn@reddit
The customer was going away for a few days and wanted to know if there was something that could stop their cat poo from smelling bad. I tried to help by explaining covered litter boxes, litter scent powder etc. Nope, I'm apparently an idiot. She meany a pill or something she could feed to her cat to stop the actually poo from smelling.
Sorry lady, poo is poo. Poo smells.
Diplomatic_Gunboats@reddit
Well diet can substantially help with that (not eliminate it of course) but switching to an all-dry diet will eliminate a lot of odour depending on the food they are eating before switching. That and a covered box with filter & the right litter will get you 99% of the way.
NighthawkUnicorn@reddit
But the actual poo will still smell like poo. She wanted a pill that would make her cat's crap smell like roses so she doesn't have to come home to a smelly house after a weekend away
ak30live@reddit
There are pills you can give your cat that will prevent you from coming back to a house that smells of poo, but not that I'd recommend to someone.
NighthawkUnicorn@reddit
I wish I had thought of that at the time.
Working_Bowl@reddit
Plot twist … you work in a shoe shop.
didndonoffin@reddit
Any wonder Al Bundy was so crabby
DFaryor@reddit
This sounds like they were planning to leave the cat on Thier own for several days
Used_Captain_3131@reddit
Waiting to pick my wife up from her veterinary nursing gig. Client screaming abuse at the receptionist, two nurses and a vet, threatening to sue the vets because they "ruined his look." "Him" being a cockerpoo.
Dog had been rushed in with a large branch sticking through it's neck, and was recovering in a kennel. The owner was angry that they'd shaved around the wound and where the IV went in because she'd recently paid £50 for a groom and believed they should have done the whole operation whilst keeping his haircut intact.
To make this worse, she was a PDSA client and didn't have to pay
Ath-e-ist@reddit
I always detested, above others - the regular customers that were nice, friendly, consistent. In general, to most staff.
And then you clock they've been stealing everytime they're in.
Particular time in mind, guy called Ryan with his kid shopping, 2 bottles of wine in his bag discreetly.
Stopped to chat with me for a few mins before going to the till and buying w/e low cost thing he had in hand.
With his child, cold stone face to me and the staff. We knew his whole family.
I dealt with countless shoplifters in my time, from smackheads to organised groups. Knife threats and gypsies mobbing the place.
People like that Ryan, still, I detest the most.
DVLMN08@reddit
I worked in Tesco when I was 17 for a few years, there was a guy who was a local who was struggling and we would literally give him cash / hide reduced items for him to get on the cheap, seemed a really nice guy down on his luck
He ended up mugging one of my colleagues when seeing him out and about, he would of had to recognise him unless he was off his face on drugs, bit more extreme than yours but the betrayal was felt!
Ath-e-ist@reddit
Oh - we had that too.
Nice local lad, a builder by trade but out of work - mentally always thought, that kinda just means your unemployed huh? - he was longterm unemployed, never looked for work.
Would be very friendly and chatty, even helped a shoplifter or 2 either me.
Any spare baccy mate? Couldn't let us off 50p? Got a spare cig? Once you've said yes once the floodgates opened.
Never mugged us, but yeah id rather a random smackhead attempt to steal than someone you've got genuine rapport with. Grim ain't it
DVLMN08@reddit
Yep! Makes you feel like a right mug for trusting them in the first place, sadly makes you more sceptical of the next person who comes along facing hard times
Original_Bad_3416@reddit
Someone took a shit in Iceland.
Pornaltio@reddit
I’ve had three separate instances of customers shitting on the floor in places I’ve worked. A coffee shop and an opticians, if anyone’s curious.
Original_Bad_3416@reddit
Did you say “should’ve gone to specsavers” as you pointed to the actual toilet?
VerbingNoun413@reddit
Some stores waft bakery smells to sell bread. Maybe they wanted to sell toilet paper.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Someone once shit on the floor of an Asda in my town! Maybe just looking at the curries on the shelves brings it out of them?
jamawg@reddit
I would imagine that the entire population does
Otherwise-Bid621@reddit
No that was their pre-made frozen lasagnes
frottagecore@reddit
I work in a shop that rhymes with the words “date close”, and I usually reduce the bread and pastries in the cabinets. We often have rude customers because, well you know.
