Nightmare customers and general bat shittery - what are your stories?

[saywhatnow1]

I have my own business doing dog boarding in my home. It's really successful and I love it. I also used to feed cats when I started, but I stopped that several years ago. Another thread I've been reading today, reminded me about some of my batshit customers, and what it can be like to deal with the public. Would love to hear some stories from others. Here are a few from me to start :

Was looking after a tiny dog, who kept biting me. The customer insisted that the dog must NOT eat from a bowl, but must be hand fed, and wanted it to be fed chocolate buttons! Obviously chocolate is poisonous to dogs, but this dog had been eating them for over 10 years at this point, so was obviouly used to them. Every time I tried to feed the dog it bit me. And proper nasty bites. My hand swelled up so big I couldn't drive, and I had to get a tetanus booster. If you walked past the dog, it would lunge at you and sink it's teeth into your ankles. After about 5 days of this, I e-mailed the customer who was abroad, and they called me that night. When I explained what was happening, and asked whether the dog could perhaps get collected by someone it would be more comfortable with, they said "Oh no. Buddy has been biting everyone for years. It bites my kids and my grandkids. No one will have him, they all hate him. Just go and get him put down please" 😳

Another lady wanted to put her dog in for daycare when she was at work. She wanted to drop her dog off at 5am, and collect it at 11pm! I explained that our opening hours were 7am-7pm, but that she was welcome to board the dog when she had long days at work. She was unhappy with this, and tried over and over again with long rambling texts, to get me to accept the dog from 5am till 11pm, because she "didn't want to pay any extra for boarding". 😵

I have had LOADS of customers pushing me, to let them collect their dog after 7pm. Sometimes wanting to stop by as late as midnight. No! I am not sitting here in my day clothes until that time. I want to get my jammies on at 7pm and have some semblance of a normal life.

I was feeding a lady's cat, and often it wouldn't come back for days on end. She kept texting me at 10pm, asking me to do a free second visit, to see if the cat was home. No! I was in my jammies and enjoying some wine. No, I'm not going back!

Oh, and there was the lady who said she'd be back at 5pm to collect her dog. 5pm came and went. I really needed to go out at 530pm to drop my car in for repairs. Tried calling her. Her phone was off. She didn't come back till 8pm!

Also had a lady come along with a beagle called Lucifer. She explained that he can't be left alone AT ALL. At the last boarder he was at, the boarder had gone out for 15 minutes to get milk from the shop, and when he got back his front door had been half eaten. Then she expected me to say, no problem, when would you like him to stay (what happens when you sleep, or maybe I wasn't meant to sleep?!"

Oh, and the last minute texts before a stay is about to start, with it casually thrown in that the dog isn't house trained. What? And you're telling me this the day before the stay? Well, he can't come then. Now what are you going to do?

These are probably quite minor compared to some examples others have!!

I was a customer for this one. I was next in the queue for the till at the garden centre, with a trolley full of plants. A man, with his little daughter on his arm, suddenly materialised behind me and said "you don't mind if I nip in front, do you? Only got a couple of things!"

If he'd given me time to answer I probably would have said yeah, sure - but he didn't. He just stepped right in front of me and put his stuff on the counter. In shock, I caught the eye of another customer and we both burst out laughing. This shamed him into turning round and cheerily saying "thanks so much! Sorry! Kid's getting heavy!".

In my mind, I replied "there's really no need to thank me, as you didn't give me any choice" but in fact I just stared at him blankly, I think.

What are you talking about??? You just made it on to my list anyway 🤣

Full restaurant, my daughter as front of house manager.. me as owner and General manager that flitted between kitchen and front of house. She came to me one day. One of our (lovely) servers had been berated as we did not have an item on menu available. It was advertised on every table what we were short on thank you covid , our suppliers could not get. It was a very very stupid thing. Not a main meal. It was deep fried pickles which we bought in from mccains. Unfortunately for the guest.. when my daughter tried to calm and recifiy..they told her, nevermind. I will call the owner , he is one of our best friends. daughter told me this. I went out in my chef coat and asked what the problem was.. "everything was fantastic , but the server refused to check for our starter. .. and' I KNOW the owner" really. you know the owner? 'yes and I am sending him a message now" ME.. ok.. let me know how that goes. "her...(it was actually the woman not man..he looked embarassed) I then said. NO man owns this restaurant. I OWN this restaurant and I do not KNOW YOU and I am sorry, I try to make great service for everyone..our employees are valued people. Leave and pay your bill. never come back please. (I did this all quietly)

Working in retail is awful! Lasted 2 months and it honestly was the worst job ever! One person's cash card wouldn't go though the till..kept getting rejected, I was the biggest bitch because I wouldn't let her take home the trolley full of shopping and come back later to pay! Another one complained because an item was more expensive in our store than in another one and wanted to pay the cheaper price 🙄.. another complained that the items they wanted were never in the reduced bin (nearly out of sell by date) and they always had to pay full price!..some people are nuts!

