'She had 250 [customers] laughing at her': 15+ Entitled customers who got put in their place by petty employees

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Sep 23, 2025 11:00 AM EDT

Getting your pettiest revenge on your worst customer is an indescribable feeling. You just never forget the way you feel when you finally get to put your nemesis in their place!

If you work retail long enough, you'll know exactly what I mean. "But how can you have a nemesis when you're a 17-year-old burger chain restaurant worker?" Buddy, let me tell you: you will. They will find you. My old nemeses from my fast-food days were the oldsters who came around for Bingo hour on Sunday mornings, and man, were they mean. For people who were 900 years old, with nothing else to do but win free coffee tickets from a free bingo game, they sure were nasty to all the workers. Though I never put them in their place, my managers sure would! They'd eventually ban the meanest among them from using their bingo coupons. They reacted to this as if the manager had personally stolen a million dollars from them. But still, it was very funny to watch a manager rip up a ticket in front of one customer's eyes as the realization set in that she couldn't get away with her terrible impoliteness any longer. 

These people also got some very petty payback on their most entitled customers, and it's a very satisfying read. Check it all out below! 

Up next, check out the mildly infuriating things people discovered during their museum visits, like one person who had to state, "A history museum… is not your Instagram photo stage." 

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  • 01
    One of my favorite stories from my brief time in Customer service was when a man who called up the night after a minor hurricane screaming that his service didn't work, that he had complained multiple times and this was the last straw. Clearly our service sucked, and it was our fault his cable was out. He kept cutting me off, and calling me r de names when finally I just interjected:
    via u/DesCo83
  • 02
    Sir, your cable isn't out because of an issue with our service, your cable is out because a tree branch fell across the cable line. What's that? How do I know? Because you live at 78 Fakename road and I live at 75 Fakename road. I saw the branch fall. I'm the one who went out in the rain last night to get the branch out of the street. In fact, I know you
    via u/DesCo83
  • 03
    know it's a branch, because I could see you looking out your window at me moving the branch that fell on your property. Not only that, but when I was done I went inside and called into work on my day off to arrange a bucket truck to come out and rerun the cable so you could beat the rush of calls that came in all across the island due to the storm. You didn't even
    via u/DesCo83
  • 04
    have to call. A truck is already on route. Well, that shut him up.
    via u/DesCo83
  • 05
    laidymondegreen I worked at a photo printing lab, and we got people in all the time who claimed we were stupid and had messed up their pictures. One woman had us print 800 vacation pictures. They were bad quality, dark, and out of focus. When she came to pick them up, she insisted that we had ruined them, that they were perfect
    via u/laidymondegreen
  • 06
    in her camera, and that she had a very expensive camera and so there was no way the pictures could be dark or out of focus. We finally gave her her money back, even though we had done nothing wrong and were out a lot of time and paper. She called us 30 minutes later and told us she was at a store across town, and they had reprinted all of her
    via u/laidymondegreen
  • 07
    pictures and they were beautiful, in focus, and nice and bright. I had to tell her that the same person who owned our store also owned the store across town, and that not only would it have taken that store several hours to reprint 800 pictures, but their printer was down that day, so they couldn't have printed anything. She hung up on me.
    via u/laidymondegreen
  • 08
    RoflStomper A customer wanted to return a computer that was about a year old when I worked in retail. I asked him what was wrong. "It just don't work." I powered it on, gets into Windows, connects to the wireless network, goes online. I open Office, everything seems to be
    via u/RoflStomper
  • 09
    working properly. I show it to him, ask him what's wrong. "It just don't work." I asked him what was actually wrong with the machine (let alone why would you return a computer a year later). "It just don't work. Are you saying if a car don't start, it works fine?"
    via u/RoflStomper
  • 10
    At this point I had enough of the guy: "No sir, I'm saying if there was a car and everyone could start it except one person, I wouldn't blame the car."
    via u/RoflStomper
  • 11
