# My worst customer (very long) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 8, 2005, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637 "2005-09-08T08:58:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/41 "2005-09-08T20:05:29Z")
> [@even sven](#): > > Me=Me, early twenties college graduate working as a hostess at Denny’s > MM= Morroco Man > > Me: That is a really interesting necklace. > MM: Thanks, it’s a Berber cross. > Me: _thinking_ mmhmm, a Berber cross. > MM: It’s from Mo-rocc-o. > Me _thinking_ Yep, thats where there Berbers are from all right. > MM: Thats in A-fric-a. > Me: Oh yeah? I’m going to India next week. > > Asshole. Okay, I think I’m missing something here. This is offensive exactly how? Sounds to me like he was trying to provide factual information in response to your question. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/42 "2005-09-08T20:47:03Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > Okay, I think I’m missing something here. This is offensive exactly how? Sounds to me like he was trying to provide factual information in response to your question. 😕 No offense, but did you read the posts above yours? The guy was being patronizing what with the talking to a 3 year old phrasing and the over-information. Morocco, Africa? I thought you meant Morocco, Kentucky. :smack: The “I’m going to India next week” line probably did more harm than good, **even sven** as MM probably walked out thinking, “Stupid kid thinks India is in Africa.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/43 "2005-09-08T20:53:17Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > Okay, I think I’m missing something here. This is offensive exactly how? Sounds to me like he was trying to provide factual information in response to your question. 😕 Read my post #37 (which was in no way intended to be patronizing to **Enderw24** ) in which I talked patronizingly to **Enderw24** , like he was a little child. It essentially conveys “I think you’re a moron, and I’m going to speak to you in a way that leaves little doubt as to the level of disdain I feel for you.” ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/44 "2005-09-08T20:58:05Z")
It could have been a simple explanation, too; there was nothing in her description of the conversation that conveyed patronizing. I wouldn’t have assumed anything except that maybe she didn’t know where a Berber cross was from, since I know that a lot of people, even those who don’t work at Denny’s, wouldn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/45 "2005-09-08T22:55:06Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Read my post #37 (which was in no way intended to be patronizing to **Enderw24** ) in which I talked patronizingly to **Enderw24** , like he was a little child. It essentially conveys “I think you’re a moron, and I’m going to speak to you in a way that leaves little doubt as to the level of disdain I feel for you.” Even Sven might have been trying to convey that he was patronizing. And maybe he was. But what I got from her post is a conversation where she asks a question, he responds, and she does nothing to indicate she comprehended the response. Put yourself in his shoes. What would you do? “It’s a Berber Cross.” Nothing. _Oh, she doesn’t know what a Berber cross is. OK_ “It’s in Morocco” Nothing. _uh…does she even know where Morrocco is?_ “In Africa…” “Oh yeah! I’m going to India soon.” _Wow. Just…wow._ That’s exactly what many would say if they covered up Even Sven’s thoughts in her retelling. Because, unless the Berber Cross suddenly granted psychic abilities upon this man, he can’t read Sven’s mind. So, he, like most people, would go with information he did have: I need to start breaking words into one syllable fragments if I want even a head nod… ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/46 "2005-09-09T00:15:52Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > They had smeared shit over every surface in the room, the walls, the phone, the lampshades, the furniture . . . everything. There was shit ground into the carpet. They had pulled back all of the bedding, and ground shit into the mattress. I’ve never seen so much shit in my life, and my grandfather owns a horse stable! I can’t believe that two human beings could produce so much shit-- they must have been holding it back for days in preperation for their bacchanal. [_Bob Sagat in Dumb and Dumberer_] He shit on the walls! He shit on the mirror! There’s shit EVERYWHERE![BSiDaD] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/47 "2005-09-09T01:21:51Z")
My very last waitressing job was working in a Dennys-type place. Being the new kid, I had to work Friday nights. One group of drunks comes in and is making a lot of noise, disturbing all the other customers - just being jerks. After giving them menus and getting beverages, I came to the table to take the food order. SCL (to customer sitting on the aisle): Have you decided what you would like to order, sir?" Customer: “Aw just put yourself on a plate sweetheart and I’ll eat you right here.” SCL: " Would you prefer your coffee in your cup or your lap, sir?" ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/48 "2005-09-09T03:09:37Z")
For reference, I think I nodded and said “cool” or “mmhmm” after he told me it was a Berber Cross. Theres a big difference from “lets have a conversation about something” and “lets give the Denny’s girl a little geography lesson so she can impress everyone at the trailer park’s NA meetings when she gets off work.” This was in the latter. There is no reason to ever pronounce Africa as “Af-ric-a” to an adult. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/49 "2005-09-09T03:42:16Z")
