Stuff People Will Complain About

evil tendencies

Cake or Death?
Dragonsreach brought up an amusing point in another thread: if you work in the right industry, you know that people will complain about almost anything. Since I didn\'t feel like hijacking that thread, I thought these folks could share what they\'ve heard right here.

My contribution? I originally went to school to be a technical writer - you know, those guys who write the manuals for just about everything you can\'t figure out? One of my assignments involved writing a tutorial for a piece of software, so I chose the brand-new D&D 3.0 character generator, thinking that people in my class wouldn\'t have any prior experience with the game or the program.

I got three comments from my colleagues during usability testing.

The first asked why I played games like that at my age (I was 20). The second didn\'t like the font color I used - she thought it should have been pink. The third one was upset at me for flaws in the program that I didn\'t write.

I asked my teacher if I could do it again with better volunteers, and he told me that my comments were pretty mild compared to what I would find in the industry during real usability tests. That\'s when I decided to become a cop. :rolleyes:
 

Amazon warrior

New member
I could moan about some of our authors, but I suspect I shouldn\'t on a public forum. I will say that given they\'re a well-qualified, apparently intelligent bunch, some of them say the daftest things sometimes... :rolleyes:
 

ScottRadom

Shogun of Saskatchewan
Well, I\'m a butcher. I get the \"This meat was too tough\" and other stuff you\'d expect to get. Some of my recent fav\'s...

-This bacon was salty and had fat in it.

-My steaks were rotten. I bought them two weeks ago and left them in the fridge and now they\'re ruined.

-Why don\'t you guys sell dry ice to keep meat cold?

-These sausage casings didn\'t work to fix the hole in my snowshoes (That\'s real, from last Christmas.)

-Do you sell really salty salt?

-Why is the beef red and the pork isn\'t?

-Everytime I come here, it\'s so cold (Had this conversation beside three open freezers in the frozen section)

-Why don\'t you sell seafood? (We\'re located next to the biggest and best Seafood store in the province).

-Why does this suet have so much fat in it (Suet is pure fat).

But my question is.... How doe someone become a cop to get AWAY from complaints?
 

Undave

Flockwit
It\'s probably time to wheel out an anecdote about the infamous Teapot.

True story: When I was working at GW one of our most feeble minded regulars who bears an uncanny resemblance to a shaved chimp and, for reasons I won\'t go into at present, had aquired the nickname Teapot. One day Teapot came into the shop with a box of miniatures he\'d bought in search of a refund, claiming that they were badly made. Upon closer inspection we discovered that the box contained several discoloured blobs of white metal. We questioned Teapot about this and discovered that they had indeed once been miniatures but they had come to be in that state because he had put them in the oven to make the paint dry quicker.... :rolleyes:
 

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
Originally posted by evil tendencies
Stuff People Will Complain About
Dragonsreach brought up an amusing point in another thread: Who me? Never!

That\'s when I decided to become a cop. :rolleyes:
And you think you\'re gonna get away with not having stupid people to deal with. lol The Reality Cheque is in the post. lol
True story from my mate who is a 15 year serving police officer; 2 years ago during the Football World Cup he received a call reporting theft from a car, he attends and it\'s the theft of a clip on, 6 inch high plastic St Georges flag costing 50p.

No wonder cops become cynical. :no: lol

Working in IT and IT Support we get some real classic No Brainers, one of my contributions I get a call and go to attend one of the secretaries who is so proud of her \"European Computer Driving License\" (a qualification of no real merit) who is complaining about her CD. I get there and her exact words to me in very stroppy manner \"Why can\'t I save to this CD?\".
Tact and Diplomacy light flashes on in corner of eye, because;-
1 It\'s a CD Read Only drive.
2 It\'s actually a Music CD. (I remember it was Sinatra).

Weeping for the species.
 

Amazon warrior

New member
My mum\'s done the ECDL (I think she finished it). I have to say, I had a look over some of the modules and I have to agree with your assessment DR! Mind you, my mum was a bit rubish with computers, so anything that gives her confidence is a good thing imo.

One I just recalled now, not one I eard but one I was told by a friend of the family. He was a bit of an odd-ball and did all sorts to make ends meet, including being a beach parking attendant during the summer (this was in Pembrokeshire- lots of pretty beaches that like to fleece summer visitors). Anyway, a tourist family drove up, paid the parking fee and carried on through. Five minutes later, he saw them driving furiously out of the car park, and as they wen past him they rolled down the window and said: \"Call this a beach?! All that sand, it\'s disgusting! Wy don\'t you clean it up?\"



Mrs Face, meet Mr Palm... :rolleyes:

Edit: Having a cold does my spelling no favours... *sigh*
 

Einion

New member
@ScottRadom - man, some of those are pure gold!!!

Do you sell really salty salt? lol lol lol

Einion
 

jahminis

New member
yeah scott...a few classics in there...

i worked in a coffeshop(read weed store) in amsterdam for 2 years, with hardly a day off...roughly 750 days of stoners, ignorant tourists, snooty dutch locals, and just plain idiots...

one of my favorites was a tourist who stumbled into the shop one afternoon...
i could smell the whisky from upstairs...
i went down and intercepted him at the door(as we tried to keep the drunk vibe away)...

