I was working like normal in the seafood department today, and I’m helping this very nice elderly lady. Then, this younger guy, obviously drunk, comes up to me and says “I’m gonna have three lobsters, now.”
I say, “I’m sorry sir, but I’m helping a customer right now, after she’s done…”
Him: “She’s a cunt and a nigger, it’s my turn.”
Me: “… Sir. Don’t use that language here.”
Him: “You’re a fucking nigger lover, aren’t you?”
Me: “I’m not serving you.”
Him: “Why, you fucking nigger lover… I’m going to tell your manager if you don’t tell me why RIGHT NOW!”
Me: “Because you’re a bastard.”
Then he goes and tells my manager. Luckily, the idiot told him exactly what happened, including the “cunt and a nigger” part, and so I didn’t get written up.
But uh… what would you have done if you were in this situation. Jesus Christ, I didn’t know that people could be so fucking… I don’t know… stupid.
Thats pretty bad. I work at a McDonalds, …I know…I sicken even myself, and I get shit like that all the time. Once some guy called me a ‘fucked up retard’ because an order he thought was for him was for the person standing next to him and he then proceeded to dump it on the floor. He demanded to see the manager, I called the manager and she told him to “get the fucking hell out of my restaurant or you’ll be leaving with the cops.” he refused to leave. We called the cops, he bolted after that.
Working in a deli, I’ve had my share of crappy idiotic customers, but I’ve never dealt with anyone like that. I’d probably handle it pretty much the same way, except at the end, there.
Him: “Why, you fucking nigger lover… I’m going to tell your manager if you don’t tell me why RIGHT NOW!”
Me: “Because you’re a bastard.”
I’m a very polite person, and I never swear. I’d probably have said something like “Because you’re rude and disruptive, and I was serving this lady first. If you can’t wait in line, I’ll call my manager myself and have her deal with you.”
I hate it when people act like this. [Rhetorical Question Mode] Don’t they have any consideration? Are they incapable of understanding anything except their own selfish little desires? Can they think of anything besides themselves?[Mode off]
Honestly, I can’t stand people like that. My sympathies, though.
[EDIT] If you don’t mind my asking, what company do you work for? Some of them have different policies, is all.
Oh wow…I have no idea what I’d do in that situation. I try never to be impolite, but I have a short temper so maybe I would have said the same thing as you.
I think the worst work situation I’ve ever had was that some guy used to be a professional hockey player and he got injured, and couldn’t play anymore. So he just got really drunk all the time and retold his story over and over. One night he was staggaringly drunk, and had his two kids with him, and I just felt sorry for them.
I never get any straight up jackasses, but you do get some weird people in the place I used to work.
I used to work at a pizza place. For those of you who don’t know, I live like, 15 miles from Mexico; almost everyone here speaks spanish. Well, there are some crazy bastards who, wheter or not they know english, will refuse to speak to you in english if they think you know spanish. Well, I know spanish, but it’s still obnoxious…mostly, because I used to get a special case: People who wouldn’t speak to you in english UNTIL you spoke to them in spanish. I was opening, so of course, I’m in there about an hour early to get everything ready. Someone calls in, and I answer the phone.
SG: Mr.G’s Pizza.
Man: UhhhhhhhPizza?
SG: AhhhI’m sorry sir, but we don’t open til’ Eleven.
Man: …UhhhhhhhhPizza?
SG: Ah, Discúlpame, pero no abrimos hasta los once. (This is spanish for “Oh, Forgive me, but we do not open until Eleven.”)
Man: Oh. Sorry. I’ll just call back later, then. click
Never ask me advice on this kind of stuff…b/c usually I’d recommend nothing more coercive and persuasive than physical violence. I’ve been clerks/cashiers before and customers always suck, drunk or not. They are so ridiculous half the time I’d love nothing more than to belt them in the face. In your situation, it was really out of your hands the second the racism came out…you’re in the clear, and to me it was fine calling him a bastard…he deserved it.
physical violence sucks, and the other customers might get scared and don’t return wich sucks even more…
I’d tell him to wait in line and ignore him, in most cases ignorance is far more effective than anything…
I couldn’t have possibly served him. First of all, what would the woman think if I served someone who professed to be a racist? Second of all, I would be too tempted to do what you said, and I would NOT do something like that to someone. I would rather not serve them.
