Customer Service Horror Stories

This episode is basically a compilation of the most unhinged things I experienced working in customer service, from being yelled at over groceries at 16, to dealing with entitled gym members, to full-on chaos as a barista and shift supervisor.

Think: drinks being thrown, customers expecting mind-reading, toxic managers, and coworkers trauma bonding just to survive a shift.

If you’ve ever worked in customer service… you already know.

If you haven’t, this might scare you

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Editing by Julie Bishop

Cover Artwork by Angelina Richeson

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And as he's coming back to the store, she like keeps yelling at me to run up and like lock the door like over and over and over again. Like she's yelling at me, go, go, go. So I start to go just off a reflex, but then I'm like, what am I doing? Like just a few weeks ago, someone slammed this door on my fingers. Like, why is she yelling at me to put myself between him and her? Because we got to the door at the same time and I backed off because he like came at me. And that all happened because my manager yelled at me to put myself in that situation. Welcome to Casually Spiraling with me, Julie Bishop, just a tall girl in this world trying to make sense of life, dating, money, relationships, identity, culture, you know, all the things. I've learned that my thoughts don't always land with the people around me. So I am here to break it all down, talk it out, probably over share, and maybe find some who don't think I'm totally crazy after all.

Intro

SPEAKER_00 1:09

Welcome back, everyone. We're back for another episode. How are we feeling? Doing good. I'm feeling a little bit hype this morning, so that is good. We're coming off a Coachella, Coachella, Coachella weekends. Weekend two is done. Um, not that I went. Haha. Um, I wish, but watched all the videos from home on my couch, on my TikTok. Um, everyone looked so good, looked so fun. Sabrina Cella, Bieber Cella. Uh, yeah, it looked a lot of fun. Maybe one day, maybe one day there will be a casually spiraling house at Coachella. Who knows? But yeah, living in LA, it pretty much seemed like everyone was there the past two weekends. Um so yeah, all the content has been really fun to watch. Um, if you are watching the clips or the video version, don't mind me. Okay, my hair is wet. Yes, my hair is wet. I just took a shower. I just got back from a solid core class with Emily. That shit is hard. Solid core is hard. And if you say anything else, do a class because that shit is hard. If I could afford a membership, it would be over for you bitches. Over. Because that's tough. If only I could afford a membership and go more often. But no, that's why my hair's wet. Also, it's kind of gloomy today, um, which is like, you know, not it for LA. After we did solid court, um, we we uh went to a coffee shop and got coffee, and we were like sitting out on the patio, and I'm like facing like the inside of the patio, and Emily is facing me, the street behind me, and she just points behind me. She was like, Did we know this was gonna happen today? And I turn around and it's raining, and I was like, Huh, no, no, this was not in the plans. This was not in the itinerary, this was not on the schedule for today. We did not know it was gonna be raining today. Um no one wants that here. That's not what we pay rent for here. Um, it was not in the plans. So just don't mind my look right now. Yes, I'm wearing a Lizzie McGuire t-shirt, so that's stunning because my sisters know me so well and got this got this vintage Lizzie McGuire t-shirt for me for my birthday. Um, not vintage, but kind of. And I'm obsessed with it. So any chance I have to wear an oversized sweatshirt or t-shirt, you do catch me in that. And now this is even a cuter reason to be wearing one all the time. Um, but yesterday I had quite a spiral. Just a little one I'll tell you about. Um Do you guys no, no one likes it. I always do you guys procrastinate like calling the doctor, any kind of doctor, whenever you need to call. I do because I feel like anytime I try to call a doctor or a pharmacy, it's not easy. It's never easy. It always goes poorly and it always makes me mad. So I need to make my, you know, my annual gyno appointment, trying to get the coochie checked out, just make sure we're all intact up in there. And I put it off for like weeks calling to make this appointment. And I finally call yesterday, and oh my god, like no wonder I procrastinated it. I'm like talking to her, like, hey, trying to make my yearly appointment. She's like, You're not on the list. I'm like, what? What list? She's like, You're not on a list to get it this year. Every three years. I'm like, no, like trying to make my like checkup, not my pap. Like, I know the pap every three years, but like I'm just trying to make a check-up, catch whatever, catch. What's the word? I'm trying to make my checkup appointments, make sure everything's all good. And she's like, you're not on the list. I'm like, okay, girl, what do you mean I'm not on the list? What list? Is there a coochie getting checked out list? I just want my coochie to get checked out and make sure it's all okay. And she's saying I'm not on the list. And then she transfers me to the pharmacy without even telling me. And I'm talking to the pharmacist. I'm like, I don't know what's going on. I was trying to make an appointment for my coochie, and now she sent me to you, and I don't need you, sir. Thank you so much. And yeah, I have yet to make my appointment because I'm now procrastinating again, calling back because nothing goes right ever. It's always so difficult. And of course, you know, I didn't get connected right away. You gotta like call and they give you number and then they call you back like 30 minutes later. So I by this point, if I call back, then I'm gonna have to wait another 30 minutes to get the phone call back. And I'm just like, I can't do this. I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't. Like, gosh, a girl is just trying to stay healthy over here, and it's just so difficult to uh uh so literally I spiraled the fuck out about that yesterday, and I was like, what is going on? Like, I'm just trying to live my life and be healthy and make a doctor's appointment, and you're not letting me. You said I'm not on the list. I didn't know there was a VIP list for this. Like, please, girl, have my back. Ugh, she did not have my back. But yeah, so that's what I'm spiraling out about. I don't know about you guys. Um, how are you guys feeling this week? Any spirals for you? I wish you could just like answer me right now, you know? Like, just let me know. Let me know if you can relate.

