It's just CUSTARD! Jesus Hector Christ...

[Custard Chick]

Ok, so I've been working at a local custard stand for 6 years now (just quit though, since I'm moving out of state). It was a decent paycheck, the owners loved me, and I could basically make my own schedule. In college, it was a great place to work during the summer and whenever I stopped home for extended breaks/holiday vacations.

Anyways, we've had our share of crazies. Here's one story:

Characters:
Me - The beautiful custard server
BFB - Big Fat Bastard (customer)
BFBW - Big Fat Bastard's Wife

So it's a normal, warm afternoon in the summer, I'm happy and smiling as a couple approach (about mid-40's) and greet them.

Me: Hi there! What can I get for you today?
BFB: A regular strawberry concrete please.

A concrete is basically custard swirled with a topping, like a Dairy Queen Blizzard or a McDonald's McFlurry.

BFB: A jumbo strawberry concrete. Can you put waffle pieces in there?
Me: No I'm sorry sir, we don't do that here. I can give you a waffle cone on the side though and you can break it up yourself.

It's honestly just something we don't do, we have waffle cones to scoop custard into, but do not break them up for concretes or sundaes, not exactly sure why, we just don't and never have.

BFB: (getting angry and starts raising his voice) Well why the hell not? Everyone else does it! Why can't you guys do it?
Me: I'm sorry sir, it's just something we can't do. I can give you-
BFB: (voiced raised again, now yelling, getting red in the face) What?! You guys are just too special, huh? You're just too special to do what EVERYONE else is doing, huh?
Me: (frozen in fear, basically) I'm-I'm sorry sir...
BFB: Yeah! Yeah you are! You can't do what EVERYONE else is doing because you're just so SPECIAL! You can't just break up a waffle cone and put it in my concrete! (Starts pounding on the counter top at this point with his fist.)
Me: (I'm seriously nearly crying at this point) It's just something we don't do.
BFB: (sarcastically) Great customer services! Thanks so much! Great job!
BFBW: (hissing to husband) Will you just shut up! Do you realize they're going to spit in our food now?!
Me: Umm, so do you want the concretes?
BFBW: (attempting to be kind) Yes, how much is it?
Me: (shaking slightly, I ring up the concretes and the waffle cone on the side) $9.10.

At this point, I turn slightly to my coworker and give her the order to make as the customers get their money out. Turning back around a few bills are on the counter, before I could even pick them up, BFB does this:

BFB: (jabbing his finger at me, still yelling) DON'T GET ALL CRAZY! SHE'S GETTING THE DIME!

He then stalks off to the pick up window. I pick up the bills and count them, discovering only then that they were in fact a dime short, but the wife had gone to the car to get one. She comes back and gives it to me, then joins her asshat of a husband at the pick up window, where he is glaring at me as though I may just spit in his concretes. (I really really wanted to...)

I had never been yelled at like that before and had to go into the back room for several minutes and calm down because I seriously was going to cry. And all because we couldn't crush up a waffle cone into the guys concrete! How does he justify YELLING over that?!

It just baffles me...

[AirHostess]

Pathetic. You handled it well, I would have slamed the custard down and told them to f off.

[TruthHurts]

You definitely handled that well he would've been wearing the custard at that point.

[Imogene]

I think I know where you work. And may I say, the fact that you guys even have a cherry concrete makes you really spectacular in my eyes. They're better when there's caramel in them, too, but still, cherry concretes got me through my childhood.

[AKATHEPOOF]

if thats how he reacts over something so insignificant, what does he do when he gets denied a bank loan, or into a car crash?

How is he even married???? Although it sounds like she didn't think he was that out of line. She didn't care that he was being a major ass, just that her concrete would get spit in. That makes them both jerks in my book.

[DesignFox]

People are just nuts that way. I think you handled it very well, and the more you work with idiots, the better you'll get at handling it.

I've only ever had one customer scream at me to the point of scaring me... and after learning to deal with irate people (you can imagine the sheer number of those we get in the cell phone business) its gotten easier to deal with.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

This is gonna sound really strange---but I discovered long ago that the best way to deal with a man like that---is to cry. Hysterically. In their face. Like you can't stop. Even better to have a co-worker then glare at said man and go "Look what you did! I hope you're proud of yourself! Ooooh, big man, making a little girl cry!"

I know because it happened to me as a teenager too---this guy came up and blamed the failings of my place of employment on me, jabbed me in the chest and yelled abuse at me over it. I was 15, and so shocked I burst into tears. The cook came out and yelled the above at the man, and he looked completely shell-shocked. Just stared at me with his jaw hanging open. His wife finally dragged him off.

Years later I was dealing with a psycho landlady who claimed that we had destroyed her home in the 3 months we lived there. Our crime? There were some tack holes---not nail holes, but small tack holes---in the cheap 70's paneling of the living room. She went psycho over it, refused to give our deposit back, threatened to sue us all, and started calling me at work to scream at me over the phone about it.

