# To the customer i had last night.....f\*@k you... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 3, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073 "2004-04-03T17:23:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/21 "2004-04-03T18:54:38Z")
> [@Steel Rat](#): > > \…I’m just saying we can’t take it at face value. If I knew the OP, then maybe I could say different. Well, Dave and I do know the OP personally, and we can say differently. I believe that it happened exactly as he said. He’s not prone to exaggerating. I catch your point about crappy-ass customer service people. I’ve been pretty surprised since I moved here from Canada. I’m usually pretty darn surprised when someone doesn’t say ‘thank you’ or ‘please’ or sometimes anything at all during a transaction. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/22 "2004-04-03T18:54:40Z")
T’hell with y’all. I am the customer. I am the one with the money. Experience has taught me that bitchin’ and moanin’ is how I can get my way, and retail clerks and floor people have learned to fear me, because if I really wanna go to town on you, I can get you so fired, so fast. I am invincible. Fear me. Plainly, if you need to excrete more than once a day or so, you simply don’t have what it takes to compete in today’s job market. Let me have a word with your manager, and we can free you up to go seek a job better suited to your toilet needs… (Hm. Where’s the motie that indicates facetiousness mixed with third-degree sarcasm?) ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/23 "2004-04-03T18:59:06Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > Well, Dave and I do know the OP personally, and we can say differently. I believe that it happened exactly as he said. He’s not prone to exaggerating. > > I catch your point about crappy-ass customer service people. I’ve been pretty surprised since I moved here from Canada. I’m usually pretty darn surprised when someone doesn’t say ‘thank you’ or ‘please’ or sometimes anything at all during a transaction. Well then, there you go. I wasn’t defending the actions of an abusive customer, seen a few of them myself over the years. Just trying to point out there are both sides of a story, and that opinions are like… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/24 "2004-04-03T18:59:21Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > I’ve been a fast-food manager before, **baltotop** , and while you never specifically stated the kind of business you were in (except that it involved stocking, customers “checking out,” and making coffee), I can guess that it’s a similar experience. > > Unfortunately, in this case, I think the customer may be right. If you are covering a register for someone else—for that person’s break, perhaps, or while that person takes an emergency phone call—you aren’t granted any special rights or privileges when dealing with the public. You don’t get any slack from the customers because you were “just covering.” Your customers have no way to know what your particular excuse was (“I was just covering, this is really my day off but I was called in, this is my first day, I’m from a different store but I’m working at this one today because they were short-handed, my power went out at home so I don’t have clean laundry, my iron is broken so I look rumpled, I ran into a doorknob in the dark last night so I have a black eye, our store was three people short this morning so we’re way behind right now”) and it’s not their _job_ to know. I mean, you wouldn’t want to buy a substandard pair of shoes because the regular shoe-making guy was sick and the manager was “just covering,” or buy a lemon of an automobile because the union was on strike and the scab workers were “just covering.” > > Covering a register was frowned upon at my place of work because it made it more difficult to track accountability for cash shortages (because the thieving employee could always steal and blame it on you, or the thieving manager could always dip into the till and discipline the employee for it). However, if I had to cover a register for any length of time, it was my responsibilty to make sure I was fully prepared to be nailed to that spot until the person was back. If that means I took two minutes to straighten my tie, run to the restroom, grab a Coke, make a phone call, gobble down a sandwich, or whatever, then I’d do that _first_ before agreeing to cover. I’d take the position as seriously as if my boss had stationed me there. > > I can understand being frustrated with a customer’s attitude. If the customer was truly that irate about so simple a matter, then I agree it would have been an overreaction. There’s no excuse to be foul to another human being for something so minor. Still, perhaps you ought to think about ways you can prevent being absent from a position you consented to cover. > > A former manager of mine put it best. An employee was asked to cover a morning shift, but the employee wandered in an hour late. He seemed to think that because he was “just covering,” he didn’t have to be on time or work to acceptable standards, as if merely showing up to collect a check were a tremendous favor to us. My manager at the time said, “I don’t care if you’re covering _Jesus Christ’s_ shift, you’ve still got to do the job.” I’ve got an idea. Why don’t YOU stand behind the fucking cash register for 8-10 HOURS and see if YOU don’t have to piss. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/25 "2004-04-03T19:01:39Z")
Fish, What does your last post have to do with the OP? I don’t think it matters if he was “covering” or not, he had to piss, no customer was at the register, so he went and did God’s work and came right back to the register. How does anyone see that as unreasonable? ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/26 "2004-04-03T19:23:34Z")
> [@pencilpusher](#): > > I’ve got an idea. Why don’t YOU stand behind the fucking cash register for 8-10 HOURS and see if YOU don’t have to piss. Forgive me for being dense, but isn’t that when you call for someone else to cover for you for a minute? How hard is that? ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/27 "2004-04-03T19:32:49Z")
