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Our culture is pretty obsessed with being young. We try to preserve our physical bodies from the signs of aging for as long as possible. We market everything based on whether young people like it or not. But there is one place where being young is a disadvantage – a boss's position.

Young supervisors get disrespected by customers (and also employees) very often. One person online wanted to know whether young bosses encounter disrespectful clients often and how they snap back at their demands to talk to the manager. So, they asked: "Small business owners, who look too young to own the business, what's your favorite 'I AM the boss, lady' moment?" Glad to have a space to share their inventive rebuttals, hundreds of young bosses told their stories.

Bored Panda sought the expertise of organization development consultant and award winning author of Work Jerks: How to Cope with Difficult Bosses and Colleagues, Louise Carnachan. She told us more about why young business owners get disrespected more often than their older counterparts, and what disadvantages they face in the entrepreneurial world. Read on and find her expert insights below!

More info: Louise Carnachan | LinkedIn | Facebook

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I ran and ice cream shop. I must have had to say "Actually, I am the manager" at least once a week.

My favorite was this woman I eventually banned from the shop. She would come in with her husband and s****y kids. Then she would try to order a large (three scoops) and ask me to put it in three single scoop cups, but only charge for the large.

I said no. You either order three single scoops or you order a large. The difference in cost is quite a bit, but it's fairly standard for companies to do it this way. I wasn't having it. She got pissy that I wouldn't do it. First she said "Well the manager let me do it last week." "No I didn't," I told her flatly. "Well than whoever was working let me do it and they said they were the manager."

"No they didn't. I believe my workers over you."

"Well I want to talk to the manager."

"I am the manager. You are talking to me. I said no."

"Fine!" And she and her little family stormed out without any ice cream. No skin off my back. She was rude to me and my workers, I wasn't going to let her treat us that way. Then she proceeds to call the shop the next day, when I am working again (as the manager, I worked a lot.) She said "Hello, I need to speak to the manager."

"Speaking. How can I help you?" "I was in there yesterday and some little b***h lied and said she was the manager, but she wouldn't let me get what I wanted..."

"That b***h was me. You're banned from our location. Don't come back."

Bonus justice boner: She tried to call corporate to report me. Corporate outsources complaints to the manager with the highest rating in the area. Which was me. So when she called corporate to complain about me, she also got me. I wrote up the details of the conversation and forwarded all of her messages to the district manager, and he agreed with my decision and allowed me to send her an email officially banning her from the store.

SalemScout , Lukas Report

Final score:
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#2

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I used to work in the box office for an MLB team. The actual manager was usually extremely busy and couldn't easily respond to issues at 15 different windows, so we frequently pretended to be each other's managers. It was the easiest way to get back up when an annoying customer would not accept one of our policies.

On one night I was helping a very drunk customer who refused to accept a policy (I don't remember exactly what it was). He asked to speak to the manager, but he and everyone else around me were crazy busy. So I turned my back on the customer, turned back around, pretended to be a different person, and backed myself up. He accepted this without issue and went on his way.

Norman1515 , MART PRODUCTION Report

Final score:
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#3

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners Once when I was working as a restaurant manager, customer gets upset about something I can't remember which he is yelling at one of the cashiers. I come out and ask if I can help.

Customer: "I need to speak to the manager both of you are just so disrespectful and s****y."

Me: "Well sir I am sorry I can't do anything else for you I am the manager."

Customer: "No you aren't! Go get me the manager right now!"

Me: *sees one of the food runners go by* "Hey Tim, will you please go get the manager for this gentleman?"

Tim: *confused look* "But..... you are the manager right?"

Me: "Thank you Tim that will be all".

BigBodyBuzz07 , Ksenia Chernaya Report

Final score:
219points
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Work relationship expert Louise Carnachan says that disrespecting young bosses and managers simply because they're young is ageism. "If you're young (or appear to be younger than your years), there's an assumption you don't know much."

"There seems to be a positive bias toward those in their mid-thirties to their fifties as the sweet spot for skill and wisdom. If you fall on either side of that, your competence is questioned. Of course, there are exceptions depending upon the profession and the person," she adds.

Carnachan says that it all comes down to appearing reliable. "The bottom line is that customers/clients want to know you are trustworthy and can solve their problem. If you appear confident and helpful, that goes a long way. Then you need to deliver results."
#4

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners This kinda fits: moved into a house across the street from a pretty upscale winery. First time I go out to mow the massive front yard with a push mower (all I had at the time as we only lived there a couple days) I notice there’s the old, dirty landscaping guy on a zero turn making the field next to the winery look immaculate. He crosses the street and ends up in my yard and says “lemme have a try at it” and saves me an hour of work with 5 minutes of using that beast of a machine. I go up to start small talk after and ask how long he’s worked for the winery. He says “oh, twenty something years. Since it opened actually. I own it.” My jaw hit the floor. He pointed to the massively expensive home down the street and goes “that’s my house.” He wasn’t lying. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

draterlatot , Rodolfo Gaion Report

Final score:
215points
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#5

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I don't have a particularly great story about it, but I owned a popular neighborhood coffeeshop for several years. I'd occasionally work behind the bar pulling shots and making drinks, and I lost count of the number of people who'd come in demanding free coffee or whatever because they "knew the owner and he always gives me free coffee".

It always went down the same way: "I know the owner."

"No, you don't."

"How would you know?"

