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16 Customer Horror Stories That Prove Retail Workers Deserve A Goddamn Medal

"…a woman once asked me why her iced coffee was served cold instead of warm.”

We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to share their customer service nightmares with us. Here are some of the best responses!

1. A big mis-steak

"I used to work in a small supermarket and we had a lady return a disposable barbecue because ‘it’s just got lumps of black stuff in it.’ She had seen the picture on the front of the box that showed burgers and sausages on it and assumed they came with the barbecue."

Submitted by l43fc734a0

2. Give pizza chance

"I used to work at Domino’s Pizza, and as most will know, they do a 'Two for Tuesday' buy-one-get-one-free deal. A customer phones and tells me she would like 'A Two for Tuesday please.' I say, 'Ma’am, it’s Thursday.' She grumpily replies, 'I would still like a Two For Tuesday.'"

Submitted by emilyw47d8096f9

3. Life of pie

"I worked on a deli counter and a man came in 10 minutes before closing time on Christmas Eve and lost his shit when he realised we had run out of pork pies. After shouting at me for 10 minutes he told me that I had ruined not only this Christmas for him, but every subsequent Christmas after because he would always remember the Christmas he had to go pork pie-less. I apologised and asked if he would like to speak to the manager, and he replied, 'It’s not your manager that’s ruined my Christmases, it’s you [*pauses to look at my name badge*] RACHEL,' and then stormed off."

Submitted by rachelh46eb3efbf

4. Bend the rules

"I work at a bank and a customer once presented his plumber's ID to do a withdrawal. When I told him that it wasn’t an acceptable form of ID he replied, 'You have your rules, I have my rules.'"

Submitted by ashleyc4ec3f759d

5. Urine trouble

"One customer threatened to pee on the dressing room floor because I told her it was against our corporate policy to let her use the restroom in our back room because it was unsafe and a hazard. She was over 50, and knows that a dressing room floor is not a place for urine."

Submitted by o4a7577659

6. Ice ice maybe

"One of the servers at my work had a customer complain that their ice water was too cold and asked for it to be microwaved. She was very upset when the server returned with a cup of just water."

Submitted by hannahw4c018c7a6

7. It'll wash out

"I used to work in the home section of a high-end department store in New York. A woman comes in to return her Keurig saying that it won't make coffee, won't turn on: nothing. We happily exchange it for a new one. Two weeks later she's back. Same problem, it won't turn on and it's totally dead. So we give her a new one. A week later she comes back AGAIN with the same problem. This time, she's LIVID and yelling at one of the associates. 'I can't believe you sell such a terrible product! No one here has any idea what they are doing! God, it's like every time I put it in the dishwasher it breaks!' She had been putting her entire coffee machine into the dishwasher and didn't understand why it kept breaking."

Submitted by Jeremy Martini, Facebook

8. A Royale without cheese

"When I was a server, I once had a girl ask for a cheeseburger without cheese. My reply was 'So just a burger?', to which she replied 'No, a cheeseburger without cheese.'"

Submitted by Cynthia Sterling, Facebook

9. Oranges and lemons

"I was working in a health food store when a woman came in asking for local organic oranges, swearing she had bought local oranges from our store in the past. It was February…and we live in Canada."

Submitted by cw4828004

10. Extreme couponing

"One time a customer came up with a coupon that was written on BY THEM, CLEARLY, to give them a free meal instead of just a free pretzel. They kept INSISTING that it was a legit coupon and we ended up having to call the manager and mall security."

Submitted by lovemeharder

11. Small change

"I was working as a waitress a year back. I took the £19.20 bill from a customer on which he’d left £20, however when I took it from him to take to the till he said, ‘I expect that 80p change, you know. Don’t go presuming it’s your tip. Don’t you think you get paid enough?’

"No sorry, sir, I do not get paid enough."

Submitted by tamsinj2

12. 'Cause you're hot then you're cold

"I worked at a McDonald’s and a woman once asked me why her iced coffee was served cold instead of warm."

Submitted by maddieh43aff38b9

13. Extra dough

"Most of the time when we would make a mistake on someone’s order, we would give them a credit for their next order. A woman called to use her free pizza credit, then asked if she could also use a coupon. She wanted to speak to the manager when I told her she couldn’t have a negative total."

Submitted by kmm535

14. Only got yourshelf to blame

"I used to work in a bookstore and twice a month customers mistook it for a library. I actually had to take one customer outside to show her our store sign because she was adamant that I was wrong and she was in the library."

Submitted by mandal424671990

15. Cool customer

"I checked on a couple halfway through their meal and they said everything was 'great!' Only to later complain that their food got cold too quickly. They were sitting outside. This was in Ireland."

Submitted by chaseo494ad4f83

16. And finally…

"My husband and I own a restaurant and this dude came in with a large party freaking out because he had been calling us to say they were coming in and no one was answering the phone. I told him I was really sorry but we hadn’t gotten any calls. They got sat right away because we weren’t busy yet and he still wouldn’t let it go, going on and on about how terrible it was for business to not answer the phone and 'That’s probably why you are so slow tonight', because we never answer our phone. Blah blah blah.

"Well, about halfway through their meal, an old lady called up our restaurant and said, 'I’m really sorry but someone keeps calling my house trying to reach your restaurant. He left all these messages and he sounds really mad!' She told me our phone numbers are only one digit apart because she had gotten a few phone calls through the years but 'nothing like this!'. I thanked her and marched right over to his table and in front of his friends told him some poor old lady called and asked if he would stop leaving such rude messages on her machine.

"It was GREAT."

Submitted by aliceabahla

Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.

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