19 Straight-Up A-Hole Customers Who Got Exactly What They Deserved
It's no secret that working in retail is pretty brutal. People are kinda the worst, TBH, and even more so after they've had to wait more than 5 seconds for the thing they want.
HBO
Every once in a while, though, you get the glorious experience of seeing a customer who was a total jerk get exactly what they deserve.
An anonymous Reddit user asked, "Retail/service workers of Reddit, what's the best instant karma you've seen happen to a rude customer?" Here are 19 of the best stories:
1."I was standing at the counter of the pizza place I work at. A lady stormed in and slammed a pizza down on the counter. 'This isn't the fucking pizza I ordered. What the hell are you going to do about it?" she asked. I looked at the pizza, then at my buddy Nick, then turned back to her and said, 'Nothing.' She then began this long rant about how we're stupid and incompetent and were going to get fired. Finally, she asked why we refused to do anything to help her. I said, 'Because that pizza came from the pizza shop across the street.' I think she actually managed to shrink in size and slink out looking so pathetic and beaten I almost felt bad for laughing as hard as I did."
2."Years ago when I worked at Taco Bell, I was working the drive-thru late at night and some ass tried to throw a chocolate milkshake at me. I saw it coming and slammed the window shut. The milkshake hit the window and bounced back toward him, making a mess all over him and the side of his car. It was hilarious."
3."I was a cashier at a grocery store. This guy with a full cart bitched and bullied employees until he was allowed to use my express checkout because he didn't want to wait in the regular lines, and my line only had two people in it. As soon as my floor manager allowed him and he had his cart unloaded, a tiny old lady with a walker who could barely stand got in line behind him. Everyone gave him dirty looks. He realized he fucked up and tried to make a joke about it. Dead silence. I hope his saved time was worth being an asshole."
NBC
4."It couldn’t have been more obvious that this guy was trying to return stolen merchandise. He 'lost' the receipt, didn’t know when it was purchased, and paid with cash so we couldn’t easily look up the transaction on a credit card. He said he would call his friend to ask if they knew when it was purchased. He took out his iPhone and — without pressing a single button — started to talk on it. I was like...I can clearly see the home screen with no call happening. When he 'got off the phone,' I got a little bold and, in my best retail manager voice, said something to the effect of, 'Oh, that’s cool! Is that a new update where you can talk to someone without actually calling them?' He left after that."
5."I worked at a takeout restaurant and used to return customer credit cards by setting them on the Square podium we used to swipe them. This way, they ended up right by the customer when I swung the screen around from them to sign. One lunch rush, a lady decided this was an offense of the highest order and yelled at me for not placing it directly in her hand. I stupidly engaged her and tried to explain that I did that for everybody, which got me a continued lecture about how she is the customer and good service is doing what she wants. There were about a dozen people eating at our tables and five people in the line behind her, so she was straight hamming it up, making sure everyone saw her putting me in my place. Unfortunately for her, the dramatic performance proved to be a bit too distracting, and she stormed out without her infant."
"This was, of course, noticed by pretty much everyone in the building since she had just made herself the center of attention. One of the customers even had to run after her and stop her from driving away. For the record, there is no real subtle way to pick up a full-size child carrier."
6."I was working at the McDonald's window late at night. A guy ordered whatever and pulled up to the window. I was cooking and handling the window, so I wasn't there when he pulled up. When I walked over, I didn't see the fucker with trash in his lap. I opened the window to take his card/cash, and he threw a whole bag of trash at me. I took a step back in shock, and I watched as his car sped off. I was pissed, but there wasn't anything I could do. A couple seconds later, I heard the crunch of metal on metal. I walked to the lobby and looked out the windows. The douchebag slammed into a police cruiser who was about to loop around and use the drive-thru himself. Of course, I also went to tell the officer what just happened inside."
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7."I was 18 and worked at a local grocery store in the produce department. Beyond regular duties, we made fruit trays on weekends — nothing fancy, just a variety of cut-up fruit in large red bowls. This dude came in after 10 p.m. (we close at 11) and asked for a tray with specific fruits. I told him we unfortunately don't make custom trays. The 16-year-old dude who was on shift with me overheard and told him it's slower tonight, so he could do it for him. He said, 'OK, good,' with no gratefulness displayed at all. This co-worker of mine is always extra kind to customers; it's legitimately admirable. Twenty minutes later, my coworker came out of the back room and presented it to this customer. He immediately started screaming at him about how bad it looks."