Alix vs. Alex

SPEAKER_00 6:26

You know what's been all over the tea recently, and the drama that I'm living for that's not mine. I love living for other people's drama and not having it myself, would be the Alex vs Alex drama. Ugh, is all over. And I'm waiting, I'm waiting for it to drop. But Alex Earl is staying silent and it's making me mad. I'm like, please keep feeding me with this drama. I want to know. We all want to know. Okay, on it. You're not on it, you're not on it, Alex, and it's not helping us. Like, I uh just share it, share it. We all just want to know, and you're just you're not, and it's not a good look. But anyway, it's been all over my feed. I've been keeping up with the tea, trying to keep up. Um, and it's just kind of crazy that people are crucifying Alex Cooper before even knowing what happened. Like, people are already taking sides, but yet no one has said what happened. So, like, how do we know? How do how do we know here? You don't know what happened. So, why are you crucifying people before even knowing what happened? Like, it's kind of crazy. And then most recently, things are kind of shifting to people more siding with Cooper because it's coming back out and resurfacing that Alex Earl is MAGA and all this stuff, which yikes, girl, yikes, and she's obviously like staying silent. Like, she said, like, if she had nothing to hide, why would she not say anything? Maybe she's waiting for her reality show, but like I feel like it's just making her look worse, but also no one actually knows what happens, and people are like crucifying one side or the other. I mean, finding out that the one side is MAGA is kind of eh, eh, eh, you know, so yeah, that's already yikes. Um, but I don't know, it's just crazy how people's like how speculation can just shift people's like opinion so much when there's been no facts yet. And how like I'm seeing the videos of people just like saying they have insider info and this and that happened, and yet like no one actually knows, like anyone can just go on and actually make up anything, and yeah, it's kind of crazy, but I don't know, like I the more and the more maybe by the time this comes out, hopefully Alex Earl posts something. Because right now, at this point of recording, she just posted that like video of her pole dancing and being like, I've been busy, like girl, no, that's not what we want. Just like you said you were on it, just let's just why are you hiding now? Like, it seems like you have things to hide, and then yeah, I feel like Alex Cooper just recently in the past three years have just been labeled a bitch. Um, and who knows? Like, obviously, we don't actually know how she is in person, only people who've worked for her, but I just obviously the trend seems to be if there's like a woman in power and a woman running her own business and having to make like decisions that will benefit the business, then they get labeled a bitch just for being a smart businesswoman. So I try to not like just assume that until we get like actual info and facts because I don't know, like, and people are now like shitting on her for like having guests on when they have things going on in her life, in their life, like duh. What do you think like people go out and do interverse interviews for? I can't talk today. People go out and do interviews for, like, literally to promote stuff and to talk about what's going on in their life and when they have like big events happening in their life, like that's the whole fucking point. Like, of course you want those guests, like like uh people just are now shitting on her for like and that's literally what all other interviews do. They have people on who are going through big things right now and have a story to tell because she's interviewing them and she needs a story, like it's just duh, like duh. It's like I don't know. Everyone's just going off, and yet we have no actual facts, and people are just making assumptions and calling her a bitch and this and that. And it's just crazy. I mean, also, like, did you guys listen to Hot Mess? And now listen, I follow Alex her on TikTok. Like, um, I mean, now finding out she's MAGA kind of changes things, but before that when I didn't, like following her, liked her on all that, and I did listen to her podcasts, and like, all due respect, she's not a good podcaster. And I'm not saying like this just this is coming, this is weird because I'm like podcasting or whatever, so I don't know if I can talk, but like it just didn't seem like it was the format for her, right? Like, she is slaying and thriving in so many other avenues. I just didn't think the podcast route was one that was the best for her, and I don't even think it did super well. It seemed like it seemed like she didn't even want a podcast anyway. So I don't know, like maybe just a smart business decision if it wasn't I don't know, either way, either girl maybe just had to make a smart business decision there. Who knows? Who actually knows? But it's just insane, like all the videos of people just making stuff up from absolutely nothing. Um, but at the same time, I'm I'm living to find out what happened, but no one is sharing, no one is feeding us. She's staying silent, so like come on, girl, we're waiting, we're waiting. Anyways,

