Probably, one of the essential parts of people's lives is retail shops. A place where you can buy your daily necessities. However, even though people pay for the items, it does not mean they can say and do whatever they want to the employee.
These people from the Reddit Community who work in retail shops shared their worst Karen customers. You might want to check these out!
1. Mind Your Own Biz
The guest doesn’t like that we close some of the registers before closing so that we can leave just a few minutes after closing rather than an hour or more later. She went off on my Tech Sup one Sunday when he was the closing MOD.
The next time they (a couple - known for coming in with a few minutes left to close) tried going off on me, I told them when they own a store, they can hold their employee's hostage by keeping them well past closing by not using their time wisely.
Wonder why they haven’t been in since?
waldocruise
2. Naughty One
A lady bought a crappy chrome book with no plan then broke it, then wanted us to repair it. She raised hell because we don't do that and all we would do is let her buy a different computer.
She said we would hear from her lawyers. She left then a week later came back and bought the other Chromebook and guess what....still didn't want a plan.
Not the worst but boy was she a dumb witch.
menickc
3. Too Much Force
Just had a lady today bring in an Amazon QR code. I told her I couldn't take Amazon QR codes and before I could say I could help her cancel the return and redo it so she could drop it off here.
She started yelling at me about how "we took QR codes before", and my answer was "I've been here for 5 years and we've never taken QR codes from Amazon, we've taken happy returns."
She just kept yelling at me that we had taken QR codes from Amazon before and eventually stormed out.
Cautious_Tea_8614
4. Wanting To Help
The most recent that stands out is a customer who called about a calendar refill, I asked if she knew what brand, size, and if it had a model number and all I got was at a glance and it goes in a book.
I keep asking questions as I walk over to the aisle to look and see if I can find something based on what she says. She doesn't know the model or anything cause she already threw it away, and I can hear she's getting frustrated.
I can hear her bf or husband in the background grumbling about not wanting to look, at which point I say, “I'm just trying to help you find the right one and I have a bunch of different sizes. You can bring your book in so we can find the right one for you”
I can hear him grumbling, ”No one wants work or to do anything just idiots working in these places,” and I proceeded to say have a good day and hung up.
disastertech
5. Worst Escalation
Just a few days ago a lady kept snapping at me while I was trying to help her email something. First of all, don’t hand your phone to me, I’m not touching it. I don’t know where it’s been.
Second, that’s not the kind of phone or email app I have so I’m just guessing at what buttons will bring up the forward button. Don’t get mad at me because I don’t know your phone when you don’t either.
I’m trying to help. My GM hears her so he comes over and takes over. Of course, he grabs her phone and does it. No email. He tried to connect her to our WiFi (I had asked if she had an internet connection and she snapped at me “What the heck do you mean? At home I do!).
So we get an email. It does not have the form she needs to be printed.
GM informs her and goes to try to help her find it. She throws everything in her purse and says “You two stupid lazy jerks.”
Then it’s curse words over and over. She asks my GM if he has a mother. He looks at her in stunned silence. She screams that makes you a mega jerk. She walks out the front door turns around and shouts curse words into the doorway while showing both middle fingers.
Several times during the interaction she asked us both where the “other person is” because they always help her. Afterward, I looked her up and we had one previous order in flight with her name.
I was the one that had helped her last.
JackofHearts89
6. Check The Label
Had a customer drop off a package with a prepaid label, all is said and done, he got his receipt, whatever. He called two days later, SCREAMING over the phone that we “switched the labels” and the package went to a place it’s not supposed to.
I tell him, we most certainly did not.
He goes on to insistence we messed up and that he’ll be calling back with lawyers.
Anyway, he came into the store the next day to tell us that he used the wrong label but it’s still our fault for not double checking, and he wanted reimbursement for it. I just gave him the number for staples ups claims and told him to leave.
blue_flower92
7. Inconsiderate One
There was a lady who whined about not being helped fast enough. We had low staffing while having over 12 people who needed to check out and help at tech & cp.
All the other employees were helping another person who was there before her. She screamed saying, “y’all need to hire more employees.”
This was around the spring of 2020.
Jawsent
8. No Number
Just today I had a woman in her 90's try to pay with a check that didn't have a check number on it. Micr at the bottom had the account and routing, but not the number for the specific check at the bottom or in the top right.
She had written in her own number at the top, "08"
I told her I couldn't take a check without a number. My system wouldn't even read it. She said it was because she just had to get a new account. (I question how recent this was based on this likely being her eighth check, but whatever) as she walked away she mumbled that she won't be shopping here again.
She was buying a single ink cartridge.
daverapp
9. Total Mean Girl
We have this lady that comes in every so often and she is the meanest thing that's ever lived.
