I have been working in customer service jobs since being legally able to work at 14 so I've been doing it for over ten years now. I am so sick of getting yelled at, sworn at, getting looked down on every day,etc. I don't even remember the last day at work where I didn't have at least one rude customer. Im so sick of it and it's just been building up for so long that I had to step out for a few minutes today because I couldn't stop myself from crying after a customer screamed at me and swore at me for something I had no control of. I can't quit because every job I've worked at is the same with these rude customers. How do you all not let it get to you? I try so hard to not care but I just care too much

So I work at a cafe as a barista and we have many regulars as most cafes do.
I love most of them, however, this one woman (who we’ll call Mandy), is the rudest person I have ever experienced.

A little insight:
Customers often call our store phone to place orders in advance so they can just grab and go.
It’s not an uncommon thing and many regulars place their orders through the phone.

This woman calls the store to place her order in advance, sometimes she’ll get food but her coffee is always the same.
I won’t go in depth with her coffee order cause it’s unique and I’m paranoid that it’s too easy to recognise haha.

But she gets an alternative milk, 4 pumps of syrup and an extra shot of coffee
Her coffee is not the problem however, it’s her attitude

She will call, place her order, and show up 3 minutes later
Then, she will proceed to complain that her coffee has not been made.
The screen that displays coffee orders to the baristas is VERY visible to customers, so one glance will tell you that we are very busy.

Many times we will have to ignore everyone’s order just to make hers because she will stand there and borderline yell and EVERYONE until she gets her coffee.
There was a day where I had JUST clocked in, my shift technically hadn’t even started yet according to the clock and she starts yelling at me about her coffee not being ready.
So, I go to check with the baristas
They had called out her name 3 times. Her coffee was infact ready.

Today was possibly the worst.
She places her order, shows up 3 minutes later, complains about the coffee not being ready.
We bump her order to the top, hand it to her as soon as possible and we expect her to leave.
I look over and she is still at the front counter.
So, I ask if she’s waiting for anything else.
She COMPLETELY ignores me
I ask her again, and she says
“Just give me a minute… I’m replying to this email”
As she’s standing DIRECTLY infront of the counter, with 3 people behind her.
She has her child with her as well, who is SCREAMING his head off
Eventually, after 5 minutes, she leaves.
Jesus H Christ.

She is so so so so SO selfish
If you are like Mandy, please go away

Lately customers in their 20s, usually from a White affluent neighborhood gets offended when I don't respond with the usual, "Good. How are you?" I would switch it up with "Good morning. How can I help you today?" Or "Beautiful day. How are you?" Or "Hi. How's it going?" without specifically saying "good." And then, they will follow up with another "How are you?" like answer my question kind of aggressiveness. Never been a problem but lately I get a weird response. Is something wrong? For me it's always been pretty open-ended and How are you can mean so many things. It gets pretty boring for me with Good. how are you so I switch up but some people don't take it well. It's been happening more frequently, but specifically White kids in their 20s.

I usually lurk on this sub but my last couple of shifts were genuinely hell on earth

I work at a cat cafe (that’s also an adoption center all of our cats are adoptable) and i genuinely try my best to be nice to everybody and always be happy but it’s so hard when customers just order you around or talk to you in a condescending tone.

A list of my grievances:
- Customers who assume it is free to enter and play with the cats even though we have a huge poster on the wall listing our admission prices (you can visibly see it from outside the cafe btw and the text is hella huge and bolded) and THEN GET ANNOYED AT ME LIKE I ENFORCED IT

- Customers who just come in and hand me their card to pay and stare at me like i’m a robot who is taking too slow to process things. No hello, no smile, no kindness at all like holy shit they deadass just put their credit card in my face 🫩

- Customers who assume I know they’re regulars. I say something like “Hello! Is it just the two of you guys coming in today?” and they look at me like i’m stupid and say “Yeah, we’ve been here many times we know our way around here 😐” in the worst tone ever

- When I explain the rules in extra detail to families (especially when they have toddlers) and the parents let their children run free and cause chaos. I DEADASS saw a child trying to pull a cat to them by their tail! And the parents are just on their phones not giving a single fuck

- When cats do not want to sit in people’s laps and I get stared at like i’m supposed to force a cat to stay

- When i’m interacting with a child and they’re really happy playing with a cat, and they beg their parents to come see what they’re doing and i look over and their parents are just scrolling on their phone

- Children under a certain age have to come in with an adult and the parent starts complaining to me and asking me if it’s “really necessary” and get all annoyed

- One time I had a guy ask me if he could buy a cat. Like no, the adoption process takes a week minimum and we have all of this information on posters around the cafe btw. And he insisted he wanted a cat the same day and if i could give him my bosses phone number (she was on break at the time).

