45 Times Dumb Customers Really Pushed Retail Workers To The Limit With Their Questions

It smells like dirt because it’s a greenhouse and that’s where we plant the plants. 

Also sun loving means it loves the sun. .

Why is the front of my dishwasher blue??

…did you remove the protective film?

I worked at a grocery store in college. The local warehouse workers went on strike, meaning we were getting no product in and our shelves were getting more and more bare.

After getting yelled at by customers for a week for being out of stuff, I finally had it one night. This lady was berating me because we didn't have any chicken breast in the case. I said, "Look, there's nothing I can do about it. The warehouse is on strike and until it's resolved and they start delivering food again, I can't help you." She started screaming at me even more, saying how dare I blame the warehouse, her husband works there and if they would pay him a decent wage he wouldn't strike, blah blah blah. She immediately complained to the manager and I got written up.

Like.....tell your husband to go back to work if you need your family pack chicken so bad? I was the person with the least to do with situation here, yet she got me written up for it.

Back when printers at home were rare I had a woman come into my store asking for t-shirt transfer paper. I explained to her multiple times how to use them. Print on the paper then pin to shirt then iron.

30 minutes later she came back with the printer and paper wanting a refund because the shirt got stuck in the printer.

The elevator had a sign that read 'out of order', Customer asked if it was out of order on all of the floors.

Customer: What's the difference between the 17-inch monitor and the 19-inch monitor?

Me: Two inches and 40 dollars.

Customer: But what's the difference?

Me: This one is bigger by two inches, measured diagonally, and more expensive by 40 dollars.

Customer: No, but what's the *difference?!*

This went on for several minutes. He left without making a purchase.

"Putting that washing machine on the roof of your Golf is a bad idea."

No exaggeration, it happened.

I was a Maytag repairman. A customer brought in a multicolored felt mat and asked for a new one. I had to explain that was lint from the lint trap.

During covid: Some high stolen items were locked up and for some reason the salesfloor manager gave me; the pharmacy technician lead keys to said merchandise. A customer refused to let me touch the merchandise because of germs even though I was the one who stocked it less than 5 minutes earlier. When I explained that I touched everything in that case already she yelled at me for being gross and walked off without the product. I went back to the pharmacy and continued with my life without the product being stolen.

I was in a shop that just did (amazing) toasted sandwiches and 2 guys asked for a cheese toastie without the bread. The poor girl behind the counter explained over and over what a toastie was, but these 2 guys insisted. Hope they enjoyed their pile of melted cheese.

Not retail, but general tech support. Turning the monitor on and off doesn't actually turn the whole pc on and off.

The amount of times I've gotten a call about a computer not working and all that was "wrong" was that it wasn't turned on, is staggering.

I guess this would make more sense these days, but this was over a decade ago and desktop computers were everywhere.

That if you tell the self-checkout 'No, I don't want my receipt, it won't print out your receipt.

I used to work in a high-end liquor store that had a massive wine section and one day a lady came into the store and asked me where our "grape" wine was. I did not know how to respond. So I asked her some questions like was she looking for a specific type or brand, like a Chardonnay or a Cabernet, Pinot Grigio, Mad Dog, ripple? "Ma'am, unless the label says it is made from some other kind of fruit, this is all grape wine." But she just kept repeating that she wanted grape wine and got so mad at me and frustrated that I just did the motioning across entire aisles movement and walked away.

She wandered the aisles and finally found what she was after: Mogen David. Mogen David Concord was what she wanted.

Former retail worker. The store I worked at through college would do a “friends and family” event twice a year. If you had a membership or received one of the discount cards, you received 30% off your entire purchase. The receipt showed the breakdown over each item for the discount.

There was one woman who would come in EVERYRTIME trying to return one item and would argue with our staff about why she wasn’t getting “what she paid for it.” We’d point to the item and the amount subtracted to it from the discount and she wasn’t having it. Insisted on asking for a manager everytime and causing a huge scene. She could never get it through her head that she didn’t pay full price for the item. It happened so often that staff would sigh when she’d come into the store because we knew she was going to pull the same stunt. It was exhausting.

I used to work at a Goodwill. Guy rolled up with a 5 bag donation of mowed grass clippings and told me very nonchalantly to just "take 'em".

A woman tried to tell me yesterday PO Boxes no longer exist lol. I didn’t even bother. I was just like “oh, very strange” 🤣.

The number of customers to whom I've had to explain the difference between left and right is greater than zero.

These have all been adults. I wish I were kidding.

Retail banking:

Had to explain to a costumer why the balance that was printed on his receipt from Friday afternoon after a deposit wasn’t the same the next morning after he bought a pair of jeans. .

A coupon for a free gift with purchase, mailed out in April, said “now - May 15th”. Customer came in June looking for his free gift and was pissed we didn’t have it anymore. He kept saying “but it says now!”.

I had to explain 3 for 2. If you bought 2, you could get a third one free.

They couldn't understand it. It was really bizarre.