As the semester comes to a close, many students (including staff at The Daily Helmsman) occupy their time in the summer by focusing more on their part-time jobs. In fact, twenty-seven percent of eating and drinking place employees are enrolled in school, versus just 11 percent of the total U.S. employed labor force, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2014 American Community Survey (ACS). When asked about their “worst customer experiences†most of these students have vivid stories to tell. As an end-of-the-semester treat, we’ve compiled a few of our favorites as well as one customer prank-calling confession.
The bowtie businessmanÂ
Place of work: Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches
What happened: One of my worst customer stories actually ends with me meeting my favorite customer ever. A business-type walked into the shop as I was manning the cash register. He ordered by lifting his hand to indicate what number sandwich he wanted and smugly handed me his credit card — all while avoiding eye contact and talking on a Bluetooth headset. Then, without waiting to confirm his order, waltzed to the pickup area without paying us sandwich peasants any more attention than he needed to. The next customer, a 40-ish-year-old man in a T-shirt and jeans (who maybe looked like a bald Dee Snider) then approached the register and immediately said to me “Is it just me, or are all guys who wear bowties complete pricks?†Absolutely made my day.Â
-Gus Carrington, managing editor
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“You need Jesusâ€
Place of work: Public pool
What happened: I work when the pool first opens - early in the morning. Two older visitors, a lady and gentleman, are now notorious for not getting along at the pool. They have had many screaming and yelling matches on the pool deck. One day the lady allegedly exclaimed to the man “You need Jesus!†The man just laughed.
-Anonymous
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The homophobic moviegoer
Place of work: Malco Paradiso (movie theatre)
What happened: I learned many things from working at the Paradiso, but I mainly learned how to deal with the general public. One night when it was busy, a customer walked up to the side of the counter, but I was ringing people up in front of the counter. I assumed he was not in line because he actually wasn’t. He thought differently. After I finished ringing one customer up and began the next, he chimed in and said something like, “Excuse me, I was next.†I reminded him (kindly) he was in fact not. He then stormed off.
Later he told one of my coworkers about the incident (if you would even call it an incident) and referred to me as a derogatory word targeted toward male homosexuals. As a male homosexual, I obviously take offense to that word. He must have thought he was in the wrong for using it, otherwise he would have said it to my face.
- Nick Lingerfelt, copy editor
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The awkward piercing
 Place of work: Claire’s Stores Inc. (fashion accessory store)
What happened: Part of my job is doing piercings and typically they are little girls getting them done for the first time. So one Saturday around Christmas time, a white family had come in to get their 6-year-old daughter’s ears pierced. Some other family was already up there, so I told them to wait. The mom turned around and said “Miss, do you do piercings? Because I don’t feel comfortable with my daughter being pierced by a black man.†She pointed to the family who had been in front of them. There’s about a 20 foot gap between the register and the piercing station so thank god the family didn’t hear her, but I looked at her and said “Ma’am, there are no black men working here.†She got all flustered. At first I thought she had a thing against men, but when I told my female black sales associate to do the piercing since I was in the middle of doing paperwork, the lady requested that I only do it. Thinking back now, I kind of wish I told her I was a brown Muslim just to see if she would have reacted. She got me a $120 sale though, so I guess one good thing came out of it.
-Saira Sikandar, photographer
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The strange compliment
Place of work: Fleming’s (restaurant and wine bar)
What happened: I work as a hostess, and one Saturday night this woman was celebrating her 70th birthday. She rented out a whole private dining room — her whole family was there. They went outside to smoke and the 70-year-old lady had a lot to drink. She came back inside, looked at me and she was like “Wow you’re such a beautiful man.†I was like “Oh thank you,†and she was like “Wait, are you a man or a woman?†I was like “I’m a woman.†Then she was like “Oh you’re so beautiful,†and I was like “Thanks man.â€
-Jailenn Scott, photographer, 21-year-old public relations major
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The crazy man who threw crazy bread
Place of work: Little Caesar’s
What happened: So when I was just 16 years old, a grown-ass man came into the store highly upset. I discovered that he was dissatisfied with the bag of “Crazy Bread†he had bought earlier that day. So, in a polite manner, I told him I would make him fresh bread and that it would be ready shortly. A few minutes later, I handed him his freshly baked bag of bread, apologized and wished him well. This man —a hateful, surly, unhappy man — turned to walk out and proceeded to THROW the old bag of Crazy Bread AT MY FACE … yet he surely kept the new, free bag I had just given him. Yes, that is a true story, and I will never let it go. Ever.
-Katie Sipple, copy editor
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The three-hour tour
Place of work: Vera Bradley (boutique)
What happened: One time this family came into our store and literally stayed there for three hours. It was a store that was incredibly small. So they kept asking us to like go in the back and look for stuff, but for three hours they just sat in there. They bought two items that were on sale. They stayed there for three hours with their family members and congregated in there. There was this small child that was screaming. At the end of it they bought like less than $30 worth of product.Â
-Lillian Haddock, 20-year-old political science and public relations major
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The 50-cent freak out
Place of work: The deli section of Kroger (grocery store)
What happened: I ran into a lady at one point who saw, in the window, the tag for one of the meats was $5. Well, it was actually $5.50. We’d forgotten to take the tag off, so I priced her wrong for it and she showed me the error. I said, “That’s ok, I’ll switch it off and I’ll give you the price that it says in the case.†She wanted it for free. I said, “Well, we can’t do that and it’s just 50 cents off. I’ll give you that discount, but I can’t give it to you for free.†She caused an absolute racket, started yelling and cursing at all the stuff and me. I just said, “Hey, I’ll talk to the manager.†It was the best thing I could do or say. I directed her to the manager and they took care of it.Â
-Austin Winder, 22-year-old management majorÂ
Customer confession: The diva caller
Customer at: Ubee’s (restaurant and bar)
What happened: It was like 2 a.m. — I called Ubee’s ‘cause they deliver and they were like “Hey we can’t get your order right now and we’re just going put you on hold.†I waited for 10 minutes, and then they cut me off. So, I called back and I was like “Hey I just want to know if you’ll be able to take my order,†and instead of listening to that, they just said “Hey let me put you on hold.†I was like “Alright fine, fair enough.†I called back again and said “Hey I don’t want to be put on hold again.†“Alright thanks buddy, let me put you on hold,†he said. We’re up to 30 minutes and it’s just personal right now. I call back one more time.
I had gotten a pizza by then, so my real goal was to be on the phone and play Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you†for the entire time they put me on hold. At the very last call I got to the big part —the “ahhhhhhh.â€
So when I’m up at 2 a.m. and I just have nothing to do, I’ll call them — every once in awhile — and play just that part, so people hear Whitney Houston singing “I will always love you.†Yeah, I don’t know if they can recognize numbers.
- Nathan Thomas, 19-year-old behavioral neuroscience major