"Because I don't know you. That'll be $2.50.".

deathinactthree , cottonbro studio Report

Final score:
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#6

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I worked for a landscaping company ran by a man and his brother, Scott. The one brother Jim was the main boss, but his brother ran things when Jim when out of town. Jim was out for a week and his brother gets to one of their houses to cut it, The owner comes out and says, "hHey man, I'm Jim's cousin. He said you guys could trim the hedges while you were here today?"

Scott says "No sorry man, I don't have anything in my notes about trimming your hedges today. I'll talk to Jim tonight and get your hedges sorted out, but it might be a few days."

The customer doubles down, replying, "I told you, I'm his cousin, I think I would know if my family says he can trim my hedges for me."

So Scott laughs and asks, "well how come I've never seen you at any family reunions?"

"The guy looks confused for a minute and finally Scott says "I'm Jim's brother, and we're not trimming your hedges today."

ChanoMeetGW , Anna Shvets Report

Final score:
203points
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Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My!
Bouche and Audi and Shyla, Oh My!
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, a lot of companies pretend they're family. Why not pretend the company you're hiring is?

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The work relationship expert tells Bored Panda that sometimes young people might think they're being disrespected because of their age, but it can be just because the customer thinks they're not doing their job right. "If a customer challenges your ability because they aren't satisfied with your service, that's a different issue than being challenged because you're young."

"If it's the former, then make it right. If it's the latter, rather than snapping at them, here are some things you could say (with a smile):

  1. I've had experience with similar issues, let me help you.
  2. I realize I appear youthful, but I do have experience.
  3. Yes, I'm fortunate to have been able to open my own business. How can I help you?
  4. Appearing young runs in my family. (And it does, everyone was young once!)
#7

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I used to have a window cleaning business. My employee, who is older than me, was standing nearby taking a short break while I continued working.

Typical "Karen" pulls up and starts asking my employee about our prices, how to get an estimate etc, etc. I start answering questions over my shoulder while I'm working (time is money right?). She gets all huffy, and says something sarcastic like "Sir, I was talking to your boss" in her best The Grownups Are Talking voice.

So I turn around, set my window cleaning tools down deliberately and carefully, take one of my cards out of wallet and said "well ok, but I just thought you might like to talk to the owner instead". So satisfying.

SpawnicusRex , Tima Miroshnichenko Report

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#8

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners This is late so it'll probably not be seen.

I'm not a business owner but I do basic dog training and walking and general pet sitting as a side hustle. I'm a very small woman (5' 110 lbs).

I got a call from a dog mom asking if I could leash train her 2 year old Great Dane rescue. She and her husband have just been completely unable to get this boy to walk on a leash. We negotiate a price. I work on the cheap side because I'm not licensed but I want to help people so they don't rehome their dogs.

I show up with my fiance and the husband and wife take one look at me and they are incredibly uncomfortable and a bit skeptical. I have my own slip lead and use their leash and collar. My fiance accompanies me and they ask their roommate to walk with us as well. Totally understandable.

This boy is about 150 lbs and he is STRONG. He is also insecure and almost impossible to walk on a lead. He doesn't follow directions well but I'm determined. This boy has been rehomed six times in his two years of living and his parents are considering rehoming him if this doesn't work. They already have 2 adult female Great Danes and a puppy living with them.

The first walk was horrible but like I said, I'm determined to help this pup and his family. The next day, I show up and he's excited to see me. He's a little bit better but not much. His parents are still skeptical. After a week of walks, when I show up, he actually goes and sits by the door to wait for me to leash him! His dad is amazed. Their lead was grossly wanting because they normally don't have to leash their females. I borrow one from my roommate that can hook around my waist.

After three weeks of leash training, his parents are moving and I will not be able to train him any longer. But this boy has made progress by leaps and bounds! His parents are able to take him for walks around the neighborhood. He follows directions. He doesn't bolt. He's not as insecure as he once was. Our last training session, I meet the rest of the household. They call me a miracle worker. We walked for an hour and the only leash I had to use was the one around my waist. We were able to walk hands free. His parents decided to keep him. I'm especially proud of myself for this one.

ETA: Omg thank you for the gold! My first ever!!

awkwardAFlady , Yaroslav Shuraev Report

Final score:
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#9

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I was the manager at an EB Games back in the day. This was probably about 2000-2001. I was there for the launch of the PS2 and Diablo 2 (two biggest events I can remember).

We had an older lady come in one day and wanted to "return" a system she had bought for her son. She claimed he had gotten bad grades in school and was returning it as a punishment. She handed me this ridiculously old and beat up cardboard box. I opened it to find a dirty, dusty, cheeto fingerprint covered PS1. I knew that the original PlayStation launched in 1994 (...and now I feel super old), so what I was looking at in the box was at least 6 years old. I paused, looked back at her, and for whatever reason asked if she had the receipt. She actually did. Sure enough, it had the date printed on it, and it was from some time in '94.

I still hadn't said anything more, I was just looking at the mess in front of me when she spoke up and said something along the lines of "and I'll just take the cash back, that will be fine." I laughed, which was probably my first mistake, and said "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'll be able to return this, this is six years old, and clearly used."

She tried to argue that she had bought it here at this store and the manager at the time told her she could return it for "any" reason and went on this crazy diatribe about her kid being bad, etc, etc. It went on for a good 5-10 minutes. When she was done, I just flipped the receipt over and read her the EB return policy. "30 days from date of purchase for unopened merchandise... etc".

