TalesFromRetail

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/MiddleFingerMonday on 2023-11-04 12:58:55.

A long time ago, back when I was but a youngling, I had a job in a tack & feed store. The feed people were usually the few farmers and the housewives raising chickens. The tack people...well, horse people are obnoxious and entitled as a species so this is the side of the store you're gonna hear about.

It was a Saturday in the spring, the people who do the horse thing were keeping us busy with their show season starting. In comes an early 90s version of a Karen with her two kids. She had one of those big ass satellite phones (first time I'd seen one) and was dressed head to toe in DKNY.

Karen immediately starts shouting that she must have jodhpur boots for the younger girl and hunter boots for the older one. I hustle over there to help her find the sizes and she says that these "aren't real leather." Well, they actually are, but whatever.

Karen then goes on a tirade about how this store wasn't a tack store and she needed these items NOW and they needed to better quality because they had traveled all the way from (further away state) for her kids to show. And her kids forgot their boots! So I helped her get the boots, but we didn't have the exact size for the younger girl. She demanded that I give her the larger boots free because we were "ill stocked" (30 years later I remember that exact quote). I told her I couldn't, I was just the 16 year old help. She asked for the manager. Manager was also the owner. This dude looked at her and said if she didn't want to buy them, then don't, but he wasn't going to give away merchandise.

She ended up buying both pairs of boots and then came back later to buy something else they had forgotten. She actually had the nerve to whine that we were "overcharging." My manager overheard and said that he bet it was actually more expensive on the show grounds from the vendors so she should shut up. He was so awesome. I wish all managers were like him.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/azoek on 2023-11-04 05:49:40.

I used to work at one of the big electronic store. I used to wear blue shirts if that helps. We have two entrances and we were using one for the entrance and one for the exit. I was one of the managers. I was dealing with the front of the store. Transactions and customer questions while they were purchasing things. Oh and I don’t know if I told you it was Black Friday. So I have a customer come through the exit and storm up the desk. He plopped his 50 inch tv that looked like a shotgun was shot at it multiple times. He throws the receipt at me and says he wants a refund. In the process of looking at the television, I inspect the receipt that was 5 years old. Like 5 years to the month. After arguing and expecting us to return it and then threatening my 18F Customer Service Associate I had to call the cops. They came in and I explained the situation and then they explained the situation saying that they won’t move out of the store without a refund. In the end the started getting aggressive now and slamming his fist on the already broken television. He caught a piece in his hand and it started bleeding. I asked if he wanted first aid. He called the ambulance and they treated him on sight. After they treated him my Customer Service Associate decided to press charges that she didn’t feel safe around the guy. Not only did he get arrested for trespassing because he still didn’t leave. He got a restraining order.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/AdrielBast on 2023-11-03 01:42:02.

Sorry for typos, doing this on my phone while working.

Anyway a while ago I posted about a dude who got pissed off about the price of Vuse vapes, insisting that the 4 pack is cheaper and cursing me out etc etc. He came in about twenty minutes ago and honestly I am laughing over what happened.

So we are out of the specific pack he always gets. I told him he can try the main store across the parking lot to see if they still have any in stock and he responded with a lovely “F*ck that.” To set the mood and got a different pack.

Now we’re supposed to id EVERYONE no matter how old they look or if they are regulars. I was still running on the previous jobs policy of “if they look over 40 don’t Id” when I saw him last, but after chatting with some managers and older employees about it and nah, I am supposed to check everyone’s. No exception. I get it’s frustrating but majority of my customers have no problems with it.

Which is where the problem came in. I asked for his id, he started swearing and saying I had to be kidding. I told him not, and that management said that’s the policy.

Him: You’re the only one who ever does, no one else does!!

Me: well, I will let management know that my coworkers up here aren’t, as inconsistency in rules can causes unnecessary problems

Him: you never IDd me before!!

Me: I had not had you as a customer since management told me we have to do this.

Some back and forth, he kept cursing, usual how dare I spiel as he brought out his ID. I went to take it so I could type it in and he snatched it back. “You can look but you’re not f*cking touching it!”

Problem is his hand was shaking so bad I couldn’t read it. Which like I get he can’t help that, no shame in it. I told him i can’t read it and he flipped it over to be scanned, I calmly explained our registers can’t scan them. He cursed some more, and I had to squint to try and read it. Typed it in, he kept swearing the whole time.

As I’m bagging his stuff I apologize that our store policy inconvenienced him. He cursed more “F*ck your policy!!” And mind you I’m staying surprisingly calm throughout this (the verbal abuse from customers at the old job trained me well) and he was always screaming about how he’ll go shop somewhere else when it came to the price of Vuse so I, calmly, went “I am sorry that you do not like our policy regarding IDs, but you are welcome to shop elsewhere if there are stores that work better for you.” Which is a pretty innocuous statement.

Demanded to know who the manager is. Then blows up and demands to know the main manager, I tell him. He demands to know my name so I straight faced told him “Bob” cause like Hell I’m telling him my real name. And then he stormed off saying he’s talking to management about this unprofessional BS and that I have terrible customer service blah blah blah.