Whereas the way you wrote it: > [@](#): > > MM: It’s from Mo-rocc-o. > Me _thinking_ Yep, thats where there Berbers are from all right. > MM: Thats in A-fric-a. suggested to me that he just had an accent. In other words, he may have been patronizing, but that didn’t come across at all in your original description of the conversation. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/50 "2005-09-09T04:54:33Z")
I work in a doctor’s office. A couple weeks ago, a new patient came in right at his appointment time. New patients are told to arrive 20 minutes early to do their paperwork. He does the paperwork, and ten minutes later he’s up at the front desk asking to see the manager. The office manager isn’t in, so the lead medical assistant goes up to speak to him. She takes him behind the front desk to the check-out area so that they’re not in front of the whole waiting room. He says to her that he cannot believe that he’s been made to wait ten whole minutes, and does the doctor not understand that his time is very valuable and that he doesn’t have time to wait? She calmly explains to him that, had he been there on time, 20 minutes before his appointment as we’d requested, that he’d be in a room by now and most likely the doctor would be seeing him at that moment. He tells her that he wants her to guarantee that he’d be seeing the doctor within five minutes of right that moment. She tells him that no, she wasn’t willing to do that. The patients that were there on time, unlike him, had every right to be seen on time, and he’d have to wait until the doctor was caught up, maybe 20 to 30 minutes. The guy asks her what is wrong with her?? What the hell is the doctor’s problem?? Does the doctor realize that he has a bunch of monkeys working for him?? He then smacks her in the upper arm, says “thanks for nothing”, and walks out. A couple of hours later he calls the office manager, who by then is in, but she knows nothing about the situation yet, and she soothes him and makes a new appointment for him, assuring him that he will definitely be seen on time. She then goes to the back and tells the doctor about her conversation. The doctor makes her call the guy back and tell him that the doctor requests that he go elsewhere for his care, considering his behavior. My doctors rule. Another story, that I just can’t resist sharing: Another doctor goes in the room to see a patient, a deaf middle-aged man who reads lips. When he walks in, the man is masturbating. The doctor calmly and quietly asks the man to “put the joey back in the tent”, the patient does so sheepishly. The doctor talks to and treats the patient, says his goodbyes, and begins to leave the room. The patient approaches the doctor, wiggles his hips suggestively, and wags his eyebrows up and down while smiling. The doctor disgustedly leaves the room and sends a letter to the patient that day dismissing him from the practice due to his “inappropriate behavior”. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/51 "2005-09-09T06:05:38Z")
Amazing! ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/52 "2005-09-09T12:34:14Z")
> [@trublmakr](#): > > I work in a doctor’s office. A couple weeks ago, a new patient came in right at his appointment time. New patients are told to arrive 20 minutes early to do their paperwork. To avoid confusion, you’d think it would make more sense to give them an appointment time 20 mins earlier wouldn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/53 "2005-09-09T13:23:47Z")
> [@Martiju](#): > > To avoid confusion, you’d think it would make more sense to give them an appointment time 20 mins earlier wouldn’t you? You would, but every time I’ve made an appointment with a new doctor, this is the way they’ve done it. Another added bonus of the US health care system, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/54 "2005-09-09T13:29:51Z")
What’s confusing about “come 20 minutes early”? Please don’t turn this into a rant about doctor’s offices, start a pit thread for that. They do have the option of getting their paperwork in the mail. I don’t make office policy. ---
**Author:** ![lezlers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@lezlers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lezlers)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/55 "2005-09-09T14:40:32Z")
> [@Martiju](#): > > To avoid confusion, you’d think it would make more sense to give them an appointment time 20 mins earlier wouldn’t you? Well, then, the paitent would be bitching about the fact that they’re seeing the doctor 20 minutes _after_ their supposed appointment time, now wouldn’t they? They’d still be spending those 20 minutes filling out paperwork and _not_ actually seeing the doctor, which would still piss them off. I went to Kaiser on Wed and was shocked, _shocked_, when I was called in a couple minutes after my appointment time. I normally expect to wait at _least_ 20 minutes after my appointment time in that place. And that’s on a _good_ day. Gotta love Kaiser. