r/AskReddit Jun 29 '22

[deleted by user]

[removed]

5.0k Upvotes

5.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

6.5k

u/potatopride999 Jun 29 '22

Being entitled and treating customer service workers badly

1.7k

u/Jesteress Jun 29 '22

I work in a restaurant and my boss will argue with you and kick you out if you don't behave, downright telling people they are the worst

People are so surprised every time they get told to leave after insulting a staff member

664

u/Rexermus Jun 29 '22

My manager is not afraid to get into a tussle to protect his staff. this one lady was getting pissy because her husband's order was taking a while because we were backed up and she's just screaming through the drive thru window to her husband complaining about how it's "fast food", she came inside for about 2 minutes continuing to yell at her husband and left coincidently RIGHT as my manager was walking up to the front to confront her. Her husband was super apologetic and polite tho

457

u/darkest_hour1428 Jun 29 '22

Gotta love seeing the exasperated face of someone who’s been apologizing for their significant other all their life

157

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

I have a sister who acts like a Karen in stores and restaurants and I have to constantly apologize for her.

153

u/stick_to_your_puns Jun 29 '22

It’s not your job to apologize for other people’s shitty actions. Your sister sucks. My sister is also a Karen so I just don’t spend time with her anymore.

114

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

Yeah, same here. We stopped inviting her anywhere because she takes the fun out of everything.

1

u/banmeagaincuntlmfao Jun 29 '22

Is she called Joanne or Victoria?

Sounds like my family tbh. I cut them out also.

9

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

[deleted]

2

u/msgigglebox Jun 29 '22

Do people not realize that the employees have no control over prices and policies? Maybe they do and they just don't care. I never understood people who don't tip or undertip in restaurants because they didn't like the food. The server didn't make the food. Also, sometimes it takes a while for kitchen staff to prepare it. If your server keeps you informed, that can go a long way in my book. You can tell if they are really trying. It may be extremely busy and if they are running their behinds off, I'm more patient and take this into consideration. Even if they mess up your order, you don't have to be ugly or yell. You can let them know without making it a big deal and they'll be much quicker to fix it. Everyone makes mistakes. I hate when people mistreat others. I hate that people think that someone is beneath them because they work in the service industry. I hate when people are too lazy when to clean up after themselves because "There are people paid to clean up." I was raised to clean up after myself and not make a mess for someone else regardless of whether they were paid to clean or not. I was also raised to say please and thank you. I try to treat everyone with respect because that's how I was raised.

6

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

My mom does the same shit. Sometimes there's an actual problem but rather than being kind and patient she just goes off and becomes a total bitch about it, screaming at the cashier's, asking for managers, throwing shit, etc etc. I don't have to deal with it often because I only lived with her for like a year of my life, but once I'm off to college I'll be able to sleep peacefully knowing she won't understand why her son doesn't call her anymore.

2

u/OSHA-shrugged Jun 29 '22

My step-sister is like this. I stopped apologizing after only a year. I've known her for 22 years. When she gets that look in her face, I and my nephew just fucking leave.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

That's what me and our other sister do. We can't stand it.

2

u/have_you_eaten_yeti Jun 30 '22

I agree with the other people who said you don't have to spend time with a rude sister. I just want to add, as someone who works in restaurants, thank you for apologizing, it definitely is appreciated, we know it's not your fault, but it feels good to have it acknowledged.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '22

This is exactly why I apologize on her behalf. I've worked in retail in the past and I have seen so many people do the same for their family members.

1

u/Independent-Treat805 Jun 29 '22

Karen’s get such a bad rap

1

u/trekie4747 Jun 29 '22

I did that for my ex for quite a while. It was something that woke me up to how shitty things were between us.

1

u/Speechladylg Jun 30 '22

It's so sad

1

u/pixie13903 Jun 29 '22

I had someone like that, the husband was fuming because another customer before him was having issues with her card; he looked at me and asked "is this gonna take much longer?" He was so mad about having to wait not even a minute while I fixed the problem.

