Customer service jobs are hard enough, but when you add idiot customers into the mix, they get even harder. These Redditors told their “Ma’am, this is a Wendy’s” moments.
1. My Mistake
I was working at McDonald’s and this lady said, “Can I get the Wendy’s 4 for 4?!” I said, “Ma’am this is a McDonald’s”. Her response made me burst out laughing. Without a moment’s hesitation, she replied, “Indeed it is, can I get a Big Mac?”
2. We’re All In This Together
I had a guy come into my place of work yesterday, ticked off because he issued his payment date and had to pay extra to turn his phone back on. He said something along the lines of “It was due at midnight and y’all aren’t open at midnight so how was I supposed to pay?”
I calmly explained that we are open until 7:00 pm every day but Sunday, and he screamed, “Well unlike you I actually have a job!” At my job. While doing my job.
3. Hindsight’s 20/20
I worked in a cell phone store. However, the building right behind ours had a veteran’s support office. One day an older gentleman was waiting in the line at the cell phone store. When it was his turn, I called him up and asked what I could help him with.
He stepped up to the counter and told me that the veteran’s hospital was claiming his vision impairment was only 20% disability, and he felt it was much higher. I agreed, and I offered to walk him to the correct building. I also told him I would be a witness for him, ha.
Ljupco Smokovski, Shutterstock
4. It Doesn’t Add Up
I work for a CPA office that is in an office park with a couple doctors’ offices. One day a guy came in only speaking Spanish, so I grabbed my Spanish-speaking colleague to translate. He talked to the guy in the lobby for a few minutes.
Then the guy left and my co-worker came back. The first words out his mouth stunned me. He asked if that was a joke or we put someone up to that. Apparently, the guy explained that his “down there” was extremely swollen and painful. He was looking for one of the doctors’ offices and just walked into the first building in the complex.
Sorry, sir, we do taxes here.
5. Now Or Never
I was in Lowes one morning right after they opened. There was a woman at the service desk having a complete meltdown, yelling and screaming because Lowes didn't have a licensed contractor there at the store for her to hire.
She apparently woke up that morning and decided she needed a deck like that same day and thought she could just go to Lowes and have someone immediately start building a deck. It was empty so I stood with the cashier listening to the show. They ended up having to call the authorities to get her to leave.
6. Zero Sense
This is one of my favorite Domino's stories. This happened somewhere around 2017-2018. One day it was really slow at work at Domino's. I was still a relatively new Insider (only a few months into what would be about 4 years) and still in school. I was hoping that it would stay slow so I could go home, cheat on my math homework, play some League of Legends, and get some sleep.
A woman, probably mid-40s, comes in to order a pizza. She's pretty chill, and we're just chatting while she's ordering because there really isn't much to do otherwise since we already cleaned the store and oven and all that.
After she gets her pizza all done up, I ask her if she'd like any drinks. She's like, "Oh what do you guys have?" I'm running down the drink options and she notices Coca-Cola and looks at me wide-eyed like she just saw someone get hit by a car.
"DON'T YOU KNOW THEY PUT HUMAN EMBRYOS IN COKE?!?!"
“….what?”
She then spends the next SEVEN MINUTES Running down pretty much every major conspiracy, from human embryos in Coca-Cola to Flat Earth to the moon landing being faked, etc. I'm stunned. The only words that can come out of my mouth are ".............. so no on the drink?"
"Coke Zero”.
I guess the Zero means "Zero Embryos”.
7. We Don’t Do That Here
I work in radio and got a call on the contest line one time.
"Yeah, I need a hotel room," said the caller.
"OK. How would you like me to help you?"
"Well...book me one!"
"You're aware you called a radio station's contest line, right?"
"Yeah. Don't you book hotel rooms for rock stars when they do a show in town? Book me one!"
8. Lip Service
I worked at the department store Ulta and this girl comes up. "I'm looking for this lipstick,” she then shows me Sephora brand lipstick.
