My nan and grandfather were leaving my mom's house after babysitting myself and my baby sister. Our house was on a hill, so it was difficult to see if traffic was coming. They managed to pull out and left, but their car broke down a little after.
Another car hit them from behind and the lady driving starts off on them, saying that the accident was their fault and now they would have no money for Christmas presents. This was in AUGUST. Also, I think bumping into someone like that qualifies as negligence on your part, lady.
The worst part was that on Christmas Eve, my nan got a horrible letter in the post from Karen, saying her Christmas had been ruined and that they were the fault of all the woes in the world. Like, WTF!?
--huskylover888
Two days before Christmas. The line was all the way across the store but moving very quickly. Like a 10-minute wait, which wasn't bad considering there had to be 50+ people in line.
When this happens we set up a queue line and the other employees on duty will step in and help direct people to lanes. Lady walks up, looks at the line, and goes straight to a lane.
"Ma'am, you'll need to go to the back of the line and we'll send you to a lane when you reach the front of the line," I say after getting her attention.
"Yeah, I'm not doing that." She scoffs.
I ask again, politely, and she refuses.
I bide my time, not sending any other guests to that lane. After she’s been waiting for a few minutes, I told her again that she needed to go to the end of the line and wait like everyone else.
She refused. A few more minutes go by and it’s her turn, and she would like to do a return. Unfortunately for her, I was ready.
"Ma'am. This is the third and last time I'm going to tell you, either go to the end of the line or leave and try again tomorrow."
"You're going to serve me right now. I am not waiting in that line."
"Well, you can either wait in the line or get out, because Team Member here doesn’t know how to do returns, as he is a backup at the moment."
"You're really going to do this two days before Christmas dude? It’s just a return."
"You're really going to do this two days before Christmas ma'am? It’s just a line."
To cut this a bit short, I ended up having to have security make her leave, which was hilarious. She was sure to make a complaint and leave a bad survey but I'm in the clear and she’s still a b*tch so I think I came out ahead.
--ClockWorkTank
So got a call to our corporate offices today from a customer who wanted to complain about “ridiculous and unhelpful” staff at our retail store. I somehow get landed with the call because she’s not getting the response she wanted from anyone else.
Right off the bat, she’s an absolute delight screaming about terrible customer service, what kind of service are we providing … you know all the greatest hits.
In the end I get to the crux of her problem. Apparently, our awful staff had refused to fulfill her request that they deliver and assemble a grand piano between the hours of 5-6 am on Christmas morning!!!!
The absolute nerve of them! I swear I almost laughed out loud but she continued to berate me saying that we were ruining Christmas and her children needed that grand piano from Santa so that was the only time that it could be delivered and set up.
It ended after she decided to point out that as it was Christmas so naturally our shop would be closed so what else would the staff be doing!? I replied, “Probably sleeping and spending Christmas with their own families, staff have those too you know,” and hung up.
--deleted
This was in Perth, Australia a few years ago. I was in a clothing store buying a naughty Mrs. Santa costume for myself.
I bring it to the counter to pay and there is this lady in front of me trying to return the same item as I am about to buy. The cashier lady takes it up the back to a manager, then comes back to inform the customer that they cannot accept the item back as it reeks of cigarette smoke.
Well, this Karen goes off her head, insisting she hasn't worn it and that she has every right to return it. She then tells the poor cashier lady that she "knows someone at Channel 7" (one of our major television networks) and she proceeds to walk out of the store and call her friend. "Get the cameras down here!" She tells her "friend at channel 7".
I'm just watching on in disbelief and amusement as the cashier lady calls me up to serve me. I tried to reassure the cashier lady that I'm sure the Karen will run out of steam soon and lose interest.
Cashier lady has already zoned out. She recites the return policy to me in a methodical manner and I joke, "Don't worry, if I bring it back I'll make sure not to wear it and smoke in it!" She just looks on, with a glazed look, she just does not care anymore.
Needless to say, there was no story on the news that night about a woman's rights being violated by not being able to return a worn and smokey Sexy Mrs. Santa Costume.
--Cowdoygirl
So this happened on Christmas Eve of this year. I work at a cinema and we stay open till midnight even on Christmas Eve. We have a lot of customers in for the night, and I’m ripping tickets, telling people where their screens are. Suddenly this lady comes up behind me and utters the 2 words all workers fear.
Lady: “Excuse me!”
Just her tone made me groan internally.
Me: “Hello, how can I help?”
L: “Me and my family have just gone in to see Frozen 2 and some other people are in our seats.”
This happens a lot, and I check the film information on my tablet. The movie is in its first round of ads, barely 10 minutes in, so the lights in the theater are still up.
