Retail customers are different breed and this story is a proof of that.

This employee shares how a customer refused to leave even when the building was on fire!

Check out the full story. 

That time our store caught on fire and a customer refused to leave

Back when I worked in retail I had an exciting encounter that I count as my breaking point for when I realized just how insane some people can be.

This is where it gets tricky!

I worked nights at a department store, and our staff was pretty small, so for the management at night it was generally just me, and the assistant manager.

One night we had a literal, actual fire happen in the back, back where our trash compactor is outside the building.

We think it might have been bored teenagers lighting fires out back that got out of control, but whatever it was we figured the best course of action was to evacuate the store preemptively while we phoned the fire department and got it put out.

He was not expecting that!

The asm is in the back, moving palettes of potentially flammable product away from the fire and communicating with me via walkie talkie, so I’m playing middleman between him and the fire department to give them the info they need.

He’s freaking out, understandably, but I’m trying to stay calm.

I’d already made an evacuation announcement over the speakers, and employees were finding customers and making sure they left as they all headed towards the exit.

UH OH…

Thankfully most people have the sense to leave a building that is on fire without question, but not all do.

As I’m on the phone with emergency services a cashier comes up and tells me that her customer wants to speak with me.

I look up, see the customer doing the classic hand-on-the-hip, foot-tapping, expectant glare directly at me, but I’m still busy so I ask another senior cashier to please go and inform the woman that she needs to leave, because we are evacuating customers.

Senior cashier comes back and says the woman still insists to speak to me. So now I have a fire in the back, an asm who is freaking out, and a customer who refuses to evacuate.

That’s INSANE!

I like, have no idea what to do and we don’t really have a security associate on duty at the moment so I just ask the employees to go to the designated evac spot and urge her to do the same.

I’m still on the phone with the fire department for several more minutes, but finally I hear the sirens and confirm they arrive, so I get off the line and go to step outside and man the door, tell everyone what happened, etc, when I realize the angry customer is STILL STANDING THERE.

As I walk by she starts to go off on me.

It just gets worse!

C: Oh so you’re FINALLY going to come over here and talk to me huh?

Me: I’m sorry?

C: I have been standing here for FIFTEEN MINUTES (disclaimer: was more like 5-10 most) waiting for you to get off the phone so I can talk to you!

That was so unexpected!

Me: Ma’am, I was on the phone with the fire department. We have a fire. I was busy dealing with that, I’m sorry.

C: So I spent all that time shopping and your cashier told me you have to CANCEL my transaction? How is that fair to me??

Me: stares blankly at this woman, flabbergasted …… Ma’am, I just… I don’t care. I don’t have time for this. I really do not care.

Finally she left!

I was SO stressed and done from the ordeal but I still can’t believe the words actually came out of my mouth. She gave me the shocked “ugh!” face like I’d just reached out and slapped her.

Without saying another word she simply scooped up her purse and stormed out the door.

I was just thinking like omg I FINALLY got her out the door and that’s all it took lol!!!

I was expecting a reprimand from corporate, or a firing, or at the very least an angry phone call from the woman followed by a write up for what I’d said to her, but we never heard from her again.

Thank god.

YIKES! That sounds like a lot of trouble!

What did the customer even need?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user knows what the most ideal response to the customer would have been.

This user thinks the customer was insane for even staying back that long!

This user knows how things would work…

This user knows retail customers are the most insane people!

This user has painted the picture really well!

Someone here is a bit too frustrated!

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.