The old saying that “the customer is always right” was never meant to indicate that the customer is always literally right.
It means that, in a customer service setting, it’s important to try to reasonably accommodate the customer, even if their demands make you roll your eyes.
Sometimes, though, the customer is so unreasonable that it’s impossible to be reasonable towards them.
Here’s an entertaining Twitter thread on the topic.
Twitter user @isabelazawtun started things off by asking folks to share their best stories of an unusual demand made by a customer.
Many of us have worked customer service jobs, so the responses started to flow in.
He just had a hankering for pie.
I love unpacking this story. Like, there’s an argument to be made that the restaurant in question could have secured a new customer by just giving this guy a pie…but is he really a new customer if he isn’t paying?
That’s not how gas works.
I’d never thought of getting a refund for gas before because, y’know, gas is kind of inherently not refundable. But kudos to this guy for trying to return gas that was already in his tank.
Stop in the name of the law.
It’s upsetting to lose something, yes. It’s reasonable to ask staff if they could help you find it, I suppose. But in no jurisdiction is it illegal to close down at closing time.
Gotta be disappointed by ’em all.
I realize that Pokémon cards are a relatively new invention. Still though, didn’t these parents grow up with baseball cards? I thought it was well understood that the odds were random if you’re buying a pack of cards.
Mr. Worldwide.
One of the delightful things about food is how many different ways the same dish can be interpreted. The downside is that, if you’re travelling, you can’t find a dish that tastes the same was as your favorite restaurant makes it.
Group photo time.
I almost have trouble believing this one. Like, a photographer should know that birds do what they want. Did he expect them all to wear their Sunday best for the photo as well? I’d like to know how this story ended.
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“But I saw Jurassic Park!”
We can create incredibly accurate renderings of dinosaurs. We can bring them back to life, virtually speaking, with computer graphics. But one thing we can’t do, unfortunately, is go 65 million years back in time and snap a photo of them.
Non-smoking or non-sizzling section?
Seeing a sizzling hot plate of fajitas coming through the restaurant never fails to get me pumped up. I’ve never mistaken this sight for cigarette smoke, but I guess this lady had a few concerns.
Could you forge it, though?
I know it can be a big pain to submit various forms to the IRS, but it’s one of those things that has to be done sometimes. When all you have to do is sign, it’s best just to get it over with.
I want details.
Wait, how did this work? Did they come up to customer service, point at their stomach, and say they have a turkey to return? Did they just dump a pile of bones on the counter? I need answers.
That sounds like a fun task.
To be fair, while the employee would have been justifiably annoyed, this customer was probably cringing harder than she’d ever cringed before. If this was me, I’d just leave that $1,200 of decor on the counter and leave forever.
Don’t tease us, name those names.
They don’t specify what medium this artist works in. The only clues we have is that the artist has a wife who frequents a nice restaurant in New Haven. I want to get to the bottom of this, but can’t be bothered to do my own research.
Nice to meet you, Axl.
This is either a dumb ploy to get a free VHS tape, or a sad, sad former GN’R collaborator who knows no other way to get their hands on something that they helped create.
This is how Switzerland works, folks.
Switzerland is its own weird, neutral nation in the middle of the European Union. One of its core tenets, apparently, is not giving out Swiss francs at establishments in the E.U. I think that’s how it goes, at least.
But is it raining five blocks away?
Asking someone if it’s raining when you live in the same city is ridiculous. Asking them if it’s raining when you live, like, a few hundred feet away is even sillier. Look out the window indeed.
Worth a try.
Kind of like the gas example above, once a loaf of bread is sliced, it’s sliced for good, you know? That pristine, unsliced loaf is something you can never get back. It’s like putting toothpaste back into the tube.
Yes, that’s how it works.
A wise person once said, “Don’t order the tuna salad if you’re going to turn around and complain to the server that it smells like a tuna salad.” I guess this customer never heard that one.
Hopefully she learned something.
I thought yo-yos were pretty accessible and that everyone knew how to operate one. Apparently that isn’t the case. It must be frustrating to be so bad at yo-yoing that you need to return the toy in disgrace.
Where’d that window come from?
I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve walked full-on into a glass window before, not realizing it was there. I did not, however, turn around and ask why there wasn’t a door there.