The slightest thing off from what she wants, she loses it, each time getting worse and worse. I need things right, but she takes it to a new level. She has flipped out because a lamination was off-center by a millimeter once.
She gets livid at other people for her OWN mistakes. I was asked once what language we speak in the store because it's not English. She wants to know so she can learn it, so we get her things right.
She comes in to pick up her copy job and one piece has the text bit off-center.
Lady: This is wrong. It's wrong again. (The text on her file is off-center)
Me: What's wrong?
Lady: It's not centered. Just like last time.
Me: We printed it just as you sent it to us. We don't edit files unless asked. If it's an obvious mistake we try to call out on it, but we don't catch everything.
Lady: I put in my email that I want it centered... You know, I come here on my day off and have to deal with this every time. Can you... Tell me what language you people speak back here, because if I have to I'll learn it so you get it right.
Me: I will edit the file for you and center the text. From now on though, you need to send it to us centered yourself, so there's no confusion.
I go to the computer and work on getting the file. She's messing around with the papers I gave her. I can hear her huffing and puffing, getting louder and louder.
Me: Is everything OK with the rest of the prints?
Lady: No. There are mistakes..... Do you sell guns here? You sell everything else, don't you? I'm just going to have to shoot myself. I can't keep wasting my time every week, going here and dealing with this. Where do you keep your guns?
Me:...
From here I just stayed silent for the rest of the transaction, fixing her print and checking her out. The only other thing I said to her was how much she needed to pay and thank you.
Lady: I'm going to be calling the corporate office this week. (As she was storming off.)
I never heard anything about her call. She's mentioned not shopping at other stores in the company anymore. I have a feeling she was asked not to come back, as we were considering asking her not to come back too, because of how mean she is.
Vjaa
10. Tech Support
CPC sup here. I was opening with me and a cashier. My tech called out sick that day so I was taking messages and answering questions where I could.
Some "lady" calls with tech questions that I don't know the answers to so I offer to take the message and give it to my tech when they come in and have them get back to her as soon as they can.
She starts screaming and freaking out about how we legally have to have a tech there for customers at all times. Then she starts saying how she's a lawyer and threatens to sue me and the store for not having that tech come in while he's sick.
We still have yet to hear anything from her.
Successful_Coach5514
11. Unsweetened Greeting
This one psycho-ass lady came up to the register and I was having a good day laughing and making my customers feel good about being at Staples and making them laugh and smile, and when she got up I said "Hello love how are you? If you have a membership please go ahead and put in your phone number."
SHE WENT OFF! She said I was sexually harassing her by saying "love" when greeting her, she was a middle age heavily unattractive not even dressed or carried herself well woman. I'm a married straight woman.
At some point, I said "It's fine, some people don't like others being nice to them" and walked off. She lost her crap even more.
She went off to management saying I was harassing her by calling her love as a greeting ONCE.
Not one customer since I started working there complained about my nice greeting. But she went off. My management had my back and ignored her. I don't say "hello love" anymore to anyone and a lot of my regulars actually miss that.
They even ask me why I'm not saying that and I have to explain to them what 1 jerk said and they went out of their way to show I give good customer service, leaving reviews of me and everything.
Glowing reviews of me btw.
12. Bark At The Wrong Tree
I had a Karen come to the store one night.
She said she drove all the way from Goleta. In my head, I didn't know where this town was, if it was north or south of my city. (I live in SoCal). It's North of my city.
She was expecting an online order to be shipped to the specific store I work at, and I'm the only cashier and about to leave my shift in 30 minutes. I went looking for the package and came back saying that I couldn't find it and asked her to double-check the address where it got delivered to.
Eventually, she said that this was unacceptable, asked me for my name, and that she was calling corporate on me for not letting her know that her package was delayed. The order was actually not even placed.
I wanted to tell her "Thanks, Karen. We know that's not going to work because your late order is something that I can't control". Instead, I stood there with one of my supervisors supporting me asking if I was okay.
Serves that witch right.
TheRealOracleFox
13. Lie To Me
This male Karen came into the store for help with his PC. He has the blue screen of death and it refuses to boot into windows. I first ask him if he has a warranty from Staples.
He says yes but can't find it so he agrees to pay for the repair and also virus shield protection. I go to YEDI and set up everything for him, tell him the cost of everything and how long it will take. He agreed but then said to me "Give me a second I'm going to my car for a call."
He never comes back and leaves his computer here.
A week goes by and still nothing until Wednesday he calls our store.
My GM picks up the phone and the dude starts having a crap fit asking why hasn't he gotten updates on the computer.
My GM explained to him that nothing had been done because he never paid. Well, the guy started lying saying that I told him it was free. My GM knew that was a lie and called him out on it because he was standing next to me during the whole thing.
Well, the guy chose to call corporate on us and the DM questioned us on what happened. Well 2 more employees came out and defended us because they were also next to us listening to the whole conversation.
