The cliché that the customer is always right has become so rooted that nightmarish buyers are often getting better treatment than they deserve. Sadly, it's the service industry workers who have to take in their negative emotions, unreasonable expectations and ridiculous demands. And they have truly seen it all.
Reddit user Jing_Yuan_Lu asked fellow members who worked in CS, "What’s the dumbest thing a customer has gone out of their way to complain about?" From buyers who kicked up a fuss when they couldn't find milk in an electronics store or when their Himalayan salt stone lamp "disappeared" after they put it in the dishwasher, thousands of replies started pouring in, each one better than the last.
Some of these comments are truly eye-roll-worthy, so scroll down and check them out yourself! Make sure to upvote your favorite ones and share your experience in the comment section below.

#21

I'm a bartender and just last night a came in and I knew something would happen.. they are sitting at their TABLE and ask for some margaritas. I go make them and bring them out to the table. He proceeds to tell me "here's a TAFFER tip; if someone orders a cocktail you should make it in front of them" I replied, well if you were sitting at THE BAR I could do that... Do you want me to bring the blender out to your table and make your frozen drink for you there!? WTH one of the dumbest things I'ver ever heard.
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153points
#22
I never understood why people would buy spicy food and then say it's too spicy.
Like, when I worked in the deli, it was no problem to serve a sample slice, but no, they'd order a pound of pepper jack or spicy chicken, then come back the next day wanting a refund with like half the package gone.
My manager always told them no. It was glorious to witness. People never expect to be told NO at retail.
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146points
#23

I’m not exactly in customer service, but I once had a customer call me and demand I sent a different electrician to his house because the one I sent “looked shady”, after a bit of back and forth I figured out the issue was actually that he was Cuban.
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143points
#24

I worked in a restaurant for years. People would always ask for broccoli as a side
“I’m sorry, we don’t have broccoli here”
Yes, you do! I get it every time I come. You’re just new
“I’ve been here 6 years ma’am, and at no point have we had broccoli “
You don’t get it, I know Mr. (Name of Restaurant). My husband plays golf with him.
“(Name of Restaurant) is a slang Italian word meaning ‘lively’. There is no Mr. (Name of Restaurant)”
143points
#25

Had a woman call me racist because I asked her if she needed utensils for her take-out.
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139points
#26
For whatever the f**k reason, people tend to drop 50 IQ points and become chaotic evil when making purchases. This one woman will forever live in embarrassment. When I was 17 and lived in a place that had frequent and hard rain. This b**ch comes in and complains that... the parking lot... is wet. It was currently pouring.
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138points
#27
I had a guy call in and complain that the CEO's name sounded Jewish. I merely replied that I do not have an opinion, and I hung up.
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136points
#28

Ah I got a great one. So I have a small retail business with my mom that's strictly brick and mortar. Normally our return policy is within 21 days for store credit. During the holidays we extend it so that anything purchased between Black Friday and December 24th can be returned up until the end of January.
A few years ago this guy came in around the end of April trying to return Christmas gifts on DRY CLEANING HANGERS. When I told him I wouldn't take it back, even for a store credit, he blew up on me and cussed me out in front of other customers in the store. He then proceeded to leave a 1-star review and bash the store saying how he's "never been treated like that before at a store". How tf do people like that exist?
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132points
#29

When I was at DirecTV I received a call from a man whose sole purpose was to complain that this is the United States and there should not be a Spanish option in the automated call tree.
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127points
#30

I had to remake Marilyn's caramel macchiato 3 times because the caramel "kept sinking into the foam". CONSULT YOUR PHYSICS TEXTBOOK, MARILYN. IT IS CALLED GRAVITY.
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126points
#31

Somebody called head office to complain that they heard a Michael Jackson song in our store.
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122points
#32

I was a lifeguard for 2-3 years in high school. Every day I would get people complaining about the pool temperature as if I could do something about it. “Ma’am, the pool does not have a heating system, I’m sorry. Larger bodies of water hold their temperature longer, which is why it’s so cold”. And they would complain ALL. THE. TIME. “This is your job, you need to fix it!” I’m sorry lady. This isn’t the 4 Seasons Hotel, this is a f**king community pool. It was never young people, always the old ladies who would come in at 5 am to do water aerobics.
121points
#33