I’m not concerned. If the main store calls I’ll explain to them, but I doubt he’ll actually confront a manager. Otherwise I am no longer going to be selling to him since this is not the first time he’s blown up at me and cursed me out for following store policy.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/ValentinesStar on 2023-11-02 23:48:51.

Some context. I used to work at a store that specialized in accessories. We had a Buy 3, Get 3 deal on hair accessories and jewelry. Got to emphasize this, it was exclusive to jewelry and hair accessories. It’s also pretty important to note that this store was incredibly understaffed and I was often there by myself on our busiest days. It was a small store, but that was still super overwhelming and stressful. Usually on those days, I’d have a hard time focusing on any one thing and I’d keep interaction with customers to a minimum because I was bouncing around the store trying to do a dozen different things at once. I imagine there are some people here who can relate.

This started on one of those days. I was there alone on a Saturday. Like usual, I was busy and juggling a lot of different things. This woman and two girls who I’m assuming were her granddaughters come in. I wasn’t paying much attention until they were ready to check out and, this is very important to keep in mind, they didn’t approach me or ask me for any help while they were shopping. They had four accessories and two PopSockets. I check them out and they head out. Normal transaction and my day continues.

I was at work the next day. The woman from the day before came in. I greeted her, not really recognizing her, until she walked up to me and told me she’d been there yesterday. She told me she’d looked at her receipt from the other day that day and realized that the total was higher than she expected it to be. She said she didn’t get a discount she thought she was supposed to and then pulled out her receipt. I looked over it and told her that the deal only applies to hair accessories and jewelry and that PopSockets weren’t included in the deal.

And honestly, I feel like that should’ve just gone without saying. PopSockets are phone accessories. They’re not something you wear on your body. And there were a ton of signs around the store that said “Buy 3, Get 3 Hair and Jewelry”. The signs didn’t just say “accessories” or imply that anything else would be included. So I’m getting a little annoyed, but obviously not saying anything. I apologize to her, as you’re always required to do in situations where the customer feels even slightly unhappy, and she looks me in the eye and says “You need to tell people that”.

Keep in mind, not only was I really too busy to pay attention to the one family while they were shopping, but this woman hadn’t asked me any questions about the deal. She also didn’t say anything when she was checking out and when she was told what her total was. She apparently couldn’t be bothered to notice what her total was until the next day.

She looks me dead in the eye and tells me several more times before she left that I “need to tell people that”. I get that this woman was annoyed that she spent more money than she wanted to, but I still got pretty annoyed. Was she expecting me to read her mind and know she was trying to get that discount?

Moral of the story: Pay attention to your total while you’re shopping, read signs, and ask retail employees questions about discounts so that you buy the right things instead of getting mad at stressed out minimum wage workers and lecturing them about how to do their job. Also, PopSockets aren’t jewelry.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Silkikuri97 on 2023-11-02 20:54:25.

So my friend works (or worked) as a Produce Clerk at a grocery store. This guy's job consisted of literally arranging fruits and vegetables onto the counters and spent 50% of his time in the back where he didn't have to interact with customers. His company's dress code consisted of their shirt with the logo, black jeans, and black shoes. He'd been there for a couple months and got in trouble twice for violating the dress code, one of which was his first day since they never communicated this to him on orientation day. Mind you, the "violations" consisted of him wearing slightly off colour dark jeans and shoes that weren't fully black. He's also a student and has tons of work, and is working 32 hours a week, so obviously sometimes his brain isn't working 100%. Hold on to that

Yesterday, he had a very early shift in the morning and didn't get a whole lot of sleep the night before because of school. As a result of being up early and not fully awake, he showed up to work with the correct shirt. Correct pants. The only flaw? His shoes were white. They were Reeboks with white stripes. Fired on the spot. This guy had worked 32 hours a week (more than anyone actually), always on time, got good reviews from customers, quick learner, sacrificed his sleep and study times, and this is how they treated him. Fired him because of effing shoe colour. And for what? Are the customers going to complain? Is he showing a bad display for the company? Like I'm sorry but I've never went to a grocery store and checked or cared what pants or shoes anyone was wearing. As long as they have the company shirt to show that they work there and can help, I think that's all that matters.

Say what you will about office jobs but none of the ones I've worked are this regarded about small stuff like dress codes.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/AutoModerator on 2023-11-01 13:01:12.

Welcome to /r/TalesFromRetail's Express Lane - your quick stop for short tales, pithy observations and general retail chat about how things are going with your store, your customers and yourselves.

Please follow the rules regarding anonymity and derogatory speech. NO BUSINESS NAMES

(All comments will be sorted by "new")

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/textureworkshop on 2023-10-30 21:39:11.

This happened over twenty years ago, how did I get this old? I was an assistant manager at a craft store. Our Halloween merchandise included costumes. The store doesn't sell them anymore. I can totally understand why not. They were always a mess.

We had the usual return policies. You need a receipt. Purchased within 30 days. Things must be in their original packaging. But our manager was trying to enforce a new one: no returns on holiday merchandise within seven days of the holiday. Because this was a new policy, there were signs at every register and flyers we put in bags at checkout.

