So this happened today (May 10th, 2014). This customer came in near the end of my shift with the mentality that “I’m the customer, I can do whatever I want and everyone has to jump through hopes to please me.” Most customers are pretty good, not this guy.
So he came in looking to buy a 7-piece patio set that came in two boxes, but didn’t come with an umbrella. He had to buy the umbrella separately. That part he didn’t mind. Anyway, after I got the patio set from the trailer and loaded it onto a pallet jack, I was told that he was going to buy some other stuff that he couldn’t take through the garden centre and thus would have to pay for it at the front of the store.
So I pulled the pallet jack all the way to the front of the store and waited for about ten-fifteen minutes before I got a phone call from the associate who told me to go to the front telling me to bring it back to the garden centre because he was going to be paying for it outside.
Here’s what happened in those ten-fifteen minutes. He had gone around to other departments (sporting goods, furniture, etc.) and grabbed a bunch of other items there. My co-worker had told him that he couldn’t pay for that stuff outside so he’d have to pay up front. He said that he’d have some more stuff to buy anyway, so she told him that I would bring it to the front and wait for him.
When he finally came back to the garden centre he said to her, “Where is the guy with my patio set?” And she told him I was waiting for him at the front and he said to her, “Well who told him to go there?”
So he changed his mind on buying the other stuff and demanded that I come back to the garden centre because he wanted to pay outside. She said to him, “He’s waiting at the front, can you just go to the front and pay?” And he said, “No! I’m the customer and I want to pay for it outside.”
So that’s when I finally received the call and hauled it all the way back to the garden centre. After about another five-ten minutes, I finally went to see my co-worker and ask her where the guy was. I found him and he wanted to buy the umbrella as well. So I showed him where the umbrellas are and I found the exact same one (same price, same colour, everything) and he started opening up the box to take a look at it. He wasn’t convinced.
Anyway, eventually he was convinced and by this time another co-worker of mine showed up, so he was going to be able to help with the carry out. But of course the customer wasn’t done yet. He just walked away towards the fire pits and tool sheds/boxes. After about another five minutes he came over with one of the tool boxes and so I asked him if this was going to be everything or if he had more stuff to look at.
His response, “What difference does that make to you?”
So I said, “Well, I have other things I can do if you still want to look around.”
“Oh, you have other things? What other things? I’m the customer, you should be looking after me.”
“Okay,” I said, “well, my shift is also going to be done in fifteen minutes.”
“Then just go, if you don’t care about the customer. I’ll go get a manager and get somebody else to help me.”
My co-worker could see I was about to lose it on this guy so he jumped in to try to calm the customer down and to prevent me from saying anything I probably would have regretted later. So my co-worker and I started walking back to the cash hut where the patio set was located, and I was carrying the umbrella, and I just started laughing. Then I noticed that the customer was following us, so clearly he was done and he could’ve easily just said that he was done instead of being such a rude person.
Then he decided to tell us that he could only fit the box of the chairs from the patio set in his vehicle and he was planning on putting the box with the table, as well as the umbrella and tool box, on the roof of his car. We told him that it’s Wal-Mart policy that we can’t help him put anything on the roof of his car since, if it falls and there’s an accident, Wal-Mart can (and most likely will) be liable for damages. If he wants to put it on the roof, he’ll have to do that himself with his own bungee cords or rope or whatever.
Of course he didn’t have any bungee cords or rope or whatever, so we told him he can get some from the automotive department. So he went inside to go get some…or so we thought, but of course he’s not that compliant. He went to customer service to go ask for rope or something and for some reason someone said that we could tape it on, so he brought back one of the department managers and a roll of packing tape (which would most certainly not hold all of this stuff securely on the roof of his car).
We told the department manager that we couldn’t do it, so he called one of the duty managers who said that we can’t do it and we can’t even supply the tape or rope because then we’d still technically be liable for supplying it.
Meanwhile, he decided to go ahead and purchase all of the items, despite our (and the cashier’s) protest that we can’t help him put it on the roof and he’d have to do it by himself.
So when the department manager told him we couldn’t do it and we couldn’t supply the tape, the customer said that he’ll have to return the patio set, but he wanted to keep the umbrella and tool box. Then the department manager walked away with the tape. Afterwards, the customer started asking where the tape was because he still wanted to tape the tool box and umbrella to the roof of his car. We told him that we’re not allowed to supply the tape or any supplies to put it on the roof, but he refused to believe that we could turn down his request since he’s the customer.
After a bit of arguing, my co-worker finally said, “Okay, we’ll get the tape.” And then we both just walked away with no intention to get the tape.
I don’t know what else happened. My shift was done by then and when I finally got back outside and walked by the garden centre, the co-manager was standing out there with my co-worker (the one who had said we’d get the tape) and the cashier as they were telling her what happened, so I hung around a bit until I saw the customer return and decided that was my cue to exit.
So there we go, the rudest customer I’ve ever had and it was pretty entertaining, I must say.
Update: He didn’t leave for another hour and a half after I had left and he tried to steal rope!
He got rope from the hardware department and tied the table, umbrella and tool box to the roof of the car and then told my co-worker to put the chairs in his car. My co-worker told him that he wouldn’t until he paid for the rope. The customer put up a big argument because he didn’t want to wait in line.
He eventually paid for it at cosmetics but when my co-worker asked to see the receipt (because he had been waiting outside and didn’t see the guy buy it), the guy refused to show him the receipt claiming that my co-worker didn’t need to see the receipt.
When my co-worker refused to load the chairs into the car without seeing the receipt, the customer said, “This is how you talk to customers?” To which my co-worker replied, “You’re no longer a customer to me, you’re just a pain in my ass.”
The guy got so mad at that and demanded to talk to the manager who ended up getting into an argument with him (since this had been her fourth time dealing with this guy) until eventually he showed the receipt for the rope.
He didn’t help load in the chairs, either. He just stood and watched. The whole time he was with his wife and kids as they followed him around: in the store, out the store, in the store, out the store. Never once did they say anything. I feel bad for them.
But yeah, that concludes the story of the rudest customer ever.
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Being Stephen Kaplan 