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Managers Asked To Share The Weirdest Complaints About Employees, Here’s 30 That Didn’t Disappoint
The customer is always right might be one of the most incorrect statements of all time, next to Lord Kelvin, president of the Royal Society of London famously saying “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible,” only to be disproven a few years later.
So one netizen was curious to hear what were some of the most unhinged things managers had ever heard a customer or coworker complain about an employee. So if you have worked in a customer-facing job, or have just had some strange colleagues, prepare for some unfortunate flashbacks and get comfortable. Be sure to upvote your favorite posts and share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.
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#1
I had a customer complain that our carrot sticks were too thick and were for horses. She threw it at my server...which she then ran to me in tears. I walked out there and she was just some stupid c**t who wanted to make someone have a bad day. Her words were, “it’s our job as customers to let you know every thing that’s wrong.”
How about you f**k your self and treat people like human beings?
RELATED:
#2
Customer called my manager because I was off the clock and wouldn't help her. It was my day off and she demanded I help her because she knew I was an employee there. I just walked away while she had a tantrum in the store.
In a money-driven world, some people forget that just because you are parting with your hard-earned cash, doesn’t mean you are entitled to anything and everything. You wouldn't throw a fit if someone who has to just hand you a coffee wasn’t smiling. And if you would, I would suggest you reevaluate a significant part of your life.
Other examples here range closer to traditional definitions of paranoia. For example, the chance that a retail employee could and would curse you is near zero. Of course, if someone really was a wizard, witch, warlock, or any other flavor of mystic, why would they be working at, for example, Best Buy? Similarly, if these people have such arcane power, what exactly do you think a complaint to a manager will do?
#3
I'm not a manager, but I once worked with a manager who liked to share the oddball complaints with us.
The manager of another department made a formal complaint against me because I was too *friendly*. He felt it was a huge waste of his precious time to have to say hello back to me every time we passed in the hallway.
One of my colleagues had a complaint made against him for being too *helpful*. He offered to press the lift call button for a woman in a wheelchair, who couldn't reach it by herself. She found it 'belittling'.
Another colleague was accused of being too *happy*. Whistling a tune while walking from one work order to the next. Disgusting.
And I collected another complaint for being too quick. A user claimed that I couldn't possibly have fixed his computer in the few minutes I spent in his office. The manager got him to switch it on and he had to admit that it worked fine now.
#4
I once had a manager come up in a sort of serious way and say "so, um... One of your co-workers said you were asking about his favorite teletubby and he's just kinda a little freaked out about it" One of my proudest moments at work.
WindySwede 1 year ago
Tha employee must live in 'Laa-Laa' land to get scared of that question!
#5
I'm a bartender, and I had someone complain that the fish our restaurant served would give her coronavirus. Second best complaint was that she didn't like me serving her because I was "being haunted by something."
More often than not, the real issue is entitlement, not delusions and spellcasting. Customers seem to believe their word is law and everything from the shape of the glass to the demeanor of a worker can be adjusted to their will. We all have our preferences, but fortunately, the vast majority of us don’t believe that what we want is so dominant that we would go talk to a manager about it. Some people’s greatest battles, it seems, are with delusions.
#6
Karen didn’t like one of our Cashier’s giant [breasts] distracting her 12-year-old son.
Cyber Returns 1 year ago
Get the cashier to rock from side to side until she titnotizes him and make him act like a chicken
#7
I work in a gas station so we sell a lot of cigarettes I had a young looking lady asking me to fire an employee because he carded her. She was 28. I don't know about you but I would have taken it as a compliment.
Sue Denham 1 year ago
I was once asked for ID in a pub when I was 25 (the legal drinking age was 18). I was so grateful.
#8
I own an establishment that serves alcohol. We had a guy complain that the bartender was pouring his beer into "gay glassware" and I need to train him to pour beer for men into manly glasses. He was dead-a*s serious.
Sylvia Schmitz 1 year ago
As a "real man" the guy should know that different beers have different glasses that are proper for them.