One time I had just started my shift and began to reduce the loaves/rolls/baguettes section, and slowly was working my way round to the pastries because there was a lot to reduce. This man walks up to me and goes “are you reducing these”, showing me a bag of two croissants. I said “in about 15 minutes” with a polite smile, that’s usually okay with customers. Not this man! He looks at me absolutely fuming, so I try giving him a brief explanation of the process (basically: I have to scan every bread and pastry code, then go in the office to manually input codes and new prices on the system to make them live, so it takes some time), to helpfully give some context to why it takes that long. Didn’t mention the full shelves of bread we were both standing in front of, cos I didn’t want to treat him like he was stupid.
He walks off without a word, I continue scanning and writing down the bread codes and putting new price tags down in like I’m supposed to, then I move my table over to the pastries case. Maybe about 10 minutes?
He strides right up to me like he’s on a mission and shouts “that wasn’t 15 minutes!” honestly I was a bit stunned that he’d been watching me. I said “oh, I still have to scan all of these and put them on the system yet sorry” and he shouted “never mind” and huffed off. Like who does that over 80p reduction PLEASE
bibbiddybobbidyboo@reddit
At a cinema years ago, a customer watched a whole film and then demanded a refund because they didn’t like it. Now, if they’d come out within the first 20 mins or so, were polite about asking what their options were, we’d call a manager and get their tickets exchanged (no more than once).
The managers are stuck in this case as the guy watched the whole film, then went bananas at as afterwards.
They decline to refund him or compensate him. He then leaps over the box office counter and tries to break into each till and threatens me and my colleagues. Joke was on him as we’d emptied the tills during the last screening.
He was shocked when security pinned him to the wall and that the police were called.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Reminds me of a woman who once told me that the coffee I made for her was "horrible" and said she'd have "got a spoon and forced me to taste it if there was any left". There wasn't because she'd drunk every last drop before complaining that she didn't like it.
Trying to rob and attack you is next level crazy though, over a film ticket too.
SmokyBarnable01@reddit
Alcohol purchased in an off-license may not be consumed therein. It must be consumed off the premesis (hence off-license).
I explained this to a customer who was just about to open a can in the shop. I further explained that a breach of licensing could lead to the loss of the license, a ten grand fine and me losing my job.
Fucker just sneered at me and opened the can anyway.
Any-Conversation7485@reddit
A woman did a crap in the middle of the clothing section in Tesco, swept it under some clothing stands, wiped herself on some socks and calmly walked out of the store.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
The fact that at least 5 of these replies have been people taking shits on the floor in public has me seriously worried for humanity.
No-Original890@reddit
working at a clothes shop, at peak christmas hours in december- line is out of the queue section and trailing to the front door and we’re extremely busy. lady comes up with her elderly mother and husband and the mother starts explaining to me this long story about how they kept being sent the wrong size shoes on the online orders and they bring it back to a store in a different location, shoes don’t fit still and they want to give them back. they didn’t have the correct receipt and i couldn’t return it. the lady, who had been quiet up until this point, starts frantically trying to show me her bank statements and online order numbers and shoving her phone in my face and shouting ‘WHAT ELSE DO YOU NEED??!!’ normally we can use bank statements to look up receipts but it has to be at the same store you bought it from, surprise surprise they didn’t buy it from our store.
I explained this to her and her mother, got screamed at for my manager, manager came over and explained the same thing- this lady starts hysterically crying, insulting me and banging the shoes on tje till as hard as she can and screaming ‘GIVE ME MY MONEY’ over and over, with her elderly mother trying to comfort her. i tried to kindly say to her that theres nothing we can do at this point and she raised the shoe up and threw it at my head. she missed luckily but it hit the wall behind me and she starts wailing again. her mum had to usher her out kicking and screaming along with her husband. i’ve never seen her since lol
SQ_12@reddit
When I worked in retail, I had a man DEMAND to see the manager because I had the audacity to give him a pound in change as I was running low on pound coins and he ‘couldn’t possibly carry all that’ - a 50p, 2 20ps and a 10p. And he’d brought three cans of pop 🤔
devster75@reddit
I hope you told them to burger off?