Dating Update

SPEAKER_00 12:00

another news. Let's see. Oh, a little um dating update. Uh, and uh look, look, I'm not I'm not gonna say men suck because there are great men out there, and obviously that's the mindset I have wanting to find a husband, but but but but anyway, I gave my number to a bouncer the other night. Don't ask how I ended up at a club on a Thursday after working a double. We just ended up there, and I haven't been to a club in a very long time. More bars are my scene now, not clubs. But you know what? Do it for the plot. The girls went out. We ended up there. The bouncer was goofy and cute and tall, and it seems to be like just handing my number out seems to be the new move right now, like writing it on receipts to whoever I just see. It's like a good, like, shy girl way, like here, take this and run away. So again, did that move, whatever, but uh okay. So texting, we were texting or whatever, and then he just starts saying really weird shit and shit that just triggers me. And I'm just like, oh, why are men like this? So, anyway, the first thing that was like weird was obviously he was saying like how tired he was and like asking for a massage and shit. I'm like, what? Ew, and then he asked, let me know if this triggers anyone else when a man asks this. He asked, Do you know how to cook? Is it just me? Or does that question trigger anyone else? Because me, I'm like, uh, uh, uh, it just gives me like patriarchy, traditional roles. You will feed me, you will massage me, you will cook for me. Men are superior, not valuing women or respecting women. Just that's that question triggered. Like, what? Why do you why are you asking that? Like, can you cook for me? It's a real question. Can you cook? Why are you asking if I can cook? Can you cook? Can you do things for me? No, no, no, no. Does it trigger anyone else? Because it triggers me. And I said, nope. LOL. And then you know what he said? You better learn. What? What? Absolutely my response was absolutely not. Bye. Never speak to you again. Absolutely not. Absolutely not. One, I can't cook. No. I'm not gonna learn for you. You just just uh uh anyway. This is how dating's going. Um, and giving my number out is going. No, not all men are like this, but uh does this trigger anyone else? Like, please just respect women and just know we're the best because we are uh gross, gross, gross, gross. So cool. That was another spiral from this week. Literally, live update from this weekend a few days ago. And no, bye. Absolutely not, absolutely not, sir. Thank you. Goodbye. Go back to being a bouncer and done with you. Good night. Good night. Don't need to see you anymore.

