Are they for real?

[Just Lori]

I tend to get suspicious when the resolution is too convenient or if the parties are completely one-dimensional.  Most annoying customers aren't all evil, and most service workers (myself included) aren't all perfect. 

I did appreciate the customer right before Christmas who wanted to special order a pair of shoes.  I was working alone and had a line of customers who were waiting to be rung up, and I didn't even know if the shoes were available.  I asked her if I could take her information and call her with an update.  Unforunately, the shoes are no longer being manufactured, and when I called to let her know she was very gracious and told me she hoped my day had gotten better.  Those types of customers make up for the ones who come in barking orders and expecting things to appear like magic.

[Hmmmmm]

I've worked retail, managed IT call centers, and been a sales rep.  Everyone I've ever encountered in these roles has had at least 1 to 3 really abbrassive encounters.  So if everyone who deals with the public has 1, then the numbers do start to add up.

But I do think the stories on that website are over dramatized in many cases.  Or are very one sided in their telling. 

[2littlemonkeys]

I'm sure a lot of them are embellished to put the storyteller in the best possible light.  That said, I worked in food service when I was in HS.  A lady came in every single day, abused the staff (she had a go at me my very first day), ate most of her food and then declared it inedible and demanded her money back.

Every.

Single.

Day.

I have no idea why she kept coming back or why the owner/boss kept putting up with it.  Granted, I lived in a small town but it certainly wasn't the only restaurant in town.  It was baffling. 

[otterwoman]

As a store manager, I've had people throw things at my employees, pee on the floor, threaten to kill themselves in the store, had people hauled out by mall security, then the state police, stalkers, and a bomb maker.

I believe the bad behavior on the site.

[snowflake]

I can believe customers act that badly, but sadly I have more trouble believing the 'good' stories with happy endings. I think many of those are embellished, or include a lot of wishful thinking and things the writer wishes they have thought of at the time.

THIS.

I've worked food service, call center and customer service for a publishing company.  In my experience, 25% of people are nicer than nice, 50% are pleasant, 14% are neutral, 10% are not always reasonable, and 1% are just plain awful.

I really did have one woman get in my face and cuss me out because we were out of mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I had offered to make her a shake with mint and chocolate chips in it for the same price as a cone, but she wanted a scooped cone and nothing else. I was an incompetent certain-part-of-the-anatomy because we had just had a soccer team come where every kid wanted a mint chocolate chip cone.

But the sad thing is, the rudest population of people I ever dealt with was when I worked for a crazy, delusional woman who had inherited the company from her mother.  All her friends/colleagues were the same silver-spoon-born, work at mommy/daddy's company sort of executives.  (So firmly in the camp of "They should know how to behave")  I had to fill in as a receptionist once and those people were just plain AWFUL.  I'm not going to generalize to "rich folks" but that particular group was just snotty!

[Girlie]

I take them with a grain of salt for the most part. Having worked in customer service for seven years - five of those in a grocery store, two in a bank - I have to agree with the above posters who said they think a lot of them are wishful thinking "what should have happened" stories rather than reality.

But I can relate, because I've absolutely had my fair share of nasty customers to whom I wish I'd had just the perfect comeback.

[Kendo_Bunny]

I take them with a grain of salt for the most part. Having worked in customer service for seven years - five of those in a grocery store, two in a bank - I have to agree with the above posters who said they think a lot of them are wishful thinking "what should have happened" stories rather than reality.

But I can relate, because I've absolutely had my fair share of nasty customers to whom I wish I'd had just the perfect comeback.

And every once in awhile you do have the perfect comeback, but that doesn't mean you can actually say it to the customer. Like when a guy yelled at me for our delivery time being over an hour in a heavy snowstorm with at least two inches of ice on the ground (note that I live in Virginia, where we get this kind of weather only every few years, and are really not used to dealing with it). The employees who had 4-wheel drive and had braved the storm to work were amused by my comment that Dominos was the only local pizza place with a dogsled team, but I highly doubt the customer would have been amused.