    Osiris32 I was working at a gas station in a very rich part of town. During a nice summer day, a prime example of the variety of the human species drove his super-expensive Lamborghini in, and in that haughty, I'm-rich-so-you- must-do-what-l-say voice demanded that it be filled with premium. Which the attendant started to do, only
    via u/Osiris32
  • 12
    the guy immediately snatched the nozzle from him and screamed that "you're too stupid to do this on your own." (We're in Oregn, btw, where you can't pump your own gas. State fire law.) Well, being that he's a and an idiot, gas spills out from the nozzle all over his sparkly di mobile. At this point, he truly
    via u/Osiris32
  • 13
    flips out, and storms into the store, where I'm working as the cashier and de facto manager. He immediately demands to speak to the owner, and that we are going to pay to have his car repainted AND he's not going to be paying for his gas. I try my best to calm the situation, but he's got a good rage going and doesn't want to be calmed down, While he's spewing forth, I notice that
    via u/Osiris32
  • 14
    an officer from the local police department is about to come into the store to get snacks or a drink or some such. This give me a nice idea: "Sir, I'm afraid that the gas is in your tank and you pumped it yourself, so you are going to have to pay."
    via u/Osiris32
  • 15
    Cutscene of an explosion. then asks, "so what, exactly, do you think you can do if I just go and get in my car and leave?" Thank you, good Lord, for timing. He says this, at full bellow, right as the officer walks through the door. My response? "Well, personally I can't do much, but the nice West Linn Police Officer standing behind you will
    via u/Osiris32
  • 16
    probably arrest you for 2nd degree theft." turns around to see the officer, with a very predatory smile on his face, nodding vigorously. Yeah, he shut up, paid, and we never saw him again.
    via u/Osiris32
  • 17
    Barista wearing plaid apron hands coffee cup to customer in blue shirt with another barista standing behind the register
    via Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 18
    LovelyLittleBiscuit I used to be a low level manager in a call centre, it paid the bills... anyway, a customer had called us and been perfectly pleasant, giving us his account details, and business got underway. At the end of the call, he asked for one more thing that we couldn't have done, and was informed of this. He immediately got extremely aggressive with
    via u/LovelyLittleBiscuit
  • 19
    my member of staff. At this point her hand shot up in the air (cue me) and she handed over the headset and chair so I could view the details. I was called a b, a various other names and then we got down to the grand finale: the threat. I'm paraphrasing but here's how it went: Him 'Listen, b , I can see your company's address on your website, I'm going to
    via u/LovelyLittleBiscuit
  • 20
    come down there and f you up.' Me: 'Good you gave my colleague your name and address details first then, I'll make sure to hand them over to the police somewhere in the few hours it's going to take you to drive down here. We'll be waiting.' Dial tone
    via u/LovelyLittleBiscuit
  • 21
    Barista wearing plaid apron rings up customer in blue shirt with another barista standing behind the register, facing away
    via Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 22
    [….. Not me, but my former boss. I used to work in an old family owned gas station/ garage in a small town in bumfuck nowhere. Since it was family owned, and 90% of the business came from regulars who had either business accounts or got their families cars fixed at the shop (and had for generations on both sides).
    via u/[deleted]
  • 23
    As such, the random passers by getting gas on their way to and from cities on either side of the town made up a mostly negligible amount of business (The gas station side of the business made up maybe 2% of the business, and of that maybe .5% was non- regulars). So my boss. couldn't give less of a sh about some of the annoying. customers who came in.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 24
    One day we got a particularly bitchy soccer mom. This was during the summer a few years ago so the gas was very high compared to the rest of the year. She was convinced that our pumps were purposely calibrated incorrectly so that less gas was pumped. Her proof was that she always got $. in gas and it always went to X% full. Well we had just had our sh recalibrated for
    via u/[deleted]
  • 25
    the year and knew it was all good. She kept complaining to me about it, and being a high schooler I didn't give a flying f . But I kept up appearances and was polite, kept telling her that we had just had our pumps calibrated. She didn't care and kept complaining. Eventually she asked for the manager. Well the office was right behind the counter, and my boss was in there
    via u/[deleted]
  • 26
    Woman with long blonde hair speaks on phone while holding up red shirt on hanger with other clothing in the background
    via Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash+

