If you find yourself working in any kind of customer- or client-facing role, you’ll get a very good overview of humankind. And while the truth is that the majority of people are kind and thoughtful, treating staff with the respect they deserve, there is still no short supply of people who behave very differently.

This can range from erratic and confusing behavior, to downright disrespect and even abuse from the worst of individuals. Because for some people, when things aren’t going their way, customer facing staff are unfortunately at the front lines for them to take out their anger and frustration. And let’s be very clear: this is absolutely not okay.

Fortunately the betting shop employee in this story had seen everything, and was more than accustomed to dealing with difficult customers. However, one customer really did take the title of ‘least respect’, when he took issue with a single word the employee said.

Read on to find out what happened here.

“What’s up my friend?”

I work in a UK high street betting shop, and the atmosphere inside is fairly informal.

It was a usual weekday afternoon when a customer walked in. I hadn’t seen him before, but I saw that he glanced with intent at the gaming machines thinking of playing them, and had a debit card in his hand.

So I was immediately aware that he would likely want to pay by card to load some money on.

This meant he would have to do a transaction with me at the counter for that, unlike most machine players who just come in stick cash in the actual machines.

So the employee decided to speak with the customer.

So I called out to him “What’s up, my friend?”, about to follow it up with a “what can I do for you?” as I got the card reader from below the counter, expecting him to tell me how much.

“You what?” He looked at me, sort of startled, “What did you just say to me?” He was definitely irritated about something.

I repeated myself now that he was closer: “I said what’s up my friend? Are you ok?”

He glares at me for a second as though I’m some kind of imbecile then said, “what’s up? What’s up?! You don’t talk to me like that! Do you know who I am?”

Yikes! Let’s see how the employee responded to this tirade.

Now this is always a favourite question of mine to be asked, because the answer is always no, and it never matters. I strive for good customer service, but I’m not a suck up. Everybody gets treated the same.

Before I could answer though, he was off on one: “I spend thousands of pounds in here, you don’t talk to me like that, I could buy you two or three times over!”

I politely explained to him that I’m not for sale, and he asked for my name as he was going to report me and “have my job”.

I wrote down my full name, position, shop code and the customer services number and told him to do what he’s gotta do, and with that, he stormed off.

He came back in a week later, paid by card to load some money (£50) on to a machine and didn’t say anything to me about the matter. What a donut.

Some people really do have anger problems.

The employee was literally just being friendly, and he turned round and spoke to him like that?

It’s completely unacceptable.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who gave her phone number to be friendly to a guest, but immediately wished she could take it back.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person thought they knew what made the guy see red.

While others had similar stories of entitled customers.

Meanwhile, this Redditor had a perfect response to such a question.

Once those words have left a person’s lips, you know for sure that they’re not someone you want to deal with. Because in the end, it doesn’t matter who you are or what superior position you might think you occupy, everyone deserves to be spoken to with the same level of kindness and respect. And sure the employee wasn’t being super formal, but they were welcoming the customer warmly into the store, whilst being completely respectful at all times.

The customer on the other hand? He showed his true self very quickly, and it was ugly to see. Someone so entitled they think they can speak rudely to an employee, even think they have the power to get them sacked? Sure he might spend a lot of money in the betting shop, but it doesn’t mean he has the kind of power he thinks he has.

And his quiet return to the store the next week proves that either he was given a stern response when he did call the company’s customer service number, or that he later realized the error of his ways. But regardless, an apology wouldn’t go amiss here. After all, he behaved appallingly.