The One I wanted to hurt the most...

[DaDairyDruid]

This Customer is the one I wish I could have caused hurt to. While I know this is wrong, He just made me so mad.....

This was several years ago. It was right before a major winter holiday. I think it was New Years. While not major "food" holidays (like Easter or Thanksgiving) The store was very busy as there was snow in the forecast, and that means that if you live in STL everyone HAS to go out and buy milk and bread. IIRC this was the year we got like 10 inches New years eve.

Anyways, there were 2 of us in the department working as fast as we could to keep the shelves stocked. We had a shopping cart in the aisle for our empty boxes. We would knock the boxes down flat so they stacked better, and the top box was at LEAST 18 inches over the rim of the basket. While stocking I suddenly hear the unmistakable "thwap" of a box hitting the floor. I figure we have finally filled the cart too full, and its time to run it back to the Bailer. I turn arround and there is a customer, taking the boxes and throwing them on the floor!

Me: Excuse me, but what are you doing?
SC: My cart is full and I need another one, so I am taking this one.(his cart IS indeed full to overflowing)
Me: Well I am sorry sir, but that cart is being used. If you need another one, you should go to the front of the store and get another from there.
SC: Well if you werent so GODDAMN lazy YOU would go to the front and get another ::goes back to dropping boxes on the floor::

At this point I saw RED. It was all I could to to keep from saying or doing anything to hurt this person. at the time I saw I had 3 options.

1) start picking up the boxes, and put them back in the cart.
2) take the cart, and run it to the back room.
3) go to the front and get another cart.


I chose 3.

I then spent the next 5 minutes picking up ALL the boxes this had put on the floor. and running the boxes to the bailer. I then left the cart in the backroom and told the CW I was with what happened and why it was there from there on in.

If he had ASKED me if he could take the cart. I would have emptied it and let him have it THEN.

Or he could have asked me to go and get a cart for him. I probably hve rolled my eyes at him, but done it.

BUT to do that, when we were as busy as we were...... I hope Karma is a bitch.

[Calud]

I... just.... I... uh.

Wow. How can someone be such an asshat?

[MrSunshineState]

Ugh. Another case of a customer thinking that employees are worthless and that he can treat them however he wants.

[Apathy]

SC: Well if you weren't so GODDAMN lazy YOU would go to the front and get another.

Me: Well if you weren't so GODDAMN lazy YOU would go to the front and get another, you shameless fuckwad.
*Forces fuckface's head to explode with concentrated, rage-based telekinesis*

[Darkwish]

My brain to mouth filter would have instantly fried from the overload in that situation. I wouldn't have hit him or anything, but he would have gotten such an earful that he would be curled up in the middle of the aisle crying by the time I got through with him.

Congratulations! You handled that much better than I would have.

[Pagan]

I... just.... I... uh.

Wow. How can someone be such an asshat?

Um what site is this again?

BTW - Bonjour! Ça va?

[ShinyGreenApple]

Ugh. Another case of a customer thinking that employees are worthless and that he can treat them however he wants.

Not necessarily just employees. I used to work at a Wal-Mart supercenter, and during the holidays, there was more than one instant when a customer would come through my checkout line and vent to me about how people would take things out of their cart when their back was turned, put their own items in it, and run away. Just because they didn't want to go up front and get one

Bonus suck points if the nice customer lost a 'hot' item in the process. (ie, this usually happened in the toy aisle)

[SailorMan]

My girlfriend used to own the giftshop in an airport branch of a Northern California Holiday Inn. She had autographed photos tacked up on the wall, of comedians and other (minor) celebrities who'd stopped in, at one time or another. I was in the store once (this was when I'd first tried to get her to go out with me), and so was a man who was staying at the hotel. He'd asked her about a couple of the pictures, and then proceeded to pull one off of the wall, in order to look at it more closely. The whole time he did this, my girlfriend was telling him: "Stop! Don't do that! That's private property!" Did he stop? Of course not. He acted as if he didn't hear a word she'd said. Then, after a leisurely perusal of the photo, he tacked it back up on the wall, and casually sauntered out of the store.

I spent two months trying to convince her to go out with me (MSC sailors had a really bad reputation at that hotel; and some of them, I'm sorry to say, deserved it). During that time, I saw many more instances similar to the one I described. I think that some people who suffer from 'entitlement syndrome' believe that the last vestiges of the European master/servant class system (or mentality) still exists in the U.S. of A., but only in the world of retail. Where else in our democracy could you expect to feel that sense of power and superiority over others, and openly treat someone as if they were less human than yourself? That this is, in fact, institutionalized in our worldview is evident by those who would rush to defend the 'poor' customer, chastised for exercising this 'right' (and here I'm thinking of a certain 'Dear Abby' column).

[walking with scissors]

What an unbelievable asshat.

