There could be many reasons why certain people choose to behave in mean, obnoxious, and just plain rude ways towards others whom they may or may not know. Regardless of what’s going through their minds at the time, behaving like a jerk never goes over well for anybody. From horrible customers to tyrannical bosses and teachers—and sometimes even complete strangers—these real-life stories about encounters with the rudest people on earth will leave you wondering: who raised these people?
1. Apparently, The Customer Isn’t Always Right
At a gas station in Texas, I walked in and greeted the cashier with a “Hey, what’s up man." His response made my blood run cold. He replied "What the [expletive] did you just say to me?" It took me a second to realize that just happened. Stunned, I glanced around and realized it was only us in the store so he had to be speaking to me.
So I responded, “Uhh I just said what’s up man?” He said, “I don’t freaking know you, you’re not my friend, don’t greet me like one.” I took the high road and exited the store without making a purchase. The rudest encounter I’ve ever had.
2. To Whom It May Concern
I was working somewhere when a customer said thanks to me. I responded "No problem." Apparently, it was a problem. He then proceeded email my boss with a list attached like “Things you shouldn’t say back when you are said thank you to." "No problem" apparently is offensive because it is implying they were a problem to begin with. I guess you are supposed to say my pleasure or whatever. I still can't believe it, five years later.
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3. Let’s Get Away From It All
My boss refused to let me take a weekend off for my best friend’s wedding because a co-worker was already taking the time off for a dirty weekend away with the married guy she was having an affair with. The married guy was my boss, by the way. I was a bridesmaid and had booked the weekend off 10 months in advance.
I quit on the spot and told my boss’s wife he was cheating on her. My best friend’s wedding was lovely.
4. Can Buy Me Love
This girl I used to be friends with broke up with her boyfriend because he didn't buy her the $4,000 Cartier bracelet she wanted for her birthday. Even though he took her out to a fancy dinner and bought her a bouquet of roses.
5. Having Your Chocolate and Eating It Too
I worked at an independent chocolate shop that sold various flavors of truffles, brownies, and drinks. We also had non-dairy options, vegan options, and nut-free options available. A woman demanded to speak to the manager because we did not have a “dairy-free, nut-free, sugar-free, vegan” option. Luckily, the owner literally just laughed and said, “We do have one, it's called water.”
I have never seen such entitled rage in my life!
6. Sitting On the Dock of the Pay
When I got a promotion with more responsibilities, I asked my boss for a raise. He told me that, if anything, they’re gonna dock my pay now because it was so rude of me to make that request of them. I went home after my shift that day and never came back.
7. Bullet Dodging 101
I brought a girlfriend at the time to my parents for Christmas. We had been dating for roughly 7-8 months and my parents went and dropped some cash on gifts for her. She opened them and said: “It’s like you don’t even know me. I would never wear any of this. You can take them back and return them.” RIGHT in front of my parents.
I asked her to leave. She asked if I could give her a ride home since it was Christmas...I said no and to call a cab.
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8. The Meme Lords Will Know About It
My mother once ranted to all and sundry that she was going to get the brand-new Wal-Mart Supercenter in our town shut down because a cashier closed her register as we were walking up. Apparently, she could do this because she "knew people on the internet." It was 1998. 14-year-old-me was mortified.
9. Self-Destructive
I worked at RadioShack for six months while in college. Pretty much had at least one terrible experience per shift. The one that stands out the most was a guy who wanted us to honor the warranty on his iPhone cable. The thing was a mutilated mess. It had clearly stopped working and he had tried to fix it himself by cutting the cable apart and attempting to solder two wires together.
We calmly explained that we couldn’t process a claim for an item that was willfully destroyed, and he starts screaming in our faces about how “RadioShack is a scam!” and “I’m going to sue all of you!” And then he tries to WHIP my coworker—a five-foot-tall non-threatening woman—with the cable! She managed to turn her head and catch the wire with her hand before it caught her in the face.
Myself and another employee chased him out of the store and called the police but nothing came of it. RadioShack shoppers were the worst.
10. A Serious Effort at Discipline
My nephew (by marriage) is a jerk. I had to drive him once and he kept messing around with the windows, so I locked them. Then he started incessantly pushing my door lock buttons. So I stopped holding back toots and stopped opening the windows. And let me tell ya, this was during a phase in my life where my farts smelled like I might be suffering from some sort of colonic necrosis.
He gagged and sputtered and threatened to throw up. It didn’t matter. I just kept going. In fact, at a certain point, I thought I might poop my pants. I didn’t care. I was willing to do it just to make that little jerk suffer a bit. Take that, Evan.
11. In My Professional Opinion, You Suck
A colleague of mine whined about her job 24/7. She quit eventually, then she went to see a psychiatrist because she needed to feel justified that quitting her job meant she had no regrets and she was actually mentally ill and couldn't cope, since it was a residency program in one of the best hospitals in the country.
Her psychiatrist, after evaluating her, had the best response ever. She straight up told her that she was a whiny brat.
12. My Money, My Spot
This stuck-up jerk in some giant land yacht of an SUV parks in a handicapped spot, does her shopping, then pushes her cart into the other handicapped spot. I went out to confront her, since she didn't have a handicapped tag or a permit, and she stares me down and then launches into a speech about how she is so important and busy. It got so, so bad, I was speechless.
Then she says "the cripples" can walk an extra few feet because SHE contributes so much to THEIR welfare checks. She rolled up her window and managed to spin her tires backing out of the space. I just stood there, stunned.
13. Sir, I’m Afraid You Are Mistaken!
At our local Red Lobster, someone once grabbed the "manager" to tell him that his shrimp was cold and that he wanted a free beer as compensation. He even went as far as to exclaim that he could get better fish by fishing. This "manager" was actually just my dad, who was there to pick me up from work, but apparently looked like an authority figure since he had a tie on.
My dad replied, "That's cocktail shrimp, you moron!"
14. Food Fight
I was 18 years old and worked at a local grocery store in the produce department. Beyond regular duties, we made fruit trays on weekends, nothing fancy, just a variety of cut-up fruit in large red bowls. Dude comes in after 10:00 PM—we close at 11—and asks for a tray with specific fruits. I tell him we, unfortunately, don't make custom trays.
The 16-year-old dude who is also on shift with me overhears and tells him it's slower tonight so he can do it for him. He says "Ok good," no gratitude displayed at all. This co-worker of mine is legit always extra kind to customers, it's admirable. 20 minutes later my coworker comes out of the back room and presents it to this customer.
He immediately starts screaming at him about how bad it looks. He yells things like "That looks like absolute trash! Are you an idiot!?" I run over to see what the problem is. The fruit tray looks absolutely standard but this guy isn't having it. He smashes it on the ground and keeps screaming about how we are stupid and how we have wasted his time.
I snap. I tell him to "get the heck out.” He postures up. Keep in mind this guy is like in his 40s, ready to fight some teenagers over a fruit tray. Numerous other employees run over and yell for him to get out. He says, "I'll be back for all of you idiots," and runs toward and out the sliding doors. All this is on camera luckily so management calls the cops regarding his actions and that last threat. They ended up arresting him later on because apparently he also had some warrants. Hope the fruit was worth it, jerk.
15. Small Business, Big Problems
Small business. 20 employees +/-. Boss made a big speech about austerity measures and no raises this year. A week and a half later he drives up in a brand new Silverado with all the bells and whistles. Expensed to the business of course. He would hate to have to pay taxes on those profits. One of the less subtle members of the staff took a literal dump in front of his office door.
16. My Own Worst Enemy
My cousin basically screwed up her own wedding by doing things like “firing” her maid of honor at the last minute because the maid of honor took her husband to the hospital rather than coming to the hair appointments. She also kept getting pissy with our grandmother for “not being helpful enough.” She's almost 80 and isn't the most mobile; what did my cousin expect?
She also forgot to make sure her brother wasn't still running errands for her when the ceremony started, which led to him missing the ceremony. And then she whined for the entire reception and a significant period after about how her wedding didn't go the way she wanted. Hmmm wonder why that could be, hun?
