Customer demands an off-the-clock employee to help her find an item to repurchase in-store, then chews out the store's pregnant manager when the item's price changed from what it was 20 years prior: ‘Technology, inflation, reality, pick one’

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Sep 27, 2025 1:00 PM EDT

Just when you think you're safe from entitled customers when you're off the clock, some impatient stranger with an attitude problem decides to remind you that you can never escape the retail role once you're in.

Some might call you a pushover for engaging with a customer off the clock, but I say that customer service runs in one's DNA the moment they sign themselves away to a retail role. The employee in this next story even shooes away the customer who intrudes on their lunch break, but still manages to wreak havoc on everyone who works at the establishment.

An entitled woman decides to bring a curling iron she purchased 20 years prior into this employee's place of work, anticipating that she will find one at the same price. No thoughts of inflation, just bad vibes and a yearning to pick a fight with a pregnant manager. Some people simply thrive off making life exceptionally for another unassuming stranger… for whatever reason.

What would you do if you were in this employee's shoes? At the end of the day, there isn't much to do but stand back in awe and pray you never end up as bitter as they are. Scroll to read the full story.

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  • "The customer rolls her eyes and storms into the store, yanking the door so hard the glass shook."
    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

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

  • "Entitled customer demands service from me while I'm outside the store, storms out complaining about bad customer service"

    So this happened today before my shift. I was standing outside my workplace, not directly in front but kinda off to the side, sm ng with my headphones in, backpack on, and absolutely nothing identifying me as an employee.
    via s0rela
  • A woman comes up and apparently says something, but I don't hear her until she taps my shoulder and shouts "Excuse me!" | take an earbud out and, yet still polite, ask what I can do for her.
    via s0rela
  • She asks if I work at the store. I say I do. Then she whips out a curling iron and asks if we carry it. I tell her we do and that it's probably in stock.
    via s0rela
  • She just stares at me like she's waiting for more, then huffs and goes, "Well, can you show me where?" Now I'm stunned. I'm not even clocked in let alone inside the building, never mind the still half smoked ciga tte I'm holding.
    via s0rela
  • The entire front of my store is glass and out of the corner of my eye, I notice my manager watching from inside. She's sitting on the floor by the window doing something with the handheld and there is only about 8ft and a sheet of glass between us.
    via s0rela
  • a pregnant woman standing with her hands on her swollen stomach
    via Tamara Govedarovic for Unsplash

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

  • She's also extremely pregnant. I'm talking 2 weeks to her due date, obviously pregnant. So once she's down there it's not exactly easy for her to get back up.
    via s0rela
  • Probably shouldn't have, but I point at my manager and say, "There are employees inside who can help you." The customer rolls her eyes and storms into the store, yanking the door so hard the glass shook.
    via s0rela
  • At our store, whenever the door chime goes off, every employee greets the customer, it's a requirement. So if 5 people are working when you walk in, you get hit with a chorus of "Hi!" "Hello!" "Welcome in!" from everyone (we all say different greetings).
    via s0rela
  • Which means she got the symphony too, except not from my manager, who's still sitting on the floor. At that point I figured there had to be at least one other person inside if my manager didn't greet her.
    via s0rela
  • The customer stands there for a good 10 seconds, kinda side- eyeing me like she still expected me to come inside, then beelines straight to my manager, the one person who didn't greet her.
    via s0rela
  • She asks about the curling iron (I assume), my manager points her to the correct aisle (it's a small store, hard to miss), and the lady stomps down it. Not even 30 seconds later she storms back out of the store, not acknowledging the chorus of "Have a good day!"
    via s0rela
  • That's also a requirement, just loudly complaining about "bad customer service" and "high prices." When I went inside, I realized there were two other employees she completely ignored, one behind the register and one walking the floor.
    via s0rela
  • She stood there while they greeted her, then bypassed them both just to harass my pregnant manager. And why, you may ask, was she so angry? She said the prices were too high compared to the curling iron she bought 20 years ago.
    via s0rela
  • Like... duh. Technology, inflation, reality, pick one. Also, can you name any brand that will last you 20 years? No? Then sk it the h I up with your Chanel purse and probably $1k shoes.
    via s0rela
  • shillyshally A lot of these stories have to do with people who are not so much entitled as completely insane.
    via shillyshally
  • djmcfuzzyduck Never confirm you're an employee unless you're being paid for it. Rookie mistake.
    via djmcfuzzyduck
  • sOrela I know better but working here has made me complacent lol. People are usually so nice to me when I'm outside and they ask. I work at a beauty retailer and most of the time they complement me and ask what product I used for my hair or something. I wasn't expecting it
    via s0rela
  • Liveitup1999 Some people still think we live in the 1950s and everything should still be real cheap.
    via Liveitup1999
  • Lazy_Helicopter_2659 "Do you work at the store" "Not for another 10 minutes"
    via Lazy_Helicopter_2659
  • dicemechanic "At our store, whenever the door chime goes off, every employee greets the customer, it's a requirement. So if 5 people are working when you walk in, you get hit with a chorus of "Hi!" "Hello!" "Welcome in!" from everyone (we all say different greetings)." This idea viscerally disgusts me for some reason haha ick
    via dicemechanic
  • sOrela Sometimes I say it really quietly when other people are working, cuz I know everyone else is gonna say it too. And as long as my lips move on camera no one will ever know but me
    via s0rela
  • Maleficentendscurse "I'm off the clock and don't work for free, ask the employees who are on the clock inside the building, goodbye
    via Maleficentendscurse

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customer service entitled customer workplace-stories entitlement Professional At Work work customers reddit story entitled customers annoying customers workplace entitled reddit thread r-entitled Reddit entitled people
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