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Wish I'd thought of that!
Throwawaylife1984@reddit
Customer threw a big glass astray at my head which smashed the optics behind me because he didn't like the price of a pint. Unluckily for him and off duty police officer was in the bar. I was just going to bar him but the owner and this copper had him arrested.
Greglebowski74@reddit
In 2003-4, I was managing a branch of the Orange mobile phone shop. There was a promotion on with Avon, that involved a free (cheap) PAYG phone if the customer had spent a certain amount with Avon. Only thing was, Avon hadn't finalised this deal with Orange, so the staff were unaware of the arrangements. Cue several hundred pissed off Avon customers lined up at my store for what felt like a week or more, demanding a free phone that we neither had stock of, or the POS routine to process the sale on the till. Yet this was our fault, and any suggestions that Avon may have fucked up was met with "how dare you! Avon are an amazing organisation, they would never mess anything up like you lot have." One lady stood and tried to stare me down (like that would make the phone magically appear) and another bought her husband in, who said "if you don't put that phone in my hand in the next 30 seconds, I'll be taking a golf club to everything in this shop." I told him to go ahead, it made no difference to me, and he would be the one facing criminal charges. He then said he would be "waiting for me" after work, to "sort me out". I closed at 6pm, locked up and stood around the door for 10 minutes, but he didn't show up. Maybe he thought we closed at 7pm. Absolutely shower of bastards.
85morrell@reddit
When I worked in a charity shop there was a guy that came in, clearly off his head in something. He walked around for a bit before going into a corner behind a clothes rail, whipped out his thing, and proceeded to pee on the clothes. I'll never forget the stench and I had to shut the store to clean the mess.
nibutz@reddit
Think I’ve told this story on Reddit before but for a long time I was the reception supervisor in a massive student halls campus that turned into public accommodation in the summer - several buildings, the furthest a good five minute walk from my desk (the only desk there was).
We did fire alarm checks at 10:30 on Wednesday mornings. This was well-advertised throughout every single building on-site. Signs everywhere you looked.
One Wednesday morning an American woman comes running into reception SCREAMING, in a dressing gown, that the fire alarm had given her - quote - “9/11 flashbacks” and “why are you picking on me? Why did you do this to me? Is it because I’m American?!”
She was in the furthest away building and had marched all the way to my desk, half-dressed, to accuse me of running some sort of psy-op against her, personally (when a significant number of our 2000 beds were occupied by Americans, I should add. Maybe even 50%)
Sea_Ad_7172@reddit
#1: I had a booking of ten people walk in around 9.30 PM (so already 30 minutes late), who were surprised that we had reclaimed their table after 15 minutes. The "leader" asked us to move a couple, who were mid-meal, so they could sit there. I told her I only had a high table available for them, to which she told me: "Can't you see I'm heavily pregnant?". This is relevant because when they were finally ready to order around 10 PM, as the kitchen was closing, she ordered a cocktail. Then another. Then one more. I know they were alcoholic drinks because I made them, but I wasn't employed to judge her life choices.
#2: A woman called me over to her table during a dinner rush, as the fire alarm was going off. She complained to me that not only were the other guests being too drunk and rowdy, but also that the fire alarm woke up her baby, whom she'd "worked so hard to get to sleep". Not sure why she was expecting a quiet, cozy, intimate vibe at a south London pub late Saturday night, but again, to each their own.
disc0_carp3t@reddit
Worked at Halfords, had a guy bring in two of his kids' bikes and demand I fix them on the spot. We had the time, so I called out our tech to help, and we discovered that the bikes were fucked beyond saving (the bikes were limited edition, and the amount to fix ONE of them would've totalled more than both of them new). We explained this to him, and our tech made the mistake of advising that the man keep his bikes covered from the elements to avoid this happening again, and he went ballistic, claiming we were lying and could fix the bikes, and that we were calling him cheap, he earns way more than us, blah blah blah.