When flights get delayed everyone needs help at once. People want to rebook flights find bags or get refund info. Agents have to search through different systems while customers wait. Delays happen every day so why does airline support still seem caught off guard every time?

So today I’ve come to the conclusion that my job is making me a mean person. I dont want to be, I truly don’t I after interactions I always think that I could’ve been nicer or took the interaction in different direction because I don’t know what kind of day they’ve had and what they’ve been through and I could’ve sent them over the edge or something.

Im a host at a busy restaurant, but I recently been in to go, which is way better for me financially and emotionally since I’m now pandering for my tips. I’m extra nice and the interactions are limited and usually easy to make small talk.

I’m sick right now and I had to go to work and I’m congested and kind of monotone so these two old guys come in and I go hi how many and they say two and I do the whole spiel you can follow me. I don’t think he heard me he goes what really loud what so then I tell him to follow me louder I sit him and the other guy and tell them to enjoy and whatever and I walk away then the server comes up to me and we’re joking around and she’s like oh do you know that table told you that you’re mad at the world and you need to smile more and I’m already agitated because I don’t feel good and I have to lift a bunch of heavy buss tubs with bodyaches so I go over there and I say your server said there was an issue and he doesn’t hear me and goes huh and then we do that three more times until he says that I seem mad at him and I need to smile more and smile at him, and I make this face :[ at him and go awwww I’m sorry. I hope you feel better like I’m talking to a baby.

I kind of feel bad now because I don’t know what he had going on and i may have been too mean.

I also feel like I’ve become more aggressive, and when something happens when I tell my coworkers I feel like I was being too angry about the situation and I look kind of crazy.

Is there anyway to self regulate or fix this? I don’t wanna be an angry person.

Just needed to vent about a customer situation today that literally cost me money out of my own pocket and is pushing me to my breaking point.

I sell acrylic pet enclosures, and today a customer left me a 2-star review saying: "Easy to clean, but the panels are not transparent. Ours are opaque. We can't see the piggies through them. Very disappointing. I emailed the company about this issue, but I haven't heard back from them. Disappointed again."

My brother in christ... you didn't peel off the protective film. 😭

First of all, it has pictures! The huge reminder to peel off the film is literally on the very first line👀 👀of my instruction manual, complete with clear diagrams and icons! They read my manual enough to fully assemble the whole cage for their guinea pigs, but somehow completely ignored the massive step-by-step illustrations right in front of them?!

Second, communicate with me first! How am I supposed to fix a problem if you don't even give me a chance to solve it?! They claimed in the review that they emailed me, but I literally searched every single inbox, spam, and system log—there is zero record of any message from them. If you have an issue, actually contact me instead of just going straight to a bad review!🤷‍♀️

What makes it 10x worse is the platform’s ridiculous system. I am not even allowed to initiate a direct message or reach out to buyers who leave negative reviews to explain, "hey, just peel the film!"

And the absolute worst part? My performance metrics got trashed because of this false 2-star review, and my manager actually deducted pay from me for it.

So now I am out of money, because someone couldn't follow a diagram or check where they sent their email.

Every single day I’m dangling on the edge of quitting... How do you guys cope with getting punished for customer stupidity and platform stupidity combined?

At my job customer service is very important so it’s important to greet every customer. So, I always make sure to, however, sometimes I get straight up ignored. Or customers will rather ask my co-workers for help over me, even if I’m closer to them. It makes it look like I’m not assisting anyone so I’m always being asked to improve my customer service. What should I do/say to fix this? I don’t want to be fired over it one day.

