Retail Workers Describe The Customer Encounter That Nearly Made Them Lose It

From Redditor u/CaptainWisconsin:

There was a woman who not only absolutely refused to pay her late fees (which were legitimate), she became so enraged that she threw her stack of tapes at me, hitting me in the face. She then marched around the store and knocked every cassette, DVD, and coverbox that she could reach off of the shelves (some with her hands, some by swinging her purse), while shouting obscenities. My manager got on the phone and called the police. When Angry Lady finished trashing the store, she demanded to know which cars out on the parking lot my coworker and I drove. When we refused to say, she spit at us and knocked all of the candy/shelf talkers/etc. off of the counters, and began stomping on them.

Oh, and the late fee she owed? $12.

From Redditor u/lawstudent51318:

One day I'm working the drive through and a lady comes through and orders a spicy chicken sandwich. Alright, I read it back to her. She said it was fine. I read it back to her again when she got to the window, again she confirmed that she ordered a spicy chicken sandwich. I think I even said it one more time when I handed her the food.

She drives off and parks in the parking lot, which is an "oh sh*t moment." The lady comes up to our front window (we were drive-through only) and begins to scream about how she hadn't ordered a spicy sandwich. I told my manager that she did but whatever.

The kicker was that she was pregnant and accused me of trying to kill her baby as if a spicy sandwich would do that. We just gave her a free regular sandwich and she went on her way.

From Redditor u/PB_PB:

Had a woman come in and request a large drink in a small cup. I asked her to repeat that. She reiterated she wanted a large drink, but in a small cup. I told her that wasn't possible. This went on and on, her yelling that it wasn't that difficult to understand, I'm trying to tell her that they're different volumes. Eventually I filled up a large, got a small cup and dead-eyed her while pouring the large in until it overflowed and went all over the counter.

From Redditor u/All_Them_Armadillas:

This crazy woman was already a known problem customer in our store. Being one of the managers and a longtime retail veteran, I usually helped her when she came in.

One particular day, she came in wanting to return a clearance item she'd bought 3 MONTHS AGO. I knew she knew our return policy and pointed out the "Final Sale" note on her crumpled receipt.

After more back and forth, she asks that I let her just exchange it. As she's giving me a headache, I agree, inform her that the exchanged item WOULD NOT be able to be returned or exchanged and reminded her of how much credit she had.

She comes back with another item and slams it onto my counter. Lo and behold, there's a dollar and change difference between her original item and the new one. She's furious, shouting that she shouldn't have to pay it and don't I know she's suffering! I firmly insist she coughs up the difference as THAT'S HOW EXCHANGES WORK.

She responded by pulling a fistful of change out of her purse and throwing it at my face. A nickel bounced off of my glasses. I saw red but calmly counted up the change, slid the excess across the counter (which she threw onto the floor) and she stormed out.

From Redditor u/voodootwinkie:

Holiday season is pretty gruesome; items don’t last and people can order online and pickup in the store but only have 3 days to come pick up or else the item is refunded and put back on the floor.

Lady comes the night before Christmas Eve and offers me her order number from a month ago.

I explain she was well past the pickup window and that the item was refunded.

She starts cursing me out and calling me ridiculous, lazy, and incompetent. I was working a double that day.

The lady came to the store to pick up a simple doll. That was what she ordered. A doll.

From Redditor u/2PlasticLobsters:

A woman stomped into the office supply store I worked in and demanded to use the restroom. I pointed her toward it and rang up a couple other customers.

A few minutes later, she stomped back to the counter. There was a HUGE knot of toilet paper protruding from the back of her pants' waistband. It looked like some fake-flower crafting project gone horribly wrong. I had my mouth open to inform her, when...

"I HATE THIS STORE! [B**CH B**CH CARP CARP YOU SUCK BLAH BLAH!]"

Normally a tirade like this would've pissed me off. But I so enjoyed the thought of her walking around with a giant TP flower on her butt, it was all I could do not to laugh.