Retail Workers of Reddit, What Was Your ‘GET THE F**K OUT’ Experience with a Customer?

1: The Beanie Babes Craze.

“I worked at McDonalds in 1997 and we had Beanie Babies as happy meal toys at one point. It was insane.

They literally had to buy a security cage to keep the toys locked down in the back. They were delivered with a security escort. People were ordering “100 happy meals with no food” because we couldn’t sell the toys by themselves.

One day I heard a commotion up front and found my high school counselor reaching across the counter grabbing one of the owners by the shirt because we were out of the pink flamingo. I’ll never forget the look in her eyes. She had to be dragged out. It’s scary how easy it can be to work people up into a frenzy.” – fernyer, Reddit User.

It’s either their high school counselor saw the owner selling it to someone before them and she was enraged. Or she was obsessed and lost her mind. Either way, we’re sure that the company worked to stopping it soon as the customers were no longer about the food.

2: Two Screaming Customers.

“Two women came into the store screaming at each other. As I’m coming out from the back, I gather from the yelling that one had nearly hit the other’s car. Nearly, but no actually incident had occurred.

It was a busy Saturday; people are starting to stare. I’m trying to gather my wits, thinking how best to handle it, when my manager came flying in from nowhere. She just yells, “Either come in here and shop like people or go outside with the rest of the animals!” One left, one stayed.” – Triangle_Graph, Reddit User.

They were trying to handle the situation politely but the manager wasn’t having it. She must have felt it’s better to have two less customers and a peaceful environment. The other lady must have left because she felt insulted by the manager.

3: Violent Customer.

“Worked at RadioShack for 6 months while in college. Pretty much had at least one terrible experience per shift.

The one that stands out the most was a guy who wanted us to honor the warranty on his iPhone cable. The thing was a mutilated mess. It had clearly stopped working and he had tried to fix it himself by cutting the cable apart and attempting to solder two wires together.

We calmly explained that we couldn’t process a claim for an item that was willfully destroyed, and he starts screaming in our faces about how “RadioShack is a scam!” and “I’m going to sue all of you!” And then he tries to WHIP my coworker (a 5 ft tall non-threatening woman) with the cable! She managed to turn her head and catch the wire with her hand before it caught her in the face. Myself and another employee chased him out of the store and called the police but nothing came of it.

RadioShack shoppers were the worst.” – DarekLowbrow, Reddit User.

The customer is a violent one. He should have brought the iPhone when it had issues and not mess with it. He was enraged he had hit a brick wall probably. Too bad.

4: Strange Demands.

“I worked in a T-Mobile store. A lady comes in screaming about how she bought a phone the previous day, didn’t buy insurance and dropped it in a pool. She was demanding I give her a new phone for free.

But she wasn’t even our customer. She was a Verizon customer. She screamed at me for about ten minutes demanding I call our manager. She then started yelling at other customers about how awful we were. Called the cops.” – Lucasaurusawesome, Reddit User.

They were confused as to how she would request for a new phone when she wasn’t their customer. She must have felt she could request from any store. Lesson? Always buy insurance on your phone.

5: Sense of Entitlement.

“This tale takes place roughly 22 years ago at a community college bookstore.

As with any college bookstore, the start of the semesters 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. And 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 gets to me. She is obviously not lacking in funds. Her son has dropped all his classes and she is returning his books. Ok. Cool. I do all the paperwork, hand her back the document and direct her inside.

And she goes 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. Because they knew….

I take a break and shake it off. Everyone has bad days. And I know that I have the customers’ statements to back me up. A few days pass and the manager gets a call.

It’s the president of the college. With a complaint. THE WOMAN CALLED THE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ME. So, my manager and I head off to a meeting with the president and the woman. We walked in calm and polite.

The woman tells her tirade, still screaming and cursing. My manager pulls out the statements and without a word, hands 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” used a whole lot. And I do remember him saying “Don’t waste my time ever again.” before he showed her the door.” – Fiber_fan, Reddit User.

