Food workers are used to dealing with unusual demands, but they don't mind as long the customer is nice and polite. It's when customers get rude that they start to become a problem. These demanding, demeaning, downright obnoxious customers were so terrible that they made these food workers' list of worst customers ever.
She Had To Convince That Lady She Wasn’t Trying To “Scam” Her
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“I used to be a cashier in a theme park. Prices were quite high, but then again, you’re at a theme park. A woman and her four children come into my line with $80 worth of theme park food. When I announced the total, she accused me of lying about the prices and said I must be trying to scam her. She demanded I void her order and ring up each person separately so I couldn’t ‘scam’ her.
I did so, and, again, was accused of trying to scam her. So I rotated my register to her field of view and showed her, line by line, how much everything cost. At this point, she dropped all the food on the floor in front of my register, told me to deal with the mess as it was my problem now, and walked out.”
He Did Everything As Obnoxiously As Possible
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“I worked in a dodgy Chinese restaurant when I was a teenager. There was this one sleazy regular I really couldn’t stand.
In the space of four years, he: pinched my butt, slapped my butt, threw rubbish at me to get my attention, never tipped, spat out half-chewed meat onto the tablecloth, ‘accidentally’ spilled Coke down my front and tripped me over a few times as a ‘joke.’
I still think to this day that if I saw him in the street, I’d ‘accidentally’ fall over and push him into oncoming traffic. He was such a prick.”
What Else Could He Have Done To Prevent This?
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“My first job was a bag-boy at a grocery store. Part of the job is shagging carts people leave in the parking lot. We were always told to look around and help people if they are putting groceries in their car. One day, I saw a person leaning into their front seat, clearly agitated, so I strode over to see if I could help. A bit too late, I realized this person was elbow deep into stealing the car. I was halfway into my, ‘Can I help you crap,’ when the dude jumped up and pulled a knife on me and started to come at me. I ran back into the store and told the manager and he made a PA call for the car owner, who soon joined us at the front of the store.
Another manager and I headed back to the door just in time to see this idiot successfully get the car going and then slowly go the wrong way around the parking lot, which is pretty hilarious in retrospect. At the time, I was still shaking. The car owner came up to me and just laid into me, yelling about how I should have tried to stop him. I tried to explain, but my manager kept apologizing to the lady on my behalf. I know the customer is always right, but it really bothered me that I was trying to help, almost got stabbed, then got yelled at, then no one stood up for me. Pricks all around.”
She Was So Unpleasant, But Karma Got Her In The End
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“I’m a cashier at a supermarket and was checking out a lady. M = Me, CW = Co-Worker, and L = Lady.
Lady was putting her stuff onto the belt.
M: ‘Hi, how are you?’
Lady just stared at me and stormed off.
M: ‘Uhh, okay then,’ to my CW on the register next to me.
Lady came back 30 seconds later and slammed a 24 pack of water onto the belt.
L: ‘I’m not paying full price for this!’
M: ‘Do you have a store card?’
L: Now yelling and looking through her purse, ‘No, just put one in, I don’t have time for this!’
M: ‘Miss, I can’t put one in for you, you would have to get your-‘
L: ‘This is effing ridiculous, I’m late for work and I need to get out of here.’
CW: ‘You’d need to get your own store card, we aren’t allowed to give out one.’
Lady stared at my Co-Worker and started mumbling random stuff.
M: ‘So, do you want to get the water, you’d need to get three for the sale price anyway…’
L: ‘No, whatever, I need to get out of here.’
She paid and stormed off once again. Not even a minute passed by and she was back.
L: To my Co-Worker and I, ‘Do you have a problem?’
CW: ‘Miss, no one talks to me like that.’
L: ‘I highly doubt that.’ Then proceeds to chuckle to herself. ‘Did I leave my bananas here?’
M: ‘Nope.’
She stormed off yet again. Finally, the rudest customer I’d ever dealt with was gone.
Nope. Five minutes later, she’s back. She started talking to my Co-Worker, Manager, and Cart Guy as I’m checking out other customers. Someone stole her phone while she came back into the store asking if, ‘We had a problem.’ She just left it in an empty cart. She spent the next TWO hours in the store, walking around trying to find her phone. No luck. Karma played out right in front of me. This lady treated us like we were pieces of dirt, and next thing we know someone stole her phone. So much for being in a rush.”
She Was Too Important To Wait Her Turn
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“I work the morning shift (4 am – 12 pm) at a coffee shop inside an airport. The crappiest customers are the ones that (especially during peak hours) come in literally five minutes or less before their flight takes off and DEMAND that their drink be made that instant. Then, they get mad when I tell them I can’t because drinks are made in the order they are placed.
