Bad Customers

HO BOY DO I HAVE SOME STORIES TO TELL. I'm sorry this got longer than intended.

I work as a lifeguard on cruise ships which is generally a good job, you get to travel and you can meet some interesting people but sometimes the passengers can be entitled arseholes. 

So first up I'm gonna say if you ever go on a cruise PLEASE REALIZE LIFEGUARDS ARE THERE FOR YOUR (AND YOUR CHILDREN'S) SAFETY. We are not there to be "fun ruiners" as the kids (and some adults) often think. :'D We HAVE to be strict due to the ship having tiny pools which are often very busy and on a moving platform which does give a wave pool like effect with a really strong undertow and sudden depth changes when it's rough.

Secondly I'm gonna say NOT EVERY CREW MEMBER IS GONNA KNOW THEIR WAY AROUND THE SHIP. Most of the time if you say "sorry I haven't learnt this ship's layout yet" they're fine but some can be real arseholes over it I can't even.

Specific  incidences I've had to deal with as follows: 

• I had to break up a fight over a sunbed (I really wish I was joking) and keep it calm until my line manager and the senior security officer came up and they took over because threats and allegations were made. The whole incident was rather silly and childish but I did have a lot of passengers say to my face how well I handled it.
• 2 man children told me pool rules didn't apply to them because they were adults, proceeded to ignore us, became verbally abusive to me and caused chaos to the point it took 5 officers up to deal with them and their families. They then tried to tell the officers we (the lifeguards) been bullying them hence why they were acting up. They were acting up because they didn't like someone half their age telling them they couldn't do something. Thankfully the officers didn't buy their bullshit.
• One lady had a go at me for giving her the "wrong directions" - I told her to go up to deck 14 and walk to the end of the ship to find a bar that overlooks the ship's wake so how she went so wrong she was (and I quote) "walking round and round in circles for hours" I don't even know.
• I had one woman completely flip out at me because I had to ask her kid to leave the pool for repeatedly jumping in (I work on a 3 strikes and you're out system - thank you Supernanny). Eventually I had to get my line manager involved because she would not talk to me or anyone else. Turns out what she'd completely lost her shit over was the kids were jumping in when there was no lifeguards on duty???
• When covering a Security shift on the gangway I had passengers complain to me like it was my fault a port stunk.
• Blacked out because it is somewhat NSFW (please tell me to delete it if it's too inappropriate) An old man exposed himself because he was rather optimistic about his tiny Speedos covering his huge junk which inevitably slipped out. He didn't even notice until I pulled a face at him and he wasn't at all ashamed.

• The amount of adults (usually middle aged men) who jump in and think because they're adults they're no longer jumping in actually does my head in. Sorry but dropping in, stepping in, walking in whatever you want to call it is still not allowed and I can't have one rule for adults and one rule for kids. Yet they can get so shitty with you over this.
• I get passengers complaining to me about stuff in their cabins quiet a lot. Yeah for some weird reason we do fall under Housekeeping instead of Youth but you should be telling this to your cabin steward, not me. 
• "The hot tub's too hot" is a very common complaint when we're sailing in 43ºC heat.
• "The pool's too cold can you heat it?" Another common complaint when sailing in 30-45ºC heat. 
• You get asked "do you live on the ship" a lot. Of course not Janet we come into work by jet skis. Sometimes people on reception bullshit passengers and tell them we have special crew helicopters that bring us on and off every day. The passengers are thick enough to believe it and come back the next day to complain about "the crew helicopters keep them awake" LOL.
• When a load of teenagers in the 14-17 age range make friends you can guarantee it's not going to be long before they start acting up either just because or the boys are showing off to the girls. These groups can be quiet hard to manage sometimes.
• You'll get at least one (typically) middle aged man who acts up because the kids think it's funny Daddy/Granddad got told off then he'll ignore me and make me follow them around the pool when I need to tell them not to do something. :I Just. . . don't. You're wasting my time and taking my attention away from the rest of the pool which is dangerous.

