+Xelos Weirdly enough I've found that most of the time at fast food places the people working react even weirder because I'm usually pretty friendly. It's gotten to the point that some jobs are so used to taking crap from people that basic decency seems strange.
+Buttered Toast dude call centers though people are so bad I had a lady call me one time and scream at me and I had another person have a crappy product just out of spite people are so stupid and they think you should bow down no you need to treat us fairly then we can treat you as the customer fairly plain and simple however my job now is pretty sweet because the customers are genuinely nice
theblindswordsmanDS I can relate so much, man. People just always have to do whatever they can to get their way even when it is unreasonable or unfair. At least you have a better job now :)
Only reason I asked if you were in the US is because US support services are the worst, people in the US get absolutely fucking ridiculous when they call customer support.
I worked at a Buybacks store in Beavercreek, Ohio. We had a ton of people who would steal games, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and CDs from the local stores (Wal-Mart, Toys 'R Us, Best Buy) and bring them in either sealed or in mint condition. They never told us the items were stolen, but you could tell due to the customer's history, how new or expensive the items were, and how many of the items there were. Since we were never explicitly told that the items were stolen, we could take them. However, the prices that we paid out decreased based mainly on the quantity of a certain item we had in stock. For example, the week that the remake of 'Carrie' came out, a couple brought in five copies of it on DVD at one time. The first one I scanned paid out $5, the next paid $3.75, all the way down to $.10 for the fifth one. Now that that's explained, here's a story or two. There was an older, heavy customer who would steal the new releases every week and sell 3 - 4 copes of each title to us per week along with an Xbox 360 wired controller, the controller we paid out the least for. I ring up the 5 - 6 movies he's brought in one night, and by this point in the week, he and other thieves had already brought in about four copies of each of those titles. The total comes out to just under $25, and that's about half of what he got for the exact same items when I rung him up on Tuesday when the movies came out. The guy goes berserk, yells at me and my co-worker, accuses us of pocketing the money we're supposedly shortchanging him, etc. To my surprise, he takes the money and walks out. Seconds later, he walks back in, bitching about how his never-seen woman waiting in the car says that's too low. I void the sale, and after he gives the money back, I give him his stuff back. He starts bitching about how some guy at some indy store seven miles away will pay him double what we pay, calls us assholes, and leaves. Another time, a legitimate customer sends her pre-teen daughter in to return a game. I take a look at the receipt, see that it's within, the seven day return window, and ask what's wrong with it. The girl says, "Nothing. We beat it and want to return it and get a new game." After I get over a moment of shock, I explain that we only take games back if they're defective. The kid leaves, but twenty minutes later, the mom comes back in with the game and receipt. She expects us to refund the cost of the game in full in store because her kids beat the game ("Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning" on the GameCube) within the seven days. I explain the whole defective thing, plus I explain that beating the game is the goal of video games. We go back and forth for a while, and I quickly figure out that she's misunderstanding the words on the receipt. I reread the receipt word for word out loud, and it finally clicks for her. She tries to sell the game back to us which is fine, but then she flies into a hissy fit when the offer, and these were her words that I can still hear her say, "isn't what I paid for it." She makes some comment about selling it on eBay. I calmly reply that she would likely make much more there than what Buybacks was offering. Right before she leaves the store, she mutters just loud enough for me to hear, "It's probably because I'm black." Lastly, there was a family who bought a Super Nintendo. The next day, they try to return the system saying that the "controller doesn't work and the games get stuck in the system when we tried to pull them out." We test every game system before buying them and, if possible, returning them. I go and grab a copy of "Killer Instinct" because fighting games are great for testing controllers and proceed to check it out. As soon as I plug the controller into the port, the clueless mother says, "Why did you plug it in there?" I answer that it's because that's where player one plugs the controller in. She replies with, "Oh," and I know exactly what I'm dealing with. I test out KI, quickly realize that the controller responds perfectly, and hit the eject button on the SNES. The game pops out, and the woman asks me what I just did. As you've probably figured out, members of the woman's family were plugging the controller into port two only and then trying to ragepull the games out without hitting eject. I explain to the woman how the system works, but she still wants to return it. That's when the store manager steps it and explains that we're not taking it back since it was just displayed to have worked wonderfully. I ask the woman if she has any questions about working the system, but she gets superpissed and walks out, never to return. We hold the system for seven days, but when that passes, I become the owner of a non-yellowed, perfectly-working SNES.
I had a black lady try to pull the race card on my 82 year old coworker. He said "Don't play that shit with me. I grew up in Detroit, and moved to Chicago at 16. And not in the burbs! Take your ass out of the store with that shit!" I laughed my ass off.
Here's a story One day, I'm in this tiny used game store, absolutely filled with retro games. Seriously, I walked in there, the owner's sitting behind the counter, and the first thing he says is "Oh, by the way, watch the Dreamcasts when you walk in. People have been tripping over them all day." I look down, and he has 11 Dreamcasts in their boxes on the floor. It's the type of shop that has three layers of games lining every wall. Couldn't fit another Pikachu plushie in there if you tried. It's classic Nintendo heaven. There are only three other customers in the shop. Two scruffy looking collage aged guys, and a kid who can only be described as a squeaker. Now, I'm 12 at the time and am somewhat intimidated by both the gruff nature of the owner and the two guys. So I'm quietly browsing the N64 games when I start to pay attention to the kid. I swear, before this, I thought these little brats were just a myth. So this kid walks into a retro game store and asks for a copy of GTA V. He can't be older than 8. His scooter is parked outside. The two guys are watching the show with me as this kid begs the owner for the one copy of GTA V that's on the shelf and outright refuses to leave when it's denied to him. He threatens to trash the store and moves to do so when I block him from going any further. The two guys join me, and the kid is still refusing to leave, and is now red faced and screaming. Owner just smiles. It's apparent he's up to something. Then this huge cop walks in. To this day, that fine police officer is the biggest, most intimidating person I have ever seen. He glares at the kid, and the kid runs out of the store. The owner smiles and greets the cop by his first name. Cop places an Atari 2600 on the counter. Turns out he had just showed up because he needed an adapter so it would work with his TV. Totally random, yet excellent timing. I get my games, have a conversation with the guys who I was initially intimidated buy, have an absolute blast. Still wonder what happened to that kid, though.
***** Well, nothing other than "Hey, for every inch you add to the pile of stuff you're buying, I'll toss in something small I have lying around." I now have a Zelda wristband, and several obscure collectibles.
If you think you got it bad. I'm 2 blocks north of Detroit. My cousin works at Family Dollar. Some black lady came in yesterday and asked to use the bathroom. My cousin told they didn't have a public restroom. She pulled her pants down and pissed in the isle. Then when the manager came she starts screaming at my cousin that it's his fault and she has a weak bladder.
As I said above I worked in a c-store for years on overnights and once had a drunk girl piss right on the walkway in front of the door for the same reason!
My first job was a local game store for 2 years. I know Ian's stories so well I feel like he retold my own experiences. It's unbelieveable what people expect in terms of either discounts or cash/credit for trade ins, and how they behave or react with vulgarity and aggression. Sports games, OMG! Even when I worked at a game store sports games from the years prior would pile up and become utterly worthless right away, and this was in the late 90's/early 2000's. Also, there is some credibility to "upper class" customers being short tempered or entitled. I have worked in South Orange County, CA and the richer the neighborhood, the more brutal the customers without a doubt.
I loved this topic, I work in retail myself and no matter how nice you are some people just have to treat you like dirt. Often it's really hard to keep your cool, you guys did a great job of explaining this for people that don't get to experience it firsthand.
Yesterday i had a sh1tty day at work, had extremely terrible customers, and i saw this show of yours and made me feel alot better, you guys are amazing for pointing out this problem
Ian Ferguson I'll say this once. Working Retail makes you realize how stupid society has become. I work convenience store and the amount of customers that don't know how to pump gas is amazing. Of course then it's our fault.