Anyone who has worked with enough customers will know that there is a sizable subset of people who really just want to talk. The more “clever” in this cohort understand that making a complaint is one of the rare cases where a customer service representative will not just drop the call. So they concoct the most outlandish complaints, arguments, and weird suggestions just to hear a voice on the other end.
#9
Not a manager but years ago at a job I got called into the office of the big boss. My boss was also there. I was told about my unacceptable behavior from that morning. Confused, I asked what I did. Apparently, my boss passed by my desk that morning and said “good morning” and I said nothing back. They told me it was unprofessional to be giving her “the silent treatment.” I laughed because I thought they were joking around. They were totally f*****g serious and didn’t believe me when I said I just didn’t hear her. They gave me an hour speech about how mean and unprofessional I was and how bad I hurt my bosses feelings.
#10
Manger at Walmart. A older woman would call at least once a week for a month to complain that my employee was a witch who put a curse on the toaster she bought and she wanted the employee fired.
#11
I had a 55-ish year old man on THANKSGIVING scream at the top of his lungs at me for about.... 30 minutes because the employee was using the same bathroom that his daughter could potentially use.
In short. one of the employees was using the single-use bathroom. We had four other bathrooms in the Theatre. He got there first and was already inside when she walked up. He was mad that she (his daughter) had to walk into the women's room next to it use THAT Bathroom.
He wanted me to reprimand the employee in front of him, and then fire him "For using the wrong bathroom"
I refused to do so. He literally stomped around and threw a tempter tantrum like a child.
This, for those who have thankfully avoided such roles, is still a decent situation, compared to the humans that can only be described as a smoldering volcano or rage. Some people have a deep, perhaps innate, desire to shout, scream, and make their power known. Perhaps unable to do it anywhere else, they pick workers as a target.
#12
One of the trades working for me right now asked me to kick a guy off site because he doesn’t talk much. Like, the guy was competent, friendly enough, but just didn’t really have a lot to say about anything. Other workers on site would pester him about things and he’d give 2-3 word answers most of the time.
I get that people like to be able to talk to people working next to them, but how am I supposed to justify getting this guy off site simply for not being talkative?
Cyber Returns 1 year ago
"You want me to kick a guy off site because he would rather do his job instead of complaining about something petty?"
#13
I was working customer service at the time, the guy wanted to complain that the agent he just spoke to was too attractive to be on the phones. I wasn't sure if he was phisihing for a physical description or legit concerned that her voice was going to tempt him to hell and damnation through sinning. Either way, I flagged his account written communication only and he never had to worry about us speaking to him again.
Phoenix 1 year ago (edited)
I used to work a graveyard position where I was the only one there at night and a guy would call and ask about our products so that he could "touch himself" while I was talking. I'm embarrassed to admit that it took me a few times to realize what he was doing, but once I did I started hanging up on him as soon as he called. Edit: typo
#14
Not my employee, but a lady did complain that the employee was cutting her fudge “too aggressively”.
The truly weird cases are the complaints from coworkers. Unlike random customers, these people know enough to understand what is normal or not. But it just goes to show that the unhinged folk many customer-facing workers meet also have to work somewhere. If all this work-related talk has put you in the mood for something more lighthearted, Bored Panda has got you covered, check out our article on unhinged work memes.
#15
I used to manage a dominos pizza. The only complaint I personally ever receiving was from some lady who freaked out because her sandwich took so long to make. While she was talking to my cashier up front I overheard her order and had it made and halfway through the oven before she even paid. She waited a maximum 3-4 minutes after paying and then went off on me for my poor customer service and inability to do my job. She asked for the manager on duty and surprise! Told her to get the hell out of my store and not come back.
#16
Used to manage a sporting goods store in a strip mall. The whole storefront was large glass windows. I got a couple of comments from customers and other employees that one of the guys was pretending to be a cat. I had never seen it myself, but the kid was a little off typically, so I figured I'd look into it. I drove to the store in a different car than usual on my day off, when he was scheduled for a shift. Sure enough, this 18 year old boy was standing in the window licking his hands like paws, batting at things, and meowing to himself. I watched for five minutes, with customers entering the store and he wasn't even attempting to help them. I called my district manager and told him what was going on. He checked the security camera, thanked me, and told me he'd come take care of it so I could enjoy the rest of my day off.