17. Eat Your Words
A while ago I decided to treat myself to some Burger King. I was having a bad day and had a headache coming on. So I was waiting in line at the BK, when suddenly this woman comes in with a monster of a child. He was out of control, screaming, punching his mother, throwing things around. The mother didn't pay any attention to him and he continued yelling, "I want a PIE."
My headache turned into a full-blown migraine. I calmly turned and asked if she could please calm her child down. Immediately she got up in my face, telling me to mind my own business. I nodded and turned around, when the child cried out again how he wants a pie. I then decided to ruin their day in the most devious way I could think of.
When I got to the front of the line I asked the person at the register how many apple pies they have left. They told me and I bought all of them. I ate one and made sure the kid saw me throw the rest in the trash.
18. Blood On His Hands
My craziest moment in retail was definitely the time when I was moaned at by a customer for not being available at a very obviously closed checkout counter. I was very clearly and obviously on the phone to 9-1-1 for an ambulance at the time, since a customer had very clearly and obviously collapsed while shopping and was now very clearly and obviously bleeding to death in the middle of the store.
19. Oldest Trick in the Book
Today is March 2, 2019. I work at a restaurant. I had a customer come in today with a bill from November 26, 2018, demanding a refund because her pizza was not good.
20. Her Ego Puts Her Over Carrying Capacity
There was this incident I heard about a couple of years back about a local socialite who married into one of the richest and most powerful families here. The story goes that she was at a bank's main office to meet with the CEO. Instead of taking the elevator like a regular person, she had her bodyguards remove all the people inside the elevator so that she could go up alone without people bothering her.
She said something along the lines of, "Get out of my elevator." Funny thing is, one of the people she had forced out the elevator was the bank owner's wife, who decided to take another elevator with the rest of the people who were forced out. The owner's wife got her sweet revenge. Once the socialite got to the office, the bank owner's wife was already there and promptly told her to "get out of her building."
21. The Toughest Customers Cost the Most
There is this lady that comes into my store who is so awful, just seeing her makes my blood boil. As far as I know, she has let her kids destroy the store. Literally throwing merchandise all over the place. She’s asked for someone to get a key for the perfume case—then whenever someone got there, she decided that she wanted to shop more.
She brings an entire cart full of stuff to check out and then halfway through the transaction, she goes to get more stuff, sometimes more than once in a transaction. She REFUSES to read stuff on the packages. I seriously had to read the differences of two items to her. She once had me figure out what kind of batteries an item needed, get them for her, and then put them into said item.
She frequently had us check the back for an item we told her we no longer carry. She insisted that we check regardless. She left her child throwing a tantrum right in front of the register so that no one behind her could check out. And, as if that weren’t enough, she asked me to go get items for her while I was checking her out.
Keep in mind that this lady isn't old, maybe mid to late 30s. My manager said that we would honestly tell her to never come back if it weren't for the fact that she spends so much money at our store.
22. Total Jerk
Saw a college guy with a ridiculously expensive car, I can't remember the model, rear-end this woman who drove an absolute beater. Her car was definitely totaled and his wasn't looking that hot either. He got out and started screaming at this woman. She was in tears. He kept telling her that she was going to pay for this.
When the authorities came, I saw each of them give their statements. Then he got the most satisfying comeuppance. After that, me and like 10 people came forward and gave our witness statements. It sounded like each and every one of us put the complete fault on him, which was the truth. When the authorities went back to him, I saw his face just sink.
He probably told them it was her fault and just found out that two handfuls of people just confirmed that he's full of it. I've never seen that many witnesses stick around for a simple traffic accident. I think the other people felt the same way I did: that kid was a jerk and should be punished for what he did.
23. Cheese-less Cheeseburger
When I used to work at McDonald's some lady came in and ordered a cheeseburger without cheese. So being the person I am I just put it in a hamburger wrapper and gave it to the front. Well, she came back like five minutes later and all hell broke loose. She was yelling at the poor girl who gave her the sandwich and the girl was new. So I went up to help and asked what was the matter.
This is what she said, "I ordered a cheeseburger without cheese you gave me a hamburger I want what I ordered right now and I want to speak to your manager." So I told her I was the manager. She proceeded to call me a liar even though I had a name tag that said shift manager on it. But I told her I would fix it. I took the burger and put it in a cheeseburger wrapper and gave it back to her she looked at it. Then at me and I'm pretty sure she had the realization of what a cheeseburger without cheese is. She then just walked away without thanking me or anything. Also, I had to send the girl home, since she was crying.
24. Here’s a Tip: Don’t Be a Jerk
My dad and I worked for the owner of a big beverage company. The owner's wife was yelling at my dad for tipping the garbage man $20 while I was carrying a $20,000-dollar lamp she just purchased.
25. Thrown Out Uncle Phil Style
I worked at a BBQ restaurant for my first job. We had a take out area where the customer can watch you cut the meat and pack the side dishes. The girl at the register rang up a quart of potato salad when the customer asked for pasta salad, so I pack potato salad. When the customer received his order he looked through it and flipped out when he saw potato salad and started screaming at me, go figure.
Unbeknownst to all of us the owner of the store heard the commotion and was on the other side of the swing door behind me, which had a small window. The angry customer decided to throw a quart of potato salad at me, which I ducked to avoid. It splattered against the window on the swing door as the owner was looking out of it. He burst through the door—he is 6'4” tall and very built—grabbed this scrawny dude by his shirt collar and he had straight fear in his eyes.
My boss literally threw him out the door. Went back to the register to ask the girl what his total was, grabbed the cash, and tossed it out the door at the angry customer as he was collecting himself off the ground. It was an awesome scene.
26. Employee for a Day
I used to live near a very affluent area, and many of the most convenient grocery stores were just inside said area. A friend of mine was staying with us for a few weeks and would occasionally stop by said stores on her way home from work. One day, while she was at the self-checkout, a woman came up to her telling her to bag her groceries.
My friend politely told her she didn't work there. The lady then insisted that my friend did indeed work there, and demanded she bag her groceries, citing the way she was dressed. For reference, at the time she was working as an intern at a local engineering firm so her outfit was professional, and not at all resembling the uniform of the store.
Eventually, this lady's tantrum caught the attention of an actual employee, who then had to tell the woman SEVERAL times that my friend was not, in fact, an employee of the store. Then the woman said the most ridiculous thing of all time. "Well, she should have just bagged my groceries anyway." And that is the story of how my best friend came the closest she's ever been to literally choking someone.
27. Which One Will You Choose?
A long time ago, I was working at a restaurant that was, to put it bluntly, absolutely freakin’ atrocious. The place was almost always dead apart from the owner’s friends, who would make it their life’s mission to be incredibly rude to myself and the other staff members. Somehow, I stuck it out working there for six months.
The final straw came at Christmas, when I wanted to travel back home to spend time with my family (as my grandmother was sick at the time); and my boss's response was, “You’ll just have to decide what’s more important, your job or your family.” I decided. I told him that this was the dumbest and most insulting question I had ever heard, and walked straight out the door.
28. Helicopter Parents Never Fly Coach
I worked as a nanny for a 1% family. The stuff I saw haunts me. I remember having one parent complain how rude it was a friend hadn't offered to fly them to Miami on a private jet for a weekend getaway, and they were "forced" to go first-class. Had the other parent tell me they thought it was really "sweet" I was happy to help others and never be wealthy.
They would also spring last-minute trips on me and their kid all the time, so I'd stay in the main house with their child while the parents were country-hopping. Poor kid never had any sense of who was going to be where. There were business-related videos of the parents on YouTube, so it got to the point where I'd play them on an iPad so the kid had some sense of consistency.
Just to be clear, the kid was absolutely adorable and very sweet (which made it really hard to leave, I felt terrible), but it was pretty disheartening to think they'd probably turn out like their parents in a few years. The best part about the parent complaining over the first-class flight was when they asked me if I thought they were overreacting.
Literally asked me "Wouldn't you be upset? Don't you think that's rude? They've been doing better [financially] now that they have Company X money they could have sent a plane etc." and I'm thinking, well I'm pretty sure my entire year's salary couldn't pay for one chartered flight, so you know I'm probably not the best person to ask.
