21 Employees Who Survived Impossible Customer Service Days

It’s often said that working with the public isn’t an easy task. After all, you can encounter all kinds of situations during a single workday — peculiar, stressed customers, and sometimes many of them at once. Still, some of these experiences are memorable, both for better and for worse, bringing good laughs and making the day anything but boring.

• I had a coworker submit a ticket to reset her voicemail password, so I sent her four short steps to do it. She hadn’t closed the ticket for days, so I messaged her to check if it had worked, but got no response. Then my boss came over and said an employee was complaining that their voicemail password still hadn’t been reset. So I went over to her and asked what was going on. She said it wasn’t working. I asked which step wasn’t working, and she said all of them.
  “So... the first step, then? You tried the first step, right?”
  She said no, she hadn’t, then asked if, since I was already there, I could just do it for her. © angrylawyer / Reddit

• I work as a hairdresser. I have a rich client. A couple of days after her visit, she called me in tears, saying that she had lost her earrings. Hadn’t I found them?
  I pushed back the table, and indeed, there were earrings. I told her this. She rushed over, took a look at them, and said, “Yes, they’re mine! But I’m not going to wear them anymore — they were lying on the floor here, yuck! So if you want them, you can have them.”
  And she left. I don’t even know what it was. But I took the earrings, they were beautiful.

• — Hi Kate, we can’t do this class twice a week, we can only do once a week, is that okay?
  — Hello, yes, it’s okay.
  — But won’t it affect the results?
  — You’ll study half as much. You got a C in the quarter. Of course, it will.
  — But we have singing, art, and gymnastics classes! We can’t come twice a week! Can we come once a week? Will she be able to learn everything in a month?
  — In 4 lessons? No, she won’t. She has to come at least twice a week.
  — But we have singing, art, and gymnastics classes!
  — I think we keep going around in circles. © Lirala / Pikabu

• I work in a fitness club. One trainer had a client who asked her to write everything down in detail on a sheet of paper. The trainer wrote, “Eat porridge for breakfast. Weigh 3 ounces of dry cereal...” — and so on.
  After 3 days, the woman complained to the management that she had a stomachache from our diet. It turned out that she ate dry oat flakes. People can be really weird sometimes... © Overheard / VK

• I got a call saying a user’s laptop was dead and wouldn’t power on. I went to check it out and pressed the button — no response. I plugged it into the power outlet, and it started charging. I pressed the button again, and it booted up just fine. The user hadn’t been plugging in the laptop because she “thought we had wireless.” © HouseCravenRaw / Reddit

• I used to work as a taxi call center operator. One day, a woman called us and ordered a taxi to a vet clinic. According to regulations, I was obliged to ask if the dog had a muzzle, bedding and other things. Then we had this dialogue:
  — Are you coming with your pet?
  — Yes, I have a pug.
  — It must wear a muzzle.
  — What muzzle? It’s a pug! It doesn’t even have a face! © Overheard / Ideer

• I had a funny client lately:
  — Here is a photo of the source document, can you do the work today?
  — Yes, plus 50% to the standard fee.
  — Do I need to pay half in advance?
  — No, you need to pay the standard fee, plus 50% for urgency.
  — Can I pick it up tomorrow? I really need it!
  — Yes, plus 50% of your standard charge.
  — No, I don’t want to pay extra.
  — Then you’ll have to wait a week.
  — Okay, I’ll wait.
  The next day, I got a call early in the morning:
  — So can I pick it up today?
  — Yes, plus 50% to the standard fee.
  — I was told by your supervisor that I can pick it up today at the regular price!
  — I was in the office with her until late at night yesterday, and I know you didn’t talk to her.
  — I won’t be ordering from you anymore because I’m offended!
  The man is 36 years old, he’s offended. © Unknown author / Pikabu
• I’m a vet tech. A lot of people think their dog’s nipples are ticks. A lot. One man even pulled a “but he’s a boy!” on us. © JunkyardForLove / Reddit

• We have an online shop where we sell audio cassettes (yes, there are a lot of fans of this vintage in the world). In early November, a guy from Germany bought 4 cassettes from us. But the package got stuck somewhere on the way for a couple of weeks. The client opened a dispute in due time and demanded a refund. We returned the money to him.
  A week later, the client wrote back to us that the package finally arrived. He liked the cassettes very much, but one of them turned out to be a little defective — it is a little tight when rewinding, and therefore, in his opinion, it would be fair if we sent him a replacement. I couldn’t even find the words to answer him immediately. © And***s / Pikabu