Tucker Cahooter 1 year ago
Not actually an unhinged complaint. Hopefully the employee drew the line at using a litter tray
#17
I was a supervisor/manager and an official complaint was filed against me because I told my team to do their work. My project manager had to have an official talk with me, laughed the whole time, and then thanked me for actually making that team do more than go to lunch.
Cyber Returns 1 year ago
Good manager. Saw it as Bullsh*t and had to share it with you. Now to find the complainer and make them work harder
#18
We have a store next to a massage business. A woman complained that the loud cackling of the manager of my store ruined her massage. Really funny.
Thomas Grant 1 year ago
I live in a very alternative town and had a lady come out of a door, on to the street, in the middle of the day, to ask if i could talk somewhere else because she was having a tarot reading. I still dont know how that relates...
#19
My MIL is a customer service manager at a grocery store. She had a customer complain to her once that the cashiers had followed her home and vandalized her yard with the sale papers from the store. She said she would have taken a photo, but by the time she got her camera the cashiers had cleaned it all up.
This same woman had many other complaints, but that was the first one I thought of.
SunofSpringtime 1 year ago (edited)
Thought the complaint would be something about rabbit, because of unrelated but very cute random bunny in the pic there. Haha
#20
Use to be a site manger for after school programs. Every single one of my employees (including me) had visible tattoos. Nothing inappropriate, actually very tasteful and well done. And there is nothing in our policies that says you can’t have them.
Had a parent complain to me that her kindergarten age son’s group leader had a visible neck tattoo. It was a very well done rose he got for his mom. She requested that he cover it up due to tattoos being “inappropriate” and “giving her child the wrong idea.” I told her that there wasn’t any other groups for her to put her kid in and that tattoos aren’t against our policy and there was no way for him to cover it up because of location. Then I told her if she didn’t like she could remove her child, as there was a long waiting list.
She didn’t remove her kid. Infact I had said leader do a lesson on tattoos toward the end of the year.
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 1 year ago
Just because SHE doesn't like tattoos she is grooming her child not to like them either.
#21
Not a manager but we had a girl who always used to complain about new people not knowing how to do simple things even though it was HER responsibility to teach them how to do said things.
#22
Not a manager, but the employee Lady left a review on my theater's Google maps page all about how big of an a*****e I was to her son and his friends. She described how they were denied tickets to see Deadpool due to being underage (they were), then how they bought tickets to a different movies and snuck into Deadpool, how I found and kicked them out and refused to give them a refund (I don’t do refunds managers do and in these circumstances, they don’t get refunds), and that I should be fired. Obviously, I wasn’t fired. But another employee who decided to give them a refund, and was named in the review as being the one to do this and how good of an employee he was, damn near did get fired for breaking two policies: refunds without manager approval, and refunds for circumstances that don’t warrant refunds Like, she didn’t try to present what happened in any positive light. She really did just write things out exactly as it happened, and thought that I was in the wrong lol the review is actually still up on the page and it’s been like, four or five years since I left
WindySwede 1 year ago
And if they hadbeen let in? "How dare you sell tickets to underage kids?!"
#23
Not a manager but a customer complained to me about the fitting room attendant that had asked the customer to take the items that the she had left in the fitting room (where I work we count your items before you go in give you a paddle with your number of items and count again when you come out. It’s pretty obvious you can’t just leave your stuff in there). The customer actually said this to me “I mean, I didn’t know it was *my* job to clean up after myself!” I stood there barely managing not to say “oh I’m sorry, the attendant must have assumed you had learned common decency.”
#24
That one of our employees started clapping when he heard a customer said they would take their business elsewhere. Doesn’t sound abnormal until you looked over and saw he was carrying a very large box with two hands, and impossible for him to clap at all. There was only 2 employees in the area. The manager who she was speaking to, and the man carrying the box.