The woman went too far reporting to the president. She must have been enraged that things didn’t go her way [entitlement in every sense of the word]. Thankfully the complaints from the customers helped solve the problem.

6: Empty Threats.

“When I worked in the tool department at sears, a guy wanted to get a replacement on his tape measure. I couldn’t replace it because it was the tape that was messed up due to the guy mistreating it and not caring cause “sEaRs WiLl RePlAcE iT fOr FrEe.”

Dude threatened to go out to his truck and get his gun, come back in and “shoot you [points at me], you [point at my manager who had taken over already], and you [points at my coworker who was standing nearby].”

I gave him the “why haven’t you done it yet?” look and he left.

I worked at sears; I was ready to die.” – AnalLeaseHolder, Reddit User.

He must have thought replacements are for every problem. He was feeling entitled and got mad that he wasn’t having his way. He thought his threats would have worked too.

7: Stolen Goods.

“I worked at a pawn shop for a couple years.

We had a customer pawn a chainsaw which turned up stolen and was confiscated by police which causes the store to lose money and police to be aware that he is a known thief.

He came back something close to three months later to pawn something else. I didn’t recognize him right away.

I asked him if he had pawned anything before and he said yes, so I asked his last name and entered it into our computer system which promptly said STOLEN.

First, I thought, “Really? You came back here?”

I gave my boss (it’s literally a two-person store) our not very frequently used signal to discreetly call the police. Meanwhile, I started acting like I was working on his loan and stalled a bit.

Just a couple minutes later, a couple police cars pulled up and officers quietly walked in and he immediately gave up.

I didn’t really have to say anything to him. The handcuffs spoke for themselves.” – notsurethepoint, Reddit User.

The customer must have thought that he could get away with it again. Or maybe he didn’t know that they could tell if goods were stolen or not. Thankfully they recognized him and called the cops.

8: Sexual Pervert.

“When the old guy I was serving kept looking at my chest and making creepy facial expressions, I asked him if he wanted a drink or he was just going to keep staring. He excitedly put his hands out and went ‘oh, I can do more than stare!’ and tried to walk behind the bar to grab my chest.

I told him to get the hell out, to which he seemed very shocked and outraged so I just started to loudly shout back to him ‘Sir, please do not try to grope my chest. You need to leave’ over and over until the rest of the bar was staring and he was panickily whispering for me to please be quiet. So that the wife I didn’t know he came with wouldn’t hear him.

Can only imagine the argument that unfolded while she was dragging him out.” – orangelego, Reddit User.

He must have felt it was cool to approach bartenders that way and decided to go for it. That’s public sexual embarrassment and they weren’t having it. He got what he deserved in the end.

9: Fake Returns.

“It couldn’t have been more obvious that a guy was trying to return stolen merchandise. He “lost” the receipt, didn’t know when it was purchased, paid with cash so we couldn’t just 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, and then he took out his iPhone and without pressing a 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.” – gsg4n1, Reddit User.

He must have felt he could play on their intelligence. It would have been too embarrassing when they didn’t fall for it. If you can’t find the receipt, you should remember other details, right?

10: Mocker.

“Not me saying the “Get the f**k out” part, but my manager on my behalf.

I’d recently had a very bad experience in my first paid job, and I quit, because I felt so insecure about my appearance and ability in a typical work environment (I have achondroplasia dwarfism, making me 4ft tall and disproportionate). So instead I was volunteering in a small-town charity shop, to gain some confidence again. My manager knew all about this.

I was in the back room when this guy comes in and rings the bell. I walk in, and he just stares at me, laughs and says “Is this Santa’s Workshop??” I just stand there, and my manager, who is at the till, says coldly “Excuse me?” and the guy looks taken aback. “Sorry, I did not expect to see someone like that here!”

They both look at me and I just awkwardly said something like “Well…I am” and shrugged. And it would have been fine, until he then said “So, do you make the toys?”

My manager walked out from behind the counter, pointed to the door, and said flatly “Do not disrespect my staff. Get out.” He started apologizing. “OUT!”