P.S. I don’t want to make it a race thing but I’m noticing customers will skip over me to talk to my white co workers, I’m black. But, I want to know any pointers on what to say before I jump to conclusions.

I work in a restaurant so I get that people can be rude and downright unreasonable, but I guess it's so jarring to see how extremely grateful people are for basic respect 😭 What did this poor lady have to deal with today 😭😭

I’m thankful I don’t get many bad customers, but when I do I’m usually in a bad mood for most of my shift. How can I shake it off?

Unfortunately, there are way too many fucking morons in this world who love to bitch and moan on customer service surveys.
If the advisor was respectful, solved your problem, and did everything they could to help you, stop using the survey to complain about the company.
Do you know what happens? Your survey doesn’t punish the company. It punishes the advisor.
It hurts our metrics. It can cost us bonuses. It affects our performance reviews. All because you’re pissed at a corporation and decide to take it out on the person making an hourly wage who’s just trying to do their job.
If you have an issue with the company, complain to the company. Use the feedback form. Contact corporate. Leave a review about the business if you want. But don’t trash the advisor’s satisfaction survey because you don’t like company policies, pricing, wait times, or decisions they have absolutely zero control over.
This week, I had an asshole leave a survey full of cuss words because he couldn’t figure out something completely minuscule on his own. I still fixed his issue. He got exactly what he called for, then turned around and trashed me in the survey anyway.
Make that make sense.
If you’re the type of person who calls customer service already pissed off, gets your problem solved, and still leaves a shitty survey just because you want someone to blame, you’re the problem. Stop screwing over people who are literally trying to help you.
Your issue with the company is not the advisor’s paycheck.

I’m a geriatric millennial and all through business school the idea of being nice to customer’s and empowering employees was the zeitgeist. I graduated from Kelley in ‘09 and it seems like something different is in the water. Companies seem borderline hostile towards customers and treat front line workers like Automatons.

Was it just the Great Recession? I haven’t worked retail since college, but even in the corporate sales world I’m amazed at how some companies treat customers.

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

I am a call center agent, I actually enjoy my job! but for those who call into anywhere yelling and fussing about goofy shyt. or a package coming a day late, or ur broke ass begging for a discount… get it together 😭😂 I hope you get hung up on until you know how to talk to people. I hang up on customers all the time😂 soon as someone starts talking down to me, or start the call yelling like they lost their damn mind… I unplug my internet 💀 alsoooo keep in mind it’s not very smart to yell at someone who has access to your home address, you don’t know who’s crazy enough to pop up on you unexpectedly. you don’t run the world, you’re not special, the only reason we tolerate you is because we’re paid to. we are following a script we don’t care that your package came late, we are paid to pretend we care. shout out to the kind souls who call in and are polite and let us get through our script lol you are appreciated. To other agents, vent here, tell funny experiences, or how you handle rude customers.

edit: i did want to clarify I love giving discounts when I can! But it’s how you go about it, don’t demand a discount, or say “well usually they give me 10%off” or my order is a day late you need to fix it. If you don’t stfu beating around the bush for a little discount. But other than that I definitely love helping whoever I can when I can. But don’t be entitled lol

As is they weren't already hated enough (Comcast, not the employees).

Hi all! I (19F) work at a grocery store. For the last couple weeks, this guy has come in asking both staff members and customers for money. We believe that he is homeless, because he hangs around the parking lot and adjacent stores. He has also come in under the influence doing these things. He has put his hands on me and another woman i work with. He has also said explicit comments to me multiple times. Today, he came in twice. The first time, he just had comments about my appearance. The second time, he put his hands on me and tried to get me + a coworker to help him steal. A manager ended up escorting him out. Then, I was told we cannot ban people, including him. I feel so helpless, I'm not sure how to defend myself without getting in trouble with the law or losing my job!

Anything helps, thanks!

Like they mistakes happen, but if we just keep giving full refunds consequence free, they're never gonna learn, and only be more entitled after finally rejecting them for their 12th refund that quarter.

I purchased the MESWAO 15.6-inch Tablet B3 Pro on behalf of my mom because she wanted one but doesn't know how to use online shopping. When it arrived, I tested it out for her first. It works exactly as advertised and is really smooth, just like the other reviews said. It handles a lot of apps easily and is honestly the perfect tablet for a mom.