David A Paterson 1 year ago
I can clap when I'm carrying things in both hands. Don't ask me how.
#25
"Why is your employee sweeping the lobby? There are *children* in here!" (At McDonald's.)
troufaki13 1 year ago
"Why isn't anyone sweeping the lobby? It's so filthy and it's a restaurant!" - people will always find something to complain about
#26
Not a manager, but my manager did share with me the weirdest complaints he'd gotten about me.
One was that I didn't flirt with the customer. I was being "so nice and helpful", but me not flirting with this customer was apparently worth complaining to my manager about me.
Second weirdest was this older woman screaming at my manager about being "inappropriate". According to her, I was doing some very lewd things to my coworker in full view.
What had actually happened was this coworker sent a friend to ask me out, and I pulled him aside afterward to talk to him about it. We were close together, in an alcove, and talking quietly because I didn't want the entire store to hear me tell him I was gay and thus unable to be interested. Somehow in her dirty mind, this translated into something much more X-rated.
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 1 year ago
You can never stop some people putting 2 & 2 together to make 5. Often it's their own insecurities or paranoid perceptions that make them jump to weird conclusions
#27
Not a manager but when I was working as a cashier I was having a pleasant conversation with this person I was ringing up (not pausing or going slower just having a little conversation). Then when it was the person behind them’s turn she told me it was very disrespectful that I hadn’t included her in our conversation and that she was going to report me to my manager. I thought she was joking at first but realized from her expression that she was not. All I said was “I’m sorry about that ma’am” and got back to work.
Cyber Returns 1 year ago
"We were talking about people who invade other peoples spaces and but into private conversations uninvited and then complain. Sounds like a topic right up your street!"
#28
Manager was asked to tell me there was a complaint - I smelled of coconuts
Was using coconut shampoo, so, true...but I'm not sure why it was an issue?!
#29
I'm not sure if this counts since one of my responsibilities was just helping with training new staff members. But one of the new guys once went ballistic and accused some of the experienced people of being racist just because they corrected some of his mistakes and the mistakes of another new person. He was soon gone; I'm not entirely clear on whether he quit or got fired but most likely the latter.
#30
A guy was clipping his toenails while talking to a customer. I don't know how that even happened.
What do you think ?
Kirsten Kerkhof 1 year ago
I was coaching a student teacher, and I got a complaint that apparently it was sapping her confidence that I could get classes to listen to me so easily when she still struggled with class management. She wanted to be able to do that too. So I told her that it comes with experience, and I am sure she'll get it too eventually. Nope, she wanted to be able to do it now, and apparently it was my job to make sure it happened immediately. Sure ...
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 1 year ago
How can you possibly call yourself a coach if you can't give your pupil 10 years experience in their first week? I think it's a very poor show on your part. ;p
Load More Replies... Gourdeous 1 year ago
'It is disgraceful that the surgeon couldn't even be bothered to come to work and instead just sent his wife'. Spoiler, I'm a girl, and the surgeon.
B-b-bird 1 year ago
Arranged flights and hotel once for one of the company bosses that I was working for. When he came back, he was angry at me, couldn't figure out why though. As it turns out, he took some taxi from airport to hotel and driver rip him off. Somehow it was my fault, he expected me to "say something for myself", I just shrugged shoulders. Delusional dude. There were plenty of his life/daily choices that 10 year old kid would probably know to choose better. Man - kid, never met anyone immature like this.
David A Paterson 1 year ago
Every man is immature, just in different ways. I was shocked the first time a taxi driver from the airport ripped me off. It doesn't happen in my country. Here taxi drivers are 100% honest, which is why the taxi fares are so high.
Load More Replies...