He still seemed to find the whole situation hilarious and left. Man, I miss that manager. She was the best. Thank you, Bianca.” – Usidore_, Reddit User.

It might be normal to be taken aback at someone’s disability but not right to make fun of them. He must have felt he could get away with it. Their manager did the right thing.

11: Racists.

“Worked in a bar for many years. We had a waitress and her customers 9weren’t happy with her. They ordered a very expensive bottle service from her, and then called the manager over. When he went to talk to them, they told him “The service is fine, but we’d a prefer a waitress that isn’t a n-word”.

The manager asked them to repeat what they said. He nodded and walked away. I was stunned. “Well”, said manager went and got their tab, ran their credit card with 30% percent tip and returned to their table with our biggest bouncers on duty. He told the racists “Please sign and leave with these gentlemen.

“I have your photos on camera and you are banned from here and all the other clubs we own. Do NOT ever call an employee that again. Now, if you refuse to sign your tab, we will send a picture of your ID to your FB account and post exactly why you were thrown out of here”.

The customers signed the tab, with the tip, and left with the bouncers. That manager was one of the best guys I’ve ever worked for. He apologized to the waitress and gave her the tip. He tolerated no bullsh*t from us or anyone.” – FunnyMiss, Reddit User.

Their manager believed in the rights of others and was a no-nonsense person. He did the right thing for his employee and seems like a pretty nice man. Racism isn’t cool.

12: Abusive Customer.

“I used to work the reception desk at a tattoo shop. I had MANY gtfo moments but the one that stands out was a dude coming in with his girlfriend to get his name tattooed on her. She looked terrified, wouldn’t make eye contact with me, didn’t talk directly to me, and barely spoke. The whole conversation was the dude giving me her license and saying “SHE wants MY name tattooed on to her.”

I took way more info from both of them than I needed and tried to get the woman to come in back alone so I could talk to her, but boyfriend wouldn’t have it. I eventually went back and got the shop manager (big dude) and told him what was up. I came back to the counter and lied saying we didn’t have walk-ins that day and dude got pissed. I started yelling, shop manager came out and physically removed them from the shop. I called the cops and provided all the info I had. Was basically told they couldn’t do anything unless it was self-reported. I still think about the woman all the time.” – killersim, Reddit User.

They were trying to help the lady. It seemed like she was scared or under threat, the boyfriend made sure there was no alone time. That’s if he was her boyfriend, he could be a trafficker…who knows?

13: Trouble Maker.

“I work in a Dutch 24/7 gas station. This German kid (20-25 yo) came in the shop drunk (while driving). Looked for beer (which we are not allowed to sell), and got all mad that I hid the beers. He wanted to start a fight and he wanted to drive off in his car.

That was impossible since I locked the door and alerted the cops. He lost his driver’s license and got a huge fine, which he had to pay instantly.” – Cantinabandsong, Reddit User.

They were smart enough to alert the cops. And brave too as he could have started a fight and harmed them. We’re quite sure the ‘fine and seized driver’s license’ will bring him back to his right senses.

14: Disrespectful Customer.

“The one that jumps out to me was when a customer was trying to return a wall mount that was six months out of policy. He was being snide and verbally abusive to the customer service rep, saying things like “I know you can do this; I return shit out of policy all the time.” Or “Well, if you weren’t so stupid this would be done by now.”

He ended up making her start to cry when he said “Jesus Christ, are you retarded??”

Well, she worked with special needs kids as a volunteer and this pushed her over the edge. I walked over to him and told her to go into the back and asked him why he thinks it’s okay to talk like that.

I’m guessing since I’m a male and a manager he decided to be respectful. I was pissed off beyond belief at how he’d made her cry though so I cut off his explanations and told him to get out. He said “Now hold on, let’s all calm down” and I grabbed my radio piece and told my security to go ahead and get the police on the way down there for someone trespassing. He left so fast at that comment that he forgot his wall mount.” – limpdickskit, Reddit User.

If he had been nicer and respectful, he might have had his problem solved. He was verbally abusive and wanted to take advantage of the lady. Thankfully, they [the manager] stepped in and handled the situation rightly.