So here's a story: I was about sixteen and my brother and I had just gotten into retro gaming. We quickly became friends with the guy who ran the local store. So, we go down there one day, we're hanging out, browsing the shelves, hanging out, talking with the owner and some of the other regulars, having a good time. Suddenly, this woman barges in, dragging her twelve year old son behind her screaming "I told you not to buy from him!" We all just stand there for a second, and then the store owner just asks her what the hell she's talking about. She then goes on a rant about how she told the owner not to buy games from her son, because they weren't his games. This store happens to be owned by another guy who specializes in tabletop and card games, and is basically just leasing some of his extra space to the guy who sells video games. We explain to her that he might have been involved with the situation, and forgot to tell the other owner about her son or vice versa, and the one not told probably bought from the kid. She doesn't want to be reasonable, and just keeps screaming about how it was irresponsible of the owners to buy from him, and he's twelve so he didn't actually buy the game, and so on and so forth. We all just want her out of the store, so the owner just asks her what game her son brought in. "Soul Caliber V," she says. Soul Caliber V is still a month from being released. Everyone quickly points this out to her. She insists that is the game she had. One of us goes over to the shelf of PS3 games, and pulls off Soul Caliber IV, and asks if she means this one. She says "yeah, that's the one," snatches it from the guy's hand, and leaves. At this point, no one even cares that she didn't even pay (it was only $5, anyway), and we're just glad we can go back to having a discussion without being yelled at by this bitch.
+CurtisAlfeld I would have said, "Lady, it isn't my job to halt or adjust my business because you are a shitty parent and can't keep your kid from disobeying you. It is your job to be a better parent."
Worked there for almost 4 years in a department I loved. Came back after medical issues a year later, it was the worst department now. I lasted 3 months and just quit to save the stress.
Thank you Pat and Ian...I just wanted to say that I love your guys work and you have given me hours of free entertainment. I just had a friend pass away and shows like this help me deal with life so I am glad your making them.
Used to work at 7-eleven, and had this guy come in one time and didn't have enough money for a pack of cigarettes, I tried to help him out as best I could, I tried to help him with the cheapest ones we had, which he had the money for, just not enough for the brand he liked. He was trying to tell me to give him a hookup, and used the CLASSIC "i'll give you what I have now and come back with the rest later" line. Then he got all pissed off when I kept refusing and yelled at me "I bet if I was one of your friends you would hook me up!!" and I just thought to myself *yea, IF YOU WERE ONE OF MY FRIENDS*, because the extra amount he didn't have would have came out of my paycheck. Then after all that shit, and he was being loud for a good bit, he told me he hoped that my old lady would get in a car wreck and die, and that would teach me how to talk to people. I really wanted to jump over the counter and just beat the shit out of him for that, saying something like *that* over something thats so menial, a fucking pack of smokes. But I didn't do anything because I needed the god damn job at the time. That was years ago, but still makes me mad whenever I remember it.
I went to one of the Luna locations last weekend. Drove from Oakland all the way to SD and made sure this was one of my stops because of these podcasts. You guys were very nice to me. I was the wrestling guy who picked up the CIB NES Wrestlemania & SNES Pilotwings. He mentioned that he didn't care for Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan and wondered why he ever kept the "Skullet" (In his words lol). Thanks again.
Ian I am very sorry about how this day went for you but I gotta say this was my favorite segment you guys have recorded on the podcast. Now seeing this clip in video made it that much better! You misery brought me joy so thank you lol
Yeah I have bad experiences with "customers" too. At 8.00 - it's interesting that you said you weren't rude. I get accused of being rude all the time, when I'm not being rude. What happens very often with me is that i'm asked something, I provide an answer, they're not happy with the answer (it's the correct answer, but it's not what they want to hear), so they repeat the question. And I'm like, dude, you just asked me that. I can't sit here repeating myself. It was a dumb question in the first place. And who the hell are you anyhow. I've got things to do. You've asked me a question. I've given you the answer. Now goodbye. Or must you absolutely insist on continuing to waste my time. And somehow I'm apparently "rude", 12:16 - yep. Totally agree. If people do view you as providing them with a service, they feel that you are subservient - and thereby they're entitled to be disrespectful with no consequence. For me, my customers are not customers. They think they are, but they're not. They think it's ok for them to tell me how to do my job, speak to me with sarcasm or aggression in their tone of voice, not pay attention and generally be discourteous. Guess what. I'm going to throw it right back at you. Actually, I won't anymore. I'll quietly take it on the chin and in the meantime completely destroy your chances of getting what you want. And you won't even know it. You'll suspect it. You might even wake up in a cold sweat upon it finally sinking in. I also agree that it's not right to take it. I'm a very honest and principled guy. I don't want for anyone to have to put up with unnecessary and uncalled for shit. And that includes me. I don't think it's ok to turn a blind eye to bad behavior. Yep,. communicate like adults. That's all it is. No more complicated that that. Unfortunately most people out there, or at least a significant proportion are fundamentally idiots and/or assholes. People aren't reasonable. They act like spoilt children. For me, much of my customer facing position is all about issue avoidance and damage control - and that really takes a lot out of enjoying the role. It should be so much more than that. It's not just an internet thing.
I agree. Life is too big for some immature adults to act like they are entitled to everything in life. It says a lot about them more than the person they snap at. They need to get their emotions in real check. Life will never be about them no matter how many times they get mad. And if a person thinks the store sucks because of a mistake of one employee, fine with me. Get out and never come back if that's how you going to do life in general.
I'm friends with a guy who runs a gaming shop in my town and I'm in there a couple times a week just hanging out and the way some people behave when they come in because he can't give them the price they think they should get for a game or if he can't come down in his price for them is ridiculous, one day this lady came in and was yelling at him because he sold her 13 year old son a gameboy and a few games for $30, he didn't rip him off but she came in yelling about how it's irresponsible of him as a business owner to do business with a minor without the kids parents being there.
My recent expierience with a rude seller at a flea market they own this big booth and they are notorious for overpricing games so I pick up a conklers bad fur day and ther eis no price on it and i ask her how much it is, she then walks up to me pulls it out of my hand and says it's to expensive for you to buy and then goes back to doing what she did.
I worked in fast food for 4 years, and I dealt with some jerks. Most of my bosses say, customers are always right. But, not they are not always right. People who know me, know I'm a nice guy, but like anyone I have my days. From time to time I see a person I have served, they remember me and my name, and are still friendly.
customer stories are always fun to hear. I would've loved to witness Ian shouting in the store :) You can tell that this was exactly two years ago from several things
It's great to have someone to vent to! Love these podcasts Ian and Pat, look forward to listening each time you guys upload one. Hope this next week treats you better Ian, maybe you'll get some nice customers =)
I haven't watched CUPodcast in years, and I don't even watch gaming content much anymore but I randomly remembered the "little bitch" comment at 9:40 and I was desperately trying to remember where it was from lmao.
I know you probably won't read this, but I just wanted to take a moment and say that I absolutely love hearing Ian's opinion on things and how it contrasts with Pat's. I don't quite understand where all of the hate is coming from. Even if Ian talks more, you're still getting more Pat than you would've if the show didn't exist. I'm grateful for what you guys give to us every couple weeks. Also, I WISH there were a game store like your own here in Nashville TN. The customers seem to take the store for granted. They should realize that not everyone's lucky enough to have a gaming specialty store to rival GameStop's own tyrannical sort of monopoly on the market. Please keep doing what you're doing. It's a huge inspiration to myself and I'm sure many other fellow TH-camrs. Sincerely, Michael "Hitchhiking Hatbox" Casselman
You probably won't read this, which is fine, you guys have personal lives ;) but I just wanted to say, that last bit about misanthropy was really insightful. I find myself "hating everyone" all too often, but you're right Ian, you can't let yourself fall into that because for one, there ARE good people in this world, no matter how many bad ones there seem to be, and two, it just makes life miserable, and obviously no one wants to be miserable.