> [@pencilpusher](#): > > I’ve got an idea. Why don’t YOU stand behind the fucking cash register for 8-10 HOURS and see if YOU don’t have to piss. Yeah, yeah, did you read my post much? Been there, done that, signed a chitty for the t-shirt and turned it back in when I quit. And not 8-10 hour shifts, I worked 10-14 hour shifts. Nowhere did I say that an employee should go eight to ten hours without using the bathroom—the OP said he was only covering for a few hours, which shouldn’t be that hard for a manager to arrange if (as I said) he plans ahead. Also, you’ll note, nowhere did the OP say that he was _running_ the register or 8-10 hours: just a few hours to cover a register for another employee. I also wrote that the customer’s attitude, if accurate, was an overreaction. I said that covering a register for a few hours straight shouldn’t be a problem if the manager is doing his job and actually _managing_, that is, arranging matters so things run smoothly. I’ve been there and done _that_ too. What’s your fucking problem with what I said? Or is the Let’s Form A Support Group For Every Doper club still passing out free memberships? ---
**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:** [April 3, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/28 "2004-04-03T19:34:58Z")
> [@Steel Rat](#): > > Forgive me for being dense, but isn’t that when you call for someone else to cover for you for a minute? How hard is that? But what if it’s a one-person operation, the OP was covering an entire shift for the one person who was supposed to be on duty, and there was no one else available to cover for him? What then? As has been pointed out repeatedly, stand there for 9-10 hours without taking a piss? I deal with small businesses all the time where there’s only one person in the shop at any given time to do everything. The day I think they’re not entitled to take a restroom break is the day I deserve to get my snooty butt kicked out of the store for terminal assholitis. ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/29 "2004-04-03T19:44:53Z")
> [@Mama Tiger](#): > > But what if it’s a one-person operation, the OP was covering an entire shift for the one person who was supposed to be on duty, and there was no one else available to cover for him? What then? As has been pointed out repeatedly, stand there for 9-10 hours without taking a piss? > > I deal with small businesses all the time where there’s only one person in the shop at any given time to do everything. The day I think they’re not entitled to take a restroom break is the day I deserve to get my snooty butt kicked out of the store for terminal assholitis. The “what-if’s” don’t really apply if they weren’t presented by the OP. I hear what you’re saying, though, been there too. The impression I got was that it was a larger store, but that’s an assumption on my part. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/30 "2004-04-03T20:14:58Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > And what do you propose he do, **Lib** , keep a bucket at the register? Start wearing Depends? Nope. I propose that he respond to the customer apologetically, thank him for his business, and be grateful that the man spent money in his store. Then, he can come here and tell us in MPSIMS about his kooky little mishap at the cash register. Just because a man has to pee doesn’t mean that he has to lose all perspective and comprehension of his trade. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/31 "2004-04-03T20:19:54Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > Nope. I propose that he respond to the customer apologetically, thank him for his business, and be grateful that the man spent money in his store. Then, he can come here and tell us in MPSIMS about his kooky little mishap at the cash register. Just because a man has to pee doesn’t mean that he has to lose all perspective and comprehension of his trade. Oh, well, that’s a relief. After all, he can always come here and lose all perspective and comprehension of reality like you, right Lib? ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/32 "2004-04-03T20:30:17Z")
> [@Libertarian](#): > > Nope. I propose that he respond to the customer apologetically, thank him for his business, and be grateful that the man spent money in his store. Then, he can come here and tell us in MPSIMS about his kooky little mishap at the cash register. Just because a man has to pee doesn’t mean that he has to lose all perspective and comprehension of his trade. I don’t think that one man spent enough money for him to be a prick to the OP. Some people just aren’t worth it. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/33 "2004-04-03T20:32:32Z")
What is the point of starting a Pit Thread if the OP is not going to respond? Maybe he’s still in the bathroom. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/34 "2004-04-03T20:39:08Z")
Maybe he’s asleep or he went back to work. What’s the big deal? It’s not like this board or the thread is going anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/35 "2004-04-03T20:41:12Z")
Yeah, I don’t think most people spend all day online like I do. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/36 "2004-04-03T20:46:06Z")
> [@milroyj](#): > > What is the point of starting a Pit Thread if the OP is not going to respond? He works nights. He is likely sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/37 "2004-04-03T20:59:03Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > He works nights. He is likely sleeping. That begs the point. If he’s unavailable to respond, why’d he start the thread in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Steel\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/38 "2004-04-03T21:04:29Z")
> [@milroyj](#): > > That begs the point. If he’s unavailable to respond, why’d he start the thread in the first place? He’s not allowed to respond tomorrow? Or the next day? Or next week? ---
**Author:** ![LolaBaby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@LolaBaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaBaby)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/39 "2004-04-03T21:05:23Z")
Heh, sorry we don’t post exactly to your liking. Would you like cream or sugar with that nice, steaming cup of stfu? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bangiadore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@Bangiadore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bangiadore)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073/40 "2004-04-03T21:53:39Z")
**baltotop** , how long was the customer waiting? Sixty seconds? Six minutes? Ten? Seems like whether or not the customer overreacted to your absence would have a lot to do with how much he was actually inconvenienced. Though treating anybody in a service position as though they were a child, and telling them to use the bathroom before work and so on, certainly strikes me as way out of line in terms of rudeness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/to-the-customer-i-had-last-night-f-k-you/238073.md?page=3)