"We don't sell that, but I can show you something similar!"
"No, I want this specific lipstick, don't you sell it?! Well, where can I buy it?!"
"At Sephora ma'am".
9. This Little Nugget
I worked at Dairy Queen about ten years ago. This customer pulls up to our very busy drive-thru.
Customer: Yeah can I have the 10 nuggets?
Me: I’m sorry sir we don’t carry nuggets, but I can get you a chicken strip basket?
Customer: No, I want nuggets! On your commercial! You don’t even know your own food?!
Me: Sir, I’m sorry but we don’t carry nuggets. We have chicken strips and steak fingers?
Customer: NUGGETS!!!
Me: Sir, this is Dairy Queen, you are referring to Burger King.
Customer: Dairy King?!
Me: You are at Dairy Queen, asking for a Burger King menu item.
Customer: oh.
He then proceeds to wait in line for another 5 minutes while I watch.
10. Not My Subject Area
I’m a high school teacher in Australia. I had a parent scream at me that I wasn’t teaching their daughter how to do her taxes. There was just one problem. I’m a history teacher.
11. A Whole Lot Of Noise
I worked in a local café-newsstand-convenience store type spot. We also had a Ticketmaster outlet for a bit. Our small town had an annual concert that usually ran two or three nights. It was really popular with the local folks, so it brought in a lot of foot traffic with people buying tickets (my boss was honestly a small-business mastermind).
That was the extent of our involvement—we sold and printed gate passes. On night one of the event, I was closing the store as usual, at 10 pm. An irate woman called wanting to “file a noise complaint” about the concert. I was like, ma’am, you must have the wrong number, this is local cafe. She INSISTED that she was filing “an official noise complaint” and demanded to speak to the owner RIGHT NOW.
10 pm on a Friday? Yeah, he’s not here. He also isn’t the authority here and doesn’t deal with noise complaints. Also, it’s only 10pm, and this concert has been widely advertised for months. She then went on a wild rant that we needed to do…something?…about the noise, since we sold tickets.
She wouldn’t let me off the call and was going berserk. I told her I was going to disconnect, since we had nothing to do with the event or the noise. She called back multiple times, and finally I just let the phone ring…it was still ringing when we locked up. MA’AM ARE YOU OK?
12. Cold-Hearted
I worked at Wendy's throughout high school and some lady ordered a burger meal at the drive-thru. Over an hour later she comes back to the front counter, slamming the burger on it and saying it was cold.
I checked our receipts and told her she ordered over an hour ago and that burgers aren't meant to stay hot for that long. She said that was absolutely unacceptable and how dare we serve her a burger that gets cold. It somehow got worse.
She then proceeds to ask me for my full name and details so she could sue me, at the same time freaking out when I didn't have a pen to give her to write down my information.
Another customer walking by said, “Oh my God lady relax,” and she yells at him to mind his business. He says, “Well I just feel bad for this poor employee you're yelling at, if you don't wanna eat here go somewhere else”. Bless his soul, I was only 17 and was so shook.
13. I Don’t Rate It
I am an Uber driver. I once had a girl I picked up from a karaoke bar that was obviously upset and distressed. I asked if she was okay.
“Yeah, I just did karaoke”. “Oh? That’s pretty cool”. “I did a song for my dad who passed a year ago”. “Aw, that’s sweet of you”. Nothing else was said until I got her home, which was only a couple of blocks away. As I pulled in this is what she said.
“I’m not going to give you a bad rating for this BUT you could have been more emotionally available for me”. I just said “I’m …sorry?” And had to stop myself from bursting into laughter. I felt bad for her of course, but that was just the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard from a passenger.
Especially prefacing it with “I’m not gonna give you a bad rating for this but…”
14. Not Your Therapist
I work as a cashier at a home goods store. I’m very friendly and honestly treasure my customer interactions. I was doing my usual patter: “Hi there, how’re you doing, did you find everything all right?”
