People Are Sharing Their Best "Entitled Customer" Stories And I Don't Understand Why People Are Like This
It's a tough time to work right now, especially if you work with customers, clients, or patients. It seems like people are more entitled, rude, and demanding than ever before, no matter how competent and polite you are. The customer is not — as that old adage goes — always right.
HBO
As someone who's been around the block when it comes to jobs, I like to commiserate with others who have had to deal with infuriating customers. By talking about their inexcusable actions, it doesn't feel quite as much like they're getting away with it.
Disney
Here are 21 infuriating stories for anyone who's had to deal with Karens, Kens, or any other horribly entitled people at their job.
1."I'm a server at a restaurant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. ... We had a tornado warning go off an hour or so ago, and servers and back of house were all in the walk-in, and the guests were in the bathrooms. The warning was over; we all came out. Someone complained that they hadn’t gotten their food yet."
"I said, 'Ma’am I'm sorry, but we have been in the walk-in fridge due to a tornado that touched the ground literally across the street.' She had the nerve to complain. Are you serious?"
2."I work for one of America's largest charity thrift store chains. ... Today I took a donation of four boxes of random knickknacks and glassware. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing special. Well, fast forward 10 minutes, and the donor returned, stating he donated a book by accident. At this point, the items were already being sorted through to see what we could sell vs. recycle, so I asked for the book title [and] a phone number, and [said] I'd contact them if we found the book. Then in the passenger seat, I heard a high pitched shriek, screaming about how we needed to give the book back this instant as they were from 100 miles out of town."
"I went through the donations he gave me; there was no book. She stormed in the building with her husband, screaming at all of us, telling us it had to be here, etc. Eventually, the husband walked out after being told to 'shut up' by this woman. Five minutes later, she was still in our backroom, yelling at all of us. The husband walked in [and] told her he found the book in the center console where she left it. She stormed out, almost pushing me over, throwing a tantrum a 2-year-old would be proud of. The kicker? It was a Christian self help book about treating others like Jesus would treat you."
3."This story is about my friend Noah who recently started working at the Golden Arches. His job is to present the food in the second drive-thru window. Yesterday, a Karen made an appearance and ordered a Diet Coke. Noah explained to me that for the drive-thru, they have an ABS (Automatic Beverage System) that can fill six cups at a time. The cups are filled as soon as the order is entered into the system, so there really isn't any possibility of human error unless the order is entered wrong. So the drink was made, and he handed it over to Karen. She took one sip and said, 'THIS ISN'T DIET COKE; IT'S REGULAR COKE!' She then proceeded to launch the cup at Noah, who got soaked with it."
"He kept his cool and explained that it was, in fact, a Diet Coke and that the machine did it right. 'THEN MAKE IT AGAIN AND DO IT YOURSELF!' Noah remade the drink himself, and she was satisfied enough to leave. He was given the option to go home and change, but he opted to finish his shift. On the bright side, he says he got a bonus $50 in his paycheck for his troubles."
4."Years ago, I worked at a pharmacy. Karen came in and bought all the things she always bought before I started working there. After she bought these things, she came back to complain to my boss that I 'stole money from her out of her purse.' ... like, how could I have 'grabbed into her purse and have pocketed the money.' I did not know what she was talking about until I found out that she was angry about the increased price (by a few cents) for one of her items. I didn't make the prices."
"As long as I worked there, she would loudly accuse me of stealing from her with more and more wild stories...I still think of her and her behavior."
5."While I am willing to accept that routinely asking people how they are doing as if you care is a uniquely American thing, usually people respond with, 'Fine, thanks. You?' Well, today at my job, I answered a call in my usual customer service voice: 'Thank you for calling Big Insurance Company, my name is Insurance Agent. Who do I have the pleasure of speaking with?' Male Karen responded, 'Arnold,' to which I said, 'Great, how are you doing today?' And he responded with, 'Cut the fucking bullshit and give me a quote. I didn’t call to fucking small talk with you.'"
"So then I very slowly asked all of the required questions and made no effort to engage with him at all. He told me he didn’t like my attitude. ... Long story short, I sold him a policy that could have been $62 dollars a month, but because he was a dick, I boosted it up to $152 a month. And he bought it. Win-win."
6."I used to work in a natural foods store and have been using a hair dye purchased from there for years. It's close enough to a natural hair color that people are surprised when I tell them it's colored and I buy it from there. Good advertising for the store, but one lady took it WAY too far one day. ... A woman approached me asking me if she could get hair the same color as mine. I told her yes; her natural tone was similar to mine, and I showed her the exact box that I used. She took one glance at the box, then in one swift movement, looked back at me, GRABBED ME BY MY PONYTAIL, AND DRAGGED ME TO THE NEXT AISLE OVER."