I teach kids programming for a living, I genuinely like spending time with them, and it would be AWFUL of me to judge them harshly... The parents however... WELL.

The easiest course my job place teaches is an Alice course. Alice, for those of you not in the loop, is a terribly made and not at all user friendly tool for teaching the basics of programming to youngsters. It's terrible and I'd recommend scratch over it instead. But that's ok, I do my best to tell kids what they need to do in the program to make their stuff work. But, you know, a lot of people sign their kids up for this course as, well, basically as a super glorified babysitter. I get kids who've never used a computer before. I can understand that, there's nowhere on the site that says that the Alice program isn't intended for kids who have no computer experience, and I just take the opportunity to teach them the basics of using a mouse, clicking and dragging, and I even teach them how to back up their work on a USB key at the end of the class. It's a pain, but no foul. These are all very small classes to, often with just one person in it, so I can teach at speeds that the kids are comfortable with.

Except, I got this one kid. He was a sweetheart but I felt really bad for him because, and I'm not exaggerating here, he literally could not read or write. He wasn't developmentally delayed or anything, he was just very young. I taught him all I could, had to point out exactly where to click, what to drag, how to spell each and every word he wanted to write, talked to him about yu-gi-oh during his break (by far the easiest part for me) to keep him entertained and in my good books, because yes this was all very frustrating for him. At the end of the week when it came time to write his report card, I left a small "he should learn to read and write at an appropriate level before he moves on to the next course," and I really hope for his sake that his parents took that advice.

Ooohohoho do I have stories

My #1 was the time I was a host at a restaurant. Not the server, not a manager, a measly host. I was cleaning a table when a woman comes over to me and tells me she's leaving because her server either never took her order or never brought the food. All they had were drinks. Honestly, all I remember is she wanted mozzarella sticks but never got them. So she comes up, and complains about this. Whether it was that the server didn't take her order or forgot it, both would have been a legit complaint. This woman is irate. I say "I'm so sorry ma'am, let me go get my manager" remember, I'm a host. I can't fix her problem. Wrong move apparently, because she hollers at me "No! You can go to hell, this whole place can go to hell" and storms out.

I like to say this woman lives in a box and only emerges for mozzarella sticks once a year. Idk why else she'd be that mad to scream at someone who wasn't even responsible (and a child, I was like 19/20).

THEN I've had a grown 40/50-something year old man throw a tantrum because the restaurant couldn't give soda (the machine broke). I forgot to mention the machine broke until he said he wanted a coke. "I'm so sorry sir, our soda machine is currently broken. It's not carbonating anything. I can still serve any uncarbonated beverage. We do have someone about to run to the store to buy soda but that may take a while". The guy freaks out "What the heck am I supposed to drink??" (dude, uh...water? like soda isn't the only drink on the planet?). His whole family is fine, but like every time I walk by in the next few minutes he freaks out "How do you not have soda, I don't know how a restaurant doesn't have soda. When will you have soda?" and like, the host that went shopping for us took a while because we're not that close to a store and he pulls me aside each time I walk by. Once she's back with store bought soda he shifts to super polite. Ugh.

Wait but I saved the best for last! Once I had two women come in and order burgers. One was totally normal, the other seemed fine aside from how she took her shoes off and sat cross-legged with her bare feet on the seat (ew). Anyways, I bring out their meals and the foot lady turns to me "do you have pickle chips?" I tell her no, we only have the spears (she had one or two on her plate that come with burgers). "Oh, I only eat the chips". I apologize, ask if she needs anything else and she says no. I walk away. About 10 minutes later I come by the kitchen and my BOSS is cutting up a pickle wedge. I ask him what's up, he says the lady at my table asked him to slice her pickle wedge. A grown woman asking a grown man to cut up her pickle, as if the slices of a spear taste any different than the full spear. O.O I don't..I can't make this stuff up. she happily ate it after that.