Btw this story is still going.
MendoNin10do
14. Box of Madness
Had another guy call one day asking if we sold boxes to ship things in. Yes, we do! He comes in later and asks where the boxes for the laptops are. We don't have any specific for that but go to show him where the boxes are.
Before I can even do that he starts yelling and wanting me fired for saying we have boxes but not specifying over the phone we don't have any for laptops when he didn't mention that part earlier.
He demands the GM and starts yelling that he wants me fired over that and tells him he's not firing someone over that.
He keeps getting more upset but eventually leaves.
Successful_Coach5514
15. Anyone But Not You
Had an older truck driver come in this week. Went to my male cashier first to ask about the self-serve printer before going over to it. I'm checking out a regular and on the phone with someone so I smile and wave at him.
He completely ignores me. He then goes to my female SM and she tells him the same thing, that I can help him with the SS.
He then huffs and puffs and makes a scene then speeds out of the lot.
Successful_Coach5514
16. The Math Genius
One of my favorite MALE Karens I like to call them Brads....Sorry to any brads out there.
I set up his carbonless form order in SB. For one it's like $1.87(can't remember exact prices mind you) so he wants 1,500 carbonless forms 3 pieces. So the total comes out in SB as about $700.
He is looking at the RIK computer as I put in exactly what he wants. I kid you not, the 40-year-old BRAD starts ARGUING WITH ME that I don't know how to do math because if 1 form is 1.87 then 1,500 forms should be like $1,600…
I say "Well sir, our order intake system states it's $700 for the print job you are ordering." HE continues to argue, degrade me, and so forth. I explain "This is the price the system says I'm not the one calculating the math" HE pulls out his calculator, types in the math, and shows me what the price should be.
I once again say "Sir I'm sorry that you feel that your order should be that amount but in the system, it comes out to $700 it's the more you buy the less you spend kind of deal is what I suspect."
Still, I don't know how to do math (at this point my MOD can hear this "Brad" across the store in the office and comes out.) He sets up the order exactly the same way shows him that the price is indeed $700 and Brad shuts up okays the order, pays then leaves the store.
30 minutes being told I don't know how to do the math on a system that calculates prices all on its own, for him to hear the price from another male with no argument. Come on Brad!
P.S. My 5 customers in line behind him were all in shock and apologized for Brad's behavior.
One guy was a WW2 vet and said "He feels pity that there are still men out there that can't handle a woman telling them something, but will accept the same answer from another male without question."
Top_Health_6024
17. Uncontrolled Emotion
I work at a gas station. Today this guy told me to put his money on the wrong pump. Came back in to tell me to switch it. But to switch it, I have to refund them and they have to pay for the other pump.
He leaves before I can tell him, so I get my manager to cover the line and go out to tell him. He’s not out there but his brother is so I tell his brother that he has to come back in to pay for the different pump.
The guy comes in screaming for my manager and cursing me out in front of a line of 8 people for having to come in three times, despite it being entirely his fault. Then he calls later to insult me more and call me names, saying he never got a refund despite me having the receipt for it saved to the register.
Also had a guy a few weeks back spit in someone’s face because they asked him to wear a mask.
I really don’t get paid enough.
raponde
18. Karen Starter Kit
Lady asked if we still stocked the dress with the peacock on that she had seen the previous month.
I informed her that we didn't have a dress with a peacock on and that perhaps it was a different store she had seen it in.
She asserted it was definitely our store she had spotted it.
I showed her dresses that she may have confused for a peacock. Blue ones, green ones, leaf prints, asymmetric prints. No. None of them had a peacock on and why wasn't I helping her?
She proceeded to go to each of the sales staff asking them while side-eyeing me. None of them knew what she was talking about but offered alternatives. Each of them came and asked me if I could help, which Karen did not like.
She ended up shouting as she exited the store that we were all useless, didn't know our stock, lost a sale, wouldn't return. You know, the "how to be a Karen starter kit of phrases."
To this day, we have no idea where she saw the peacock dress, but it wasn't one of ours.
_EmmaRoids_
19. The Sponge Cake
When I worked in a supermarket we'd always have this old lady come in about once per month asking for a Neapolitan Sponge Cake. It's something we hadn't sold for years but she always insisted that she bought it last week. We'd even bring the baker to her who would tell her "No, I bake all the cakes here and I have not baked it for 5 years". But she still wouldn't believe us.
"Maybe you got it from another store?" We'd ask. No, she swears she buys it here every week. And she'd say the same "I don't know why nobody is helping me" thing your customer did.
Finally, one visit her daughter came in with her and we discovered that yes, indeed, she was buying it from another store (another branch of the same chain). She would get confused as she normally had a carer take her shopping.