[alkira6]

Sadly, in my over 20 years of working, with about 1/3 retail or fast food, I have encountered a lot of this. Most memorable was having a shake thrown at me because the customer thought that it wasn't vanilla enough (  ) and my manager gave him a free one and wouldn't let me go home to change. I walked off and called corporate, who did nothing, even after they pulled the tapes and saw what happened.  The best was this tiny little old woman who owned her store and was fiercely protective of her staff. She had no problem backing you up and banning people.  You did not mess with her staff and come out unscathed.

[Cat-Fu]

I trust those stories as much as I trust that the pictures on the cover of Cosmo are realistic.

I believe about 67% of the crazy angry customer stuff having personally experienced similar situations, but I believe 5% of the witty comebacks and 0% of the white knights who later become boyfriends.

[wolfie]

I do believe the few stories that end "and then I was fired" entirely. The negative ones I believe happened, or close to it. The ones where the customer service person said the right thing and everyone applauded I take with a grain of salt - it could happen but I doubt it happens that frequently. The ones who get rewarded with gift cards and money and marry their white knights - I don't believe it. I don't think that a manager who has no problem sending one cashier to work 8 hours on Christmas eve is going to present said cashier with a 100 dollar gift certificate because a little old lady said something to them.

[Girlie]

I take them with a grain of salt for the most part. Having worked in customer service for seven years - five of those in a grocery store, two in a bank - I have to agree with the above posters who said they think a lot of them are wishful thinking "what should have happened" stories rather than reality.

But I can relate, because I've absolutely had my fair share of nasty customers to whom I wish I'd had just the perfect comeback.

And every once in awhile you do have the perfect comeback, but that doesn't mean you can actually say it to the customer. Like when a guy yelled at me for our delivery time being over an hour in a heavy snowstorm with at least two inches of ice on the ground (note that I live in Virginia, where we get this kind of weather only every few years, and are really not used to dealing with it). The employees who had 4-wheel drive and had braved the storm to work were amused by my comment that Dominos was the only local pizza place with a dogsled team, but I highly doubt the customer would have been amused.

So true.

Although it does help when the customer finally walks off, and all the surrounding employees are looking at each other with raised eyebrows, and someone says something just AWESOME, and the tension breaks suddenly into a flood of laughter.
Good co-workers are the best.

[jedikaiti]

Wow - so people really DO act like that?  Glad I don't live in their world - sounds miserable.  We do get the odd patient who can be somewhat testing, but nothing like the stories I've seen on that site!

Just remember that the website is designed to SHOWCASE stories like that. So while it's not ALL customers, or necessarily even MOST customers, yes, it does happen.

I've also noticed, based on certain details in a few stories, that there are some that are retellings of events that (supposedly) happened some time ago, so not all the stories are necessarily current.

[hobish]

As a store manager, I've had people throw things at my employees, pee on the floor, threaten to kill themselves in the store, had people hauled out by mall security, then the state police, stalkers, and a bomb maker.

I believe the bad behavior on the site.

Did you manage a Denny's late night? Sounds like my old job. 
Heck, we got to see full-on brawls between cops and firemen, who apparently should never be in the same place drunk. I can only recall one incident where someone happened to threaten me while my 6'2" totally buff roomate was at the coffee counter and gave them what-for; but even that wasn't as dramatic as the "instant karma" stories on that site. It was funny, though. I was maybe 20 at the time, all the craziness just made the place more fun.

[kherbert05]

I take them with a grain of salt but that I have seen people curse out staff members and one time start throwing groceries at staff while I was shopping. I do make a point of letting the managers know that their staff is being abuse, that that isn't acceptable and I appreciate the managers protecting their employees, and that the staff member was polite during the exchange.

[bansidhe]

Wow - so people really DO act like that?  Glad I don't live in their world - sounds miserable.  We do get the odd patient who can be somewhat testing, but nothing like the stories I've seen on that site!

Count your blessings! I used to work at an urgent care center and was treated worse there than I have been at any other job I've ever held. I was cussed at, yelled at, threatened, had things thrown at me, and was once spat on. It was a character-building experience and I'm proud that I got through it without punching the snot out of anyone.