We wrote him a quote to fix the bikes (over £1500) and told him he could book them in for the coming week. Funnily enough, he asked what other kids bikes we'd recommend.
raygray@reddit
Used to work at USC and the same man would come in every Thursday at 11am on the dot and go to the changing room and wank on clothes and leave, we constantly kept asking for more support to ban him and they didn’t care
South_Buy_3175@reddit
Had a long time customer report a colleague of mine to the area manager, who was said customers friend.
Ended up getting a disciplinary due to ‘improper language’.
Turned out the colleague had called the customer ‘mate’ over the phone when taking a booking.
Jaomi@reddit
Working at an inbound call centre, we heard all sorts of stories. There were plenty of angry people, and plenty of stupid people, but we had this one customer who was bizarrely obsessed with how we introduced ourselves on the phone.
We had a fairly bog-standard call centre greeting, something like: “Hello, you’re through to [company name], [first name] speaking, how may I help?” This one woman acted as if introducing oneself on the phone by first name alone was the most bizarre thing she’d ever heard. Every time she called, she’d make a little song and dance about it with the phone jockey. “Oh, is that Miss Gemma or Mrs Gemma? And what is your first name, Miss Gemma? Oh, Gemma IS your first name? How strange.”
She did that every fucking time she called, and acted as if we personally heralded the decline of Western civilisation by not introducing ourselves formally as “Mr Surname”. She never made a complaint about it, even when she made a formal complaint about something else - it was just a nasty little game she played with each individual she spoke to so she could mess with their head.
pigglewiggle23@reddit
I work in Boots and I once had a women go absolutely mental at me because we didn’t have a “breast feeding expert” in store.
She wanted advice on her daughters inverted nipples (she literally shouted it so loud everyone in the shop heard) and said we shouldn’t sell baby items if we couldn’t advise people on what to buy.
I told her we can’t have an expert on every single item in the building and she’d need to google it or ask the health visitor or something.
She looked me dead in the eye asked for my name and said she’d be putting in a complaint because she couldn’t believe I’d just said that to her.
Absolutely no surprise that was on a Sunday, I’ve got no clue why but Sunday shoppers are a different breed, all the crazy stories from that store happened on a Sunday.
SwitchSmart7151@reddit
I used to work in a supermarket. I was stacking milk and dropped one. This woman who wasnt even in the aisle at the time made a big fuss about it and pretended she had been splashed. She demanded to speak to the manager, and got the supermarket to pay to dry clean her clothes.
It was bizarre.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Some people are so brazen because weak-willed managers let them get away with lying even when it's plain to see.
I remember a table lying that their food was stone cold. A supervisor tested it with a heat thermometer and it showed that the food was a very hot temp, yet they still got a 25% discount. Their lie was disproved, they still ate the food and got money off.
carpet_tart@reddit
I was fitting carpet in a ladies house, she left us a key and told us to lock up on the way out as she was going to lunch with friends. Two hours later I get a phone call from her asking if I can put her laundry on the line outside as the sun had come out. I said no probs, would you like me to start your tea and do some ironing whilst laughing. She complained about me to the shop
cvslfc123@reddit
I saw a couple get on a bus with a pushchair with lots of shopping bags hanging off it. Due to being overloaded the pushchair fell backwards with the baby still in it. Instead of taking responsibility the dad started shouting at the driver and blaming her for bad driving which she had not done at all.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
Ironically, it was his own bad driving of the pram that caused the issue.
D-1-S-C-0@reddit
Before COVID, I was waiting for my order at the McDonald's drive thru when I saw a ginger bloke, 30s or 40s, inside the building kicking off at a young guy serving him. Based on what he was shouting, my guess is they wanted him to pay for extra sauces but I don't actually know.
"You stupid cunt! Give me my fucking sauces! I'll fucking chin you, you cunt!" Etc etc. There were a lot of "cunts" thrown around.
Then he lunged over the counter at the young guy and a big black guy in hi-vis stepped in to make him back up.