Customer Service Horror Stories

SPEAKER_00 15:10

But that that night, I again I stayed out till 4 a.m. I I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened. It was a Thursday, I didn't need dinner. I went straight from work to the club with my friends, and I was driving home at 4 a.m. and I had to be up the next morning for work. Old old days were coming back. But after that, it like we had a night, we had fun, it was worth it, loved it. But anyway, as I was driving home at 4 a.m., it's it got me thinking like back to my old days of working at working. I I don't know if I can say where I was working because of all the stories I'm about to tell from working there. But let's just say a major chain coffee company that you wear green aprons at. Maybe um we'll give it a new name. And let's call it Square Ducks. Square Ducks. Anyway, it was taking me back. I was driving home at 4 a.m. and I'm like, uh, back when I worked at Square Ducks, Square Bucks, you know, back when I was working there, at this time I would be starting my shift triggered 4 a.m. I would already be on the clock. And yet now, I'm driving home from the club at 4 a.m. to go to bed. But uh just a few months ago, this is when I would be driving into work, and that just got me thinking back, thinking back, and thank God I don't work there anymore. Every day, I'm like, thank God. Even if there's like crazies at my current job, I'm like, thank god I don't work at that other place. I got out. It took me four and a half years, but eventually we got out. Only partially trauma, maybe fully trauma, and oh my gosh, I can't imagine. Can't imagine, but it got me thinking about all the customer service jobs that I've worked and all the crazy stories I've had working customer service, and yeah, you're just you're a different person if you've worked in customer service. I feel like you can meet someone and know if they have or not, and it really shows. It really shows. And yeah, I just thought, let me, for any of those who can relate, share all my crazy stories from those times. My customer service experience started straight from 16, you know? I had parents who were like, as soon as you turn 15, 16, you are getting a job. ASAP. My birthday was April, turned 16. I had this job by May 1st. My first job at a good old Wegmans. It's a grocery store, a big ass grocery store in the Northeast. I'm not sure if there's other areas, but anyway, Northeast, Wagmans, my first job at 16, a cashier at the grocery store. Nothing too crazy happened here, you know, just a little old 16-year-old. And I was there and I made a friend, Emily, different Emily, my Wagmans Emily, who we still talk to to this day. But we were just there. We were flirting with our coworkers and wearing these ugly, bright-colored polos, just living, not actually, but just in the trenches at Wegmans together. And nothing too crazy happened at this job. People would be like super particular about how they want their groceries bagged and this and that. But besides that, the really only thing people would like fight us on is at that time at least, um, in Pennsylvania, there were it was like the only grocery store that sold alcohol. Like you had to go to a specific liquor store or beer distributor to get alcohol prior. But Wegerman's was the only one, but you had to buy um it in a separate part of the restaurant that also like sorry, a separate part of the grocery store had a different register because that half of the grocery store was considered a restaurant, so they could sell alcohol. So you couldn't buy your alcohol at the same register that you could buy your food at, if that makes sense. So you had to do it separate. That's the only thing people would really fight us on, and even then I'm like, bro, I'm 16. Why are you fighting on me right now like this? Like grown-ass adults fighting with us, like 16-year-olds working at this grocery store. Like, just do it, just do it. So nothing too crazy happened at that job. My next job would have been LA Fitness. Yeah, because when I moved to Atlanta, I was working remote um as an extras casting assistant, and I just needed a a small part-time job, either before or after that job for the free membership and just some extra money, you know, but of course the free membership. So I worked at LA Fitness for a little bit, like a actually like a year and a half. And yeah, that was that was rough. That was rough because this location at least, I think a lot of locations may be like this, but it was a lot of like older people. And, you know, older people love to complain. They love to complain, and LA Fitness is cheap, and they never fix anything. And so the people would just obviously complain about everything to the front desk workers, aka me, and we have absolutely no control on anything getting fixed. Like, obviously, we tell our manager and put the tickets in or whatever, but nothing would ever get fixed ever. The sauna, the clocks, the equipment, and you would just have to deal with like those complaints