15: Rude and Stressful.

“This was over the phone; the customer was unhappy with their purchase so I sent another one out to them in case it was defective.

He calls me later that week saying the new one had the same problem and he would get violent if it wasn’t solved. He was in his 80’s but I said you know what we will come pick it up, and you can buy from somewhere else. Not worth the hassle for a little commission.” – mastad0420, Reddit User.

It’s either he damaged the purchase and wanted to keep taking advantage. His threat was uncalled for. This is probably what pissed them off and they looked to refund the purchase to him.

16: Too Much to Handle.

“I used to work for Qwik Lube in Alaska for a boss named John who was a decent manager and enjoyed handling customers. He was professional and kind and knowledgeable but LOVED to tell the couple stories of customers he told off.

The coldest move was a customer who was berating him. Customer reached out and stuffed a business card into John’s shirt pocket, demanding to SEE THE BOSS RIGHT NOW. John said he took the card back out, shoved it THAT guy’s pocket, and said “The buck stops here get the f**k out of my shop”.

I’ve carried that as a reminder that professionals take shit as part of their job, but nobody should take too much.” – any_means_necessary, Reddit User.

Their manager loved working with customers on a normal basis. That means he’d have had bad days but still tolerated. This, however, was too much for him to condone.

17: Quick Change Scam.

“When they try a quick-change scam.

It happened to me once. After the transaction, something didn’t feel right about it so I called my supervisor. We reviewed the security footage and I was in fact taken for $20. The guy came back two weeks later and tried it again with another employee and she was tricked as well.

He came by a third time and his trick didn’t work since we were all wise to it now. The owners and my supervisor immediately rushed downstairs and chased the guy for a couple of blocks.” – Tumbling-Dice, Reddit User.

First, we’re shocked by this guy’s confidence to keep returning. It’s either he felt he’d never be caught or he was just not smart. Either way, he’d know better than to return now.

18: Angry and Unpleasant.

“I worked at a BBQ restaurant for my first job. We had a takeout area where the customer can watch you cut the meat and pack the side dishes. The girl at the register rang up a quart of potato salad when the customer asked for pasta salad, so I pack potato salad. When the customer received his order, he look through it and flipped shit when he saw potato salad and started screaming at me go figure.

Unbeknownst to all of us the owner of the store heard the commotion and was on the other side of the swing door behind me which had a small window. The angry customer decided to throw a quart of potato salad at me which I ducked to avoid. It splattered against the window on the swing door as the owner was looking out of it. He burst through the door (he is 6’4 and very built), grabbed this scrawny dude by his shirt collar and he had straight fear in his eyes.

My boss literally threw him out the door. Went back to the register to ask the girl what his total was, grabbed the cash, and tossed it out the door at the angry customer as he was collecting himself off the ground. It was an awesome scene.

My former boss threw a customer out the door after the customer threw potato salad at me.” – thisisinput, Reddit User.

They were openly attacked by the customer. The customer should have explained that his order came in ‘wrong’ and sought for it to be fixed. The reaction from the boss would teach him to have better manners…we hope.

19: Attempts to Intimidate.

“He got in my face, physically, to intimidate me. When I didn’t back down, he resorted to telling me I’m fat and unpleasant. All because he wanted a free replacement of a 15-year-old item that he’d used to hell and back.

Thing is, if he’d be a normal f**king human and not put his weaselly face kissing distance from mine while yelling and spraying his spittle everywhere— I’d have worked something out for him. Instead he has a lifelong ban from my whole company.

Like, what made him think he could run up on me? Like that would work out for him in some way. I don’t know how I had the strength not to Hit him.” – msblackwine, Reddit User.

They were willing to help if he had been more sensible. Either he was naturally uncultured and didn’t know how to talk to people. Or he was looking to intimidate and get them to do what he wanted.

20: Naughty Preteens.

“I work at a movie theater. There were 4 preteen boys who were causing trouble. Sneaking into movies, one wouldn’t put a shirt on, and they took an empty popcorn container and went to me for a refill as I was closing the popcorn counter. They had been asked to leave multiple times.