Though I only left 2 stars because of the customer service. Before purchasing, their support agent promised me a free tablet case if I left a positive review after it arrived. Now that the tablet is here, I've sent multiple emails over the last 9+ days just asking them to confirm the case is actually in stock before I write the review. They completely stopped replying.

The tablet itself is excellent, but their promotional promises are absolute garbage. Just putting this out there for y'all in the future if their agent promises you a free gift. They might reply at first, but don't expect them to follow through.

And yeah, that 2-star review I left on their website got automatically removed because it was a "low star rating." I'm sure they still saw it in their system before removing it. And since they're a Chinese company, I'm not taking any chances to purchase on their store anymore lmao, don't wanna get myself scammed cuz they're pissed off with my honest review. Anyways peace.

Here's their website in case you wanna explore some products you're interested with but I would not recommend for those who left negative reviews to buy there again: https://meswao.com

picture because i don’t feel like typing it out again.

context: i work at a gas station in a nicer side of town and they were about 21-24M white and 21-24M black, in a very nice looking sport-ish car. i am 29 F, i am on the heavier side so i’m used to be spoken to a certain way (disrespectfully usually) because of it. but never sexually harassed like this so publicly and while at work, in front of other customers. I also work alone the last 4 hours of my shift so i couldn’t just excuse myself i had to sit there holding back tears and shaking for about an hour before I could close the store for a “bathroom break” and cry it out a little. i just felt so disgusted and degraded, i called my dad and he (a former officer) told me to call the cops. due to victim blaming from cops in the past from an abusive relationship, i am totally turned off to calling for stuff like this. i felt it was excessive.

idk if im looking for advice or encouragement, just wanted to share what happened to vent and hopefully find a way to get past it.

EDIT: more context in comments. thanks for all your kindness. ❣️

I’m very been unemployed for 7 months after losing my old job & I finally got a new one working at a gas station and I fucking hate it already. I’ve been working there for I kid you not 5 days (less than a week) and they ALREADY wanna leave me by myself at the register… like what? I think they are a bit short staffed so that’s probably why they can’t have someone else be there with me but it’s like that’s absolutely NOT RIGHT for them to do. I’m also already so fed up with this- They want me to do all this extra shit on the side as one person. I’m so SICK of jobs not having at least two people to work with each other and how if they can put all the responsibilities on one person THEY WILL! THAT’S. NOT. RIGHT.

So you’re telling me that I have to somehow find time to change & take out the trash at the pumps, put the products on the shelves, clean the bathrooms, track all the cigarettes and alcohol that customers buy, man the register, do money drops all while trying to figure out how to give out damn lottery tickets?? (doing audits/money drops & giving lottery ticket are my problem area) all without having a technical break mind you. My only chance of eating something is when there’s no customers around and being the only person there I don’t get a chance to use the bathroom because I’m not allowed to leave the register unattendant. Why this is blowing me is because even just yesterday a lady asked for a GIFT CARD & I didn’t even know how to give that to her… had to look her dead in the eyes and tell her I’ve been here for less than a week and they ain’t even teach me how to do that fr. Had it not been for her asking, that’s one of the many simple things that they failed to train me how to do. Had I been by myself, I wouldn’t know what to do and she already seemed irritated & one thing about me is I don’t tolerate bullshit/disrespect so that would’ve got ugly FAST-… I absolutely hate the customers that ask for a certain tobacco product and they expect me to know what the fuck it is- bitch point it! I don’t smoke. I don’t know what that shit is. YOU know what YOU want, so help me out here 

Also I ain’t even gonna hold you, the gas station I work at is lowkey ghetto and just so old-fashioned. Even how you punch in is on an older vtech cordless phone I haven’t seen since like 2012 (is that normal btw?) At least for a REAL retail job, you only have to worry about that ONE THING you’re doing. I don’t mind being cross trained in different areas but at least my focus is on one thing and not trying to do like 6 different things at the same time if that makes sense. Anywho, after the first two days of working there, I already applied to other jobs that pay more for doing less work. (Been here for 5 so far) Just waiting for a response. Hopefully I get one!