We had a rock star for a head cashier. She could handle anything, but some customers just have to talk to a manager. I come to her register when called because she has an issue with a customer trying to return an item. The item is a costume. There is no receipt, there is no packaging, just a crumpled ball of cheap fabric tossed into one of our bags. I run through the issues, knowing full well that she has already heard all of this from the head cashier. Our customer isn't taking no for an answer. Finally I get to the point that it is two days before Halloween, and we are no longer taking returns on Halloween merchandise. She asks why. Silly me, I think she is a sane individual and take the time to explain to her our aggressive clearance policy on seasonal merchandise and that there was no way we would be able to sell it before Halloween. She thinks this is an opening to explain that we will surely be able to sell the costume, four out of five of her children have worn it and absolutely loved it. She doesn't understand why her youngest is refusing to wear it. But the fact that the other kids did, surely shows what a good costume it is and that we will have no problem selling it in the next two days. I take a moment... gather my thoughts and ask: so you are saying that you have had this costume for years and it has been worn no less than four times and because a fifth child is refusing to wear it, you think we should take it back? She shook her head enthusiastically, thinking she was finally making some progress. I gently offered her directions to the second hand store down the street. I know I got off easy, there is a lot more crazy out there in retail, but she was the most delusional customer I ever had... and always think of her and her son every Halloween.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Chaos-and-Spite1389 on 2023-10-28 18:15:48.

So, this lady has come in to my store on three separate occasions in the past few weeks.

The first time was almost two weeks ago and the first thing she did was ask me if Halloween products were on sale yet. This is over two weeks before Halloween. I told her they most likely would not be until after Halloween and she proceeded to buy a five foot skeleton and a blond mullet wig. She explained that she would be going to a Halloween party with her husband and was going to try to convince him to wear the wig and dress as a “hippie.” I thought she was a little odd and then moved on with my night.

Later that week, she came back to exchange the wig for another one. The new one was a black mullet. She explained that her husband didn’t like the blond one but said that he would wear a black one. Then, she decided that rather than have him dress as a hippie he was going to go as a Mexican American. Of course, I couldn’t say anything but I thought this was incredibly stupid. Since she didn’t have her receipt, I had to process her refund onto a store gift card which she then used to buy the second wig. She also had a coupon so she still had some money left on it after. Well, this confused her so much that I had to get my manager who spent 15 minutes explaining why there was still money on the gift card. Right before she left, she asked me again if Halloween had gone on clearance and I gave her the same answer I had before.

A few days ago, she came back to return the new wig. This time, her reasoning was that she didn’t like that the top was curly. Just like the picture shows. So they found a “better” one online. I processed her refund onto another gift card and she laughed at the fact that she had two now. Once again, before she left, she stopped to ask if Halloween was on sale. At this point, I think she is just stupid.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Sorceress683 on 2023-10-26 04:24:47.

So, I used to be a cashier at one of the large retail chains that offers everything. This particular chain often had discounts and clearance items, however those deals were always based on individual products, never grouping things together. So, one day this gentleman wanders in looking for the soda. I'm at the register and he asks for directions to the cases of soda. No problem, it's literally the furthest point in the store from my register, diagonal all the way across the store to the very far back four corner. Well, that was annoying for him but I can't change the layout of the store for you. Then, he demands that I tell him about this week's special on soda. How good of a deal was it? How many cases for what price together, is it buy two get two free or buy three get two free? Needless to say, he was not happy when I told him that we don't have those kinds of deals. In fact we never have those kinds of deals. You got really annoyed, insisting that we absolutely do. We apparently are the store that he always shops at and we always have those deals. In point of fact, that is something offered at a completely different chain store on the opposite side of town, and I told him as much. I told him the price of our individual cases. He didn't even bother to go look, just stormed out. I'm sure he went to that other store, but the joke's on him because even with those kinds of deals, the prices are insanely high. In fact the only way that they can actually sell things with the prices that they put on the tags is by having those kinds of deals.

Another day, another angry customer.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Artist_Gamerblam on 2023-10-25 20:34:03.

So this is just a really weird story that happened to me just Today

So this guy was buying craft paint and they were 2 for 1$ (so rang up 50 cents each)

He started arguing with me about the sign that said buy 2 get one free and I told him what he was getting was actually cheaper. (Regularly 99 Cents, so B2g1 Free would be 2$ for 3)

He asked if I could do both sales and I told him no.

Then he decided he didn’t want the third one despite the fact it was still cheaper and told me that the signs were misleading or whatever.

TLDR, guy doesn’t understand math and was actually getting a better deal than what the sign said

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/flightsergeantchaos2 on 2023-10-22 09:45:23.

So, for context, I work in a fairly large petrol station in the UK. Obviously when you're around flammable liquids, there are various health and safety policies. One of our policies is that bikers must dismount while filling (since if the bike tipped over for any reason, it would spill fuel everywhere). Most of the time when you go on the tannoy, they just do as you ask, maybe whine a little bit when they come inside to pay but not a big deal. This guy was not one of those people.