She completely lost it. It escalated so quickly I contemplated calling mall security (ha!) and the police. She wasn't having it. Then I told her she could "sell" the system back to us (it was worth about $40 at the time), which would have given her something, but she wasn't biting on that one.

She asked for the manager, demanded to see the manager, wouldn't rest until she told the manager how rude I had been (I was pretty much a saint for most of this) and was going to get me fired. I just pointed to my name tag, and in the most satisfied tone humanly possible said "Lady, I AM the manager, and there's no way on God's green earth that I'm returning an opened, 6 year old, clearly used, dirty PlayStation."

She stormed out, never to be seen again. It was glorious.

docholoday , Sergiy Galyonkin Report

Final score:
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Louise Carnachan says that it may be harder for young people to be taken seriously when they start a business. "Young entrepreneurs do have a disadvantage when it comes to obtaining investors. You may be highly skilled and have a wonderful business idea, but possessing skills is not the same as being able to demonstrate a track record."

"As Will Rogers said, 'Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.' Investors want to know your judgment is sound, so be very thoughtful about how you propose your business plan."

"It's worth noting that being young is an advantage in some industries (i.e., pretty much anything technical)," she notes. "And the bias is actually in your favor. In the end, being or appearing young is a time-limited issue."
#10

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I'm 21 and started a construction company about 4 months ago. I work in tract housing, and I work alongside other sub contractor for the same builder. I was asked to go into a house to fix another contractors mistake. The electrician, who was in the house when I went in, thought I had made the mistake and basically called me an idiot, saying the house next door was much better built/straighter/cleaner and that my boss shouldn't accept my work. I gladly told him that I was the boss, and I was the one who built the house next door. We both laughed it off, not trying to make enemies with other trades I have to work alongside of.

_invizion_ , Jens Behrmann Report

Final score:
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Hinrik Ævarsson
Hinrik Ævarsson
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I realise I'm being an a*s I find it best to apologise and/or laugh it off. Doubling down has never resulted in me feeling better about it.

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#11

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I run a small woodshop that takes commissions from locals. One guy came in looking to order something as I'm planing a piece of stock. I stop and ask him if he needs anything, the same thing I ask all my customers, and he says, "You can't help me boy, let me talk to the owner." Keep in mind, I started this company when I was 17, and that's probably how old I was at the time. I also had hair down to my shoulder blades and a beard that hadn't fully developed a mustache yet, so he was quite right in his assumption that I wasn't an adult yet, but he left soon after I told him that, "Sir, I do indeed own this building along with everything inside it, and if you don't think i'd be capable in helping you, you are free to leave." He left.

thiccdiccboi , Devin Berko Report

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#12

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners Worked in retail, specifically a specialist bra fitting shop. One day I was working the change room desk upstairs, taking bookings for fittings and helping the 10 or so customers in the rooms for people who didn't need a fitting but needed me to just quickly check things sometimes and fetch different sizes etc. It was busy, and a woman came in on the lunch rush and demanded a fitting.

I politely told her that I was very sorry but all the fitters were booked and with other customers for the next hour or so, so I could help her a bit but can't give 1-1 attention as I'm helping all the other rooms too, so if she wants the full thing she would need to pop back tomorrow or later.

She flew off the handle, telling me how busy and important she was, that she made a special trip, she can't come back tomorrow, I should help her etc. She was really rude, aggressive and mean. I just politely repeated that I was very sorry but I couldn't help her for the reasons above, we just had no free staff, she ranted a while but then left.

A few minutes after she went downstairs I got a call from one of the till girls saying a customer was complaining about the young girl on the fitting desk who refused to help her even though she could see spaces on the list, and had been rude and had been swearing at her and wanted to see the manager about it. It should be noted I was about 24 at the time, but looked really young - maybe 18. She clearly had no idea I was the manager. I told the desk girl I would be down shortly.

I walked down those steps so slowly with a huge grin to let the horrible woman slowly recognise who I was. When she saw it was me her face was just a picture. I played along asking for a description of the "girl" who was so rude, as that is very much outside our standards I am shocked to hear such a thing happened, I was upstairs at the time and certainly would have intervened if I had heard such a thing etc.

She had caused such a scene that all the people in the shop were staring at us. So she either had to admit she had been lying and trying to get what she though was some poor shop girl fired, or she had to make up a description with me obviously going to be saying things like "hmm, no one here looks anything like that - try again".

She just was at a loss for words, her mouth agape gasping for air, bright red, not making eye contact. I forget if she said anything at all but she stood there for a long while, and just left.

I have never felt such satisfaction as I did walking down those stairs knowing what was about to happen.

chuckitbuckit , Arina Krasnikova Report

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bjenkins3988 avatar
brittany
brittany
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i recently got myself professionally measured and the experience was great, but i found out the hard way i prefer undergarments with no underwire. the ones i bought all had underwire and while they are nice, i just dont feel i have the range of motion i need to be comfortable. i love them but only wear them if im going someplace super nice. other wise i wear my other ones

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Judging whether a person is a good manager or boss based on their age would be inaccurate. "Age is a poor metric for assessing someone's leadership skill," Carnachan says. "Those with a gift for understanding people may demonstrate this early in their lives.

#13

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners Growing up my mom owned a business. She did the majority of administrative and behind the scenes work while my father and a family friend worked the front end. Occasionally if my father was off, a customer would come in and ask for the boss only to be surprised/annoyed when she said she was the boss. One time this happened she was just over it and walked back into the office put on a jacket my dad bought her as a joke that said “The boss lady” and went back to the customer to say “now do you believe I’m the boss?”.

snickerkee , Karolina Kaboompics Report

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Karina
Karina
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The joke reached their punchline, as intended by husband all along.

