They say the first rule in business is that the customer is always right. But anyone whoโs worked in retail knows that sometimes โ often, in fact โ the customer is very, very wrong.
Some people just seem to lose their minds around store employees. Or maybe they never learned manners, to begin with. Either way, they feel very comfortable making the most outlandish, almost impossible demands. As long as theyโre the customer, they get to do whatever they want, right?
But the demands are annoying if not out of line. And sometimes, theyโre so bizarre that employees canโt even figure them out. Then, more often than not, the customer gets irate over the misunderstanding and storms out.
A viral Twitter thread from user Pigeon Fancier recently asked: โWhatโs the most ridiculous demand a customer has made of you?โ And boy, did the internet deliver. People from all industries weighed in with stories of the most entitled, bizarre, and outlandish requests theyโve heard in their line of work.
So, kick back, relax, and enjoy these 75 stories of entitled customers. And while weโre at it, letโs all resolve to be nice to the retail workers in our lives. They deserve it.
1. What an opportunity
One poster said a woman approached them at their retail job with a strange request. She wanted them to leave the store and drive her to her Botox appointment, then to the mall to shop.
Customers are notorious for trying to return items that should never be returned, but this one takes the cake. Or rather, it takes the rotisserie turkey, which is exactly what they tried to take back to the store. It had been eaten, of course.
Weeks after getting her hair colored, a customer stormed into the salon to demand a refund. Why? Because her roots were growing in, even though theyโd had โpermanentโ hair color applied.
When a customer called a pet supply store to pick out a toy for his dog, he was stumped about which one to get. His solution was to have the employee pick up each dog toy and squeak them into the phone receiver until he heard the one that sounded right.
When an employee came to the store while off the clock to pick up their paycheck, a customer demanded their help. They said they werenโt on duty. She replied: โSo you only help people when youโre getting paid to do it?โ
A photographer turned up at an aviary to try to get some photos of the exotic birds. He demanded the store employee convince them to sit down for a group picture. Oh, he also wanted them to sit in a row, going from the shortest to the tallest.
A customer was looking for a book on dinosaurs for her childโs school project. She was livid the store didnโt carry books with real photographs. Whoโs going to tell her that dinosaurs died well before the invention of photography?
Sometimes, employees have the best clap backs. A customer demanded an employee interrupt a food delivery to go get him some milk. When he told them: โIโll have your job,โ the employee brought him a job application.
A bartender kindly let a girl stay after the bar was closed to search for her Fitbit. After an hour with no luck, they had to ask her to leave. She told them it was illegal to close a business that contained lost property.
A worker in the seafood department at a grocery store was shocked by a strange request. A customer asked if they had any free samples. Then he bought some raw squid and ate it right there.
A waitress in Germany was allowed to accept Swiss Francs, but regularly had customers demanding change in their countryโs currency. They were in Germany, so by law, they had to give the customer change in Euros.
Itโs common to hear customers demand to see a manager, but itโs a little less common on an airplane. Guess what, buddy? In the air, the flight attendants ARE the manager.
A customer showed up to a gas station, pumped his gas, then came in and demanded a refund because he decided he didnโt want it. Oh, he also wanted them to take the gas out of his car.
A party of 14 showed up at a restaurant and was furious not to have a table. They asked to be seated at a table for eight. Apparently, they didnโt see the problem with that.
If you work at a fancy store, youโll have affluent people making ridiculous demands. A poster who worked at Lord and Taylor frequently had women asking not to pay taxes on perfume because they were church elders.
A lifeguard at a lake got a strange request from a little girl. She was upset the lake didnโt have waves and asked them to make some. โI pretended to call my coworker and request waves,โ said the poster.
An adult customer walked up to a closed register, looked around, and screamed for help. He was 10 feet from the customer service desk and several employees. Can we all use our indoor voice?
One woman decided not to look where she was going while leaving the grocery store. After running into a window, she asked the bagger: โWhy isnโt there a door here? Shouldnโt there be a door here?โ
A restaurant manager was flabbergasted when a man came in asking for a free pie. Why? Because he found a piece of plastic in a pie from a different restaurant. He also had a list of acceptable flavors.