I have bad manager stories too but idk if those count :p

Elllllie Y E S. Tell me EVERYTHING! I'll edit to make sure everyone knows they can rant about co-workers too. _(:3」∠)_

i used to work at mcdonalds (i quit bc damn that shit is stressful and people can be nasty to kids working there when it comes to food) , and it was about 8am on a saturday morning but it was pretty empty, meaning it was only me and my coworkers at the time. we had this family come in, a big old guy, a shy woman and a kid (who i found out was their grandson). i was the only one on front counter and i took their order and everything was fine but she forgot to order an extra mcmuffin! no biggie, lets just order it through and ill add it to your order. she was in a hurry paying as her coffee was also ready, so as she went to collect it she quickly left me the money.
Now the manager was next to me at the time, and i notice the lady was about 20 cents short. Normally i wouldnt care butttt you know someone was watching so i called to the lady and let her know she was 20 cents short. she gave it to me and apologized, all super niceeee

EXCEPT HER HUSBAND found out and was fucking furious. he was red in the face and stormed to me, a 15 yo small girl barely 5 foot and built like a twig, threatening to bash me and my manager almost going behind the front counter, screaming that we publically humiliated his wife over 20 cents (there was no one in the store so uuuh).
he even had the audacity to say we were setting a bad example to his grandson like uuh right. says the one whos threatening to bash me.
needless to say the police where called and escorted him out :^) good riddance. tho i felt sorry for his wife and grandson tho ....

<sub>ok so ive been salty about this for a long time
ive had this customer before who commissioned me back in january when i opened 10 slots bc of a small emergency  
im a lot cheaper back then when it comes to my comms vs now but yeah i work on one or two commissions per week because ive been mentally drained back in january and school was really tiring (end of junior high and all + 2 day field trip and exams. we were also practicing for prom dance and stuff every day and my body is just so dead, so i do my comms late at night)

do note that i dont submit every commission ive done in dA and i prefer just noting them to commissioners when i finished, sometimes i dont submit them at all

cue 1 month and 3 weeks in, ive finished 7 commissions and ive got 3 left and im sketching out theirs already when I receive a comment after i put out an update journal (about school being a bit of a stress, but im managing) asking why im doing commissions when im stressed
ofc i do them because i need to pay for things? I can't get a job because I'm still not in the age to get one and yeah, commissions are my way to get some mons 
when i replied along those lines, they replied accusing me of taking the money and not doing them for months. and im just. excuse me? I marked the ones I finished in my commission journal as finished, I just don't submit them nor do i update my commission journal about finishing one because the ping is quite annoying. and then!! out of nowhere they suddenly mention that they have a friend who takes a " "" ""handful """ of commissions and try to finish them right away. Like wow ok I'm sorry I can't be your friend then? I'm sorry I can't take art as my way to live by because I'm still in highschool and im a cheapass bitch back then when it comes to comms? I'm sorry my spirits haven't been the best back then but I still needed the money?

 I didn't reply that way, but I did praised their friend for being such a good artist to be able to finish quick, unlike me. (they also said something like "not to be accusing," and im just huh. quite too late to say that now tbh) I also told them that they could always note me about updates if they're too bothered by it. (another customer had noted me a few days ago that time about concerns on my updates and I've assured them that I'm doing their commission and have successfully delivered it on time.) and they're like no, no "it wasn't especially about my impatience for my commission, take your time, I don't mind that." oh yeah really. I've been pissed at that point but I tried my hardest to be professional lmao and said that it really sounded like it's about their commission. and ofc they denied and replied "ok I guess u got my intention wrong, it wasn't about a commission update. It was about the principle. But don't mind it, it isn't that important, because everybody can do what they want here." 

