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Imagine working at a store that always has something on sale, but the sales change every week. What would you do if a customer came in thinking an item was on sale, but it was actually on sale last week, not this week?
In this story, one craft store employee is in this situation, and she tries to explain to the customer what is on sale and what isn’t, but instead of listening and understanding, he just gets angry.
Honestly, I can understand his frustration, but he certainly seems to have anger issues!
Keep reading for the whole story and for the super sweet ending to the story.
“I’ll just go spend my money somewhere else!”
I work at a big chain craft and hobby store, I specifically work in the framing and fabric departments.
This store has weekly sales and the merchandise that goes on sale usually alternates every other week. (Which is super annoying because customers don’t understand why they can’t have an item for 50% off this week when they know it’ll be 50% off next week.)
It sounds like a busy day.
So, last week I was working in the framing department and helping a customer pick a custom frame.
Then another customer (henceforth dubbed “rude guy”) came up with some posters that needed framing and started walking through the ready-made frames available.
Then the rude guy came over and interrupted us.
Me=me and RG=Rude Guy
The Rude Guy had a question.
RG: Are you telling me these (pointing to the ready made wall frames) aren’t on sale this week?
Me: No sir, the open back frames and shadowboxes are on sale this week. I’ll be happy to help you in just a minute.
RG: So these (pointing to the wall frames) aren’t ready made frames?
Me: Yes sir, they are ready made frames, if they’re aren’t built by us personally then they are considered ready made frames.
Once again, the weekly ads were confusing.
This guy is speaking pretty aggressively, so my current customer said she would wait while I helped answer the rude guy’s questions. She’s a nice lady.
RG: The ad said these frames are on sale this week.
Me: Those frames were on sale last week; this week the open back frames and shadowboxes are on sale. Maybe you saw last week’s ad by mistake?
RG: I just looked it up online!
I can understand why he’s frustrated, but it’s not the employee’s fault.
Me: I’m sorry for the confusion, sir. But the wall frames aren’t on sale this week, the open back frames and shadowboxes are. The wall frames go on sale very frequently, so you can check back next week.
RG: (pulls up the sales ad on his phone) See! It says ready made frames 50% off!
Me: Sir, it says ready made open back frames and ready made shadowboxes are on sale. These are classified as ready made wall frames, and they’re not on sale this week.
RG: You guys are a bunch of freaking lying witches!
At least the other customer was nice.
Me (sounding super chipper): Oh, well okay then!
RG: I’ll just go spend my money at (name of competitive store)!
Me: I’m sure they’ll enjoy having you there just as much as I have! (Big fake smile)
Resume pleasant interaction with nice lady customer who called corporate and gave me a glowing review.
Seriously, losing his business is no loss.
My favorite part of these types of exchanges are how they think they’re going to hurt my feelings by saying they’re going to go shop somewhere else.
Really, I’m devastated.
What a frustrating customer interaction! I can understand why the customer is frustrated, but he didn’t have to direct his anger at the sales associate.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.
Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.
This person loved her comeback.
Another person understands the type of store she works at.
A retail worker weighs in.
A former supermarket employee can relate to this situation.
My favorite part of the story is the other customer who called corporate to give her a great review. She makes up for the awful customer who hopefully holds true to his word and never comes back.
You never know what you’re going to have to deal with when working retail, and this story is a good example of the two types of extremes when it comes to customers.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a waitress who refused to return a tip after a party returned to the restaurant with a complaint.