But the one bimbo in particular that pushed all my buttons, one day, was this lady that came in annoying my other customers and just being rude overall. Her massive butt cut in front of this nice, old lady without even giving her a glance. Then, when I (very nicely) told her the old lady was next because she had been in line, the bimbo just raised her eyebrow and told me, very unapologetically might I add, ‘There are two cashiers, no?’ Verbatim. We had three other customers in line before she came in. Yes ma’am, we had two registers open specifically so you could cut in line.
Anyway, I rang her up as fast as I could to get her unpleasant face out of my store and then she scanned her store app (to pay). It charged her, but she still owed $2.54. A mere $2.54! and, judging by her brand new iPhone 6, she could afford to pay. I let her know the amount she still owed and this lady went nuts. She screamed, verbatim, ‘BULL! I HAVE A FREE DRINK!!’ Sleep deprived as I was (oh yeah, forgot to mention, this was around finals), I tried to keep my cool and very calmly told her that since we are a licensee store and not a corporate store, we could not take the rewards. She screamed again, ‘WELL I DON’T KNOW HOW, BUT YOU BETTER EFFING FIX THIS!’
Thankfully, my manager came in from the back of the store, told me to step down and work the line down (the hussy had decided to make a scene during peak hours). My manager resolved the issue (but not after some really tense exchange of words) and the lady just stormed off, almost knocking down our display on her way out.
People, just because we are service workers, that does not mean you can treat us like doormats. We are single mothers with two jobs trying to provide for their children, or (like myself) students saving up for college, and even if we weren’t, we are still human beings worthy of being treated with respect.”
All He Had To Do To Fix Her “Problem” Was Change The Packaging
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“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 heck 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. 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. I’m pretty sure that’s the moment she had the realization of what a cheeseburger without cheese is. She just walked away without thanking me or anything. Also, I sent the girl home since she was crying.”
She Was Furious About The Cursive Font, But Hadn’t Thought Things Through
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“In college, I worked for a floral shop that shared a space with a bakery. We had the space for both businesses to operate and it naturally was a good partnership. This story takes place near the end of my senior year. I was six weeks shy of graduating with two degrees. Although I cared about the stores and wanted them to do well, my nonsense-tolerance had dropped significantly. One day, a woman came to me for balloons for her son’s 2nd birthday party. She had already picked up her cake.
Woman (grumpily tossing her balloon choices at me): ‘Ugh, I can’t believe the bakery.’
Me: ‘Oh, is there something wrong?’
Woman: ‘Yes! LOOK at this cake!’
She opens the box. It’s a nice looking cake, decorated with icing and trains. A scrolling script says: ‘Happy 2nd Birthday Jackson!’
Me: ‘…’
Woman: ‘DON’T YOU SEE IT?!’
Me: ‘I think it’s a lovely ca-‘
Woman: ‘IT’S IN CURSIVE! WHY THE EFF WOULD THEY PUT IT IN CURSIVE? HE’S TWO!’
Me: ‘Oh…well, it’ll take me a couple minutes to fill these balloons. I bet you could take it back, and they could scrape off the old lettering, re-frost the blank space, and rewrite it for you.’
Woman (clearly hasn’t heard a word I said): ‘I CAN’T BELIEVE SOMEONE IS SO STUPID TO THINK THIS IS OKAY!’
Me (yelling above her): ‘CAN YOUR SON EVEN READ?!’
She immediately fell silent, blushed a deep purple, and was silent while I filled her balloons. She paid without a word.”
Her Love For Mayo Knew No Bounds
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“I worked at Publix. I was working the deli that day when a very obese lady in a mobile cart rode up into the sub line and asked for a sub. I got the bread ready and asked her if she wanted mayo on it. She told me to put extra mayo on the bread. After that, I got the meats she wanted and as I put them on the bread, she told me to put more mayo on the meat, which I did. I put the cheese on the meat and she asked for more mayo on the cheese. After I put all the veggies on her sub, she asked me if we sell our mayo. I told her I would have to ask, to which she responded by saying that she likes to spread mayo on after each bite. I accidentally made a gag motion. She got super mad at me, grabbed her sub and left. The next day, I was working in the bakery, when the same lady came in. She saw me and asked if I worked in the bakery. After I told her yes, that this is where I was hired on to work. She told me that she thought only smart people worked in the bakery, but she guessed that idiots could work there, too. She asked for two donuts to which I replied, ‘Would you like some mayo on those?’ I haven’t seen her since, she probably had a heart attack from all the mayo in her bloodstream.”
Apparently, There’s Such A Thing As A Checkout That’s Too Fast
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“I was an overnight cashier at a big grocery store. One night, I quickly tried to check out a line of customers (that randomly occur overnight), as I waited for another cashier to come back from a break. An old man cursed me out in Spanish for having the nerve to check him out ‘too fast.’ He was furious, he said something like by rushing him out of that store, I was treating him like a dog. I smiled and let him know my manager was on her way up if he had any complaints.”