29. Get Pumped
I’m the manager at a gas station. A woman once asked to speak to me because she had somehow managed to spill gasoline all over herself at the pump, and wanted us to pay for new clothing.
30. The OTHER Phone Company
I worked in a T-Mobile store. A lady comes in screaming about how she bought a phone the previous day, didn't buy insurance, and dropped it in a pool. She was demanding I give her a new phone for free. But, she wasn't even our customer. She was a Verizon customer. She screamed at me for about 10 minutes demanding I call our manager. She then started yelling at other customers about how awful we were, so we called the cops.
31. The Big Lube-owski
A lube technician at a Jiffy Lube once tried to convince me that I was in desperate need of a radiator service...for a car that didn't have a radiator. He even showed me a PH strip to "prove" that the fluid had gone acidic. I told him that if he could show me the radiator, I'd cheerfully pay for the service. The expression on his face when he opened up my car's hood and realized what I was getting at was pretty priceless.
32. A Star Is Born
My wife was about to give birth, and I had just taken an odd job as a temporary thing. We had just moved to a new city and I had started this job less than three weeks earlier. The plan was for me to work there for a bit while I continued to search for an office job in engineering for the long run. Well, when the big night finally came, I called my supervisor to let him know that I couldn’t come in because my wife was having contractions and her water had just broken.
He told me to get to work and that the baby wouldn't be born till later anyways. I said, “No, I'm driving my wife to the hospital now.” He told me to get the you-know-what back to work, so I simply said, "I quit" and hung up on him. No more than 10 days later, I found a much better job and I have been happily employed here for four years at this point.
33. This Kid Definitely Got What He Deserved
When I was 12 my dad dated a nice lady with a bratty 9-year-old who would talk back to her and refuse to do chores which would then be passed on to me. One day at the dinner table everyone is eating and he goes "listen!" And rips a tiny toot. His Mom is embarrassed and asks him to stop or go to the bathroom. Instead, he smiles this awful grin and leans in to rip one loose again—it couldn't have gone worse.
All of a sudden, he accidentally soils himself in the middle of dinner. His expression of horror was the best thing ever, I cried laughing as he ran clutching his butt away from the table.
34. Front of the Line, Back of the Class
I was with my parents on vacation, and the hotel put charges on the bill by accident. My mom marched to the front desk and demanded to see the manager. There was a long line, but she cut right in front of it. The manager wasn't very helpful, probably because she was rude. So my mom went to all the other customers in line and told them that the hotel was a scam and they were ripping us off with fake charges.
She made a scene. The hotel called the police and we were escorted off the premises by actual cops. I died inside.
35. Mr. Big Shot
I had a customer tell me I was a lazy piece of crap because I wouldn't grab his wife a flat cart. I was with another customer. He told me they were there to drop $400 on a lawnmower. I laughed and said, “Let me know when you plan on filling a trailer and dropping $20,000.”
36. I’m Getting Whiplash From Your Lies
I was in a crowded parking lot, driving around looking for a space. There was one car ahead of me. The car ahead of me stopped, so I stopped as well. I'm not sure why she stopped because there were no empty spaces and no one was pulling out, but whatever. Then, before I even had time to react, she did something that made my blood run cold. Her reverse lights came on and she came flying backward towards me.
I didn't even have time to honk. She slammed into the front of my car, got out of her car, and started screaming that I hit her. When officers arrived, she was crying and shaking and complaining that her neck hurt. And cursing ME for slamming into the back of HER car. I was really worried and thought that I was done for.
Thankfully, two people had been walking through the parking lot when this occurred and told the officer what really happened. That lady ended up being charged with fraud.
37. I Walk the Line
I was 18 years old and working at a movie theater concession stand on an extra busy day. My coworkers made themselves busy doing things that didn’t need to be done (like checking toilet paper or organizing candy) instead of helping me with a long line of customers that wrapped itself around the entire stand. One lady got extremely nasty with me because I didn’t butter the middle of her popcorn the way she had wanted me to. She was literally screaming at me for it.
I looked around and saw one of my coworkers just watching me and laughing as they pretended to clean the ticket booth window. I logged out of the computer system, closed the cash register, walked out of the concession stand, slammed the door behind me, told the customer she was a fat jerk who didn’t need more butter, told my coworker to go screw himself, and walked right out of the theater—leaving the long and very confused line of customers completely unattended.
I never went back despite the fact that they were apparently willing to forgive me because this “wasn’t my usual behavior.”
38. The Main Attraction
In a popular mall, a grown woman rolled on the ground kicking and screaming when the grown man she was with refused to buy her jewelry. She slammed her hand on the glass counter, then it turned into a shouting match. Then the guy started telling her off about how she needs to be a "traditional woman” or something.
He then proceeded to (childishly) mock her about how childish she was behaving. Like full-on making fake crying sounds. She cried. Then stopped. Like cold, hard stop on the crying. This was the glorious moment when she jumped onto the ground and rolled around kicking and screaming. I loved to see it.
39. Bullies Can’t Play With Us
I've thrown one punch in my life. It was on Black Friday. So it was the year the Xbox 360 came out. I was standing in line to get some external hard drive next to the video games. And there was this 11ish-year-old kid with a woman in her 60s. He was waiting for his 360 bundle. Woman before him had "gotten the last one," sighs all around.
Then he says, "Nope, one more" and begins the motion of handing it to the kid, and this guy comes out of nowhere and pushed the older woman and the kid. The kid hit his face on the edge of a video game rack, you know the one with the metal and plastic dividers. At 19 years old I don't know what came over me, but I instantly swung for the dude’s head and caught him right in the temple, sending him into a Keurig tower in the middle of the aisle.
Everyone froze, including me. Guy had dropped the 360 and got up and walked away. I slid it with my foot to the kid and he didn't say anything either. Best part was, as I still wanted the hard drive, and I turned to get back in the end of the line. At the same time the rep in charge of handing out the other items such as the hard drive asked who was next. The first two people in line just pointed at me, causing me to skip about five spots in line.
40. Grown-up Needs to Grow up
I was counting my till and a customer waiting in line for the other register started laughing and saying random numbers rapidfire to mess up my count. She succeeded. This was like a mid-40s lady. I sighed and looked at her and said, "What are we, 5 years old?" and then took my till around the corner to start again. It was seriously rage-inducing. Like, why would you do that? It's just being a total jerk. No redeeming humor value at all.
41. Someone Has Company!
My buddy got screwed over on a business deal by some jerk. Our city is big on garage sales, so he posted ads all over the place saying “Moving out sale, everything must go, cheap! Will be held inside the house, just walk in or ring the doorbell,” then put that guy’s address on the ads.
42. Cooking Up a Storm
First job ever. McDonald's inside a Walmart. It was a busy Saturday afternoon with a line going all the way out the door. The manager starts yelling at me to stop taking orders because she can't keep up with my pace. I was 15 years old at the time and therefore not old enough to work the grill, so I asked what I should do instead.
She rudely told me that if I was too dumb to figure that out, then she didn't need me there. So I was like, "Yeah, I guess you've got this covered then," clocked out, tossed my hat on the ground, and strolled out the front door as she pleaded for me to come back—leaving her to deal with that long lineup on her own. I wish 31-year-old me had the nerve that 15-year-old me had!
43. Served
A couple of years ago I had a study group going for a college course. We were usually together for a good three or four hours, so it was pretty common for someone to volunteer to go get food for everyone. Since they were the person getting us food, we would all kick in a little extra so that the person getting the food didn't have to pay for theirs. Colloquially, "If you fly, I'll buy."
So, one day one of the girls in the group announces she's going to Dunkin' Donuts about an hour into the study session. I look up and say, "Ooh, I'll buy if you fly," and she looks at me like I've grown an extra appendage. Then she scoffs the most disgusting response I've ever heard. She says in this really disgusted tone, "I don't bring food to other people. Servants do that."
44. But I Want It Now!
Back when I was in undergrad, I worked part-time at Macy's. One day I get this customer who says he is looking for a sports jacket that he saw listed on the website and he wanted to buy it at the store. I told him, " No problem, let me check and see if we have it." So I check on my computer and nope, we don't have any in stock, so I tell him that I can just place an order and he can pick it up in a few days.
