'I was nice enough…': Entitled guy insults employee in German thinking he wouldn't understand, employee calls him out and leaves him “a human trout gasping for air”

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Sep 5, 2025 7:00 PM EDT

Remember Radio Shack? This used to be the place to purchase your electronics. And if you have ever worked retail, then you know it was a mecca for entitled customers. An ex-employee remembers a time when he was working the registers there and a man came in to make a return. He wanted a full refund back for some "faulty" speakers. However, it was obvious that this man had tampered with the speakers and they were broken because of his own doing. When the employee inquired about this, the man started to throw a tantrum in German. He assumed the employee didn't speak German, so he fully insulted him right to his face. Little did this disrespectful customer know, though, that this cashier plays cards with some German buddies of his and German insults is about the only German he understands. So when he called him out for calling him an *sshole the customer was in shock. It was obvious he didn't know how to handle the consequences of his actions. He also did not get to return the speakers the he broke. His plan was completely thwarted due to his own hubris.    

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement

  • "Call me names in another language? It would be a pity if I knew what you said."

    Cheezburger Image 10550293248
    via Unsplash+ (and NSYS Group)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Back when Radio Shack was a thing here in Canada, I remember a customer bringing in a 2.1 PC speaker system for a refund.
    via brbroome
  • I asked why he was returning it; "We decided we didn't want it" was his gruff answer. Fair enough, no problem! Or so I thought.
    via brbroome
  • I opened the box to inspect the product for the refund, and I noticed that the 1/8 headphone jack had been cut off the end of the wire lead that was meant to plug into your sound card, and the wire was stripped.
    via brbroome
  • I asked about it. He sighed, rolled his eyes like I was stupid for asking, and said that he had cut it off to feed it through the wall into his amp.
    via brbroome
  • He cut me off before I could say something and continued to tell me that "when he turned on his amp, the speakers blew, AND he smelled burning plastic, so the speakers were ***obviously*** defective."
    via brbroome
  • I blinked for a minute, then asked him to clarify why he thought plugging in a powered amplified PC speaker system into a powered stereo amplifier would do anything but that.
    via brbroome
  • His wife snorted a laugh, and he turned to scold her (I assumed) in German.
    via brbroome
  • At one point, he gestured towards me and called me an a hole. Unfortunately for him, at the time, I had several German gaming buddies, so I knew what he said.
    via brbroome
  • (Not to mention that "Arschloch" and "Ah le" sound alike.) I cut him off immediately and, with the straightest face | could muster, said, "Sorry! I only understand a little German,
    via brbroome
  • so you'll have to repeat what you said before you called me an ah le. I didn't quite catch it."
    via brbroome
  • He turned into a human trout gasping for air, but before he could say anything, I gently pushed the box back across the counter and told him that I couldn't return items that were modified or damaged by a negligent user.
    via brbroome
  • He never said another word and left.
    via brbroome
  • I was nice enough to throw the speakers away for him.
    via brbroome

  • So the lesson here is that it's great to know another language in case you need to decipher someone talking down to you, but also remember when you're speaking that language that you might not be the only one who understands….

  • Cheezburger Image 10550266368
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • HungryBearsRawr Another fellow Canadian here, I once employed a girl who could speak I think 4. languages. I called her my secret weapon, she understood when people were insulting us loudly in front of us and such. It was beautiful when she smiled and spoke back to them in their language. Ahhhhh I miss her
    via HungryBearsRawr
  • operator7151 A buddy of mine, who is of Lebanese descent and didn't speak any English until he went to school, was pulled over by an RCMP officer late one night, was asked where he was going and why he was speeding. He answered using some spicy terms, basically cursing at him in Arabic. He was absolutely stunned when the obviously non Arab looking officer answered him back in Arabic.
    via operator7151
  • Hellea I had this once in Japan. People from a big company I had a business meeting with. 4 dude, all between their 50- 70's. I'm a woman in my mid 30's, in a high management role. (I'm so happy I don't have to be in this job anymore)
    via Hellea
  • They began the meeting English so we went with that. When I asked them what they were thinking of our offer they began speaking Japanese between themselves. Fine, it's normal you need to go in your native language for such an important decision. They basically said the budget was out of reach for them but one dude said if he can have me in their bed it would be a good point to sign the contract. They laughed,
    via Hellea
  • made some inappropriate comments and went back to English telling they'll think about it and if I'm okay to have a lunch with them. What they didn't expect is I'm bilingual in Japanese. I went full mode. Told them with a very corporate smile in a perfect Japanese that I understood all of their conversation, including the part that was inappropriate.
    via Hellea
  • I of course refused the lunch, telling them this conversation was over and started packing my computer. The silence and the look on their face was priceless.
    via Hellea
  • Spinnerofyarn You handled that perfectly! I was once in a mall and two women were talking about me. Specifically my skin because I have a rare, severe skin disease. They were being pretty darn ride, and finally I had enough and told them that it was r de to talk about other people as if they can't hear you, and didn't their mothers teach them better? They went beet red and scurried away.
    via Spinnerofyarn

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

customer service karens cash register employee retail workers retail shopping learning retail worker work customers helpful reddit karen language what goes around comes around minimum wage entitled people karma pay back karens in the wild justice served workplace entitled karen karma education co worker r-entitled Reddit karen story karma karen entitled people bilingual
Scroll Down For The Next Article