In response, this lady tells me that it’s the first time she’s been out of the house in a while. I thank her for choosing us and go to move on with the transaction. She raises her shirt, shows me a HUGE angry red incision on her stomach and starts telling me about her recent hysterectomy.
The stitches hadn’t even been removed yet. I sort of nod and smile and try to pivot to her total so I can move on with the MASSIVE line that’s building, and she won’t stop talking. I had to call for a back-up cashier, while getting a very detailed description of surgery, uterine cancer, and the recovery process. She didn’t drop her shirt the entire time.
15. You’ve Come To The Wrong Place
A man came into my tattoo shop once and asked for a massage “with extra fixings”. He said this with a wink, making it VERY clear what he meant. I was like “err, this is a tattoo studio not a massage parlor. And it’s definitely not that kind of massage parlor”.
He just stood there like “Yeah? I know” as if tattooists are synonymous with that kind of thing.
16. Double Duty
I went to a drive-thru at a Wendy’s and the person taking the order said “Welcome to Walmart”. I was really confused and I heard laughing and he said I’m so sorry he works there too and was on autopilot.
17. Pet Project
I used to work for K-Mart. Someone came into the store and wanted to know where the pet department was located. We only had one aisle of pet items and it was mostly items for dogs/cats (food, litter, toys, etc).
I took the customer to the aisle, and they said, “This is it? This is all you have for pet supplies? You don’t have an actual department like other stores?” “Yes sir, we just carry the basics. If you need a bigger selection, there is a Pet Supplies Plus located at the other end of the plaza”.
The customer got upset and said, “But if I wanted to go to Pet Supplies Plus, I would have gone there. But I wanted to go to K-Mart. So I’m guessing you don’t have fish food or anything like that?” I showed him the same selection of fish food, and he got upset.
He then started asking advice for fish tanks and again, I directed him to the Pet Supplies Plus that was located just a couple storefronts down. When he insisted on not going to that store, I gave him directions to 2 other pet stores in the area.
Eventually he left, but not before saying “this is why you’re going out of business!” Sure buddy, the lack of a pet department is the sole reason we’re going out of business.
18. My Life Story
I used to have a job working front desk, 3rd shift concierge at a swanky apartment tower. Very exclusive. NFL players, NBA players, MLB players, high-end all around. The top floor is a penthouse owned by the owner of a modeling firm.
One night, two girls come in, and want to purchase a few things from the residents’ dispensary (like a in-house 7-11). I just get a room number and it gets tacked onto the monthly rent. While one is getting a few things, it got real weird. The other one decides to tell me her life story and is asking me for advice on all these life-changing things she's thinking about doing.
When the other was done shopping, she came over to the counter and the two of them just chatted with me for a couple hours, asking for my advice on everything—and I mean everything. I felt like a therapist for them. After a while, they wanted me to come upstairs and party with them and the friend they were visiting.
I assumed they were at least a little tipsy, but they had been there for a while, and they weren't getting any more sober. And then the person who they were visiting (a lawyer who lived in the building) came down and was like "where the heck have you two been?" and ushered them upstairs.
Next day at the start of my shift, the lawyer was waiting for me. He apologized profusely and gave me a $200 tip and asked me to not mention the two girls to anyone. Apparently they were a pair of girlfriends-for-hire.
19. Not Selling What You’re Buying
I worked in an ice cream truck. One night, someone came up to the back (the rear doors were open) and tried to buy “stuff” from me while I was serving customers. I had to explain to him I was not selling anything like that.
Later on, he ambushed my truck when I was leaving the park, stood in front, hit the hood a couple times with a piece of metal, and then when I was driving off, threw said metal and shattered one of the side windows on the truck.
Hernando Sorzano, Shutterstock
20. Well, Screw Me
I found the product I needed online. Drove to the store. Spent 20 minutes failing to find said product on the aisle it was supposed to be on. Showed the picture to multiple staff, none of whom recognised it.