"No I'm going to be out of town." So I told him that we can have it shipped directly to him. "No, I want it today." I told him that I can check and see if another Macy's had it. "I already drove all the way here." I told him, "Well you saw it online right? Why not order it from the website?" Apparently, that set him off.
He said, "I REALLY DON'T LIKE YOUR SMART ASS TONE RIGHT NOW." I just have him a "WTF?" look and said, "Sir, I am trying to help you and you're not helping me by literally rejecting every option we have, why not try buying something similar?” He screams, "NO I WANT THAT ONE, I BET YOUR MANAGER CAN GET ME WHAT I WANT."
I say, "He's gonna tell you the same thing I just told you," and he replies: “Oh, we'll just see about that, you'll be lucky if you have a job left after this blah blah blah..." I really didn't pay attention to his ranting as I was calling the manager, and giving the guy the middle finger with my eyes. So when my manager gets down to where I am he looks at the guy and just says, "Oh, it's you. Do I need to call security again?"
I had such a big grin on my face. Jerk customer starts screaming at the both of us and says, "THIS IS RIDICULOUS, I AM GOING TO REPORT BOTH OF YOU TO CORPORATE." I just start laughing and say, "Dude, didn't he just tell you to get out?" Apparently, he wasn't expecting that and just stared at us. My boss is trying to keep a straight face at this point and says, "Well, you heard him, get the heck out of here."
45. Devil’s Pardon
Ah Mrs. Tansa. You can rearrange her name to spell Satan. She was my fourth-grade teacher, and she would make fun of you anytime she got. My favorite memory about her was when I was riding my bike and saw a bunch of police a few doors down from my place. I walked up and noticed a police officer with the same last name on his name tag, and I asked him if his wife was a teacher.
He said yes, and I said I was a student in her class, and all he said was, "I'm sorry."
46. Lincoln or Bust
I met a girl at a bar, we were really hitting it off, and she decides to come home with me. So I'm super excited about my prospects for the night, and I take her out to the parking lot so I can drive her home. That's when she stops in her tracks, suddenly turns me down, and walks about into the bar. Why? Because I drive a Honda.
47. Mr. Grumpy
I once worked at Kinko's, long ago. One dude was so angry, even as I started helping him. He asked for a bunch of copies, I made them and set them down in front of him. "How's that look?" I asked. "Well, you printed them upside down!" Guy was edgy. So I turned the stack of pages 180 degrees. The guy says: "… I don't like your attitude."
Some people are determined to be displeased.
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48. Back of the Line
When I was 19 I worked as a manager at a Dollar Tree. The first of every month was always the most hectic because of food stamps which, unfortunately for us, not a great day because there were only three employees inside the store including myself. Lines are building up when a woman and her 20-something daughter come to the line with over 60 items.
When the total comes up and she uses WIC, she cannot remember her PIN. Happens, I get it. I told her we’ll have to move it over to an empty cash register to clear my conveyor so that we don’t hold anyone up—four or more people in each of our two lines now. She complied—Woo!—and I continued ringing up customers.
She takes five steps from me and calls friends/family to find out what the password is and after slightly less than five minutes says she knows it now. I say "Awesome!" At this point, she starts moving my customer’s items back while she cuts off every customer to place all of her items back on the belt. Every customer is like “What the heck?!”
I stop her and tell her that she needs to get to the back of the line and she pulls out the “Let me speak to your manager” at a screech that could be heard from the city over. I calmly say “No problem,” bend down, turn around, pop my head back up, and say “How can I help you?” Every customer starts laughing, including her daughter, and she starts cursing at me like the Wicked Witch of the West.
This was the point when I told her to leave the store to which she just went to the other line and I told the employee not to ring her up. She blew up in anger and left the store with her daughter apologizing to everyone.
49. Mom One, Jerk Boss Zero
After decades of working at a government service job, my mum finally got fed up with her managers one day and decided to retire. As soon as she informed them of this, they tried to screw her over on her payout amount because of an alleged error in their records from twenty years earlier. In other words, they claimed that they had been paying the wrong amount into her retirement fund after the rules had changed and forgot to update it or something.
Jerk Boss: "It can't be fixed. You would have to bring in your payslips for the whole 20 years to have the evidence to fix it." Mom: "No worries. I'll bring them in this afternoon if you'd like." Jerk Boss: "No, I mean all of them. Every single one." Mom: "Yep." Jerk Boss: "In chronological order." Mom: "Yes of course. I wouldn't keep my payslips in some other order, that wouldn't make any sense at all."
It hadn't even occurred to my mum that one would not keep all those documents in one place, and she never left the job so she just kept on filling up the box. That’s how you leave a lousy job in style!
50. Master’s in Death
I don't remember her name, but I do remember multiple times when she was wildly inappropriate and just a horrible person. I was in second grade, and my grandpa had just died. I ended up missing school because of the funeral, and as a result, I missed the spelling test that day. The day I got back she told me, "Next time someone dies you better have the funeral on the weekend."
My school was in a snobby nasty district and town that never admitted they did anything wrong, but needless to say, I’m glad we got out of there.
51. Too Hot to Handle
I was working as an assistant general manager at a fast-casual restaurant. Some 40-something woman starts going off on my cashier. I round the corner from the desk to see her dump soup all over our front end cooler and knock a bunch of stuff on the ground. I tell my cook to call 9-1-1, say there is a woman causing a disturbance and breaking stuff, the address is next to the phone.
I walk up and stand behind the counter and put on my happiest manager face, so overly happy that it drove the woman even more into a fit. So raging cyclone Karen starts to knock stuff off the counter, throws two IBC root beers on the ground and starts yelling at another guest who tried to come over and defuse the situation. I hold out for another few minutes before two cops run in.
She has been screaming for a refund for 10 minutes at this point and breaking stuff. Cops walk in, I point at her and say "Get her out of my restaurant." She was arrested. Apparently, her soup was too hot. Thanks for the headache, Karen. I comped sevens meals of other guests, had to work a double because my cashier was in a state, and had to deal with the cops. Screw food service. So glad I'm out.
52. Spoiled and I Know It
I have a billionaire customer with four kids, and all of them are pretty spoiled. However, the worst case is the youngest one, who once said to me spitefully "We're going on Tiger next week and you're not allowed to come!" Tiger is the name of their yacht in southern Italy. It's not just that he's spoiled that gets to me, it's the fact he knows it and rubs it in purposely.
53. Like Father Like Son
This kid had two Xbox games in his pants when I was working at Blockbuster. I saw him tugging at them because they were sliding down his pant leg and confronted him. He took them to his dad, who I didn’t even realize was in the store. Dad decides to reward the wannabe thief by renting them, except they already owed over $100 in late fees because of Xbox games they’d never returned.
He proceeds to lose his mind, yelling and screaming at me. My manager gets pissed and tells him to get out for saying some pretty insane stuff to a 16-year-old girl. Dude says he’s just going to go to the other Blockbuster. We flagged his account and called the other store to warn them. He showed up there about 10 minutes later, the kid tried to steal games AGAIN, and this time that store manager called the cops. It was pretty awesome, even though my heart was racing pretty fast when an adult man was leaning across the counter to tell me what a b-word I was.
54. Size Does Matter
This scrappy chihuahua of a man road rages at me. I flip him off and pull into the grocery store parking lot. I needed to get formula for my daughter. He followed me. Oh, dear. He yells, "Get out of the car, I'm gonna kick your butt!" Okay. I'm 6'5" tall, bald, bearded, and since I lost weight and started lifting, I've been mistaken for similar-looking NFL defensive linemen.
I got out of my bright green Volkswagen Beetle, crossed my arms, and looked straight at him for about 10 seconds before he got back in his crummy little Honda and peeled out of the parking lot. Good thing too, I don't know how to fight.
55. Complete, Effortless Disregard
In sixth grade, I was sick and missed a day of school, so I didn’t know what the homework was. The next day in class, the first thing I did was ask one of my classmates for the previous night’s homework so I could do it that night. My teacher gave me a zero and a detention in front of everyone for not turning in the assignment.
