'This was my dream when I worked in retail': Barista plays controversial 'mean prank' on rude customer

Advertisement
  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 9729202688
  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 9729191680
  • 03
    Font - I am a high schooler with a weekend job at a coffee shop. My coworkers who work weekends are: James - the owners son, he goes to my school. He's a shift manager but it's not a real formal thing, he's a friendly guy. Danielle - A college student who sometimes works weekends too. So sometimes customers will come in and just be angry about such little stuff. Like literally blow up about nothing. I dunno if theyre in a bad mood already and looking for someone to take it out on or what, but it
  • 04
    Font - problem So James came in and was like "sir is there a here" and the guy started ranting at him too. So he was just like "OP, this is unacceptable, you're fired." I started acting real sad, like "no please don't fire me, my family needs the money, I need this job, pleaseeee" and he played up being a hard-a, telling me to take off my apron and leave. The angry guy started to backtrack, like "It isn't that big of a problem, you don't need to fire her over it. I didn't mean it" and James was
  • 05
    Font - Anyway, I was telling my friends from school about this and a few of them thought it was a mean prank, to let someone go away thinking they'd gotten someone who desperately needs the money fired. AITA for this joke?
  • 06
    Font - bellePunk 24 & 3 More Pooperintendant [55] NTA That's a perfect way of dealing with hostile customers. Edit: my gosh, thank you for the silver! Edit 2: Gold!! You are too kind! 37.3k Share commadusarelius Colo-rectal Surgeon [30] Agreed! And when the hostile customers try to backtrack what they say makes it worth it. OPS tactic hopefully teaches them to stop complaining to service workers about things out of their control.
  • 07
    Font - KhamsinFFBE I can just imagine some repeat Icustomer who gets the same girl fired every week. a "This is your LAST last LAST chance, Danielle! I won't rehire you again!"
  • 08
    Font - pap-no This is so great I've been threatened by customers saying I need to be fired for being "so incompetent" at my serving job I wish I could do something like this!
  • 09
    Font - [deleted] Idk man. If I'm the owner, I'd be concerned about potentially negative reviews. "I complained about my iced coffee being too cold, and the owner yeeted the barista. Never going there again, management is mean to staff. Decent coffee tho lol."
  • 10
    Font - [deleted] It like the hands down worst way to handle bad customers. They're the same people who sound off in online reviews. Sounds funny but from a PR point of view, imagine repeatedly explaining this as your online rating sinks to 1.5 in every platform because people feel socially obligated to cancel you. 41 1 Share A1J1K1 3 yr. ago A hole Enthusiast [5] Absolute f power move.
  • 11
    Rectangle - lolak1445. As (کر Aficionado [18] NTA. I think it's hilarious and maybe it'll teach some people a lesson about controlling their as ery.
  • 12
    Cheezburger Image 9729191936
  • 13
    Rectangle - Evelynn92 S2 You're not an a at all. You're the hero retailers need! Brilliant. Edit: thanks for the silver, fellow human 8.9k Share cnk93 Parta sipant [1] Right? This was my dream when I worked in retail.
  • 14
    Human body - [deleted] Not all hero's wear capes, some wear aprons.
  • 15
    Font - scarletice Parta ipant [2] My favorite line that I've only ever used twice is "I hope the rest of your day is as pleasant as you are!" delivered with a sincerely cheerful tone and smile. It's a great way to say "you're an a "in a way that they can't really argue with. If they want to call you out, they first have to admit to their own awful behavior and admit to being a hypocrite.
  • 16
    Font - I'm curious how the customer acts when they come in the next day / following week and you're still behind the counter? Most of the time customers don't remember specific people in service industry, let alone their name, etc. They're just like movie extras. Do you remember the name or what the last person looked like that you got your fast foot or grocery store receipt from?
  • 17
    Font - CuseBsam "They just stopped paying me but I come back for the love of the job." 5 Share Zombie Nietzsche Double down on it. Work with your clothes slightly disheveled, and disappear into the managers office for like five minutes every now and then and come out crying.
  • 18
    Font - Frejian ESH The customers are obviously a for being as good reason. s for no Yes, you are a little bit of an a Is it justified? Absolutely. Are you still an a ? Yes. Unfortunately, in a customer service role, you are always going to have to deal with people who are angry over absolutely nothing. It is part of the job. Is it fair? No. In a perfect world, those customers would not exist, but we live in reality and that is part of the reality especially of that job.
  • 19
    Font - mediocretrooper as I'm intrigued. Why is OP the ? It legitimately sounds like you're saying she's TA solely because people are rude to customer service employees and doing anything to combat that reality is wrong.
  • 20
    Font - I also think ESH, but for totally different reasons. I just think that any such drama reflects poorly on the business. And not to the d bag customers, but to others as well. If the coffee shop I went to occasionally had an episode like this where some poor kid is being fired loudly by the owners son, I wouldn't go there much any more. I'd feel awful for the kid. So they'd lose out on a few customers the d bags, and people who don't approve of such meanness towards the waitstaff.
  • 21
    Font - TobiasKM I'm with you here, and I don't see why the majority votes straight up NTA here. It's not a nice thing to do - as OP's friends pointed out, these people may feel really sh about having gotten someone fired. Those customers may very well be as Ithemselves, no doubt about that. Doesn't make -ish. this prank not a It's a case of everyone sucks, but OP may be justified in being a bit of an a Which is fine, sometimes being an as makes sense.

Tags

Scroll Down For The Next Article