Worked in a c-store overnights for years and Ian is quite correct, people always say shit to you when they hit the damn door...I used to deal with all kinds of crap in retail.
willjack1988 to be fair its the mentality of people as well those who never had shit in life dont appreciate the pizza boy, one time my uncle (became a millionaire at age 37 after years of being a struggling truck driver) tipped the takeout deliver guy $200 and he was like holy shit and my uncle told me when you start at the bottom you know what its like to be in their shoes
@@matthewmontalvo6795 giving money away? No your not condoning it but making excuses for it. NEVER has tipping a waiter or delivery guy effected ANYONES wealth you prick. Even i someone who literally destroys my body to make companies millions tip 20$ on small orders when u can. Why? Because asshats like you think tipping is "giving your money away". God screw you
I've worked in retail for a long time, and as a current member of my store's management, I'm not allow to discuss policies or my opinion of customers as an employee of Game Stop. However, customers I often find will do what they have the opportunity to do, and the best way to deal with this is to simply do not give them the opportunity. If there is too much of a certain game in stock, I have to right to refuse a trade for that game. If a "guest" (we have stopped calling them customers in retail because a guest is allowed to come into your store, be given service, not entitled to it.) decides he/she wants to start a scene, I have to right to ask him to leave or request security to come and remove him. I understand very well that it is my job that my guests leave satisfied, but it is also my job to ensure our clients are those who my employees feel comfortable interacting with. So when a child demands my employee sell him an "m" for mature game without having ID, and causes a scene by tearing down our display walls, I have no problem calling security to have him removed, have his parents called and, should it come to it, his picture put up to show he's not allowed in the store. It's not an easy thing to do but sometimes, bad customers have to be an example of because it deters others from doing the same, after all we're not running this store to have fights, we're running this store to sell products to our guests and ensure we all have a good time. I'd like to say to all consumers remember, retail employees are not slaves, we're human beings with rights; so think about what you say or do in a store because like that child, it can have serious repercussions, because the next week his friends and him came to Game Stop and he had to explain to them why the security guard by the store was holding him outside while they shopped, and I can tell you I didn't want to have a child ostracized because he threw a temper tantrum about for not getting the game he and his friends were too young to be playing, but it happened.
"Little bee-itch!!" Lol, I feel for you, Ian. I did retail for 12 years, mostly video games. I had a lot of fun, really, but I literally have hours worth of great war stories from that time. -The person who stole my display cases and then tried to return them for cash. -The person who would send in their toddler to make a messy distraction while she shoplifted. -The person who walked in with a lawn-size garbage bag and just started throwing game systems from a stacked display into it (right in front of me) and ran. -The person who screamed and raged at me so hard for not taking back a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk from some productivity title that we never sold for cash that spittle was flying into my face. -The people who started fighting over a girlfriend in my store, crashing into glass shelves, destroying kiosks, and eventually inciting a small riot because they were from different gangs, causing the entire mall to close. -The part-time employee whose register would always magically become five dollars short after he left to take a lunch break. -And so on, etc etc forever....
the thing is, I rarely see people on the internet who are willing to take critique when it's negative, even when it's presented nicely.. and I've seen people criticize nicely but just expressing their own opinion - which is in this case negative - and the person in question just attacks them or calls them jealous or something.. people say all the time that they're willing to accept constructive criticism, but in reality, very few of them do.
A few years ago I worked at a call center for 3 months and I have a few customer horror stories from that. I quit because I didn't feel the money was worth my sanity. I took about 150 calls a day and they were either boring because all I did was take credit card numbers to do transactions or I got yelled at. The customers that yelled were spitting mad and threatened to go to another company. They sometimes would ask to be transferred to a supervisor to report me. I was told not to worry when they do that because it didn't do anything. It was for a cell phone company and one of my first customers asked a technical question about the cell phone. I said I cannot answer that question but I can transfer you to the tech department and they can answer all of those questions for you. And he said you sell these phones and you do not know how to use them? He said here is an idea put me on hold and go find your supervisor or another employee to answer my question. I said I cannot do that we are all trained the same way we all know the same information. He said wow that company really is suffering if they all are as smart as you are. If they fired everybody and hired monkeys they would be better off. It sounded like an older man that didn't know how call centers work. And the thing is with call centers your supervisor randomly listens to your conversations with customers and then gives you a score, like a report card. And so you always have that in the back of your mind that if you are a little crass with a customer you might get in trouble. Also a supervisor that is walking around might hear. I still work with customers online but I hardly get a nasty customer. I do have nasty stories, people acting like they know more then I do as far as how to do my job. But I mostly get transactions without any emails back and forth so that's good.
I live in the North County part of San Diego. I have worked in Oceanside, Vista, Calrsbad, and San Marcos. The worst place? Carlsbad. It seems as though the people with money have more self entitlement, I agree. They view us retail workers as human garbage. They make no connection that we are people and we make no money. Hell they thought that I was making 20 bucks an hour at Ralph's, when in reality I made 10 cents above minimum wage minus union dues. They go oh. Oh. Then they weren't aware that many people there had 2 jobs or work 48 or more hours a week at the job. I don't know who is worse it's the rich beach people or just affluent people.
As a person who has never worked a day of retail in his life, I find these stories hilarious! If possible, I would love to have a "bad customer segment" on the podcast every episode.
I work in catering and during my break, I asked some of the long time employees if there were any bad customers. They said that they are usually a lot meaner when the party is at their house. One time, the home owner tried to force the employees to use a porta-potty instead of the bathroom in the house.
this is a great discussion! i love it! if there's one thing i've learned in retail it's the nicest customers, imo, have worked in retail in the past. The jerks are the ones that have NEVER worked retail.
I always try to be polite and treat others with respect because I want to be treated with respect in return. However I find it challenging to be polite in places in Gamestop when they constantly push to sell you something. I admit the last time I was in Gamestop I was rude because I was trying to buy a game and the guy kept trying to get me to sign up for some program they had. I was polite the first and second time he asked me, but when he asked me a third time in a row, I got pissed and said flat out "if you ask me again, I am walking out of here and never buying anything here ever again." That really threw the guy off and said "I have to ask, I'm just doing my job", and I apologized for being rude and explained why I was so annoyed.
Being rude in Gamestop is something I can't help. I was in there for a gift card and the guy behind the counter didn't want to sell me and xbox live card. They don't receive any profit from xbox live card sales so he kept telling me i didn't want to use my gift card for that.
Ian, as a fellow retail employee at a smaller store (Mom and Pop style music instrument store in Canada) I have to say this was the best podcast I've heard in a long while. It sums up the retail working world perfectly in every industry, and I just wish that sometimes these huge a-holes that come in would work a "retail hell" day just to understand the other side. All the best. :) . Pat, what type of work do you do?
Wow, This was one of the best clips you guys have done. The Rude Customer stories were absolutely hilarious & Pat your videos have always been well done and inventive. I love the pod cast clips your both doing here and keep up the good work
Oh god, Ian man, I sincerely sympathize. But I have to say, your impressions of what happened to you had me in stitches, lol. Glad you got to vent some on here and share that; I've worked retail before, and had days like that, it's absolutely brings down your whole day. Love you guy's podcast, it's always wicked entertaining.
Ian you are so right on it's uncanny! As for entitlement issues, I thought you were talking about people visiting Las Vegas, the place where everyone is your slave and your IQ drops 50 points the moment you get off the plane!