over and over and over again, and you have actually no control, and you're like, Yeah, I feel you, like I agree, these things should be fixed. But LA Finn is as cheap as fuck and only paying me like $7.25 an hour and all this cheap ass shit, and they don't want to fix anything here, and so you just have to hear the same complaints over and over and over again. Also, like they were really cheap. We didn't have a clock like normally on an hourly job, you clock in and clock out, so you get paid for the full time you work. LA Finished didn't have that. They only paid you for your scheduled time, but yet they asked you to come in 10 minutes early if you were opening to open the police, and then if you closed, you had to stay until everyone leaves. So they had you there early and late that you weren't getting paid for. Like they didn't have a clock in and clock out system, they would only pay you for the four hours on your schedule, but ask you to come in early and ask you to stay late. So, like, is that legal? I don't know. Someone should look into that. LA Fitness. Yeah, I'm calling you out. Cause that was like, what? I never worked an hourly job like that that didn't have a clock in and clock out system. And then there would be fucking assholes at night who would not leave the gym. Like I'm there by myself, running around the gym, telling everyone, hey, five minutes. We close in five minutes. You know what you don't do right at closing time? Get in the shower. You do that before closing time or go home and take a shower. You don't do that right at the shower uh right at the closing time, especially in the men's locker room, and I'm there a girl and have to just scream into the locker room like get the fuck out. No, people would wait till closing time to take showers and get ready in their locker room. And I would just literally be waiting for them at the front door with the keys, not getting paid for like 30-40 minutes trying to get these assholes out of there. And then there's this one guy who was already taking so long. I was yelling at him over and over again in the locker room to get out, and we're closed. Like people don't understand the concept of a closing time and why we have a closing time. But I'm waiting waiting for him so long. He's the last person in there. All the lights are off. Like I'm waiting at the front with the keys. He's walking, the locker rooms are in the back. You have to walk like all the way through the gym to get the front. He's walking so slow, taking his grand all last time, and then has the audacity to walk over to the vending machine. And I looked at him and yelled at him. I said, no, we're close. Get out. Like, you're gonna then stop after I've waited 30 minutes for you and get something from the vending machine? I said, absolutely not, get the fuck out. Like, why are people so inconsiderate of other people? Like, don't you think I want to go home? I'm not getting paid right now and I'm waiting for your lazy ass. Sorry, I'm literally ranting off today. But it's just literally taking me back. Like, people who don't work in customer service sometimes are so rude and inconsiderate of other people. Ugh, it makes me so mad. And I I stopped him. I said, Are you I looked at him and said, Are you joking me right now? Are you joking me? Like, get out, please. Uh, bringing me back. Also, everyone knows LA Fitness calls people nonstop, and we had to be those people making all those phone calls, and you just knew every time you rang, like you dialed a phone number, you're about to get yelled at. Because that's apparently their sales method, like calling people nonstop and pissing people off. And we just had to be at the front desk receiving phone calls of all the people pissed off. So that was that was a tough one. That was a tough one. Um, that I just I don't know, they're kind of going downhill now. Um, they're kind of at the bottom of the barrel for gyms these days. But anyway, after I quit LA Fitness, no, I was still working at LA Fitness. Um, I was working at LA Fitness the same time that I was working on Black Lightning in the art department. So anyway, Black Lightning Wrapped. That's not a customer service job, that's my other jobs. Black Lightning wrapped. So I finished on that show. So then I went back to LA Fitness, but I needed more money now. And um, because they this was when I worked in an art department and they offered me more art department jobs, but I was like, I'm here to act. I need time to do classes and actually pursue acting. So I said no to those jobs, and this is when I like needed more customer service jobs because I was finished with the art department jobs that I had. Um, so then so I'm working like opening at LA Fitness, so then I get a serving job that I'm gonna be closing at. And this is the first time I've ever, I never was a server before. It was right after COVID when restaurants were just opening back up, everyone was hiring, taking whoever, and I got a job at the Hudson Grill right next