10 Customers Who Prove Retail Workers Deserve Medals / Bright Side
Working in retail is like starring in a never-ending comedy show, except the jokes are real and you can’t escape the stage. These 10 customer stories prove why retail workers truly deserve medals (and maybe a lifetime supply of patience).
1.
Yesterday, a woman approached me with a pink plastic phone case asking how many text messages it could store in an inbox. I said she needed to have a cell phone for that. She clearly didn’t understand. After about 10 minutes of trying to explain that the case was solely for style/protective purposes, I sent her over to the phone department and let them deal with her for the next hour.
2.
Used to work at Starbucks. A lady ordered a mocha and I forgot to add the mocha syrup. I fixed it. She put it back on the bar a couple minutes later and said, “It doesn’t taste right, I want a new one.” Okay I thought. I get started on it and she goes to the restroom.
She gets back before I’m done making it, sees her old drink on the bar that I hadn’t taken back yet, and thinks it’s her new one. She looks at and says, “Ah, it looks better already!”, takes a big drink and says, “Now see, that’s perfect” then leaves before I can tell her I didn’t do a thing.
3.
The ice dispenser broke at the fast food joint I used to work at. As a temporary fix, we set out a serving bowl full of ice with tongs. A customer comes up to me to complain that the machine isn’t dispensing ice.
I say, “A repair guy was called, but he’s not here yet. There’s a bowl next to the soda fountain, so you can still get ice.”
The guy immediately gets an attitude about it, “How do I know that ice hasn’t been sitting out there all day?”
I stare at him for a good few seconds before saying, “Because it’s still solid.”
“…”
“If left out at room temperature ’old ice’ would just be water.”
He said, “I want to speak with your manager.”
4.
A woman came into my restaurant looking for her friends who were already there. The place is small, and you can see every seat from the front door. I hand her a menu, and say, “Take a look, they’ve gotta be here.”
She looks at me, then at the menu in fear and confusion. I ask her what’s wrong. She says, “How do you have a map of where everyone is sitting?” She thought we live-printed maps every time someone new came through the doors.
5.
“I have a coupon for a free sandwich, but I don’t know where it is.”
“So… You don’t have a coupon?”
“No, I said that I have a coupon but. I. don’t. know. where. it. is!!!!!!”
This argument lasted long enough to get the manager out of her office, in part because of how ridiculous it was.
6.
I made lentil soup for the kitchen I worked in as a teen, but I put the carrots in later than I should have and so they still had a slight crunch when the first customer bought a cup. He stormed back in after a few minutes and demanded his money back because he was going to get food poisoning from eating an uncooked carrot.
7.
I work in customer service for a cell phone company. One customer called complaining about international numbers calling an soliciting her. I asked what the number was and she gave me a standard 10 digit number. I asked why she thought it was international to which she said, “Because the caller ID says it’s coming from the District of Columbia”.
8.
C: Can I keep these indoor plants outside?
M: Well, they are tropical plants and we live in Canada so they would be fine for the summer, but you would need to bring them inside during fall and winter.
C: Ok, but what will happen if I just leave them outside for winter?
M: They will die.
C: Ok, but what can I do to keep them alive?
M: …
9.
We had a guy come in once very angry because we messed up his coffee. Instead of sweetener, we added sugar. He was throwing a hissy fit claiming he’d a diabetic and that spoonful of sugar would have surely killed him had he ingested more than one gulp of the coffee.
My manager offered him any other item on the menu for free. Buddy decides he wants a dozen donuts. No problem. I pack up the dozen, hand it to him. He then proceeds to eat not one, not two, but three lard-sugar-fat glazed donuts in front of my eyeballs even though he just claimed he was severely diabetic.
10.
Lady called in to tell me that her computer had been taken over by the Matrix. I asked her to move her mouse. “Omg! It’s back to my normal desktop screen! What happened?” “Ma’am, someone installed a Matrix screensaver on your computer. Anything else I can help you with today?”
Winning someone’s heart isn’t always a smooth ride, and these guys found that out the hard way. In this article, 10 men open up about their rejections and awkward moments. Rather than focusing on the setbacks, they embraced self-acceptance and learned valuable lessons. After all, sometimes the real victory is just being confident in who you are!