A client protested the price of her haircut because the stylist had only given her a trim โ as she requested. The stylist responded: โIโm not a butcher and I donโt charge by the pound.โ
A woman with a huge grocery load had an impossible demand for the bagger. They couldnโt use too many bagsโฆand the bags couldnโt be heavy. Try to figure that one out.
After a customer bought $300 of groceries, they demanded the bagger put a maximum of four items in each bag. They mustโve had dozens of bags by the end.
After buying $1,200 of glass knick-knacks, a customer made the cashier wrap each piece individually in paper. Then when she realized her credit card was gone, she made them unwrap each piece to find it. Her card was in her wallet.
Everything has an expiration date. A customer tried to return an item that expired because she believed expiration dates shouldnโt exist. โI didnโt have the heart to tell her that one day, even sheโd expire,โ said the poster.
The checkout belt at a grocery store had a steep incline, and the cashier was often asked to make items go down more slowly. Unfortunately, they couldnโt stop gravity from existing.
After a poster helped a fellow customer pick out some beer, she asked them to carry it to her car. โSheโฆthreatened to get me fired,โ said the poster. โI only then realized she thought I worked there.โ
An American customer at a restaurant in Thailand told the owner heโd made the red curry wrong. Why? Because it was different than what heโd in Los Angeles.
One customer regularly called the local tennis court to ask whether the weather was good. The kickerโฆhe only lived a few blocks away and couldโve easily checked himself.
Not every over-the-top request is necessarily bad. One customer went through the Krispy Kreme drive-through and bought one doughnut hole. Then he asked the employees to give it to his dog in the bed of the truck.
30. Does she think people are spying on her groceries?
A woman swore at a grocery store employee for wrapping her order in a translucent paper because she didnโt want people seeing what she bought. Thatโs taking privacy to the extreme.
A bakery employee was asked to put an already-baked, already-sliced loaf of bread back into the oven. Why? The customer thought it would melt back into an unsliced loaf.
Sometimes, customers get mad because employees donโt understand their nonsensical demands. One customer left a coffee shop in a huff after workers didnโt understand their order for a โhot iced coffee.โ
A librarian was confused when a patron said she couldnโt sign out books due to a medical condition. She said she couldnโt touch any paper. Yet somehow, she could read books in the library without a problem.
34. Doesnโt everyone decorate the traditional Christmas cactus?
At a nursery, a woman asked for a pine tree sapling to โcommemorate Christmas.โ The employee told her they didnโt have anything that qualified. She pointed out cactuses and said: โWhy didnโt you tell me about those?โ
Some customers honestly have no idea whatโs going on, like the woman who marched into a bookstore and asked for a haircut. Yes, she asked for a haircut in a bookstore.
A woman came into a video store and asked for a copy of โThree Dalmatians.โ When the confused employee repeated, โThree?โ she said, โI donโt know, there could be more.โ
Some employees have the best responses to ridiculous customer requests. A woman went to McDonaldโs and asked for a hot iced tea. The employee said they were out of hot ice.
An employee at Whole Foods said theyโre used to customers asking that cashiers not swipe barcodes on their groceries. I guess they believe those lasers are โtoxic.โ
40. Why wonโt you commit felonies for your clients?
An IRS employee was speaking to a woman about a form her husband needed to sign. She demanded they sign it instead. The employee asked, โYou want me to forge your signature on government forms?โ
A security guard at a museum was confused when a visitor approached him with a strange request. She told him she was โafraid of the artโ and wanted him to look at it with her.
A restaurant patron handed his baby to the server and asked them to take her somewhere else. He wanted to eat dinner in peace. Thatโs a lot of trust in a stranger.
A grocery bagger was used to being asked to carry groceries to customersโ cars. But one day, a lady asked him to follow herโฆthen walked two miles home with him carrying all of her stuff.
Sometimes, customers have demands that make no sense at all. One walked into Radio Shack and asked for โthe internet.โ The employees were never able to find out what that meant.
On vacation at a campground, a family asked rangers to get rid of the smoke from a nearby forest fire. They also asked for the rangers to let the elk outโฆyou know, the wild animals.