“Give me a refill.”

“I’m not giving you a refill tonight.”

“Why not?”

“You were asked to leave here already. I’m not going to give you any popcorn.”

“Just give me the popcorn.”

“No.”

He looked at me and chucked the popcorn container at me.

I looked at him and screamed in my most convincing angry mom voice, “Don’t throw things at me and get out of here right now!”

It got the attention of the other manager who was able to call security to escort them out.” – SpewsHate, Reddit User.

The preteens had caused trouble earlier and were asked to leave. They refused and wanted a refill which SpewsHate had refused. They were naughty and got thrown out.

21: Aggressive Outbursts.

“I used to work at a gas station. My first shift, this large man comes in and starts yelling for some reason and my manager on duty ejects him from the store and the man is hollering that he’s never gonna buy gas from the company again.

A different time, this small lady was mad that we wouldn’t accept a return without a receipt (theft was a major problem and the company wouldn’t accept returns without a receipt over $10 when it used to be $25). So, this lady decided to grab the register and throw it at us working at the counter. Police got involved in that one.” – zombiedinosaur5, Reddit User.

The first customer would have communicated his problem without causing a ruckus. The second customer was being unreasonable and got pretty violent. She probably thought she was going to get away with it.

22: Fraudster.

“Building materials store. B2B so not much retail, I guess.

Guy comes in with his son, wants to buy a $2K air tool. I pretty quickly recognize he’s going to attempt check/card fraud. Not a big deal, we get tried 2-3x a week for the same thing. But this guy wasn’t very good at it.

Hands me a crap looking card. Test the chip and doesn’t work (I can key in the numbers and process the sale if I want). So, I know for sure now its fraud but I never accuse them so I ask for cash.

Most fraudsters can read my face and understand I know what they’re doing. Usually they say they will go to the bank really quick and then they get lost. This guy starts getting aggressive. I’m fed up so I look at his son.

I ask him what his name is. Juan. Then I say Juan, when you grow up you don’t want to be stealing shit like your daddy. And sucking at it too.” – AudioDope562, Reddit User.

They didn’t want to disclose and so, asked for cash. The man must have felt like his plan wasn’t working out and was about to try aggression. We can only imagine his face when they called him out to his son.

23: Control Freak.

“Had a customer tell me I was a lazy piece of shit because I wouldn’t grab his wife a flat cart. I was with another customer. He told me they were there to drop $400 on a lawnmower. I laughed and said let me know when you plan on filling a trailer and dropping $20 grand.” – Meal_Team_Six, Reddit User.

What’s hard in grabbing the cart themselves? He must have felt that the $400 they were about to drop was enough to fuss about or get Meal_Team_Six attention. You’re right…control freaks.

24: Always Want to ‘Speak Their Mind’ on Everything.

“When they feel the need to “speak their mind” on everything wrong with the company, and somehow making it my personal fault for anything corporate related. Just go somewhere else, jeez. It’s literally above my head.” – SeptemberVampire, Reddit User.

People like these feel they can make ‘changes’ by ranting. It’s good to talk about what bothers you, it’s your consumer rights. However, keep it professional.

25: Rip-offs.

“Worked for AutoZone Commercial and would occasionally take overnight shifts at the 24hour store, partly for hours and partly because they bought breakfast. At about 2am a guy comes in to get a warranty refund on a pair of brake pads but seemed like he was in a hurry. He even put the box over on the return cart for me, even though I had to open the box to tag the pads.

Inside the box is old shit, literal human shit by my guess. Out loud I say “What the hell? come on man!” as a manager came over to probably apologize for my language. The stream of cursing still makes me laugh over a decade later and the manager chased him out and threw the box at his vehicle. The police were called, the customer was banned and we had a great breakfast a few hours later.” – SaddestClown, Reddit User.

The man was in a hurry, seemed they wanted to drop the box and scurry off. It’s shocking how he stood there as the box was being opened. He must have thought it was going to be that easy.

26: Jerk.