That's the last thing I saw because then a young woman who looked shell shocked gave me my order in a hurry and I drove off.
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
People treat fast food workers like absolute crap. Almost every single McDonalds I've been in has security for this reason.
I once witnessed a man in McDonalds telling his kids to go upstairs and get a table, then when a worker told him that the upstairs was actually shut now since they'd cleaned it ready to close soon, he loudly told the kids to definitely go up there, then rounded on the worker, calling her a "little rat" and saying "how dare she talk to him and his kids that way". She was nothing but polite, and he doubled down by making sure his kids went upstairs to mess up the cleaning and then verbally abused her. He was a vile specimen.
theexitwounder@reddit
i was greeting customers at the doors to the shop where i work and before i even got half a sentence out some middle aged woman put a single finger to my lip and said 'shush'. and i bloody did because all the words were quite literally taken out of my mouth
Fuzzy_Possibility@reddit
I worked in McDonald’s as a teen, it was a brand new store and most of the staff were being trained. It was a weekend and one of the first busy periods we had encountered one guy got so pissed that I could make a Big Mac but wouldn’t go and make his as I was on tills so he didn’t have to wait. He got really abusive my manager ended up stepping in and removing him while I had a cry in the staff room 😂 grew my thick skin after that one.
Milvusmilvus@reddit
Worst one today was the guy with one hand down his pants adjusting himself for a couple of minutes while on the phone with his other hand whilst expecting service.
Worst one I recall at present was the woman who screamed at me because I couldn't get her the correct batch of wallpaper during a closing down sale. I ended up telling her I was losing my job in a couple of weeks which was a bigger problem than her wallpaper and she finally fucked off.
Most_Moose_2637@reddit
Worked at Wetherspoons and was doing a day shift. A lady with a big group of people came in and ordered meals and deserts and asked for birthday candles for one of the other people, who was disabled.
When I started taking the desserts out, I realised that they hadn't actually ordered enough. I paid for it out of my own pocket and the kitchen was rammed but I got the instructions for a new dessert shouted over to me (just heating up a chocolate cake), and by the time I'd taken all but one dessert out, it was ready to take out.
Found some fresh tea lights, lit the candle, and walked out singing happy birthday.
The person who's birthday it was was tucking into the original lady's dessert, and the lady was giving me the evil eye.
Looking back I don't know whether I was supposed to have given them their dessert first rather than last, but the group had all tucked into their desserts first, which is one of my bugbears as well.
Absolute shit show, but I did get a tip, which ended up paying for the cake at least.
Fluffy-Rhubarb9089@reddit
How did the story end?
ChoreomaniacCat@reddit (OP)
The women left, presumably to try and find this elusive burger restaurant. I can imagine them still out there wandering around, none of them thinking to check Google Maps, just popping into each restaurant they pass and getting pissed that the menu isn't 100% burgers.
I was glad they just randomly slipped out without making more fuss though. They genuinely expected me to be truly sorry and grovelling for working at a buffet restaurant that they walked into but didn't want to be in. No street smarts or basic sense or manners.
TheGlabborSchmidt@reddit
When I worked in a pharmacy this guy got me to bring out every single product we had containing zinc because he wanted to take enough to survive a nuclear blast.
Splyce123@reddit
I'd have called social services.
Mountain-Ad6914@reddit
Why did you not accept his £50 notes? Where do you think they were from?
Splyce123@reddit
Sorry?
TheGlabborSchmidt@reddit
He wasn’t a danger to himself just an odd guy. Bit of a knob though always tried to pay in £50 notes and got mad when I said no.
Suddendeath777@reddit
I was in an airport duty free in America just yesterday, and this woman was screaming murder at the cashier about them not having a certain size of a perfume on the shop floor.
The cashier said she'll check the back but no guarentee they have it.
This raging bitch of a customer starts howling about how she's going to miss her flight because of this wait, and how she's going to bill the duty free store for her delays. And I mean red in the face screeching and jabbing fingers.
How about either get the smaller bottle, the bigger one, or don't buy it at all you fucking wretch. Really put the dampener on buying cheap cigs.
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