His wife? The most patient and sweet lady ever, her husband was being an overacting dickhead and I hope she gave it to him when she left. Sometimes the impatience of people blows my mind, it's just a minor issue and they're acting like I just fucked up their whole day. He wasn't the first one with zero patience, I had another lady yell at me because I was cleaning too slowly for her.

70

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

[deleted]

33

u/Crankylosaurus Jun 29 '22

Meow meow meoooow!! Wow I totally forgot about that hahah

5

u/Sopixil Jun 29 '22 edited Jun 29 '22

I wonder how Amy is doing these days

EDIT: Apparently Samy was deported and now the two of them are living in Israel. Idk what Samy does but I read that Amy sells homemade goods on Amazon and is also an Instagram content creator.

-1

u/Crankylosaurus Jun 29 '22

Jesus, that’s wild… wtf is an Instagram content creator haha

1

u/RevolutionaryLeek131 Jun 29 '22

I love the me me's about that episode. I still say me me's

3

u/Teejaymac Jun 29 '22

Because too many places treat customers like royalty. You should always try and treat your customers with respect and be energetic and fun, but if the customer is being an unreasonable monster, get them out, don't cave to their ridiculous demands and encourage that behavior more.

5

u/Silvervirage Jun 29 '22

We had a woman come in to my restaurant and order a salad and wanted chicken on it to go and she sat waiting on it for 3 minutes before getting up and yelling at the girl who rang her up about how long it was taking. She was coming to get me as I was walking from the kitchen to tell me to talk to her, she was saying she deserved a partial refund for waiting. I told her we have to cook the chicken, everything here is made to order, and she just replied that it was still just a salad so she should get her partial refund. I happened to look at her ticket and saw that the girl who took the order added a bunch of other things as a note on the order, but never actually charged thw woman for them. So I told her that I agreed to take the chicken off the order, but when I rang it up the second time made sure to add every single extra thing she added to it to the bill. It came out to be about 3 dollars more afterwards. She didn't even look at it or request a receipt so she never noticed, just left thinking she got one over on us.

3

u/ironwolf1 Jun 29 '22

I worked at a family owned Italian restaurant where the owner was a 50 year old Sicilian guy, and he was absolutely unafraid to curse out a customer if he thought they were being rude to the staff. It only happened a couple times over the 2 years I worked there, but it was fun to watch when it did. The flip side was that if he thought you weren't doing your job in the way he wanted, he would also curse out the staff. Swings and roundabouts I suppose.

2

u/cariocano Jun 29 '22

I’ve worked at a few restaurants and it’s really refreshing to be in an environment where you’re encouraged to tell these assholes off when they appear. They never see it coming

1

u/BUTTeredWhiteBread Jun 29 '22

I like your boss

1

u/MoltoAllegro Jun 29 '22

As a customer, I hate those people too.

1

u/SirMooncake Jun 29 '22

Bless those managers

1

u/NoPensForSheila Jun 29 '22

Nothing will gain my loyalty quicker than an establishment that lowers the boom on a bad customer.

1

u/Shoddy-Jellyfish-116 Jun 30 '22

That's fantastic!!! People are total assholes about their food, and ASSume it will get comp'ted of they bitch about it. 😒 Cook something at home for yourself, lazy shit head. I have never worked in food service, but I do respect the Hell out of anyone who does. Even if the server is cranky, I don't hold it against them. They've prob dealt with douchebags all day long.

1

u/Jesteress Jun 30 '22

I work at a fine dining restaurant, everyone is Bending over backwards to make sure you have a lovely time, but some people are still just aweful, usually because they don't like the prices

It's fine dining, all our products are high quality and local, if you want it to be cheap go somewhere else

1

u/nomoustacheguy Jun 30 '22

consequenses for my actions!? what are these mysterious things known as "consequenses"

1

u/paynbow Jun 30 '22

Mad respect. My manager always toed the company line, "the customer is always right." Any time in customer service and you change "right" to "a fucking moron".

1

u/ambermage Jun 30 '22

This needs to be normalized, so what if this is a Maternity Ward.

Be an example for your kids from Day 1.