"He yelled things like, 'That looks like absolute shit! Fuck, are you an idiot?!' I ran over to see what the problem was. The fruit tray looked absolutely standard, but this guy wasn't having it. He smashed it on the ground and kept screaming about how we wasted his time. I snapped and told him to get the fuck out. He squared up. Keep in mind that this guy is, like, in his 40s, ready to fight some teenagers over a fruit tray. Numerous other employees ran over and yelled at him to get out. He yelled at us saying he'd be back, and ran toward and out the sliding doors.
All this was caught on camera luckily, so management called the cops regarding his actions and that last threat. They ended up arresting him later on because apparently he also had some warrants out for him already. Hope the fruit was worth it, asshole."
FOX
8."This tale took place roughly 22 years ago at a community college bookstore. As with any college bookstore, the start of the semester was incredibly busy. In order to help ease the insanity in our small store, we set up a table outside the front door for doing returns. That's where I was stationed for the day. People got in line. They got to me. I processed the paperwork for their return and sent them inside for the cashiers. This is an important point. I had no cash, no ability to process cards. Just me, a table, a stack of paper, and some pens. That's it. Well, a middle-aged lady got to me. Her son dropped all his classes, and she was returning his books. OK, cool. I do all the paperwork, hand her back the document, and direct her inside. She went BALLISTIC that she has to wait in line again."
"I mean starting nuclear wars ballistic. The customers in line behind her actually went to my manager to file formal statements about her behavior. Not mine, hers. I took a break and shook it off. Everyone has bad days, and I know I have the customers' statements to back me up. A few days passed, and then my manager got a call.
It was the president of the college. With a complaint. Yeah, THE WOMAN CALLED THE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ME. So, my manager and I headed off to a meeting with the president and the woman. We walked in, calm and polite. The woman told her tirade, still screaming and cursing. My manager pulled out the statements and, without a word, handed them to the president. The president calmly read them. I don't remember exactly what he said, but I do remember watching the woman turn more and more red. I do remember the word 'entitled' being used a whole lot. And I do remember him saying, 'Don't waste my time ever again.' before he showed her the door."
9."I was a server during college at an upper-scale restaurant. I rarely had problems with customers and was overall genuinely friendly. I had a table for four with only three patrons there — an older couple with their adult daughter. I served them beverages and was told we were to wait for the fourth patron, their son. About 40 minutes and two refills later, I said, 'I bet you guys are starving by now; would you like me to bring you our lettuce wraps? They are small enough to not ruin your appetite. Or are we still waiting for my buddy?' The father said, 'We are going to wait, and he isn't your buddy. Frankly, you don't know him. He's a hard-working man and will be respected. He actually has a real job."
"I responded politely, apologizing and saying it wouldn't happen again. When I came back for refill number three, the son had just arrived. Coincidentally, he happened to be an old high school friend. Before taking a seat, he gave me a hug right in front of his dad. I looked at the father and said, 'Small world, huh? I can't believe your [Friend's name]'s family. I'm surprised we've never met before, with [name] and I spending so much time together in high school.' It's too bad our restaurant didn't serve crow."
NBC
10."This lady was laying into me for the amount she was charged on her bill, calling me every bad word in the English language. She said we over-billed her and requested I go through her entire order. Well, I came to find out that we actually under-billed her by $1,000 due to a misplaced zero. The silence on the other line was so beautiful."
11."I was waiting at a hotel reception while a young staff member checked me in. A really obnoxious woman flounced over, interrupted what the girl was doing, and proceeded to bitch about the standard of the kettle in her room. She ranted on and on about only having a 'normal kettle,' until I told her to wise up and get in bloody line behind me. She shouted that she had been traveling all day and that the room was not a suitable standard. I pointed out it was a fucking airport hotel, we'd all been traveling all day, and that she should just get lost. By now, the girl at the desk was blood red and tearful. The woman banged her fist on the desk, demanded to see a manager, and had a coughing fit. She then promptly shat herself all through her beige trousers. She didn't hang around after that."
12."I was working the drive-thru at a Tim Hortons, and some asshole in a massive black truck parked too far away from the window and expected me to lean super far out to give him his change. He was really impatient and rude, so I just shook my head, and he got all pissed off. He finally got out of the truck, and the door shut behind him. It was locked. He sat there for like 15 minutes, and we had to call a tow truck. Sure it pissed off everyone behind him, but at least they were all pissed off at him and not us! He acted like it was the biggest embarrassment of his life."