I finally went to the customer service desk and after 10 minutes of waiting in line, got told the website I was looking at was one of their competitors.
21. You’re On Your Own
I automate buildings with temperature controls systems. Something I get a lot is, “All of this equipment was working before you touched it, now none of it works”. The best ones, and my favorite ones are when we get that call on a unit we haven't even touched.
"Unit 1? You're calling about unit 1?" "Yeah, it was working fine before your guys touched it and now it's not running”. "Okay, well we started working on the other side of the building first, and we haven't begun tying into the units yet, so that unit is all on you”. "Oh”.
22. Okay Then
It was the closing shift at a Starbucks. It was like 10 pm at night and this couple come inside and walk up to me at the front counter saying, "The deli across the street doesn’t like white people”. I really had no response besides just standing there for a few seconds before saying, "...did you want to order something...?"
23. It All Makes Sense Now
I worked at Walmart for a long time in the hardware department. One day, I had a customer call asking if we sold toilets. I said, “Like, toilet seats?” He said, “No, like actual toilets”. So I said, "Sorry, we just sell the seats and replacement parts, no porcelain”.
He got all huffy. Then he did himself in. He said, "Jesus, what is this place? Walmart??" I paused for a moment and said, "Yes sir, it is”. Silence for a long moment. Then he said in a little voice, "This isn't Home Depot?"
"No sir, you called Walmart”. "Oh man, I am so sorry!" And he hung up. I laughed my butt off”.
24. I Can Deliver No Advice
I delivered two large pizzas to a guy's apartment at 10 am on a Sunday. When I got there, he proceeded to say, "My girlfriend just dumped me”. I slowly backed away and said I had more deliveries to do.
25. Quite The Turn Of Events
I work as a facilities manager for a company with a few hundred locations around the country. Back at the end of 2020, I was having trouble getting in touch with a vendor we had a contract with to do some work around one of our offices. Nothing big.
I figured he just ghosted us, so I began looking for another vendor who could take over the work. After 2 months of radio silence, vendor 1 calls me out of the blue and was clearly very tipsy and crying at 1 pm on a week day. His story shocked me. Turns out he was hospitalized, got blood clots in both legs, and had to have them both amputated.
He called me while I was at work and told me his whole life story. I ended up staying on the phone with him for about 30-45 minutes and I helped him track down a grief counselor. Hopefully he went. I still wonder how he's doing sometimes.
26. We’re Not For You
When I worked at McDonald's, someone came in and demanded steak. It was a McDonald's. He demanded to see a manager, who helpfully informed him this was a McDonald's. "I can get steak at Taco Bell!" he claimed. Then go to Taco Bell??
27. Lady, I’m In High School
I love when customers trauma-dump on me. "OK sir that will be $2". "Yeah my dog just passed and my son is behind bars. My mom's house burned down last week too". "Oh…would you like a straw?"
28. Back To The Stone Age
I work at a shoe store. One time, a lady came in carrying a pair of leather shoes and after walking around the whole store, came up to the registers looking very confused. I asked her what she was looking for and she said, “Do you have a cobbler here?”
When I said we didn’t she was like “Really? You don’t have anything in the back?” Like there’s a cobbler with a workbench hidden in some corner of our back room. I had to explain to her that there are virtually no retail stores that sell shoes and offer cobbling services in this day and age.
She acted like that was the craziest thing she’s ever heard.
29. Dial-A-Therapist
This happened to me at a call center job when I was like 17. First day, we get to the part of training where we go start making calls. We're supposed to do market research surveys, but most people hang up because they think it's a scam or selling something, so getting a "complete" (someone who actually takes the survey) was a big deal.
So it's the end of the shift and I'm on a complete. I get to the end and then this woman starts going on about how her father just passed. No worries, training covered this at least 2 hours prior. They said to just let them talk and say "I understand" periodically.
I was doing that and she's like, "I'm so glad you understand! So many people have no idea what this is like but when you get to a certain age, it just hits you". That was when it started to feel borderline unethical (like deceptive, voyeuristic, something along those lines).