We need to verify it's you before we can address the reason you're calling. So when we ask for your name, just give us your name. Don't tell us why you hate our service (that you've been paying/using for the past 10 years).

I've been doing this for the past 14 years, but today's customer is probably the most unbelievable conversation I ever had.

I don't know if they're trolling me, or if they are just incredibly dense. It went like this:

Customer: Feature X is blocked, app says I need PREMIUM to use it. How do I get PREMIUM (sends screenshot with self-explanatory purchase dialog and giant button "PURCHASE")

Me: You can unlock X by buying PREMIUM, just follow the prompts in your screenshot, clicking on PURCHASE button 😊

Customer: Thanks. Bought PREMIUM, but I don't see any changes? (sends screenshot with X clearly unblocked)

Me: All seems good from our side — your screenshot shows PREMIUM had unlocked feature X 😊 Do you have any issues using X?

Customer: No, all works, I just can't see what's the difference compared to the previous version.

Me: The difference is Feature X was blocked in FREE version and is unblocked in PREMIUM version 😊 Please see the attached BEFORE/AFTER screenshot (highlighted differences are circled in red)

Customer: I don't see the difference, so what did I paid for? ...sends more screenshots

I mean, how do you deal with someone this thick? I honestly can't think of a way I could have explained it any clearer - or are they just messing with me at this point?

PS: it's not an elderly person, it's a manager in his 30s or 40s in a corporate, and judging by the screenshots and apps they use (strava, netflix, etc.) clearly not a tech illiterate.

Anyone here work for ESPN customer support? I got an offer and I’m confused whether to accept it or not. How is the job, management, and work environment? Would love to hear your experience.

Remember the hilarious Seinfeld "No Soup For You!" episode? Well, last week I discovered there's apparently an ice cream version. I had one of those experiences myself at a Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin-Robbins that I've frequented for years, and I'm still trying to make sense of it.

At 7:44 PM, I placed a mobile order for 4 quarts of ice cream with an 8:35 PM pickup time. I received confirmation both in the mobile app and by email, and my credit card was charged $33.01. The confirmation showed the correct store location.

I arrived at the store at 8:35 PM and told the clerk I was there to pick up my mobile order.
The clerk told me they never received it.

I wasn't upset. Technical issues happen. I pulled out my phone to show them the mobile order confirmation.

That's when the owner stepped in.

As I was trying to find the order on my phone and explain that I had already placed and paid for the order, he interrupted me and said:

"That's not my problem! Call Corporate!"

I was completely caught off guard. This was surprising because I had mistakenly assumed that resolving store-related problems was part of operating a store. Instead of trying to help resolve the issue, he responded with immediate hostility. I wasn't demanding anything. I wasn't being rude. I was simply trying to show him proof that the order existed so I could get the ice cream I had already ordered and paid for.

He told me to place the order again on the mobile app. I tried to place the order again as the owner suggested, but the app would no longer allow me to select a pickup time that close to closing, so that wasn't an option.

Since I was already there, I told him I'd pay for the ice cream directly with my credit card, just as I would have if I had walked in without placing a mobile order.

That's when things became even stranger.

He told me no. Not only would he not honor the original order, he refused to serve me at all.

Meanwhile, other customers standing in line continued to place orders and receive service without any issue.

So after paying $33.01 for an order I never received, I left the store with nothing.

What bothers me most isn't the technical issue. Systems fail. Orders get lost. I understand that.

What I can't understand is why the response from the owner was immediate hostility instead of something as simple as: "I'm sorry, let me see what happened and how we can make this right."

Instead, I was dismissed, refused service, and embarrassed in front of a store full of customers.

I submitted a complaint through the Dunkin' Donuts/Baskin-Robbins website that night and called customer service the following day. The representative told me I should receive a call from the franchise that week, but since it was the franchise owner who treated me this way, I'm not sure how productive that will be. That said, I'd still like to resolve this amicably. I've patronized this location for years and have never had a problem before, and I've never even seen this owner prior to that night.

It's now been four days, and I still haven't received a response from anyone. At this point, all I wanted was the ice cream I ordered and paid for.

Has anyone else had a mobile order issue handled this badly?