I understand exactly how Ian feels. I work in a retail store myself in the small town where I live and fortunately people are either friendly or at least pleasant (for the most part) 90% of the time, but I still remember this one dude (looked to be somewhere in his mid-40s perhaps) I cashed out when I was still a newbie. He gave me a 20-dollar-bill to pay for the items he bought. Being new, I acknowledged that some people who shop at the store like to pay with the exact change they owe (so as to not receive a bunch of coins in return). So, I didn't know if this man was one of those people or not, so I asked him whether he wanted to do that or not. He just goes "NO!" and starts being smug, chuckling to himself. Then he went on to say: "Why would I want to do that? I work hard for my money! Can you imagine just throwing 75 cents at someone like that?!" All I said to him was, "I don't know, you'd be surprised at how many people come in here and pay with the exact change they owe." I would have KILLED to see how he would have reacted if I had said THIS to his face (what I really wanted to tell him): "Listen, Mr. I-Think-I'm-So-Much-Better-Than-You-Because-I-Probably-Make-More-In-A-Year-Than-You-Do, why don't you go take your flapping arrogant mouth somewhere else and take your oh-so-hard-earned money and shove it up your fucking ass?! I'm not an idiot for asking you a simple question, so don't treat me like one, you upper-class dickhead!"
As someone who has worked as a waiter for a very high end college, A drive through tenet for a fast food eatery, A retail worker for a large chain pet store and a security officer for a large stadium. I can say that no service job is safe from the awful customers. Everyone thinks they are entitled to getting extra service because they have money they want to give you. Just as a tip, if you really want extra service and a pleasant experience, be nice to anyone you do business with. They will think of you much higher and actually deserving of that smile they have to force. A good example when i worked at the Fast food place. Woman in drive through orders a few cheeseburgers and a large drink. She drives around and picks up her order. A few minutes later, she comes storming in and slams the bag of cheeseburgers on the counter and yells at the cashier (who, btw, does not work drive through and only does inside cashiering) that the cheeseburgers contained...wait for it...cheese. And that she wanted a full refund and a free meal for the next time she came in. My manager and I were called in, I was the one who took the order. Now my manager was wearing a headset at the same time as she ordered. She did order cheeseburgers. She gave us the evil eye and left. TLDR; Be nice to people or fuck off.
One of the perks of working at a Whole Foods in a wealthy area: the assholes tend to send their personal shoppers to buy food instead of cluttering up my register themselves.
I like the retro video game stores here in PA mainly a small chain called Just Press Play that has 3 stores. The employees are usually funny, really nice and will actually chat and listen to you but I went to this one store of theirs because my 13 year old brother wanted an NES so we bought one and I'm 19 and I've had an NES for 7 years and the guys there either didn't hear me or something when I told them I had one and that's why my brother wanted one and the employee who I told this to goes "You don't look like you have experience with these" and tells me everything I know already so I just kind nod along and say yeah to his questions respectfully. So for bad experiences for me as a customer have been nothing at all.
I have a retro game store mear me. I went in there one time to look aroud and I got 3 GBA games, buy 2 get one free. I was behind another cuatomer with a plastic container with about 20 NES games and a non working NES. He and the owner were talking about it and the owner said he could do $95. The customer looked at him and said "I was lookibg for about $500..." And I laughed roght behind him, and I think the owner almost did too!
I had a few library patrons who wanted to use our computers. They weren't able to log on. When I accessed their accounts, I saw they had nearly 30$ in fines, lost books, and damaged books. When I told them they had to pay their fines before they could access the computers, they promptly told me that I was rude, that this is the reason they don't come to the library anymore and finally capped it off with a nice, under the breath, "fuck off". The library is no different than retail at times.
This hits so close to home it's not even remotely funny. I worked at EB Games for years, and left because I initially thought it was that particular client base (gamers). CompUSA was even worse, and I attributed that to being in a VERY well-to-do area full of rich, tight-fisted assholes. Went on to Best Buy, and finally understood that dealing with the general public had more bad days than good days for me. We were trained to tolerate any type of abuse from customers, and I ended up getting forced out through paycuts and scheduling because I wouldn't tolerate it anymore. I now work in construction. When someone pisses me off, I can say "Fuck you" and not worry about getting fired or reprimanded. I feel your pain, man, totally. I think the way the general public treats the people in the service industry is absolutely disgusting, and the belief that they are entitled to treat us that way makes it even worse. Just because we serve you does not mean that we are your servants. Nor does it mean that we like you. We are here to provide the best customer service we can within the limits of company policy, not sit there and take your abuse like a good little bitch.
Yup im 100% the same. I work in construction because i do not deal with people. Even when i was a mechanic it was bad. I had this service manager who would allow people into the work area. They would stand there while im working and either just stare at me ir think i had time to chat about their car or whatever. Like i serviced 60 cars a day i duno why that guy thought customers in the shop was a good idea let alone safe.
Feel for you Ian, some of the worst customers i had ever encountered were at a custom framing/ decor store that i worked at when i was in college. Rude, felt entitled and worst of all, they would show up as soon as your locking up and wouldn't leave.
There's so many rude and selfish re-sellers in the gaming market now that it's difficult to remember that not all of them are jerks; and that some of them actually care about gaming, and collectors. Great video guys.
I had a peculiar thing when working for the NHS and dealing with customers applying for card that gave free healthcare in Europe. With the NHS, parents can apply for these cards on their children's behalf up until the children are 16 or if they are still in full-time education, until they are 19. Over and over again I'd have to deal with angry mothers trying to apply for cards for their 19 year old sons and being told that their son would have to do it himself because he's all grown up and a big boy now. And yes, it was always mothers and yes, they were always calling about their sons. Never could work out why...
"This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers." --Randal Graves
Worked at mcdonalds for about a year. You really learn alot about humanity working in Retail and likewise
Xelos Must have been a nightmare
+Xelos Weirdly enough I've found that most of the time at fast food places the people working react even weirder because I'm usually pretty friendly. It's gotten to the point that some jobs are so used to taking crap from people that basic decency seems strange.
I'm ALWAYS nice to McDonald's people, you're giving me guilty pleasure food!
'lil' bich' I was laughing so hard.
Go scorpion on his ass and say COME'ERE!!!.
This video still holds up. I've watched this several times, knew everything that was going to be said.. I still laughed throughout the video.
Even today
Been nearly 8 years and ice watched this loads still holds up
Working in the fast food industry has made me lose so much faith in humanity. People can be such scumbags to employees.
+Buttered Toast dude call centers though people are so bad I had a lady call me one time and scream at me and I had another person have a crappy product just out of spite people are so stupid and they think you should bow down no you need to treat us fairly then we can treat you as the customer fairly plain and simple however my job now is pretty sweet because the customers are genuinely nice
theblindswordsmanDS I can relate so much, man. People just always have to do whatever they can to get their way even when it is unreasonable or unfair. At least you have a better job now :)
+Buttered Toast Let me guess, you live in the US ?
iliek You've clearly never worked in retail or fast food.
Only reason I asked if you were in the US is because US support services are the worst, people in the US get absolutely fucking ridiculous when they call customer support.
I worked at a Buybacks store in Beavercreek, Ohio. We had a ton of people who would steal games, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and CDs from the local stores (Wal-Mart, Toys 'R Us, Best Buy) and bring them in either sealed or in mint condition. They never told us the items were stolen, but you could tell due to the customer's history, how new or expensive the items were, and how many of the items there were. Since we were never explicitly told that the items were stolen, we could take them.
However, the prices that we paid out decreased based mainly on the quantity of a certain item we had in stock. For example, the week that the remake of 'Carrie' came out, a couple brought in five copies of it on DVD at one time. The first one I scanned paid out $5, the next paid $3.75, all the way down to $.10 for the fifth one.
Now that that's explained, here's a story or two. There was an older, heavy customer who would steal the new releases every week and sell 3 - 4 copes of each title to us per week along with an Xbox 360 wired controller, the controller we paid out the least for. I ring up the 5 - 6 movies he's brought in one night, and by this point in the week, he and other thieves had already brought in about four copies of each of those titles. The total comes out to just under $25, and that's about half of what he got for the exact same items when I rung him up on Tuesday when the movies came out. The guy goes berserk, yells at me and my co-worker, accuses us of pocketing the money we're supposedly shortchanging him, etc. To my surprise, he takes the money and walks out. Seconds later, he walks back in, bitching about how his never-seen woman waiting in the car says that's too low. I void the sale, and after he gives the money back, I give him his stuff back. He starts bitching about how some guy at some indy store seven miles away will pay him double what we pay, calls us assholes, and leaves.