Once per month that carer would take a day off and if her daughter couldn't help she'd get a taxi by herself to our store. All our stores ran the same layout to make it so you could find what you needed no matter what store you visited.
So this lady genuinely thought she was in the same shop she always visited.
ero_senin05
20. Basket of Confusion
We once had an older lady getting confused about the fact we didn't have baskets at the entrance.
We never have had, but she argued that we did.
Two hours later, she returned and apologized for her outburst when she realized she had confused our store for another.
_EmmaRoids_
21. Forcing Statements
I was yelled at earlier today by a Karen when she asked me to find her a very specific wheat bread. We were out because people were panic-buying food as a snowstorm was about to hit.
She went off on me for 20 minutes about how she was going to call the corporate office because it's absolutely unheard of that the only bread she can eat is gone. We had 10 different other kinds of wheat bread but this specific brand of wheat bread was the only one that prevented her migraines.
I'm not 100 % sure about the science behind that, but I tried to tell her that there was nothing I could do for her.
She was having none of it. She wanted me personally to call a different store to see if they could transfer her bread to my store today and that she would wait. Wtf.
Luckily I was saved by my co-worker who does not care if she pisses off the customers. She told her to call corporate if it was such a big deal but that we were too busy to deal with her lol. I just smiled and hurried off.
I suspect we'll be getting a strongly worded email tomorrow morning.
notalwayslost12
22. Stock Room
So I recently quit my crappy retail job to focus on my last few months of undergrad and life after it, etc. I worked at the academy and was just putting up footwear freight, doing my thing. I had just painted my nails a really nice gold color.
This lady asked me for help finding a pair of shoes, I told her we don’t have them but we can order them, check another store, etc. ya know, the generic retail spiel lmao.
She asks “Can you check your back room?” And I tell her all our stock is what we have on the floor and ooh boy she lost it. Yelling about how other academy stores have a back room, I’m just lazy, calls me a jerk for painting my nails, etc., and demanded to speak to a manager.
I’m 99% sure she got kicked out but yeah, that was certainly a fun experience.
connorjacobz
23. Completely Mad
When I worked in a clothing store a lady came in wanting to return something and get a refund but didn't have her receipt.
Store policy is no receipt no refund, and store credit is only offered if she could get a bank statement so I could look up the receipt and refund that way.
Well, she just started screaming and pointing at her daughter telling me that her child had cancer and that I was making it worse by suggesting she walk for two minutes to the bank to get a statement. I've never been so shocked.
I did not give in though and she eventually left but yeah has to be the craziest thing anyone ever said to me.
cloud_designer
24. Low Understanding
Kind of retail? I own a business.
One customer didn't get her order in less than one week during lockdown (packages are incredibly slow because they can't have many workers on at a time) and started complaining and telling me "I've never had this happen before!" "It was for my dead daughter's birthday and it isn't here!" Etc.
I told her to wait a bit more because of COVID slowdowns. And she told me if I knew this would happen I wouldn't have ordered from you!! Fudge off Karen every business is dealing with this right now.
Of course, I didn't actually say anything like that but man I wanted to.
danitheduck
25. Rule Breaker
Male Karen or Kevin, I worked at a large cell phone company, we had a policy with loaner phones where you could only be given one if you had an insurance claim or warranty claim on a phone and it would take in excess of 3-5 days to receive the phone.
This would allow our limited quantity of loaners to only be used for people who actually need them.
Kevin demanded a loaner because he had not decided what phone he wanted yet and didn’t want to be “forced” into buying one yet.
He “didn’t give a crap” about the policy and said I was telling him not to run his business by enforcing the policy.
He didn’t get a loaner and stormed out of the store after threatening to have me fired.
Beautiful_Ad9299
26. Respect Boundaries
I work at a thrift store and I work in the back work area. However, I am close to one of the entrances that leads to the sales floor. I routinely have to stop people from entering the work area and most of the time they are looking for the bathroom.
But about a month ago this woman came charging into the back area and I stopped her.
Before I can finish my "you can't be back here" the lady starts yelling about how someone took her cart full of items into the back.
I told her the truth that it wasn't in the back and that we never put carts in the back even if they are empty. I retold her this 5 times before I had to get the manager.
[deleted]
27. Worst Pretender
Oh my lord. I worked at a hearing center for 6 years. This lady and her wife insisted the batteries we gave them were not the prescribed ones by the audiologist. She kept saying they had to be “P675” not “675” because “the P stands for power.”
The manufacturing company of the batteries changed their packaging and that was it so the batteries we had were the new packaging and didn’t have the p on there but it was the same thing.
Witch went on a rant about how they’re not P’s so they won’t last blah blah blah blah blah and her audiologist said it had to be p blah blah blah.
