To ask retail staff your worst customer stories?

I remember working at Boots when I was 17 in the fragrance department (Boots staff, just on a till). They used to gift wrap products a few years ago but stopped doing it. A woman came over with some perfume and asked for it to be gift wrapped. I said sorry we don't do that any more. She became irate, demanded to see the manager, then dragged the manager over to me to shout about how incompetent I was because I wouldn't gift wrap her perfume. Really weird.

My mum would have absolutely cut me dead if I'd said anything like that when out with her (not that I would have).

I honestly can't remember, I think she just paid and left. It was clearly an ongoing mascara conversation and I just got caught in the crossfire but also WHAT A BITCH

I've worked in retail so long I have so many stories of awful people but the worst general time was during the beginning of covid. I'd cry most shifts because of the way people screamed at me, as if It was my fault the shelves were empty and they had to wear masks etc.

What did the mum say, if anything?

I worked in a call centre briefly between finishing uni and going on to a Masters degree. This isn't the worst as some were downright nasty, vile people, but I liked that this one had their comeuppance!

In between helping her, she asked if we were based in X town. I said yes. She then, very smugly, kept gloating about how her daughter was going to X University there, it's one of the top universities don't you know, very well-respected, going to get a GREAT job once she leaves.
"Have you ever... well, SEEN the university? I don't suppose you'll have had any reason to be there laugh"

"Yes, I just spent 4 years there, heading back to do my Masters in a month. It is a good uni, a lot of pretentious people who think they'll end up in a fantastic job on their degree alone though, haha."

I will always remember the "oh" and complete silence until she had to respond to what I was helping her with, giving the bare minimum answers needed. I loved it as so many people assumed you were there because you were stupid and would pass out in shock if you knew they had a - gasp - DEGREE! So getting my own back was good. 😂

I worked in a Tesco fuel station when I was younger. I once had a middle aged man scream in my face that I had overcharged him by HALF a penny, as the fuel was 89.9p per litre and the amount he had filled up by, he believed he had been overcharged. Honestly he was up in my face, all red and yelling obscene things.

I just took a penny out of the till and gave it to him. Absolute wanker.

I remember once serving a mother and daughter at my Saturday supermarket checkout job. The mother pointed out to the daughter that I had mascara on my bottom lashes and that it looked nice. The daughter, probably about my age (I was 17 and doing my a-levels) curled her lip into a sneer and said 'ugh mum, I don't want to look like shopgirl scum'.

😲

Many years ago I was a live in general assistant in a hotel. One night I was locking up by myself. Two drunk male customers left who were friends. One of them was related to our head chef. This guy came up behind me and kept running his hands up and down my sides breasts and backside. I asked him twice to stop.. The third time he did it I remembered the self defence classes from school. I had a nice pair of high heels on so I stamped on the boney part of his foot and shot my elbow backwards which caught him in his privates.
He went home very quickly after that and I never had any more trouble from him!!

Worked at a doctors on reception.A man came I'm and kicked off about something I forget what.Shouting at me and slamming his hand repeatedly on the reception desk.
It upset and intimidated me and I didn't get paid enough for that type of shit.

I have been called a b*tch, an idiot, stupid, threatened with arson, had all kinds of power games played on me, threatened to be looked personally on social media, got hung up on when ppl heard my (non-male) voice, got threatened with many lawsuits or social media cancellations, been told countless times I was bad at my job ...

The one I found outrageous (and that I got very often) "You are paid to listen to me, shut up" (generally happens after you have explained to them by a + b the error of their ways and they get angry about it, go on a rant and don t want to let go)

"No, Sir (because, 99% of my customers are male, surprise), I am paid to provide all necessary information you may request, assist you in any process and of course listen to your feedback and suggestions because we value our relationship with you, but what you re asking for is emotional companionship to process the consequences and grief deriving from your own actions, there are specialised services for that, we re not one of them" (never said it out loud, I wished :D)

When I worked in a supermarket, a customer was packing his shopping into one of the shop's distinctive bag-for-life bags, it still had the tag attached and looked brand new, still with the folds they have when they arrive from the warehouse.

I didn't see him pick it up from the end of the aisle so it was likely one he had bought previously but it was policy to check, so I asked 'just to check, that you've already purchased that bag haven't you?'

He went OFF at me. Shouted that I was an idiot, why would he try and steal a BAG, how dare I even ask, he was very rich, how pathetic I was, maybe I would stoop so low but he wouldn't, no wonder I was on a checkout in a supermarket, maybe if I wasn't so stupid I would have done better in life.

I just let him rant, and then suggested he take the tag off so it was clear (as some staff don't ask, if the tag is still attached they just put the code in to charge the customer). He went off again and demanded to see the manager, I called the manager over who confirmed it's policy that we have to check, and he suggested he removed the tag as well, customer called me a stupid woman and slunk off.

I might out myself here as I love telling this - I was working in the supermarket because I got bored over lockdown and was dying to get out, so I did a shift or two a week. Also my best friend was the store manager so it meant we could see each other, but I'm self employed, very lucky to be doing extremely well.