I went to her privately after class and explained that I didn’t have any friends in the class and had gotten everything I needed to do it that night as soon I walked in before class started. The horrible thing she said to that day has stuck with me the rest of my life. She told me it wasn’t her problem if I’m a loser and that I should have found a way instead of making excuses.
I was a great student with straight As, never missed school, and was always well mannered. I was absolutely mortified and so deeply hurt because in reality, not only did I not have any friends in that class, I didn’t have many friends at all. The friends I did have who were more school friends than actual friends were on another “team” so had a different set of teachers.
But it didn't end there. Later in the quarter, I turned in a poem that I was incredibly proud of. I got nice paper to print it on and everything, and the poem itself was very real and very raw. She failed me on the project. When I approached her about why she failed me, she told me the whole thing was dumb—the visual presentation and the poem itself.
My mom still has that project framed in her house and reminds me from time to time how meaningful it was for an 11-year-old to have written it. I’m not sure what that teacher had against me and still haven’t been able to make sense of it all these years later, but I’ve never forgotten how she treated me.
56. You’re a Mean One, Mrs. Customer
A lady told me that I had personally ruined Christmas for her children, because the store I worked at was sold out of Xboxes on the day she came in. She then told me that I should have kept some in the back. Umm, for what exactly? The off chance that some crazy lady would swing by last-minute and demand one? The best part, though, was that she wanted me to call another store and check if they had any in stock.
She lost it when I told her that the next store was half an hour away and was closing in 10 minutes.
57. The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree
When I was in college, I worked as a substitute teacher at the local elementary schools. Subbed a kindergarten class one day. Things went fine until after recess. I went to pick up the kids at the designated line-up spot, and one little girl was throwing a fit because "My mommy says I have to be in the front of the line."
I got to the room and she threw another fit because "My mommy says I have to sit in a blue chair." This was the same chair she sat in before recess. It was (light) blue. The rest of the day, this same thing continued. At the end of the day, I made an unsettling discovery. Her mom was a girl I'd gone to high school with—and she had been one of my bullies. The overwhelming urge to tape the child's mouth shut suddenly made sense.
58. You Get What You Pay for
I work at a bowling alley and a lady put seven names on her lane instead of the five she paid for. When this happens the lane will shut off and to restart it you have to pay for the excess people. We tried explaining this to her and she flipped out. She was accusing us of all kinds of crap and causing a huge scene.
She threw a half-full beer bottle over the register at my manager so we promptly told her to get out. We have a cop on duty at night for reasons like this and he told them they had five minutes to leave or else.
59. Should Have Just Taken the Zilch
Yuppy frat boy in an econ course I was taking my freshman year got caught cheating. At my university, we all sign a contract agreeing to their honor code policies, and cheating is an automatic expulsion. But, the professor decided to be nice, and was just going to give the kid a zero on the exam. Frat kid still thinks that’s too harsh, and it turns into an argument.
The kid starts saying how "in" his family is at the university, and how none of this matters because he'll just "pull some strings.” Long story short, our professor is actually close friends with the chancellor of our school. Not only did the kid get expelled from the school, but they somehow got him into legal trouble as well for some of the comments made in class that day.
I don't know what was said that could have been used against him, but the kid ended up in some deep trouble.
60. Miss Maleficent
My teacher and pretty much the whole school knew I was a foster kid. I was painfully aware of this so I kept to myself. I didn’t make many friends and spent all of my time at home playing in the woods. In the middle of the semester of third grade, someone went into my teacher’s purse and stole money from her. It wasn’t a small amount either—like hundreds of dollars.
Without sending anyone to the principal’s or even investigating the situation, she called my parents and told them it was me because “orphans lack manors and we all know it was him.” She demanded that my foster parents pay up and they did. When I got home that day, my foster father punished me for being a thief and it was painful.
When I got to school the next day with bruises on me, she knowingly looked at me and said, “Got what you asked for, huh?” That was 20 years ago, I went to her funeral give years ago just to make sure the grim reaper did the job.
61. If the Shoe Fits...
I'm a cake decorator. We recently had a customer pick up her cake which had a printed picture of a high heel shoe that she sent us, on top. She goes "what the %&^* is this" and starts flipping out. Banging on tables, screaming at the top of her lungs in front of other customers, trying to fight the owner, threatening to come back with a gun. We had to call the cops.
Turns out, she had wanted a life-like edible version of the shoe, not a printed picture. So all this, because when she ordered the cake she did not know the difference between 2D and 3D.
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62. Maternal Lockdown
I was 13 when this happened. My mom had made a reservation at a hotel for a trip, but when she got there the lady said there was some error with the reservation and that my mom’s payment didn’t go through, so the lady offered us a double bed room for a discount. Rather than just taking the room, thanking the lady, and leaving, my mom decided the best course of action would be to scream, in the middle of a hotel lobby, “NOBODY IS GOING ANYWHERE TIL I GET MY FREAKING ROOM!”
She then proceeded to pester the lady, who clearly couldn’t do anything about it, until eventually, she called the police on my mom for public disturbance. Mortifying.
63. Pinch Parent
I was seated next to a Texan once on a flight, with an entire family behind us. The 9-year-old kid, who was seated directly behind him, would not stop kicking and pushing the seat as if nobody else mattered or even existed. After a while, the Texan turns around, looks right at the kid, and says, "You keep kicking my seat kid, and we're gonna have problems."
Kid stares at him blankly for a second. But the Texan knew just what to do. "You understand what I'm saying? Keep your feet off my darn seat or I'll beat you to smithereens," he repeats, then stares him down for a full 10 seconds. Never looked at the parents once, and the kid looked petrified. It was clearly the first time he had ever been talked back to, and he didn’t know how to react.
The Texan then turns back around, looks at me, and winks. It was pretty classic. The parents never said a thing, and the kid was like a mummy for the rest of the flight.
64. Unreasonable Request
I worked at a Buck-A-Book. I was the only employee there at the time as my manager was asleep in the back office, and nothing would wake him up. I was in a cast and on crutches from having broken my ankle and so I was sitting behind the counter. I wasn't even supposed to be back at work for another week, but my manager had whined about being alone and forced me back.
It was pouring buckets of rain that day. A woman came in and bought 100 books—some hardcover—for her school. She demanded that I carry all these books out to her car for her. Our two-wheeler was in the back room with my sleeping manager and banging on the door for 15 minutes failed to bring him out. I explained that I couldn't help her with the books because of my cast.
She threw a fit and demanded that since she spent $100 that I close the store and carry each and every box out to her car in the pouring rain by myself on crutches. I may have said more than just get out.
65. Priorities
I had a primary job that gave me decent hours, but I wanted more money for the summer so I sought out a second job. I landed a spot as a hostess at a chain restaurant. A day into that job, my mother went to the hospital and was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Naturally, the news wrecked me. I was a teenager and already had a lot to deal with (as a teenager would) at the time.
I learned this news about half-way through my shift one day. The supervisor pulled me aside and commented on my attitude. He says I am not smiling much, that I seem down, etc. I was honest and told him about my mom. I told him I was trying my best. Then he tells me, rudely: "Your job is important and you need to be focusing on that right now. Your mom can wait."
I left on the spot.
66. Syllabus-Less Course
I had a professor in grad school who seemed to have forgotten that the point of teaching a class was to, in fact, teach and not just belittle the students in it. If you asked him a question, he'd tell you to Google the answer because it was below him to answer it. We weren't allowed to work together on homework because he "didn't believe in that."
If he got especially frustrated during class because we weren't performing at "his level" he would throw white board erasers or pens. He told us to buy one textbook and then only assigned homework out of a different book, which we were allowed to check out from him for 24 hours, so there were 4 of us and one textbook.
That meant we engineering students frequently only had 48 hours to do the assignment. He would also frequently go on rants about how terrible education was here and how he was a much better student than we are. There was no learning in that class, just survival.
67. Don’t Ask for Surprises
I was working in a frozen yogurt shop, and a customer requested that I “surprise” her with my choice of flavor and add-ons as well as the size. I created a medium chocolate, topped with granola and rainbow sprinkles. She looked it over and said it was too small, too crunchy, unattractive, and oh, by the way, she was allergic to chocolate.
