Rudest Customer You've Ever Met

[Ygrez]

Had a contract where I installed servers in hotels all over Canada for 1 year. Over the course of that year, I only once did I have any trouble with an employee that worked at one of those hotels. I'm from Quebec and I'm bilingual, since my main language is French I have an accent, but no one has ever had trouble understanding me.

Was in the Toronto region, started working in the morning on setting up their new server and all of their new computers. Morning crew at the hotel was great. Then the lady for that afternoon shift at the reception came in, whenever her boss was around she would mispronounce my name purposely to a point where her boss actually told her to stop trolling. Of course, the manager wasn't there the whole time, so whenever he wasn't there, she'd instead start calling me "Frenchy" or "Quebec".

At the end of the day, once I was done with the work and we'd tested everything to make sure it all works, I signed off and went up to my room and went to bed to be able to get up and take the plane on the next morning. Half an hour later, I got a phone call to my room, same lady wanted me to come back downstairs because she said the network didn't work anymore. I get dressed, go back down and after a bit fix the problem (an unplugged cable in the computer she was using). Make sure everything works again and head back up. Another 30 minutes later, get another call, she says I didn't fix the problem. I head back down, look around and the computer's cables look fine this time. Check the computer's configurations and everything looks fine there too, can't figure out why the network doesn't work in the reception area. So I go to check on the server room, the server's working correctly so I start looking around and notice something while looking at the switch near the door, somehow half of the cables on it had "mysteriously" been unplugged. Plugged those back in, checked at the front desk to make sure it all works, went back to my room, closed my cell phone and unplugged the room's phone.

 

[Fox12]

I've had a lot of assholes, but the worst didn't happen to me.

I was with a friend at a local waffle house, where we knew the staff. We were regulars. Some redneck started being an asshole as me and my roomate stood at the cash register waiting to check out. The customer, a really big, burly guy, was being rude to the sweet little cashier. He ended up asking her for the time, and she was too terrified to say anything. She was shivering a little. The other employee, who was at the register, trying to defuse the situation, calmly answered that it was 6:00. The man shoved a finger in his face and yelled that he wasn't asking him. The girl stuttered out that it was six in the afternoon.

I wish I had said something, but I was too much of a coward. I think he may have been drunk. I should have threatened to call the cops. Now, if I see a customer being an ass, I step in. I've been there, and I don't like seeing other people treated that way.

 

[Phasmal]

Well, I used to do phone sales/returns for a retail site (inward calls only, luckily). So a lot of people would get shitty if I didn't give them a refund. I remember the first guy who yelled at me, because I was shaking after that, but to be honest, after the first one that upsets you, it all kind of fades together to become white noise.
You know those dead-sounding people on the phones who seem like they don't give a crap? Yeah, it's because they don't.
Also, I see so many people I know get righteously indignant when they're about to phone customer support, saying how they'll rip them a new one. Which is when I silently smile to myself. We won't go out of our way to help those people, because we get that literally all day. It's not new.
The phone calls that I actually remember are people who treated me nicely, and those people, we do bend over backwards to help.

Right now I work in a restaurant. Recently I had a lady trying to sell me on a diet where you only eat raw fruit, being really pushy about it (which is funny, she said `it's mostly bananas`- I'm allergic). I had another lady physically grab my arm while I was in the middle of putting her order through the till to ask me if I get eczema- I have no idea what kind of nutter thinks it's okay to just grab people's arms.
Of course then there's the creepy guy who comes in to stare at us and skirt the line of social acceptability, but there's nothing I can do about that, so the less said about that the better.
We have a few regulars who I know not to get within arm's reach of because they will try and touch you.

Though recently I had a woman who sulked constantly because we'd sold out of something, which was so awkward, because she was with her husband and two children, who were all being more mature about it than she was.

So I suppose I just have a lot of low-level bullshit to put up with, but no one person in particular who tops it all. Or I just have become emotionally dead at work after working on the phones.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

I try to treat every experience as a new one, but I can't help but to feel a sense of dread if I know I'm dealing with someone who has money. The idea of "It doesn't matter how I act, it only matters how much I have" has been shown to me so much over the course of working with wealthy people that I just pray that each new interaction with a wealthy person I haven't met before will fly in face of that 'rule', instead of proving it right again.

It's funny, because I've experienced both sides of the spectrum in that regard.

I've worked in places where a lot of the clients/customers were giant pains in the ass because they thought having money made them hot shit and they could do whatever they want.

