Some customers just make you want to bang your head against the wall! These service workers share their most frustrating customer stories.
Videos by Suggest
It’s A Latte…It’s Supposed To Have Foam?
“There is this woman who comes to our Starbucks every day. She asks for a vanilla latte with no foam. She only started coming a week ago.
The first time I made her drink we handed it to her and she asked, ‘No foam, right?’ I responded with ‘Yep, no foam.’ This woman proceeds to look me dead in the eyes, takes off the lid of the drink, and blows into it to see if there’s foam. She noticed the slightest bit of foam. She then proceeded to call me an incompetent worker who clearly should not be working in any kind of customer service and should be fired immediately.
So just to keep her at bay we made the drink again. This time I did not make it; I let my co-worker make it. I was in no mood to be chewed out again for something that I can’t control. My co-worker finishes it and gives it to her. She then takes off the lid and blows and notices the slightest bit of foam again. She then says, ‘Can no one in this fucking Starbucks make a drink?’
So now my manager makes it; instead of steaming the milk, she put whole milk halfway and hot water the rest, so there would be zero foam. We are never supposed to make it like that; it’s only supposed to be steamed milk. So my manager gives it to her, and she then drinks it and says, ‘Thank you, I can see you’re the only smart one here.’ Doesn’t even check to see if there’s foam for some odd reason.
Every time she comes into the store, she treats all of the employees on the floor like kids and only asks for the manager to make her drink. If the manager is not there, she leaves.
Just wanna explain a latte is supposed to be espresso shots and then steamed milk all the way to the top. There’s supposed to be foam. Idiots!”
A Four-Star Brat At A Four-Star Hotel
“When I was working as a front office executive in a four-star hotel, we had a TV actress/model as a guest. She wasn’t so well known but had small side roles in television series to her credit. Please don’t ask me her name. I am not going to reveal it.
So her manager comes and signs the registration form and I tell him I need her signature. He tells she won’t come to the reception area and I should give him the room key, she would directly go upstairs as she doesn’t want to get mobbed( there was not a single soul who would want to mob her. It was 8 in the morning). Then I could then go up and take her signature.
I didn’t have the authority to argue so I just accepted.
The next morning, I reach at 6:45 in the morning and this lady gives a call.
‘Reception, how may I assist you?’ I sing on the phone.
‘I need 100 safety pins, 25 satin ribbons, 10 black thread rolls, and 20 needles. Quick.’
‘I beg your pardon? Could you please repeat ma’am?’
‘Can’t you hear in one go?’ She then proceeds to repeat and I grab a pen and manage somehow to write it down.
I give a call to housekeeping and repeat the request.
‘Shefali, where the hell do I get 100 safety pins from?’
‘Well, I thought that too! Any chance you have any of the other things she mentioned?’
‘No chance. Not in that number. Tell the guest we will give it to her when shops open at 10 am.’
‘It’s a VIP. An actress.’
‘Oh! Then you are screwed.’
I hang up the phone and give the dreaded call.
‘Hello ma’am, calling from reception.’
‘Yes. What?’
‘Ma’am, the housekeeping doesn’t have what you require. We would get it for you from a nearby shop as soon as the shops open around 10. Sorry for the inconvenience.’ I said.
‘What kind of a hotel is this? I have to be at the event by 9. I want it ASAP. Or else give me your owner’s number.’
I was shaking by the time I hung up the call. I didn’t know what to do. My boss won’t come in till 9:30. I decided to give him a call, but my bad luck he didn’t pick up.
I called the bell boy on duty if he knew any shop that would be open at this hour. He said he knows a guy who works in a cosmetic shop who lives in his building. I asked him to call him and ask him if he could ask his boss to open his shop and sell the required items to us.
The bell boy called up. He got an earful. It was Sunday, and the shop guy wasn’t pleased, yet he said he gave the worker permission to open the shop. I wrote down what was needed and the bell boy left to buy it.
Meanwhile, this lovely lady called up again and said she needed the owner’s number. I said the bellboy is on the way to get it for her and if she could just give us few more minutes.
By the time the bell boy came back, it was 8:15 (he went on a cycle). I hurriedly gave a call to that lady.
‘Hello, ma’am calling from reception.’
‘Yes. What now?’
‘Ma’am the things that you requested is here now. Should I send it upstairs to your room?’
‘No. I don’t need it now.’
And she hung up.
The bellboy and I were shocked at her appalling attitude.
It would be safe to say why we had a smile on our face when she crashed into the glass door entrance, which left her nose bleeding while checking out the next day.”
Karen Gets The Ban Hammer
“We had to ban Karen from our store.
Karen attempted to manipulate Domino’s refund policy, time and time again.
Ultimately, we were losing money because of her.
She liked to place pizza orders online quite frequently.
And would then decide to request a refund for whatever reason, be it from the order was messed up to ‘the pizza just doesn’t look that great.’
Yes, she actually said that to me.
It got to the point where we would ensure her order was immaculate.
Quality over quantity, eh?
And guess what? She’d try and get a refund.
Naturally, she’d get one, since there’s the whole thing about how the ‘customer is always right.’
We attempted to logically defend ourselves, telling her we did nothing wrong, but she ensured to find something flawed with her order.