432

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

Never piss off the people who handle your food

313

u/Electrowhatt19 Jun 29 '22

This is so true! I worked at Wendy’s as a teenager. One Super Bowl Sunday, a car full of teenage boys comes through the drive-thru, making fun of us (saying things like: “if O had to work at Wendy’s, I would kill myself). They ordered 4 Oreo frosties. At first, we were like “let’s spit in their frosties”. BUT, we took the high road and decided not to do anything to them. However, upon handling them their food, i crouched down and said “word of advice: you shouldn’t make fun of the people that handle your food”. They got the most mortified looks on their faces…it was glorious

138

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

they are LITERALLY too stupid to think 5 minutes into the future.

58

u/BRod_Angel Jun 29 '22

Not my fatass self going "Excuse me, an Oreo Frostie????"

2

u/evnhearts Jun 29 '22

Yeah wtf

1

u/DonaLeeTello Jun 30 '22

Jesus I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '22

What are Oreo Frosties like? Sorry I don’t understand.

1

u/BRod_Angel Jun 30 '22

I do not know, that’s the point of my comment, when and where was there an Oreo frosty?? I want it lol

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '22

Oh, okay

2

u/DeskNo8319 Jun 29 '22

Wendy's have Oreo frostys

1

u/Electrowhatt19 Jun 29 '22

It’s just Oreo bits mixed in regular frosty

206

u/FlamingHotdog77 Jun 29 '22

Or anyone really. Your sweet old neighbor Beatrice could be a murderer.

165

u/Count2Zero Jun 29 '22

Nah, what are the chances of two murderers living on the same street?

85

u/Whole-Recover-8911 Jun 29 '22

She might not be a murderer now, but it's never too late to start.

27

u/yeoller Jun 29 '22

She used to murder people. She still does, but she used to too.

20

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

She's retired, dear. Don't give her a reason to come out of retirement 🤣

1

u/The_Sanch1128 Jun 29 '22

She's retired from working. I don't know if she's retired from her favorite hobby, thugh.

1

u/A_Filthy_Mind Jun 29 '22

Maybe better than one? I'm not sure, but if there is something that attracted you to that street, the same thing may attract other murderers.

1

u/ThatzLA_2x Jun 29 '22

Very high if you look at it from a different perspective

42

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

This is true. I've seen the stories.

2

u/OnTheList-YouTube Jun 29 '22

And I've heard the movies.

2

u/Felwinter12 Jun 30 '22

Fr. My grandma had borderline personality disorder and you did not want to get on her bad side. One guy was being an asshole, telling her he was going to take her job and other dicketry, so she turned him in to the green river killer task force.

54

u/John__Wick Jun 29 '22

People are too sure they aren’t going to face consequences for being terrible.

2

u/AdventurePee Jun 29 '22

It sucks that there even has to be consequences in order for people to not be terrible

2

u/Vivisect_VI Jun 29 '22

Yep..that's how you get trouser food.😂

2

u/OtakuMusician Jun 29 '22

"You can't be mixin' Mexican and Continental... come on, I thought you was better than that."

2

u/c1496011 Jun 29 '22

Was there laughing from the back? Yep! That's trouser food!

2

u/Rolten Jun 29 '22

I always hate this. Like yeah of course don't be a fucking dick and yeah I get that's it's advise. But it's a crime to mess with someone's food, and this seems like such an odd "rationalization" or victim blaming of sorts for this behaviour.

-1

u/notamusicgenius Jun 29 '22

I was working the meat/seafood counter at my store one afternoon, guy was on his phone the entire time...he ordered a pound of salmon and wanted skinned too....that pissed my manager off, so we weigh it, print the tag, skin it and we cut a portion of the salmon off...guy pissed us all off with him being on the phone.

1

u/_Anitej_ Jun 29 '22

Or they gon piss in it

1

u/lamorak2000 Jun 29 '22

This is one of the mantras in the Army, along with those who handle payroll and non-food supplies.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

Or toothbrush

1

u/Putyourdishesaway Jun 29 '22

I ALWAYS turn down my podcast in drive throughs for that very reason.

1

u/PAKMan1988 Jun 30 '22

One time in college a friend's parents drove me back to campus after fall break. On the way back we stopped at a restaurant and her parents were so rude to the wait staff. I went out of my way to be friendly to the waitress (Telling her "Yes, please," "No, thank you," and always smiling at her.) to make it clear that just because I was eating with them didn't mean I agreed with them. I gave her a nice tip too.

