Has this ever happened to you?

[blas]

I really, really don't know where to put this. It could be general work chat, sucky customers, or sightings. Actually, it usually starts as a sucky customer, then goes on to a sighting, or maybe work chat.....but the sightings part is usually the best/worst part.

Ok, so what I'm asking goes a little something like this. Have you ever had an SC from Hell, then ran into them later? Or maybe you saw an SC elsewhere, then they came to your work later?

Christmas Eve 2005. I had to close the gas station. Fortunately, my manager let me close whenever it got slow. So as soon as it name to a lull and I only had a customer every 10-15 mins, I had to heck with it and tried to close up.

Not thinking, instead of first locking the doors, I sprinted to shut of all the lights. Big mistake. Came back to lock the doors and there were multiple vehicles that had just pulled up. One was at the pumps, so I authorized it, and let the few people come in for smokes or whatever.

But then it got ridiculous, and more and more people came. Eventually I had to start turning people away, but didn't get a chance to lock the door.

People got pissed, probably rightfully so, but I wanted to go home and see my family. There was no reason for anyone to be out buying lotto tickets and smokes on Christmas Eve.

Anyway, this entire family came barging in after I'd locked one door and was on my way to lock the other, and the matriarch threw a huge tantrum. It was dangerous as heck for all these people to be in a pitch black store as it was! I turned them away, finally got the door locked and was able to leave.

I stopped at my friends' house to drop off her gift, and guess who was there? The family that I had turned away. The matriarch unfortunately recognized me, and said "She fucking wouldn't let us buy stuff and all the lights were on, and she was trying to say she was CLOSED!" and that's when I said "The lights were ALL off..." and she cut me off and insisted "They were ALL on you had NO right to turn us away!"

WOW...I left quick after that.

[ShinyGreenApple]

I stopped at my friends' house to drop off her gift, and guess who was there? The family that I had turned away. The matriarch unfortunately recognized me, and said "She fucking wouldn't let us buy stuff and all the lights were on, and she was trying to say she was CLOSED!" and that's when I said "The lights were ALL off..." and she cut me off and insisted "They were ALL on you had NO right to turn us away!"

WOW...I left quick after that.

I'm curious as to how your friend reacted . . .

And why do people have this built in sensor that makes them HAVE to go to an establishment when the poor closing employees are trying to close up?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yeah, we had one crazy bitch come up to us at the STATE FAIR as we were eating supper to complain about her order at Kinkos. There was me, husband, other Kinkoid pal, and his non-kinkoid pal. We looked at her, blinked, looked at each other, then told her she needed to move on and we'd address the problem on Monday.

I'm less polite now. Nowdays, she'd have been wearing a giant fried onion for a hat.

Ran into a SC as I was buying freaking petfood in a Petsmart or someplace like that and this idiot was running the register. She was the MANAGER, and she started bitching to me about her business card order at Kinkos. I'm her customer, and she's doing this, right? I just said, "You know, I'm not at work right now."

I've run into customers out of work all the time, but most of them have the class to be polite and act like they have some sense.

[rerant]

Ran into a SC as I was buying freaking petfood in a Petsmart or someplace like that and this idiot was running the register. She was the MANAGER, and she started bitching to me about her business card order at Kinkos. I'm her customer, and she's doing this, right? I just said, "You know, I'm not at work right now."

That's when you ask for her name and the number for corporate and inform them that their store manager was harassing a customer about issues not related to the sale, and acting hostile towards you.
Not before handing her the items and telling her you won't be buying anything from them today, of course.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

I think I was so flabbergasted my brain shut off, for the most part. That, and I had a migraine coming on and all I could think about, like a throbbing mantra in my head, was "Get my shit and get home, get my shit and get home."

