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Customers Suck: LiveJournal clerks recount retail woes

In this LiveJournal community, distressed retail workers prove the customer is not always right. 

 

Lauren Rae Orsini

IRL

Posted on Jun 29, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 3:07 pm CDT

Each week we browse LiveJournal’s Popular Entries feature to unearth fascinating, obsessive, and sometimes bizarre communities for your perusal. There’s bound to be one just for you.

Retail employees are often reminded that “the customer is always right.”

But anyone who’s worked in retail knows that sometimes that couldn’t be further from the truth. People can be thoughtless, rude, or just plain ugly when a retail transaction goes foul.

If you need more evidence, look no further than Customers Suck—an enormous, 11-year-old LiveJournal community dedicated to documenting bad customer behavior. From racist or sexist remarks to completely selfish demands, it’s all posted here for your entertainment.

If you find yourself treating store clerks rudely yourself, you better watch out. With 29,000 active members and 11,000 “watchers,” (Livejournal’s term for non-posting lurkers), you run a high risk of having your tantrum recorded for laughs.

Here are five recent posts that caught the Daily Dot’s attention, with our brief summary of the community’s reaction.

1) “My kid’s eating a candle? That’s your fault!”

Who do you blame when a 6-year-old is leaving bite marks on scented candles in the candle store? Clearly, it’s not mom’s issue.

2) Homosexuality is not a spectator sport.

User charuby is a cashier in a first world country, but her customers still insist on making loud judgements about gay people whenever possible.

3) “I’ll have one public embarrassment, with a side of animal cruelty.”

They really should have a sign at the pet store about not leaving small animals in a parked car when it’s 100 degrees.

4) The only woman in the world.

It’s good to be the only person in the store. You have ample time to stand at the front of the line making phone calls. Oh wait, there’s a whole line of people behind you? Please move.

5) “I don’t need a background check. Give me that gun!”

So your background check for gun ownership was just denied. Your increased agitation and rage really makes user lookninjas want to sell you a gun now.

Photo by Hobvias Sudoneighm

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*First Published: Jun 29, 2012, 11:38 am CDT