I wasn’t working that day. We had some extremely heavy rain which flooded the store (entrance is low lying) and a man hole cover popped open by the truck shutters. Had to close store early.

Customers were getting angry at the staff on why they can’t continue with their shopping.

I had a bloke hiss at me that he was 'going to come back once your shift has finished,rape you and burn your corspe'

My crime?

I asked if he wanted sugar for his coffee

I was doing a run of early shifts that week-dp would drop me off and I'd make my own way home

The bus stop is about 7 minutes away from work,so I had to keep looking over my shoulder while convinced I kept seeing him

He did come back in a few weeks later to apologise to me,but I was too scared to speak to him

He kept waiting outside,so he could catch me to say sorry-i had to arrange lifts to and from work for ages afterwards

The police just said he had mental health problems so couldn't do much

Fucking loon-I still live in fear of him walking in,even tho he's banned

I’ve had a customer (didn’t speak English) pull my hair as they wanted hair dye & I didn’t understand her language, I kept saying ‘sorry I don’t understand’ then she pulled my hair, other customers ask if we sell certain things, tell them no then go in a strop & say ‘well where am I meant to buy them then?’ Like I’m google all of a sudden. We get loads of non English speaking people in store, they are on their phone on google translate asking for the most random shit ever!

I was a working milliner. Ladies brought their outfits to my shop, I designed and made them hats or fascinators to match. One lady returned after the wedding demanding a full refund because she hadn't worn the hat I'd made. Why not? It was the wrong colour. But I dyed the feathers, they matched your frock perfectly. Her reply? I know but I wore a different outfit and the hat was wrong.

Another woman wanted a very elaborate fascinator. I quoted her £X. Oh and I want extra veiling, and lots more feathers, and Swarovski crystals in the flowers and hand beaded leaves. Can you do that? Yes. That will cost £X+++
Shock horror! I don't know how you've the face to ask all that for a few bits of ribbon and a scrap of veiling! I pushed the components across to counter to her, with my compliments. 'They're no use to me', she stormed. 'I can't make a hat with those!'
Just so, Madam. She left in a great huff.

When I was airline cabin crew (decades ago) a lady came on board with her husband. He had a window seat a few rows ahead of her and she sat in one of the over wing exit seats, next to a window, so she was adjacent to the emergency exit. I asked her to let me brief her on how to use the exit in an emergency and she refused. When asked why, she said she had an artificial limb. Well, unfortunately it wasn't allowed to have someone with mobility issues next to an exit because in the event of an emergency they have to agree to open the exit and climb out onto the wing. So I gently explained this to her and asked her if I could show her to another seat. She refused. No amount of cajoling or a visit from the captain was going to change her mind. We couldn't legally take off with her sitting there so she was holding up the flight, and other passengers were getting a bit antsy. Eventually we had to call the airport police so she had a choice as to whether to leave with them or move seat. She was calling me all sorts of names and loudly making a huge fuss. Eventually she moved, and even then I tried to make polite conversation with her. It turned out that this shouty loud woman was from the New York Noise Abatement Society!! I have no idea if that is actually a thing but she sure made enough noise herself!!

Not me but a co worker. Made to measure blinds. They agreed all the measurements. Very stroppy and exacting. Blinds delivered were dolls house size. He’d given sizes in mm not cm and so that was what he got. They did keep checking but he knew better!!

@Adviceneeeeded

I think different restaurants must have different policies and\or booking systems. I normally try to book online but on several occasions when that hasn't been possible I've rung up or visited the premises and spaces have been available.

I used to work in Woolies in one of the big W stores, I worked customer service and entertainment as well as tills and shop floor occasionally when it was busy, like Christmas eve, I lost count of all the times I got told I ruined Christmas because we didn't have xyz left at 3pm on Christmas eve.
On the customer service desk I used to get all sorts of bullshit excuses, I used to get called all sorts of names, but the one customer that stood out for me was a woman who brought back a hamster cage, 6months after she'd bought it asking for a refund, I said no it was obvious it wasn't faulty and we couldn't resell it as it had been used and was still full of bedding. She got nasty screaming at me and asked to speak to a manager, who I got and then he apologised&gave her a refund I was so annoyed. I told him it was obvious the hamster had died and she just wanted the money back, it was nowhere near the 30day policy and why did he give her a refund. She just said the customer is always right! He was a top twat though!
I still work in retail and hairdressing the public are bonkers and every year seems to get worse. Most customers are nice, but the cuntstomers are definitely getting more prevalent too!

