Dealing with customers can be a serious test of one’s patience. Even more so for someone who doesn’t work at the place to begin with and has to listen to entitled people vent nevertheless.

Redditor u/FantasianMind recently told the ‘Malicious Compliance’ community about the time a lady at a game store mistook them for a staff member. She didn’t care for the fact that the person didn’t work there and requested that the business owner fire them. He did, but only after a quick chat with the ’employee’. Scroll down for the full story.

Bored Panda has reached out to the OP and they were kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find their thoughts in the text below.

Some customers are too busy yelling at the staff to realize they might not be actual staff members

Image credits: Rob DiCaterino (not the actual photo)

This entitled customer demanded that the store owner fire a person who wasn’t employed there to begin with

Image credits: westend61 (not the actual photo)

Image credits: FantasianMind

Some customers find it difficult to express dissatisfaction in a pleasant or polite manner

Image credits: Clem Onojeghuo (not the actual photo)

Arguing with annoying or angry clients is like tilting at windmills. They’re rarely ever polite and usually fight tooth and nail for their truth, whether it’s right or wrong. The well-known cliché that ‘the customer is always right’ does not help in such situations either. It often prompts the client’s sense of entitlement, leaving you—the Don Quixote of the story—trying to fight their rage. In the redditor’s story, the situation was even more hopeless, as the customer was fighting to fire the OP, who wasn’t employed there in the first place.

Redditor u/FantasianMind told Bored Panda that acting on assumption was what annoyed them the most about the situation. “My mom does it, people on the street do it, heck, I sometimes do it; it doesn’t mean you should act on assumption. This woman assumed I worked there, the gods know her reason, and when about to be corrected, she doubled down, probably because of pride or something. I hate that,” they said.

There are, however, customers who are able to communicate or state their complaints in a civilized manner. This type of client usually just wants to help out; they express their concerns so they are brought to the staff’s attention and fixed if needed. At the end of the day, it can benefit the business. Zippia revealed that whether in a polite way or not as much, roughly 4% of customers actually complain to companies.

The way people express dissatisfaction makes all the difference. (It is that thin line between your comments being taken into consideration and you getting a sneeze muffin—Rachel Green’s way of dealing with rude customers.) The entitled woman at the game store was too engrossed in venting to allow the person to inform her they don’t even work there. That’s why the business owner didn’t give her the time of day to try and actually help her out. It’s worth bearing in mind that ‘treat people the way you want to be treated’ is also a set phrase for a reason.

Dealing with discontented customers can become quite a challenge

Image credits: Kampus Production (not the actual photo)

When clients take the less-friendly approach, the staff often has to choose between two evils. The first option is bracing themselves and rolling with the punches; even though the customer’s behavior can make their blood come to a boil, the professional environment typically requires them to stay calm and collected. The second one is fighting back, which rarely ever benefits the business and its reputation. Yet you don’t have to always fight fire with fire; sometimes it is possible to put them in their place by politely complying with their requests.

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Engaging in acts of malicious compliance usually requires ingenuity and the ability to think on one’s feet. When the store owner noticed the OP being yelled at, he rushed to get them out of their misery, and in a creative way, too. He struck up a conversation that resulted in the redditor having a giggle and the entitled customer stomping out empty-handed.

“He is a hero without a cape,” the OP told Bored Panda. “Sure, he could have been less condescending in his approach, but he stepped in to help. He tried to be polite at first and maybe, if she calmed down a bit, maybe he would have handled the situation differently.”

An Inc and Go survey revealed that toxic customers have forced up to 60% of employees to leave a job at some point in their careers. However, the store owner didn’t seem too bothered by the entitled customer, which is why some redditors applauded the way he handled the situation in the comments.

The OP was compensated for having to deal with the unpleasant customer

People shared insight, jokes, and similar stories in the comments

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