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28. 'When I say jump, you say...?'

young girl in a car with metal hand gestures
GIPHY
What do you mean you don't have a car?

I worked at a restaurant as a busser, and a customer came in from outside and demanded that I give her a jump.

I told her that I didn't have a car, and got chewed out.

| IlikeFOODmeLikeFOOD

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26. He gave the customer a flip reply

man yelling into phone
giphy

Worked at a call center many moons ago. Customer called in and couldn't find the second page of his credit card bill. Before I could say anything, he went on a rant about how he hadn't gotten the second page for months.

When he stopped to take a breath I told him to turn the statement over. He hung up.

| muchoexperto

25. Mamma Mia!

Italian flash card with the word Thank You on the map
Orion-v / Shutterstock
Say ciao.",

Had a customer come in and start rattling off something angrily in a language I didn't understand for a good few minutes. When my only response was a dumbfounded stare, she exclaimed, furiously:

"UGH! You don't speak Italian!!"

And then stormed out of the store.

This was in Florida.

| ShinyHunterHaku

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24. P-P-P-Poker face

Senior man poker player wearing sunglasses, smoking a cigar.  He has a royal flush reflecting in his glasses.
Neil Lockhart / Shutterstock
It was almost like THIS guy trying to deny he's a gambler.

I used to work as a bank teller. People who poorly managed their money were always coming into the branch to have fees reversed. You know the type of person, someone who never takes accountability for anything. Everything that happens to them is someone else's fault.

Anyway, one guy in particular was always overdrafting his account. He always had some story of how he was wronged and that the overdraft wasn't his fault. One day he came in wanting to have 10+ overdraft fees reversed. All the transactions were for online poker websites.

He said: "None of those transactions are mine. This is fraud! I don't even gamble online!!!"

I said: "Sir, you are wearing a PokerStars T-shirt."

| codeByNumber

23. Talk about false modesty

Pretty latin swimsuit fashion model posing sexy at boat marina location
FashionStock.com / Shutterstock
The SI swimsuit issue was showing too much skin for one customer.

I had some guy actually yell at me because we had the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition on display at my register at a grocery store. He claimed that it is "pornography and should not be visible for children to see" and "I'm glad my kids are on vacation so they don't have to be subjected to its perversion."

I asked him where they went on vacation. "The beach."

| TheBoraxKid

22. How does that rhyme go about '30 days'?

Closeup beautiful white pages with red dates blowing in the wind
Natalia Fedulova / Shutterstock
At the end of the month, it all gets kind of confusing.

(The customer phones a call center to say she can't place her order on the web.)

Me: ... Right. So. What are you ordering?

Customer: (some oven thermometer).

Me: Great. (takes name/address). What's the credit card number?

Customer: (gives credit card information with expiration 11/12).

Me: Well there's your problem. 11/12 ended yesterday.

Customer: Yesterday was 11/30! It's 11/31 now!

Me: No it isn't.

Customer: I want to speak to your manager. You're being rude.

Me: Mmmmm no.

Cust: NO?!

Me: No. I'm not being rude, I'm trying to help you. It's 12/1 today.

Lady abruptly hung up. Strangely satisfying call.

| Fenix159

21. Barnes & Feeble

Paper ID Card with Copy Space Isolated on White Background.
Mega Pixel / Shutterstock
A bookstore probably won't accept one of these

I own a bookstore. A guy came up to the counter with books and gave me his library card. I said, "We're a bookstore, not a library." He yelled, "What am I paying taxes for?"

Clearly, not the schools.

| LostArtofConfusion

20. No filter for foolishness

A new cardboard, wire mesh and fabric furnace filter on a white background.
BW Folsom / Shutterstock
Is this one a 20x10 or a 10x20?

Manager: "Can I help you ma'am?"

Lady: "I hope so, you're all out of my size of air filter!"

Manager:" Which size was that ma'am?"

Lady: "10-inch by 20-inch."

Manager: "Let me see here." Manager looks around the shelf. "Here you go." Hands the Lady a 20x10 air filter.

Lady: "I said I need 10x20!"