[smileyeagle1021]

you know, this thread relates to the one time I saw someone get fired on the spot
I was at an Arbys had just finished my order, guy behind me apparently had just got of work from target was still wearing his uniform... the cashier seeing the uniform just blew up on this guy out of no where about how he had been screwed by Target's return policy (hey, I think I read this letter on PFB)... me, the customer, the other employees, and the manager were all

...needless to say the manager walked over and told the cashier to get the hell out of his restaurant, drop off his uniform when he picked up his pay check and never show his face there again.

though seeing customers outside of work is something that I rarely have happen, I do see coworkers quite frequently... just 2 days ago I almost ran over one of the TMs with my bike (hey it was an accident)

[TealJellyfish]

That sucks rather a lot.

When I worked at a theme park It happened quite a lot. I would turn someone away from a ride cause they were to short, to tall or sometimes to fat (as in I couldn't get the restraint down!)

Then I would clock out and want to go on rides with co-workers. 9 times out of 10 one of us would encounter an SC that we had turned away that day and they would get abusive and threatening thinking we couldn't do anything cause we weren't working. They were wrong. Usually we would call security and get them thrown out of the park!

I might post some stories about that job later on. Had some serious loonies!

[bainsidhe]

I'm less polite now. Nowdays, she'd have been wearing a giant fried onion for a hat.

I dunno. Seems like a waste of a perfectly good onion to me.

[Samaliel]

they would get abusive and threatening thinking we couldn't do anything cause we weren't working.

Do they sincerely think they can go apeshit on anybody without getting kicked ? Going apeshit on someone who works there, even if they are on a break or even enjoying their rides on a day off, sounds even stupider because that means they know the place. They know where to go for security, what to do to get their attention. And security staff will know they work here, so they'll be even more likely to kick the apeshit customer...

[lightmylamb]

I live in a small town, so I see all my SCs while I'm out. Anywhere. Sometimes at a restaurant being an sc, sometimes working. One time a couple years ago, I had one SC giving me a bit of a bad time, then after I got off work I went to see my mom and the SC turned out to be one of her new employees.

[KaeZoo]

Once one of my co-workers was installing a remote starter in a vehicle, and accidentally broke the car's steering wheel tilt lever. It happens.

He finished the job, explained the situation to the customer, ordered a replacement part from a local dealership, and told the customer that we'd contact him when the part arrived, and that he'd just have to bring the car around at that time so we could snap it into place. The customer had no problem with that at all.

Unfortunately, the vehicle actually belonged to the customer's wife, and he didn't tell her a thing about this. She found the broken tilt lever when she next drove the car, and she was in a rage when she came to the store. She cornered a manager, and he caved and gave her a partial refund and lots of groveling before he ever spoke to the installer about the situation. She refused to talk to the installers herself; her attitude when she was near us was all contempt and sneering at our obvious incompetence.

She happened to be a nurse at a nearby medical center. During the day or two while we were waiting for the part, another store employee (not associated with car audio or installation) cut himself and had to go to the med center for stitches. This lady turned out to be the nurse who stitched him up. The entire time she was working on him, she was berating him about the horrible experience she had with us, how incompetent our installers are, how angry she was that she had to go back again to get her car fixed. The more she talked, the angrier she became; and as she got madder, her stitching work became less gentle. Our employee wasn't the least bit happy, having to deal with an angry SC while she was stabbing him with a needle.

[Pagan]

She happened to be a nurse at a nearby medical center. During the day or two while we were waiting for the part, another store employee (not associated with car audio or installation) cut himself and had to go to the med center for stitches. This lady turned out to be the nurse who stitched him up. The entire time she was working on him, she was berating him about the horrible experience she had with us, how incompetent our installers are, how angry she was that she had to go back again to get her car fixed. The more she talked, the angrier she became; and as she got madder, her stitching work became less gentle. Our employee wasn't the least bit happy, having to deal with an angry SC while she was stabbing him with a needle.

That flies right in the face of the "Nightingale Oath". I would be contacting the hospital administrator and whomever oversees the nurses.