Plus, my supervisor was hanging over me like "get off the phone so we can close this place". I said the only thing I could think of in the moment. I was like, "Ma'am, I'm sorry but I have to go. My shift is over and it's really late here and I've got AP exams this week".
She was horrified that she had used a teenager as an impromptu therapist, but I was used to that due to my own mother putting me into that role for as long as I could remember, so it didn't seem that abnormal to me at the time.
I was surprised in that job with how many people were totally willing to tell very personal things to a random teen who called to ask their opinion on home equity loans or other equally riveting subjects.
30. It Just Slipped Out
I once walked up to the Dunkin Donuts (getting something for the staff at work) counter and confidently asked for a 50-piece McNugget. The young lady at the register gave me a confused look.
Me, counter-confused, and thinking she didn't hear me, asked again for a 50-piece McNugget.
The poor young lady at the register didn't know what do to. She just continued looking at me with this confused look.
Me, finally realizing...”I asked for a McNugget didn't I?” She nodded. I put my head down, gave it a shake, and said 50-piece munchkin, please? We both laughed over it.
31. And That’s The Tea
I was at a Nando’s location in New Delhi with my mom, and my mom ordered a chai. The waiter apologized and said they don't have chai.
My mom answered I'm a playful tone, "Oh but we're in India, I thought you would have chai”. The waiter responds, "No ma'am, you're at Nando’s". It cracks me up whenever that memory pops back up.
32. Go Influence Someone Else
I had a car for sale, and an “influencer” called me up and said they would like to use my car for a podcast. They said, "You need to have your car at—" and I cut them off and said, "I am sorry did you just tell me that I need to deliver a car you are asking to borrow for no money?"
They said "Yeah". I said, "Oh, okay, just send me a retainer of 1/4 the price of the car and you can borrow it. I mean, I don't know you". She said, "I don't have that much money". I said, "Well I do, so who the heck in their right mind tells the person they are asking for a favor where to be and what to do?"
She got really angry and explained to me "Who she was". She still had more to come. Then she told me: "I can destroy your business in minutes with a negative comment". I couldn't stop laughing. I am an architect and normally work for corporations.
She said, "The people do as I demand and I have 90,000 followers". I said, "Cool, have every one of your followers send you money so you can borrow my car," and then hung up. I got 4 emails from her loyal followers...four.
33. Can You Read?
I own a Drywall company, and our shop is in a giant storage unit complex for big RVs (like $500k-$1m RVs) so the bays are gigantic. A lot of contractors have their shops there, and the front building is shared between myself and a power washing company.
We both have signage up clearly stating drywall business / power washing business. One day my crew was at the shop loading up equipment and some older guy came up and wanted to rent a storage unit. My guys gave him the info for the owners, which is on a big sign by the road that says “RV storage units” with all the information.
He just ignored them, pulled out his check book and said, “Who do I make this check out to? I want to rent unit #12”. Again my guys pointed to our business sign, clearly stating “drywall business”. He then got aggravated and asked when we were open so he could get a unit.
Finally my crew leader told him the boss would be back in a couple hours so he would leave them alone. Guy never came back.
34. Don’t Be A Child
I was literally working at a Wendy's. This guy threatens to jump over the counter and go at me because I accidentally entered an extra kids meal on his order. I made the mistake because while he was ordering, he was simultaneously talking on his phone and poorly wrangling like 4 or 5 small children, leading him to repeat himself several times.
I didn't catch that one of them was a repeat.
35. Look Around You
I used to work In a musical instrument shop. There were pianos in the window and a single-file path to the counter that went through about 20 pianos and keyboards. The counter is also a giant novelty guitar amp. There were guitars hung on every free inch of wall space.
This lady comes in, trips over a couple piano stools in her rage-filled stomp over to the counter, slams a receipt on the counter and immediately starts shouting. The conversation was as follows :
Lady: “I ORDERED THIS TV FOUR WEEKS AGO AND IT’S STILL NOT ARRIVED, WHAT SORT OF BUSINESS ARE YOU RUNNING HERE?!”