68. Bending Is for Rubes
I saw some like 12-year-old rich kid with his dad at Guitar Center buying like $6,000 worth of recording equipment. An item he was purchasing was on the lowest shelf. No big deal, right? Well, this kid proceeds to do the most spoiled thing ever. He snaps his fingers, pointed at it, and demanded an employee to “fetch this” for him.
69. Clap Back
I was a supervisor at a popular coffee chain that had a rule that employees were not to be in the store alone. So, for example, when opening you had to wait for your second barista outside and then enter together. This was to prevent theft, but anyway, that meant we couldn’t put out our patio furniture until our third came in.
A customer began demanding I set up the patio, to which I advised him of the above. When I continued to refuse, he said, “let me speak to your supervisor” and I said, “I am the supervisor.” Obviously now super pissed, he says, “You’ll never get ahead if you don’t break the rules every so often,” to which I responded, “Well, I certainly didn’t get promoted by breaking all the rules, now you can order and stop harassing me, or you can leave.” He promptly stormed out.
70. Bin There, Done That
I worked at Subway. It was the first day of the $5 footlong deal, and there was a line out the door. Now, all of our veggies were cut that morning at the same time. The bin of onions was getting low, so I ran to the back and got another bin. Because I was wanting to focus on getting people their food, I dumped the new bin into the other one instead of switching them.
The manager came along, pulled the bin out, and threw it at me in front of everyone. I threw my hat down and walked out.
71. First Grade Desk Duty
One time in the first grade, I had a messy desk—you remember those ones with the top that flipped up so you could store your books and stuff inside? Mrs. Davis picked up the desk and literally dumped all my books and school supplies on me and made me clean it up off the floor while the rest of the class watched. Of course, I started crying. What kind of sadist does that to a 6-year-old?
72. Maybe the Real Horror Show Was Your Dad
Oh god. This all reminds me of my attempt at seeing Shaun of the Dead with friends in theaters. I was over 18, but didn't have ID, my friends were 17 or so, also without ID. Theater policy was you need ID to both purchase and enter the theater for R-rated movies. My dad bought the tickets and left, but then we couldn't get in because we had no IDs.
When my dad got back to the theater, he went freaking BERSERK and ranted at a frankly astonishing, window-rattling max volume about how we don't need to show our papers every ten feet. He bought the tickets, that should be enough rah rah rah. It's a bit of a nonsense policy, but it doesn't deserve that kind of reaction, you know?
It was the most horrifying and embarrassing thing ever. I was trying to get the indignant rage beast to leave the theater and stop making a scene. It's one of the many reasons I do not visit him.
73. Say My Title
Back in the day when I first began to do fieldwork, I met someone who just got his PhD. While we were out there, an old friend who he hasn't seen in years came up to him and greeted him using his first name. His insane response blew my mind. He actually stopped the person in the middle of their sentence and said, "Excuse me, my name is Dr... ___," and he was absolutely serious.
This was about ten years ago and I now have a PhD but I wouldn't imagine doing that to anyone. Really, the only people that refer to me as Dr. are my students or if I am at a conference or something and that is absolutely fine by me.
74. Take It or Leave It
I worked in a college bookstore years ago and this guy came in and I greeted him. He then turned around and I saw he had a bag on him and store policy was to have customers leave bags up front so I politely said, “Oh we don't really allow bags in the store, could you please leave it in the cubbies.” He then got upset and started loudly saying, “I have my COMPUTER in here, I CAN'T leave it here.”
We normally would put things like that behind the counter so I offered him that choice and he started flipping out like CRAZY. By this time the store manager came out and asked what all the yelling was about and the customer started to berate both me AND the manager about how crazy it was that he couldn't keep his bag on him. My manager was known to not take anything from anyone so after his rant, she just told him “If you don't like our policies, just get out.” She will probably be my favorite of all time.
75. Long Weekend
I rage quit a job once because my boss wouldn't let me take off on a Friday for a wedding, even though I requested it nine months in advance. It was also MY wedding! So, I gave in my two weeks notice on Thursday, got married on Friday, and went on a two-week honeymoon. Take that!
76. Awful Planning
My sister had a sixth-grade teacher who was the mother of one of my sister's classmates. This girl was somewhat popular. For my sister's birthday, she was having a girls-only party on a Friday. She gave out the invites, and she was very excited. Friday rolls around, and nobody shows up. On Monday morning, my sister had to go to school and face everyone, which was pretty traumatic in and of itself so my sister was feeling awful. That's when the awful truth came out.
During morning lineup, this teacher came up to my sister and said to her, in front of everyone, "You know why nobody went to your party? Because I threw my daughter a party on the same day and I made sure nobody told you about it."
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77. Assault with a Deadly Appliance
My father works in a big store here in Italy, and he was at the return desk for a few years. A guy once showed up and wanted to give back a coffee machine well past the return period, so obviously, my dad said no. After a few minutes of arguing, this man raised the coffee machine and threw it at my dad, who miraculously avoided it.
He called the security and dude was arrested. It seemed just a "normal" aggression by a stupid customer but it was later discovered that he had a criminal record for assault and HAD A LOADED GUN IN HIS POCKET during the fight. My dad still gets shivers when he tells the story.
78. Making Waves
Someone I know had booked a post-Christmas vacation in southern Thailand in 2004. If that doesn't already ring a bell, let me remind you that this was probably one of the worst times in the history of mankind to go there. She arrived the day after the tsunami...and got super mad about the hotel being destroyed and her tour operator not being able to offer a proper replacement. Then she took it to the next level.
She also tried suing the hotel and operator, but to no avail. Like, what the heck is wrong with you? What part of human decency don't you understand? Over 200k people have had their lives ended and all you freaking spoiled brats care about is that you won't be able to stay in your five-star hotel? Worst of all, she told me all this herself, probably looking for confirmation or something.
79. Crossing the Line
I had a lady cuss me out when I worked as a customer service manager for a big retail store. She then went on to tell me how my mom didn’t raise me right and should have done better. My mom passed away a few weeks previously, so I then told her, thanks ma’am but she did a great job and recently passed and immediately told her to leave or the cops would be called and she would be criminally trespassing.
80. Food for Thought
When I worked at a fast-food joint, I once had someone call in during the opening shift while we were still prepping everything for the day. He starts telling me all about how he was just here and how our service was terrible, and how we got his order wrong. I asked him when exactly he came in, and he said about half an hour ago. I said, “Oh, that’s weird, because we don’t actually open for another 45 minutes.”
He just hung up without another word.
81. The Proof is in the Printing
I had a teacher who hated me. To the best of my knowledge, I never did anything to make her feel that way at first, or if I did, it was something stupid and petty. Not being the type to enjoy being hated, I made her life as difficult as I could without breaking rules. Then this awful teacher started telling me that I wasn’t turning in homework assignments. Are you serious? I handed it to you yesterday same time as everyone else.
Principal calls my parents about me apparently just not trying, so they yell at me for a while and sit with me every night for two weeks while I do my dumb homework. Then this genius lady tells me again that I need to start doing homework or I'm going to fail the class. This message ends up with the principal and then ends up with my parents.
Now, they didn't believe me before this point, but now they knew I was doing my homework, and something fishy was going on. My mom asked to meet with the teacher. We went to this parent-teacher meet up and she's sitting there all smug. She told my mom, "He isn't doing his homework." But my mom fired back, "I know he is. I've been making sure he has."
Then the teacher went, "Well then he must be choosing not to turn it in. Or maybe he's just not doing the homework for this class. Do you help him with the work? We're doing ____ right now, I'll show you the assignment." She grabbed a folder, opened it up, and right on top was my ungraded assignment. It had my name on the top in big ol’ letters.
My mom noticed too and snatched it. She gave the teacher a look, got up, and walked down the hall to the principal’s office. The look on her face was worth the nightmare I'd been through. I had never seen my teacher, or anyone else for that matter, look so devastated after realizing how much she screwed things up for herself. It was incredible. She finished out the school year but was not present the next year.
I guess there were a lot of issues with her.