Me: “I’m so sorry to hear that, give me one minute and I can get someone to move…”
L: “No it’s too late and we’re too stressed. We just want our money back now.”
The lady and her family walk over to the counter. Now another part of the story is the family had brought food from our concessions. 2 large hot dogs 3 large drinks and a large popcorn, all together that comes to around 25 pounds.
Now I can hear the lady demanding a refund on both tickets and food. Now unless there is actually something wrong with the food, we won’t refund it. Maybe cause it was Christmas, my colleague refunded both tickets and the food, around 55 pounds. Now if food has been refunded we need to keep the food as evidence, so it doesn’t look like we’re giving out freebies.
The lady huffs and storms off with her family (who didn’t look happy with her) following, as she passes me I hear her mutter:
L: “Where is their sense of generosity? She should of just let us have it.”
Yeah. Merry Christmas to you too, lady.
--lackey98
The day in question I had just clocked out from hell, grabbed my purse & put on my jacket, and went down the hall to American Eagle to get my own dang Christmas shopping done after a 10 hour day dealing with Karens.
I was flipping through a rack of hoodies with my headphones in, and again, I was wearing my coat, purse, and had my cell phone in hand. This woman was staring daggers at me while I was shopping, so I turned around and gave her a blank stare to kinda get the “What U Lookin At?” message across.
She keeps staring and starts tapping her foot. I immediately knew what was going on, because I am mistaken for an employee in almost every store I shop at, no joke. Clearly, I exude the unimpressed retail employee vibe.
She loudly says, “UM, HELLO? SERVICE PLEASE!”, and as I did not work at American Eagle and didn’t feel like explaining that to her when it should’ve been obvious, I ignored her. A mistake on my end as she then stalks right up to me, pulls one of my earbuds out of my ear, and says, “You can’t just IGNORE me”.
So, now I’m annoyed and just say, “Actually, I can,” which makes her even angrier, and she says, “I’M GETTING YOUR BOSS,” and runs to the cash register to ask for a manager.
I was just laughing myself silly where she left me, I watch her point at me, the real employee looks confused AF making eye contact with me, and she storms out moments later with a red face.
--stupidmemesbigdreams
I was doing some Christmas shopping, and 40 minutes and some mild bruising later, I had 4 baskets full of perfume and cologne and was carefully making my way towards the end of the queue when my shoulder was (firmly) tapped.
I looked over to see a total Karen, in 3/4 jeans, a pastel blouse, and the “I want to speak to the manager haircut”. Just a complete walking meme.
“Yes?”
“I need one of those.” She pointed to one of the perfumes in my topmost basket.
“Um, they were over in the perfume section, but I’m pretty sure I got the last one.”
I turned and kept maneuvering my tower of baskets towards the queue. She stepped around me (nearly knocking over my f*cking baskets) and blocked the aisle.
“Staff can’t just buy everything on sale before customers. Put them BACK.” She shouted the last bit. (Who shouts? I have never ever needed to shout.)
The f*ck? “I don’t work here. I’m shopping. You’re in my way. Move.”
She reached into my basket and grabbed the perfume she wanted. My jaw hit the floor, and I genuinely had no idea how to respond. I mean, I wasn't going to fight a middle-aged woman for a $15 bottle of perfume.
My other options didn't sound great either–fight my way back to the front of the store with my leaning tower of baskets and search for another perfume in the right price range or for a staff member to help me. So I just stared at her, completely baffled as to what was happening right that moment. And she stared back as if daring me to do something.
Thankfully, she had drawn the attention of a security guard, who took back the perfume, told her off for harassing customers, and asked her to continue her shopping or leave. The lovely security guard also took my baskets and put them behind the counter so I could join the queue and pay for them when I got to the front. Bless him.
--NeverEverEatPears
I was working the phone banks for a large UK bank. 7am start. The very first call I got I didn't even get the standard greeting out before the lady interrupted me.
After complaining about the (non-existent) wait she had to endure to get through to someone she demanded to know why a money transfer hadn't cleared in her account yet even though it had been transferred “like a week ago.”
So, I took her through security (on the third try) and checked her account. Overdrawn, no recent transfers, no pending. Lady insisted the funds had been transferred, that it'd been sent about a week ago, etc. and it should have been cleared by now, I'm some evil overpaid banker out to ruin her Christmas by denying her her hard-earned money.
Well, I eventually found the money. The lady had not made any sort of electronic money transfer like she'd been claiming. She'd paid in a cheque. A cheque that'd she'd paid in just before the bank had closed on a Saturday and had expected the money to be ready 7 am the following Monday that also happened to be Christmas day! So yeah, the cheque had definitely not cleared yet.