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#14

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners Similar but different. My mum owns a florist, and hired some new staff so that she wouldn't be working 10 hours every weekday. Her biggest rule is to NEVER refuse service to a customer, because the shop doesn't get too much foot traffic and all the stock is unusable after a week and gets thrown out, hence why every customer should be served. One day my Dad (who doesn't own the shop but has a lot of authority over it) was walking past the shop while a new staff member was on. He was about to ask if he could help (since just by looking at the shop, he could tell not much had been done) before she, without looking up from her phone, said that the shop was closed. The shop definitely was not closed. Dad definitely told the employee who he was, and definitely told mum what happened. The employee was definitely fired shortly afterward. As soon as she was fired, the shop went from potentially going bankrupt to profiting.

TL;DR My Dad had a "I am the boss, lady" moment... to an employee at my Mum's shop who was shortly after fired.

DaNerdyDude , Anna Shvets Report

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#15

My dad owns a roofing warehouse, i help run it. Well one day a guy comes in looking for something he asks for the price. He doesnt like it and gets a cocky attitude talking about how he knows the boss and how he'll get me fired. Just an overall karen attitude. I Fire back with " i dont think he would Fire his own daughter." His face dropped and he got outta there quickly.

emil_53 Report

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"A good boss or manager is able to treat everyone fairly while paying individual attention to the needs of their staff through stretch assignments and motivating them. They are clear communicators and care about their employees. While we can train people to be decent managers in leadership classes, those who excel at leadership usually come in already wired that way," the work relationship expert explains.
#16

I'm the assistant manager of a makeup store. on one occasion a lady had came in and wanted to buy the whole store. Our company has policies on purchases over a certain number of items/dollars to resist people reselling. Anyway I explain that we need her to fill out a form to approve the large transaction which required her credit card to match her ID. The name on her credit card was a man's name and not hers. I refused the sale because it's money related s**t and I will definitely get fired if I allowed payment on that credit card (even if she knew the pin, which was her argument). Needless to say she left the store screaming every profanity possible at me and said she would report me to head office and make sure I get fired. This is after she demanded to see someone "that has the power to make me happy". I smiled as hard as I could and said "I am the manager, and there is nothing on my end to make you happy. This is credit card fraud" I happily handed over my business card and said have a nice day! A few weeks later, a man walks in asking for the manager on duty, which happened to be me again. He asks if I knew someone named blahblah come in buying something with a certain bank's MasterCard. I said yes (because we write reports to flag customers). To my surprise, he says "oh god that's my soon to be ex-wife. That b***h ran off with my credit card and is trying to make me bankrupt"

acos24 Report

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#17

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I’m 20 years old and started a small business earlier this year when I was 19 making art from trash I find on the beach. When we sell the art it helps fund an artificial oyster bed sculpture we’re attempting to make and install in the water to help filter pollution from the water. It’s called Cilly Sells Sea Shells after a nickname I got when I was younger.

So about a month ago, I met a guy at an event in a gallery I had pieces hanging in (this place hangs a lot of different artists and host music events pretty often). We started talking and mentioned our majors (I’m environmental science, he’s marine biology) and he goes “oh you’re gonna love this.” He brings me over to MY OWN WORK and starts talking about it. Apparently his friend who worked there had told him about my work.

I didn’t know what to say, so I just didn’t say anything while he talked about it. He said he loved how the pieces looked like glass and that they use stuff from the beach. Dude was clearly super into marine bio and talked about the science behind oyster filtration and all that. He had apparently been super interested in my project for like 2 months before he came to this and really knew his stuff.

He picked up the big UV lamp that was underneath it and proceeds to show me how all of it glows in the dark. I pointed to my SELF PORTRAIT and said I liked how it glowed differently than the others. He looked closer and said nothing. At that point I had to walk away to greet an event organizer.

Ten minutes later, a worker came up to me and said someone would like to meet me. Brought me up to the guy I was talking with earlier. His reaction was priceless.

anon , BERK OZDEMIR Report

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Caro Caro
Caro Caro
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This isn't negative. He was really nice. Just say "thank you, Nice you love my work".

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#18

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners Sorry for the long read, tldr at the bottom.
For background, I don't own the business, but I am the general manager at a pool and spa store. I believe this fits here though. I am also a rather short (5ft tall) woman who, despite being in my 30s, gets mistaken for a high schooler at first glance. Also, I try to get a mix of both male and female employees, but not a lot of women apply for a pool store, so besides myself, the other 4 employees that day are guys, and it being seasonal for all but GM and ASM's, they are all between 18-20 year old guys in between college semesters.

Customer comes in with a pump with a frayed/broken cord. I greet him, and am promptly ignored. Knowing I'm the only one that has shopwork training (I was put in this location to fix a failing store and had to train a whole new staff to boot) I walk off the sales floor and into the shop area to work on other equipment while I wait for the customer.

So customer walks up to the young guy on register and tells him he needs his pump fixed, is told that shopwork is done by the manager and gestures to the shop window. Customer proceeds to ask 2 other brand new employees, they tell him they are still in training, but I would be able to help him, and point him towards me.

Exasperated, the customer walks up to the shop window, and in spite of me standing there working on a disassembled robotic pool vac , says in a snippy tone, "hey, I need the manager to fix my pump, where is he?"