"I was too shocked to do anything besides follow her pull, and once we got in front of the mirrors, she gave one more hard yank to crank my head around, then she flopped my ponytail over her head and started kind of...styling it around her face? I was sweating and almost having a panic attack at this point.
'Hm,' she finally said, then casually dropped her death grip on my hair, 'I'll think about it.' Then she walked away.
It was extra disturbing because she didn't once look me in the eyes after grabbing me; she treated me like I was a mannequin. Needless to say, I felt super gross about that whole interaction and had a sore neck for my troubles as well."
7."Got a 911 call for 'generally unwell' patient (I'm a medic) last night just before midnight. Showed up on scene to find a woman with a suitcase packed, waiting for me on her couch. She was in no distress. Vitals were normal, and she asked me if we could 'skip the questioning' (as in, my assessment) and just head for the hospital. ... I told her that's not possible and began my questions. 'Why did you call us out tonight, ma'am?' 'Well, I'm having an emergency procedure done next week, and my doctor won't clear me to have the surgery!' 'Oh, okay, so what kind of symptoms are you having?' 'I'm not having symptoms; I just need clearance for my procedure.' 'Ma'am, you called 911; we don't give clearance for surgical procedures.'"
"'No it's fine, I just need an echocardiogram; they can do it at the hospital.'
'No ma'am, thats not how that works at all. Do you have an emergency?'
'I just told you. It's an emergency procedure, and I can't get an appointment with my doctor for at least two weeks!'
'What kind of procedure are you having?'
'It's for my breasts.'
'Oh, I'm sorry to hear, is it cancer?'
'No, I'm getting them done.'
'You're getting them done?'
'Yes, I leave for my vacation in a month, and I can't be in pain at that time.'
So at nearly midnight, this entitled woman took up the time of one EMT, one paramedic, and an entire engine's worth of firefighter/medics (who promptly left when they heard her chief complaint) because she believed her boob job was an emergency."
8."She was in the pharmacy line ahead of me, and when her turn came, she approached the clerk and opened with, 'I don't have a prescription to pick up, I just want to pay for my vitamins so I don't have to stand in one of those long lines.' The clerk politely explained that the pharmacy is for those picking up their prescriptions, not for other items. She basically ignored him and repeated she didn't have time to stand in a long line. The clerk said, 'Okay, I will ring up these items, but next time please go to the regular checkout lines.'"
"Then the tides turned when her credit card was DENIED! ... She then yelled at the clerk, 'This card has $8,000 available. I'm calling the credit card people.' (She actually said 'people.') Rather than step out of the line to make her call, she whipped out her giant Samsung right there. Finally, the clerk told her she was holding up the line and needed to step aside. 'This is a bunch of bullshit!' she replied. ... This was at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon. The place was half empty, and the wait times for checkout were minimal."
9."A few days ago, I had an encounter with a local Karen in a small city in Croatia. There's this one local shop that sells all kinds of makeup, cleaning and hygienic products, etc. ... Karen came in and after some time, took a random bottle of some cleaning product. She went to the cashier and started yelling at her about how the product expired three months ago, how are they not ashamed to sell such things at a full price, how they're irresponsible, how she'll tell their bosses, etc. Basically caused a whole drama while the rest of us were waiting in the line. The cashier was just looking at her, peaceful and fully silent, and she just went: 'That is the date of production, not the expiration date.' I have never seen a person so humbled and ashamed. She left after that."
10."I was a shift supervisor at Starbucks, and I was a pro at dealing with difficult people, but this one stands out to me in my memory. I was at the register, and this lady came in with a Starbucks gift basket. She'd received it as a gift and wanted to exchange it (without a receipt, nonetheless)."
"Me: 'I'm sorry, ma'am, I can't exchange this here because this item isn't sold at our corporate stores. You'll have to go to the franchise location it was purchased from.'
Her: 'But it's from Starbucks. You should be able to exchange it for me.'
Me: 'I'm sorry, but there is literally no way for me to ring up an exchange in my computer because the SKU isn't in our system.'
She asked for the manager, and I gave my usual, 'The store manager isn't here, but I'm the shift supervisor on duty.' ... I don't remember exactly what was said after this, but it had a lot to do with how worthless I am and how this store is the absolute worst. She made a huge scene, but I kept my composure because I was used to this kinda thing. At the end of it, she said, 'I'm never coming back here again!'
Me: 'Okay...Have a nice day.'"
11."Yesterday, while delivering mail in Hawaii Kai, there was this white lady waiting for me at her mailbox. As I approached her, I could tell she was uncomfortable by her body language. Right away she yelled at me, 'I have a HUGE PROBLEM with my mail!' I asked if she received the wrong mail. She said, 'I’ve lived here 55 years and should NEVER receive any mail but with my name on it.' I informed her that these companies sending the letters are paying USPS to deliver to the address, not necessarily the name. She was still upset. I tried to calm her by saying we were working hard to deliver all the mail every day, which meant we stayed at work for 14 hours on some days (such as the previous day to this interaction). I asked her to give us some grace and show that Aloha spirit of the island. This made her turn to a stone wall."