After explaining to this nice lady that unfortunately the cheque would not be cleared for several more days, her insisting I'm the devil himself out to starve her and her kids, her insisting that the bank had promised her the money would be there, and demands to speak to my manager (who unsurprisingly had taken Christmas day off) I eventually managed to get her an emergency overdraft limit so she would have some cash for the next few days and got the nice lady off the phone.
An hour later she phoned back to find out why her cheque still hadn't cleared. She went through the same story, only this time she'd spoken to some idiot an hour ago who'd promised to get the cheque cleared. She didn't realize she was talking to the same person. I went through the same process I had an hour ago. Oh, but there were a few more charges on the account now. The nice lady had taken advantage of her new overdraft limit to go to a bar. And a cash machine. It looks like she'd spent the entire amount on booze.
So I explained the situation again. After the lady insisted the bank and the last person she spoke to had told her the cheque would be cleared by now said she heard she could get an emergency overdraft limit increase. My reply was, “Sorry, it seems you have already received one.”
The lady had a few minutes rant that I'm sure was very cathartic for her but also crossed enough of the companies guidelines I was able to end the call. One of my colleagues caught her next call back where she said I'd said some very rude things to her and demanded the money be put into her account or she'd sue.
That was the first and last time I worked the Christmas shift there.
--inq101
Every Christmas Eve I found myself rostered until 10 pm in the bank’s Contact Centre when the last branch closed at 5 pm and they didn’t reopen until the 2nd of January. So if someone called after 5 pm and failed POI, they were sh*t out of luck until the new year.
Karen called and explained she wanted to do a funds transfer to her daughter’s account. Both Karen and her daughter both banked with us, so the transfer would be instantaneous. Before asking the POI questions I follow my scripting guide to “educate” Karen that this could be done via her online banking. I get the usual boomer response of, “I don’t like computers.”
So I ask her for her customer number as she hadn’t entered it during the IVR. She said she can’t find it. Okay, this happens. I ask for her credit or debit card number. She doesn’t have that. Okay, that’s annoying but whatever. I do a name search. Find her accounts and because she couldn’t provide me her customer number or credit/debit card number I advise her I’ll need to ask her additional security questions.
If she fails these questions, phone banking and online banking will be blocked until she can visit a branch, which won’t be until the new year. I give her one last chance to go find her customer number or credit/debit card number but she says, “I don’t need to. I know what I have with the bank and what I’ve been doing.”
Fine, I think. I ask can she tell me what types of accounts she has with the bank. Failed. Which branch did she open one of her accounts at? Failed. Name a transaction you’ve done on one of her accounts in the last 7 days. Failed.
I sigh because I know I’m about to cop it. I explained that she has failed POI and her phone banking and online banking are now locked. She went off! She gave some variation on how stupid POI is, how the bank will be losing all of her business (sure Karen, we’ll miss the $100 annual fee on your credit card), and finally, “You’re just like Scrooge! You’ve ruined Christmas!”
--absurd-n-nihilistic
I Worked for an ISP in the UK in the past. I hated working the Christmas week. I would always get people who have been on non-pay disconnects for weeks complaining that they have no service.
I remember one Karen who was on non-pay disconnect for over two weeks (disconnections will take place after 30 days of no payment) and she was banging on about how it’s unfair that she has no service and her kids won't be able to play their new Xbox 360 with their friends online.
She was confused as to why we disconnected customers over the Christmas period.
"WHERES YOUR CHRISTMAS SPIRIT? YOU HAVE RUINED CHRISTMAS FOR MY KIDS! I'M A LOYAL CUSTOMER AND HAVE BEEN WITH YOU FOR YEARS!!!!!!”
Don't blame me for having top-tier services you cant pay for (she was in arrears almost every month). Also, why the hell would we give you a week’s worth of free services? We're not a charity!
Loyal customer? Yeah alright, Karen. For the past year (of 18 months she has been with us) you have been able to pay us on time twice. You. Are. Not. Loyal, Karen.
--RubberSponge
A few years ago now I worked for a UK video game store franchise called GAME as a customer assistant. I took great pride in my work, ensuring customers always got the best deal I could get for them and often saving hundreds of pounds, often to the annoyance of my manager. Generally, I loved dealing with customers; however, at Christmas time they got nasty.
One time I remember on Christmas eve 2007 (24th December) an EM came in asking for a Wii. The Wii at the time was the must-own console and extremely hard to get hold of. I explained to the customer they were out of stock and we wouldn't be getting any in today; however, I offered to take her name and number and add them to a list to give her a call when some did come in.