Her audiologist was in the room next to us but because the customer was such a pain in the ass she didn’t wanna go out and talk to her because it was 4:30 on a Friday and we close at 5. The audiologist was messaging me like “I NEVER SAID THAT”.
So in the end I was like ok well we’re never going to get the old ones in again so unless you want to pay $6K for new hearing aids to match these new ones, I suggest you use the batteries we have.
She said she would call the manager and had never been so insulted in her life. The manager called her up the next day and she came in pretending that she did nothing wrong.
Vitaminphat
28. Mean Hobby
We have a new regular where I work who comes in 2 hours before closing, sneaks around away from the staff just browsing, and then the minute closing time hits, thinks of some massive issue that's gonna require us to stay past the end of our shift (when the store closes).
Firstly after walking around and pushing her trolley fine for hours, she comes up to me literally out of nowhere at closing time and says she's got back problems and can't push the trolley and someone needs to help her take the ungodly amount of wallpaper she wants to buy to her car.
Normally we'd be more than happy to carry items to a car, but at 5 minutes past closing when you've been here for hours, no!
Luckily one of my colleagues offered to take it and didn't leave for another half hour, and after she just jumped in her car with no pain at all and sped off.
Then 2 weeks later, she returned. Clocked her in at 6:30, and at 7:55 she decided she's gonna return all the wallpaper she'd bought a few weeks before and then place a massive order for more. My colleague at the order desk said no, and then she went off complaining to the manager about how everyone was leaving even though it was closing time, luckily he had none of it and sent her on her way.
Also, she once came in with a friend who sat in the garden center for 8 hours (!!!) and spoke about conspiracy theories.
I'm sure she'll be back someday, and I'll be ready for her this time.
AshesOfBurgerKing
29. Brain Dead
I am 14 but when I was 12 some Karen came up to me in Decathlon (camping store) and started asking where things were. I politely told her that I didn't know. She started having a go at me saying I was a crappy employee.
I told her I didn't work here and was just looking for something for my mother.
I don't know how she thought I worked there as I wasn't very tall or adult-looking and the only thing resembling the members of staff was a blue jacket.
Anyway, she huffed and said how she was going to speak to a manager about me. It was a weird experience.
greenbean5050
30. Know it All
Me looking in rxconnect, the pharmacy software, "Oh, your prescription is filled at the other CVS."
Karen: "No, all my prescriptions are supposed to be at this CVS."
Me: "Nonetheless, your prescription is there, do you want me to transfer it here?"
Karen: "I don't believe you, my Doctor knows that I only buy my prescriptions here."
Me, giving up, "Yes, you're right, I'll fill them in 15 minutes." (Quicker to transfer them rather than argue with her.)
Chilly171717
31. Know The Rules
This lady was trying to buy booze with an expired ID and I told her no and she was for some reason really pissed off at me for denying her.
I told her it was literally the law and she was like CANCEL MY WHOLE TRANSACTION IM LEAVING.
But I ignored her and kept ringing and she waited and paid LMAO.
chhharizard
32. Persistent Karen
This lady didn’t read the sales tag last week for a Donut Chain coffee that was clearly not on sale (it had no sale tag underneath the signage). There was a different flavor of coffee that was but the other one she bought wasn’t.
She kept complaining that it should be the one she bought even though the computer kept ringing it up at its regular price meaning it wasn’t on sale.
I told her that it wasn’t for that particular flavor but she still insisted on the fact that it was supposed to be on sale since the ad didn’t specify the flavor (it certainly does because she kept referring back to it).
She complained about how she had to use her raincheck but shouldn’t be using her raincheck (at that point I didn’t even bother checking if it was for the right flavor since I wanted her to leave) and ended up getting it on sale that way.
Karen then replied, “You need to specify on your ads.” And I literally tell her “We don’t even make the ads ourselves. How am I supposed to do that?”
Yeah... all of this trouble for one Donut coffee packet.
Feature_Cold
33. Wrong Number
I had someone call my store, to tell me that the parking lot of the abandoned store next door to a different cvs had potholes in it.
He was fully aware that he was talking to a different store. I told him that CVS wasn’t going to pay to pave the parking lots of stores they don’t own and he just would not accept that.
SeductivGeodude
34. Talkative Karen
There’s an older lady who can not stop talking. She’s been burned by us apparently so she HAS to make sure you understand what she wants done and how she’s gonna react to what you’re gonna do. Anyhow, onto the story.
I was working the drive-through, which was pretty busy and it was a quick call between lane one and lane two.
Both lanes got done pretty much about the same time so the next cars pulled up. Lane two gets up a hare faster than lane one, so we take care of lane two. We’re understaffed so ya know... we couldn’t help lane one.
Well I finally get to lane one and she just goes, “I was here before lane 2, they were behind me in lane one, and you helped them before me.
I think that’s just DISGUSTING! I am so disgusted.”