to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Whoo! And just hearing that, you know, it's not good. It's not good. They one, no managers were helpful, no one really trained me, they just threw me on to serving, never served before. Two, they were so unprepared, they didn't have enough silverware for everyone. They were having us hand out plastic silverware for people to cut their like chicken and their meat and their anything with. And you know who then like they're gonna like shit on and complain to is the servers. And again, I'm like, yeah, I get it, I would complain too. We don't have actual metal silverware to give you. I'm giving you a plastic wrapping with a plastic knife and fork. Like they had us do that. Oh, it was insane. And then it was like a sports bra and they had hookahah, so everyone was drunk, everyone was high. They were giving us shots at least. I mean, at least I could have some alcohol on the job to get through it. And that I only lasted there a month. I was having panic attacks in the freezer because not there was no managers around to help you whatsoever. Everything was a shit show. I was in that freezer having a panic attacks. And then also at the same time, I was there until like 1 a.m. Because you have to close and do all these things, and then I had to be at LA Fitness to open at like 4 45 the next morning. So on top of that, I was only sleeping two hours each night. It was just a little bit of a nap. So then I really started to go crazy. Like obviously, my emotions were all out of whack because I was so tired and losing it, and these jobs were just horrible. So I only lasted at that restaurant for a month, and uh, that was flash, flash of a horror story. I literally was in that freezer hiding so much every single shift. So then me quitting that serving job is what left me to starting working at SquareBooks, that coffee chain that I, you know, do you know that one with the green aprons? Anyway, and it was cool for a bit. I was closing there and then also working at LA Fitness, but you know, closing time was like 10 p.m., not 1 a.m. And I was just a barista for a little bit. I loved making drinks, that was like the part I o I like really liked about it, and the only part I liked about it, but just getting in a flow and just like being busy and just constantly making drinks, like that part I loved. And again, it was like COVID time, so the cafe was closed, so it was drive-through only, didn't have to deal with customers in the cafe. So it was it was a vibe for a little bit, you know, it was a little fun. I loved the making the drinks. Um we could like play our own music since our cafe was closed, so we were like listening to music. We all had the headsets on, so we all could just like talk to each other throughout the whole shift. So a little bit, a little bit, it was it was cool, it was cool for a bit, but oh my god, so the craziness came once I got promoted to a shift supervisor. And unfortunately, then I then like the cafes were opening and I had to be the one to like deal with any shit or any issues. Um I like did this because I got paid more, and obviously my manager at the time promised me that I would get guaranteed a certain amount of hours because he was like, How many hours do you need a week for me for you to get me to quit LA Fitness so that I could have more availability? So we like set a number that he was supposed to guarantee me every single week, and he would slack on that sometimes. I'd be like, Oh, I didn't reach my hours, so like you have to either give me the hours or I'm staying late or whatever, because he promised me a certain amount of hours to quit LA Fitness and then wasn't always delivering. But anyway, that certain manager, he just stopped showing up. We didn't see him for months at a time, and then he started asking us to do like his job, and we just never saw him for months, and then he made some condom joke and he got in trouble and he got fired anyway. It was a whole thing, and then he requested to follow me, like friend requested me on Facebook and social media, and I'm like, ew no, like what are you doing? And I know you're married, and like just ew, it was like ew, a whole icky mess. Um, but yeah, starting this shift supervisor job, oh, it led me to so many crazy stories and just trauma. Everyone there, all the like customers blame you for them possibly being late to work. Like, what? Like these things just like if you are one of these people, please listen to these stories and reroute your thinking. Cause like, what the fuck? Like, you are the one that decided to come here before work. How am I the one making you late? If you don't have time to come here before work, then don't come here before work. Don't you think everyone else wants their coffee before work? Don't you think this is probably our peak busiest time because everyone wants coffee in the morning? Like, are you dumb? Like, of course it's gonna be busy at that peak time before work because everyone had the same idea of you. So if you need