\"how can i help you?\", i said...
\"i need a fookin\' taxi\", says the man, 50ish, in a heavy scottish brogue...
\"where would you like to go?\", i ask...
\"to me fookin\' hoose.\". he replies...
\"where is your fookin\' hoose?\", i ask...
\"st. james street.\", he says...
\"where is st. james street?\", i ask...
\" fookin\' glasgow.\", he answers...
\"you know you\'re in amsterdam, right?\", i say...
\"ach, you\'re havin\' me on lad\", he replies...
\"no, seriously, you\'re in fookin\' amsterdam!\", i tell him...
then, inspiration strikes, and i direct him to the bar a couple blocks down where he can get another whisky, and suss his situation:twisted:...

half an hour later, he stumbles back up to the shop, and announces,\"i\'m ready for me fookin\' taxi noo!\"...

so i pour him into a cab, and 30-40 euros later the dude arrived at schipol airport, and probably went through the same routine with the next poor bastard that crossed his drunken, weavin\', path...lol

cheers
jah
 

ScottRadom

Shogun of Saskatchewan
I had to stop everything and come type this down. This JUST happened about ten minutes ago...

A lady comes in with a bag full of meat. This is NEVER a good thing here. She asks to speak to the manager. Also NEVER a good sign. She complains that she bought a 10# case fo Hmaburger patties on the weekend and that her son didn\'t like them. \"What was wrong with them?\" Nothing, turns out the rest of her family loves them. Fine. We gaurantee everything even if it\'s a simple as \"I didn\'t like them\" so I offer her the money for the burgers her son ate PLUS a nice piece of steak for her time and I thank her for coming back in to discuss this with me. I can really lay the BS on thick, it\'s what I am good at.

\"Actually I think I need you to pay for this.\" She hands me a receipt from Burger King for 16.22$. \"My son wanted burgers so I had to run out and get him burgers.\" I repeat that I am more than willing to compensate her for the portion her son wouldn\'t eat PLUS about 6$ in extra steak. \"I really think you\'re missing the point here, YOU screwed up and MY SON needed to eat burgers.\"

Now 16.22$ at Burger King should feed at least 3 decent eaters. I check the receipt, sure enough it\'s for the two biggest burgers on the planet and some fries and a drink.

\"Okay, tell you what. Instead of the steak I\'ll give you the money for two patties (She\'s keeping the rest because her family likes them, besides her massive eating son) plus 5 bucks to cover the cost of a couple equivalent burgers at BK.\" How is that not great service?

\"I want what is rightfully mine. YOU guys made burgers my son didn\'t like, I want you to pay for his meal.\"

What can you do? I took 10$ from the till, put it between us and gave her a stare. \"This is all I can do for you Mam. I hope you try and consider how far your request would get you if you shopped at our competition and have a nice day, please.\"

She takes the money, storms out, tries to slam the door (It\'s on Hyrdaulics, and she almost knocks herself on her ass in the process) and shouts over her shoulder \"I\'m never coming back!\".

Retail requires the patience of a saint some days.
 

ScottRadom

Shogun of Saskatchewan
Jah- loved you tale! Sadly I feel a small level of sympathy for the dude. Though it\'s never been anither country for myself!
 

Amazon warrior

New member
Originally posted by jahminis
yeah scott...a few classics in there...

i worked in a coffeshop(read weed store) in amsterdam for 2 years, with hardly a day off...roughly 750 days of stoners, ignorant tourists, snooty dutch locals, and just plain idiots...

one of my favorites was a tourist who stumbled into the shop one afternoon...
i could smell the whisky from upstairs...
i went down and intercepted him at the door(as we tried to keep the drunk vibe away)...

\"how can i help you?\", i said...
\"i need a fookin\' taxi\", says the man, 50ish, in a heavy scottish brogue...
\"where would you like to go?\", i ask...
\"to me fookin\' hoose.\". he replies...
\"where is your fookin\' hoose?\", i ask...
\"st. james street.\", he says...
\"where is st. james street?\", i ask...
\" fookin\' glasgow.\", he answers...
\"you know you\'re in amsterdam, right?\", i say...
\"ach, you\'re havin\' me on lad\", he replies...
\"no, seriously, you\'re in fookin\' amsterdam!\", i tell him...
then, inspiration strikes, and i direct him to the bar a couple blocks down where he can get another whisky, and suss his situation:twisted:...

half an hour later, he stumbles back up to the shop, and announces,\"i\'m ready for me fookin\' taxi noo!\"...

so i pour him into a cab, and 30-40 euros later the dude arrived at schipol airport, and probably went through the same routine with the next poor bastard that crossed his drunken, weavin\', path...lol

cheers
jah
lollollollol
One from my (very) brief period working in one of Miss Millie\'s Fried Chicken emporia: Customer comes in and stares thoughtfully at the board above my head for a while, then asks \"Do you sell fried fish?\"
 

rosac

New member
oh a paperboys life for me!