Me: “Well that must be frustrating for you but I’m sorry to say we sell instruments not TVs. I think you’re looking for the Sony shop a couple of doors down the road”.
Lady: “So you’re calling me a liar!? I bought a $500 tv from this shop 4 weeks ago! I’m not stupid I can see the TV on the wall!”
Me: “So, that single TV is the one we use to monitor CCTV and let customers know they’re on camera. We have a lot of issues with theft and stock loss. Again, I think you want to be talking to Sony staff at the shop like 50 meters down the road. Your receipt says Sony, this is not Sony, we don’t sell Sony items here, we sell guitars and pianos”.
Lady: “Where is your manager? I was in this shop 4 weeks ago and one of you sold me a TV that hasn’t showed up. There were TVs on the wall like that and speakers like those you have over there. You’re a liar and you’re calling me a liar or stupid, either way I want my refund NOW”.
Me: “Well I am the manager. I have worked here for 4 years and can guarantee you we have never sold a TV to yourself or anybody else. You’re being rude and you need to leave now”.
The best part is she threw the receipt at me before storming out. Then the real twist happened. She comes back in 5 minutes later and starts shouting while I’m helping an actual customer, “WHERE DID YOU PUT MY RECEIPT?! YOU TOOK IT DIDN’T YOU?”
I pulled her receipt out of the bin as it was just resting on top, gave it back to her and gave her a sickly sweet smile. “So did you find the correct shop in the end or are you just going up and down the road berating random shop workers?”
She got a bit dumbfounded and just stood with her mouth moving but no sound coming out. So I held the door open, pointed at the giant Sony sign visible from the doorway, and said, “That is the Sony shop by the way, good luck!”
36. Food For Thought
I used to work at Pier 1 Imports. A woman came in asking where our food was, and I told her we didn’t sell any food except for decorative food. She said, “You must be new. Where’s your manager?”
My manager told her the same thing and she left yelling that “No one wants to work anymore!” Then a complaint came in about us from corporate, stating that we refused to show her the snacks and we were discriminating against her because she said she was heavier.
I think she thought we were the same as Cost Plus World Market…
37. Sowing The Seeds
I work managing conservation lands for a US state. We were managing an invasive species around a sensitive area with an endangered species of plants in the area. A car pulled up, asking what we were doing.
Thinking it was a well-meaning person who was curious, I explained we were with the State, doing a monitoring project of an endangered plant found here, and while we were there we were removing invasive plants to give this endangered plant a fighting chance to recover.
She flipped a mental switch and just goes off on a rant, asking if the state monitors and tracks the number of babies in the state. and then just stops and stares at me waiting for a response. I just responded with a "Ma'am, this is a nature preserve....”
38. Bigger Fish To Fry
I worked as a nurse at the hospital when my patient told me to pick up his food delivery at the main entrance, as if I didn’t have 3 other patients I was looking after. Sir, this is NOT a Wendy’s.
Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley, Shutterstock
39. I Lost My Way
I work for a government agency, and we kept having a caller attempting to sell some sort of product and asking if I could transfer them to the one in charge of the account. I simply answered with “Do you know the name of the person you’re attempting to reach? Or what department you’re specifically calling for?”
They started raising their tone with me and kept rephrasing “whoever is in charge of your accounts” I simply answered “Ma’am, please be advised that we do not tolerate your attitude. I would like to point out you’re calling a government agency and your call is being recorded, as I previously stated when I answered the call. Without a name or department you’re calling about, I cannot transfer your call. How would you like to proceed?”
She stayed quiet and gasped “Oh my God, this is a government agency?? I’m so sorry” and hung up.