Me and my colleague were both serving at the tills, she asked him over the tannoy to get off his bike while filling, I wasn't looking at the forecourt cameras since they were on her side of the tills. After she authorises the pump for him, she goes out for a smoke break so I switch to her till so I can monitor the forecourt cameras. I'm still serving customers as usual and when this guy comes to pay, I can tell he's pissed but I'm calm and polite as usual. He rudely asks me why he has to get off his bike so I try to explain that it's for health and safety. He interrupts me and says it's because I think he's going to drive off. I tell him that's not why, but even so we had a motorcycle drive off that very morning so we have good reason to be careful. He argues with me for a while, pays and says "if you ask me again I'll come inside and snap your neck". Completely insane behaviour for such a simple request, especially given it wasn't even me who asked him to get off his bike!

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Gorguf62 on 2023-10-22 02:04:34.

At the grocery store I work at, our policy is to have ID for all purchases of cigarettes. If your ID is a driver's license or State ID, we scan the back of it.

On this night, I'm running the front end, but currently watching the service desk as well, where we keep the cigarettes. A customer comes up to the desk wanting to buy cigarettes. I've interacted with this guy before and he's a pain to deal with so I know this is gonna be a rough one.

I scan the cigarettes on the register and ask for his ID. He pulls his wallet but doesn't take his license out of the holder. I tell him I need to scan the back of it, and he says he can't take it out (keep this in mind) and tells me to manually enter the date. I tell him I can't do that, I need to scan the back of it. He says to type the date in again and I say no again. He then says he wants the manager.

The store manager's not there so I page the assistant manager up and let him deal with it. The guy talks to him and the assistant manager backs me up, telling him I need to scan the back of it. The guy proceeds to go off on him. Among the highlights of his rant:

-He would pull it out for a state trooper, but not me (effectively saying he was lying to me when he said he couldn't take it out)

-Whenever he goes to a different store, they type the date in (to which we all wondered why he didn't go there)

-Having to scan the ID was an infringement on his rights (somehow)

He ended his rant by threatening to sue us and stormed out. We all laughed and went about our business.

But wait! There's more! About forty-five minutes later, we get a phone call. The desk clerk picks it up and it's from a customer wanting to talk to the store manager. The assistant manager has left so she pages up our night-time person in charge (who witnessed the previous interaction) who comes up, picks up the phone, listens for a minute, then points at me and mouths "your guy."

Yes, this guy called the store to further complain, saying I had singled him out (throwing a tantrum while you're the only customer at the desk will tend to draw attention to yourself). The PIC told me a further four times that I had to scan the back of it and he wanted "an appointment" with the manager. The PIC gave the manager's name and said when he'd be in next, then hung up. We laughed some more and went back to work. When I came in the next day, I asked if anyone had called complaining about me, but they said no, so I guess the guy gave up.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/FrozenFire73 on 2023-10-18 23:55:29.

Back in 2007 I, a 23m at the time, worked for a large video game chain. Now this was shortly after the Nintendo Wii came out and we were always sold out. Every morning, we would have a line of customers that would wait around for our daily deliveries to see if we had any new Wiis coming in.

So one evening I was working a fairly slow shift and these two kids came in and started chatting with my coworker and I. Both of them were probably around 14 years old and came around frequently. One of the kids started talking about how great and wonderful the Nintendo Wii was. He started asking for my opinion and I simply told him that it was a good console but that I was not a fan of the idea of motion controls and didn’t want to get one. I went on to say that I was more of a fan of the Playstation.

He started to lose his mind over this. Well, I should say that he pretended to lose his mind over this. You could tell that he wasn’t really upset that I didn’t like the Wii and that he just wanted to mess with me.

He started to demand that I say that the Wii was the greatest and that there was no other better console. To be honest, it was getting to be a bit much. I just stood my ground and continued to say that the Wii was not something that I liked.

The kid started getting really frustrated because I would not say what he wanted me to say. At this point I think he was starting to get upset for real instead of just messing with me. He then pulled out the manager card. He told me that he knew the District Manager and that if I did not say that the Wii was the best console out there that he would report me. Now anyone that works in retail has probably heard that line before, so I brushed it off and kept my position.

The kid and his friend eventually stomped off and I thought that was the end of it. I was wrong.

This kid actually knew the District Manager. He ended up going to the District Manager and came up with some lie about how I was extremely rude and an overall jerk to him. The District Manager immediately wrote me up. She did not talk to my Store Manager or my coworker who was there that night before putting in the paperwork.

After writing me up the District Manager called my Store Manager to go over the writeup. My Store Manager was shocked. She immediately defended me saying that there was no way that I would treat a customer that way. The District Manager at this point realizes that she may have been a little rash in her decision to write me up and asks the Store Manager to investigate the event.

My coworker and I arrived that afternoon and sat down with the Store Manager. She tells me that I have been written up because I was rude to some kid. I tell her my side of the story and my coworker tells her what he saw as well.

My Store Manager went back to the District Manager, told my side of the story and as well as my coworker’s version. The District Manager ended up going back to the kid and figured out that he had lied to her.