David Martin 1 year ago
I worked graveyard shift at a security monitoring firm, and had to take the bus as I didn't drive. The last bus of the night would arrive at the office about an hour before the start of my shifts, so I always arrived early, and would sit in the break room reading a book until it was time to start. One day, my manager took me aside to say the evening shift would see me sitting it the break room on the cameras, and that it was "really creepy" to them. I suggested they not watch me on camera if it bothered them so much that I was quietly sitting in the break area...and that perhaps watching me was creepy to me
Binky Melnik 1 year ago
I gather from articles like this one that if a customer who’s completely and utterly unhappy in his life and wants everyone else to be just as miserable, he’ll make up things about which to be unhappy in order to be able to screech at someone. Seems to me there are MUCH better ways to spend one’s time, (and sooo many of them, too!), so I’m left to conclude that these people are so stupid that they can’t find productive ways to occupy their time. Man, is it ever hard to read these things; I, too, feel miserable and unhappy after reading them. We can try to make our days better, or we can try to make them worse, and apparently, altogether way too many people choose the latter rather than the former. Whatta waste of resources, time, and life.
Sara Wilson 1 year ago
Once had a fellow supervisor complain about me to the VP about how I was acting like HER boss. I told him that was true, but that's because she was asking me to do all these Supervisor things for her that she didn't want to do (one of which was talking to our "super scary" President). Told VP that she should start taking these things on herself then, and he agreed.
Randy Sanders 1 year ago
My standard answer for Karens or Karls is to just look them straight in the eye, with my most disinterested look, and say, "I don't care". Then walk away. Sends them into seizures.
Sara Wilson 1 year ago
I remember once I was leaving for a vacation and had to create instructions for someone to cover a specific task that was not the easiest to do, for someone that's never done it. So when creating instructions with screen shots, I had the AUDACITY to choose the color red for arrows to try and make them stand out easier for them. Well, they reported me to HR (who also hated me) for basically treating them like they were stupid. Because choosing the color red In instructions clearly means that...?
Hey! 1 year ago
When I was younger, like 40 years ago, using red was a no-no. It meant disrespect, falsity, etc. Can't remember the reasoning behind this one. You just couldn't write a note to someone in red.
Load More Replies...
BookFanatic 1 year ago
One of our library patrons pitched a holy screaming fit in the middle of our computer lab because "the women at the front desk [Circulation, entirely different department on the other side of the space] were purposely messing with his computer and making him lose his Solitaire games." I still chuckle over that one.
Colin Matthews 1 year ago
So many stories from years of managing retail… basically people are just strange.
Alethea Fletcher 1 year ago
I used to work in Tesco (UK supermarket). At the time, sainsbury (rival), were running a TV ad stating that they would always ensure another checkout would open if you had more than one person in line in front of you. Said night of complaint, 11pm shift, so minimul staff due to overnight opening. Three people were in the queue for my checkout. Third person eventually gets to me, and quoted the Sainsbury advert line to me. I responded "if you want Sainsbury service, maybe shop there instead". He complained to the manager for me being rude, and for us not to be following Sainsbury advert promises. 😑 🙄🤷♀️🤦♀️.
Definitely a Human 1 year ago (edited)
I once had a customer complain to my manager that I had long fingernails. Manager asks, "were they dirty?" "no"; "were they poorly manicured?" "no", "were they longer than mine or yours?" "no", "then what's the problem?" "Boys can't have long fingernails!"
Kirsten Kerkhof 1 year ago
I was coaching a student teacher, and I got a complaint that apparently it was sapping her confidence that I could get classes to listen to me so easily when she still struggled with class management. She wanted to be able to do that too. So I told her that it comes with experience, and I am sure she'll get it too eventually. Nope, she wanted to be able to do it now, and apparently it was my job to make sure it happened immediately. Sure ...
Did I say that out loud? (he/him)cis/het 1 year ago
How can you possibly call yourself a coach if you can't give your pupil 10 years experience in their first week? I think it's a very poor show on your part. ;p
Load More Replies... Gourdeous 1 year ago
'It is disgraceful that the surgeon couldn't even be bothered to come to work and instead just sent his wife'. Spoiler, I'm a girl, and the surgeon.