I put what I was working on down, and with that "customer service smile" on , ask if his pump is 110v or 220v since the plug is missing (I can tell once i open the pump, but I prefer to collect all the parts needed first if I can) and if there were any other issues he can tell me about to ensure I have all the parts or if i need to get some from other locations.

Customer looks at me, looks at the screwdrivers and test leads and says, "Honey, they told me I needed the manager, they said he was the only one who can do this, is he here?" (All in a tone like i was bothering him)

I kept that smile and reached out to shake his hand, saying "hello sir, I'm the manager, fuzzyoverlordsmom. Besides a new cord, is there anything else I can help you with today?"

Unfortunately this guy was a jerk, and instead of brushing it off, apologizing for dismissing me, or just acting like a normal person, he questioned if i knew what i was doing and if ive ever even fixed anything before. I told him it was his choice to leave it w me to fix or not, but he does need to talk to me w the same courtesy and respect that he is being shown in spite of how hes been acting.

He left and I fixed the cord, the pump seal & gaskets. Pump worked great after, and his wife came and picked it up.
He came in a week later and apologized to me, and ended up giving me another tip. Hes been a model customer since.

TLDR: customer comes in w shopwork for repair, doesn't believe the young looking female employee could be the manager or fix a pool pump, is rude. Ends up apologizing when proven wrong.

FuzzyOverlordsMom , cottonbro studio Report

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"Entrepreneurs of any age may or may not be good leaders," Carnachan adds. "Typically, a start-up entrepreneur attracts employees who are enthusiastic about the product and service. When the business is new and small, the shared vision is compelling. However, as a business grows and matures, an entrepreneur may not be able to make the leap into successfully leading others."
#19

I used to own a store.

One day I'm at the register, watching tv when a woman comes up and asks for a refund. My policy was no refunds unless defective or something like that. She wanted to return a $200 item for her cash back. Told her sorry, but I wont be able to make a return and told her why.

She got all huffy puffy and said "Listen, I know the owner of this store, do not make me call him". I gave her his "new number" (which was just mine) and made an apologetic gesture, telling her he'd tell her the same thing.

She actually called the number. I pick up on my cell and tell her that we dont make refunds unless the product is defective.

She looks at me with wide eyes and I tell her "Ma'am, I am the owner, I opened this shop a couple years ago".

She walks out muttering about reporting me to Yelp.

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#20

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners Many years ago I was managing a chain pet store. I was in my early 20s and had long hair. I didn't "look" like a manager. We offered samples of dog and cat food at the cash register and some woman gave me a real snarky answer when I asked if she wanted some free samples of cat food for the cat she was buying toys for. She said she feeds her cat from her plate and doesn't give it cat food. She said it like I was an asshole for asking if she wanted free samples. I nicely said that cats have a specific digestive system and cat food is specifically formulated for cats. She angrily said "Garfield eats lasagna, my cat eats what I feed him too." I just said "Ok, have a nice night." and walked away.

About an hour later one of my employees tells me there is a woman on the phone who wants to speak to the manager. So I grab the phone and ask how I can help her. She goes on to tell me about the rude "long hair kid" who told her she was a bad owner for feeding her cat human food. That never happened. Then she goes on to tell me that the same "long hair kid" threw one of the ferrets into the ferret bin from 5 feet away and said "I'm playing ferret basketball." That ABSOLUTELY did not happen.

I let her go on and on, trying not to laugh. I finally said "Ma'am, I am that long hair kid, and none of what she just told me actually happened." she started to cut me off "....furthermore you are no longer welcome in my store." She huffed and hung up. Never saw her again.

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#21

Not really a ‘manager’ but more of a supervisor/lead of a department in a retail store. I’m female and I worked in the tools department so I got looked down at a lot.

The best story I have, is when a guy walked in and tried to return something and I had to tell him no. He got pissed and demanded a manager, the only one available was the one who knew nothing about the area I worked in. She literally came over, listened to him, looked at me and asked “so, what’s the policy?”

The guy then realized that I was not just some employee. When I told her what the policy was, she turned to him, shrugged and said “she knows more than I do back here.” And walked away. He was not too happy with the outcome.

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Some guy
Some guy
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The only thing better would have been if the manager who "she knows more" had been a man.

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#22

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners Became a supervisor for a welding contractor when i was 19. Had an engineer ask to talk to my boss out on a job site that i was the only one at (5am was the first one there).

Me: "He's out at the truck"

*get out to the truck and swap out to my white hard hat*

Also me: "are you the one to blame for these s****y f@#$ing blueprints?".

Snakebiteloo , Ahsanization ッ Report

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#23

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners Everytime an older (60+) customer comes into my yarn shop and my mother’s visiting the shop. Apparently, at 35 I’m too young to own a yarn shop. My mom (62) looks the part, so they all sidestep me to ask her.
Even when I’m the one answering they still turn back to her with their questions.

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Shelli Aderman
Shelli Aderman
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I, too, as a 53 year old, might make the same mistake. Sorry about that! (Also SWOONING over this yarn photo!💕)

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#24

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners My girlfriend got to turn down an MLM this way. "How would you like to be your own boss?“ “I am...".

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TheElementalGod️️ (He/him)
TheElementalGod️️ (He/him)
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

HEY pandas. How would you like to join an MLM so that I can suck you dry of all your money? be a boss babe and just go to www.scampeopleuntiltheyrebroke.com and be your own boss!

