In this collection of stories employees from various industries recount their encounters with entitled customers.
These firsthand experiences shed light on the audacious and often baffling behaviors exhibited by individuals who believe the customer is always right.
Prepare to be amazed, amused, and perhaps even a little frustrated as you dive into these tales of entitlement gone wild.
All content has been edited for clarity.
It Took One Person Standing Up To Him
“Once, during my stint as a barista in a bustling Starbucks, the typical morning rush had the line snaking out the door. I was manning the cash register all by myself, which usually wasn’t too bad—I’d get into a groove and manage just fine.
A man dressed in business attire strides up to the counter, engrossed in his cellphone conversation. Without much pause, he curtly demands a latte.
‘What size?’ I inquire.
‘Excuse me?’ he retorts, his impatience palpable.
‘What size latte?’
‘Grande.’
‘Alright, sir, that’ll be—’
And then, without a word, he simply walks away from the counter. I exchange a glance with the next person in line, a shared acknowledgment that we’ve got a situation on our hands.
‘Sir—’ I begin, attempting to flag him down. He blatantly turns his back to me. ‘Excuse me, sir? You haven’t paid,’ I call out, my voice trailing off weakly. Fantastic. Now I’ll have to step out from behind the counter and chase this guy down, all while there’s a line of people waiting.
The person next in line also tries to get his attention. It’s as if he’s intentionally ignoring us. My frustration levels are escalating. Just then, the person after that raises his hand to his mouth and lets out a piercing whistle. It’s loud, and it works like a charm.
Suddenly, the businessman is all ears. He whips around and snaps, ‘Did you just whistle at me?’
‘Um, you still need to pay,’ I interject.
‘I asked if you whistled at me!’ he barks again.
‘It was me who whistled,’ the other person in line clarifies. The businessman gives us both scalding glares as he begrudgingly fishes out his credit card and tosses it onto the counter.
‘I can’t believe you whistled at me,’ he continues to seethe as I swipe his card and hand it back. ‘I’ve never been whistled at in my life. Is this a barnyard?’ He snatches his card and begins to walk away.
‘Well, if this is a barnyard, you must be the pig!’ the other man retorts with a swift comeback. The businessman remains silent, seemingly acknowledging when he’s been outwitted.
Certainly, this might not be the worst encounter I’ve ever had, but the conclusion never fails to bring a smile to my face.”
Never Too Rich To Steal
“I was employed at Kmart in the early 90s when I spotted a woman donning a mink coat and pushing a cart filled with merchandise. She was older yet exuded beauty and confidence. I found myself discreetly observing her, curious about her car choice. Instead of heading to the checkout, she confidently exited the store. I took action and stopped her, which clearly caught her off guard. She reacted with a mix of shock and irritation, vehemently stating that I should release her to avoid arrest and legal action. Her defiance got under my skin, prompting me to firmly take hold of her arm and guide her to the Loss Prevention (LP) Office.
During apprehensions, having witnesses is crucial. I summoned two: the store manager, a male, and a female department manager. Let me tell you, she wasn’t pleased. Despite her resistance, she cooperated, all the while insisting that she would own the store and our jobs. While she spoke, two glaring mistakes stood out. First, she had attempted to pilfer over a thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise, constituting a felony that necessitated involving law enforcement. Her second mistake was her disdainful claim that Kmart was beneath her and unworthy of her money.
The ironic twist was that her swift denial of handcuffs ended up landing them on her wrists in record time. It emerged that she was the wife of an owner of a highly lucrative computer company, which remains prosperous to this day. She even had the audacity to tell the judge that she didn’t have time for the ‘nonsense’ of legal proceedings. Her lawyer was left flabbergasted. While the judge couldn’t sentence her to jail, a fine was imposed, coupled with community service at a soup kitchen. Her horrified reaction prompted her to ask if she could simply pay more in fines. Oddly enough, the incident never made it to the newspapers.”
That’s Quite The Request
“One incident that stands out is when a man approached me with a rather unusual request at Petco. He earnestly asked if we could implement a policy prohibiting dogs from entering the store. The reason? His wife was absolutely terrified of dogs, and yet we were the only store carrying their preferred cat food.
Just to clarify, I work at Petco.
The gentleman was suggesting that the entire store go dog-free for at least one day each week, solely for the sake of his wife’s fear. It left me utterly baffled. Should we shut down our grooming salon and halt our dog training classes? We have a multitude of customers who visit primarily to socialize their dogs or simply let them pick out toys and other items. And this man believed we should forfeit this significant revenue stream just to accommodate his wife’s fear of dogs. It’s quite perplexing how he thought we, as a privately-owned business, should revolve our operations around the fears of a few individuals.
In response, I politely informed him that I would summon a manager to address his concerns. I quickly arranged for him to speak to one of our mid-ranking managers and discreetly returned to my register. Observing the situation unfold, I noticed the man leaving the store without his cat food. While I felt a smidge of sympathy for my manager, I couldn’t help but feel that the man’s expectations were quite unreasonable.
Rather than pushing to overhaul our entire business model to suit his specific needs, it would be more practical for him to explore online options for purchasing cat food or consider switching to a brand available at grocery stores. After all, attempting to dictate such sweeping changes for the sake of one individual’s fear seemed quite disproportionate.”