About 8 months after this encounter with the shitty customer, I needed some quotes for a £500k job. I shortlisted four companies and they all visited me at my property (I'm very lucky to live in a lovely home, lots of land etc) to cut to the chase, yes, one of the potential companies turned out to be HIM.

I recognised him immediately when he arrived at my home but he didn't recognise me at all. I treated him the same as I would with anyone, coffee, talk of the trade, what needed doing, timescales etc.

After his pitch, I walked him to his car, thanked him for his time, shook his hand, but then just before he got in his car, I said 'have you taken the tag off that bag-for-life yet?'

He looked really confused, sort of laughed but didn't get it, but then, and it was blissful to see, the penny dropped. He went white. He opened his mouth, closed it, and didn't say another word. He got in his car and left.

One of the best moments of my life I think. I can't begin to imagine how confused he must have been.

Needless to say he didn't get the job.

Lovely person.

Oh so gross!!! Did they apologise? Hope you got time off to clean up!!!

20 odd years ago, when Early Learning Centre’s were stand alone stores on the high street we would get parents who would try to treat us like baby sitting services.
“little Timmy is ok here for an hour or two whilst I nip into Debenhams” whilst pointing out a toddler who is creating havoc at the Thomas the Tank Engine table and then being a dick when I try to politely refuse when really I wanted to ask them if they’d taken leave of their fucking senses or were just naturally that thick.

@Prescottdanni123 Oh I was ready to go all in but I had to control myself, it's not so easy!

I was on the basket till. An elderly lady had a small trolley and put her shopping on the belt. Usually I would have had to say "sorry baskets only" but she her items would've fitted into a basket. No one behind her.

Spent some time chatting to her, packed her shopping for her whilst someone else put their shopping on the belt.

The woman behind the next person told me I needed to hurry up and this was a basket till only. I said I was just helping to pack the lady's shopping. The customer became really abusive towards me. I dealt with the next customer then buzzed for the supervisor to come and sat there until they arrived (was relatively quickly as I was also 7 months pregnant), got up and left the checkout saying "I refuse to serve an abusive customer". Later that day I was called to speak to the manager who said I'd received praise from the elderly lady, plus two other customers.

Another was when a man decided to vape whilst waiting to pay. I asked him not to as it wasn't allowed in store. He said the rules were "no smoking" so carried on 🤦‍♀️

Think you win! (Though haven't got through rest of the thread yet..)

Call centre worker at 19:

Customer didn't pay bill and I couldn't reactivate their services. It literally wasn't even possible. Customer told me to fucking die and hung up. My shift literally came to a close at the same time and I was able to log off and head out the door on time for once. Cheers rude man!

I have so many stories.

I had a customer screaming at me because he hadnt brought enough money with him and i wouldnt let him take the products without paying.

ive had things thrown at me when someone hadnt bought their trade card with them and expected me to know who they were when id never seen them before in my life

sworn at because i wouldnt give someone who wasnt in the trade trade prices

i also really used to hate the amount of pressure we were under to sell extra items and extended electrical warranties. The customers really hated it and some were so rude when we tried but we would get screamed at by managers and area managers if we didnt sell enough. We had to report every day what percentage of customers purchased and if it wasnt enough we had to explain ourselves and also tell them how we were going to do better that day.

so glad im not in that environment anymore

Worked for a well known bank years ago. A gentleman came in to open an account. Asked for his passport ( fairly new) and something about him didn't ring true. He wasn't born in UK, but that wasn't the issue as we had a lot of naturalised UK citizens. So I asked a few polite questions and asked for proof of address. He gave me the address which I knew actually didn't exist, and I stated I needed proof of address , such as Council tax bill. He got very threatening to me, so I advised would need to get the manager. He grabbed the passport out of my hand and scarpered.
Reported to our fraud team and police.

Worked in a cafe/visitor centre of a nature reserve…got shouted at cause it was raining. In Scotland.

I had a complaint made to the police after I asked a customer to leave. I saw them physically push a frail woman in her 80s out of a queue. It was before Christmas and there was a long queue, he was a young man and came down and was pushing through people, then right in front of me forced this woman aside, luckily she was caught by others as she toppled. I was disgusted and said ‘you need to leave’ and repeated it a few times until he threw the basket over the counter at me and shouted ‘fuck you’. Metal basket!

I’d forgotten all about it until I had loads of missed calls a few weeks later. Answered after my shift and it was a police officer. Said he was ringing me as I’d been reported for a ‘hate crime’. Didn’t have a clue so he explained a customer had made a complaint I’d used racist language publicly towards them and threatened them while working. I was still really confused. When he then gave the date of the incident and a little more info I was stunned. I said ‘yes, I did ask a white man who pushed an elderly woman to leave! I certainly wasn’t racist, we were both white and English speakers…’. Turns out the guy was from Belgium. He’d gone and filed a police complaint! I pointed out to the officer I’d had no way of knowing he wasn’t British, the only thing he’d said was ‘fuck you’ while throwing a basket at me! No obvious accent I’d heard, but I’d been distracted by the need to duck.

The police officer said he’d call back to follow up, but he never did.