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 27
    listening the whole time. As soon as she asked for him, he simply yelled out "F i OFF!". And that was about it. I just shrugged at her, and she left. My boss was awesome with sh hole customers.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 28
    1991mgs I worked in electronics at Target: Over at Guest Service I saw a woman with her teenage daughter heatedly speaking to the guy at the counter. After a few moments he pointed over at me in electronics, the woman's head whirled round, dragon like, toward me. The rest of her body realigned with hear
    via u/1991mgs
  • 29
    head and she stomped in my direction. When she reached the counter I pleasantly asked, "How can I help you?" She slammed a receipt and PS3 controller on the counter, "I payed 55 dollars for this-- and I can only return it for 40!" I asked, "May I see your receipt?"
    via u/1991mgs
  • 30
    She nodded and I picked it up, "See 55 dollars!" "Yep, I see that," I said, "you bought this last week when the store gave away a 15 dollar gift certificate with the controller." "So what!" "You would shop at Target again, right?" I asked.
    via u/1991mgs
  • 31
    "Not if this isn't resolved!" she spat. Her daughter next to her was embarrassed. "Hypothetically, if there wasn't an issue, I'm guessing you would and you would use that 15 dollar gift card on your future purchase. If we let you return this controller for 55 dollars then you would have a free 15 dollars. That is why
    via u/1991mgs
  • 32
    the return price is fifteen dollars less... I can do the return for you over here if you don't want to go back to Guest Service." "I didn't want to return it, | just wanted to know why the return price was so much less," she said. She picked up her controller and receipt and began to walk off.
    via u/1991mgs
  • 33
    Her daughter, clearly ashamed of her mother, thanked me and followed her mother out.
    via u/1991mgs
  • 34
    [deleted] I stopped to get gas today and while talking with the cashier I mentioned that she was probably tired of people yelling at her about the price of gas - but that since she is the one standing there she probably gets it a lot. She said that every day someone complains to her like she can do something about it.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 35
    A guy then came in and demanded "why the holis gas $3.76 a gallon?' Without missing a beat she said "because it went down 10 cents this morning". He just looked at her, paid and left.
    via u/[deleted]
  • 36
    rva_monsta I used to work for a grocery store in high school as a cashier. One busy Saturday, an older lady came through my long line with about $150 worth of groceries. Among her items was a prepackaged piece of meat. from our deli department that is normally priced by weight. Her meat did not have a printed sticker on the package and I would've
    via u/rva_monsta
  • 37
    needed to find a bag boy or manager to run to the deli to get it priced. Because we were super busy, i decided to wing it, and set it on my scale. "looks like it's almost a pound, so...let's say...$2.77? Does that sound fair?" | began to ring it as a miscellaneous item.
    via u/rva_monsta
  • 38
    "No it does NOT sound fair!" she yelled. "You need to get that priced!" Groans from the line began behind her, as I found a bag boy to run to get the price sticker. A manager came by to see what the commotion was about and the lady explained the situation. I
    via u/rva_monsta
  • 39
    explained why I had made. the decision i made. The manager of course stuck up for the lady (which we laughed about later) and she accepted the apology. We then waited for what seemed like an eternity of eye-contact avoidance and thumb twiddling. The bag boy came back and handed me the pork. I smirked and showed her the price.
    via u/rva_monsta
  • 40
    "$2.78. Huh, I would've saved you a penny!" The man behind her chortled. Never saw her again.
    via u/rva_monsta
  • 41
    JoColeman I was eating at a taco bell once, and I was waiting to ask for some sauce while another customer was yelling at a kitchen employee. She had pulled apart her burrito and was complaining that there wasn't enough in it. I leaned over and said "looks like 89 cents worth of food to me!" She stormed out.
    via u/JoColeman
  • 42
    pivotpivotpivot I used to work in a Deli restaurant and this lady comes in and rudely orders. her food. I told her that every thing should come out all right and that I will double check for her to make sure her order would be correct. She insisted on getting LOTS of honey mustard on her sandwich. I typed in extra honey mustard on the ticket. Sure enough her
    via u/pivotpivotpivot
  • 43
    order comes out. And there seemed to be plenty of honey mustard there. But when I deliver it she at me for not having the extra honey mustard I promised her and told me to II get a ton more honey mustard" for her. I go to the back of the store. get an entire new gallon jug of honey mustard and plop it on her table. Her friends were laughing and she was steaming mad.
    via u/pivotpivotpivot
  • 44
    She complained to the manager who thought it was hilarious and actually laughed in her face.
    via u/pivotpivotpivot
  • 45
    Jimbobthewonde... I work in a shoe shop. One of the services we supply is to check how well school shoes fit on our younger customers. Once a staff member has signed to say they are a good fit, the customer is able to bring them back if there are any problems. This one time, a mother came back in with her son a
    via u/Jimbobthewonderkid
  • 46
    week after being fitted with a pair loudly mouthing off that the shoes were too tight and causing blisters. Even though she was being a psycho hose beast about it we offered to get her a new pair. Once back in the kids department she spotted the girl who fitted the original shoes and went crazy at her, demanding that the girl should be there
    via u/Jimbobthewonderkid
  • 47
    whilst a better pair was fitted so she wouldn't make the same mistake again. Despite the mum using saying some pretty degrading stuff about the her, the girl agreed to sit in on the re-fit in an attempt to help out. She remembered the customer, even to the point of remembering the childs name, and was visibly upset
    via u/Jimbobthewonderkid
  • 48
    about doing a bad job. Returning to the till, the fitter offered to put the exchange through as a final gesture of goodwill, and then froze, with an awesome sh eating grin on her face.
    via u/Jimbobthewonderkid
  • 49
    "These aren't your sons shoes" she said to the customer. They have a name tag inside saying Tommy, and your sons name is Billy. Turns out kid had swapped his shoes with another boy in his class. Laughed that b the shop. out of
    via u/Jimbobthewonderkid

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management retail coworkers customers gas station petty revenge entitled customers employees petty managers fast food
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