'I am not allowed to do anything': Retail worker faces down angry parents after colleague sells parents the wrong computer for kid's gaming ambitions, prevented from helping them by silly company policy

Working retail is a hectic and endless stream of customer interactions that balance on a knife's edge, with any one of them threatening to teeter off into a full-blown customer meltdown with possibly little to no cause. It's a way of living that leaves you emotionally drained and completely exasperated, while weekends end up giving you just enough time to self-isolate and prepare for your next shift.

Meanwhile, despite claiming to have the customer's best interest at heart, upper management makes decisions that only serve to maximize their own bonuses and profit, putting you directly in the firing line for even more hostile interactions with customers. They'll enact some broad-sweeping policy that flies in the face of logical reason and expect you to follow it to the letter, vaguely implying serious consequences should you not blindly obey and refuse to listen to the insistence of everyone that their plan is a bad one. Then, acting like it's the worker's fault when they receive customer complaints about their policy. That's what this retail worker shared experiencing when they recounted this story from their days in retail, facing down belligerent customers whilst handling bizarre directives from their superiors.

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Author image for Brad Dickson Brad Dickson
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customer support customer service workplace discussion workplace-stories talesfromretail jobs employee job malicious compliance retail karen-customer work customers karen-customers workplace tales-from-retail workplace malicious compliance employment in the workplace
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