EM: Not good enough
Me: I'm sorry there's nothing I can do for you. I know the other GAME stores in the city are out of stock too and have been for a couple of weeks now.
EM: I have my son on the phone. Explain to him why you have ruined his Christmas.
I so wanted to tell him that he wouldn't get a Wii because his stupid EM had no foresight to buy it early despite it being all over the news about stock issues. However, I just told her it wasn't appropriate for me to take her phone.
She eventually left and swore never to return. I didn't put her name on the list. A few days later she came on one of my days off asking why no one had called her.
--Handsome_BWonderful
I worked for a chain called GameStop and one year had a dad come on Christmas Eve looking for the new Call of Duty game (one of, if not the, most popular franchises in the world). And naturally, it was Christmas Eve and we were sold out.
It was late and near closing so I knew we weren’t getting more, and I’d already been fielding this question for a few days and knew not only was my store out, but so were all the others in the area, and we all had been for about a week.
So I tell him, “Unfortunately, we are out of stock on the new Call of Duty right now, and unfortunately so are the other GameStops in the area. It’s a very in-demand item this year and we have been sold out for several days. I could see about getting you a copy as soon as we get more, but otherwise, all I can do is suggest one of the other retailers around town and hope they have some.”
This man f*cking lost it. Screamed at me for a solid ten minutes about how I ruined his son’s Christmas, and it took every ounce of goodwill and customer service that I physically contained to not point out that he had ruined his son’s Christmas by waiting until the day before.
It did kind of tickle me to tell him to leave before I called the cops when it didn’t look like he was calming down. And it spawned many jokes in the years after, so I call it a win.
--Pathetic_Cards
This actually happened this year to me. We are having an early family Christmas celebration, so everyone can make other commitments closer to Christmas.
I always ask my sister if a gift is suitable for my nephew, as my sister is really picky and will refuse to accept gifts. I asked if this one really popular toy would work this year, and mentioned I was going to try to get it at a pre-Black Friday sale.
She was so excited and said he would love it! Well, guess what, it sold out. Then she pouted because I wasn't going to order it online for 3 times the price I would have paid.
It worked out, I have other gifts for him, and he won't know the difference. But I know my sister will b*tch to our grandmother that it isn’t as good.
--Bi-Bi-Bi24
Unfortunately, one of our neighbors was a Karen who criticized everything. It was clear she cared a lot about the condition and state of the neighborhood and wanted it absolutely pristine.
We didn’t put up decorations, but most, if not all, people on our road, had some kind of Christmas décor in their front yard. Then Karen comes along, the conversation went along the lines of this:
K: Excuse me, are your parents home? I would like to speak to them, please.
Me: Sorry no, they're back at around 7 pm. I can pass on the message if you want.
K: Ah ok. Well, see, it’s about your house. Don't you have any decorations to put up? It’s a bit late in the month. I want this place to look all festive, and this is ruining it.
Me: No, we don't have any of them. We're struggling a bit, you know, bills, food…
K: ( mumbling ) Unacceptable.
Me: Sorry?
K: I need you to put up something! Being poor is no excuse for not celebrating.
Me: Excuse me? We may be “poor” but at least I'm not one owning a heart as cold as this weather. Consider putting some Christmas lights up your *ss, it’s the only place that is close enough as dark as your heart. Poor is an excuse for many things, some a lot more important than some fairy lights.
K: I will be speaking to your parents in person! You children are disgusting.
Me: Go have a Merry Christmas while I enjoy being in my so-called 'poor' family.
--SkylonTheDragon
My ex-brother-in-law pulled this sh*t every Christmas. On December 1st his kids would bring him their Santa letters, wherein they asked for videogames, expensive LEGO sets, bikes, skateboards, iPods, etc. Upon receiving the letters he promised that Santa Claus would bring them exactly what they asked for.
Three days before Christmas he finally looked at his bank account — it was overdrawn because he’s terrible with money — so he ran to his in-laws so we could do the shopping for him.
If we resisted, he guilt-tripped us: “You don’t want my kids to be sad on Christmas, do you?” The first year he pulled it, he seemed earnest, but then he did it again for another 8 years.
He always promised to save money for next year, but he never did. There were years where he bought himself a pricey new car stereo or laptop two weeks before Christmas, and on December 22nd he was broke again. I eventually just started putting away $400-$500 for his kids’ Santa presents every year.
Years later, after he and my sister divorced, his eldest came to me and lamented that Christmas was better before the divorce — Santa always came through. The kid was a teenager now, and no longer believed in Santa. So I told him the truth.
--Tarijeno
