Working in retail is hard enough without having to deal with a nearby competitor.

Add in customers constantly getting confused about tour times, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.

This employee was new, and she wasn’t prepared for the verbal tirade she received after accidentally selling a couple a tour for the wrong time.

Check it out.

I apparently ruined their vacation.

For background: I live in a tourist-y area, and worked in a small gift shop which sold tickets for a harbor tour/dolphin watch.

There were usually only two of us working at a time. Our building was next door to another business which also offered harbor tours. While we had 4 a day (at 11:30, 1, 2:30, and 4), they had them hourly from 11 – 5.

The tours were basically the same, the main difference being children’s prices/age and the length of the tour (ours was 1 hour vs. their 45 minutes).

It seems like a no-brainer that people would be confused.

When I first began working there, the relationship between our two companies wasn’t the greatest (though it had improved when I left and remains fairly neutral now).

It was a common occurrence for customers to come into our store looking for their booth. If we caught it, we would explain the difference and tell them where their booth was; sometimes the customers would leave, sometimes they would buy tickets for our harbor tour.

Most didn’t care, but you occasionally got the couple who wanted the shorter tour because they were on a tight schedule.

They did their best to make sure people were making informed decisions.

Because this mistake happened frequently, I always tried to catch this problem before any transaction occurred.

Another common problem was people coming in shortly after the departure of the 11:30/2:30 harbor tour wanting tickets for 12/3.

I was careful to explain the difference between our two companies when customers made this mistake and would direct them in the right way.

This particular day was no different, at least not at first.

It was about 2:40 when the man walked quickly to the cash register, shortly after the 2:30 tour had left. Since it was summer, the small gift shop was pretty busy, so I had to raise my voice. The man asked me for two tickets for the 4:00 tour.

Now, since it was a bit loud and we had problems with mix-ups in the past, I asked the man, “The 4:00 harbor tour?” He nodded and confirmed, “Yes, 4:00.”

There’s a line forming behind him and he had verbally confirmed for the 4:00 tour, so I smiled, rang him up, gave him the tickets, and explained where to be and when.

He walked out the door toward the waiting area just out of view, which seemed a little odd to me since he still had an hour before the tour, but I shrugged it off because people had done that before; the waiting area was elevated, and some people liked going up to look around and enjoy the view.

She was starting to get nervous, though.

About 2:55, the man came in with a woman, and she said, “My husband bought our tickets. I see a boat over the roof and people are getting on. Are we in the right place? We won’t miss the boat, will we?”

I told her that that is the other boat tour, but she was in the right place for our tour, and a deckhand would get them on the boat when it was time at 3:55ish. She nodded and they both left again.

At that point, I was starting to get a little nervous, but I double-checked with the man when he walked in and my co-worker and I were both busy in the shop at the time and couldn’t run after them to triple-check.

So I pushed it out of my mind and helped other customers.

After the 3:00 boat left, things hit the fan.

Ten minutes later, the shop was empty except for one man, who was browsing. The door opened, and the couple stormed in. The woman was furious.

“You little witch!” She shouted when she saw me. This took me completely by surprise. “You lying cheat, you made us miss our tour!”

I’m hurt and confused; my co-worker looked horrified and just as confused.

As the woman continued to scream verbal abuse at me, it occurred to me that, despite double-checking, this couple had wanted to go on the competitor’s 3:00 tour.

I’m too stunned to say anything in my defense, so I kept quiet while the woman ranted and raved about how I’m a thief and a liar and how the booth next door warned her that we do this stuff all the time.

Her coworker thankfully took over.

At that point, my co-worker (who had been trying to calm the woman down and offered to refund their money) snapped and told the woman to leave or else she was calling the Port Police.

The woman shouted to go ahead and call the police, but her husband, who had been quiet the whole time, said, “Just go, honey. And just give us a refund.” The woman shouted, “You ruined our vacation!” at me before she finally left.

My co-worker ran the return on his credit card, and she was obviously furious about how the customer treated me. She placed down the slip the guy needed to sign and slapped a pen down on the counter.

That was when he lost it. He signed the receipt in a huff and shouted, “Witch!” at my co-worker when he left.

The husband must have known it was his fault.

I was shell-shocked throughout the event; I hadn’t said anything since the woman’s tirade began, and I think my jaw had been open the whole time.

My co-worker ducked outside to make sure the couple left the property and came back in to type an e-mail to our manager, so they knew of the situation and were prepared for any complaints they might receive.

I was struggling not to cry, and my co-worker asked if I wanted a break, but I was still new and thought that was considered unnecessary, so I shook my head and sucked it up.

Despite her obvious displeasure, I don’t think the woman ever sent in a complaint, because I never heard anything else about it.

This still remains one of my worst experiences in retail, if only because it happened when I was new and when I had made an effort to avoid the problem in the first place.

At least nothing ever came of it.

Let’s find out what Reddit makes of this tale.

Your best isn’t good enough for some people.

Apparently it’s pretty easy to do.

Goodbye!

Someone has to do it.

Reading is fun(damental).

Even when you’re on vacation.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.