On the flip side, I've also worked in places where the vast majority of the clients/customers were very poor, and a lot of them were giant pains in the ass because they seemed to think that being poor instantly made them perpetual victims and they therefore were incapable of being assholes.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Without question, the one who came in to show me her list. It was a list of the names of restaurant employees from other restaurants including phone numbers that she felt did not give her proper service, and so she complained enough to get them fired. This list was shown to me to get me to understand that I had to treat her right, or I would be fired like they were.

Even if it isn't true... what the hell are you doing with your life.

Not exactly 'rude' in the traditional sense, but I was present when a dating couple began their failed attempt to sue the establishment for finding a severed finger in their chili... that it turned out the couple put in it.

captcha: bond, james bond

 

[DanielBrown]

Worked a bit in the service industry(car delivery guy for IKEA) and while I met my fair share of assholes I don't remember ever coming across any particulary rude people. However, when doing solo deliveries the reciever is supposed to carry just as much as you do(you gotta pay extra for two delivery guys), but as you can imagine they'd usually avoid doing anything at all so they'd either magically disappear or rush for the light packages while I had to carry all the heavy ones myself.
Worst of those that I can remember were two women who had ordered a shitload of heavy stuff. When it was time to carry it to their apartment they started whining about how heavy it was. I ended up having to carry several 50-65 kg packages by myself, while they took one light package each and hid in the apartment, and it was a long walk to their door. They also kept asking me if the mirror they had bought was supposed to look like it did. Had no clue what the hell they were on about, but I assume they tried to get another one for free or some shit.
If it was today I would've just put everything outside the truck and drove off, but it was my first job and I wanted to do a good job.

Also worked a bit as an unskilled worker, mainly carrying heavy stuff into building sites. If you thought construction workers were rude before you'd be blown away by their douchbaggery when you're in that line of work. Plenty of insults and often throwing fits at you for no real reason. I don't really care about the verbal shit though. What bothered me the most was their heavy and lazy elevator usage. We always spent more time waiting for them to get off the fucking elevator than we did any work...
While they are not exactly the customers we were hired by their bosses to do the hard work they would've had to do themselves otherwise, so a bit more appriciation wouldn't have hurt.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I worked at Circus Circus Reno for 2 years so I've got a ton.

People who demanded a prize after failing to win the game. Parents who demanded prizes for kids who lost the game were the worst. I got write ups from parents going to my boss, because I didn't give a prize to their kid who lost the game. It's a dollar to play damnit, not a free win. You want a prize, then pay me, and win the game. For god's sake.

I worked redemption and the number of times I heard; "I put 5 dollars in this machine!" when the machine delivered no tickets. The ticket dispenser counts the tickets, if you won them they'd spit out, even after I refill the machine. The worst part about this is that coin pushers have a tilt sensor and people would beat the crap out of them, then demand tickets, especially when they put no money in. If you don't put money in, then you get no tickets, and stop trying to break the 10,000 dollar coin pushers. Wanna pay for that machine's replacement!?

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

It's funny, because I've experienced both sides of the spectrum in that regard.

I've worked in places where a lot of the clients/customers were giant pains in the ass because they thought having money made them hot shit and they could do whatever they want.

On the flip side, I've also worked in places where the vast majority of the clients/customers were very poor, and a lot of them were giant pains in the ass because they seemed to think that being poor instantly made them perpetual victims and they therefore were incapable of being assholes.

I understand what you mean. I was born in the Bronx, NY. Poor people do have an air of "I don't give a fuck, I have nothing to lose".

The problem is, they do. You call a cop on a poor person, and that poor person can go to jail. They might not care, but yeah, the cops will take them away.

I live in Westchester, NY [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westchester_County,_New_York]. From Wiki

Westchester County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. Westchester covers an area of 450 square miles (1,200 km2), consisting of 48 municipalities. According to the 2010 Census, the county had a population of 949,113, estimated to have increased by 2.1% to 968,802 by 2013.[2] Established in 1683, Westchester was named after the city of Chester, England.[3][4] The county seat of Westchester is the city of White Plains.

According to 2011 U.S. Census Bureau data, the per-capita income in the county was $47,814 and the median income for a household in the county was $77,006.[5] In terms of household income, Westchester County is the fifth-wealthiest county in New York (after Nassau, Putnam, Suffolk, and Rockland Counties) and is the forty-seventh wealthiest county nationally. Westchester County ranks second after New York County in terms of highest median income per person, with a higher concentration of incomes in smaller households.