Manager keeps quiet, takes back air filter, holds it out in front of him, rotates it 90 degrees, and hands it back to her with a [expletive] eating grin.

Lady leaves in silence, with the 20x10.

| CrowbarAbortion

19. Cape of lost hope

Businessman with a red flying cape like superman
Helder Almeida / Shutterstock
Would you call this a professional look?

I work at a local Walmart and we were hosting a prescreening of the (2013 movie) Man of Steel, and I got to wear a full-sized Superman cape for the week beforehand to help advertise it.

I had a customer complain that unless I was wearing the entire costume I was being unprofessional and shouldn't be allowed to wear the cape.

18. The Holy Grail of dumb complaints

Statue
Janaka Dharmasena / Shutterstock
The customer really bought The Da Vinci Code.

Worked at a used bookstore in college. Lady was upset that The Da Vinci Code was kept in the fiction section because it's all real and "who gets to decide that it's not?"

My answer of "the author" did not appease her...

| MerryXmasMollyHooper

17. Power fail

Plug the power plug, Multiple socket with connected plugs.
undefined / Shutterstock
The computer wasn't working because it was plugged into a power strip — that was plugged into itself.

I worked at a well-known university. A professor from the electrical engineering department called me and asked if I could take a look at his computer. He said it was dead and wouldn't work.

I wasn't an IT person but I thought I'd take a look. So I get there, and the computer was dead and wouldn't power up. So I checked to see if the cord had gotten kicked out of the wall. The computer was plugged into a power strip and the power strip was plugged into itself.

| LinearLamb

16. Lost in the wash

via GIPHY

I used to work for Sears and a co-worker told me this story. He sold a top loading washer to gentleman, with a five-year service agreement. The service agreement covered most things except customer negligence.

(The man) came back into the store about a week later, absolutely livid. He was complaining that the washer wasn't working correctly, it was all off-balance, and the drum was ruined. ...

During a long argument between the man, my co-worker and the department manager, the man revealed that the first thing he did with the washer was wash a bowling ball. Apparently he did not realize that would be bad for the machine.

His service agreement, of course, was void after such a blatant display of negligence. And of course, he did the customary vow to never shop at our store again.

| robtheverb13

15. Bacon a fool of herself

A delicious Bacon Cheese Burger on white
space_heater / Shutterstock
The customer was surprised that her bacon burger had bacon.

Older woman comes up to the counter at my Wendy's.

"I didn't know a Baconator comes with bacon, I need a new one."

| Texasspinner

14. Cuppa 'D'oh!'

Support for cup of coffee (open cdrom drive)
Tatiana Popova / Shutterstock
The woman found another use for her CD drive.

I had a woman bring in her computer tower for repair. She said that the cup holder was broken. Of course, I’m incredibly confused and ask her to show me.

Yep, she was using the CD drive as a cup holder.

| welIokaythen

13. 'You know, those bananas from Mt. Hood'

scenic view of Mt. Hood   National Forest when sunset.Portland,Oregon,usa.
Dee Browning / Shutterstock
Does this look like a place where they'd grow bananas?

"Why don't you have local bananas?!"

—Irate customer in the produce department of an Oregon grocery store.

| shirtandpantsguy

12. Media player

via GIPHY

This was a request stemming from a complaint. Customer complained that her phone was out of service for too long. She demanded we give her three free months of cable.

She didn't have our cable services, though. She wanted us to install our equipment and cable at her house and give her three months free. All because her landline was out for a few days.

| Txcook210

11. When work is a breeze

senior woman eating her lunch at home
Kristo-Gothard Hunor / Shutterstock
The old woman said the home's employee was making things drafty in the dining room.

I used to work in the dining room of a retirement home. One night an old lady [expletive]ed at me for walking past her too fast and the breeze it created was making her cold.

I was like, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I've got five tables to serve and don't have time to walk slowly enough to keep the climate stable."

| regalternative

10. Beyond words

via GIPHY

(I) get calls from users needing their password reset. They'll usually complain how difficult it is to keep up with passwords and how we purposely make things difficult, blah blah blah. They only use one password for everything.