"I mean, her whole body language changed. She was furious I asked her to show some Aloha. (She lives in a multi-million dollar waterfront property.) I asked if there was anything else, but she just walked away. Today, I found out that she went to the post office after our interaction and claimed she was threatened by me."
12."I work at a clinic, and ever since the pandemic started, we stopped doing walk-in appointments. Well, Karen had nothing better to do this morning, so in she came to the clinic. She, of course, asked if there was anyway we could get her in right away since she just came from a funeral. I explained that the clinic no longer accommodates walk-ins, and of course, Karen didn't like this. She got real quiet, and you could see her stewing over this and thinking about what to say."
"Karen: 'You know it doesn't cost you a thing to say, "Sorry for your loss."
Me: (Confused and a bit taken aback as I didn't think I had done anything to prompt hostility) 'Okaaay.'
Karen: 'Instead you chose to stay in your robotic routine.' (Karen turned to leave.)
Me: 'Have a good day.'
Karen whipped around so fast you would've thought someone had yanked her hair.
Karen: 'YOU DON'T SAY THAT TO PEOPLE WHO'VE BEEN TO A FUNERAL!'
I was literally five minutes into my shift, so I got up from my desk, turned around, and walked away."
13."I am a chef at a VERY large restaurant. ... I work BOH (back of house — if you haven't been in the industry, we don't usually talk to customers unless we want to) for a reason. I am an introvert and shy. ... Then, today happened. I get a call to the kitchen that a guest wanted to speak to me. ... I responded, 'Find a manager.' The reply was, 'They want to see the chef.'"
"No matter how many times I repeated this, they said the guest wanted to speak to the chef in person. Reluctantly, I made the walk to where they were. ... [The customer] just looked at me and held two thumbs up. I questioned it and asked, 'How was everything?' She replied, 'Everything was great, and that's good for you. Because I am the kind of person who leaves reviews and comments and gets people fired.' I just smiled lightheartedly (under my mask). She then said, 'I've done it before and have proof.' I simply thanked them for their visit and went back to the kitchen.
What makes people feel so entitled? I never want to speak to a guest again."
14."This happens way too often. We usually turn off the automatic doors around a minute or two before we close, but it doesn't get locked until exactly 8 (or whenever we are closing). We have had numerous people push the doors open at 8 and look like a deer in the headlights when we say we are closed. Imagine being so entitled that you force one of the doors open and are surprised when you are kicked out."
15."My oldest just turned 18 and started working at Sonic. I think his second week on the job, he had a customer order a chili dog with 'no meat.' My son repeated, 'No meat?' and the customer enthusiastically said, 'No meat!' This exchange went back and forth about three times...and I'm honestly not even sure what my son brought out to the guy because I start laughing so hard I'm crying when he tells the story. I think he did just a hot dog, or just chili...not sure. But the guy was FUMING, accusing my son of making fun of him...and demanded [to see the] manager."
"All I can picture is my son walking out to car with an empty hot dog bun (as chili dogs have hot dog and chili...both of which contain meat) and I can't stop the hysterical giggles. Seriously...I'd have paid to see that shit."
16."I answered a call in the lull of my shift, and the first thing out of her mouth was, 'You forgot my appetizer!' ... I was pretty positive this wasn't the case, seeing as how we were only doing takeout then, and I had a lot of extra time to double check each order. But giving her the benefit of the doubt, I asked for her name and if she remembered what was on the order. Still being unnecessarily angry, she told me her name, and that was when I was positive that I never took this order. I calmly asked her if she was sure she was calling the correct restaurant because we had no record of her order in our system. 'Isn't this the Chinese restaurant on X Street?' We're a Thai restaurant."
"I must've heard it called Chinese one too many times because I said, 'No, it isn't. Maybe next time make sure you're calling the right restaurant before you start bitching about an honest mistake in the middle of a pandemic.' Probably a little petty of me. But felt good, man."
17."A Karen came up and complained her fries were burnt — that the tips were black and therefore, burnt. We deep fry our fries, so if one burns, they all do. I tried to explain that what she was seeing was just the ends or the knots of a potato that sometimes are irregular. They even come to us frozen like that."
"She demanded fresh cooked ones, and when they didn’t appear fast enough, she complained again. When her fries were eventually taken to her again, and again with an explanation that there would still be these black bits and irregularities, she bit back that she’s worked in kitchens before and knows what a burnt fry looks like. But I was left wondering if she knows what a potatoes does."