“I was counting my till and a customer waiting in line for the other register started laughing and saying random numbers rapid fire to mess up my count. She succeeded.

This was like a mid-40s lady. I sighed and looked at her and said, “What are we, five?” and then took my till around the corner to start again.

Seriously rage inducing. Like, why would you do that? It’s just being a total jerk. No redeeming humor value at all.” – bterrik, Reddit User.

The customer was being rude and annoying. It’s either she was expecting them to laugh with her or she felt it was a ‘fun’ thing to do. They gave her a piece of their mind though. That was childish.

27: Religion Discrimination.

“I worked in a bakery decorating cakes. There were 2 decorators- me and a Muslim girl. One day a lady came in and wanted a cake decorated. I was already working on two cakes so my coworker was going to do it.

The woman FLIPPED OUT and said that she would never let a Muslim touch her cake, and she begged me to do it. Now, I’m the most timid person ever, but I told her to “Get the f**k out”, and it felt so good.” – friendispatrickstar, Reddit User.

The woman was being terrible. That was rude and insensitive to the Muslim lady. They were even too occupied to work on their cake, so it was either the Muslim girl or nothing.

28: Flirty and Violent.

“I worked at Aldi and I was on the register because we were busy (usually we only have 1 person on the register) So the other girl is ringing on the one behind me and I start hearing her customer laugh and heckle her and they are going back a forth and he’s getting more and more vulgar and starts yelling.

By this time, I’m done with my last person. So I get up and turn around and ask him if I can help him and he starts mouthing off and yelling at me and I start telling him to leave and he starts knocking things off the shelves and yelling and the whole time I’m just repeating “Okay, BYE, LEAVE BYE GET OUT GO LEAVE ”

As soon as my 6’4 manager got to the front he shut the hell up and walked out the door. I guess what had happened was the guy tried to hit on the other cashier and when she told him he was married he lost his shit and started calling her ugly and a skank and everything else he could think of.

I was told by the manager that I can’t kick people out of the store if I wasn’t the manager on duty (I was a shift leader but at the time he was MOD so technically I should have called him to handle the situation)” – Randibug91, Reddit User.

Either the man was enraged that the lady was turning him because he hates rejection. Or he was mad that she kept pointing out that he was married. Either way, his actions were unprofessional and he got the right reaction from them.

29: Entitled and Nasty.

“I know this is going to sound like a “and then everyone clapped” moment but you gotta believe me I lived this.

An old couple was berating me for not instantly having their entire order scanned and bagged on the welfare day… in peak hours. Of course, management has conveniently gone AWOL during this.

I was about to start crying because these bitches were just tearing at everything about me when this middle-aged lady from another checkout lane gets in their faces and starts screaming at them. She called them disgusting and told them to leave me the hell alone.

They tried to defend themselves but she was having none of it. Eventually she told them to leave. They left in a huff scoffing about how rude the younger generations are and how ” they never. ” the lady told me she worked retail and she won’t put up with that shit.

A little bit of humanity was restored in me that day.” – LadyCashier, Reddit User.

The customers were feeling entitled and acting nasty. Even when they were called out on their behavior, they still felt they were in the right. They referred to the lost battle as a result of a rude young generation…what a shame.

30: Offensive Body Odor.

“I used to manage a hobby shop where half the shop was dedicated to tabletop games. We’d have the usual neckbeards come in and play D&D or Warhammer. A particular bunch smelled pretty horrible.

The same three guys smelled like unwashed ball sack and old cheese. They had been warned a couple times, but this particular day I was hungover and just got fed up with the smell, so I politely asked them to leave. They decided to argue, so I threw my hands up and said that if they didn’t go home and take a shower, I’d kick them out.

One of them decided to call me Hitler. So, I banned them all forever. About once a week they’d walk in, thinking I had forgot. So, I had to remind them that they were permanently banned from the store. Multiple times.” – Goyteamsix, Reddit User.

As funny as it sounds, body odor can be really disturbing for other people. They should have listened and cleaned up…they wouldn’t have gotten thrown out. Instead, they decided to retaliate and got banned.