The county's location places New York City, Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island, and the Long Island Sound to its south, Putnam County to its north, Fairfield County, Connecticut to its east, and Rockland County as well as Bergen County, New Jersey across the Hudson River to the west. Westchester is the first suburban area of its scale in the world to develop, due mostly to the upper-middle class development of entire communities in the late 19th century, and the subsequent rapid population growth.[6]

So when the police actually check on a disturbance, they have MUCH more to lose busting up whatever that is. There was an incident a block away from my old job where cars were wrecked and the two women involved came to blows. The cops came, and I swear to you, both of them yelled "DON'T TOUCH ME, DO YOU KNOW WHO MY HUSBAND IS".

Apparently, two of the older cops did and took the younger one aside and proceeded to to suffer the yelling abuse from the two ladies for minutes. When all was said and done, no tickets were given out, no one arrested... and the older cops forced the younger one to give his badge number and whatever else one of the ladies asked.

Juxtapose that with poor people getting hauled off to jail for not answering questions or being rude to a cop. That makes me think it's much worse with rich people are assholes. Because they can be and nothing will happen to them. In fact, it feels like the person who's being abused by the rich will get punished more for speaking out.

 

[FPLOON]

Just today, I was picking up some cheap-ass shoes dedicated to just driving and one of the customers in front of me was trying to get $250 on a store gift card using his credit card... What this customer forgot about (or just didn't care given his attitude afterwards) was that the store has been refusing customers that want to place money on a gift card using their credit card since there was an increase in unpaid credit card payments last year and they didn't want something like that happening under this specific management...

So, after the customer was told nicely to leave the line and talk with the supervisor for any further questions and concerns about his failed transaction, the customer decides to yell at both the cashier as well as the supervisor (who was just passing by coincidentally) that this "new policy" on gift card purchases was BS, thus holding up the line for everyone else... The upside to all this was the the cashier was super nice to everyone else in line once the yelling customer was almost escorted out of the building if he didn't calm down and shit...

 

[Tiger King]

people in customer services need more protection. the whole 'customer is always right' thing is bullshit.
I remember getting screamed at by some dickhead that wanted his coffee in a 'mug' not a 'cup'.

looking back now I know I would have told him to fuck off and stood up for myself, nobody should be treated that way.
But I was just a naive teenager and terrified of losing my job.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I was usually just a kitchenhand during afterschool jobs, but an old job I had at an Indian restaurant had me waiting on tables one busy night. I honestly don't see how people put up with it.

"Oh, there's 8 of us and we're havng a bit of a banquet."
"Kay, what do you want for starters?"
"Large Chicken tikka, large barah kebab, 2 serves vegetarian samaosa ... poppadoms ... and~ some extra mint sauce."
"Kay, and your mains?"
"We'll order 2 vindaloos, one beef, one lamb, a pair of the butter chicken, 2 of the Goa fish ... and the prawn massala ... as well as a lamb korma and a rogan josh. And enough rice for 8."
"Got it ... do you want me to bring all those mains out at once, or a few at a time? Given not all of them are curry based and do not have burners to keep them warm, and you're ordering a LOT of food." <Stressing politely that they ordered perhaps TOO much, and they could always order more as the night went on>
"All at the same time please, we'll get through it without fuss."
"You got it, boss."

So I took down their drinks, handed that to the bar staff, and took the CC into the kitchen.

I did as instructed, starters.... then mains all at once. 30 minutes in they grab me by the arm, having only half consumed their rather large meal that I did warn them about;

"Half of the food is cold!"
"That's because you left it sitting on the table."
"I don't deserve to be spoken to like that! Go get your manager, and I'll complain to HIM about this shoddy treatment."


It's like ... I'm not sure what they wanted from me. I can't magically stop food from getting cold because you ordered too many dishes to finish in a reasonable time frame.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Having worked in food service, retail, video rental, movie theaters, tech support of both in home, office and phone types, I've pretty much endured every iteration of the rudest customer archetype...
Everything is mashed up into one giant rude jackass named "the customer" who believes he/she is always right and is entitled to his/her way no matter what. *shrug* They're all jackasses.