I was semi-new at this point and so I just said “Oh no, I’m so sorry about that. we try to help people in the order that they come to us. I’m so sorry that you feel disgusted with us.” (not really, turned around to my coworkers and said “Why are you so disgusted? Did you step in crap?)
Anyhow, she’s been better but again she is still SOOO pushy with what she wants done and what she’s gonna do about what we’re gonna do. I don’t know, I don’t mind her as much anymore.
I think she’s got anxiety.
mylifeingames
35. Unstoppable Karen
I had to deal with an irate customer who had chewed her way through several staff members. We're a traveling sports photography business and she was pissed about something, but not communicating just attacking.
The nice thing is, I'm the owner. I let her chew and chew and chew on me until she was done. Then I got to tell her "I hear you, and if you had approached me in a reasonable fashion and not attacked my staff - who are also my family and friends - I would have been happy to help you. But you pissed me off. So I'm done with you."
She left crying. I wasn't happy to make her cry, but I was happy to be rid of her.
Oh ... another ... a couple of years ago a dad purchased photos from us at the first weekend of a two-weekend event. My days during these are packed and long (often 20 hours or more). No downtime.
He was persistent and annoying (I was out photographing and a staff member kept running back and forth as he was trying to finagle something or other). Anyway, he places his order. Then there are a couple of days of downtime between weekends, during which I catch up on sleep and start processing orders.
By the 2nd weekend, just a couple of days later, I'm getting email after email and voicemail after voicemail from this guy's wife. "Where are our photos? Why aren't they here yet? ... You're a criminal! You're just stealing our money!"
The first chance I got, I connected to the internet, pulled up the payment processor issued a full refund, and canceled her order. Then emailed her to let her know that I had done so so that she could be sure she wasn't dealing with criminals. Oh boy did she have a fit about that!
Oh, another ... a mom was complaining and complaining about the photos. How there were none of her daughter or that they were terrible. She had kind of worked her way through some of my staff.
Again, I listened and let her go on until she was done, in doing so she revealed that she hadn't even actually looked at the photos. She didn't know what was there. I said, "Well maybe we should have a look?" ... "Yeah, I think so."
So I started going through them and pointing out all of the images of her daughter - "There she's passing, there she is again, there she's serving, there she's cheering ... just on and on." When she would complain about a photo being of another teammate, I would just ask "Well what is your daughter doing right then that we missed?" (The answer is ... nothing, she wasn't involved in that play).
By halfway through, she had brightened up and said, "I'm sorry - I really want to look at these. My daughter told me there were no photos of her. I don't know what she was thinking. I'll come back to order after the match."
Of course, none of that compares to the mom who we simply weren't able to photograph for (after having to fire four incompetent freelance photographers who had completely misrepresented their abilities and me working a 42-hour day to try to catch up and re-photograph everything they had screwed up).
I just couldn't get to her team and she had gotten a full refund ... "That's not good enough! I'm going to SCREW YOU IN TEXAS!! I'M GOING TO SCREW YOU IN TEXAS!!" I still haven't worked in Texas. Apparently, she really did screw me.
I've been doing this for 20+ years ... lots of stories!
Mostly the customers are great though.
[deleted]
36. The Money Card
Also just remembered the lady who demanded a money card for her extra bucks going out of date and for the gas she “wasted” going to our store when her script wasn’t ready. She got so mad she called our lead tech a witch and made her cry (and this girl is a no-nonsense, dgaf kind of girl so this was big).
I eventually just gave her a money card to appease her because I was a new shift bad with confrontation (I’ve since gotten over that and will just let people have their hissy fit without budging), and also to get her out of the store so our tech could calm down.
Every time I see her now, I am just straight to the point, have no pleasantries, and don’t budge on coupons. She’s also the type of Karen who swears she ALWAYS keeps receipts but the one time (every single time) she needs a refund.
I have another story for that too lmao.
Trick-Set8964
37. Empty Can
We had a lady turn in film to be developed and it eventually came back with nothing really on it (the type of film that they can’t process or it had bad exposure or something, idk you know the type where they send nothing but like five of the same green hazy pictures).
I’m not sure where the mix-up is, but she swore up and down she was waiting for months for the pictures to develop. We didn’t have them and obviously had no way to track them because she had the slip from the envelope, and of course, she blamed it all on us.
It’s not enough that she’s calling all the time, sending bad scores on MCC, demanding to talk to our SM, the whole Karen shebang. All of this because she doesn’t know what’s on the film but SWEARS it has photos of ppl she knew/loved that aren’t alive anymore
When we finally get them in, they’re those nothing really there photos. We call and tell her. At this point, she’s pissed. Swears it’s our fault, we messed up her pictures that had her loved ones on it, blah blah blah.