The next time that I had to work, I got a face to face visit from the District Manager. She starts apologizing to me about writing me up without even looking into the event in question. But she told me that she cannot undo the writeup, that once the paperwork goes through that it cannot be undone. I always wonder if she could have reversed the writeup but said that she couldn’t in order to save her own skin.

As for the kid, he was forced to give me an apology. The Store Manager gave me the option on whether he would be banned from the store. I was even given the option to permanently ban him but I didn’t want him bitter over a stupid mistake. I ended up making the ban for something like 3 months. I never did see that kid after he got banned, even after the ban had been lifted. I kind of wonder if he was too embarrassed to show up while I worked.

Nowadays I actually prefer Nintendo over Playstation but I am still not that big of a fan of the Wii.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/love_92 on 2023-10-09 23:45:05.

Like I said in my previous post I work for a cellphone company and sometimes me and my colleagues have some very interesting meeting with our clients.

So, here is something that happened to me today at work.

So this morning was a slow morning, I was chatting with the colleague who sell cellphone when one of my clients approach me.

Here is how the dialogue went

" hello sir how can I help you today ?"

" hello, I would like to block a number"

" sure, if you give me your phone I can block that number"

" oh, I wasn't talking about my phone. You see, I have another number under my name but it's A who it's using "

( don't know who is A btw)

" ok......" I said. I was confused

" you see, A is messaging and calling with B. I want to stop B to contact A. Can you do it ?"

( don't know who is B either)

" sir, you can block the number or close the contract and number of A would die"

" I don't want to delete the contract of A cellphone, can't you do something else ?"

" sorry sir, this is beyond my capability. Maybe you can call the assistant helpline and ask them"

" I will do that then" and he leaves.

My colleague saw my interactions and my face at the end and asked if it was all okay and if the assistance was difficult.

I was like

" either that man is a protective father trying to protect his daughter or his wife/girlfriend is cheating on him with someone else".

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Quoth666 on 2023-10-15 17:39:11.

I work in retail and we’re currently recruiting some new staff and I’m the person that reviews applications to decide whether to ask them for an interview.

One caught my attention today for all the wrong reasons.

They mention that they’re currently unemployed (and also unployyed) but under previous experience they put down dates from June to October in a sales assistant role, even including a person to contact for a reference.

I get trying to make yourself look better on paper to secure a interview/job but lies should be believable.

I literally can’t believe they put down as previous experience a misspelled name of the very company they’re applying to and a contact I don’t recognise (and I do payroll so I should recognise every name).

I’m tempted to have them interviewed just to ask them about their previous experience.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/WashedUpPromQueen on 2023-10-15 17:32:23.

When I (29F) started at my current place of employment several years back, I worked the check out counter. One particular morning, I had a grand mal seizure out of nowhere. I don’t remember the seizure itself or the state immediately after the seizure (called being “postictal”). It’s like I was stocking the wall with cigarettes and then I blinked and paramedics were there trying to get me to go to the hospital with them. I distinctly remember telling them that they had the wrong person; I was fine. I was trying to ring up this woman for her newspaper and she didn’t seem to know what the big deal was either. It’s like everything was normal aside from everyone else telling me I needed help. After a couple minutes, I agreed to go with them and I started to believe what they were telling me when I felt the lump on my head from my dead fall into metal shelving.

Fast forward to my release from the hospital… My new neurologist wanted to know if there was security footage so he could see what happened since I had no memory of it. I was in the office with my boss watching the footage and I could not believe it. While I was convulsing on the floor behind the counter, the woman with the newspaper had been standing there the entire time. The seizure lasted 3 minutes.

In fairness to her, there isn’t anything you can do for a seizure other than protect someone’s head, turn them on their side and wait. But to wait for service and act like everything is just fine? I still don’t have the words. How could someone just carry on like nothing is wrong? My mind is blown to this day.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/foxylady315 on 2023-10-14 00:10:09.

So for the last dozen years or so I have been carrying this gorgeous vintage designer bag I found online. I love it and I will carry it until it falls apart. I get a ton of compliments on it. And it also caused this one crazy story.

I spent 3 years working in an Ivy League college town upscale clothing boutique that catered to wealthy college students and their parents and tourists. We didn't sell anything like this bag but I suppose I can see where it would have fit in with the things we did sell.

One afternoon I was getting ready to leave for my lunch break and I had put this vintage bag on the counter while I was putting my coat on. An expensively dressed woman who had just walked up to the counter picked up my bag and asked my co-worker who was at the register how much it was. I walked over and politely took it from her and said it was my personal bag and it wasn't for sale. She literally snatched it out of my hands and WENT OFF on both of us. The bag was sitting on the counter, it had to be for sale. It was obviously much too fancy and expensive a bag for a retail loser to own and oh, didn't we just wish we were Ivy League students like her precious babies. Which was actually funny because I didn't work there because I needed the money, I worked there as a favor to the owner who was a friend of the family, basically as a fill-in for one of her full time employees who had a chronic illness and called in sick a lot. It allowed her to keep the other worker rather than letting her go for someone more reliable. This entitled woman probably really would have flipped if I had told her that my husband was a professor at our beloved Ivy League school and I could easily afford that bag, thank you very much.