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#25

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I was working in a start-up when I was 20 or something, and at the moment I, so happened was going through medical exams for the army, and one of the doctors asked me where I was working. I told her that I ditched the uni for my business, and she'd told me that I'm probably stupid and my business isn't successful, as I'm sitting with her, in this c****y cabinet. So, the next thing she sees is an article with my photo, in a very respectable finance journal. This look on her face was priceless.

LordMcDoofus , Olga Serjantu Report

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#26

I co-own a clothing company and we do a lot of expos and booths. I don’t know how many times recruiters, printers, manufacturers, whatever have completely ignored me and have gone to my athletes that come to help for the day to ask if they could be our manufacturer or if we could be a part of their event.

I’ve been asked how long I’ve been working for the company, if I can give their card to my “boss”, you name it. Even when the other athletes tell them I’m the one to talk to, they kind of talk to my athlete/ambassador or helpful friend instead of me especially if they’re male and white. I just toss their card into the trash.

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Jinx (she/her)
Jinx (she/her)
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can understand initial confusion, we're all humans, we all make mistakes based on bias, but when it has been pointed out to you, why keep going? Why keep doing it?

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#27

I own a coffee shop. One time a lady came through and wanted to order a latte, with a bunch of add on ingredients, which all cost extra, because it costs us extra. When I told her this, she thought the idea was preposterous that double flavor, extra espresso, soy milk, etc would cost extra, and demanded to speak with the manager. So, of course I say I can actually have her speak to the owner, stuck my hand out and introduced myself and let her know I owned the place. She lost her s**t, but still comes back every day to do the same thing over and over to all of my employees. They're all aware of her issues and just tell her if she doesn't like our coffee and prices that she should go somewhere else, but she just keeps coming back.

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Lyoness
Lyoness
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why not ban her? Would save wear and tear on your employees.

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#28

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I [high schooler, F] am a manager at a local restaurant due to having worked there the longest and being very good at what I do. My coworkers are usually significantly older than me, so it’s hilarious when someone asks for a manger to a 50 y/o and they come and get ME. The most significant memory I have is some lady who laughed in my face and then left, but most of the time people drop the attitude right away.

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David Martin
David Martin
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll admit, my dumb self saw the "high schooler, F" and for just two seconds thought that was a grade point average before the other side of my brain told me "...You're an idiot"

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#29

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I ran a small non-profit for a while. It ended up being a kind of big deal at a local level, which I'm super proud of.

I had a sticker of the non-profit on my water bottle. At a party, a friend of a friend had the same sticker on her phone case. I pointed to her phone, then my water bottle, and gave her a thumbs up. She walked over and proceeded to tell me all about the organization and what she thought of it and how she got involved etc etc. She talked for a few minutes before asking how I'd heard of it. I told her that I suppose I'd first heard of the organization while sitting in my kitchen creating it.

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E.V.
E.V.
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or, you could've told her you founded it and thanked her for her support instead of acting like a b. She seemed very enthusiastic about your organization.

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#30

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I just And I mean JUST (since September) opened a nightclub with my husband and a few friends (we also rent movies but that’s beside the point) We have punk nights and EDM nights and rap nights - depending on the crowd I have had some really interesting interactions

One was a guy who literally asked me “So do you come here often?” I kinda laughed and said “well I own the place so yeah I guess I do” (normally I wouldn’t be this brash but he was being creepy long before our “conversation”)

the-effects-of-Dust , Leslie del Moral Report

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Karina
Karina
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The correct responce is a variation of "why do you ask?" Not to give creepy dude a way to know a whole lot about you, since he probably only asked because he wanted the chance to "creep" again.

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#31

Years ago I worked in retail and a customer asked for help finding a certain item, while I was sitting briefly at the fitting room desk. I said, “of course, let me get our expert in the area that will be able to help you.” She said, “um you could’ve just helped me,” while rolling her eyes. I said politely, “I apologize, I just wanted to give you the best help from our expert in the area.” The expert was standing there waiting to help the lady, as the lady continued to give me an evil eye. They walked away and found what she needed in five minutes (would’ve taken me far much more time to help her). Then while she was leaving the fitting room, she asked the expert if the store was hiring. The expert said, “she’s the manager, she would know best,” while pointing at me. The lady’s jaw dropped and she said she was so sorry for how she acted earlier. I said no worries and told her how to apply. She didn’t get the job. (I didn’t block her opportunity but no one would pass her on to second interviews after hearing from employees who witnessed how she treated the manager, me). Lesson learned: never treat receptionists or fitting room people, or anyone in general poorly, because you never know.

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Ronna Black
Ronna Black
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Never treat the receptionist badly. They are the first contact and will likely be asked about your demeanour/behaviour, especially for interviews. I know I always was.

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#32

I run a textbook rental store. A chick comes in with books so overdue that she has a $260 late fee. I wasn't going to make her pay that, but the only way to pull that off without hardcore unbalancing my drawer was to have her pay the replacement fee so that she owned the books, then sell them back to the store. I knew the sell back prices, so I knew she'd get out of the store paying less than $40 as her late fee. However, when I suggested this plan, b***h went ape s**t. She starts talking about how she didn't know the due date (it's on the receipt we give them, and I send out TWO reminder emails - if you didn't get the email, sucks to be you), and that it's not fair, not fair, not fair! When I pointed out to her that our store stickers were on her textbooks which would have been a reminder of where she got them and that there's a due date, she asked to see the manager.

