It should be understood, at this point, that straying into a store with a uniform consisting solely of a specifically colored shirt—whilst wearing that same color of shirt—is a risky move. It should also be understood that even wearing a similar color shirt is likely to attract every Karen and disgruntled manager within a 100-meter radius. If you choose to do this, you do so at your own peril, but at least you can write a story about it later to share online. This guy happened to stray into a l…

Unnecessary rules and processes must be followed to the letter—because some manager who has never actually done the job decided it must be so. As long as they only waste your time, they'll remain in place indefinitely as you're hounded mercilessly about the resulting drop in productivity (thanks to these new processes.) However, as soon as these processes infringe upon the time of the manager who made them, it's miraculous how quickly they can disappear, which means the easiest way to get rid o…

This customer wasn't happy about the service she had received or the price she had been charged—especially surprising considering she had been given a discount. She thought she could even get against the shop for the perceived slight against her and decided to execute a ‘malicious compliance’ by paying her repair bill entirely in pennies. She failed to calculate the fact that the owner might be happy to oblige her preferred method of payment—simply to watch her have to haul in sacks and sacks o…

This is precisely the type of thing you encounter while working in a bike shop. Of all the customer service roles you could ever work, working in a bike shop will confront you with some uniquely bewilderingly entitled experiences. The idea of “you haven't done enough for me for free” will somehow recur time and time again as 1-star reviews bombard you for going out of your way to help someone who doesn't understand how much they don't understand about their bike. Bonus points here for being bla…

You can't have your cake and eat it too—and the people who work for you are people, not cake. I don't really know exactly how to unpack that statement further… but let's just say that you shouldn't be surprised when your workers want greater compensation in exchange for the increased responsibility you've been giving them. If they're doing the job of a manager already, make them a bloody manager. The amount of hoops that retailers want their employees to jump through in order to achieve a promo…

There are glorious times in customer service when doing what the customer has asked necessitates doing technically nothing. It's a rare occurrence but oh-so-good when it happens to chance upon you. When this worker promised to give an angry Karen a refund, they did so by promising to refund the amount that it would cost them to park on the street: Nothing. This left the Karen happy to go merrily on their way, and with the problem now out of sight and out of mind, she was never the wiser. It's g…

Working retail is the biggest soul sucking job known to man. Nobody grows up aspiring to be a cashier working the register, forced to endure customers's stupid jokes ("if it doesn't scan it's free, right?"), listening to mild pop music on loop, and surviving inadequately balanced AC. However maddening the endless onslaught of beeping barcodes, inventory nights, matching aprons, and dealing with incoming merchandise, the worst thing by far about working in retail are the Karens.

Dealing with a demanding customer can be a nightmare—ask anyone in customer service. It's not as straightforward as you might think either—the more you bend and break for them, giving in to their demands, the more they will ask for in return. It's like a lion attacking a herd of wildebeest; the hunter can sense the weakness, and showing any will make you a greater target. Plus, if you actually manage to close a sale with these people, there is an infinitely greater chance that they will become…

When you deal with customers, no matter how big or small your operation is, there's the inevitable risk that, at some point, you'll stray across an unreasonable one. It's incredibly likely that your experience with this someone with culminate with them blaming you for problems and unhappiness of their own making while gesturing wildly in a manner reminiscent of a wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube man—just to be sure they've gotten their point across. If the experience doesn't end in an…