well sorry if i misunderstood then bc ur words make it sound like it !!! the conversation ended there, and i delivered their commission a few days later with a pinch (a sea) of salt. 
I apologized even when i believe they should be the one to apologize and hoped things are cool between us then. They said they are, but no, when I delivered their 2nd comm a day later they said that it looks sloppy than the rest of my commissions. (im laughing bc i think they were being petty when they said "but eh i dont think you care about that so- //unwatches". like one unwatch would affect me at all ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) ( PETTY PETTY #2, they replied to my comment a second time after the sloppy comment, "at least you got your money right") 

I couldn't believe my eyes because it's a goddamn sketch commission. It wouldn't look all polished asf! I've even had sloppier commissions than theirs but my customers are pretty satisfied with it. don't assume ill make it polished just because i offended you or something. when i replied that ive been trying a new brush pen (bc i rly am, the stabilizer wasn't cooperating with me when i did their comm), they were like "sure, it doesn't matter." and im just like uh. ok. when i asked if we're cool after i apologized, you aren't cool at all, and neither am i. you could have just said thank you and that would have been the end of it. i didn't reply that to them tho lmao i just, didn't. 

let them have the last word, whatever. im glad they're out of my hair bc wtf !! im still so salty !!!</sub> 

shrio-nii DUUUDE i've had the same thing on the 'it looks sloppy compared to others' i remember someone telling me the commission i did seemed rushed. just bcs i did it quickly doesn't mean i rushed... the quality i put out on that one wasn't different than the others. they didn't even point out or explain why it seemed rushed. it's such a vague remark that we can't even say anything to it other than 'ok dude'. 

your customer was so unnecessary tbh 'about principle' LOL if it's not actually about productivity or their commission they didn't even need to say any of this at all.

So I did a brief stint at Starbucks, and as you may expect, that dredged up some CHARACTERS. Though honestly I think the worst we really had during my time there were:

- The lady in big sunglasses who marched up to the register with some complaint about her drink, got an apology, and then said "Um?? I paid five dollars for this drink so you can make it right," while basically slamming the cup down on the counter
- All the people who would show up 30+ minutes after their mobile order was placed and then get upset that their drink was cold
- Everyone who liked to get up in arms about the "Secret Menu" but ESPECIALLY the woman who ordered a custom frapp from the drive through, something that required us layering the whipped cream in the middle of the drink, and then got upset because there was "not enough" caramel drizzled on the inside of the cup

Honestly though all the regulars who were super sweet to us during the morning shift made up for it, so it wasn't all bad xD

The WORST customer I've probably dealt with though, honestly, was when I worked with an antiques dealer. Our customer base was pretty varied but we had a lot of older people to deal with, obviously, so there was plenty of customers straight up forgetting things or not understanding how to work their e-mail to place orders, things like that.

But the WORST was this one particular woman. As comes with the territory, we handled a lot of consignments and estate sales. One day this old lady came with a bunch of items she wanted us to sell on consignment. When I say "a bunch," I mean literally hundreds of items, tons of itty bitty things. Now my boss had his quirks, but generally he knows his stuff. Nevertheless, this woman wanted to quibble with him on the sales price of nearly every single item insisting they were worth more because of the age, etc, even when they were still garbage. We had to sort and label and inventory every single item while she had these arguments. We were working there until 7pm (we usually left by 4), half outdoors in the middle of summer. In addition, she was verbally abusing her (equally elderly) husband the entire time, refusing to let him help with anything and shooting him down any time he tried to make any suggestion.

Insult to injury, later that evening or the next day, she realized that she had left her cell phone at our store, and called up our boss, demanding that someone go open it up, when no one was scheduled to be there, so that she could get it. He told her no.

(To emphasize how memorable this incident was, as I was typing this story just now, my sister, who was working with us that day, walked by; I asked her "what was the name of that awful old woman at [store]," and she immediately sneered and went "Gladys," before continuing to walk away.)

