We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community who work in customer service to share the most absurd reasons why customers have asked to speak to their managers. Here are the infuriating results:
1. "I worked at a restaurant and two men didn’t want me to take their cash because 'I would give them the wrong change because women are bad with money.' They then asked to talk to a male manager. They left me less than a dollar tip and wrote on a napkin 'You could have been nicer.'"
2. "I work for an energy company. A customer wanted my manager because I wouldn’t give them a free sample of electricity. Another customer wanted to complain because they didn’t like the smell of the gas! I was more concerned they could smell gas rather than what the smell was like. Quick fact: they add the foul smell to gas so you notice it!"
3. "I used to work as a waiter. One time, a customer asked to speak to my manager because she didn't like the lighting of the restaurant. She said it didn't match her aesthetic and she wanted it changed so she could take photos to post on Facebook. I have honestly never been so annoyed. She made a huge scene saying I was being disrespectful because I wouldn't change the lighting for her!"
4. "I worked at Michaels one summer in my youth. An elderly lady once wanted to return yarn that had already been knitted INTO A SCARF. We do not have people unknitting items in the back. Of course she had to embarrass herself by speaking to the manager and making a second jaw drop."
5. "One of my jobs required taking passport pictures. A ridiculously high percentage of those customers would come in fresh from the gym — with sweaty hair and no makeup — and then screech about how 'horrible' their photo preview looked. Some of them would ask for the manager (I was the manager), then demand to talk to the business owner. I was even asked to 'fix' pictures in Photoshop."
6. "I work as a service rep for a door manufacturer. A customer called in stating we needed to come fix her door because we were killing her guinea pig. I was stunned for a second, then asked what the exact problem was. She said the door was drafty and the guinea pig's cage was on the floor, so the cold air from the draft was killing it. I explained that due to the pandemic, technicians were only going out for emergencies. She continued to scream and asked for my manager. She proceeded to tell my supervisor that I was out to kill her guinea pig and was the most cold-hearted person she'd ever talked to. My manager politely asked why she couldn't move the cage."
7. "I worked at Panera in high school and one time, a lady requested Chick-fil-A sauce on her sandwich. I thought she was messing with me. I laughed a little, then jokingly reminded her we were at Panera, not Chick-fil-A. She called me a rude witch and demanded to speak to my manager, who essentially laughed at her and walked away."
8. "I worked at Tiffany & Co. A customer once threw a *fit* because I wouldn’t refund her for a $900 bracelet she allegedly bought, dropped, and broke. She didn't have the item or the receipt, nor was there any record of her purchase in our system. She asked to speak to the manager, who also refused the refund."
9. "A customer requested my manager because I wouldn't check out her items from a different store in the mall. She thought she could just walk around the whole mall then pay at any store."
10. "I was working at a fast food restaurant that sells chicken nuggets. A customer wanted to speak to a manager because the nuggets were too brown. Not overcooked, not dry, but BROWN. She asked us if we could make them less brown, and we had to tell her that we couldn’t undercook the nuggets for her (you know, for health reasons)."
11. "Something prevalent in retail is called 'ticket switching.' Someone will take a tag off a cheaper item and put it on a more expensive item, hoping they can get away with a huge deal. One time I was called to the registers for a customer arguing about a price. There was a $9 clearance sticker on a $100 pair of shoes. The clearance tag was all mangled and torn and CLEARLY pulled from another item and placed on the box. She argued up and down, said she was going to call the Better Business Bureau, and swore I had to honor that price. I calmly explained that yes, if we make a mistake, we do honor the price, but this was obviously not done by us. I explained that l would make sure we reviewed our camera footage of the area where she found the shoes to make sure a 'dishonest customer' didn’t change the price. At the mention of a camera, she quickly ended her argument and left."
12. "I worked at Walgreens where we sold reloadable debit cards. A woman bought one and wanted to return it because she couldn't figure out how to activate it. I calmly told her it was store policy (we had signs and stickers everywhere) that gift cards were nonrefundable. I offered to help her activate the card, like I had for many others. Twenty minutes later, a police officer came in because she had called to say Walgreens was 'stealing her money.' I explained the situation, the cop talked to her, then I used the phone to set up her card. I've seen some wild things, but that was the wildest."
13. "I worked at a fast food place and a guy came in requesting fresh, unsalted fries. 100% doable, we just had to get new fries going, which took about five minutes. After he had been waiting a few minutes, he asked where his food was. I informed him that his fresh fries were cooking and it would be a few more minutes. He proceeded to yell at me for not giving him 'fast' food and requested the manager."
14. "I worked at a convenience store as one of my first jobs. A man had his $1.25 eaten by the air machine, which while on the property was not owned or run by the store (and had a label saying so). He freaked out and demanded a refund, which I was not allowed to give him. He insisted on speaking to my manager, but I was alone in the store, so I offered to call him. Instead, he started insisting I give him my manager's personal phone number. When I refused, he tried to come behind the counter toward me, all while screaming at me. I was clutching the phone, about to call 911, when someone else entered the store and he stomped out. It was terrifying. All for $1.25!"
15. "I had a woman demand to see the manager because her tuna sandwich was 'too fishy.'"
16. "I was the manager at a grocery store that sold overstocked items from other stores at a discount. A customer wanted to speak to me because none of the lids on the juice bottles were the size he wanted. He was furious about the 'lack of diversity in our juice lid sizes' and demanded I order juices with lids that were the specific size he wanted. Unfortunately for him, the dimensions of juice lids are not listed anywhere, so I apologized and told him I wasn't able to do that. He later reported my 'terrible customer service' to the store owner who basically just laughed at him."
17. "An old couple kept insisting their fries were too cold. They made me come over with a manager and insisted I use a meat thermometer to take their temperature to prove they were cold."
18. "A man bought and opened some headphones then wanted to return them, even though they weren't faulty. I refused because they were open/used and that's our store policy. The man demanded to see my manager because I refused to send the headphones off for DNA testing to prove he'd never worn them."
19. "I work at a natural foods grocery store and an older customer asked to speak to my manager because we sell ice cream with 'too much sugar in it' and, as a health food store, a product with sugar should not be on our shelves."
20. "A woman asked to speak to my manager because her pesto sauce, which she ordered and ate entirely, had basil in it, and I hadn't told her that it did. She didn't ask."
21. Finally: "I was assistant manager at a local coffee shop. It was 6 a.m. on a cold morning and a woman pulled my manager aside to inform her that my tight pants were distracting and upsetting her and her husband. I was wearing thick black leggings with a long sweater that went down past my butt and a large apron. They asked if I could be taken off shift or asked to go home and change. With my boss's permission, I took off my sweater and made sure my butt was facing them at all times."
What's the wildest reason you've ever had a customer ask for your manager? Drop it in the comments below!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.