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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To hate customers

541 replies

rahjama · 30/04/2022 09:46

Somewhat lighthearted.

Working in hospitality/retail, what things do customers do that really, really annoy you when you're working? I'll start

  • Booking for 6 people and then saying "Hope it's okay we're now a party of 194"
  • Paying in cash but they're 1-20p short. "Can you cover it?" No I cannotHmm
  • Sitting on tables that are dirty/unset/in the process of being cleaned when there are clean and set tables literally next to them. Then complaining about the lack of cutlery.
  • Buying the cheapest pint, saying it's flat/doesn't taste right, then swapping for the most expensive pint.
  • Picking up an allergen menu and then saying "is this all you do?" No that's all we do GLUTEN FREE it says at the top!!!!!!!!!
OP posts:
WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 10/05/2022 13:26

I used to work in customer services at Boots head office and someone once posted a prawn sandwich. The smell of that jiffy bag being opened up remained with us for weeks.

You could very justifiably have reported them to the police for sending offensive materials in the mail - whether that was the intention or not.

A friend of mine works in a hospital lab where one of the (delightful) jobs is to analyse poo samples. Patients are given a small plastic tube with a little scoop in it, so that they can scoop off a tiny bit of their turd and then seal it inside the tube and put it back in the clear bag to send away via their GP. When the lab receive it, they transfer it to the analyser machine.

The number of people who just crap straight into the bag (and it often clearly wasn't a clean drop) and then close it, like it's a goldfish they've won from the funfair, and send their massive jobby in, expecting an actual human being to reach their hand in to the bag to retrieve it. Some even put the form in loose with the dump in the same bag, as everybody wants to process and file away a stinky piece of paperwork encrusted with a sirreverence....

Of course, samples like this have to be dropped unopened straight into the hazardous waste bin, with no way of letting the GP know it had to be rejected if the form was tucked into the bad stuff. The lab had a furious complaint letter from one man some time ago - the first they knew about him, as his forms had obviously never been readable to identify him - calling them unpleasant words and accusing them of not being able to do their jobs (quite ironic, really, that part....).

All because, instead of a single tiny little scoop, sealed inside an appropriate container, as clearly directed in the accompanying 'how to' info, he'd been repeatedly sending them disgusting great big bags of loose cronk for the past few weeks. Apparently, the patients post them into an opaque box at their GP surgery and the box gets delivered to the hospital labs unopened.

Yerroblemom1923 · 10/05/2022 15:13

I once worked in a restaurant.... generally good fun, most customers were lovely, some of the chefs were knbs and thought they were Gordon Ramsey and shouted and swore a lot, but one of many highlights was a table of 12 blokes who ALL ordered steak in various fcking formats eg medium rare, rare, rare medium, well done, blue, still mooing etc etc and all that nonsense needless to say by the time I'd brought them to the table I didn't have a clue who had ordered what so they just ate whatever and moaned no doubt!
Another fun game is when a party of women rocked up and ALL wanted to pay INDIVIDUALLY in various ways..... meanwhile you're conscious of a lovely regular couple who have to now wait 20 minutes while you deal with this faff before you can even take their order.
The general public are bloody hard work as a rule. I stay well away from them now!

InPraiseOfBacchus · 10/05/2022 15:51

I worked retail for years - I would never have believed how entitled, crude and downright trashy some people could behave until I worked in a (nice!) department store.

My standout memory is a lady going into the fitting rooms and changing her baby's pooey diaper out in front of everyone on a velvet covered bench. Stunk out the room, and she was appalled when I asked her to stop!

Although I'm wary about sharing this anecdote because last time I told it here I was met by a big old-fashioned Mumsnet response of "What's wrong with a bit of baby poo getting everywhere?" 🙄

LadyOfTheCanyon · 10/05/2022 18:02

My very short stint at waitressing taught me the following:

Start at the same point on each table ( say twelve o'clock) and work round clockwise. Much easier to then remember who had what as you write it down.

Maverickess · 10/05/2022 20:44

LadyOfTheCanyon · 10/05/2022 18:02

My very short stint at waitressing taught me the following:

Start at the same point on each table ( say twelve o'clock) and work round clockwise. Much easier to then remember who had what as you write it down.

Works really well, until your till rearranges the orders on the print out so you can't trust it 🤦 or people swap seats because of the view/draft/whatever reason.
Generally we do try and identify who has what, but it can become impossible when it's really busy and you've got different people seating/taking orders and then someone else making and delivering drinks and someone else taking out food - which cuts down on service time and makes it more efficient, which seems to be the main thing people want.

PrawnToast5 · 10/05/2022 21:10

Not the worst story i have but always springs to mind when talking about entitled customers.

I was working at a supermarket, and had a woman call one morning and ask for 250 crusty rolls for her large charity bbq. Its not strange for customers to ask for larger quantities of items to be kept aside, but more like 10/20 at a time!

I said that the bakery schedule is tight, making products for the shelf but I would pass on the request anyway as we would be keen to support local charities.

She wanted them for 4 hours time, I told her it simply wasn't possible and she very curtly asked me "well what shall i do then? I have charity bbq in 4 hours" as if it was my problem! I had to bite my tongue to stop me from telling her to get baking.