40. Lonely And Disruptive
I used to work in a local government office, so it was a hot spot for the elderly to hang out for no other reason than to talk to us. One gentleman came in every day for weeks to use a microfiche reader and would wait until we were actually assisting someone to butt in and tell us all about his current health issues and how his friends passed and who in his extended family was behind bars.
Eventually he was told to stop bothering us or he would be banned. He was fine for a while until he went up to the only person with an actual customer and told them both about his stomach ulcers. He then refused to leave and had to be escorted out by officers.
I felt bad for him, but I wasn't paid enough to be a therapist.
41. That’s A Reach
Somebody wanted a citizenship in Denmark. I work at a bank.
42. Didn’t Account For That
I worked at a cable company for a couple of years in call center customer service. We handled accounts all over the USA. A man calls in and gives me his account number. I immediately notice that there are too few numbers, but try anyway. No account.
"What the heck do you mean you can't find my account? What are you, an idiot?" Dude starts getting real angry, and repeats the same 8-digit account number back to me slowly and has me repeat it back to him. I told him our account numbers were ten digits long, and he was only giving me eight.
He asks for a manager and starts yelling about how Verizon was the biggest garbage dump of a company and he was going to have me fired. I told him the harsh truth. I told him he had called the wrong company. He called their competitor.
"Well...heck. What’s Verizon’s number?"
43. Too Much Information, Gramps
My 70-year-old stepdad called to make a dentist appointment. When the lady was trying to find a day, she suggested something and he says to her: “Oh no I can’t go on that day I have to get a colonoscopy. Have you ever had one of those, they don’t let ya eat. That’s right you can’t eat the night before or the morning of and I guess they just put this tube in and……”
The lady cut him off sharp and says, “Ok sir, let’s look for another day”. The absolute best part was this was all on speaker phone, so myself and a few grandchildren got to listen in real time and we will never forget it.
44. Wrong Time, Wrong Place
The customer was in line with a cashier and having fits because all of the items he was trying to buy were “supposed” to be on sale. It got to the point where he started waving around the flyer in his hand like a flag, declaring we were all trying to rip him off.
The cashier voids the transaction. On his way out the door, he's shouting about how he's going to call corporate on us. I offer to look at his flyer and see if I can figure out what's going on. In my mind I remember thinking the date had to be off.
It's a fairly common problem that customers will get last week's flyer and get it into their heads it's for this week, won't check and then will get mad when they're wrong. Well, that wasn't what was wrong. This was an entirely different, and unique unicorn I've never encountered before nor since.
I realized it the moment he finally let me see the flyer. "Sir, this flyer is for a different store”. Even the color of the flyer was wrong. He looked at it in disbelief, silently turned bright red, and left the store.
Emilija Miljkovic, Shutterstock
45. How Do You Like Them Apples?
When I was about 12 or 13, I saved up my allowance and neighborhood yard-work money to finally afford the newest iPod, the ones that could play videos as well. I wanted to make sure they had it at the store before I got my parents to drive me there, so I opened the phone book, found the Apple Store, and called them.
Guy at Apple Store: "Hello?" Me: "Hi do you have the iPod Video in stock?" Guy: "Uh...this is an apple store. Like...crunch crunch?" I had called the gift shop at an apple orchard.
46. Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys
It was a Burger King. A woman came in IRATE with a bag full of Burger King garbage that someone had dumped on the side of the road. "HOW COULD YOU POLLUTE LIKE THIS". Ma'am, we sold the food. The person who threw it out littered. We did not, and agree that's a bad thing.
She demanded to know why we didn't encourage better disposal of our food containers. We had the perfect response. My manager (Bless you Tina) just slowly rotated the bag without saying a word, to show clearly on it that it suggested people dispose of their garbage responsibly.
The woman just was silent for a hot second, before yelling how we should remove “Home of the Whopper” from our signage and replace it with “Please dispose of your garbage carefully” and then stormed out.
47. A Friend In Need
I worked nights at an emergency animal hospital a few years ago. One unnaturally quiet night, a sweet-looking older woman walked in and took a seat in our lobby without checking in with me at the front desk.