We sold bonsai trees which can be kinda tricky to keep so you got a care leaflet with them. The leaflet said to water the tree you should immerse the pot entirely until soaked and then allow it to drain completely (disclaimer: I have no idea if this advice is actually correct). Anyway, the customer comes in with a dead tree in a pot with zero soil left, ranting how the advice was terrible and demanding a refund.
Turns out rather than fill a bowl and immerse the pot she'd run a bath and immersed the whole damn tree, right to the tips of its poor little branches. Soil dispersed, the tree died.
Seriously at what point during this process are you not thinking "I have to run a damn bath every time? I know bonsai are high maintenance but this seems extreme"
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117points
#34
I guess this wasn’t really an official complaint but it was pretty dumb. I was running the register at the grocery store and this couple got in my line. I could tell they were together because they were talking and interacting with one another. However, they had two different baskets and left a small gap between their respective items without placing them down the divider. So I wasn’t sure if they were paying for everything altogether or separately. I say the generic things, hi, how are you, did you find everything okay, etc and then politely asked, “together or separate?” The lady gave me a death glare and said “why on earth does it matter?” I gave her a blank stare and slowly said “so.... that I know whether to keep ringing you up...or cash out the order....” All I can think is they must have been having some relationship problems because she jumped right to that, haha.
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117points
#35

I owned a computer biz for a few years. The one that always got me was this chick that brought in her computer slammed with viruses, spyware, etc. so bad it wouldn’t boot. Got it all fixed up and she picked it up. Brought it back the very next day with the same thing. I asked what sites she visited since she picked it up and she, completely unashamed, said “oh my bf and I are on porn all the time”. Um, ok. I told her I would go ahead and clean it again for free but if she visited those sites I couldn’t do it again without charging. Picked it up the same day. Back in the next. Me: “did you get back on the porn sites” Her: “of course”. I could not make her understand why this kept happening and would continue happening so I just asked her to go somewhere else.
113points
#36

Had a lady call me racist because she came in to buy glasses, and I asked if she has been to our store before or if she has her prescription with her. She even told her young daughter to watch out for people like me... Uhhh...
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111points
#37

Restaurant with open kitchen, so customers and us cooks can converse freely. The customer wanted crispy fish. Made it really crispy. Not done enough. I cooked a new one, literally like 15 minutes on the fryers; I cooked three or four other orders around it. She then complained that it was too hot and she didn't want it.
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107points
#38

In a hotel, they complained that someone else had slept on their mattress so we had to buy a new one. And then 4 more new ones for the other hotels they were going to stay at.
104points
#39

I was working at OfficeMax during back-to-school season. This woman comes up to my register with a few things and I start scanning it in. She notices that one item rang up less than she was expecting. She actually got an attitude with me because we hadn't had a chance to print new shelf tags for that aisle yet. I told her I would wait if she wanted to get more. She declined and continued complaining to me about it. I said, "well I can override the price to what the shelf label said." I realize now that I was being a bit of a b**ch by saying that. She politely declined that as well, paid with her card, and rushed out the door with her things.
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92points
#40
Obligatory "I don't work in customer service" but my dad is a f**king nightmare about complaining for stupid reasons, usually in restaurants. The other day he sent me this message that his mate has sent to IKEA customer service, complaining about how there are TOO MANY DIGITS IN THE CUSTOMER NUMBER. They seemed so proud of themselves for it but all I can think about is how it's a waste of everyone's time and such a stupid thing to get worked up about.
"Hello, I recently purchased a lot of kitchen stuff and decided it would be a good idea joined IKEA Family beforehand. The membership number issued is 19 numbers long. I would like to point out that the estimated world population is around 7.8 billion people. Written in longhand, 7.8 billion is 10 numbers in length. [...] So my question is, why do you need to create a membership number which is approximately: Eight hundred and two million, five hundred and seventy-six thousand, five hundred and seventy-six times more than the whole world population?"
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89points