She had no loving clue about what was in this film. We gave her Fuji Films support number, the 1-800 number, she talked to my SM. All of them say the same thing: we can’t make pictures appear when they’re not there/don’t exist.
But it’s all our fault. She lost precious memories because of us (of course). She hasn’t come in since but she left us a bad review on Google for it. I have plenty but this is the most recent.
Trick-Set8964
38. Trust Issues
I've collected a handful of stories in my handful of months at the store, but this one has to be the favorite so far.
A lady comes in to pick up a photo order. Our machines have been down for three days at this point. She claims she got an email, which I know they're sent out in error sometimes because the system does not recognize that our machine is broken.
I asked to see the email and noticed the address where it was printed is not the store I work for. My city has quite a few stores and sometimes people send them to another store in error (because of this, all stores refer to who they are by street name/community location).
I explained to her that this was not the store her photos were at. The store her photos were at was a store about three turns and six minutes away, and this location was (street name). She doesn't believe me. She keeps saying this is the store her photos were at and the address on the email was the address of my store.
She looks at me and says, "I've lived in this city for 15 years and this has always been (other location name)."
I tried so hard not to smirk under my mask and replied, "I've lived in this city for 3 years and this has always been (my location name)."
She still doesn't believe me, tries to argue some more, and I pointed at a bowling alley across the street that had the street's name printed on the side of it in giant letters before saying, "This is (my location name), not (other location)."
She goes red in the face, yells that she's going to report me to corporate, and hauls her tail out the door. She just didn't want to admit that she was wrong, and I got a good laugh out of it afterward.
Super-Tired-Visor
39. Ending Toxic Behavior
Some backstory; working at a store with connection issues to both cellular and WiFi; I mean the store is an absolute deadzone.
So naturally, that brings its own set of issues and problems that are somehow relayed on top the store; despite it being a town issue; and nobody wants to go to the local government to do anything about it. So I get to deal with all the crap. Yippy.
Because of this, I don't bother installing apps like GoodRx, Singlecare, etc. Also, I don't take medications except when absolutely needed, so I don't really even have a personal reason to install them.
This one day, a few months back, I'm working on production. It's a 3 team crew. Two techs and the Rph. This woman, mid-forties, a regular, drops off some script for some expensive medication; Xarelto, Eliquis, Brylinta, can't remember. Just remember that the manufacturer offers a discount card you can sign up for that runs tandem with the primary insurance.
So, she comes back later that day and I try explaining this to her:
"Hey, did you know that the manufacturer offers a discount card online that I can use in tandem with your insurance to knock off a few more bucks?"
"No, so what's the price then?"
"I don't know, you'll have to get me the card. But currently, through your insurance, it's [insert triple digit copay here]."
She didn't like that. Apparently, I was supposed to get her the coupon, despite the lack of service. Also, they need personal information for the coupon, information I likely cannot provide. Plus it's also fraud to apply as someone else. So there's that.
She blows up, in the drive-thru. Going off about "Why even bother telling me if you're not gonna do it for me?".
I tell her to bring the prescription back within 2 weeks and I'll gladly rebill and refund. Nope, that wasn't acceptable. I tell her I can hold on to these while she gets a coupon, no that's too inconvenient for her. I tell her I can hold these medications up to 2 weeks for her to get the card and come back. Nope, she needs them now.
This goes on for 5 maybe 10 minutes before I start to lose my patience. A line is forming behind her, about 4-5 cars deep. I tried telling her to come inside, but it's not happening, she wants me to get the coupon price right now and she starts refusing to move. It's just a pissing match at this point, something obviously pissed her off and she's power-tripping hard off "The customers are always right".
Eventually, I snap; "So, do you want this medication or not?", Disregarding whatever unintelligent crap that was coming out of her mouth.
"Yes, But I want you-", she starts off;
Whatever, I had enough, your card is saved on file, and you just consented to wanting the medication. Deal with it. I charge the card on file, it goes through. Triple-digit receipt prints; that's going straight to the blue trash.
"Alright, then you'll have to get me the card and we'll see you within the next two weeks for a rebill and refund once you bring that to us. Until then, your medication is in the drop box; thank you, and have a good one." As I slammed the phone.
She's come back since. But I've not had the pleasure of seeing her.
Pretty sure she's the same lady who blew up on our front-end cashier who's 17 years old; went on some drunken rant about how she's the reason Trump was elected 4 years ago....
That's right, a then 13yr old, that can't even participate in voting for prom King/Queen is the whole reason that administration won
MyBigGaeAcct
40. Unnecessary Complaint
We had a complaint about how our drive-thru line blocks people from getting to the plaza next door, and how we should fix our lanes so people can travel easier.
My boss straight up told her that the four corners of our parking lot belong to CVS and we aren’t inconveniencing our customers to make traveling easier for those who don’t come here
Trick-Set8964
41. Twist of Events
Nobody warned me about this one. Probably fairly tame, but here we go.
