If you’ve ever shopped at Ikea , you know it can be an overwhelming experience. Just navigating through this huge store can be a challenge. And then you need to know the rule of shopping there like where you pick up flatbed furniture pieces etc.
So it’s no wonder some shoppers may end up throwing a fit or exhibiting odd behavior. The following are just a few examples Ikea employees witnessed, and some of them might surprise you.
This ‘Lovely’ Customer
“Dude didn’t have a receipt to return a used duvet and for told no. He threw a fit. Security came and he wouldn’t move. Cops came and he finally did. Bud came right back in and laid on the floor screaming, refusing to leave without his money. Bigger cop comes in, not taking any of this guy’s s*** and handcuffs him.
His screaming intensifies to a loud shriek and he’s finally escorted out. This whole ordeal lasts about half-hour.”
OMG!
This Complainer
“An older gentleman in our baths department ranting about how ‘cheap’ the furniture is, banging on things, etc. Tried to slam a drawer but it soft closed on him. Oops, your tantrum was foiled by quality furniture.”
Ha, ha, serves him right!
This Black Friday Mess
“Two words: Black Friday. It was 9:55, we open at 10. We were almost done, all that we had left to do was put out some children’s kitchen set. What we didn’t realize was that it was 50% off. I only had two pallets left to put out when the store opens and the horde came.
They were crazy. Sprinting, pushing, and shoving. They fought to get to these kitchens and when they noticed my pallets, they tore them open and took them.”
This is bonkers, no?
This Nasty Incident
“I work in the bistro area and I once had a customer scream and threaten a coworker when he was told he couldn’t get a cup of water. We only have one cup in the bistro, it cost one dollar and is counted as inventory so we can’t give them out for free. When my coworker told the guy this he flipped out said Ikea is pure [expletive] and we are operating illegally by not providing him water (we aren’t there’s a water fountain to the right).”
Oh wow, come down!
This Hungry Dude
“I work in Ikea food. I had one guy claim that he was a ‘big guy’ and wanted me to put extra food on his plate after I made the plate. I explained that I can’t as we have to stick to portion size and that he could add a side plate for 1.99. He then yelled that we are all cheapskates, stormed off to his family, brought all the plates of food that we made for them, and told us that he is going to bring his family somewhere good.”
Complaining about the price of Ikea food — really scraping the bottom there.
This Ladies’ Fight
“I used to work at Ikea and have so many stories from there. I think a memorable one wasn’t a family fighting, but it was two women fighting over my service. I was helping one customer and it was a super busy weekend, so I’m sure all the employees were pretty busy. As I was helping her, another woman came up and interrupted us. They started arguing and one of them called the other woman a cow.”
Haha!
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This Impatient Customer
“A guy came in and wanted something that we only had ‘in the air’ so it would require a forklift to get the product down, which we don’t do with people in the store for fairly obvious safety reasons. I told him we could get it down right after the store closed for him but that was not an acceptable answer. He proceeded to lose his [expletive] on me demanding I bring out a forklift and take it down now.”
Some people have no patience, huh?
This Unbelievable Incident
“Not a meltdown, but I saw a mother let her child take a [poop] in the display toilet in one of the display washrooms.”
OMG, what? I guess the kid wasn’t able to make it to the real bathroom since Ikea is literally a maze. But still, I would never let my kid do that. That’s not cool, huh?
This Absolute Rage
“My best one might be the gentleman who demanded to speak to Ingvar Kamprad about his waiting time at the collection point. When I stupidly offered the department manager he said he’d settle for someone Swedish. Unfortunately, we couldn’t help him. He took his things and left screaming that he’d write to Sweden. I’ve not heard anything back yet.”
Oh, good luck with that one.
This Doggy Situation
“I was working as the greeter one day as a family of three walked in. As they’re walking through the door the family (what I assumed was mother father and daughter ) was mid-conversation. I hear the daughter say, ‘What are they going to do, kick me out?’. So now I’m instantly curious. I give her a quick check and realize she has a chihuahua in her purse.