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/56 "2005-09-09T15:40:47Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > suggested to me that he just had an accent. > > In other words, he may have been patronizing, but that didn’t come across at all in your original description of the conversation. It came across just fine to me, but maybe that’s because I’ve had this happen to me, and the moron that did made quite an impression. PTSD of customer care, I guess. Microsoft Word used to have a thing called Visual Basic. (It still does, but in a modified form.) It’s a programming language with such commands as GetLineFeedPrompt and SelectionClearPasteItem. At that time, there were over 800 such commands. I was pretty good at them, being the head resource in it for tha entire division of Microsoft. But there was no way I had all 800 commands memorized. So this moron calls me one day asking why his code was breaking. I asked him to tell me his code (which we didn’t support, I was going above and beyond). He starts rattling off commands rapid-fire, like Myweirdvariableequalsigngetlinefeedpromptopenparenthesesmyotherweirdvariablecloseparenthes and on and on. I didn’t understand a bloody word he said. So I asked him to slow down. That’s when he started talking to me like I was a little child. It was extremely patronizing. To this day I don’t know why I didn’t just hang up on him. So anyway, I get to the heart of this guy’s code. Turns out he was more of a moron than I had originally guessed. His code made no sense whatsoever. So I told him what code to write. When I started, he said “Hold on, could you slow down and spell that for me?” I remained a professional, but it was _so_ tempting to treat him the way he treated me. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/57 "2005-09-09T21:56:26Z")
My worst customer became my stalker. I can’t remember what ever happened to him, he must have moved on to someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/58 "2005-09-09T23:01:57Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > So this moron calls me one day asking why his code was breaking. I asked him to tell me his code (which we didn’t support, I was going above and beyond). He starts rattling off commands rapid-fire, like Myweirdvariableequalsigngetlinefeedpromptopenparenthesesmyotherweirdvariablecloseparenthes and on and on. I didn’t understand a bloody word he said. Did he go on for 45 minutes and did you have fun playing with the pencils on the bench there? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/59 "2005-09-10T14:13:25Z")
> [@Wolfian](#): > > Did he go on for 45 minutes and did you have fun playing with the pencils on the bench there? Kid! ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637/60 "2005-09-10T17:20:09Z")
> [@trublmakr](#): > > The guy asks her what is wrong with her?? What the hell is the doctor’s problem?? Does the doctor realize that he has a bunch of monkeys working for him?? He then smacks her in the upper arm, says “thanks for nothing”, and walks out. :eek: He _hit_ her? Over a late doctor’s appointment? He’s lucky he was there and not in my mother’s doctor’s office. He would likely have left that office for an appointment at the emergency room. My mother would likely have hit him back - patient or not. I have my own story. My first job was as a concession stand worker in a theater. I had been working there for several months when Batman Returns came out. We had a special showing with a radio station in the lobby and the turnout was crazy. We were so busy that my manager (a man known for doing nothing, ever) was popping the popcorn for us while we helped the customers. The concessions line (we had 6 registers, all manned) was creeping out the doors of the lobby into the mall. A lady in my line ordered a large popcorn and two drinks for herself and her husband. I went over to the popcorn popper and filled her bucket directly from the machine where it was spilling over as it was being made. We were so far behind there was no popcorn premade. Placing her order on the counter, I ran up the total as she took a piece of popcorn and put it into her mouth. “This popcorn is cold! I want a new bucket of popcorn.” Me: 😕 “I…ma’am, I’m sorry, that popcorn came straight out of the machine as it was being popped.” (in clear view of where she was standing) “It’s cold! I want a new bucket of popcorn!!” Me: “I’m sorry ma’am, it doesn’t get any hotter than that. I got that right out of the machine as it was popping.” “Mooomooo…mooo” I took her popcorn back, dumped it into the trash and refilled it out of the same popcorn popper. In the meantime, business had slowed down to the point where my manager had moved over to restock the straws directly beside my register and had heard most of the conversation. I returned with her new bucket of popcorn and finished the sale (almost) uneventfully. As she turned to leave, she told the couple behind her (who were apparently her friends) “Make sure she gives you hot popcorn!” Her friends looked so embarrassed, I completed their order and they left. An hour later I was refilling the candy bins. The rush was over and we were all tired. A woman approached the counter. I asked if I could help her. She smirked… “I have never been treated so rudely by a customer service person in my life. I own my own business, and if you worked for me, I would have fired you!” :rolleyes: I realize the popcorn lady has returned. Before I can come up with a response, she continues. “I want to know your name, I want your manager’s name and home phone number!” I gave her my name, and my manager’s name but wasn’t planning to give her his phone number. At that moment, he happened to emerge from his office. I told her if she wanted to speak to my manager, he was right over there and pointed him out. She rushed over and started yelling at him, getting in his face and pointing her finger at him. He listened for a few minutes, said something and she went away, apparently placated. He walked up to me… “Jaade, I told that lady I would talk to you. I just did.” He walked off. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-worst-customer-very-long/320637.md?page=4)