Lady, a baby could carry that.

[Discourtesy Clerk]

I was hauling carts out in the parking lot of my store the other day, and I see a co-worker of mine taking some lady's cart out to her car. He gives me this wide-eyed look, so I walk over to see what it's about, and he looks down at the cart and mouths "Oh my god!"

The cart has three plastic bags in it. One contains only chips. The woman who's enlisted him to bring out her stuff is not elderly, not physically disabled, and not parked far from the store entrance at all.

I burst out laughing.

After unloading the crap into Entitled Bitch's expensive car, he comes back over to me, and says, "Oh my god! Did you see that?! Three bags! Chips! The heaviest freaking thing she had in there was a quarter of a watermelon!"
Me: "What the hell is her problem? Is she rich or something?"
Him: "I don't know! She just comes up and says, '*whiny voice* Ohhhh, can I get some heeeelp?' I mean, with what, lady?"
He shrugs, walks off shaking his head.

I've had some pretty silly service-outs, but that one takes it. If I'd been called out on that one, I probably wouldn't have been able to steer the cart straight from laughing so hard.

So, any similar entitled-bitch horror stories? I'd love to hear one that beats this.

[SteverinoNY]

We have that same thing at the grocery store I work in. There is this one woman who comes in on a daily basis and purchases 7-10 items at a time, always getting something heavy, such as a 24 pack of water or a 24 pack of soda for example. Whenever she gets up to the checkout, she always requests that someone lifts the item out of the cart for her and that the bagger go assist her out to her car. Her excuse is that she has bad back problems and just had surgery. Now mind you, I have had the displeasure (as shes quite nasty and insistant, also she tends to throw a hissy if something rings up wrong) of serving her on several occasions over my 4 and a half years in the store and she has given us the same speech since the day i started working there. A few questions for this woman:

1) If you have back problems, how did you lift the water/soda/random heavy item into your cart?

2) Why don't you do all your shopping at once? (she's not an elderly lady, i'd say shes in her 40's)

3) Why do you always request carryouts on the busiest days? Bring someone along to help you?

Am I being unreasonable or is this woman an annoyance?

[blas]

Oh, I sure had that kind of experience........but it wasn't a rich biotch............it was more of like The Grand Dragon Master Queen of the Trailer Park, though.

(How funny it is that everyone on here mainly deals with wealthy entitled customers, and I got stuck with the dirt poor even more entitled customers!)

Anywho.....the Grand Dragon Master Queen lady....

It was a Friday evening, about 5:30 last fall. Of course, the store was JAM packed, everyone had just gotten paid, so all the mechanics, construction workers, etc had to come in and dirty up my store and bathrooms, and then on top of that, pay for a 12 pack of cheap beer with a $100 bill and make me run out of money (and they ALL had big wads of hundreds and fifties and twenties in their pockets. I guess none of them have ever heard of a savings/checking account!). Then we had the paranoid customers who swore up and down that gas prices were going to jack up on Friday night, so they had to rush rush rush and top off their tank (that was already close to Full) with $5 or so........and gas hardly ever went up on Fridays........we also had the kids that were out of school and causing trouble on a Friday night loitering at the gas station...

In the middle of typical chaotic Friday evening, it came to be this woman's turn. She was very large, very smelly, had ratty, icky, over bleached blonde hair and more craters on her face than the moon. I also noticed she had two tattoos on her neck of Nazi symbols (not the swastika.........the symbol itself is called the Sigrune, and she had two of them).

She then proceeded to try and heave both her cases of beer on to the counter. When her attempt failed, then her brain kicked in, and she did one at a time (they were different brands, so I couldn't scan one twice). As I was scanning the first one, she takes a $50 out of her pocket and literally whips it at me (like the other 99% of my customers did. I must look like a stripper or something). She was muttering something to herself, I couldn't really understand what....

Anyways, I gave her her change, then she scoffed at me and says, "And now YOU can help me carry these out to my car!"...............yeah right lady.......do you see the 10 or more customers behind you? The line was going back towards the beer cooler, and it was so bad people were making their own individual lines. I didn't mean to be rude, but I was the ONLY person working, and I was slammed. In this case, she'd HAVE to make two trips. Boo Hoo.

She said "The service here SUCKS!" and tromped away, appearing to handle both cases of beer just fine.

Forgive me everyone, but at that very moment, I really wanted to Hail Hitler her. I think it would have been priceless.

[gundam40]

Blas, you should've told her to screw herself. If she can handle moving the beer cases to your counter, she can move it to her car. Also, this is a GAS STATION, not a freaking supermarket, and even then, I don't think it's expected that someone will carry your groceries out for you...

[Becks]

Vaguely related to the topic...

One time I was working the morning shift, and when it was over, I decided to do a bit of shopping for the man of the household.

