Imagine being trained in the military and years later finding yourself working retail. It might be hard to ignore your military training when a customer verbally attacks you.

The manager in this story faced that problem, and his manager has no idea just how hard it was for him not to completely explode.

Let’s read the whole story.

Adrenaline shakes

To put context around this story, I have to tell you a few things. First, I’ve been working at my current company for almost a decade in different stores and the warehouse I’m currently at in various positions.

I took my current role as the lowest level of management to not be customer facing anymore.

Recently, we’ve started doing customer pick ups out of my warehouse, and I’m the primary for that 3 days a week.

The rule for pickup is that the furniture has to be in factory packaging, not the wrapping we use for delivery and storage.

Also, I spent some time as an infantry team leader in Iraq about 15 years ago, working nothing but retail and warehouses ever since.

One customer was upset about their furniture order.

Two customers come in to get their furniture. They had been told earlier in the day that one piece didn’t arrive.

They start being loud and belligerent to my associate, so she comes to get me.

They’re a father (60ish) and son (40ish) with thick Eastern European accents.

I try to calm things down and explain to them that they have to wait a day for the missing piece. They’re free to take what we have or take everything tomorrow.

The customer wasn’t happy with either of those options.

They start yelling at me.

I’m okay with this.

When I tell them they’re free to contact their salesman about the issue, they being swearing at me and telling me it’s MY job to call him.

“The receipt label is (Company) and YOUR LABEL is (Company)! You call him!” Referring to the logo on my shirt.

Their verbal and physical communication have changed to being very aggressive.

Instinct kicked in.

My immediate, and unthinking, physical reaction is to shift my body weight and ready myself for a violent altercation.

Not the right answer, I know, but decade old reflexes are still reflexes. I lose my cool, and that old combat team leader voice comes out.

“GENTLEMEN, YOU ARE MORE THAN WELCOME TO TAKE WHAT IS HERE OR CANCEL YOUR ORDER!” comes out of my mouth.

There’s a stunned silence for about 3 seconds, and then they start right up again, “It’s always like this wherever we go! This other store, that other store, the post office! Everywhere!”

He held himself back from saying what he was really thinking.

I don’t tell them that maybe they’re the problem.

I do tell them that I cannot give them what they want because it’s for another customer and I could lose my job.

“Forget that customer and forget your job! That’s not my problem! Gimme!”

I turn to the associate who originally dealt with them and asked her to get the closest manager.

The manager caved to the customer.

I’m shaking from the adrenaline dump but controlling it.

My brain is doing threat assessment, my body is prepping for one of them to swing on me, and my mouth is clamped shut so I don’t say anything worse.

Manager comes over, talks to them as they yell about how bad we are, and gives them the piece from our storage bins that was for another customer.

His call, not mine.

It was like a switch flipped.

And, magically, they’re just so happy and helpful getting their furniture loaded. The father’s even hugs the manager and tries to shake my hand.

I’m nothing but shaking rage saying polite yessirs and nossirs until they leave.

I told the associate she was free to take her lunch, and that I’d deal with the pick ups until she was done.

Manager commended me for not losing all of my cool on them.

It was hard to calm down.

Took another five minutes after they left for the shakes to stop.

I haven’t had an interaction like that since I left the army.

It was jarring to just have my switch flip back to on so fast.

I am not proud of how I acted in any way. In fact, I’m disappointed in myself for slipping to their level. As a leader, I should be better than that.

That said, those guys can go to hell.

It would have to be hard to work retail and remain calm especially when military training makes you instinctually want to do otherwise.

Let’s read the comments on Reddit.

This person would’ve quit.

The manager taught the customer a bad lesson.

This person has compassion for the employee in this story.

Remember how he refrained from saying what he was really thinking? This is how this person would’ve phrased it.

What a frustrating customer interaction!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.