I probably shouldn't have, but I actually walked to the back of the store and then walked back up with a big, fake smile on and said "Hello, I'm the manager. What can I help you with?" She was livid. She tried to pull some "I manage a store too -" bulls**t but I cut her off and said "If you manage a store as well then you understand that this is a business. I have policy to follow. No one at this store is your mother, and you are a COLLEGE STUDENT. If you can't remember due dates, you got problems girl." Cue this ol' chestnut - "I am NEVER coming to this store again, none of my FRIENDS are EVER COMING HERE AGAIN!!" I told her good, go write a Yelp review. B***h.

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#33

I started my own cleaning service. I’m in my early 20’s so there’s NO WAY I’m the owner right? I do houses and cars. Well I got a call from an older lady asking for the owner. I obviously said I was the owner and we talked for a bit about what she wanted done. I do have a lower kind of raspy voice so I sound older than my age over the phone. I then went to the ladies house to assess everything and figure costs and before I could even get to her door she opened it asking if the owner was gonna be there. I said I’ll tell him to call you. I then took my phone and called her house phone. She went in to get it and when she picked up I said “hi I’m the owner of (insert company name) how may I help you today”. Needless to say she apologized. I definitely felt like a d**k for it but I am tired of older generations thinking a kid can’t own his own business.

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Tabitha
Tabitha
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I’m a late boomer (1960), and I would be tickled to death to find out someone so young is enterprising enough to start and run their own business. My husband and I own a business, and it’s not easy—-and we’re older with college degrees. So someone right out of high school doing the same thing has really got to be 100% on the ball, and I totally love that (I wasn’t that poised and sure of myself at 18, and didn’t even know what I wanted to do with my life. so I really admire that confidence and drive in someone else). I always wish them well, and hope to see their companies succeed, and maybe go national one day, so I can say I knew that business tycoon when they were just starting out. TBH, if I had any kind of power, I’d make sure everyone could succeed in life.

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#34

I'm 28 and look 15 so when my mom helps me run my soap booths everyone asks her what's in it. What are the scents, do you have anything for rosacea? And she just says I just work here, the owner is my daughter. The customers just look at me in horror as I answer all their questions and I get asked a lot how old I am to be owning a business.

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Lexekon
Lexekon
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We kinda have to give a pass for cases involving unusually youthful appearances. The same logic which insists we card people for age restricted sales, even if they look like they MIGHT be old enough.

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#35

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I used to help at adoptions fairs through a local shelter at a local chain of pet shops (multiple shops in the same city) the owner dresses way more *comfortably* than anyone would expect.

One time a lady was throwing a fit over the shelter's policies (the shelter and the pet store chain are partnered but share no management) and the owner the of pet store chain came over to find out what the commotion was all about. He just quietly listened as she raved and ranted about complaining to corporate and how she was going to get him fired and everything. He just took down her info and never bothered to tell her that she was yelling at and being abusive to the owner. Honestly he's kind of a cool dude.

Trainguyrom , NIC LAW Report

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#36

This happens all the time for me, I'm a younger guy who owns a construction company specifically flipping houses. We also rent them etc. But every time I go over to a tenants house and fix something, or send the crew there its the same story.



"I know you came here to fix this but your boss said you'd also do blah blah blah" Most the time I'll just do it to keep people happy but there's been a few times I've had to tell them I am the boss and that never happened.

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#37

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I wasn’t running the business but I was employee #1 at the time and working all alone in the store (it’s very small) over the summer when I was 19. A guy comes in, asks if we’re open, and then asks when the boss gets back. I said “today you’re looking at her.”.

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Rob D
Rob D
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5 months ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

While I am all for people asserting their position in the face of toxic masculinity/wrongful assumptions/prejudice... please be careful of people casing the place; particularly those of you who work alone or small staffed.

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#38

I am a 24 year old PhD student working in IT. I am commonly referred to as ~18. I and a partner own a small service business. I always enjoy people trying to pay me directly for my service rather than going through the business. I don’t always correct them, but the malicious ones always have a great look on their face when they realize I’m the owner they’re trying to screw.

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#39

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners I run a retail business with my other half. I'm a 26 year old female but I look around 15/16 and often get mistaken as the student part-timer.

One customer told me I looked 15. When I told her I owned the place he said, "Wow, you're so successful for being so young!" Had to break the news I was 26, not 15.

Another time, a woman stormed in with a complaint about the delivery she just ordered. I explained the issue she had wasn't ours to fix (driver problem, they're not our drivers) and she cut me off with, "Can I speak to your manager." I deadpan, "I am the manager." She sizes me up, huffs, crosses her arms and asks what I'm going to do about her problem, then.

I also remember a guy who started with, "So where's the boss today? The guy that runs it?" I pass the guys drink over and say, "Oh, you mean my husband?" He flustered for a bit and followed up telling me he knew I was also a manager and that that "guy" was my husband. Sure, dude.

Oh, but my favourite one is the Asian lady who was unbelievably surprised I ran the shop we do (it's Asian based, my other half is Chinese) because "you're white, I didn't think you'd know what you're doing.".

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#40

My favorite is a common one. I am the youngest in my store by 30+ years. Customer asks about price of product, says are you sure, and walks off. Usually 5 min later I will see them talking to a coworker asking about price and coworker yells "diabetesh can you check price on ...." I walk over smiling and just say the same price I said before seeing the look of shame that they didnt trust me cause I am a young s**t.