An employee at a streetlight outage hotline got a call from an elderly lady. She was very upset about her streetlight being electric because she preferred gas.
A customer turned up in a record store and asked an employee for โthat song with the harmonica.โ Amazingly, with some sleuthing, they were able to find it.
An employee at a campsite got an impossible request from a camper. They wanted to make sure their campsite had no bugs. Iโm not sure how to break it to themโฆ
A restaurant patron was very particular in his choice of water. He called the server over to complain the bubbles in their carbonated water were too big.
A patron at a movie theater was furious when his ice cream melted. So, he demanded a free replacement. The thing was, heโd bought it 25 minutes before the movie started.
Customers at a comic book shop purchased Pokรฉmon booster packs at the height of the craze. Then theyโd erupt at the employees when the random packs didnโt have what they wanted.
An old woman went off on an employee when she learned the store was temporarily out of eggs. She told the employee to โgo make moreโ or sheโd have their job.
A customer tried to buy more than $200 worth of tobacco products with food stamps. The cashier told him that it was illegal. Then he demanded them for free.
A wealthy woman regularly went to a posh restaurant where she had a strange request. She wanted servers to fold tablecloths and stuff them under her backside so she could reach the table.
When a photographer arrived at a session with a client, they heard a strange request. The client wanted them to eat a full meal first so they could perform their best work.
A woman stayed an extra night in town because she wanted to attend a movie at a local museum. The thing was, the museum wasnโt showing a movie. She demanded they pay for her hotel.
A customer shopping in New York was angry that the shop didnโt offer any pre-wrapped items costing more than $500. He said he wanted to buy something fancy for his wife.
A customer called a store asking for directions but wasnโt happy with the ones provided. Finally, she got across that she wanted to know which way to turn out of her driveway.
An elderly customer was irate that the free DVD sheโd received wouldnโt work. The store employees finally understood she didnโt own a DVD player.
A woman called a help desk at a university to have someone walk her through how to set up her internet. After a long explanation, she asked, โBut how does it work if I donโt have a computer?โ
A man came into a grocery store looking for melted butter. He was furious when the employees told him he needed to buy regular butter and melt it at home.
A restaurant server had to bring her children to work. She sat them at a table but was shocked when a woman left her child there, demanding they watch her.
A woman and her daughter arrived at a museum only to discover it was closed for an event. When they learned this, they demanded a gift card and a free taxi ride back to their hotel.
Of all things to try to return, dirty lingerie might be the most disgusting. A woman demanded a store give her a refund and was furious when they refused.
A woman walked into a toy store with her two children and told them to play with the employees until their father picked them up. She was furious when management refused.
A regular at a grocery store demanded an employee escort her around the store while she shopped. She had questions about every product and once, she demanded an Italian help her select tomato sauce.
A woman at a restaurant asked the server if they could make the table bigger. They thought she meant pull another table over. No. โJust make this one bigger,โ she said.
At a grocery store, a woman told the cashier not to touch any of her groceries or reusable bags. The reason? Theyโd been โblessed.โ Any touching would taint them.
75. Part-time bookstore employees are surprisingly powerful
A customer was furious to learn a bookstore no longer stocked an unpopular book from the 80s. They wanted it back, as well as a personal apology from the employee.
They say the first rule in business is that the customer is always right. But anyone whoโs worked in retail knows that sometimes โ often, in fact โ the customer is very, very wrong.
Some people just seem to lose their minds around store employees. Or maybe they never learned manners, to begin with. Either way, they feel very comfortable making the most outlandish, almost impossible demands. As long as theyโre the customer, they get to do whatever they want, right?
But the demands are annoying if not out of line. And sometimes, theyโre so bizarre that employees canโt even figure them out. Then, more often than not, the customer gets irate over the misunderstanding and storms out.
A viral Twitter thread from user Pigeon Fancier recently asked: โWhatโs the most ridiculous demand a customer has made of you?โ And boy, did the internet deliver. People from all industries weighed in with stories of the most entitled, bizarre, and outlandish requests theyโve heard in their line of work.
So, kick back, relax, and enjoy these 75 stories of entitled customers. And while weโre at it, letโs all resolve to be nice to the retail workers in our lives. They deserve it.