So yadda yadda yadda, this woman just kept screaming at us. She wanted that bag so badly! She absolutely refused to believe it belonged to me. Started screaming about wanting to see the manager or the owner, and didn't believe my co-worker when she informed the woman that she WAS the store manager. We finally told her if she didn't give me back my bag and leave the store we were going to call the police. She refused, so police were called.

Police get there, entitled woman gets even worse and doubles down on her particular form of insanity. She tells them that it's HER bag and she'd brought it in with her and that WE were trying to steal it from HER. The cop took the bag away from her and opened it up and dumped all the contents on the counter. My cell phone, which of course I knew the passcode to and she didn't. Prescription medication bottles in my name. My checkbook. And everything else I carried on a daily basis. How she had failed to recognize just from the weight of the bag that it had stuff in it I don't know. You could see the fear creeping into her face as the cop came up with one item after another that proved the bag was mine. When he got to my wallet and pulled out what was clearly my license the woman jerked away from the second cop who had a hand on her arm and pretty much ran out of the store. I kind of wish they had gone after her but apparently they didn't think the situation warranted it because they just asked us if we considered it worth pursuing her and pressing charges. Sadly in that moment we didn't want to be bothered, we just wanted it to be over so we could go on with our day. I wish now that we had, she needed to be taught a lesson (or be forced to get mental help).

She wasn't the only crazy entitled customer we ever got, but she was one of the most memorable.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Prestigious_Dirt6167 on 2023-10-11 21:01:01.

My store has a policy to it; for alcohol, nicotine, and tobacco products, we care everyone no exception. Says so right on the doors and beside the card readers. Doesn’t matter if you look like you’re three or three hundred, we take your id, check the picture, check the expiration date, and punch in the DOB. If you don’t have a form of ID or present an invalid one, we can’t sell you smokes or beer. Do I understand why it might annoy older customers? Yes. It’s a bit overkill. But I don’t make the rules and I am not going to risk my job for a bunch of strangers who didn’t bring their ID.

My store is also a part of a larger grocery store. I work in the small corner convenience / gas station, rest of my coworkers work across the parking lot in the main store. And this story pertains both to mine and the main store.

I was doing my shift all on my lonesome, when in comes this woman already looking to be in a foul mood. She bought some lottery tickets and passed me her ID. Which, to note, there’s a difference between the registers in the main store and the one I work in. The main stores you scan the IDs, in mine we have to type it in manually. So that’s what I did. And as I was typing the numbers she demanded that I not scan the card.

Weird, but okay. I’m already putting the birth date in so no issue. I hand her card back and let her know that we actually can’t scan cards at this register. I figured that was the end of it.

The woman went right into how the main store refused to sell her beer. She gave the girl working the register (who she called a “red-haired b—ch” so yeah, not a good start) her card and how the employee refused to type the card in manually and scanned it instead. I tried to calm things back down and explained that by policy the main store is supposed to scan The IDs.

Nope, lady insisted that they typed her card in before, and maybe they did. But her card was expired so the girl refused to sell her anything, and how she justified it as how she could lose her job, which she can since company policies and what not. For some reason this lady basically bragged to me about how she told my coworker that “you should be f—-king fired” among other things such as calling her the R-word, because how dare she not accept this woman’s expired ID.

I had noticed, when I was putting her card in for the tickets, that it expired early 2022, which makes it illegal (at least here) to use. But since the stores rules don’t explicitly say we’re as strict about the ids with lottery tickets as we are alcohol and cigarettes, I let it slide cause I hadn’t wanted to make a fuss about it when I rang her up at the time. Now I wished I’d told her I can’t sell to her.

I don’t know why she thought telling an employee how she screamed at another employee was a good thing to do, but as soon as she left I had to call management, check with them to see if she’s even allowed to shop here if that’s how she treats employees who don’t let her have her way. She’s apparently done this before and if she causes another scene at either stores she’ll be banned.

Seriously tho what is it about going to stores that makes people act so toxic?

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Federal-Fisherman510 on 2023-10-10 04:32:41.

Just got off an 8 hour closing shift and kind of need to vent. During the last hour or so of my shift, a lady walks in the store, I greet her of course “Hi there! How are you?” I don’t even think she really responded, just was silent or said “fine,” either way I had acknowledged her presence and made sure to pay attention if she picked up any clothes to try on so I could get her a fitting room. However, she picked up no product and made her way to the door. Now, I thought the interaction would end there, but suddenly she calls me over to the exit. She passive aggressively tells me if I “was really going to let her leave without asking her if she needed help? Shame on you” and just leaves. Needless to say I was baffled by this and asked my coworker if I was rude or didn’t greet the customer to which she said that she heard me very politely greet them. Perhaps I could have been more attentive and proactive while she was in the store, but I was trying to fix my work email account and she did not seem confused or lost. I guess I’m just baffled that some customers seem to take offense to the strangest things and seem to make problems when there are none. I would have of course helped her out and was ready to do so, but clearly if she needed it she would have said so since she had no problem going out of her way to insult me.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/AdrielBast on 2023-10-10 01:15:32.

