# What is considered 'A Bad Customer' (and have you ever been one)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 7, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971 "2017-11-07T15:11:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LisaMaryM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c67d28/32.png) [@LisaMaryM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LisaMaryM)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/1 "2017-11-07T15:11:07Z")
I’m glad I found this site since Yahoo answers is crawling with stupid people with no expertise, just ignorant opinions. This is a long and detailed story so bear with me (I’m a writer, so I add everything in but some of you might appreciate that): First let me preface with the fact that a few days earlier I had surgery to remove an ovary and fallopian tube, so couldn’t stand form a long time. I was at the mall to do grocery shopping and decided to pick up some Western Union money at Walmart customer service desk. It was about 2:30 pm so there was really no need for the line to be busy, but there was about 10 people in front of me and only one steady cash register going. The man behind the cash register was unusually slow. I mean, his movements were very slow. The customer in front of me started getting impatient before me and was actually frowning and angry. I, as I do, tried to defuse the situation by making a joke. I said he looked rather like the bionic man - really slow motion. That made her laugh. But…the woman behind me exclaimed ‘You should make fun of how people do their job’ I said ‘Well, he’s not really doing his job, is he?’ She replied, I bet you don’t do your job very well’ I said, ‘Actually, I do my job very well’. The woman in front of me said ‘There’s six or seven people behind the desk and more in line!’ I said, ‘He looks high - like he’s on drugs’ That’s when it got personal. The woman behind me said my eyes were red and that I look high. This went on and on ad nauseam. It occurred to me to leave, but the closest WU was quite far. So I stayed. Something i regretted. I got to the desk and said offered the woman behind me a chance to go to cash one because this guy was slow. She said no and proceeded to cash one and started complaining about me. The cashier said ‘No his is the only one working’ But I had asked her earlier if her WU was working and she said yes. So, here we are with seven or eight people yelling at me about how ‘abusive’ I am meanwhile the woman behind me was cursing, using the f-bomb, and generally angry. I was not angry, in fact, I was trying to defuse the situation. I made a comment that there were quite a few staff behind the desk and they seemed to be laughing and doing high fives. They denied it, even though people in line agreed with me. Finally, they told me to leave and said for him that he wasn’t serving me. One hollered, ‘Take your passport elsewhere’. Why did she say that? How odd. After that I was humiliated since they put me on the spot in front of everyone. I was also hurting since I was standing there waiting for at least half an hour. I should have told them I just had surgery, but I didn’t want to look like a victim. I was about to leave through the opposite mall exit but said to myself, ‘No, I’m telling the store manager’. I asked the guy at a regular cash to call the store manager and he did. I waited and waited. He called again. No answer. Finally someone was approaching but was stopped by another customer. She spoke with her for a while, so I though I’d approach her. I said, ‘Were you just there behind the desk when I got turned away’ She said ‘No. Tell me what happened’ So I told her the whole thing and she said. ‘I know. I was there’ I said ‘But you just said you weren’t there’. She said 'No, I said tell me what happened. ’ I thought to myself Lying Bitch! She said I was in an altercation with one of the other customers. I said, ‘No, I was trying to diffuse the situation with the lady in front of me and the one behind me angrily interrupted and I defended myself. SHE was the one who was attacking and angry - not me’ She denied the one behind me was angry. I said ‘Are you kidding me? She was swearing and everything’ But the information she got was from the angry woman not from the slow guy. She then added that he had the right to refuse service. I added that he and I barely spoke and it was really the other girl who the angry customer was telling her embellished story about me to who was speaking for him. Flustered, I went over to the most educated person there, the optometrist, and told her the story the best I could. She brought me back to the customer service desk and asked them to contact the store manager so I could speak with him. There was a new girl at cash one, but one of the other who had just been behind the desk waved her over, just when I was about to ask for my WU. She whispered to her for a bit and the girl looked over at me then said ‘Okay’ and left. I guess she had to tell the new girl the story because she didn’t want me to find out cash one was in fact working and also for the principal of not giving me service even though nobody else was in line at that point. Then they had all disappeared except for the slow guy, who ignored the phone ringing. Then, finally someone else came along and called one of the manager ( I take it it wasn’t THE manager though) because it was a girl named Carry. She claimed I was being verbally abusive! I said what? I didn’t even talk to him. And I wasn’t being verbally abusive. I asked if I could talk to her and she just hung up the phone before I had a chance to speak with ‘Carry’ Who was obviously one of their cronies and not the main Manager. Anyway, I told the girl who hung up that the next WU is far and she told me there’s one just up the street which I wish I knew earlier. I left and that was that. But later, I had an icky feeling about the whole thing. I felt like I was centred out. Because the woman in front of me and the one behind me were much more angry and abusive than me, but I got the short end of the stick. Why? I think back to my childhood and realise that I was the scapegoat most the time because I was charged with looking after my younger sister because my mom was either high or crashing from the high. Maybe that whole scenario was a mini replay of my role in childhood. Maybe the fact that I didn’t want to be a victim contributed also, they seemed to be trying really hard to make me mad like everyone else was. But part of me was laughing because it was, after all, Walmart. If I wasn’t involved, I’d think it was comedic. But by the end they had sufficiently made me a victim. Now most people would say, don’t go to Walmart anymore. Which I probably won’t. But how did I end up the scapegoat when the others were cursing and visibly angry? I admit, I should not have said anything and I usually don’t. But the incision ports from my surgery were starting to hurt and I was starting to cramp badly (I would later find out I was bleeding from one of the incision ports) and I was getting impatient with the fact there were so many people behind the desk just ignoring us. Should I have mentioned my surgery? Would it made a difference? Should I just have kept my mouth shut? Should I now complain to a manager at that Walmart or write head office? Or maybe I should get myself back into therapy so I don’t put myself in these stupid situations anymore. What do you think? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/2 "2017-11-07T15:17:50Z")