It Was His Mistake, But She Threw A Fit While He Tried To Fix It
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“I accidentally charged someone full price when they had a coupon. It was a really easy fix, but I had to swipe their card to put the difference back on the card. The lady started yelling, asking why she needed to swipe her card again and how she was not going to paying any more. I finally got her to understand that money was going back on the card, but then she threw a fit when I asked her to sign the return receipt. She filed a complaint that I had made her feel stupid and she would never be coming back.”
Why Would She Think That Would Work?
“A few years ago, I worked at a combined pretzel and cookie place. Not the one that rhymes with pretzel or the one named after an aunt, but a much better place. Anyway, it was summertime and we weren’t too busy, so I was doing what I can to look busy for the cameras when a woman walks up with her infant son in tow. I jumped on the register and she ordered some pretzel bites and went on her merry way.
Or so I thought.
She took a seat with her son, and then a few minutes later, I looked up to see her standing at the register, cup of bites in hand. I ask if I could help her and she proceeded to say, ‘My son can’t eat these. I want a refund.’
Her son was about 4 months old.”
Her Entitled Attitude Made Them Change Their Coffee Policy
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“I worked at a soup and sandwich cafe for three years while I was in undergrad. Good job, easy money. Anyway, we offered quick breakfast options- bagels, breakfast sandwiches, burritos, and a quick two egg breakfast with toast, hash browns or grits, etc. We offered a $1 small cup of coffee because Starbucks was two blocks down and my manager was like that. We broke even on the coffee, not really hoping to profit. Just trying to get people in the door and serve quick, good food. That kind of place.
A super-yoga soccer mom started coming in every morning to buy a coffee. She would bring in her own bagel and her own cream cheese. She would purchase the coffee and then ask us to toast her bagel and put her cream cheese on it for her- and expect us to run the food out to her like we did for every other paying customer. While she was purchasing her coffee, she would ask that we put on new gloves while preparing her food. Okay, fine. Not a big deal the first few times- because the owner (a working manager) was trying to keep his customers happy all of the time. However, this budding new cafe was starting to increase in business, exponentially. This Bagel lady started coming in every, single day. The boss grew a little tired of her request because after all, he isn’t seeing the benefit of selling her a $1 cup of coffee and having us prepare her food for her. She didn’t tip, either. However, because my boss always lived by ‘The customer is always right’ method, he did this.
She came in on a Saturday morning once- thinking she got special treatment because she was a regular customer, she decided she would skip the line and put her bagel on the counter near the register. She waited in line, purchased her $1 coffee and noticed her bagel was right where she left it, untouched.
‘Excuse me, I expected this to be toasted and ready when I purchased my coffee. I come in all of the time, you should know me by now. I am one of your most frequent customers.’
‘Yes ma’am. I apologize, I did not see it. Here is your coffee and I will bring it out to you in a moment.’
‘I just don’t understand you people sometimes- so incompetent and rude to your customers. This is the kind of behavior that leads to disease and sickness in restaurants.’
I didn’t realize my boss was standing over my shoulder during this encounter. He sort of pushed me out of the way, grabbed her bagel (ungloved hands) took a bite, went to hand it to her, dropped it instead, and asked her to leave around a mouthful of bagel. He went to his office and closed his door, still chewing the bagel. He came out and said, ‘Coffee is now $2.’
Problem solved.”
She Called In Late, But Still Whined When She Didn’t Get Her Way
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“There have been plenty of rude people, which I can handle just fine. But there was one woman in particular who was just offensive for the sake of being a prick. I work in a grocery store bakery.
She wanted a cake out of the case and called in so I could pick one out for her and set it aside. She picked her size, flavor, and icing type. The only cake we had that fit her requirements had a rainbow on it. The decorators will do whatever they want for the cake, which is why we tell customers to place orders ahead of time, duh. When I describe what it looks like, she said she didn’t want it because it’s a ‘gay cake.’ Should have hung up on her right then and there, but for some reason I was too caught off guard to stop her from speaking. I explained that we needed to know a little further in advance so we could actually make something specific for her. She wasn’t having it. She ended our phone conversation with, ‘Here’s a tip; stop making so many gay cakes.'”
The Manager Kept Her Cool, Even Though The Lady Was Totally Out Of Line
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“When I worked at Publix, I was in the deli, as a fry cook. It was closing time and I’d already sprayed down everything and was getting ready to do the floors. We usually started closing down at 9 so we could be out as soon as possible, so this all happened around 9:45 or so. A rather large woman rolled up in her motorized cart, asking for two pounds of tenders. The guy helping her stated that the fryers were closed for the night, which made her lose her mind. She was demanding to talk to the manager. Our manager happened to be there, as it was case night (the night we take out all the items from the display case and give the case a good clean). The manager asked what the issue was and the woman explained it, being very rude the whole time. My manager kept her composure and told the woman that they weren’t about to set things up again just for her. The lady got mad and tried to speed off in her little cart. Those things don’t go very fast and it was just funny seeing someone mad trying to drive off with it.”