Nickelodeon
13."I worked for an online banking help desk, and this 18-year-old lad phoned up saying he had seen a transaction for £7 to allpay.net. Because he didn't recognize it, he decided the bank was robbing him and that I — a 'thieving little prick' —was in on it. Then he got his dad on the phone, who stuck up for his shit, saying I was a pathetic scumbag for stealing £7, even though it was a debit card transaction, and I simply worked in the department that helped people use online banking. But anyway, I phoned our debit card services to see if they could give any more information, and, boy, could they. I then had the pleasure of relaying back to this little shit's equally shitty father the following:"
"'Hi sir, thanks for holding. I've checked with our debit card services team, and I now understand why your son would not have recognized the payee 'allpay.net.' That's a deliberately vague term used for discretion when a customer has subscribed to online pornography. That's what it was for. Your son has been paying for online pornography. Would you like to pop him back on the phone so I can tell him it's a payment for his pornography, or will you pass on the information?' The father just muttered that the issue did not require any further investigation, thanked me for looking into it, and hung up."
14."I worked at Best Buy for 10 years or so. This happened on Black Friday. Most of the customers were in bad moods since they'd been waiting hours to come in, just to stand in more lines. But this one lady was a raging bitch. After yelling at everyone in my department about how she NEEDED the laptop that was on sale despite it being sold out, she proceeded to tell us she was going to have the store closed down because she 'worked with the city and knew the fire marshal, and we had too many people in the store.' So she called him, we told her to leave, and...nothing happened to the store. However, we called them as well to report what she'd said, and she got fired from her job for abuse of power."
FixjeiPhone / Via giphy.com
15."I worked in this fancy clothing store in this posh town at the seaside. It was a busy Saturday, and a very pretentious girl walked in with her boyfriend, ignoring us as we greeted her and even giving my colleague a demeaning look. She went on to browse around in the store and eventually took some clothes with her in the changing booth. After a while, I noticed a heated conversation arising from the booth between her and her boyfriend. I saw him running back and forth between the booth and some clothing racks, all while me and my colleague where being chased away by her when we tried to help."
"So, me and my colleague continued working and helping other costumers. I was working the register when suddenly the girls turned up next to me, completely pissed off, and started ranting about how our store/brand really should work on the fit of our clothes, and calling us 'complete fuck-ups.' I was completely caught off guard. I was about to ask her what exactly the problem was, when I saw my colleague looking at the girl and bursting out into this horribly loud laughter, tears and all. Turns out, the girl had tried on what she thought was a strapless dress. Well, it wasn't a dress — it was a skirt. The girl had tried on all sizes and got completely fed up, yelling at us and her boyfriend because the FREAKIN 'DRESS' WOULDN't FIT. So, she walked out into a crowded store, making a scene, with a skirt pulled up to her tits. I have to admit, after she left, I laughed until I cried."
16."More than a few decades ago, I worked at Denny's. I had two male customers that decided to dine and dash. We got their license plate number and reported it to the cops, jokingly mentioning that they didn't even tip. Later that night they got pulled over for DUI, and the cops recognized their license plate number from the report. They brought them both back to the restaurant and forced them to pay the bill. After the guy was done paying, the cop just stood there and looked at them. The guy sheepishly handed me my tip."
Fox
17."I worked at a gas station some odd years ago. The week before this encounter, it had been snowing a lot, so the gas tankers got delayed for safety reasons. A customer came in a pretty new Mercedes-Benz, something like SLS 400, and wanted the premium gas. I explained the delays and that we currently didn't have any premium gasoline, but that he could try the next station down the block. He started swearing and screaming at me personally, like I had control over the gas delivery. He sped off, tires screeching, only to have his rear tire hit the curb. His rim got fucked up really bad, and he couldn't drive it. I laughed at him."
18."I worked at an auto parts store. This one guy stole some $60 headlights and literally sprinted out the door. We went to look outside to try and get his license plate, just in time to see him speed off, hit a curb, and blow out his tire. We called the cops, and the dumbass got arrested AND had to have his car towed."
19."I worked at a telecom in Canada. A lady came in with a broken iPhone and demanded a new one for free. At the time, the iPhone 6s was going for about $400 upfront on a two-year contract at a minimum $80 plan. She had a good plan, but wanted it for free. She called up our loyalty team in store and spent the next two hours screaming at them. Finally, they came to an agreement, and she was somehow getting it for free. She looked at me and said, 'I don't want a case; AppleCare is a scam.'"
"We work on commission, so this essentially meant I was getting nothing and ruining my numbers. She kept telling me to hurry up through the setup process, but I was just trying to get them out of the store with everything transferred over and set up. She grabbed the phone and started marching off, saying I was a terrible employee. She got three steps out of the store and dropped the phone on the concrete. She shattered the screen, and it had the 'white screen of death.' She ran back in asking what I could do. I shrugged and said, 'Sorry, but AppleCare sure would have helped, eh?'"
Now its your turn! Are you a retail worker? Have you ever had an experience where a rude customer like these instantly got what they deserved after being a total jerk to you? If so, tell us about it in the comments below or via this anonymous form.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