82. Temper Tantrum
I used to work at a very popular lingerie store. It was just after Christmas and we had a ton of customers—people returning things to use gift cards that they had received. I'm working at the registers when this lady comes up to the counter and says that she wants to return a bra that she bought. She had the receipt, but the bra was clearly used so I was hesitant to let her return it.
But my manager just said to do it, so, following the return policy, I told her that I could put the money back on the debit card she had used to pay for the bra. She had been polite up until then. But then she started screaming "NO! I WANT CASH!" I was pretty surprised but tried to calmly explain to her that I couldn't do that because the computer wouldn't let me.
I didn't have the authority to override the return system. She starts screaming "I JUST WANT MY CASH!" The manager comes over and tries to resolve the issue, but still, the woman keeps yelling "YOU TERRIBLE, INCOMPETENT PEOPLE, GIVE ME MY MONEY!" over and over. Finally, she throws the unwanted bra in my managers face and storms out. I thought it was over...but boy, was I wrong.
After she leaves, the computers stop working. I guess because we had been trying to override the return system, we had messed something up because it would no longer accept debit or credit cards at all. Then about ten minutes later she comes back, walks right up to my register and hands me a debit card. Knowing the response I was going to get, I calmly informed her that the computers were no longer accepting debit cards.
Good god, the stuff she yelled at me. I just stood there silently nodding and apologizing every now and then while she just yelled and yelled and yelled. After she left, the other customers in line all gave me thumbs up and said stuff like, "Hey, she was crazy. Don't worry about it." Worst day of my whole time working there.
83. You Probably Know What Evian Is Spelled Backwards
I worked at a private villa in Bali. One guest stood out because she only drank and bathed in Evian. So one day I spent almost an hour filling a large tub from tons of Evian bottles. The same young woman complained that the path from her villa gate to her room wasn't well lit. This was probably because she wore sunglasses at night.
84. Goes Without Saying
I had a customer threaten to call the cops because I wouldn't give them 50% off on a CHARITY bear on Boxing Day. 100% of the proceeds from these teddy bears went to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and they were only $15. The store had a 50% off everything sale for Boxing Day, but it didn't include the CHARITY bears.
I add capitals because it's a charity bear...its purpose is right in the name! I basically just kept saying "Ma'am, it's a charity bear," because I didn't know how else to explain that the point of the bear was to raise money...that seemed...obvious. People in line were starting to get really upset with her and she just started to freak right out and was starting to dial 9-1-1.
My boss, so upset—she lost a son early in life to cancer so the Make-A-Wish Foundation was important to her—just gave her a bear and told her to never come back. A bunch of familiar customers of ours were so upset they pitched in the $15 without us even saying anything, which was super kind of them. It was a restoration of faith in humanity, but what a nightmare for no reason. Especially on Boxing Day!
85. Family Values
My mother is a terrible person. And I don’t say that lightly. She has stolen medication from me after I had oral surgery. On two occasions (a decade apart from each other), she stole my identity and my sibling’s, opened several fraudulent credit card accounts in our names, maxed them out (tens of thousands of dollars), and never made a single payment.
She tells people that she’s a nurse when she barely even finished high school. She also often makes up extravagant and potentially damaging lies, all of which she believes she’ll never be caught for. Yes, she’s a terrible person, but my dad isn’t—so when my now-adult daughter was an adolescent, my mother was allowed to spend time with her.
A few years ago, I’d lost my job, was having trouble finding employment, and had to trade in my sports car for a Sedan so that I could drive rideshare to make ends meet. My mother told my daughter and several relatives that my car had been repossessed for nonpayment. It was upsetting, but I knew just what I had to do.
I took great satisfaction in clearing by name by showing the dealership papers to my daughter, my relatives, and yes, the shrewish, lying old jerk herself as well. The aftermath was both hilarious and sad, as she tends to have a vile temper.
86. On My Father’s Grave
My worst teacher asked me, “Didn’t your father ever teach you how to act?” I had to inform him that my father had died four years earlier. Two weeks later, my step-dad comes to pick me up for an appointment saying he’s here to pick up his child. When the teacher was over the phone with the office, his response was so brutal I couldn't believe it. He said: “You mean the deceased father is here for pick up?”
All through high school, that teacher just kept doubling down and never showed remorse for what he had said. He would chase me into other classrooms because I had a hat on and I needed to take it off. This gave me motivation to become the compassionate, empathetic, and awesome teacher that I am today. My kids always get the benefit of the doubt and I respect them.
87. You're Fired
I was 19 shopping with a friend. She was (still is) a smaller person than myself. She was trying on a shirt and needed a size up so i took it back out to find a bigger size. I couldn't locate it so I ask a sales girl if she could help me find a bigger size. She takes the shirt in a gruff way. I ignore it. She comes back with a hat and hands it to me. I say, "Um what's this?"
She said, "This is the only thing in this store that will fit you", contempt dripping from her lips. I'm like, oh I see. I go to the dressing room, tell my friend we need to leave now. She gets dressed. Tries to clean her mess I tell her leave it. We walk out, I go to the register with the hat, it's busy. My friend asks what's up with the hat. I say loudly, "
According to that girl this is the only thing in the store that fits me." My friend, shocked, lost her mind. Because her parents owned the store. That's how I got a girl fired because I was feeling petty. Saw that girl later that week where I worked. I smiled and showed her what customer service should be.
88. You’re Not Special
I worked at a ski resort when I was younger, fitting boots and sizing skis, etc. My first year I worked at basically the Walmart of rentals, the cheapest option, and the biggest store. So the week of Christmas, there are lines out the door every single day. I remember seeing my two-week paycheck after the two weeks around Xmas and I worked 119 hours.
It was absolute insanity. For another reference, the closest town had a permanent residency of fewer than 10,000 people, but during Christmas, it jumped up to 70,000 people trying to enjoy their vacation in the same spot. So, one of these days it’s business as usual, a quarter-mile line out the door, non-stop craziness.
I’m at the bench closest to the door helping a lady when this kid walks up to my bench. I asked if I could help him and he said he had reserved rentals online and he wanted to pick them up. I said this is our store name if that’s where you reserved you’ll need to get in the back of the line and we’ll help you as soon as we can.
This 13-year-old kid said something inappropriate in front of the customer I was helping. I told him that quite literally every piece of equipment in our store was reserved, every single person in front of you has a reservation as well and we have to help everyone. He started insulting me personally, saying I was stupid and that he was going to report us to anyone he could because we weren’t letting him skip hundreds of people doing the exact same thing he was doing.
I think what angered him most is that I’m 6’3” tall and big. He was maybe 5’0” tall and 54 kg (120 lbs) so when he called me stupid, I literally laughed in his face. I was at no point threatened by this child, and at first, it was funny. The first lady left, I’m ignoring/laughing at this kid and asking the next person to come up and he starts yelling cuss words at me because I’m not helping him.
Up until this point, my manager had been a complete jerk and I was not a fan of him. But he’d had enough of the Christmas rush as well, and this kid was a perfect person to let off some steam. I went and got my manager and told him this kid was personally attacking me and yelling cuss words in front of customers, so he walks up to the kid and says, “I’m sorry for the confusion, what’s your name so I can take a look at your reservation?”
And the kid lights up, thinking he finally beat the system and got in front of everyone for throwing a fit. My manager goes and finds his reservation—it’s digital, but I’m pretty sure he printed it off for the added dramatic effect—comes back and says, “ I found it.” He proceeds to rip it in half in front of his face and says, “Don’t ever treat someone that’s trying to help you like that, you are never allowed in our store again, and with every other store in town also being completely 100% booked on equipment, good luck skiing this week.”
I still didn’t like the guy, but I respected him one point more for the rest of the season for standing up for me.
89. Rock Solid Response
When we were kids, we stayed at the seaside on holiday with our family. My little sister would always make a pretty sandcastle, and the next day it would have been kicked down and she'd cry. We wanted to find out who was doing it, so one day we stayed behind to spy. We watched as a bunch of jerk older boys came by and kicked her castle down, laughing smugly.
So the next night, we covered a big beach rock in sand and decorated it. Like clockwork, the jerk kids came with their smug faces and this time kicked a solid rock with all of their might. The yowl and the look on their faces was the best revenge ever.