• “But why isn’t there any money in my account? I put $500 in the other day!”
  You check the account and see that they did, in fact, deposit $500 the other day. However, several bills have gone through, and they’ve made multiple purchases since then. So you review every single transaction with them. The customer confirms each one. You reach the end.
  “But why isn’t there any money in my account? I put $500 in the other day!”
  You go back and explain what their account balance was before they deposited the $500. Then you go through each transaction again, this time telling the customer the balance after every transaction. They nod, confirm every single one, and agree with each balance you mention. You reach the end, hoping they’ll finally understand that the reason there’s no money left is because they spent it all.
  “But why is there no money in my account? I put $500 in the other day!” © JesusGodLeah / Reddit

“A client called with the problem of persistent errors in Windows. I said, ’Bring it in, let’s have a look.’ He brought this system unit.”

• A woman calls:
  — Hello, how much do your services cost for a full day of shooting on July 20?
  — Hello, this date is available. The cost is this much, it includes....
  — Cake!
  — Excuse me?
  — Well, I want a cake to be included into the photographer’s service.
  — You know, I’m not much of a baker.
  — And you were recommended to me as a professional!
  An awkward pause. Then the woman hangs up. © alexm626 / Pikabu

• I get too many dumb questions to remember them all. Here’s a dumb encounter that happened just yesterday. When sending confidential documentation, we would encrypt it and put a password on it. It’s common practice to send the document and the password in 2 separate emails. I got a message from this guy saying he couldn’t open the document I sent him.
  Me: “Did you use the password?”
  Client: “Yes. It said there was an error.”
  Me: “What password did you use?”
  Client: “I just hit okay, and it said that I had the wrong password.”
  Me: “Wait. So, did you type anything in?”
  Client: “Well, no.”
  Me: “Could you use the password that we provided you?”
  Client: “I didn’t think it would work, so I deleted the email.”
  Me: “...” © DiDalt / Reddit

• I work in a library. Once I checked out several books to a woman and told her the return date. She looked at her friend, then back at me, and said, shocked, “You mean I have to bring the books back?” © twentyfeettall / Reddit

• I used to work as a bank teller. One day, a woman came up to me and asked to withdraw money. I told her she couldn’t because her account was overdrawn. She immediately got upset, so I had her account checked for fraud. She then explained that all the charges were hers and that she wasn’t expecting any payments. She was spending money she knew she didn’t have. She then asked me why we couldn’t just give her more money. © OMothmanWhereArtThou / Reddit

• “Your programmers are incompetent! They can’t do anything right!”
  — Does the program work?
  — It does.
  — Any errors?
  — No errors.
  — Does the program work exactly as written in the technical task?
  — Yes, but when we wrote it, we had something completely different in mind! © astrobeglec / Pikabu
• I’m sitting in the office one day, working. Incoming call. I answer:
  — Good afternoon, I’m listening.
  — Hello, can you tell me the capital of Australia?
  — Excuse me?
  — Well, I received your commercial offer, it says, “Contact me if you have any questions.” I want to know the capital of Australia.
  — Canberra, if I’m not mistaken.
  — Oh great, now can you tell me more about your offer? © IamLie / Pikabu

“I work in a mobile phone store. Today, a client came in and asked me why his SIM card wasn’t working.”

• I used to work in a call center for a large bank, and a customer phoned while he was in one of the branches and said the queue was too big, so he wanted me to help him. I asked what his query was, and he said the ATM was broken, so he had to withdraw cash. I asked how I could possibly help him withdraw cash from the bank over the phone, and he said, “Why can’t you just fax it to me?” © kitjen / Reddit

• I worked at a supermarket checkout. One day, a fancy lady showed up and filled her cart with cold cuts and cheeses. When it was time to pay, she handed over a pile of coins and said, “This is all I have.” I asked what she wanted to return, and she replied, “Nothing. I’m taking it all!” I explained it wasn’t enough, and she indignantly said, “It doesn’t matter, I’m not paying more than this.” I said it wasn’t possible. Then she snapped, “My son is hungry!” I looked at her items and said, “There’s nothing here for kids.” In the end, we had to call security to remove her from the store. Irchi / Pikabu

• A mother and a daughter came into my shop. While the woman was choosing, the daughter was begging for something for herself. To all the questions, the mother answered, “No, it’s expensive. No, put it down, you have this thing already.” The girl asked me in desperation:
  — Do you have anything for free?!
  — No.
  — You should. You have to entice people with free stuff.
  Here it is, the secret of a successful business. © Yasminurlik / Pikabu

Flights can seem boring — a good time to enjoy a book or watch a movie. However, this article proves that in some cases, a trip can come with comedy, drama, or pure chaos.