'I won't have someone gaslight me': Customer gets snippy with retail manager, manager tells him to "call customer service yourself"

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Apr 27, 2024 11:00 AM EDT

Another day in retail work, another entitled customer. That's the way of the world for the brave souls who work at retail shops, including u/CmdrGrayson, an assistant manager at a clothing store. 

There are customers who treat retail workers like people. Maybe they've worked in retail themselves, and know how grueling that job can be. But other customers do not care about the thoughts or feelings of the workers at all. They're happy to belittle them or mock them for no reason at all. It makes you wonder how they would act if they met that same employee outside of the workplace. That part of the social contract would be gone, and it would just be two random people instead of an employee and a customer. Would the customer still treat the worker as lesser-than? 

This person in u/CmdrGrayson's story was acting as if the employee had no feelings. He was treating them like they were a robot or something! Instead of getting the help he wanted, this customer just kept trying to annoy them. At least the original poster got the last laugh in the end! 

Next up, these siblings just can't agree on who owes who money, especially after the brothers' kids ruined a bunch of expensive art supplies. 

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  • 01
    wwww SPOLETO 'A customer lies to a manager about me and later asks, "We good?" མམ་མག ་་་་་། ་ ་ ་ ་ ་ ་ ལ
    via Clay Banks on Unsplash
  • 02
    A Customer Lies to a Manager About Me and Later Asks "We Good?" No. uh,
    via u/CmdrGrayson
  • 03
    So I'm an assistant manager at a corporate retailer, and we had a customer come in to exchange pants he had bought the day before. He used some rewards points on the item in question and couldn't accept that if you return/exchange the item, you don't get that credit back. Credits are a one time bonus, once used it's used. I don't agree with the policy, per se, but that's just the way it is.
    via u/CmdrGrayson
  • 04
    He was upset and started getting (and loud) saying how it was unfair. I politely nodded, let him rant, and then proceeded to say, "Sir, I can see you're upset, but let me call customer service and see what I can do to appease you. I can't make any promises, though, okay?" And apparently something I did with my face made him think I was smirking at him.
    via u/CmdrGrayson
  • 05
    As I'm calling customer service he interjects and says, "I don't know what's so funny." I stopped, hung up the phone, and told him, "I'm sorry, I don't think this is funny, but is this how you want to talk to someone helping you out?" He didn't say anything, so I asked, "Would you like me to continue with customer service?" He replied, "Yeah..." I dialed out, "because I need someone who knows what they're doing."
    via u/CmdrGrayson
  • 06
    So I hung up the phone and told him I don't help folks who disrespect me or my staff. He tried to say he wasn't condescending, to which I said, "I also won't have someone gaslight me. I'll give you the number to call customer service yourself."
    via u/CmdrGrayson
  • 07
    He proceeded to go to my store manager and blatantly lied (and of course do that victim voice, we all know it, "I didn't even raise my voice"), to the point where I had to join their conversation to ensure no embellishments were told; because he was accusing me of yelling at/mocking him, laughing with other employees at him, etc. He also complained that I called him a gaslighter (that was accurate), saying, "I'm not sure if I should be offended or not,
    via u/CmdrGrayson
  • 08
    because I don't know what gaslight means". At the end, my manager basically told the customer there's nothing we can do. The customer turns to me and has the nerve to say, "We good?" To which I responded with. "I'm not usually good with people who lie about me."
    via u/CmdrGrayson
  • 09
    He seemed like he wanted to say something, scoffed, and proceeded to make his way out of the store, of course, wishing him a good day as he left... I ended up taking a half day after that incident. I just can't with the blatant disrespect.
    via u/CmdrGrayson
  • 10
    Fair Operation8473 You handled that situation pretty well. Lol I am so at my wits end with retail and customer service, I cop so much attitude if customers start being 1. (I'm looking for other work because of this)
    via u/Fair_Operation8473
  • 11
    Styx-n-String I used to think I had to be nice to customers no matter what, but now I work in a field where we take a lot of daily abuse and we are supported and encouraged to stand up for ourselves. I have told people to their face, "Right now I'm still willing to help you. That will change real quick if you continue to speak to me that
    via u/Styx-n-String
  • 12
    way. Would you like me to continue to help you or not?" An old entitled dude once snapped at me, "What do I have to do to get you to take your thumb out of your and actually help me?" and I fired back, "Not much, just BE NICE." And one time, a patient who was always to everyone (and who later got in a lot of trouble for lying to qualify for Medicaid when she drove a
    via u/Styx-n-String
  • 13
    huge brand-new expensive truck and owned a lot of land and several horses and owned a pretty lucrative ranching business) came to my counter while on the phone and before I even said hello, she growled to whoever she was talking to, while making eye contact with me, "Oh great, it's that I've told you about checking me out. I have to go - I always have to put her
    via u/Styx-n-String
  • 14
    in her place." Looking right back, I said "That's it, I'm done" and walked away, and for the rest of the year and a half that I worked there, | refused to interact with her at all. I wouldn't check her out, I wouldn't serve her if she were in drive-thru, I wouldn't answer the phone if she called. Any time she ended up at my register, I would turn around and say loudly that I needed
    via u/Styx-n-String
  • 15
    someone else to check out this customer. More than once, I have turned and walked away from someone who can't stop being gone to my supervisor, and said, "I'm done helping this person, I'll explain later but for now you need to either find someone else to attend to them or ask them to leave." It takes quite a lot for a patient to push me to that point because I don't
    via u/Styx-n-String
  • 16
    mind conflict and have no problems telling people no, but it happens. Not only have I never gotten in trouble, but I've been told that I'm usually a lot nicer than most people would be and that if I say I'm done with someone, they believe that person deserves it.
    via u/Styx-n-String
  • 17
    Slow-Instruction3592 I LOVE hearing about people shutting down of course in a calm a polite way.
    via u/Slow-Instruction3592
  • 18
    My go to is to say, as sweetly as I can, "You don't have to be to me, I am trying to help you." That almost always causes them to backpedal "oh I wasn't being ...". Once I did get hung up on though, but the silly man had such a fragile ego he couldn't handle being kindly called out. him off was the highlight of that day.
    via u/Slow-Instruction3592

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customer service boss workplace-stories jobs manager job retail shopping bosses retail worker work phone working managers workplace shoppers
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