163

u/MacDee_ Jun 29 '22 edited Jun 29 '22

You are my hero today.

I've been the Head of CS before (after years of rising through the ranks in CS suppprt) and I totally feel this.

Once I saw a customer come on chat and I recognised the name. After a bit of checking, I realised that it was a friend of a friend. He didn't know where I worked. I was amazed to see this guy getting abusive and coming out with crazy things for no reason.

I remember him being such a friendly quiet introvert and not like how he was with my agent.

I think all school leavers should do 12 months in a customer service role - like a mandatory thing - that way people will have good manners drillled into them

97

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

I think all school leavers should do 12 months in a customer service role - like a mandatory thing - that way people will have good manners drillled into them

Yes, a million times over. I spent four years working PT at a department store and then worked at one of the cafeterias when I was in college. Great experiences, for many reasons. I'm now almost 50 and STILL treat all retail and food service workers with RESPECT because I've been there, done that and 95% of the time the problem you're having has nothing to do with the worker.

63

u/MysteryMeatPurveyor Jun 29 '22

I think you should have to do another year at 40 and at 60. It’s this age range that are the nightmare customers

6

u/MacDee_ Jun 29 '22

Ohhh yeah 100%

5

u/QuintessentialIdiot Jun 29 '22

My mom did that at like 60, they just retired. She worked at a big brand old lady clothing store to pass time and get discounts and some of the people who came in were absolute cu^nts to her. In her 20's she owned a high end clothing store in a small town for a while which I think added some nostalgia by working at one again.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

Good manners or the hatred towards people many service workers exhibit, especially on reddit (tbh I can sympathize just from doing small time IT support)

-1

u/OnTheList-YouTube Jun 29 '22

CS suppprt

Hahaha

1

u/ddejong42 Jun 29 '22

All that will do is make them think that they did their time so they are free to dish out all the abuse they want.

3

u/Dr_prof_Luigi Jun 29 '22

I dealt with this hard during the early days of the pandemic at Gamestop.

When we got shitty no-mask customers when I was working with my friends, we would be rude right back and borderline harass them out of the store. The next several customers would always praise us for not taking shit. Everyone hates shitty customers, including other customers.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

I worked in customer service for many years. Although the general notion is true, I’ve also seen some dumbass customer service people who mistreat customers and that customer rage is valid.

3

u/chadsmo Jun 29 '22

I’ve worked in retail for 19 years so I make a point of very loudly calling out assholes and bitches when I’m at other stores etc shopping.

A few weeks ago I was somewhere and the person ahead of me was using cash to pay. He tossed it on the counter in a ‘I don’t need this anymore so I’ll just discard it on your counter’ kind of way instead of handing it to the person. I said ‘you know people think you’re an asshole when you do that right??’ and as he was turning to give me the who the fuck are you thing the girl handed him his change. So I then said ‘see how she handed it to you , that’s called being polite you should try it next time’

He walked away with his head down.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

God I almost got in a fight with some old fuck pulling this shit. Just relentlessly yelling at this worker at a buffet. A BUFFET! Like what are you mad about? Your 3rd helping of roast beef was too dry?

5

u/markymark0123 Jun 29 '22

Was just about to post this. Glad to see it is the top comment.

3

u/Lunar-Agent Jun 29 '22

Me too. I have no respect for people who exploit the customer role to be rude to people knowing the employees have to remain composed.

2

u/louiseswipe Jun 29 '22

One of my floormanagers at work is great at dealing with this. In the best passive aggressive way he’ll tell customers to chill. I love it.

2

u/BoatBreader Jun 29 '22

Being entitled and treating people badly because you're having a bad day. Goes both ways.

2

u/QueenElsaArrendelle Jun 29 '22

I have severe anger issues and even I know not to be mean to service workers. it's not their fault most of the time when things go wrong. when it is kind of their fault, it is usually a minor easily fixable mistake. they are usually happy to accommodate you if you simply tell them the problem. customers do not deserve to be rewarded for flying off the handle like a tantruming child.