Just started my shift about half an hour ago. Some older guy got mad at me for not buying him sodas after he marched for five hours through snow and blistering wind, all uphill, to come to our specific store (/s obvs)

So I arrived, the girl I was replacing hopped outside as soon as I was in to get some trash cans changed before she left. I’d barely put my stuff down when this dude comes in. Wanders around the store for a minute or two and comes to the counter to rummage through his bag. Cursed a bit.

Dude: I just walked all the way here from Town B, and I forgot my d#mn wallet!

Me: oh, sorry to hear that. It sucks, but it happens now and then.

Dude: Yeah, well its hot as hell and I’m getting a few sodas to take back.

Me: I’m sorry, but I can’t give away free drinks.

He immediately snatched his bag back up glowered at me because how dare I say no, right? “Yeah well I wanted you to buy me them, you f#ck#ng a##hole!” And then he stormed off, nearly shoving the lady behind him aside in his retreat.

Now I feel for him about the wallet. We’ve all been there. But we can’t give you free product because you forgot your wallet, no business is gonna do that. Plus, cursing out the staff ain’t gonna make them wanna bend the rules for you.

As for his whole thing about “I walked here from Town B”. Said town is across the river. It’s about a twenty minutes walk from our store to Town B, which isn’t so bad when it’s nice out right now (it’s barely 60f right now. Warm, but not exactly as hot as he claimed). There’s also four other gas stations and convenience stores between us and the bridge, and then two more on Town Bs side beside the bridge. So like, ya had plenty of options between home and here if you were going to buy a soda. It’s not as if we carry any special flavor that no other store has that will cure cancer and grant you immortality.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Responsible_Bee522 on 2023-10-06 03:37:36.

The company I work for has a policy: we do not inflate outside balloons, just the mylar/foil balloons that we sell, on display at the front of the store. We can't inflate the latex balloons we sell either. We aren't safety rated for anything but our foils, and Helium is getting scarce as it is. Employees can be reprimanded or fired for filling outside balloons, and our policy is part of training for the balloon station.

And that's fine, corporate is up front and honest about that, and it's their right to decide. For the most part customers are understanding too, but when I get a problem customer, the problem is balloons about 1/3 of the time.

Some people offer to pay for the Helium straight up (which we don't have an option for), or ask to have our balloons rung up, then just fill their balloons instead, come on, who's going to know? I always tell them no, it's not worth my job. Had someone threaten to call corporate about it, and I said, "please do!" I'm sure they'll be happy I'm obeying policy.

But one particular lady takes the cake.

She came in one night while a cashier and I, a manager, were on duty. She was either the only one in the store, or other customers were back out of earshot. She came in with a Spongebob figural balloon and asked the cashier to fill it for her. She appropriately told the lady no, we can't. Lady then asked to speak to the manager, so she rang for me. I gave her the same company policy, and she got super polite, please, wouldn't I fill this up for a little girl's birthday? I told her I'm sorry, but it's not worth my job. She goes, "Oh, you're not going to lose your job over this!" I'm thinking, wow, this must be our new CEO, if she can make that kind of call! But again, I told her no. Offered to pay me extra, still said no. I'm not doing funny business in my drawer, and I can't mark something like that in the register if I wanted to.

I kept saying sorry, no, until I saw it wasn't getting through, then turned to walk away. Then the super nice act went out the window. From behind me she says, "Yeah, go ahead and leave, I'll just do it myself when you're not looking!"

I silently turned back around and put my hands on the Helium tank nozzle...

She immediately goes,"Oh thank you! I knew we could come to an agreement!"

...and I removed the nozzle from the Helium tank, intending to put it in the office if I needed to.

She yells, "You're an A--hole! You're lucky I'm on probation and have a kid!" And left.

The cashier just goes, "Wooow..."

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/wakeangel2001 on 2023-10-06 00:42:57.

Okay, here's a story from right after the lockdown ended. The clothing store I worked at was running with limited capacity and a small group of friends had come in to get an item customized in our tailor shop. By coincidence the tailor was in the bathroom so I had to make sure they'd be engaged for a couple minutes, so I told them to check out our sample embroidery and our selection of buttons and patches, normal stuff. THEN I remembered people were really self conscious about touching public surfaces at this time so I pointed out the large bottle of hand sanitizer we kept on the counter, this was a HUGE gallon bottle with a pump on top, and I warned them to only push the nozzle down about 1/4 of the way to get an adequate amount for your hands (I even demonstrated it.) Well the first person did as I said and got a small amount to sanitize themself, but the friend behind them proceeded to push the nozzle most of the way down and GLOPPED a huge blob of sanitizing gel in her hand, filling her entire palm. As she yelped in surprise the first friend asked why she didn't heed my instruction, to which she sheepishly replied "I wasn't paying attention..." It was a good chuckle for all of us as she used the giant blob to clean herself all the way up past her elbows.

If anyone is curious why a sanitizer bottle would dispense so much I think it might have been a modified body wash dispenser, like the kind used in communal showers, based on the shape and size.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Few_Lobster7961 on 2023-10-03 23:00:41.