Ive been bitten, then told not to touch the dog again

ive nearly had my fingers sliced by evil mceviltons snappy letter box of doom, then told not to shut the letterbox so loudly.

my boss rollicked me... For not being a ble to fit 2 telegraphs through a letterbox roughly 2 inches long and 1 inch wide...

been told not to be so glum, while person talking to me is smoking in my face. And im in the rain. At 7:15 am.

left my round on sick leave, come back to find my replacement nicked all my tips... then complained when i asked for them back...

ahh well, tis soon to be over

rosac
 

Farin

New member
@rosac: so i´m not the only ex-paper boy around here. fortunately i was never in danger to loose any body parts or limbs, but over the years i had some odd encounters myself:

- one time i bunch of yorkshire terrier jumped my leg (well..more my angle ) and while im trying not to step on them because the grass is so high, the owner tells me not to be scared, they don´t wanny bite their just in heat - and in this minute i realized why the terrier is trying to jump my leg

- another time i was just putting a freebie into the mailbox when some guy comes out yelling at me why i´m putting this crap into his box. i tell him that if he doesn´t want it he just can stick a label on the mailbox that says NO FREEBIES.
This guy stares at me , his face turns red and he yells: \"Well, i´m moving away from this neighbourhood\" .

till today i´m asking myself what would have happended if i had told him that the label is cheaper than moving.... and what he looked like when he found out that that freebe was put into every mailbox in town lol:rolleyes:

[Not really complaisn but still odd :]

- in my last year in highschool i chose tabletennis as my sport course. One time i was supposed to play against a girl i didn´t know as a warm up. so i´m getting ready and she stares at me and says with a really shocked voice \"You´re not really going to play , are you ??\"
No, i just wanted to batt the ball into her direction, for no reason at all.

one time in recess in 9th grade the girl sitting next to me suddenly screams \" What? a pregnacy lasts 9 months?? \"

My brother once had this classtrip to the memorial side of the concentration camp Ausschwitz. My brother knew how importaned this trip was, seeing for oneself what fascism leads to, but it was his 15th birthday, so he wasn´t too thrilled. So at nine o´clock am he and his class were waiting at the track for their train , which was supposed to arrive at the station at 9:17. at 9:05 another train arrives, and suddenly his classteacher says: \"Okay, that´s our train let´s all get in \". Of cause my brother and severall other kids pointed out that this wasn´t the right train, but their teacher had made up her mind and told them that she was the adult and the teacher and therefore she made the decisions.
instead of 30 minutes it took them three hours to reach their destination. Beleive me , taht was the most stuppid teacher he and i (she later became my teacher)ever met.

@Scott: i once had to put up with a fat kid´s eating habit too. My brother once had this classmate/ friend who resembled Eric Cartman from Southpark so much ( not the racism , just weight, behaviour and IQ ) that it was kind of scary. Anyway my brother invited him over for his birthday. My mother is a great baker and had baked a big cream cake (you know that german kind, where you gain weight just from lookin hard at it) and 2 fruit flames. So this guy sits down at the table and is offered a piece of the cream cake -he deklines ,saying that it has too much fat and sugar.first i was impressed - but then i watched him eating nearly an ENTIRE fruit flame( 11 inch diameter ).. so much about to much sugar. afterwards i had to spend an afternoon with an oversugared 180 pound kid ... not funny at all
 

MPJ

New member
Bah, judging by the complaints (and there are some pretty darn good ones above) I\'m gonna have to guess that none of you are married...

My wife is the best complainer of all, and there is absolutely no way out, not even by paying $16.22...

Seems to me that the man is never right and can never figure out the \'game\' because as soon as he does the lady changes the game so as to keep the man on his toes or purely to make sure he\'s not getting things right.

Wives are the toughest \'customers\' of all. :drunk:
 

Cleezy

New member
Well with me being a student, my part time job is as a checkout supervisor at the local morrisons store, and as anyone who has ever worked in a store then you\'ll identify with these.

A classic, moaning about the queues around christmas when every checkout is on and working.

My personal fav, the customer who is right no matter what... 1st example a lady is buying 4 cat food multipacks that are on offer 2 for 6 pounds, but buys one that is wrong. So to ensure the offer goes through i refund the wrong pack and then one of the offer packs and use that money to pay for the two that was on offer and give the lady her cat food and change, well she had got it in her head that she was owed more money, i explained numerous times what i had done but alas i was wrong, so a department comes and tells them what i have done and that its right, still not good enough so i call the store manager who then works out the maths on paper for the lady but he is wrong and is further wrong for agreeing with me. She said she will never shop there again and i saw her a few days later.

2nd example a customer rings up telling me an offer went through wrong, she explains to me the offer she thought it was and then what the receipt said, so i go and check it for her and say that what it says on the receipt is right, but she is adamant the offer was 2 for 1 not 2 for £1 and keeps telling me i\'m wrong, i politely explain that it is what the signage says and there is nothing more i can do. She then informs me she had forgot her reading glasses while shopping today:rolleyes:

There are many others but those are the two that stand out
 
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