Another time, a legitimate customer sends her pre-teen daughter in to return a game. I take a look at the receipt, see that it's within, the seven day return window, and ask what's wrong with it. The girl says, "Nothing. We beat it and want to return it and get a new game." After I get over a moment of shock, I explain that we only take games back if they're defective. The kid leaves, but twenty minutes later, the mom comes back in with the game and receipt. She expects us to refund the cost of the game in full in store because her kids beat the game ("Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning" on the GameCube) within the seven days. I explain the whole defective thing, plus I explain that beating the game is the goal of video games. We go back and forth for a while, and I quickly figure out that she's misunderstanding the words on the receipt. I reread the receipt word for word out loud, and it finally clicks for her. She tries to sell the game back to us which is fine, but then she flies into a hissy fit when the offer, and these were her words that I can still hear her say, "isn't what I paid for it." She makes some comment about selling it on eBay. I calmly reply that she would likely make much more there than what Buybacks was offering. Right before she leaves the store, she mutters just loud enough for me to hear, "It's probably because I'm black."
Lastly, there was a family who bought a Super Nintendo. The next day, they try to return the system saying that the "controller doesn't work and the games get stuck in the system when we tried to pull them out." We test every game system before buying them and, if possible, returning them. I go and grab a copy of "Killer Instinct" because fighting games are great for testing controllers and proceed to check it out. As soon as I plug the controller into the port, the clueless mother says, "Why did you plug it in there?" I answer that it's because that's where player one plugs the controller in. She replies with, "Oh," and I know exactly what I'm dealing with. I test out KI, quickly realize that the controller responds perfectly, and hit the eject button on the SNES. The game pops out, and the woman asks me what I just did. As you've probably figured out, members of the woman's family were plugging the controller into port two only and then trying to ragepull the games out without hitting eject. I explain to the woman how the system works, but she still wants to return it. That's when the store manager steps it and explains that we're not taking it back since it was just displayed to have worked wonderfully. I ask the woman if she has any questions about working the system, but she gets superpissed and walks out, never to return. We hold the system for seven days, but when that passes, I become the owner of a non-yellowed, perfectly-working SNES.
I had a black lady try to pull the race card on my 82 year old coworker. He said "Don't play that shit with me. I grew up in Detroit, and moved to Chicago at 16. And not in the burbs! Take your ass out of the store with that shit!" I laughed my ass off.
The way Ian said "little bitch!" made me laugh so hard XD
Here's a story
One day, I'm in this tiny used game store, absolutely filled with retro games. Seriously, I walked in there, the owner's sitting behind the counter, and the first thing he says is "Oh, by the way, watch the Dreamcasts when you walk in. People have been tripping over them all day." I look down, and he has 11 Dreamcasts in their boxes on the floor. It's the type of shop that has three layers of games lining every wall. Couldn't fit another Pikachu plushie in there if you tried. It's classic Nintendo heaven. There are only three other customers in the shop. Two scruffy looking collage aged guys, and a kid who can only be described as a squeaker. Now, I'm 12 at the time and am somewhat intimidated by both the gruff nature of the owner and the two guys. So I'm quietly browsing the N64 games when I start to pay attention to the kid. I swear, before this, I thought these little brats were just a myth.
So this kid walks into a retro game store and asks for a copy of GTA V. He can't be older than 8. His scooter is parked outside. The two guys are watching the show with me as this kid begs the owner for the one copy of GTA V that's on the shelf and outright refuses to leave when it's denied to him. He threatens to trash the store and moves to do so when I block him from going any further. The two guys join me, and the kid is still refusing to leave, and is now red faced and screaming. Owner just smiles. It's apparent he's up to something. Then this huge cop walks in. To this day, that fine police officer is the biggest, most intimidating person I have ever seen. He glares at the kid, and the kid runs out of the store. The owner smiles and greets the cop by his first name. Cop places an Atari 2600 on the counter. Turns out he had just showed up because he needed an adapter so it would work with his TV. Totally random, yet excellent timing. I get my games, have a conversation with the guys who I was initially intimidated buy, have an absolute blast.
Still wonder what happened to that kid, though.
***** I know. Went back to that shop yesterday, though. Fortunately, nothing too eventful happened.
***** Well, nothing other than "Hey, for every inch you add to the pile of stuff you're buying, I'll toss in something small I have lying around."
I now have a Zelda wristband, and several obscure collectibles.
***** Sudden Impact Games, Winthrop, Massachusetts
that cops name,
Albert Einstein.
HoodieNinja_7 Thats fucking crazy! wow! Were you able to sleep that night?
If you think you got it bad. I'm 2 blocks north of Detroit. My cousin works at Family Dollar. Some black lady came in yesterday and asked to use the bathroom. My cousin told they didn't have a public restroom. She pulled her pants down and pissed in the isle. Then when the manager came she starts screaming at my cousin that it's his fault and she has a weak bladder.
As I said above I worked in a c-store for years on overnights and once had a drunk girl piss right on the walkway in front of the door for the same reason!
My first job was a local game store for 2 years. I know Ian's stories so well I feel like he retold my own experiences. It's unbelieveable what people expect in terms of either discounts or cash/credit for trade ins, and how they behave or react with vulgarity and aggression. Sports games, OMG! Even when I worked at a game store sports games from the years prior would pile up and become utterly worthless right away, and this was in the late 90's/early 2000's. Also, there is some credibility to "upper class" customers being short tempered or entitled. I have worked in South Orange County, CA and the richer the neighborhood, the more brutal the customers without a doubt.
"Surprise! You're on candid... brehhh!" So funny.
I loved this topic, I work in retail myself and no matter how nice you are some people just have to treat you like dirt. Often it's really hard to keep your cool, you guys did a great job of explaining this for people that don't get to experience it firsthand.
Yesterday i had a sh1tty day at work, had extremely terrible customers, and i saw this show of yours and made me feel alot better, you guys are amazing for pointing out this problem
I love it when my misfortune helps other people deal with theirs. I mean that seriously! Glad I could help.
Ian Ferguson
I'll say this once. Working Retail makes you realize how stupid society has become. I work convenience store and the amount of customers that don't know how to pump gas is amazing. Of course then it's our fault.
9:40 is the greatest single line in the history of this podcast.
So here's a story:
I was about sixteen and my brother and I had just gotten into retro gaming. We quickly became friends with the guy who ran the local store. So, we go down there one day, we're hanging out, browsing the shelves, hanging out, talking with the owner and some of the other regulars, having a good time. Suddenly, this woman barges in, dragging her twelve year old son behind her screaming "I told you not to buy from him!" We all just stand there for a second, and then the store owner just asks her what the hell she's talking about. She then goes on a rant about how she told the owner not to buy games from her son, because they weren't his games. This store happens to be owned by another guy who specializes in tabletop and card games, and is basically just leasing some of his extra space to the guy who sells video games. We explain to her that he might have been involved with the situation, and forgot to tell the other owner about her son or vice versa, and the one not told probably bought from the kid. She doesn't want to be reasonable, and just keeps screaming about how it was irresponsible of the owners to buy from him, and he's twelve so he didn't actually buy the game, and so on and so forth.
We all just want her out of the store, so the owner just asks her what game her son brought in. "Soul Caliber V," she says. Soul Caliber V is still a month from being released. Everyone quickly points this out to her. She insists that is the game she had. One of us goes over to the shelf of PS3 games, and pulls off Soul Caliber IV, and asks if she means this one. She says "yeah, that's the one," snatches it from the guy's hand, and leaves. At this point, no one even cares that she didn't even pay (it was only $5, anyway), and we're just glad we can go back to having a discussion without being yelled at by this bitch.
+CurtisAlfeld I would have said, "Lady, it isn't my job to halt or adjust my business because you are a shitty parent and can't keep your kid from disobeying you. It is your job to be a better parent."
wtf 0_0
I am rollin’ 🤣 “don’ shop here, they’re all about the money!” 😂😂
Ian's stories about Luna are my favorite part of CUP
OMG, Ian took off his hoodie! it's a miracle!