I work In grocery store & I'm standing in front of the dairy case making the order for the weekend. Customer comes up and asks me where the pints of coconut milk are. I tell her that we don't carry it refrigerated but we have it shelf stable in cans in, what we call the grocery isle, she insisted that she buys it here all the time. I respond by saying well I order all the dairy/ dairy alternatives and we don't carry that as I turn and walk away.

Like ffs I work here, I think I know what we sell and what we don't, smfh

While I'm at it... Another time a customer asked where the alcohol was. I told him we don't sell alcohol. He kept insisting that we did, I looked at him and said well since you know it all, good luck finding it, and walked away, our store is only 5 isles, pretty obvious there's no alcohol.

The rudeness of some people is just insane! I don't put up with it anymore, once it's apparent they aren't listening I remove myself from the situation before I say something to get into trouble.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Finanov on 2023-10-02 03:12:48.

I work in a speciality store. This particular story happened a while ago, so I can't remember all the details.

I was behind the register, and I notice one of the assistant store managers (ASM) has been on the phone for a VERY long time. Normally, phone calls only take a few minutes, as it's normally customers just asking a question or two about our inventory, return/exchange policy, etc.

Now, the phones are behind the registers, and there are two ways to get behind the counter and to the registers/phones. Because this was a busy day, all registers are being manned. Sometimes, during a lull in the crowd, us cashiers will leave the counter to stock/fill/talk to customers, etc.

When I see the line is getting long, I start heading back to the registers. However, ASM is still on the phone with the customer and is looking pretty irritated at this point. Unforunately for me, she is in my path and the other way behind the counters is blocked by customers and other cashiers. Instead of asking her to move, I decide to duck underneath her ~~which ended up with me losing my footing and hitting the counter, but that's a different story~~.

When she finally gets off the phone, she sighs and gives me a very exasperated look. She explains, that a customer was trying to get to our store to do an exchange or something, but she didn't know where we were. Instead of going onto Google Maps, she decided to ask the manager for directions and wasn't understanding the directions.

Later, the phone rings, and I was the unfortunate person to answer. It was the same lady. The conversation goes something like this:

Me: "Thank you for calling [store] at [shopping center]. How may I help you?"

Lady: "I'm trying to get to the store. Can you tell me where you are?"

Me: "We are in [shopping center], between [store 1] and [store 2]."

Lady: "No, like can you tell me how to get there?"

Me: "I'm sorry Ma'am, I don't understand."

Lady: "I'm on [highway], heading south towards [major city]. What exit do I take, and what roads should I take?"

At this point, I see why ASM was so peeved. I'm thinking, "oh no. This is going to be such a pain."

Me: "So, you exit on [highway exit] onto the frontage road, turn left onto [road], follow [road] for [distance] turn right into the shopping center, turn left, and the store will be on your left between [store 1] and [store 2]."

Lady: "... I didn't get that. What exit should I take?"

For the next fifteen or so minutes, I was repeatedly telling the lady instructions on how to get to our store, and SHE WAS NOT GETTING IT. I had customers to check out and other things to do, but I was stuck on the phone with this woman because everyone was busy and no one would be able to answer the phone. I was so close to telling the lady to just use Google Maps or something and just hanging up on her because holy frick, this was so annoying. I can't remember how the call ended, but I told the manager about the woman who called and she laughed in sympathy.

I went off on my break not long after and the lady managed to get to the store. I didn't get to see her, but I was told that she was a older lady, but not too old to not know how to use a phone. Some time after I came back from my break, the woman calls AGAIN. And again, I was the unfortunate soul who had to answer the call. I can't remember what happened, but apparently there was something wrong with the exchange and she wanted to know what she could do about it. Again, I was stuck on the phone for a long time. When she finally hung up, I regretted taking my break because I was so irritated and I needed time to cool off.

TL;DR: Lady wastes the time of two employees because she doesn't know how to use Google Maps or understand directions.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/wakeangel2001 on 2023-10-02 02:09:02.

This is my first post on this thread, but as a former toysrus employee I have my fair share of stories, and this one is pretty inoffensive but amusing, so hopefully it'll make a good first post.

I worked in the electronics department, which in my store was right next to the bikes, so I would often help people find and deal with minor bike issues. One family came in with their REALLY young daughter, like 2 or 3, claiming that her bike was defective. The bike was tiny, so I was able to pick it up and turn the pedals with my hand easily, and it worked fine, no issues whatsoever, but they insisted the wheels kept locking up. So I asked them to get their little girl on the bike so I could see what was going on. The little girl mounted up, started pedaling, got 1/4 turn in and then pushed back with her other leg, setting off the brakes. (For those not in the know, small children's bikes don't have hand brakes, the brakes are activated by simply pedaling backwards.) It took me several minutes to explain that the issue was nothing to do with the bike, but the fact that the child needed to learn how to pedal. I had to explain it to them like THEY were five because for some reason they couldn't comprehend it. I even had to get out another copy of the bike they bought so they could see the same thing happen and prove there was nothing wrong with the bike itself. It was all I could do to keep from laughing in their faces because come on, the issue was obvious. I can't believe they wasted a trip back to the store for that.