18."I work at a fast food Italian restaurant and, as I believe many places are, we're understaffed. At the time of this incident, I had worked 10-hour shifts five days in a row, and I was closing with only one coworker. So, about 20 minutes out from our regular close, we've gone nearly an hour without any orders. We decide to start shutting down to try to get everything done. With three people it usually takes half an hour, so with just two, we were staring down the prospect of working until midnight anyway. We got a call and...I told them right away that I was sorry, but we'd closed already."
"Karen: 'No, you close at 11. It's only, like, 10:45.'
Me: 'Yes, normally we don't close until 11, but tonight there are only two of us so–'
Karen: 'I don't care. You're supposed to be open until 11.'
Me: 'Well, again, I'm sorry, but we've already turned off the ovens.'
Karen: 'You're shitheads. Total shitheads.' And she hangs up.
I just stood there for a moment, a little baffled. Like...even if I hadn't turned the ovens off yet, your pizza wouldn't have been done before we were closed."
And finally, let's end on a few where the Karen got their comeuppance.
19."I work at a very nice veterinary clinic. ... Tonight, I received a call from a client that had just been in to see us at a regular appointment that morning. She asked that I look up her account and tell her the dosage of the meds we sent. ... I pulled up the account and informed her that the dosage was .15ml of an oral pain medication for her little purse dog. This ABSOLUTELY set her off. She said the tech that went over meds with her said to give the pet 1.5ml, not .15, and even marked the syringe wrong. The dog received two of these incredibly high doses today. This is a problem. ... VERY serious overdose."
"I told Karen she needed to induce vomiting from home right away to get it out of the pet's system and come in right away. ... She screamed she would NOT induce vomiting on her dog, and she was bringing it in for us to fix this problem. ... About 15 minutes after the call, Karen walked in. ... I paged for a tech to come to the front to start administering meds right away. ... She was absolutely unhinged, yelling at other clients in the waiting room to leave before we killed their pets too. ... I got her back to the room and asked if she had the meds with her for me to see. She said yes and viciously dug through her purse and pulled out a small bottle of the pain meds and a 1ml syringe. 1ml. Yet she claimed on the phone that we marked it at 1.5ml. Confused, I asked her, 'So, did you fill the syringe twice?' She gave me a completely blank look: 'What?' I said, 'Ma'am, that's a 1ml syringe. To give your dog 1.5ml of meds you'd have to fill it one and a half times to give it that much. Did you do that?' ... Apparently, Karen didn't have her glasses and could not see the decimal before the 15. She never overdosed her dog and the original tech did mark the syringe properly. ... All I can say is one of them left with their tail between their legs, and it wasn't the dog."
20."So, I had a 15 top tonight of some of the meanest women I've ever had the displeasure of serving...multiple order mods, snapping their fingers in my face, referring to me as, 'Hey, you worthless servant,' etc. After doing my very best to give them the basic steps of service while maintaining my cool, I got through the meal, relieved that it was finally over...when out of nowhere, one of the women looked at me and said, 'What did we do to make your night so miserable?' I swear to God, I couldn't stop myself as I said, 'Well, y'all woke up this morning, didn't ya?'"
"God bless my general manager, my coworkers, and my regulars for dying of laughter and having my back."
21."My dad owns a bakery in small town USA. ... My favorite story: Dad was in the back wrapping up a long day of baking when he heard yelling from the front. Some Karen was pissed that they sold out of a specific item and proceeded to call the employee a c*nt for not having the item she wanted and demanded to speak to a manager."
"The employee was a sweet old lady that used to work for his grandfather, so he was already on his way. He identified himself as the owner and was extremely polite as he apologized for selling out of the item she wanted. This seemed to calm her down, so she started ordering other items, thinking she had won, and was probably going to get something free.
But every time she named a new item, my dad said, 'Sorry, we’re sold out of that, too' as they were both staring at trays and trays of stocked baked goods. She started pointing at specific items that were clearly displayed for sale, and he still responded nicely that the item was unfortunately sold out all while drawing on a piece of paper.
Karen: 'Really?! How can everything I want be 'sold out'? I can see them! What are you writing down?? YOU AREN’T EVEN LISTENING TO ME!!!!'
Dad: 'I’ve been listening just fine, and we sold out of everything when you called my employee a c*nt. In fact, we’ll be sold out every time you walk in here, so I drew you a map to the nearest bakery. We are also closing early, since we’re sold out, so I’m going to have to ask you to leave.'
Don’t mess with a man that starts his day at 3:30 a.m. He doesn’t have the energy to argue, but he WILL win."
In the spirit of the last three — what story do you have about standing up to an entitled customer/an entitled customer getting their comeuppance? Let us know in the comments below!
Posts have been edited for length/clarity.