Eventually, we got sick of it, and so we called in our district manager.
She places an order, and I crafted damn near the best pizza the world has ever seen. Even my manager agreed, so it’s legit.
Everything else associated with Karen’s order was on point.
So about five minutes or so after the driver returns from her house, we receive a call from Karen.
‘Hi, I’d like a refund for my order.’
I notify my manager it was a no-go.
‘Don’t refund her,’ my manager said.
‘Ban her,’ my district manager said.
It’s about time.“
Another Annoying Pizza Delivery
“Customer calls up, places an order for pizza. It’s a new customer, so we don’t take the order until we verify it. On the phone, the customer tells me she’s going to go to Wal-Mart, but she’ll be back before the pizza delivery guy arrives. I tell her we can’t place the order unless she stays at home until the pizza delivery guy arrives, because the odds are pretty high we’ll be able to deliver it as soon as possible since we’re slow. Either that or she could wait until after she gets back from Wal-Mart to place the order.
She says that’s fine, she will stay at home. Okay, I say, so I place the order. She pays with a credit card, and I tell her the credit card has to be present so we can verify it at the door, and she says okay. Done deal, we hang up the phone. I send my roommate and long-time friend who has a fiancee to go deliver the pizza. And I’d like for you to understand something about this guy. This guy is quiet, you cannot get him to raise his voice when he is angry, because he doesn’t get angry as you or I do.
He’s the most mild-mannered, polite, hard-working, efficient person I know. Until just recently, he hasn’t had a lot of luck with women because he’s shy and has difficulty approaching them. But pretend I don’t know him at all and see if what happened next is still okay.
He gets there in 25 minutes, under the estimate of 30 minutes. As I said, we were slow, and I told the customer he’d likely arrive early. She’s not there. Instead, there’s her 15-year-old daughter and no credit card, because mommy went to Wal-Mart.
That’s fine, I’m just a stupid pizza guy, and I have no idea what I’m ever talking about, certainly not as the manager on duty, so no need to pay attention to the conversation we just had on the phone. You go to Wal-Mart and ignore what I said about not leaving the house and not leaving the credit card behind.
The driver is one of the only drivers I have that night and I do have other orders. He made the delivery on time and cannot wait. He’s gotta come back. He’s back in ten minutes round trip, most of it driving. I know, because I was a driver, and I know how long it takes to make that trip. I didn’t get seven different orders delivered in one hour with one car because the trips take that long to the addresses close to the store.
Anyway, I digress. The driver comes back, I set the food aside, and cancel the order. If she wants, she can come swing by after she’s done with Wal-Mart, since her house, the Wal-Mart near her house, and the pizza place are all within three minutes’ drive of each other. Make it five to be on the safe side. Ordering delivery doesn’t make any sense here, but it’s your dime, lady.
So I get a call 30 minutes later asking where her damn pizza is. I tell her it was here at the store because she was not at home. She says she was at home, and I tell her that the driver told me someone at that address answered the door. So then she says she was at the store, but she was only gone ‘but a minute’.
I told her that I reminded her on the phone that the delivery wouldn’t take very long, but that her food was still warm, in our warming bags, and we’d even be willing to make her fresh food if she just swung by the store in her car. And she was like no, I want it delivered. So I go fine, and I take her order again and ask her if she’s paying cash or card. So she says she already paid, and I tell her that payment was canceled when we couldn’t deliver. So she gets angry and says her money ‘better be back on her card tonight, or else there will be hell to pay.’ Okay whatever you say, lady.
Even though it wasn’t our fault, I was willing to give her a discount if she would come pick up the food at the store, and she could pay cash or card. She could also pay credit card again and we’d deliver it again, at full price. Or, she could pick up the food that was still warm, and I’d give it to her for free, but I wasn’t going to remake it fresh. I just wanted to make her happy. She was like I’ll pay to get it damn delivered. So I say fine.
And then, it happened. She was like ‘And by the way, your driver said horrible things to my daughter. He was hitting on my 15-year-old underaged daughter and probably was gonna kidnap her, and you’re charging me for some late pizza. I should call the police on you for having a predator out there delivering pizzas.’
At that moment, I felt a quiet but unfathomable rage boiling up from within. She had gone too far.
‘No, Ma’am. Not only would my driver never, ever, ever do such a thing, but if you were a mother who cared about your daughter, your first action would have been to call the police if my driver injured or touched your daughter in any way, shape, or form. You do not use accusations as a way to bully people to give you some free pizza. If you believe any of that actually happened, and you are a mother with any soul or conscience, what you just said to me would have been the very first thing you said to me in this phone call, as it would have been your top priority, not getting a discount on pizzas. If it had actually happened, you wouldn’t be ordering pizza from this establishment, at all, let alone haggling with me over the price of it. You are a horrible mother and a horrible human being to use your daughter in such a craven way. Don’t ever order from us again. Don’t ever accuse anyone of sexual assault or sexual harassment again unless it is actually true. These phone calls are recorded and I stand by everything I just said to you. I don’t want your business, don’t ever call back.’
I’m supposed to be polite to customers, even when they upset me. I think I succeeded just then because I promise you, that was the polite version.
Strangely, my roommate never got that police report filed against him. How odd.”