 

[Techsmart07]

Worst one I had was when I worked at target. Woman comes in and places one of those large baby playsets on the table and wants a refund. No receipt, nothing proving that she purchased it from us. Her only argument was "there was a recall", which we had no documentation of. I tell her the policy (you get the lowest sale price), and start the return. Turns out, it was on clearance 75% off. Seeing where this was going, I call my manager, while explaining that if it really was defective, she needed to contact the manufacturer or provide a receipt for us to return it at the price that she paid. Manager comes up, and repeats what I say. At this point, she flips out and starts yelling at me and my manager, at the point that you could hear her on the other side of the store, that we are trying to steal from them and that we are trying to kill her baby for about 5-10 minutes. We asked her to calm down, or we would call the police, to which she replied "go ahead, you'll be the ones getting arrested." Well, when I picked up the phone to call them, she conveniently "was fed up" and stormed out. Her husband came in later and was very calm and reasonable with us - I think he was embarrassed of his wife's behavior.

 

[Odbarc]

I think the funniest story of a rude customer I've ever heard was a guy spending something like $600 in products and was than told he had to pay 5 cents for a plastic bag. He flipped out about having to pay the store to advertise their store (Because plastic bags have the store logo on them, of course.) so he returned everything and left.

 

[Rylot]

If you thought construction workers were rude before you'd be blown away by their douchbaggery when you're in that line of work. Plenty of insults and often throwing fits at you for no real reason

Oh Jesus. Having worked overnight security at construction sites I can attest that construction workers can be some of the biggest douches. Half the damn job was running around trying to find all the spots where they'd left the fence open or severely damaged it. Then the managers get pissy when they come by and see the gates not locked because we couldn't lock them because one of their guys run a cherry picker into it twenty feet down the fence. I feel you.

As for me: as a cashier it sucks when you work in a town that goes paperless and start charging ten cents for paper bags. People lose their fucking minds over ten cents. It's pretty incredible to see. The bag ban has been in effect for about a year now so I can't really sympathize with anyone except visitors.

Edit: Oh, not sure how I didn't post this yet but here http://notalwaysright.com/ is a site dedicated to customer service horror stories. Kinda like fmylife.com.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Having worked in food service, retail, video rental, movie theaters, tech support of both in home, office and phone types, I've pretty much endured every iteration of the rudest customer archetype...
Everything is mashed up into one giant rude jackass named "the customer" who believes he/she is always right and is entitled to his/her way no matter what. *shrug* They're all jackasses.

Can I ask ... which was the worst for bad customers though? I haven't had a customer-centred job in years, but given that I recently quit my education sector job to go back to uni, I was wondering which of all those jobs was the least stressful for part-time work? I don't deal with irate or unreasonable customers well, those who feel like they can order someone about.

I don't mind being ordered about unreasonably by a boss, given they are the ones putting money in my bank account ... but customers giving me shit for no reason? I want to limit that as much as possible.

 

[TristanBelmont]

I meant to quote somebody but I screwed up. I don't know how to delete comments. I guess this'll just sit here as proof of my stupidity until I figure it out.

If it makes you feel better I created an entire thread and messed it up, and have no idea what to do with it. You are further up the forum food chain than I.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Having worked in food service, retail, video rental, movie theaters, tech support of both in home, office and phone types, I've pretty much endured every iteration of the rudest customer archetype...
Everything is mashed up into one giant rude jackass named "the customer" who believes he/she is always right and is entitled to his/her way no matter what. *shrug* They're all jackasses.

Can I ask ... which was the worst for bad customers though? I haven't had a customer-centred job in years, but given that I recently quit my education sector job to go back to uni, I was wondering which of all those jobs was the least stressful for part-time work? I don't deal with irate or unreasonable customers well, those who feel like they can order someone about.

I don't mind being ordered about unreasonably by a boss, given they are the ones putting money in my bank account ... but customers giving me shit for no reason? I want to limit that as much as possible.

Phone service is possibly the worst because they don't have to look you in the eye before they threaten you... just like some of the shit people talk online, you know face-to-face they'd never say it IRL, its just a gut feeling.
I'm the type of person who values integrity, and most people don't have it.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

Phone service is possibly the worst because they don't have to look you in the eye before they threaten you... just like some of the shit people talk online, you know face-to-face they'd never say it IRL, its just a gut feeling.
I'm the type of person who values integrity, and most people don't have it.

Phone service is the worse? I can see that ... Theatre work doesn't seem so bad. But hypothesis is not fact. I mean if someone hated the movie, they won't complain to the who cleans the lobby or makes sure everyone gets their lollies and popcorn ... right? (and with no small sense of hope...)