People Need To Learn To Respect The Express Lane
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“I was working the express lane for the first time ever at my first job. I was scanning the items on my belt for this woman but she had to find something else (DON’T DO THIS AT EXPRESS) and I said okay. She had a basket full of stuff that she left behind to continue her shopping, but I only scanned the items on the belt. I was used to working the bigger lanes and some people have yelled at me for putting their items in the wrong order or whatever. She came back and berated me for being lazy.
Then she plopped down 20 cans cat foods. THIS IS EXPRESS, 15 ITEMS OR LESS. I didn’t say anything, but we have to ring everything up individually. Unfortunately, we couldn’t just type in how many items a person had if they had multiple of the same item. When I started ringing up the cans, she asked, ‘Didn’t anyone show you how to put it in all at once?’ I told her no. I rang the rest up by scanning one can ten times. She scowled and says that’s not what she meant and told me that someone really should show me. Her tone was just really rude.
I hope she comes back one day so I can either deny her at the express lane or tell her can’t type in the quantities (we can now) and go really slowly.
At the register right next to me, a dude had cough medicine and when the cashier rang it up, she asked for his date of birth because we’re not legally allowed to sell it without asking; unless they look 20 or younger, we don’t have to card them. He looked to be about 50, but we still have to put their birthday or whatever they say in the system. He told her to put in her birthday. She said she’s not allowed to do so. He started a whole tantrum about how it’s offensive and he refused to do so, started screaming and everything.
He didn’t get his cough syrup.
I’ve had someone try to do that with me for smokes. She told me to put in my birthday, even though she was clearly old enough. I looked at her and said, ‘Ma’am I don’t think you’d like that – I’m not old enough.'”
If He’d Let The Guy Do As He Pleased, The Store Would Be Fined
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“So I used to help out my uncle at his shop on weekends. My main job (other than helping customers inside) was to dispose of all the boxes after we had emptied them of stock. Now, because this was a massive market, some other nearby shop owners used to ask to use our bins to chuck out their cardboard. We were fine with it as long as it was only cardboard because if anything else was in there, we would be fined for it.
So I was busy in the back disposing of the boxes when this guy came along with five boxes just filled with his home rubbish bags and he started throwing them into the bin. I told the guy that he couldn’t do that, to which he responded, ‘It’s a public bin, I’m allowed to throw what I want!’
Not only does this market not count as public property, but those bins don’t even count as market property as our shop rented them. Anyway, as he continued throwing the boxes in, I climbed up into the bin (don’t worry it’s clean, it’s full of cardboard only) and threw those boxes back out. He just stared at me and walked away.
Now because my uncle owned this shop, I could get away with being a little rude to customers, but I was in no way looking to start an argument. The idiot came back 30 minutes later and entered the shop. As soon as he saw me, he just started shouting at me about how he was going to sue me and that I was someone who’d been stealing from him. Everyone in the shop had their eyes glued on this guy losing his mind right in my face. I wasn’t going to put up with this crap, so I told the prick to lick my nether regions and to go away. The manager got involved to help me and pushed the piece of crap out of the store. He went to the market owners to complain, but they told him to go away, too.
I’ve seen the guy around the market, but he never enters the store.”
The Pumpkin Patch Isn’t Always A Happy Place
“I worked at a Christmas tree and pumpkin patch, where in the winter you could go buy a tree and in the fall, a pumpkin. Anyway, it was easy work for both seasons. I have two separate occasions in both seasons where I was introduced to how terrible people are.
In the fall, I was put to dealing with the cash register. It was simple, you pay for pumpkins. Well, someone thought that breaking a pumpkin would get them a discount. Like, she legit broke it in front of us, took it to the register, and said, ‘It’s broken, can I get it for free?’ We said no, so she asked for a lower price. We still said no, so she gave us a glare and just sorta left. So now we had a broken pumpkin and she ran off before we could stop her. The manager was at the other end of the farm.
In the winter, I got a rather boring job of an elf where I would take money to take pictures of kids on Santa’s lap. It was like $5 for a single and $10 for a family. Anyway, these parents paid their five bucks and then put the kid on Santa’s lap. Like usual, the kid would start crying. The parents would then go, ‘Hold up, he’s crying. Why didn’t you take the picture before he cried?’ Like, they would be yelling at me for the kid crying when we did nothing to cause the kid to cry.”