I always assumed Ian was in solidarity with Treyvon for the longest time. RESPECT!
Try working at Walmart for a year. It will make you lose so much humanity, it will make you a husk.
+Axol The Axolotl Worked there for four months. My supervisor was worse than any fucking customer.
I worked there for 2 and a half. I have no soul.
Worked there for almost 4 years in a department I loved. Came back after medical issues a year later, it was the worst department now. I lasted 3 months and just quit to save the stress.
More Ian stories pls!
I would love to hear a "Greatest Hits"
We work in retail, and this discussion is dead on. Amen, Ian!
Thank you Pat and Ian...I just wanted to say that I love your guys work and you have given me hours of free entertainment. I just had a friend pass away and shows like this help me deal with life so I am glad your making them.
"dont shop here these guys are all about the money" says the kid who is pissed because he doesn't think hes getting enough money.
Used to work at 7-eleven, and had this guy come in one time and didn't have enough money for a pack of cigarettes, I tried to help him out as best I could, I tried to help him with the cheapest ones we had, which he had the money for, just not enough for the brand he liked.
He was trying to tell me to give him a hookup, and used the CLASSIC "i'll give you what I have now and come back with the rest later" line. Then he got all pissed off when I kept refusing and yelled at me "I bet if I was one of your friends you would hook me up!!" and I just thought to myself *yea, IF YOU WERE ONE OF MY FRIENDS*, because the extra amount he didn't have would have came out of my paycheck.
Then after all that shit, and he was being loud for a good bit, he told me he hoped that my old lady would get in a car wreck and die, and that would teach me how to talk to people. I really wanted to jump over the counter and just beat the shit out of him for that, saying something like *that* over something thats so menial, a fucking pack of smokes. But I didn't do anything because I needed the god damn job at the time. That was years ago, but still makes me mad whenever I remember it.
Kid: Don't shop here. They're all about the money.
Also kid: I'm going to GameStop!
'Ya little bitch!' That still makes me lol
I went to one of the Luna locations last weekend. Drove from Oakland all the way to SD and made sure this was one of my stops because of these podcasts. You guys were very nice to me. I was the wrestling guy who picked up the CIB NES Wrestlemania & SNES Pilotwings. He mentioned that he didn't care for Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan and wondered why he ever kept the "Skullet" (In his words lol). Thanks again.
Ian I am very sorry about how this day went for you but I gotta say this was my favorite segment you guys have recorded on the podcast. Now seeing this clip in video made it that much better! You misery brought me joy so thank you lol
Yeah I have bad experiences with "customers" too.
At 8.00 - it's interesting that you said you weren't rude. I get accused of being rude all the time, when I'm not being rude. What happens very often with me is that i'm asked something, I provide an answer, they're not happy with the answer (it's the correct answer, but it's not what they want to hear), so they repeat the question. And I'm like, dude, you just asked me that. I can't sit here repeating myself. It was a dumb question in the first place. And who the hell are you anyhow. I've got things to do. You've asked me a question. I've given you the answer. Now goodbye. Or must you absolutely insist on continuing to waste my time. And somehow I'm apparently "rude",
12:16 - yep. Totally agree. If people do view you as providing them with a service, they feel that you are subservient - and thereby they're entitled to be disrespectful with no consequence.
For me, my customers are not customers. They think they are, but they're not. They think it's ok for them to tell me how to do my job, speak to me with sarcasm or aggression in their tone of voice, not pay attention and generally be discourteous. Guess what. I'm going to throw it right back at you. Actually, I won't anymore. I'll quietly take it on the chin and in the meantime completely destroy your chances of getting what you want. And you won't even know it. You'll suspect it. You might even wake up in a cold sweat upon it finally sinking in.
I also agree that it's not right to take it. I'm a very honest and principled guy. I don't want for anyone to have to put up with unnecessary and uncalled for shit. And that includes me. I don't think it's ok to turn a blind eye to bad behavior.
Yep,. communicate like adults. That's all it is. No more complicated that that. Unfortunately most people out there, or at least a significant proportion are fundamentally idiots and/or assholes. People aren't reasonable. They act like spoilt children. For me, much of my customer facing position is all about issue avoidance and damage control - and that really takes a lot out of enjoying the role. It should be so much more than that.
It's not just an internet thing.
I agree. Life is too big for some immature adults to act like they are entitled to everything in life. It says a lot about them more than the person they snap at. They need to get their emotions in real check. Life will never be about them no matter how many times they get mad. And if a person thinks the store sucks because of a mistake of one employee, fine with me. Get out and never come back if that's how you going to do life in general.
I found this to be my favourite podcast with ians story's and pat explaining his experience with the online video world. Great video guys.
that little kid story was funny as fuck
I'm friends with a guy who runs a gaming shop in my town and I'm in there a couple times a week just hanging out and the way some people behave when they come in because he can't give them the price they think they should get for a game or if he can't come down in his price for them is ridiculous, one day this lady came in and was yelling at him because he sold her 13 year old son a gameboy and a few games for $30, he didn't rip him off but she came in yelling about how it's irresponsible of him as a business owner to do business with a minor without the kids parents being there.
Love Ian's customer stories.
My recent expierience with a rude seller at a flea market they own this big booth and they are notorious for overpricing games so I pick up a conklers bad fur day and ther eis no price on it and i ask her how much it is, she then walks up to me pulls it out of my hand and says it's to expensive for you to buy and then goes back to doing what she did.
At a flea market which I rarely go to I let them know if they are rude. lol
stupidTRISTEN I would just say "Well, looks like I get a free game today..." and take something.
I worked in fast food for 4 years, and I dealt with some jerks. Most of my bosses say, customers are always right. But, not they are not always right. People who know me, know I'm a nice guy, but like anyone I have my days. From time to time I see a person I have served, they remember me and my name, and are still friendly.
customer stories are always fun to hear. I would've loved to witness Ian shouting in the store :)
You can tell that this was exactly two years ago from several things
It's great to have someone to vent to! Love these podcasts Ian and Pat, look forward to listening each time you guys upload one.
Hope this next week treats you better Ian, maybe you'll get some nice customers =)
I haven't watched CUPodcast in years, and I don't even watch gaming content much anymore but I randomly remembered the "little bitch" comment at 9:40 and I was desperately trying to remember where it was from lmao.
Same! I haven’t followed retro gaming for years but this moment still randomly pops into my head occasionally - so funny
Classic segment .
I know you probably won't read this, but I just wanted to take a moment and say that I absolutely love hearing Ian's opinion on things and how it contrasts with Pat's. I don't quite understand where all of the hate is coming from. Even if Ian talks more, you're still getting more Pat than you would've if the show didn't exist. I'm grateful for what you guys give to us every couple weeks. Also, I WISH there were a game store like your own here in Nashville TN. The customers seem to take the store for granted. They should realize that not everyone's lucky enough to have a gaming specialty store to rival GameStop's own tyrannical sort of monopoly on the market. Please keep doing what you're doing. It's a huge inspiration to myself and I'm sure many other fellow TH-camrs.
Sincerely, Michael "Hitchhiking Hatbox" Casselman
You probably won't read this, which is fine, you guys have personal lives ;) but I just wanted to say, that last bit about misanthropy was really insightful. I find myself "hating everyone" all too often, but you're right Ian, you can't let yourself fall into that because for one, there ARE good people in this world, no matter how many bad ones there seem to be, and two, it just makes life miserable, and obviously no one wants to be miserable.
Ian's shirt is epic
I have worked retail for 25 years, I put up with nothing from customers that behave like assholes.
I applaud you, sir👏👏😀.
This clip is quite possibly the greatest thing on TH-cam.
Pretty sure this is my favourite video on youtube
Funny thing now is since the Move controller is used with PSVR they are much more valuable now.
It's good to vent when you have a bad day.I enjoy these podcasts very much guys.Keep up the good work.