90. Later Problems
I worked throughout college sometimes with long hours, and most of my professors were fairly accommodating about this. This one day I got called in for a 6-hour shift after a co-worker quit, and I asked one of my professors through an email if I could have a small extension on a minor assignment because of that. He said yes and I thought it was the end of it.
Then in the next class I had with him, he called me out in front of the class and told them how I shouldn't expect more time and how I have to put his class before work. I got angry and told him that tuition was too high for him to make that argument. For the rest of the semester, he didn't mention it again, instead just opting for passive-aggressive jabs.
91. Logic Foiled by Entitlement
When I worked at EB Games and we would have those “3 for $40” sales. A guy brought up a single game from that section and it scanned for $49.95. I think I'm about to make the guy’s day and tell him he can pick two extra games and I'll charge him 10 bucks less. He says “I don't care about the other games, just make it 10 less.”
I explain that I can't do that and I need to scan three games to apply the promotion. I tell him he's welcome to give the games away if he wants, or he can trade them right back in for some store credit the next time he wants something. Nope. I tried one more time when he just starts yelling, “I’M TAKING THIS GAME FOR FORTY DOLLARS AND YOU CAN BUZZ OFF IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT!”
He slaps two twenties on the counter, snatches the game out of my hands and storms out. So I went and picked out two games I wanted, scanned them and a copy of the one he just ran off with and processed the sale.
92. Double the Displeasure
An old friend of mine and his family are loaded. They constantly get the newest car, most massive house, multiple out-of-country vacations a year first-class, and he’ll get the most expensive tickets possible for concerts. Plus, mommy and daddy would never say no. So when the iPhones/and iPod touches were blowing up, he asked for a very specific color and GB for the iPod touch.
It was near Christmas and they were sold out EVERYWHERE. His mom was so disappointed that she went overboard with a ridiculous gesture. She paid a lady at the mall DOUBLE the price of the newest iPhone max GB while she was walking out so he could get something similar since she couldn’t find the exact make and model that he really wanted for Christmas.
Fast forward to Christmas Day. He opens the box—and his response was disgusting. He was so peeved it wasn’t what he wanted that he slammed it onto the floor, saying that it wasn’t what he asked for. It was DESTROYED. Then he called her a witch (but worse) and left to go to his room without opening the rest of his presents. Truly unbelievable.
The mom then had a breakdown and went to the mall again to ask for what he wanted for the next few weeks until yet again, someone had just bought one and she paid double to gift it for him again. That was the last time we ever spoke, and from what I hear, he has no job, still lives with mom and dad, no high school diploma, upgrades his Mercedes every year, and decided that he’s going to be a rapper or nothing at all.
93. Act Your Age
I worked at a call center years ago. I overheard an angry commotion from the headset of the gal next to me. The yelling continued for what seemed like 30 minutes, but it was probably closer to five. But she was totally unfazed, just reading a magazine while the ranting continued. Finally, I heard my co-worker ask, "Your mother or father home, sweetie? We're not permitted to speak with children."
They hung up. Before the next auto-dial, I said, "Damn, that was a kid?" She just shrugged, "No, it was some old man."
94. Crying Over Spilt Milk
I used to work at a grocery store as a bagger. This guy said he wanted his milk in a bag. He had a lot of stuff to pack up, so when I got to the milk I wanted to double-check what he said before doing it. So I asked a second time whether he wanted a bag. He proceeded to yell at me so loudly that the next two lanes got quiet and they were all staring at what was going on. "Are you stupid? You have hearing problems? Where is your manager? They should fire you for being so stupid. I already said I wanted it in the bag." Jeez, I’m just trying to make people happy.
95. Celebratory Anaphylactic Reaction
There was a girl with a bunch of health issues and allergies in our class, including latex. One day, Ms. Morales chose to let her favorite student hold a birthday party in our class with latex balloons everywhere. The girl who was in a wheelchair got to class and immediately had breathing problems and started breaking out.
She asked the teacher if she could go to the nurse, and this woman had the audacity to say, “Just tough it out until next period. I’m not letting you go to the nurse yet.” Luckily, our TA saw the girl and convinced Ms. Morales to let her go, but the girl wheeled to the nurse at the other side of the school by herself because the teacher wouldn’t let anyone else go.
She got an EpiPen shot and was ok, but it still makes me angry four years later.
96. Gobble Gobble
Having owned a grocery store for many years I've had some great and some really insane customers. The one that sticks out the most was a lady around Christmas time. She bought a frozen turkey from me and left happy as could be! A few days later she comes storming back into my store, she proceeded to throw this bag of turkey at me and starts tearing me apart for the subpar turkey.
"This turkey was so terrible I couldn't cut it, and when I did it tasted awful," this went on for a while, "I had my whole family there for dinner and this turkey ruined the entire meal" blah blah blah...As I took the turkey out of the bag to check, I noticed that she had managed to cook the thing in the plastic wrap that all frozen turkeys come in. Even after pointing this out to her, I was still the bad guy.
97. Saved by the Bill
This guy came in and without even glancing at any merchandise, comes to the register. He hands me five $20 bills and asks for one $100 bill. As unusual as it was, I obliged. After I verified all his $20 bills were legit, I pulled a single $100 bill from my till. This is the part that saved me—I held the $100 bill up to the light just like we were trained to do every time we handle a $100 bill.
Only $100 bills and not any other denomination. He took the $100 in one hand, turned away from me, turned back and showed me a $10 bill, and claimed he was short $90. Without even thinking, I pointed to the door and told him he could leave or I would be calling the cops. He conceded and left without another word. The thing that saved me is that $100 bills are the only ones we look through at a light. The cameras saw me do that and I knew I had him dead to rights.
Wikimedia Commons
98. Vindicated
My dad was driving back from the shore when traffic got really bad. About a mile ahead, there was an accident that had brought traffic to a crawl. My dad decides to be patient about it. Others weren’t so patient. People began driving on the shoulder in order to get ahead of the traffic. This pissed my dad off. We all know how this goes.
We do the right thing and are punished for it, whereas these jerks are skipping in front of traffic and will probably get away with it. He thought about following this stream of cars onto the shoulder, but he decided he’d do the right thing and wait. As he got closer, he saw two cops in a parking lot. One cop was directing all of the shoulder drivers into the parking lot, while the other wrote all of those drivers tickets. He describes it as one of the most satisfying things he’s ever seen.
99. The Princess Diaries
I had a roommate for a while. He wasn't the spoiled one. His girlfriend was the most entitled brat I've ever met in my life. She didn't work because she claimed she had "health issues" and her parents paid for everything. Personally, I think her all-soda and fried food diet may have had something to do with her health issues.
I swear none of us ever saw her drink a glass of water. Anyways, she caused a car accident while texting, and her parents’ response was to buy her the same car. She then got in another accident (her fault again) and her parents bought her a slightly less nice (but still way nicer than anything I've owned) car.
She was a completely spoiled princess with no life skills, and my other roommates and I all hated her. The cherry on this sundae? She was 37 years old and acting like this. I just can't imagine being that age and seeing nothing wrong with being completely dependent on my parents for everything. And crashing my car a million times.
100. The Customer Is Always Right, Especially This Lady
I was out to eat, and this younger lady was acting like a total witch in the restaurant to the staff. Everyone was obviously getting really embarrassed by her behavior…until this middle-aged lady piped up and said from her table, “Oh honey, you’re not pretty enough to act like that.” I seriously could have burst out into applause.
101. How the Other Half Gives
I was having a bad day while working at a Subway one night, this kid comes in and orders a foot-long sub. The entire time I'm trying to take his order, he mumbles, sighs, walks away, and keeps saying, "I dunno." Just generally, he's being a huge brat. Then when it comes time to pay, he smiles at me with this annoying little grin and says he doesn't have enough cash on him.
He's close, but off by about 40 cents. So I said, “No problem little buddy, let me just ring that in as a six-inch.” He beams triumphantly that his short change plot worked—but he didn’t know what was coming. Before I rang it up, I snatched the sandwich back, split it in two, and handed him half the sub with his change while tossing the other half in the trash. Problem solved.
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