B-b-bird 1 year ago
Arranged flights and hotel once for one of the company bosses that I was working for. When he came back, he was angry at me, couldn't figure out why though. As it turns out, he took some taxi from airport to hotel and driver rip him off. Somehow it was my fault, he expected me to "say something for myself", I just shrugged shoulders. Delusional dude. There were plenty of his life/daily choices that 10 year old kid would probably know to choose better. Man - kid, never met anyone immature like this.
David A Paterson 1 year ago
Every man is immature, just in different ways. I was shocked the first time a taxi driver from the airport ripped me off. It doesn't happen in my country. Here taxi drivers are 100% honest, which is why the taxi fares are so high.
Load More Replies... David Martin 1 year ago
I worked graveyard shift at a security monitoring firm, and had to take the bus as I didn't drive. The last bus of the night would arrive at the office about an hour before the start of my shifts, so I always arrived early, and would sit in the break room reading a book until it was time to start. One day, my manager took me aside to say the evening shift would see me sitting it the break room on the cameras, and that it was "really creepy" to them. I suggested they not watch me on camera if it bothered them so much that I was quietly sitting in the break area...and that perhaps watching me was creepy to me
Binky Melnik 1 year ago
I gather from articles like this one that if a customer who’s completely and utterly unhappy in his life and wants everyone else to be just as miserable, he’ll make up things about which to be unhappy in order to be able to screech at someone. Seems to me there are MUCH better ways to spend one’s time, (and sooo many of them, too!), so I’m left to conclude that these people are so stupid that they can’t find productive ways to occupy their time. Man, is it ever hard to read these things; I, too, feel miserable and unhappy after reading them. We can try to make our days better, or we can try to make them worse, and apparently, altogether way too many people choose the latter rather than the former. Whatta waste of resources, time, and life.
Sara Wilson 1 year ago
Once had a fellow supervisor complain about me to the VP about how I was acting like HER boss. I told him that was true, but that's because she was asking me to do all these Supervisor things for her that she didn't want to do (one of which was talking to our "super scary" President). Told VP that she should start taking these things on herself then, and he agreed.
Randy Sanders 1 year ago
My standard answer for Karens or Karls is to just look them straight in the eye, with my most disinterested look, and say, "I don't care". Then walk away. Sends them into seizures.
Sara Wilson 1 year ago
I remember once I was leaving for a vacation and had to create instructions for someone to cover a specific task that was not the easiest to do, for someone that's never done it. So when creating instructions with screen shots, I had the AUDACITY to choose the color red for arrows to try and make them stand out easier for them. Well, they reported me to HR (who also hated me) for basically treating them like they were stupid. Because choosing the color red In instructions clearly means that...?
Hey! 1 year ago
When I was younger, like 40 years ago, using red was a no-no. It meant disrespect, falsity, etc. Can't remember the reasoning behind this one. You just couldn't write a note to someone in red.
Load More Replies... BookFanatic 1 year ago
One of our library patrons pitched a holy screaming fit in the middle of our computer lab because "the women at the front desk [Circulation, entirely different department on the other side of the space] were purposely messing with his computer and making him lose his Solitaire games." I still chuckle over that one.
Colin Matthews 1 year ago
So many stories from years of managing retail… basically people are just strange.
Alethea Fletcher 1 year ago
I used to work in Tesco (UK supermarket). At the time, sainsbury (rival), were running a TV ad stating that they would always ensure another checkout would open if you had more than one person in line in front of you. Said night of complaint, 11pm shift, so minimul staff due to overnight opening. Three people were in the queue for my checkout. Third person eventually gets to me, and quoted the Sainsbury advert line to me. I responded "if you want Sainsbury service, maybe shop there instead". He complained to the manager for me being rude, and for us not to be following Sainsbury advert promises. 😑 🙄🤷♀️🤦♀️.
Definitely a Human 1 year ago (edited)
I once had a customer complain to my manager that I had long fingernails. Manager asks, "were they dirty?" "no"; "were they poorly manicured?" "no", "were they longer than mine or yours?" "no", "then what's the problem?" "Boys can't have long fingernails!"
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