There were plenty of insufferable people, but she was definitely 100% the worst xD

(And total sidebar but RandomStorytale I completely feel you on the mixed hair woes)

Holy FUCK. Bless this thread. I deal with so many idiots at my work, especially with those Sushi snobs. (:

I think the wost commission experience iv had is when some kid offered to pay with art (10 pieces) and I knew they were a beginner but I didnt expect them to post each piece (with 5 minute intervals) after 2 hours, each piece looking extremely rushed and inaccurate (not even colouring inside the lines, not making my character look anything like they should, not even giving me everything they promised) and when I politely asked them to make small changes to the pieces and offer them advice the kid threw a tantrum, blaming everything on me until I just decided to block them. 

Needless to say im hesitant to work with younger kids anymore or take art as payment.

<sub>negated YEAH OTL, speed doesn't usually affect quality. Just because they think you're fast doesn't mean you're putting less effort than your usual. It's just that you're more motivated. They could have explained why it looked rushed tbh, you could have at least fixed it somehow than just pointing it out and not explaining why kksdjf,,

and yeah if they weren't "" impatient "" about their commission then why are they suddenly claiming I just take the money and never doing them for months ksdfjsdf,,, i'm already so salty at being accused, and more salty bc I'm actually doing my comms! >:(

idk to them but is it so hard to note the person for an update??? they rather ask and accuse in public?? ?? if that's how they treat me then idk to others lmao wow. ive waited longer than 2 months for a lot of my comms and they go get pissed over less than 2 months. (the longest im waiting on rn is 10+ months, but i know the artist is rather busy and they ALWAYS reply when I ask how things are going.) HUFFS</sub>

One time I did a commission and someone promised to pay more if I did something extra for them. I did so and when I was finished they didn't pay me for my extra work at all, but I'm not assertive enough so I let them get away with it. This is why I am awful at commissions and don't do them anymore   

kavaro oh gosh the customers who throw things. Always a fun shift when that happens. I had a lady throw her cash and coins at me because the line was too long and she waited like, 5 minutes to order coffee. Not that I didn't make it fast enough, no. She threw things at me because other people wanted coffee and were in line before her. On a town parade day. Whose route ran right by, you guessed it, the coffee shop.

Also very interesting to read art customer complaints! I frequent talesfromretail on reddit and see a ton of retail/food service complaints but I've never realized it's just as bad with commissions. Ugh. Sucks :/

Wait, but I can also complain about my manager in safety now, on an invite only website? Once my former manager told me, word for word "I'm going to start putting you on-call (something our restaurant didn't even do) to teach you time management" all because I had homework on a saturday and couldn't cover a shift. She legit asked me "how do you have homework on a weekend?" Uh, have you been to college? I almost got my grade dropped because I tried taking a day off for a religious holiday the teacher didn't want to acknowledge.

Then, there was the manager who would put me on closing shifts, first of the last 3 cuts (so it'd go Ellie cut first, random girl 1 and random girl 2 staying til full close). She'd start cooking for the "closers" and would give them free food, then tell me because I wasn't technically closing I had to buy my own food.

Wait, what about the GM who called me a "f-ing lazy server" because I tried to eat some stale pasta?? I'd juuuust clocked out for a lunch break (this place didn't follow the laws, you were lucky if you got to eat lunch) and the restaurant got slammed the moment my food was ready. Instead of saying screw you to my coworkers, I hosted, bussed, etc. to get them through the rush. After the tables are mostly clean (again, I'm off the clock) I go to eat my now hard pasta and he freaks out that I'm eating instead of working.

Phew okay that feels good to shout into the internet void.

Edit- while we're here, can I ask you artists something? If I check in after a month or so and make it clear that I'm not being impatient but just curious, that's okay right? I know everyone has different turn around but I'm always worried how I come across when I do the one month check in. (usually that's when I check, just cause it seems long). Like I usually say "hey, just curious what the status of your commissions are. I'm not asking to be impatient, just curious!", is that annoying?