I mostly bought ramen noodle soups, because that's what the man wanted. As I'm walking out the door, one of the carryout guys asked me if I wanted help with that.

Uhhhhhh...I'm NOT crippled, but thanks for the offer anyway...

And where are these people when I actually WOULD like/need some help??

[phillippbo]

I mostly bought ramen noodle soups, because that's what the man wanted. As I'm walking out the door, one of the carryout guys asked me if I wanted help with that.

Uhhhhhh...I'm NOT crippled, but thanks for the offer anyway...

Its been eons and ages since I was a bagboy, but when I worked at Winn Dixie back in the day, we got in trouble (and I mean deep) if we didn't offer to carry a customer's groceries out, no matter how small the order.

Along those lines, a customer tried to get me in trouble for trying to help her. The customer was a lady probably about middle-aged (mid 50's or so) and had two overflowing carts of groceries and a person who I assumed was her elderly mother in tow in a wheelchair. I saw her struggle to get to the checkout, so I offered to help unload the carts and bag the groceries. She was rather curt, but told me politely she didn't want any help, and wanted to bag the groceries herself. I was confused, but went on my merry way, until I was stopped by the AM and told to offer my help to the lady with the two carts and wheelchair-bound woman. I explained to the AM that I already offered help and was refused, but he insisted that I ask again. I asked again, and the customer told me more forcefully she didn't want any help.

You'd think that'd be the end of it, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be wrong. I no sooner had walked three feet when the Store Manager stops me and asks why I haven't offered to help the lady with the two carts of groceries and the wheelchair-bound woman. I explained that I had offered twice and was refused, but he insisted that I ask again. So, I sheepishly ask her again after apologizing for offering assistance for a third time (imagine, finding it necessary to apologize for offering help), and she tears into me for a few seconds. I don't remember what exactly she said (it was a long time ago), but I remember it wasn't pretty, and the elderly woman in the wheelchair apologized to me for her daughter's behavior.

Is that the end of the story? Not by a long shot, my friends. I tried to move on to other duties, but this time I was stopped by the District Manager (who's office was in our store) and wanted me to offer help to the lady with the carts, yadda, yadda. I tried to explain that I already offered help three times, was refused all three times, and she had yelled at me the last time. That didn't fly with Mr DM, who was a stickler for every tiny, insignificant rule the pencil-pushers at corporate decided on. For a forth time, I very sheepishly offered assistance to the lady with the carts, after apologizing profusely for asking again. This time, she laid into me for a good five minutes, calling me names, screaming at me, and accusing me of sexism because I didn't think that she could handle it because she was a woman, etc, etc. If this had happened today, I'd have had a few choice words for her, but back then I was just 16 and it was my first job, so I just retreated to the next register with an older lady who was excited to have her groceries bagged and carried out.

When I came back in from carrying out the other order, the lady with the carts was complaining to the head cashier, Felicia. God, I miss Felicia. Anyway, the head cashier put up one hand, put the other on her hip, and told her (nearly as I can remember):

"Look, lady, all Phillip was trying to do was his job and help your sorry butt. He did nothing wrong, and I will thank you to leave my store NOW."

Did I mention that I miss Felicia? The customer finally left, and I was allowed to take an extended break to calm down.

The funny thing is, that this customer became one of many (including the DM) that would allow only me to bag and carry out their groceries. Funny how that works, huh?

[AFpheonix]

While she was mildly sucky, I probably would have been annoyed too if I'd been pestered no less than 4 times by the same person. Not to excuse her yelling, of course.

Your bosses were the truly sucky ones for not just listening to you, and methinks the core problem, BELIEVING you when you said she'd already refused service.

[Rapscallion]

Ah, this takes me back to when I was shackled to the counter in retail.

Let me introduce you to the world of Mr and Mrs Kamras. That was their real name, and since they're probably dead by now as a result of her driving, I feel safe in telling it. Over here, we have CAMRA, a group dedicated to promoting decent beer (Campaign for Real Ale). We therefore knew this particular couple as the Kampaign for Real Arseholes.

Mr Kampaign wasn't so bad - he was just boring. He could bore for Britain, and I fully suspect half the enemy fighter casualties in WW1 were a result of his droning voice and tedious tales. That also gives an idea of their age - somewhat advanced. I would have tried to give a more accurate idea of the age of them, but that would have meant looking at Mrs Kampaign for longer than is safe.