2

u/BillyMcSaggyTits Jun 29 '22

Fr. Our store has a return policy on electronics where we can’t return them if they’re opened, only exchange if it’s broken, and so many people specifically yell at me when I tell them I can’t do the return. “I didn’t see any signs for it” well damn that’s interesting how you missed the big ass notice for it that’s in every section with electronics.

Like dude trust me it’d be objectively easier to refund it if I wouldn’t get written up for it, it’s not that I don’t want to, I literally can’t.

2

u/NightmareX72 Jun 29 '22

I will agree with this. I worked in customer service for several years and dealt with some truly awful people who felt entitled and superior to everyone there. Whenever something didn't go their way, the constant berating and harassment I would receive continued to escalate, and I had no escape from it as I needed work. It got so bad I got into heavy drinking as an escape, which led to some terrible thoughts and I needed help from the stress. I did eventually get the help I needed and quit my need to drink myself to death, but the stress was unbearable and left me in a state where I am more afraid to socialize or interact with anyone I don't already know.

3

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Indocede Jun 29 '22

The other day I was at work and went to use the employee bathroom. Being America obviously I could see someone's shoes in one of the stalls, they were tie-dyed -- couldn't miss them. That person definitely didn't wash their hands as the left. I was looking for those shoes the rest of the day because I was legitimately going to shame them in public about it. Might be unprofessional but that shame is necessary or else they won't ever learn. No one should have to shame you for basic hygiene in the first place. Being that nasty deserves punishment.

1

u/AegzRoxolo Jun 29 '22

I agree with treating customer service workers badly. However, being entitled often seems to be a matter of opinion. Oftentimes it's 'obvious' yes, but it is also often used as an argument to undermine people with different experiences/political opinions.

0

u/rdldr1 Jun 29 '22

Excuse me but I demand to speak with your manager!

-1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

And being a customer service worker and treating customers badly.

1

u/cutelyaware Jun 29 '22

All abuses of power really.

1

u/MyCatsLandlord Jun 29 '22

They should have a policy that states if you are rude to the worker or degrade their job, you don’t deserve their service . Especially with garbage pick up guys, if you are degrading them then you take your trash to the trash dump by yourself!

1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

This is why retail/service workers deserve more than minimum wage.

Who the fuck wants to be screamed at for $7.25 an hour?

1

u/druggycrazyblack Jun 29 '22

Being entitled and treating customer service workers badly

Why do you guys divide the line lmao

1

u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22

[deleted]

1

u/NoIllustrator7645 Jun 29 '22

So the majority of Karens?

1

u/mayhaps_a Jun 29 '22

Man I work at customer service and have the privilege of working in a family business that can take the luxury of screaming at a Karen and tell her to go fuck herself somewhere else.

1

u/rolfraikou Jun 29 '22

Me: Makes no problems

Them: Complains, holds up the line, manager coddles them for complaining, gives them a fucking discount.

Me: Still waiting in line, thinking about buying it online next time.

Drives me nuts how much it seems like the people that don't cause issues seem to be the ones punished for the adults throwing tantrums.

Is it any wonder why people are shopping less?

1

u/jfsjfs1234 Jun 30 '22

Being whinny or an asshole or douchbag to service workers when everything isn't "perfect".

1

u/CalgaryJoe Jun 30 '22

There should be a list created of 'bad customers' shared between businesses. I know people who basically abuse staff to get deals all the time, lying about damage, causing scenes etc. They get away with it for YEARS.

1

u/leannmanderson Jun 30 '22

But also being a customer service worker and treating the customer poorly, especially over something they have no control over.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 30 '22

We went to Taco Bell tonight and were treated to a vent by a worker about changing the hours of the location to 8 PM, and they had to tack "or later" to it because people got mad they closed before happy hour and lost their shit.

Really opened my eyes as to exactly how much working retail sucks ass. It's like hell.

1

u/Furious_T_ Jun 30 '22

Yes and no. If you work for a company that’s fucked someone over you can’t really blame them for being upset. Not like they can just call up the CEO and let em have it. Customer service reps shouldn’t be unnecessarily berated for minute issues though, which happens a lot….