Working with the public can be hard enough without someone taking all of their frustration out on you.

For one state employee, that frustration turned personal when a woman came in needing help with her benefits.

Right away, the customer accused her of not helping during a previous visit, even though someone else had handled her case.

From there, things only got worse as the woman demanded an immediate appointment and refused to accept the answers she was given.

Eventually, the employee had to walk away just to keep her composure.

Read on to see how it all played out.

A customer made me cry today

I work for the state, and I’m a clerical worker for state assistance programs like food stamps.

I’m constantly yelled at and abused by customers angry over their food stamps.

I understand these customers are angry at the situation and not me. But treating me like dirt won’t help your situation.

It all started while helping her first customer of the day.

Here’s how my first client interaction went today:

“Amy, I can help at window three.”

“Are you sure you can help me? Because you sure didn’t help me last week.”

“I’m not sure what you mean, ma’am. I didn’t see you last week.”

At this point, the lady started getting louder.

“YES YOU DID.”

“I can see your records. Window one helped you last week.”

“Are you calling me stupid? I KNOW it was you.”

“It wasn’t. But what can I do for you today?”

Apparently, Friday wasn’t going to work for her.

“My case is messed up. I need an interview for benefits. Now.”

“We’re booked up today, but I can get you one Friday at 9 a.m.”

“That’s not good enough. I had to call out of work for this. I want an interview now.”

“I can’t do that, ma’am.”

Then, she demanded a supervisor.

“Then I want to talk to a supervisor.”

“There are no supervisors here today.”

“Why are you lying? There has to be a supervisor here. Give me your supervisor’s phone number.”

“I’m not lying. Supervisors come into the office only once a week. And I cannot give out a supervisor’s cell phone number to clients.”

Angry, the woman started calling her names and demanding info.

“*****. Give me a supervisor’s info. NOW.”

“Ma’am. I’m going to have to step away for a while and come back so I can stay professional with you.”

“Yeah, you do that.”

*Comes back after a couple minutes.*

When she came back, the woman accepted the Friday interview.

“I need to help other clients. Should I put you down for a Friday interview or not?”

“Yes. The earliest one. And what’s your name so I can report you?”

*Sugary-sweet fake customer service voice:* “Sure. My name is OP, and my supervisor’s name is Beth.”

The lady just had to get the last word in.

Then she has the audacity to say as she’s walking away….

“You should really learn to be nicer if you’re going to work with the public.”

***. Cue waterworks because I’m stressed with life and this job.

Yikes! That sounds like a very stressful job indeed.

Let’s take a look at what the people over at Reddit think about what happened here.

This reader doesn’t think she did anything wrong.

What a sweet message!

Here’s someone who can’t imagine acting like that.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a bank employee who immediately resigns after being denied a bonus.

So true!

People are allowed to be frustrated, but that doesn’t give them the right to treat someone like garbage.

And once the yelling and name-calling start, it’s probably not going to end well for someone.

The employee was just trying to do her job and set the record straight.

It seems like the only one needing to be nicer was the customer. Sheesh.