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arthbach
arthbach
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've had people try this in my shop. For us, it isn't an age thing, but people trying to get someone to sell it to them cheaper.

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#41

A guy at the library asked me if I was studying and I told him I was working on my online business. We chat, but he hints at me making a mistake for not having a "regular job". He now works for me :).

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#42

Working night shifts at a gas station, My coworkers sister came into the store trying to buy cigarettes without an id. I didn't say anything about it. He rejected the sale just cause he could. Using the excuse " the manager may chew my ass out", she responded with something along the lines of "how would he know?" I chime in Cooley with "I'm the manager".

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Anna Chandler
Anna Chandler
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In my state, if you sell cigarettes or alcohol to anyone without an ID, you're getting a $500 fine. Do it again, it's easily double that, and possible jail time. And you're definitely getting fired. The store I was at, the register wouldn't continue a sale without an ID being scanned.

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#43

Just today actually, and it wasn't even a bad one! I [27F] took over a small used bookstore in my town about a year ago (full year on the 26th, go me!). This place had been in town already for about eight years, and passed through one other person before me since the original owner, who I had actually worked for about five years ago. That said, this lady is in, wandering around and checking things out, making conversation, the usual. She mentions that her son brought her in, and last she heard the woman running it had a kid. I just laughed and answered that she was speaking of the previous owner, and that I was the new one and had been for a year. To which she seemed properly astonished, and then complimented the store- we have christmas decorations up, and a lot of them are handmade papercrafts because the decoration budget was nil.

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#44

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners M- me BM- big Momma.
Me and my buddy ran a little hole in the wall bakery, and we once had this woman (let me rephrase, a 300 pound, ready to devour our shop woman) come in and she sat down and ordered a donut and coffee .
So i bring it out and walked back to the kitchen and 30 seconds later I hear a loud thump that sounded like a fall. So I ran out, and she had slammed her fist down on the countertop and knocked a few if our displays down.
She starts yelling "my donut was not good enough, I demand a new one right now"
M- "sorry ma'am, unless your donut was under baked, or something foreign was in it, it's against our policy "
BM - " I want to see the manager!!"
M- " I am the manager ma'am, and I'm telling you, we cant do that"
BM- "then let me talk to the person above you "

By this point i was so fed up, I decided that I was gonna make her so mad she'd just leave.
So I walk to the kitchen, yell my own name and I walked back out. She asked where the owner was, and I said "Oh, your looking at him, and now I think you should leave, thankyou for your business and come again soon"

She stomped out and I had to deal with the broken jar and fallen picture frames, but I was just releaved she was gone.

Thankyou for reading

Edit: omg thank you for my first silver.

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kathyberthahazel
kathyberthahazel
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't see how her physical appearance has anything to do with this story.

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#45

Me and a colleague, let's call him Michael, had a customer complain about something that was clearly stated in our Terms of service. Further more, the request simply was not possible. Michael is a very friendly guy, but has also a line that he is not willing to cross. So this guy keeps arguing and discussing and at some point tells Michael that he now wants to speak to the manager. Michael looks him dead in the eye and answers: "Oh, then you are lucky. On Saturdays I am the manager. How may I be of help? "

The guy froze and left with an angry face. Story is still legendary around the other colleagues.

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#46

Me but also not me kinda

I look older than I am (guy on gfs account) and my old boss looked slightly younger than i. Well some lady came up and asked me if we had a specific phone case. I was honest and said I didn't know and that I could look (we had custom cases). As I started to look, the owner came over and asked if everything was OK. She replied with "yes sir, the owner is looking for a specific phone case"

The owner replied with "I am?" And he started looking too. I turned around and told the lady that I couldn't find that specific image for her phone but the owner can make one for her if shed like. She stood there confused and then asked who the owner was. I pointed to my boss and said he is and my boss patted my back and said I was. So the lady stood there and was even more confused. A few moments went by and then co-owner came by and asked what the problem was.

The lady said "I am looking for a specific image for my phone and they couldnt find it. Neither one of them could find it and the tall one said the owner can print one for me. I asked who the owner was and the tall guy pointed to [him] and said he was but [he] patted the back of the tall guy and said he was. Are you the owner (asking co-owner)?"

The other owner laughed and said yes. He said he could do it and asked for the picture.

She ended up getting the phone case but I don't think she ever found out who the owner was.

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Rob D
Rob D
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5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yall are just f*****g with a customer. She should've walked with her business.

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#47

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners When I was 23 I has just started a roofing company, put about 40 roofs in this neighborhood. Went to pick up a check for one of sales reps and got a very suprised look when I introduced my self as the owner.

dontrickrollme , Andrea Piacquadio Report

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#48

I’ll take my boyfriend to yearly conferences and when at booths or when I’m getting supplies or reading material the people running booths will usually talk to him first, thinking he’s the one in the field I’m in.

meowmeow138 Report

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Rae Andringa
Rae Andringa
Community Member
5 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

If she's busy "getting supplies" and he's not, I don't see a problem with customers speaking to him first. I'm sure OP has had bad experiences, but they're the ones doing the assuming here.

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#49

"His Reaction Was Priceless": 30 Rude Clients Who Had No Clue They Were Speaking To Business Owners All of them. Literally all of them. They jaw drop, the mystified look when they hear it, the stutter, the “oh s**t I f****d up” realization.... I relish each and every moment it happens.

EssenceOfEspresso , Alexis Mora Report

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