After about 5 minutes I walked around and asked if she needed anything, to which she cheerfully told me that her girlfriend had been bitten by a dog and she was just waiting to meet her at the hospital. I didn't say anything for a moment and watched her eyes slide over to the sign above the desk, which proudly proclaimed us as a 24-hour emergency veterinary hospital.
“Oh”. I offered to get her some directions to the nearest human ER, but she declined and headed out. Still the nicest client I saw that night, though.
48. And The Kitchen Sink
I own and work in an 8x8 drive-up coffee shop where there is literally room for just the machines and me. This guy came up and tried to sell me buffalo meat in bulk. I told him I'm a coffee shop.
He insisted that I need to build a kitchen to sell his buffalo burgers. I again told him I'm a coffee shop, and he then told me that WHEN my kitchen is built that he would sell me buffalo meat. This dude was then upset when, two months later when he returned, my shop still didn't have a kitchen.
I again told him I sell coffee. He then proceeded to tell me that he was going to have someone drop off a few square hay bales on my lot for him to pick up later. I told him that I'm not a drop off spot, I'm a drive-thru. If this story sounds dumb and almost unreal, you're just as confused as I was.
The stuff you hear and see at a service window sometimes is appalling.
49. Animal Wrangler For The Day
When I was in college, a few friends and I went to Disney World. In Animal Kingdom, one friend bought one of those safari hats as a souvenir. Well, later in the day we happen to look at a couple of sleeping gorillas on the animal trail, and this man walks up to my friend and says "Excuse me sir, what time do the gorillas wake up?”
We still laugh about the absurdity of this question 20 some years later.
50. Wrong Depot
Once, a woman called into Home Depot's customer service and waited for an hour to speak to someone. When she finally got to me, she spent 15 minutes going on and on about the product that she needed.
I figured it out about three minutes into the call, but waited for her to be done before I told her she confused us with Office Depot.
51. Phone A Friend
I worked in the fashion design department of a small women's college, which also had its own radio station that did a lot of historical and human-interest content. I guess one day, an elderly gentleman transposed some digits.
This very nice man told me all about WWII planes for about 15 minutes before I could politely get a word in edgewise and try to figure out who he'd actually meant to call.
52. You Don’t Belong Here
I was working nights at a Motel 6 in college. A guy walks in fall-down tipsy. He left his key-card at the bar, and wants me to let him into his room. I check the registration, and his name isn't on the room. I tell him no.
He says he knows the hotel’s owner and he'll have me fired (it's a corporate-owned chain). I still say no. He screams, "LET ME INTO MY ROOM". Still no. We argue for a few minutes, but I don't budge, and he wanders off.
He comes back 1/2 an hour later and slams a card down on the counter. "HERE'S MY CARD, LET INTO MY ROOM YOU JERK”. I slowly slide the card back to him. "This card is for a Super 8. Your hotel is two blocks south of here”.
53. Fantasy World
I worked at Medieval Times for a summer. They do "knighting ceremonies" where the fake queen actress comes out before the show and performs a formal knighting service, for an outrageous price of course.
This one guy came in very upset and asked to speak to "the queen". I still can’t believe his complaint. He was mad because the fake certificate with cartoon horses on it, "signed by the queen herself," was obviously mass printed and fake and did not actually grant him any royalty.
He said he was being denied entry to something (no clue what) because his status wasn't royalty. Like, this man thought he was actually being knighted by a royal person or something. I literally had to explain, “Sir, this is a fake show where all the knights and queens are just actors and actresses".
He said, "You should really put that in the notes, some people think this is real”. No buddy, only you.
54. Scouting Her Out
A woman asked me where something in a store was. I stood there awkwardly, just being a thirteen-year-old who was only there trying to sell girl scout cookies. I got into an argument with her about whether I worked there.
She actually brought out the manager, who took one look at me and said I didn’t and that he had never seen me in his life.
Sources: Reddit,