I'm just a cashier right now, and there's an older gentleman who gets his meds through the drive-thru. Apparently, he also gets OTC stuff, so his daughter calls and asks if we have these two items in stock. (Let's say they were B3 and Niacin, but they were not).
I get the first one written down but don't understand what she's asking for with the second one. Keep in mind, I have never worked with medications outside of picking things up OTC for when my mom needed stuff during her fight with cancer. Plus, she calls the front store and not the pharmacy.
I go ask the pharm tech who also pulls the pharmacist because I don't freaking know what I'm looking for. The woman is on hold and I have people lining up at the register. (Because someone seems to keep ignoring me, WE DO NOT HAVE SELF CHECKOUT.) My manager is in a meeting and my coworker is on lunch, so I am alone.
I quickly ring out the line (three people but only one or two items each) and pick the phone back up. I informed the woman that we only had one of the two items, and she asked if we had two of the one in stock. I tell her we only have one.
She gets snippy with me and just asks me to give them to the drive-thru for "Jericho" (fake name) because he'll be picking them up with his meds. I say sure but ask her to call the pharmacy next time as they'll be better equipped to answer her questions and get the drive-thru handled, as I don't interact with the drive-thru at all.
She yells at me "Well can you just do it!?" And I say yes I will, but reiterate it will be much easier and quicker for her next time to call the pharmacy. She gets mad and says "Fine whatever" and hangs up on me. I, of course, have never encountered this problem before and nothing in training has ever mentioned a scenario like this.
I talk to the pharm tech about it as I hand her the niacin and she goes "Jericho, got it. Yeah, his daughter calls to ask us to have it with his stuff because he slurs really badly and it's difficult to understand him."
I mentioned what I said to her & she said "I mean that would make it easier, but if she calls again just go ahead and grab it and hand it to us, we'll know. She really should just come in and buy it herself but what can you do."
Maybe I was in the wrong idk but that interaction didn't sit well with me for a while.
riptide-longing
42. Karens of Everyday
I used to work at a theme park in the UK in a fast food area, and, twice a year, the day after the derby at a nearby racecourse, we used to get hoards of a certain type of people visiting to cause trouble, so much so that the theme park used to ban alcohol sales and introducing x-ray scanners on those days only.
These days brought the most absolute Karens I've ever met. I spent most of my time at either a Ben and Jerry's ice cream hut or working in another hut that made giant (like 2 feet across) pancakes. My favorite lines were:
"This pancake was too big for my child to eat. I want a refund for the half he didn't eat."
"That queue was too long. My meal should be free for the inconvenience"
"My daughter is diabetic so you need to give her the ice cream for free."
And of course, the people who wanted to try a tiny scoop of every single flavor of ice cream. But the absolute most Karen move was when I refused to take her coupon for a free tub of Ben and Jerry's from a supermarket chain as payment for a cup of ice cream at a hut in a theme park which was in no way affiliated with the supermarket chain.
The moment I turned my back to rinse off the ice cream scoop, she tried boosting her child over the glass ice cream display to try and grab the ice cream cup I had made for them. Security was called and she screamed that they were abusing her the whole time as they escorted her out of the park.
WanderCold
43. The Delivery Guy
Worked at a diner for a few years as a delivery driver. Answering calls to take orders was the worst. The amount of dumb craps who don't understand what a delivery range means is incredible.
"My address is (x), I'd like to order #5 for delivery."
"I'm sorry ma'am, your address is outside of our delivery range."
"So you just aren't going to deliver to me? You don't want my money? Freaking idiot."
They also don't seem to have the mental capacity to understand that they've just given their home address to someone whose name they don't know, then got really mad & started yelling at them for no reason at all.
Hopefully, they had a nice evening cleaning eggs off of their car & patio, a week later.
Radical5
44. The Neighbor
Ha, I was working the express lane at a very busy grocery store. I was a very quick cashier and the line was moving. I had to stop to change the receipt paper. The old guy at the front of the line starts complaining loudly about "the line being held up".
He didn't recognize me--I was a teenager at the time, but we'd been neighbors my entire life, as a kid, I'd played with his grandkids when they were over.
It literally took a second to change out the paper, and I had his order rung up while he was turned around still complaining with the person behind him. So then HE was the one holding up the line.
Made him look like the jerk.
mmm_unprocessed_fish
45. Temperature Enthusiast
I have one from many years ago at the Golden Arches:
“These fries are cold”
Okay, I’ll get you some fresh ones.
“These ones are too hot”
So I took them away, put them down for a minute or so then gave them back to her.
“Perfect, thank you”
She could have left them on her tray for a minute herself, but apparently, that was too difficult.
bryansb