So I reset their password for them, and when they need to pick a new password — it throws an error saying their new password cannot be their previous password.

9. I scream, you scream

a close up square background of melted pink, blue, and yellow rainbow sorbet ice cream
Christin Lola / Shutterstock
The woman essentially wanted melted ice cream.

She came into the restaurant and ordered fried ice cream. Now, fried ice cream is still ice cream, just with a deep-fried shell.

She returns the dessert after a few bites claiming that it was too cold. I explained to her that ice cream is supposed to be cold. She asked me to microwave it to warm it up, and I said, "So you want ice cream soup?" She said no and then demanded a refund.

She got a refund because her ice cream was cold.

| shewhoruns

8. But doesn't the deli counter make loans?

Teller window with cashier
Africa Studio / Shutterstock
The customer was unhappy that you couldn't pay for groceries at the in-store bank.

I work at a bank inside of a grocery store. The customer was very upset that they couldn't buy their toilet paper and Doritos at the teller window.

| derdeutschbag

7. Not faithful enough

Tourists watching the Old Faithful erupting in Yellowstone National Park, USA
f11photo / Shutterstock
The tourists didn't understand that Old Faithful doesn't always go off like clockwork.

I was in Yellowstone on a family vacation. For those who don't know, there is a geyser there called Old Faithful whose big claim to fame is the fact that it rather regularly goes off about every 90 minutes. As such, the Parks Service has a sign with an estimate of when it will be going off next.

On this particular day, the geyser was about 15 minutes late and there were NUMEROUS people at the information desk to complain about it, as if they have some sort of button that they simply forgot to press.

| dradam168

6. Hardest question he ever got

Two loose diamonds on black reflective surface
Chones / Shutterstock
The woman asked if her two small diamonds could be made into one.

More of a request than a complaint, but a young lady had two smaller diamonds and asked if I could combine them together into one larger diamond.

When I told that was not possible she gave me a look like I was speaking a foreign language so I simply told her I was nowhere near strong enough to do that. Again, she was all disbelief with mouth agape. I had nothing else to tell her.

| Jiveturkey0304

5. Not getting her fax straight

via GIPHY

We had a client complain that we didn't tell her that her fax didn't come through.

Because we never got the fax.

She couldn't understand that, since we: a.) didn't know she was trying to fax us (so we weren't expecting anything); and b.) we got no notifications or error messages that meant we didn't receive anything from her.

Her exact words were "Why didn't you tell me that you never got anything from me?" After trying to explain it several times, my co-worker just gave up.

| daniyellidaniyelli

4. Guac shock

Wasabi paste on ceramic spoon on bamboo mat.
Moving Moment / Shutterstock
Many customers confuse wasabi with guacamole.

This actually happened frequently: I worked at a place that served sushi, and many people believe that wasabi is avocado and eat the whole chunk at once. Then they're usually pretty mad that nobody told them it wasn't guacamole.

| MrsGaillard

3. What's 12 divided by 4?

The four seasons of the year.
terimma / Shutterstock
The shareholder didn't understand the concept of quarterly.

I once had a shareholder complain that they only got their quarterly statement every three months.

| mntivoq

2. White flight

Man put Ink cartridges in printer
yod370 / Shutterstock
The customer thought his black-and-white printer cartridge should print in white.

Went something like this:

Customer: My black-and-white cartridge isn't working.

Me: Is it not printing anything?

Customer: No, it's just not printing white.

[Pause]

Me: White is the paper. The ink is just black.

| wewereonabreeeaaak

1. A jelly jam

Jam jar isolated on white background
AlenKadr / Shutterstock
The patient thought her medicinal jelly was to be used like regular jelly.

Pharmacist friend told me this one:

(A) lady complained her vaginal jelly topical medication wasn't working to clear up her issues. "Can you describe how you're using it?" She was spreading it on toast and eating it every morning! LOL

| MethFistHo

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Doug Whiteman Former Editor-in-Chief

Doug Whiteman was formerly the editor-in-chief of MoneyWise. He has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and CNBC.com and has been interviewed on Fox Business, CBS Radio and the syndicated TV show "First Business."

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