“I stroll up to them and say ‘Welcome to Ikea but I’m sorry the dog cannot come inside’ then we go through the whole, why not, because, why not, because we serve food scenario. The daughter then starts losing her shit. ‘It’s ninety degrees outside and I don’t have water.’ So I tell her she can wait outside while someone goes into the marketplace and buys a dog bowl and water and brings it out to her. She literally starts screaming.”
Yikes!
This Return Fail
“I’ve had someone try to return an entire used kitchen that was for his mom’s house, and the mother passed away. The guy was screaming at my manager.”
Oh, I don’t envy any managers at a retail store, period. That must be such a hard job, no?
This Couple
“Had a couple get into an argument about the size of the furniture and whether it fit into their car, by the end it escalated to who has the louder voice.”
Okay, guys, please don’t be that couple. You know what I’m talking about, huh? The couple everybody stares at when they have a public meltdown.
And This Couple
“As my wife and I were finishing up and walking to the registers, the couple in front of us was somewhat quietly arguing about something in their cart. Finally, it came to a head when the female in front of us said something along the lines of, ‘I just don’t understand why we aren’t getting the lamp.’ And at that point, her partner lost it. He turned to her and quite loudly yelled, ‘I WILL SNAP YOUR NECK.’ They didn’t get the lamp.”
I guess the lamp lost out, huh?
This Family Mess
“I worked at Ikea for two years in Smaland, which is the free child care IKEA provides for shoppers. The worst part of the job was turning away families because their children were not potty-trained or met the height requirement. Some families were understanding, most were not. I’ll never forget, one family was making a huge screaming fuss because I was not allowing their two-year-old to enter because she was under the height requirement.”
What’s worse the kid or parent tantrums?
This Queue Issue
“A man in his late 20s and his fiancée in her late 20s show up in the returns area. It was a Peak Day at Ikea (super busy), wait times of 45 minutes or more in the returns department. We had giant signs notifying customers to take a number, and you would be called when the next coworker is available. Well, this couple was sitting there for approximately 30 minutes when the lady just screams “Are you [expletive] kidding me? I needed to grab a number?” Somehow she missed the signs, or the fact for 30 minutes we had been calling people up via a number queueing system (similar to the DMV).
I walked up to her and politely explained the queueing system and let her know that we’ll take care of her after the person who arrived just before her, even though she forgot to grab a number. My mistake was using the word ‘forgot. She just unloaded on me at that point. Screaming at the top of her lungs, kicking over our queueing ticket machine, and just being crazy. All this over what amounted to a $20 return.”
Wow, I’m speechless now.
This Not “As-Is” Situation
“We have an ‘As-Is’ section, which is full scratch and dent or discontinued items we sell at a discount. This lady walks up to my cash lane with two plants and before I even get to scan them, she says ‘those are both $4’. Thinking that’s a bit suspicious, I pick them both up. One is clearly marked as an As-Is item, the other has the standard barcode. I try to explain to her that only one of them is $4, the other will be full price.
Her face immediately turned red, and she demands I call back to As-Is. I call down there, they come up and confirm that it’s not their product, so she wants a manager. Call a manager and as soon as she gets there, this woman starts berating her.”
That’s just not right.
This Cookie Mishap
“One time a lady came up to me freaking out that Ikea had discontinued her favorite cookie. I had to call the manager, and she just yelled at him that her therapy dog had just died and she NEEDED that cookie.”
Aww, now I feel sad. I would have given the lady a free cookie just to make her happy. But she probably wouldn’t like that anyway, huh?
This Mother-Daughter Fight
“I basically ended up wandering through the shop behind a mother and daughter. The mother was probably about 80 and the daughter about 50. They were bickering with each other the entire time and in the worst possible place (the section with the stacks of wine glasses in the aisle), the mother said something and walked off… and the daughter grabbed her by the hair and dragged her backward. They both fell into the big display of wine glasses and [smashed it]. Didn’t seem like they got cut up but I moved out of there quickly as they were still fighting so didn’t see the end result!”
Oh my goodness!
Who knew there was so much rage in people when shopping at Ikea?
I always thought folks that went there thought of it as their “happy place.” I guess I was wrong, ha, ha. Let’s hope for the employees’ sake, people calm the heck down, huh? Have you ever witnessed a meltdown at Ikea?