Mrs Kampaign was the driving force of their shopping expeditions. She was a terrifying amalgam of several customer types. She wasn't cheap of spirit and wallet as many were, but she was a Digger, a Sweetseeker (wanted to know if everything was sweet - a terrifying prospect when you have many different products), a Bouncer, and a Till Hogger extraordinaire. Many was the time she would get you to ring up her purchases and then wander off with a mind ot examine every product in the store once more. The only escape from this fate was to have another customer come in and then ring her purchase out, at which point you'd wonder how a little old lady could break Olympic sprinting speeds. Even her husband broke off his droning to raise his eyes to the sky when she did that, but he soon returned to the same story once more.

Above all, however, she was a Good Customer. A genuine good customer will know what they are and not need to demonstrate it. Within the echoing confines of her narrow mind, Mrs Kampaign knew that she was a Good Customer, and she beat you over the head with it, smiling patronisingly at you as you did her bidding.

She loved to have stuff carried out to her car. She wore a smug smile and waved her hands graciously at cars that had to screech to a halt as she led the way to her car. She tried this on me one day as I was dealing with a special order of catfood.

"Of course, you'll be more than happy to carry my purchases to my car, won't you?" she trilled as I worked at the butcher's block.

I raised up one hand and a gobbet of something horrible slid off. "No can do. I'm mincing lamb lungs right now," I told her.

She wandered back to the other counter saying, "You know, I don't think he likes me."

That was probably the truest thing she had ever said. She broke the winning streak by saying to R, our elderly assistant, "But you'd be delighted to help me, won't you?"

R doesn't like the cold - not one bit. She hates the cold. It was cold outside. She had to get across the road to another shop's car park where Mrs Kampaign had parked, only to turn to see where she was and Mrs K was going into another shop. R, an active yet elderly lady herself, was forced to wait in the cold for another twenty minutes as Mrs K committed acts of shopping in the bakery, whereupon she was followed out by another member of staff. More cars screeched to a halt as she made her indifferent way across the road, waving graciously at the clouds of smoke from screeching rubber.

R reports that Mrs K took five goes to get her keys into the door lock, none of the first four attempts coming within six inches. As I said, they are likely perished by virtue of her 'point and guess' style of driving.

I related these events in the local Threshers (a large chain of off licences - bottle shops in the US), and the then-manageress there said that Mrs K had once spent half an hour pratting her around, trilling that she was a good customer, demanding to know everything about every wine in stock, before eventually buying one bag of crisps (potato chips for those in the colonies). It contained about one ounce of crisps.

She expected it carried out because she was a Good Customer.

Rapscallion

[Discourtesy Clerk]

Dear god, Rapscallion, that snotty bitch totally tops my story.


And Phillip? Your bosses were retarded. The customer was a bit more snarky than she should have been, but that whole incident was the managers' fault. What kind of manager can't trust their employees with something that small?? Oy. I guess I'm lucky, the only manager at my store that's like that is the head store manager. High-strung like you wouldn't believe. Nobody can do anything right when she's in the store, and we're all rushing around trying to meet her demands. (And of course, trying to duck her as best we can. ) I could definitely see her doing that.

Kudos to Felicia, too. She sounds pretty awesome.

[Crosshair]

Forgive me everyone, but at that very moment, I really wanted to Hail Hitler her. I think it would have been priceless.

I think everyone would have gotten a good laugh and they would be a little more easy on you.

[JustADude]

Uhhhhhh...I'm NOT crippled, but thanks for the offer anyway...

And where are these people when I actually WOULD like/need some help??

Probably stuck helping people like Mrs. K, the Dragon Lady, etc.

[rdp78]

A couple hacks ago I remember someome posting about being hassled by a grocery store employee into letting her carry her three bags to her car and I think he was twice her age. Anyway she said she would never go back there again becuase of it.

[Discourtesy Clerk]

Yuck. I hate guys like that. Actually, that sounds a bit like something my greasy male manager would do...

[susan]

A couple hacks ago I remember someome posting about being hassled by a grocery store employee into letting her carry her three bags to her car and I think he was twice her age. Anyway she said she would never go back there again becuase of it.

That was me. And I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea. I politely declined his offer at least twice, but he wouldn't go away. He followed me to the door until I finally let him take the bags. I am a very shy person and back then I was even shyer. Him making such a big deal out of it embarrassed the bejeebers out of me, which is the main reason I never went back. It also made me angry because I was being polite and declining with thanks, but he would not take No for an answer.

There is a big difference between offering a service and badgering a person into accepting it.

[RobertM]

Benefit of the doubt!!

I remember some years ago I was shopping with the wife in a supermarket and she was in the queue for the checkout.

In front of her was a middle aged woman with a lot of shopping, as I was standing there waiting for the wifes turn at the till I asked her if she would like a hand packing it.

She replied "I am not disabled!!"

"No" I replied "But I am a gentleman and I was giving you the benefit of the doubt that you are a lady, hence the offer to help"

The look on her face was priceless, and not helped by the girl operating the till getting a fit of the giggles!!!

Robert