Working at a customer support job or any similar role can provide a person with many interesting stories. These stories can range from barely interesting interactions to some of the craziest things you have ever heard -- the scale of customers is always very wide.
And so, when an X user @WrittenByHanna asked people what the most outlandish requests from customers they received were, people did not shy away from sharing them. Today, we picked out some of the stories for you to check out and see how wild some clients can be!
More info: X
Image credits: WrittenByHanna
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
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Sounds like there are two options here: Sally needs to be taught about self-control; or she needs to be in nappies / diapers.
Nearly everyone has heard the phrase “the customer is always right.” It’s the phrase that was coined back in the 1990s, suggesting that the business and the employees should prioritize customer satisfaction above anything else. I guess we can be pretty sure that a lot of people from this list thought of this in their minds while these customers made the strange requests.
Yet, many experts are against this philosophy. After all, no one is right 100% of the time. Also, the customers believing they can’t be wrong can even lead to violence against retail workers.
"Why dies it smell manure?" "We gave up on pottytraning the hippopotamus.."
An example of a case of a customer not being right is when they make an unrealistic request (this list is full of examples for it) and demand it be done even though the staff can’t do it. So, experts argue that, in cases like that, customer service workers shouldn’t feel obligated to accommodate such a request. Ideally, they should try to work it out with the customer without taking on the blame.
Instead of jumping to the “the customer is always right” idea straight away, Marjorie Adams, president/CEO of Fourlane, a financial technology consulting firm in the US, suggests several things to do when dealing with customers:
- Ensuring the customer is heard;
- Not taking their words personally;
- Retaining the focus;
- Thinking about the other staff members.
I'd lose my mind if I had to answer questions like this on a regular basis.
"ah yes, madam. That would be our limited edition spit syrup - we reserve it for customers we know are going to be a pain in the butt"
So, I guess the best advice would be to be mindful of each other, no matter if we're customers or an employee. After all, we're all just humans who make mistakes from time to time.
Have you ever witnessed a customer making an outlandish request? Or maybe you made one yourself? Share it with us in the comments, and don't forget to upvote the most entertaining request from the list!
I like that instant water. All you have to do is add water.
Okay, so I pictured beans like the magical fruit kind, and was like "caffeinated farts, why?"
Yup, as a ´gardener’ and a female one, they seem to think that they’re doing you a favor , think they can pay you minimum wage when you use your own equipment and you can manifest wonderful gardens from F.A !
Not really surprised since these people expected a server to (?) comfort/ tend to a stranger's child. Entitlement- its a helluva druhg 🤷♀️
They may be enquiring so you have the opportunity to say "sorry, that one's just run out."
Sure, ma'am! With the additional batshit crazy customer fee, that'll be 1,000.00.
We have these very bright, fluffy oversized beach towels for guests to use at the pool & beach. It’s common they bring/wear them back to their rooms rather than toss them in the dirty towel bins. We also sell an upgraded version with our logo embroidered at our gift shops for a hefty $70 each. It’s not uncommon for a cheap guest to try returning our beach towels to the gift shops claiming they purchased them & changed their minds. I think they see the towels on the shelves & assume they’re identical to the ones all over the property so they hatch a plan to mitigate the huge amount they spent to stay with us. We don’t even have to ask for a receipt since we can point out they’re not the same product.
Worked in a motorcycle store, we had two floors, one that you had to walk through to get to the stairs upto the floor I was on, they walked past at least 100 motorcycles on the ground floor, up the stairs, met me and asked ‘do you sell Subaru parts?’, when I replied that the Subaru dealer down the road would be best place to buy parts they huffed and said they thought we’d be cheaper. I did then explain that Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Buell all supplied us but Subaru stuck to car dealerships. They still seemed unhappy, people including me can be stupid sometimes!
I was visiting the owners of a little country store when a lady stopped in. They apologized for it being dark, and said the electricity had gone out a few minutes ago. She said "Oh no! Do you think the eggs are still good?" (In case anyone is wondering, the eggs probably would have still been okay the next day with no refrigeration.)
We have these very bright, fluffy oversized beach towels for guests to use at the pool & beach. It’s common they bring/wear them back to their rooms rather than toss them in the dirty towel bins. We also sell an upgraded version with our logo embroidered at our gift shops for a hefty $70 each. It’s not uncommon for a cheap guest to try returning our beach towels to the gift shops claiming they purchased them & changed their minds. I think they see the towels on the shelves & assume they’re identical to the ones all over the property so they hatch a plan to mitigate the huge amount they spent to stay with us. We don’t even have to ask for a receipt since we can point out they’re not the same product.
Worked in a motorcycle store, we had two floors, one that you had to walk through to get to the stairs upto the floor I was on, they walked past at least 100 motorcycles on the ground floor, up the stairs, met me and asked ‘do you sell Subaru parts?’, when I replied that the Subaru dealer down the road would be best place to buy parts they huffed and said they thought we’d be cheaper. I did then explain that Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Buell all supplied us but Subaru stuck to car dealerships. They still seemed unhappy, people including me can be stupid sometimes!
I was visiting the owners of a little country store when a lady stopped in. They apologized for it being dark, and said the electricity had gone out a few minutes ago. She said "Oh no! Do you think the eggs are still good?" (In case anyone is wondering, the eggs probably would have still been okay the next day with no refrigeration.)