Loving that the wall in the background matches up pretty well. Awesome!
Ian and Pat, I really enjoy your podcast. Thank you for taking the time to do it and enduring the occasional thoughtless slings and arrows.
This part was great, I enjoy the podcast guys, keep doing what you're doing.
Worked in a c-store overnights for years and Ian is quite correct, people always say shit to you when they hit the damn door...I used to deal with all kinds of crap in retail.
Pat's laugh is just the *best*
As a pizza delivery driver if I pulled up to a big nice house I knew I wouldn't get a tip. The more money you have the more entitled you are.
You did
willjack1988 to be fair its the mentality of people as well those who never had shit in life dont appreciate the pizza boy, one time my uncle (became a millionaire at age 37 after years of being a struggling truck driver) tipped the takeout deliver guy $200 and he was like holy shit and my uncle told me when you start at the bottom you know what its like to be in their shoes
They didn’t get rich by giving money away. I’m not condoning it, I worked delivery too
@@matthewmontalvo6795 giving money away? No your not condoning it but making excuses for it. NEVER has tipping a waiter or delivery guy effected ANYONES wealth you prick. Even i someone who literally destroys my body to make companies millions tip 20$ on small orders when u can. Why? Because asshats like you think tipping is "giving your money away". God screw you
@@captaintoyota3171 Here's the world's tiniest violin, playing just for you. It's not my job to pay for your salary.
"I'm askin' yu to make a deel!" Holy fuck, Ian. I can't breathe I'm laughing so hard!
The hand gesture for scooter was priceless!
the last 5 seconds of this video made my day.
Also i feel for you Ian, no one should be treated like that.
I've worked in retail for a long time, and as a current member of my store's management, I'm not allow to discuss policies or my opinion of customers as an employee of Game Stop. However, customers I often find will do what they have the opportunity to do, and the best way to deal with this is to simply do not give them the opportunity. If there is too much of a certain game in stock, I have to right to refuse a trade for that game. If a "guest" (we have stopped calling them customers in retail because a guest is allowed to come into your store, be given service, not entitled to it.) decides he/she wants to start a scene, I have to right to ask him to leave or request security to come and remove him.
I understand very well that it is my job that my guests leave satisfied, but it is also my job to ensure our clients are those who my employees feel comfortable interacting with. So when a child demands my employee sell him an "m" for mature game without having ID, and causes a scene by tearing down our display walls, I have no problem calling security to have him removed, have his parents called and, should it come to it, his picture put up to show he's not allowed in the store.
It's not an easy thing to do but sometimes, bad customers have to be an example of because it deters others from doing the same, after all we're not running this store to have fights, we're running this store to sell products to our guests and ensure we all have a good time.
I'd like to say to all consumers remember, retail employees are not slaves, we're human beings with rights; so think about what you say or do in a store because like that child, it can have serious repercussions, because the next week his friends and him came to Game Stop and he had to explain to them why the security guard by the store was holding him outside while they shopped, and I can tell you I didn't want to have a child ostracized because he threw a temper tantrum about for not getting the game he and his friends were too young to be playing, but it happened.
Hey Pat and Ian, just wanted to say that I really enjoy the podcasts u do together - you two have great camaraderie!!!!
"Little bee-itch!!"
Lol, I feel for you, Ian. I did retail for 12 years, mostly video games. I had a lot of fun, really, but I literally have hours worth of great war stories from that time.
-The person who stole my display cases and then tried to return them for cash.
-The person who would send in their toddler to make a messy distraction while she shoplifted.
-The person who walked in with a lawn-size garbage bag and just started throwing game systems from a stacked display into it (right in front of me) and ran.
-The person who screamed and raged at me so hard for not taking back a 3 1/2 inch floppy disk from some productivity title that we never sold for cash that spittle was flying into my face.
-The people who started fighting over a girlfriend in my store, crashing into glass shelves, destroying kiosks, and eventually inciting a small riot because they were from different gangs, causing the entire mall to close.
-The part-time employee whose register would always magically become five dollars short after he left to take a lunch break.
-And so on, etc etc forever....
the thing is, I rarely see people on the internet who are willing to take critique when it's negative, even when it's presented nicely.. and I've seen people criticize nicely but just expressing their own opinion - which is in this case negative - and the person in question just attacks them or calls them jealous or something..
people say all the time that they're willing to accept constructive criticism, but in reality, very few of them do.
A few years ago I worked at a call center for 3 months and I have a few customer horror stories from that. I quit because I didn't feel the money was worth my sanity. I took about 150 calls a day and they were either boring because all I did was take credit card numbers to do transactions or I got yelled at. The customers that yelled were spitting mad and threatened to go to another company. They sometimes would ask to be transferred to a supervisor to report me. I was told not to worry when they do that because it didn't do anything.
It was for a cell phone company and one of my first customers asked a technical question about the cell phone. I said I cannot answer that question but I can transfer you to the tech department and they can answer all of those questions for you. And he said you sell these phones and you do not know how to use them? He said here is an idea put me on hold and go find your supervisor or another employee to answer my question.
I said I cannot do that we are all trained the same way we all know the same information. He said wow that company really is suffering if they all are as smart as you are. If they fired everybody and hired monkeys they would be better off. It sounded like an older man that didn't know how call centers work.
And the thing is with call centers your supervisor randomly listens to your conversations with customers and then gives you a score, like a report card. And so you always have that in the back of your mind that if you are a little crass with a customer you might get in trouble. Also a supervisor that is walking around might hear.
I still work with customers online but I hardly get a nasty customer. I do have nasty stories, people acting like they know more then I do as far as how to do my job. But I mostly get transactions without any emails back and forth so that's good.
I live in the North County part of San Diego. I have worked in Oceanside, Vista, Calrsbad, and San Marcos. The worst place? Carlsbad. It seems as though the people with money have more self entitlement, I agree. They view us retail workers as human garbage. They make no connection that we are people and we make no money. Hell they thought that I was making 20 bucks an hour at Ralph's, when in reality I made 10 cents above minimum wage minus union dues. They go oh. Oh. Then they weren't aware that many people there had 2 jobs or work 48 or more hours a week at the job.
I don't know who is worse it's the rich beach people or just affluent people.
I could listen to Ian tell stories like this all day.
As a person who has never worked a day of retail in his life, I find these stories hilarious! If possible, I would love to have a "bad customer segment" on the podcast every episode.
I work in catering and during my break, I asked some of the long time employees if there were any bad customers. They said that they are usually a lot meaner when the party is at their house. One time, the home owner tried to force the employees to use a porta-potty instead of the bathroom in the house.
We need more of these stories!
Holy shit, Pat's laughter is so contagious lol
HAHAHAHAHA Omg, the "Lil Biotch!" part had me geeking just now!
this is a great discussion! i love it! if there's one thing i've learned in retail it's the nicest customers, imo, have worked in retail in the past. The jerks are the ones that have NEVER worked retail.
Man got some new respect for you two keep the podcasts coming!!!
I always try to be polite and treat others with respect because I want to be treated with respect in return. However I find it challenging to be polite in places in Gamestop when they constantly push to sell you something. I admit the last time I was in Gamestop I was rude because I was trying to buy a game and the guy kept trying to get me to sign up for some program they had. I was polite the first and second time he asked me, but when he asked me a third time in a row, I got pissed and said flat out "if you ask me again, I am walking out of here and never buying anything here ever again." That really threw the guy off and said "I have to ask, I'm just doing my job", and I apologized for being rude and explained why I was so annoyed.
Being rude in Gamestop is something I can't help. I was in there for a gift card and the guy behind the counter didn't want to sell me and xbox live card. They don't receive any profit from xbox live card sales so he kept telling me i didn't want to use my gift card for that.
Ian, as a fellow retail employee at a smaller store (Mom and Pop style music instrument store in Canada) I have to say this was the best podcast I've heard in a long while. It sums up the retail working world perfectly in every industry, and I just wish that sometimes these huge a-holes that come in would work a "retail hell" day just to understand the other side. All the best. :) .
