You can’t always get what you want.

But if you try sometimes, you also can’t get what you need. Like in this story, when a rude customer has no identifying information for the product she wants.

Let’s check the shelves.

You’re Being Extremely Vague

I’m a Shift Supervisor for a retail drug store chain.

It’s the morning shift on a slow Sunday morning.

Just me and my cashier (Jane).

Jane normally works in the beauty department (cosmetics, skin care, hair care etc.) however for the first few hours on a Sunday she’s the front cashier.

Normal rotation. But some people don’t like change…

I get a call through my earpiece that customer service is needed in the skin care department. I head over and meet Karen.

Karen: I need oil.

Me: What type of oil?

Karen: For your skin. Face.

That barely narrows it down. Will Karen have more to say?

Karen does speak with a thick Asian accent. English does not seem to be her main language.

Being the child of Asian immigrants I seem to understand the accent quite well.

Me: There are many types of oil for your skin. There’s vitamin E, coconut, jojoba….

Karen: (angrily) It was right here (pointing to a specific spot on the shelf) when I bought it from you before. Why isn’t that girl coming over here to help me?

Great question, Karen. Because she’s doing her job?

Looking over, Jane is ringing up a customer with several customers in line.

Me: She’s the front cashier. She’s ringing up customers.

Karen pouts.

I don’t know if Jane had helped Karen in the past. I have a rule with rude customers. You’ll still get your good customer service but you get the bare minimum.

Plus we’ll start playing games with you. Karen has now crossed the line.

Can’t wait to see how this tactic plays out.

Karen: Show me your oils. The one that was right here.

Me: (knowing the answer is no with my customer service smile) Do you know the name of brand? Or how the box looked? Do you have the old bottle? I can easily look it up if I have the brand or old bottle.

Karen: (just short of a rage) You’re useless. Just show me all your face oils.

Oh boy. I feel like Karen is not actually gonna have the patience for that.

I walk Karen down the aisle, showing her all the vitamin E oils. I take her back to the beginning of the aisle and begin to show her all the coconut oils.

Karen: (raging) Just show me the section where all the face oils are.

Me: Ma’am. The skin care products are sectioned my brand, not type. Several brands make facial oils.

Karen: You’re useless.

Does Karen think she’s being useful?

Karen picks up several of the oils I showed her and heads up to the front where Jane rings her up.

Jane later asks me what happened. I tell Jane what happened.

Jane tells me while she was ringing Karen up, Karen went into a rant that Jane could only partially understand.

Something about Jane not helping her to why did we change the shelf spot of the product she likes.

Jane and I share a laugh, joking that we’re not mind readers and get back to work.

At least they made a sale, and a joke?

Let’s see what the comments have to say.

This person says, yeah, stores are confusing like that.

Another person says, this Karen might be someone’s mom.

This user is like, people don’t get how products work.

Another person says, retail is a messy business.

One user suggests gamifying it.

This is a slippery one.

Some customers really make life hard.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.