Reported for forum change. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/3 "2017-11-07T15:20:44Z")
Wall of text, didn’t read. I would think that a writer would use paragraph breaks. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/4 "2017-11-07T16:15:50Z")
**Moderator Action** > [@running\_coach](#): > > Reported for forum change. Moving thread from GQ to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/5 "2017-11-07T16:17:43Z")
> [@LisaMaryM](#): > > What do you think? I think you should avoid Walmart in the future. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/6 "2017-11-07T16:29:25Z")
**LisaMaryM** I am happy for you that you have moved on from the idiocy that is Yahoo forums, but please take a look around this site and note how most other posts are written and formatted, especially long ones. I guarantee you almost no one is going to read that huge, rambling wall of text (I didn’t). Spaces and paragraph breaks are your friend. Don’t be afraid to edit. Try and boil it down to what you’re really asking before you hit that “Post” button. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/7 "2017-11-07T16:38:16Z")
> [@LisaMaryM](#): > > … > What do you think? Needs more cowbell. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/8 "2017-11-07T16:38:53Z")
Good lord - shows how bored I am at work here that I tried to wade through that OP! Bottomline, maybe you learned not to expect prompt, quality service from Walmart, or witty repartee from fellow WalMart shoppers. Also, given that you admit you were in pain, consider whether you may have projected something other than you intended. I’ve no idea what it means to “pick up some Western Union money at WalMart”. But in the future, if you encounter a situation like you describe, you might consider getting money elsewhere or later - when you aren’t in pain and there isn’t a crowd. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/9 "2017-11-07T17:31:24Z")
I did my best to read that wall of text. I agree that you probably were out of line - perhaps the cashier was slow because he had some sort of disability, but to start thinking they are weirdly conspiring against you is a bit odd. Then to use this one incident to think back over your life is even more odd. I think maybe you need to relax, put your feet up and recover from surgery. This was a very strange read. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/10 "2017-11-07T19:12:48Z")
A girl named “Carry”? Are you sure it wasn’t Carrie or Kari? Does she have a brother named Cash? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/11 "2017-11-07T19:22:59Z")
I think I’ll have a beer. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/12 "2017-11-07T19:52:14Z")
> [@LisaMaryM](#): > > (I’m a writer, so I add everything in but some of you might appreciate that) Cite? And no, “My post is my cite” doesn’t work with this one. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/13 "2017-11-07T20:16:10Z")
> [@LisaMaryM](#): > > Or maybe I should get myself back into therapy so I don’t put myself in these stupid situations anymore. > > What do you think? I think this is a smart idea. Everyone has days when they are not feeling at their best and they say and do things that seem right at the time, but maybe aren’t the best choices. You’re upset enough over the situation to post about it here at length, so it might be worth having a professional with whom you could share the story and get some feedback. The important thing here is for you to deal with your anger and frustration over what happened. I don’t think trying to address it with Walmart is going to change anything. Addressing your own feelings and response to them is going to be much more productive. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/14 "2017-11-07T21:27:22Z")
My brain is in pain! ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/15 "2017-11-07T22:07:42Z")
I tried to read the entire post, but I got lost in it a few times, so I’m not sure I got every point. Based on what I could get from it 1. When a bunch of people in line are getting frustrated by slow service, your best reaction may just be to grunt noncommittally rather than make a joke. 2. " I said, ‘He looks high - like he’s on drugs’ That’s when it got personal." – No, it actually got personal when you said he looked like he was on drugs. 3. You say “seven or eight people” yelling that you were being abusive, that the six or seven people behind the counter were “laughing and doing high fives,” the store manager was a “Lying Bitch,” you take a swipe at all management by referring to the optometrist as “the most educated person there,” you automatically dismiss the second manager (Carry) as not being a real manager. By my count, that’s at least 15 people you claim went out of their way to push you around. Now, I wasn’t there, but I’m guessing that your perception of what went down wouldn’t match up with what a neutral observer would have seen. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/16 "2017-11-07T22:45:53Z")
I…didn’t make it all the way through. I’m sorry. ---
**Author:** ![nelliebly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nelliebly/32/5422_2.png) [@nelliebly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nelliebly)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/17 "2017-11-08T02:34:59Z")
I managed to slog all the way through the OP, but only thanks to years of grading student essays. My guess is she just wanted to vent, and we won’t hear from her again. I do hope she returns to therapy. I’d say there are a lot of issues there. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/18 "2017-11-08T02:49:01Z")
> [@LisaMaryM](#): > > What do you think? I think you were still high on painkillers. That’s what I think. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/19 "2017-11-08T02:51:40Z")
> [@LisaMaryM](#): > > [snip] > What do you think? I’m betting you’re surrounded by a lot of drama in your life. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971/20 "2017-11-08T04:52:09Z")
> [@LisaMaryM](#): > > I’m glad I found this site So are we. > [@](#): > > Maybe the fact that I didn’t want to be a victim contributed also, they seemed to be trying really hard to make me mad like everyone else was. Luckily, you’re wrong. In fact, any time you think this, ask yourself “Am I in a boxing ring?” If the answer is No, then you’re wrong. Which is good; it’s a relief to realize that people aren’t trying to make you feel things or plotting against you. > [@](#): > > Should I just have kept my mouth shut? Yes. > [@](#): > > Or maybe I should get myself back into therapy so I don’t put myself in these stupid situations anymore. > What do you think? I think that’s an excellent idea. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-considered-a-bad-customer-and-have-you-ever-been-one/800971.md?page=2)