Pat, what type of work do you do?
Thanks a bunch!
I've worked at a local retail store for 10 years, (music not video games). I go through a lot of the same stuff. It's nice to hear I'm not alone.
LOL I SO want to hear the "Lil Biotch!" story told again in a modern episode. That was by FAR the funniest one yet.
Wow, This was one of the best clips you guys have done.
The Rude Customer stories were absolutely hilarious & Pat your videos have always been well done and inventive.
I love the pod cast clips your both doing here and keep up the good work
Oh god, Ian man, I sincerely sympathize. But I have to say, your impressions of what happened to you had me in stitches, lol. Glad you got to vent some on here and share that; I've worked retail before, and had days like that, it's absolutely brings down your whole day. Love you guy's podcast, it's always wicked entertaining.
I work in a call center, and people complain about bad customer service, people don't realize they are bad customers
huh...........15 bucks credit isn't too bad for a sports game actually O_o
Yeah I'm sure if that kid was older than 12 he would have known that.
especially given I gave a store a bunch of Xbox 360 games recently....got 14.
Gamestop would offer 70 cents cash 90 cents credit
Ian you are so right on it's uncanny! As for entitlement issues, I thought you were talking about people visiting Las Vegas, the place where everyone is your slave and your IQ drops 50 points the moment you get off the plane!
More of these please! Lol I about choked on my breakfast because I had jobs in the past where I can definitely relate.
I understand exactly how Ian feels. I work in a retail store myself in the small town where I live and fortunately people are either friendly or at least pleasant (for the most part) 90% of the time, but I still remember this one dude (looked to be somewhere in his mid-40s perhaps) I cashed out when I was still a newbie. He gave me a 20-dollar-bill to pay for the items he bought. Being new, I acknowledged that some people who shop at the store like to pay with the exact change they owe (so as to not receive a bunch of coins in return).
So, I didn't know if this man was one of those people or not, so I asked him whether he wanted to do that or not. He just goes "NO!" and starts being smug, chuckling to himself. Then he went on to say: "Why would I want to do that? I work hard for my money! Can you imagine just throwing 75 cents at someone like that?!"
All I said to him was, "I don't know, you'd be surprised at how many people come in here and pay with the exact change they owe."
I would have KILLED to see how he would have reacted if I had said THIS to his face (what I really wanted to tell him):
"Listen, Mr. I-Think-I'm-So-Much-Better-Than-You-Because-I-Probably-Make-More-In-A-Year-Than-You-Do, why don't you go take your flapping arrogant mouth somewhere else and take your oh-so-hard-earned money and shove it up your fucking ass?! I'm not an idiot for asking you a simple question, so don't treat me like one, you upper-class dickhead!"
OMG I lost it at "Litt'l bitch!" and "Dragon roar" xD !! Im crying and hit the floor
As someone who has worked as a waiter for a very high end college, A drive through tenet for a fast food eatery, A retail worker for a large chain pet store and a security officer for a large stadium. I can say that no service job is safe from the awful customers. Everyone thinks they are entitled to getting extra service because they have money they want to give you. Just as a tip, if you really want extra service and a pleasant experience, be nice to anyone you do business with. They will think of you much higher and actually deserving of that smile they have to force.
A good example when i worked at the Fast food place. Woman in drive through orders a few cheeseburgers and a large drink. She drives around and picks up her order. A few minutes later, she comes storming in and slams the bag of cheeseburgers on the counter and yells at the cashier (who, btw, does not work drive through and only does inside cashiering) that the cheeseburgers contained...wait for it...cheese. And that she wanted a full refund and a free meal for the next time she came in. My manager and I were called in, I was the one who took the order. Now my manager was wearing a headset at the same time as she ordered. She did order cheeseburgers. She gave us the evil eye and left.
TLDR; Be nice to people or fuck off.
Shouts out to the dude in the Mogwai shirt
Hell yea
One of the perks of working at a Whole Foods in a wealthy area: the assholes tend to send their personal shoppers to buy food instead of cluttering up my register themselves.
I work at whole foods my self your lucky at mine they come and have there snoody sense of entitlement and complain about everything
I like the retro video game stores here in PA mainly a small chain called Just Press Play that has 3 stores. The employees are usually funny, really nice and will actually chat and listen to you but I went to this one store of theirs because my 13 year old brother wanted an NES so we bought one and I'm 19 and I've had an NES for 7 years and the guys there either didn't hear me or something when I told them I had one and that's why my brother wanted one and the employee who I told this to goes "You don't look like you have experience with these" and tells me everything I know already so I just kind nod along and say yeah to his questions respectfully. So for bad experiences for me as a customer have been nothing at all.
I have a retro game store mear me.
I went in there one time to look aroud and I got 3 GBA games, buy 2 get one free. I was behind another cuatomer with a plastic container with about 20 NES games and a non working NES. He and the owner were talking about it and the owner said he could do $95. The customer looked at him and said "I was lookibg for about $500..." And I laughed roght behind him, and I think the owner almost did too!
I had a few library patrons who wanted to use our computers. They weren't able to log on. When I accessed their accounts, I saw they had nearly 30$ in fines, lost books, and damaged books. When I told them they had to pay their fines before they could access the computers, they promptly told me that I was rude, that this is the reason they don't come to the library anymore and finally capped it off with a nice, under the breath, "fuck off". The library is no different than retail at times.
This hits so close to home it's not even remotely funny. I worked at EB Games for years, and left because I initially thought it was that particular client base (gamers). CompUSA was even worse, and I attributed that to being in a VERY well-to-do area full of rich, tight-fisted assholes. Went on to Best Buy, and finally understood that dealing with the general public had more bad days than good days for me. We were trained to tolerate any type of abuse from customers, and I ended up getting forced out through paycuts and scheduling because I wouldn't tolerate it anymore. I now work in construction. When someone pisses me off, I can say "Fuck you" and not worry about getting fired or reprimanded. I feel your pain, man, totally. I think the way the general public treats the people in the service industry is absolutely disgusting, and the belief that they are entitled to treat us that way makes it even worse. Just because we serve you does not mean that we are your servants. Nor does it mean that we like you. We are here to provide the best customer service we can within the limits of company policy, not sit there and take your abuse like a good little bitch.
Yup im 100% the same. I work in construction because i do not deal with people. Even when i was a mechanic it was bad. I had this service manager who would allow people into the work area. They would stand there while im working and either just stare at me ir think i had time to chat about their car or whatever. Like i serviced 60 cars a day i duno why that guy thought customers in the shop was a good idea let alone safe.
this is the funniest segment lmao
Ian Ferguson is the greatest man to ever walk the earth
This was probably the best podcast they've done 😂
after watching this though, i agree, you deserve respect as a store owner, i wish i had more stores like the ones yours sounds like.
I feel you Ian. I've found the warmer it gets outside the shorter people's fuses are. This is the time of year I dread at work...
Yeah, that really is true. Heat brings the tempers out!
Feel for you Ian, some of the worst customers i had ever encountered were at a custom framing/ decor store that i worked at when i was in college. Rude, felt entitled and worst of all, they would show up as soon as your locking up and wouldn't leave.
There's so many rude and selfish re-sellers in the gaming market now that it's difficult to remember that not all of them are jerks; and that some of them actually care about gaming, and collectors. Great video guys.
God i don't know why this made me laugh more than the Ranch story. The drunk guy omg..
I had a peculiar thing when working for the NHS and dealing with customers applying for card that gave free healthcare in Europe.
With the NHS, parents can apply for these cards on their children's behalf up until the children are 16 or if they are still in full-time education, until they are 19.
Over and over again I'd have to deal with angry mothers trying to apply for cards for their 19 year old sons and being told that their son would have to do it himself because he's all grown up and a big boy now.
And yes, it was always mothers and yes, they were always calling about their sons. Never could work out why...
whenever someone says "that's not my problem," it's usually their problem.