InPraiseOfBacchus · 11/05/2022 09:20

Working on a complaints desk for a rail company, I once took a call from a woman who was furious that she'd been asked to fold down her pram to make room for a wheelchair user:

"My two year old can't walk very far, how does that NOT count as disabled?!"

LadyOfTheCanyon · 11/05/2022 09:35

Oh my word, the entitlement! And hugely offensive, obviously. People baffle me sometimes.

PriamFarrl · 11/05/2022 18:22

PrawnToast5 · 10/05/2022 21:10

Not the worst story i have but always springs to mind when talking about entitled customers.

I was working at a supermarket, and had a woman call one morning and ask for 250 crusty rolls for her large charity bbq. Its not strange for customers to ask for larger quantities of items to be kept aside, but more like 10/20 at a time!

I said that the bakery schedule is tight, making products for the shelf but I would pass on the request anyway as we would be keen to support local charities.

She wanted them for 4 hours time, I told her it simply wasn't possible and she very curtly asked me "well what shall i do then? I have charity bbq in 4 hours" as if it was my problem! I had to bite my tongue to stop me from telling her to get baking.

I worked in a little independent interiors shop.
We had just locked up for the night when a woman ran up to the shop and demanded to be let in. We told her we were shut, the alarms were set and we were going home. She shouted and huffed but was told tough. Nothing in an interiors shop is life or death.

The next day, in the afternoon she came back in. She wanted to buy the mirror ball we had in the window, but we had just sold it. She said ‘well I tried to buy it yesterday but you wouldn’t let me. I need it, what am I going to do now?’ I don’t know what she was doing that needed a mirror ball so desperately.

If, the night before she had asked us to hold it for her or if she had phoned first thing, then I’d have gladly held on to it for her. But no she had decided to stand and shout at us for having the cheek to go home.

Muezza · 11/05/2022 19:50

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll
I'm crying with laughter at your post, what is wrong with people 🤣🤣🤣

DdraigGoch · 11/05/2022 20:34

InPraiseOfBacchus · 11/05/2022 09:20

Working on a complaints desk for a rail company, I once took a call from a woman who was furious that she'd been asked to fold down her pram to make room for a wheelchair user:

"My two year old can't walk very far, how does that NOT count as disabled?!"

People who won't fold their pushchair down are a pain in the backside

SunnyLobelia · 11/05/2022 20:39

InPraiseOfBacchus · 10/05/2022 15:51

I worked retail for years - I would never have believed how entitled, crude and downright trashy some people could behave until I worked in a (nice!) department store.

My standout memory is a lady going into the fitting rooms and changing her baby's pooey diaper out in front of everyone on a velvet covered bench. Stunk out the room, and she was appalled when I asked her to stop!

Although I'm wary about sharing this anecdote because last time I told it here I was met by a big old-fashioned Mumsnet response of "What's wrong with a bit of baby poo getting everywhere?" 🙄

That reminds me of the Queen Bee in my baby group. You know th e sort. The kind who just has everything sorted and lords it over everyone else. The one who offers unsolicited advice that is designed only to show how they are Doing It Better. (The one in my case who when my very non-verbal child was still not talking (ASD as it turned out) put her head to one side and clicked ; 'Have you tried talking to him?'. )

We were at soft play followed by pizza hut. Her DS filled his nappy with a very smelly poo and she just moved aside the cutlery and plates and changed him on the fucking table.

rainbowmilk · 12/05/2022 17:13

InPraiseOfBacchus · 10/05/2022 15:51

I worked retail for years - I would never have believed how entitled, crude and downright trashy some people could behave until I worked in a (nice!) department store.

My standout memory is a lady going into the fitting rooms and changing her baby's pooey diaper out in front of everyone on a velvet covered bench. Stunk out the room, and she was appalled when I asked her to stop!

Although I'm wary about sharing this anecdote because last time I told it here I was met by a big old-fashioned Mumsnet response of "What's wrong with a bit of baby poo getting everywhere?" 🙄

I've found that MN is generally quite content with baby poo (which apparently doesn't smell because it's a baby - not sure that's how it works) but mention a bit of dog hair or saliva and they lose their shit (no pun intended).

rainbowmilk · 12/05/2022 17:24

In the video store I worked at, parents would often put their kids down on the counter whilst they tried to find wallet or ID cards and every time I’d be terrified thinking the kid was going to fall off. We kept asking them not to do it but it didn’t work.

The worst was the ones who’d plop down kids wearing just a nappy or a top and nappy. We’d ask them to stop as it’s not hygienic for others and they’d just scoff. One woman laughed and said, “oh you’d know if he’d had one of his poonamis, he’s terrible for them!”

Well yes, that’s why I want him off the counter that I have to touch every few minutes!

We had our fair share of parents giving their kids a potty on the shop floor as well. I get that there’s urgency and we weren’t allowed to let them use the staff loo as it was in the back with the money/valuable stock but it was really unpleasant to witness.

I really don’t miss retail…

BorderlineHappy · 13/05/2022 10:56

The only thing worse than shitty customers where managers who sided with them.

whynotwhatknot · 13/05/2022 12:02

I only use my phone at the till to pay with contactless wouldnt dream of having a phone call or worse video call as ive seen many times

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