We asked people to share the dumbest things a customer has ever said or asked them. After going through hundreds of their stories, all I can say is y’all deserve a serious pay bump, some free therapy, and maybe even a medal.
Here are 15 of the wildest ones they shared:
1. “A customer once wanted a refund for incense she’d purchased as well as reimbursement for the curtain she burned because we didn’t specifically tell her not to lean a burning incense stick against fabric.” — Anonymous
I guess she thought the incense was “extra flammable” on the side!
2. “I was 18 and working at a fast food chain that sold large teas for $1. I had a lady come through the drive-thru and order two large sweet teas — one with extra ice and one with no ice.” — Anonymous
By the time she reached the window, he had her drinks ready. She paid, and he handed her the first one. She took it, paused for a moment, then immediately got angry.
She yelled that she’d asked for extra ice and accused him of messing up the order. He tried to explain that the other drink, with the extra ice, was still in his hand, but she just stared at him like he was an idiot and demanded both drinks be remade.
Instead of arguing, he stepped out of sight, waited a moment, then returned with the same drinks in reversed hands, which apparently calmed her down. I mean, some customers just love to stir the pot (or ice)!
3. “A customer walked into the coffee shop I worked at and asked if they could sprinkle some of their deceased loved one’s ashes onto their latte.” — Anonymous
She politely declined and explained that it was against health regulations to serve food or beverages with human remains in them.
I mean, that’s one way to “spice up” a coffee, but nope!
4. “Years ago, I was working at Lancôme. I had a customer come in and, after a brief consultation, she purchased a night cream. The next day, she came in to return it. I asked the reason for the return (for example: allergies, skin sensitivity, etc). She said it didn’t taste good.” — fabtree215
He was so puzzled that he stopped writing mid-return and just stared at her. A nearby colleague came over and asked, “Excuse me, what?” So the customer went on to explain her logic: that anything tasting bad shouldn’t go on your skin because it’s unsafe.
There you go, the true skincare test — if it doesn’t pair well with a side of fries, it’s clearly unsafe!
5. “I worked at Burger King for only a few days in high school. I had a woman come through the drive-thru and ask for a plain cheeseburger. So, I put the order in as a cheeseburger with no toppings. She came back through several times, demanding we give her a plain cheeseburger.” — cimmyr
Which they did — a cheeseburger with no toppings is what they gave her. But then she started getting really frustrated, so they asked her what exactly she meant by a “plain cheeseburger.” Apparently, for her, it meant everything except the burger patty and cheese.
Well, “plain” really does mean different things to different people!
6. “I had a woman last week who placed two orders and got mad that…she placed two orders. I didn’t want to deal with it, so I asked my supervisor if we could refund her, and she said yes.” — allicatstrike
He told the customer he’d go ahead and do the refund and that she could just donate the second order. She said, “No, I don’t have the money for that!”
Thinking he’d somehow been unclear, he repeated that he was issuing the refund. But the woman insisted again, “No, I want my money back!”
Confused, he explained that was exactly what a refund meant. But then the customer accused them of being rude and snarky and demanded to speak to the supervisor.
I mean…
7. “I worked at a watch shop, and a customer came in demanding a refund because the watch she bought was defective. It was a standard watch.” — originaltruck773
It turns out she mixed up the minute hand and hour hand and has been reading the time wrong. The worst part is that she didn’t believe him and insisted the product was defective.
Why learn to tell time when you can just blame the watch?
8. “Once I had a lady buy five bags of paper rolls for coins that held about a dozen of each denomination. After she bought these for $1 a piece, she just stood there.” — Anonymous
He asked her what she was waiting on and she replied, ‘Just waiting for you to tell me where to take these for you to fill.’ He just looked at her dumbfounded and laughed.
Ma’am, if we gave away free money, this line would be much longer.
9. “I work at a pharmacy, and there was a phone outage in the area, and so our phones were down. A woman came in irate that she couldn’t reach us by telephone and demanded that we fix the outage. Not simply the store’s phone, but the entire outage.” — awfulzebra415
Ah, yes, let me just hop on the phone with the entire phone network and get that fixed for you real quick.
10. “I work for an HOA Management company. In the summer, we take reservations for various clubhouses and pools within the HOAs. I had a woman call and yell at me because she rented the pool over the weekend, and it rained.” — Anonymous
She insisted that she made that reservation well in advance and that rain shouldn’t have happened. Clearly, Mother Nature didn’t get the memo about her RSVP to the pool party!
11. “I had a lady on the phone yesterday tell me that she could no longer reply to an email we had sent her because she had forwarded it to someone else.” — skilletgirl81
She tried to explain, with no luck, that the original email would still be in her inbox unless she’d deleted it.
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Looks like that email’s gone for good — into the digital abyss after being forwarded. RIP, email!
12. “I worked at Five Guys. I’ve had people ask me for lots of things we don’t sell — pepperoni pizza, garlic Parmesan truffle fries, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, chicken tenders, and so on. But the weirdest request I got by far was from a very interesting lady.” — hamhamham4545
She asked if they could fill a large soda cup with chocolate syrup from the milkshake station, and they agreed. She then grabbed a cup of the free peanuts, dipped them in the syrup, and ate them — shells and all.
Nothing screams ‘gourmet snack’ like chocolate-covered peanuts with a side of confusion!
13. “I work at a hotel. A guest came late night/very early morning. They had just made a reservation online, and since it was after midnight, the reservation was technically for the next night. The guest asked, ‘Can I check in at 3 p.m. now?'” — arflurer87
If only checking in were as easy as asking for a time machine!
14. “I worked at a college with an open house event for over 1,000 future students. A mother called and asked if we could reschedule the 1,000-person event because her daughter had a cheer competition that day.” — Anonymous
Ah yes, rescheduling a 1,000-person event for one cheerleader. Priorities, right?
15. “I used to volunteer for NOAA at a particular state beach, where I would talk to visitors about animals and ocean conditions. One day, a woman asked me, in all seriousness, what time we fed the whales, because she wanted to be there to see it.” — sandrarobertsanderson
Oh, of course, it was the 12 p.m. whale feeding. Right after the dolphins’ brunch and before the seals’ afternoon snack!