I'm in the STL area, so I know what you mean about the panic aisles filling up when there is the least little bit of snow predicted. "OMG WE MUST HAVE MILK AND BREAD!! MILKANDBREAD! MILKANDBREAD!" *STAMPEDE*

What they do with all that milk and bread is beyond me.

[Retail Associate]

SCs were always pulling that when I worked in Pet & Garden. Almost everyday I would catch some asshat taking off with my cart. They'd usually take it elsewhere to unload the cardboard.

I finally started strapping my cart to the pallet rack with a bungy cord. I'd wrap it over, under, around and through the wire basket several times. It was fun to watch someone grab the cart only to have it bounce back in resistance.

They'd always get that WTF look on their faces and give up.

[Jester]

At this point I saw RED. It was all I could to to keep from saying or doing anything to hurt this person. at the time I saw I had 3 options.

1) start picking up the boxes, and put them back in the cart.
2) take the cart, and run it to the back room.
3) go to the front and get another cart.


I chose 3.

I was so hoping you didn't choose Door Number 3. *sigh*

That being said, you may not have realized it at the time, but you DID, in fact, have other options.

Option 4, Which Will Not Get You Fired:

"Sir, we are not being lazy. We are using this cart. We need it so we can more effectively and quickly stock the store so that you and your fellow customers can get all the items you may need in the most timely manner possibly. Please understand that this is for your convenience. There are plenty of carts available for your use at the front of the store."

Option 5, Which Would In Fact Probably Get You Fired But Might Be Worth It:

"Listen hear, jackwad. We have been slaving all day to make sure that everything you and your ilk could possibly need or want from us is on the shelves where you would expect to find it. We are using this cart to dispose of the boxes from said products. You accuse us of being lazy when we are working our asses off, while you hypocritically are too lazy to move your own fat ass the short way up to the front of the store where there are tons of fucking carts available for your use, that the staff is not in fact using? Do me a favor and pull your undersized pin of a head out of your oversized asshole, and get your fucking hands off those boxes NOW. Then do the world a favor: go to hardward, buy a chainsaw, rev it up, and then slice your worthless fucking noggin off your motherfucking neck! Personally, I doubt that waste of skin you call a wife or those hellspawn that are your offspring would even notice the damn difference."

Sure, you'd lose your job. But the look on douchewaffle's face? Pee-riceless.

And I'll bet you twenty to one he would put the boxes back and retreat. Quickly. Meekly. And fearfully.

Ah, once again I realize that it's probably a good thing I am not in retail.

[DaDairyDruid]

As Much as I Wanted to do #4, I was SO ANGRY it would have come out like #5

And with the store as busy as it was. the very small (now nearly dead) sane part of me told me it wasn't worth pissing off all the customers within earshot by Cursing this poor fellow out.

[earl colby pottinger]

?????

What an unbelievable asshat.

I'm in the STL area, so I know what you mean about the panic aisles filling up when there is the least little bit of snow predicted. "OMG WE MUST HAVE MILK AND BREAD!! MILKANDBREAD! MILKANDBREAD!" *STAMPEDE*

What they do with all that milk and bread is beyond me.

Bread Pudding? But then raisins are a must.

[elysia]

As Much as I Wanted to do #4, I was SO ANGRY it would have come out like #5

And with the store as busy as it was. the very small (now nearly dead) sane part of me told me it wasn't worth pissing off all the customers within earshot by Cursing this poor fellow out.

As frustrating as it is what an absolute fucktard that guy was and how nice you were, you actually really did the best thing possible. I too would have wanted to launch headfirst into #5 - but then you would have been arguing with a stupid, fat, rude, possibly inbred waste of life over... a cart... thereby lowering yourself considerably. This dickhead made you mad but his life probably sucks all the time. There is satisfaction in that.

edit: It reminds me of my adventures at Denny's, where a certain customer would - meanly, as in, not jokingly in any way - throw strawberry jellies at me out of the mixed jelly dish on his regular table if I wasn't quick enough to spot him from the parking lot and remove them. He hated strawberry, yes, and would throw them at me. It was so degrading. He never tipped. He came in every day. He occasionally cussed at me if the coffee wasnt fresh enough or hot enough or if he thought I was too slow or the cook was too slow or if another customer was sitting in his spot. I wasnt allowed to kick him out.
I saw an article in the paper one day about how he embezzled a bunch of money from a local hospital. His wife left him. He lost his house, because it was hers. He went to jail. I was freed from his tyranny and had a good laugh. Rest assured karma exists.

[Mike Taylor]

SC: Well if you werent so GODDAMN lazy YOU would go to the front and get another ::goes back to dropping boxes on the floor::

(Into a walkie and right in front of the SC.) "Could I have the manager on duty over to (insert department/aisle here)? I have a customer who is being verbally abusive."