After about a week of dealing with her phone calls at work, I finally just burst into tears on the phone with her. (This time it was on purpose.) She again, became completely shell-shocked. I said to her "What do you want from me? I mean really? What do you want? Are you trying to get me fired so I'll end up homeless and in jail? Are you tying to destroy my life because I put a few holes in your walls? What kind of evil person are you? Are you going to come and kill my cats over this? You're scaring me! Why are you so violent? I'm going to have to get a restraining order against you!"

She was absolutely floored. She sorta tried to apologize for scaring me, and never called back.

People who get like that often expect you to react the same way. If you react in a completely different way, they don't know what to do with themselves.

[edible_hat]

BFB - Big Fat Bastard (customer)

Was I the only one who imagined Fat Bastard from the Austin Powers movies as the customer?

[aurelemsrealm]

When people complain about something stupid like that, I usually just tell them that's the way it is and ignore their complaint. If they keep harping, I just tell them to leave or I'd be within my rights to call the police on them for being a public nuissance. I've decided they're not worth ruining my day, but I could sure ruin their day by calling the police if they want to make an issue of it.

I had a guy complaining today because the price we charge on fountain drink refills was higher than another store. It was one of those big 64 oz jugs, and I only charged him $1.19. That was the scan card we were told to use for "large" refills. Our regular 44 oz fountain cup is $1.41, so it's not like I was charging him "full price."

I hold up the card and point at the sticker, "Large refill!"

Then, I point at his cup, "Looks like a large refill to me."

The manager was sitting in her office, and I heard her laughing to herself.

People like that make me wish I had a taser or cattle prod. ZAP!!!! "No talking! It's my way or the highway!

[RammsteinGirl]

Well, by the sounds of it, the guy would have probably been delighted that he made someone cry. Probably would have made him feel like a big, powerful man.

[XCashier]

Well, by the sounds of it, the guy would have probably been delighted that he made someone cry. Probably would have made him feel like a big, powerful man.

Yeah, there are sick bastards who get off on that. This jerk may have been one of them.

[Custard Chick]

I half wish I would have burst out crying, and half wished I just blew up back at him, screaming, "Well if you want a f*&@ing waffle cone in your concrete, go to f*&@ing Dairy Queen!"

And then just for measure, throw a waffle cone at him. That could hurt though, I've scratched my arm on the pointy ends several times!

But throwing waffle cones is another story for another time.

The guy wasn't fat though, more just solid. The "big, fat" part just refers to how much of a Bastard he was, obviously with a capital "B," because if anyone deserves it, he does!

[SubwayGirl]

I did the crying bit once. I had just started at the store and so I didn't know any of the customers yet. (We had no customers in the store) This lady pulled up outside. All the kids scrambled over me to get to the back room before she came in. They were terrified of her, said she was a royal bitch every time she came in and no matter what they did she was always mean.

So in comes bitchy woman. She started on me right away. Boy, the kids were right. I hadn't even done anything wrong. So as I was making her sandwiches I let the tears start flowing, by the time I got her down to the register I was crying pretty hard. She practically fell over herself apologizing for her behavior, saying how sorry she was. I wiped my tears and did the voice catchy thing (you know the one where you are trying to talk but are crying so hard). Told her it was my first day. She kept apologizing and gave me $5 as an apology.


I made sure she had driven off before I turned to everyone and smiled. We all started laughing hysterically as I bought $5 worth of cookies for everyone to share. I am the Supreme Fake Crier and always have been.

That was eight years ago. This woman still comes in at least 3 times a week. She is nice as pie now!

[Imogene]

I am the Supreme Fake Crier and always have been.

Damnit, where were you when I needed a voice actress for our group's golf game? One of the characters was a cocktail waitress, and our animator did a spectacular job of animating a scene where she obviously misses her shot, and drops to her knees, puts her hands on her face, and just starts sobbing. The voice actress we had for the rest of her lines, when it came time to record the line for her sobbing, needed: an example (provided by me), coaching, general hand holding, ands other such stuff, even after I told her it didn't need to be perfect, hell, it didn't even have to be good, so I eventually just recorded the crying myself in a horrible accent, and we put that in the game.

[Reyneth]

BFB: (getting angry and starts raising his voice) Well why the hell not? Everyone else does it! Why can't you guys do it?
Me: I'm sorry sir, it's just something we can't do. I can give you-
BFB: (voiced raised again, now yelling, getting red in the face) What?! You guys are just too special, huh? You're just too special to do what EVERYONE else is doing, huh?

As a 8-year veteran (ok, about 5 actual years spread out over a span of 8) of the ice-cream stand biz* I can assure that BFB that not EVERYONE does that. I am 100% certain that my former employment has NEVER put broken wafflecones into their version of a Blizzard. And we aren't any chopshop store either, been voted Top 10 in the USA by USA Today at least twice, thank you very much.** So I wish I was standing behind him, Custard Chick, because I would have told him to shove it.

*And I have the tendinitis to prove it, thanks.
** I'm just a little proud of that company, seeing as my uncle has been involved in it for ages, I knew the founder, and my uncle owns one of the first franchise stores. Yes, he was my first boss. And he was a taskmaster!