Rude and obnoxious customer

[Lace Neil Singer]

Well, I thought I had it bad enough after having the last nasty customer but this one was worse.

He was one of the customers who just shoves their card in without listening to the cashier. I politely asked him to take his card out... and that's when the SC-ness kicked in.

SC: I don't care what you have to say, just shut up and let me get on with this.
Me: But you have to...
SC: I don't care! Shut up!
Me: (gamely trying to tell the man to take his card out so I could enter his fuel) But...
SC: (talks right over me) Shut up, you stupid bitch! I don't care what you're trying to say!

At that point, I got up and walked out back in tears. My manager told me what happened after that when she served the customer in my stead. Basically, she told him off for being so rude when all I was trying to do was to enter his fuel on the till which I couldn't do with his credit card in the machine. Then she told him after the transaction that a note had been made of his registration number and to not bother returning to the petrol station cuz he was now banned.

A PS to this is that I told a few people I know about the incident. One person who is an aquaintence, rather than a friend, said, "Oh, he must have been having a bad day."

Look, I don't give a monkey's toss how bad a day you're having, you do NOT take it out on a defenceless cashier who can't talk back to you and tell you what an arsehole you're being! Just go home and punch your pillow rather than attack someone who can't fight back. That's being a bully, not "having a bad day". At least I don't have to worry about this SC returning now he's banned.

[PastryGal]

Kudos for awesome manager telling them off and telling them they were banned. We need to clone that manager stat!!

Hugs and cookies to you for that horrible incident too : (

[Pixilated]

I've heard "having a bad day" used to excuse some seriously inexcusable behaviour. I often wonder how the people trying to use it would react if that same behaviour was used on them.

Cheers for your manager! The SC can take his SC-dom somewhere else. And I'm sorry you had to put up with him for even a nanosecond.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Thanks. *hugs*

When I have a bad day, I go quiet and save it up for when I get home; then go on zOMG! and get out my raeg that way. It never occurred to me, even before I started working in retail, to bully a cashier cuz of it. I guess some people never move on from toddler tantrums.

[PepperElf]

bad day? yeah so what!

bad day =/= other people become punching bags.


otherwise your acquaintance would be more than happy for you to start calling him/her foul names and insults left and right cos.... well you had a bad day too! bet they wouldn't like THAT now would they? It's different then THEY'RE the punching bag eh?

[cindybubbles]

Let us know what happens if he ever does try to come back!

[thehuckster]

I wonder if he was having a bad day because someone else had a bad day and spread it onto him.

See how that sort of thing works? Bad days are like colds. When you have one, you gotta keep it from spreading to other people.

[Tora]

I think "having a bad day" is possibly the one excuse I despise the most for excusing bad behaviour. I have had some pretty shitty days, that has not stopped me from keeping it to myself and not taking it out on whatever wage slave was in the current vicinity. It's not their fault, after all.

[Merriweather]

Great manager! We need more like her.

As for having a bad day - having a really, honestly horrible day is an excuse for not smiling or chatting, perhaps even for being a bit curt or sounding rather grumpy. It is NOT an excuse to deliberately be offensive and foul to anyone just trying to do their job.

And as for taking it out on someone who isn't allowed to talk back to them, that's exactly why most of these people are so bitchy to retail workers, they're cowardly bullies, who only go after people they know can't come back at them for fear of their job. They'd never act that way to someone who might give them back what they give out.

[EricKei]

I've had bad days, too...I deal with them by hitting the arcade (or going home) and playing a fighting game or a shooter. This guy? He was just a dick, and he probably treats people that way whether he's had a bad day or not. NO EXCUSES!

That's being a bully, not "having a bad day". At least I don't have to worry about this SC returning now he's banned.

Hopefully >_> How does yer place enforce it? By "having his number", do you mean that the pumps can somehow deny him service?

[emax4]

Now is when you cue up the sad face of the SC, slowly sulking towards his car, knowing he's banned for life, then play "So ya had a bad day.."

[Bob The Random Boy Wonder]

It's stories like this that make me wish we could all stick up for ourselves in the retail environment. If I had my own store, you'd better believe my employees could defend themselves, and damn the consequences. Other customers would also be encouraged to join in the public shaming of said asshole customer. If you're going to make a defenseless cashier cry, you deserve the not-so-subtle verbal reaming you've got coming to you. I guarantee you this would cut down on the amount of SC's. If they know they're going to be called out on the carpet for this stuff, the shitheaddery would stop.

I'm sorry you had to deal with that guy, Lace. Kudos to your manager for banning him!

[taxguykarl]

To the manager for banning that
Now that he's banned, his day got even worse. Isn't that a crying shame?

[Jester]

I've had bad days. I've had plenty of bad days. And I don't pretend that I'm all smiles and unicorns on those days, and might be described as "grumpy," "in a bad mood," "sour," "unpleasant," or perhaps by some even a bit of an asshole. But never has that ever translated to me abusing someone doing their job. Ever. If I'm having a bad day and you're ringing me up, I may not be your favorite customer of the day, but I sure as hell am not going to abusive towards you. Hell, even on the WORST day of my adult life (July 14, 2003), I never abused anyone who was doing their job. Sure, there were plenty of people who were walking down the street who got a very bad vibe off of me and crossed the street to give me a wide berth or avoid me altogether (I was kinda giving off a Night Stalker-ish vibe, to be honest), but even on THAT day, where I could have stared Satan down and ripped his heart right out of his demonic chest with a mere thought, even on THAT day, I never would have thought I had any right to act abusively or nastily towards someone who was doing their fucking job.

If you are having such a bad day that you can't even think to behave like a civilized adult, perhaps on that day you should stay the fuck home!

[Willis]

I'm not trying to be mean, but I don't know how some of you guys allow yourself to cry over these asshole SC's. In these situations I'm the type of person to jut say "ok" and leave it at that. Basically I'll let someone fall flat on their face and mentally and/or physically walk away. Reason being is I sometimes tend to bend over backwards to help someone but when they piss over all my attempts, I disengage myself from them because I feel they're ungrateful or my help is unwanted and they've expressed it as rudely as they could. When they finally figure out whatever they're doing isn't working for them and protest, just say something like "you told me you didn't care what I had to say".