I forgot this one. I was working in the community and this man was having daily visits from someone in our team. It was my 1st visit to him.
He finally opened the door, but complained about the way I'd knocked! There was no doorbell, so I knocked on the door. Apparently I was supposed to bend down to the post slot at shin level, and rattle the flap back and forth. I apologised and suggested he put a sign on the door so people knew how he wanted to door knocked. He blew into a range and threatened to throttle me with his walking stick whilst holding it above his head! No- he didn't have dementia or other neurological issue and yes, I got out of there very quicky!

I don't understand the issue with going back to the shop because parts of a hot tub were missing? Surely the seller of the product is responsible?

E.g. If I buy a new car and there is an issue, I should go back to the garage I bought it from to sort out the issue not the car manufacturer?

@MoonWoman69 God knows! It was always in weird corners of the store. Except for the shit, that was trailed round having dripped down someone's leg 🤮

(and not that I’m still holding a grudge but 20 years later and she works in a bingo hall whilst my husband most definitely made something of himself) - sucks to be her!

You come across as a real snob. There’s no shame in any kind of an honest days work and I think it probably sucks more to be you.

Once long ago , a brand new store made a mistake, "we accept any voucher against any product" .
My sister calls says grab some vouchers, the biggest ones you can find and come shopping. I had a car with a big boot...
The store was being stripped of goods...
I had over £1500 in vouchers we had a whale of a time.
Now this little old lady was shopping, trolley with all she could afford, someone shouted and everyone hand over vouchers to the lady. Think she got £500 worth... people were asking her what wine, did she like steak ECT her dolly was swooped for a bigger one and she got things she could use as the fresh stuff was long gone...
She got to the checkout and was trying to say she hadn't purchased stuff it was being forced on her. The staff told her no it was ok. She could have it all for just the vouchers...
Someone even had a taxi and took her home....
Best day ever....

I said there's no way we are taking him to get PTS. So they arranged for a friend to collect him the next day, and off to the vets they went!

@saywhatnow1

This is really sad. Were they not upset at all about their dog dying?!

There is literally NO hostility in this post 🙄

I work in hospitality and our “manager” ran across the car park in pouring rain to beg some foul mouthed woman to come back to the restaurant.. She’d been chucked out for shouting, using vile language and hitting a staff member with a menu😟 Sunday lunchtime, full with families who silently watched this! My respect for that manager shrivelled to nothing that day. Head Office never defended us - not once. Vile, handsy drunken men who touched the young girls were allowed back in “if they apologised”
People who peed all over the floor in the toilets, vomited up the wall, or (on several occasions) shat themselves were allowed back after a few days banning.
Huge company, thousands of staff, zero respect.

Oh look, the 'You're in the wrong job' - has anyone come along and said "But the service is shiiit" yet! 🤣

On a different note, I work behind a desk and people stand while I'm obviously sitting, the amount of people men who lean right over the desk and are practically nose to nose with me. It's quite funny when I'm not bothered and lower the screen and lean back towards them, watching them get confused that I don't back off from their invasion of my personal space and return it.

Not a staff member but I witnessed this at the tip. A man had been told he couldn’t drop something off and was raging at the staff. He stomped off back to his car with a staff member in tow, who was apologising and trying to explain how the item could be disposed of.

Anyway, the guy got in his car and drove into another member of staff whilst screaming at him to get out of the way! It was all caught on CCTV and apparently the Police were alerted.

I used to work at my university campus bookshop at weekends while i was a student. A business executive who was also an MBA student wanted a refund on her book. It was the wrong book for the course so I said we could swap it for the correct one if she brought in the receipt.

The MBA student came in the following weekend with the book and receipt. The receipt was from a different bookshop altogether. Not even from a different branch of this well known book chain. I tried to explain this to the customer but she wasn't having it. She demanded to see the manager, the poor fellow tried to explain it again but she still was insistent on a refund.

In the end, my manager rang the manager of the other bookshop who then spoke to batshit lady & told her to get the refund from his bookshop. 😮

Anyway she flounced out of our bookshop never to be seen again! Some people would be dangerous if they were actually intelligent.

Not quite the same, but a few weeks ago I was on a train and a woman was calling an estate agent (on speakerphone naturally). She didn't expect the estate agent to shut up shop to take her somewhere, but she did expect the person she was speaking to on the phone to get the estate agent she wanted to speak to to leave the customer she was with and get her on the phone, because she was clearly much more important!

The obvious answer to that one is "that's right, I own my house".