your coffee before work, come a little bit earlier and then maybe you won't be late. It's not my fault. We're busy. Everyone in this building right now is trying to go to work and get their coffee. So you're not special, and we are not the reason that you were late. You decided to come here. This is not a requirement, this is not a necessity. You can get your ass to work without coming here, and if you have to come here before work, then plan accordingly. Like what? We are not that is not our fault, and everyone would blame us. Say you are making me late, I'm gonna be late to work. This and that. Like, okay, then probably go to work. Probably leave and go to work right now if you're gonna be late. Like, what? People just really shock me. Uh maybe not anymore after these years, but oh, like people's brains just don't make sense and it's unfathomable sometimes. And then another story. Oh, there was this lady. There's this lady, this we're still in my Atlanta store. Um, there's this lady that would come in all the time and be like, Can I get a grande latte but in a venti cup? Some people do that so they have extra room so it doesn't seal in their car, but she'd be like, I want a grande latte in a venti cup, and can you fill it up all the way? Well, the math is not mathing, because then that would just be a venti latte. And like that's the whole point of sizes and pricing, like different sizes. So we would go back and forth fighting on this. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna charge you for a ventilatte because that's what you're ordering. But she's like, nope, nope, no, this and that. Like, uh she would throw a fit, she would throw her drinks in her drive-through, like splash them everywhere, and then one night, um, later that night, she would call the store and she called and she's like could like yelling at me, calling me trash, calling the baristas trash. Like, you're a grown-ass woman, and you're calling to call all these like high schoolers and college kids trash, and then she proceeds to say, like, I keep your lights on, I pay your bills, I could get you fired, this and that. And I'm just like, Lady, you surely do not pay my bills, you surely do not keep my lights on. And you think I'm gonna listen to keep stay on the phone call right now and proceed to hear you call me trash and all these other names? Like, no, bye, hang up. And then we banned her from the store because she, you know, was calling all of people names and whatever, harassing us. So then she comes in and whatever, we refuse her service a different day, and she throws a huge fit. She starts recording everyone and saying we're discriminating against her and her elderly mom or whatever. Oh my god, like what? What? What? What are you doing with your life? Actually, it's kind of sad. Like, what is so wrong in your life that you feel like you need to act like this? Like, she must not be happy. She must be a miserable person to be doing this, you know? But it's hard in that moment to think that way. But yeah, you must I like I'm sorry for you. What's going in your life to make you such a sad person? Because only sad people act this way and treat others like this, you know? Uh, these are the moments that really thicken your skin and be like, oh my god, working in the customer service, you're literally just everyone's punching bag. You're there, everyone's therapist, punching bag, like whatever. Whatever for everyone to get out whatever they need on and not even notice. There's just a lot of people. It's crazy how many people are so entitled. Like everyone that would come in at any location I worked at so entitled, they like are disgraced when you don't know who they are. I'm like, do you know how many people I see a day? Like, who am I supposed to why am I supposed to know you? They want you to read their mind. Like, if I'm just doing my job, I'm like, hey, what can I get started for you? And they're just like, you don't know. Like, you don't know my order. I'm sorry, who are you? No, I don't know your order. Like, why is everyone so entitled? Why does everyone think you're famous? Hun, you're not. Like, sorry, you're not famous. Why should why uh everyone, everyone, everyone thinks you're famous, everyone is so disgusted when you don't know who they are. Who raised all these people? These grown-ass adults, too. Majority of the time, this was grown-ass adults speaking to this way to like 20-year-olds. Like, what is wrong with you? Who do you think you are? You're not special. You know how many people come into the Starbucks that I see? You are not special. No, I don't know you. And I'm literally just doing my job by asking, hey, what can I get started for you? And that offends them so much. And I'm like, I'm I I just work here. I'm just trying to do my job. What is wrong with you? Ugh, there was this regular. I want to say his name, but I won't. There was this regular. Let's call him E, because his name started with an E. E was like a six-year-old man, right? He was so rude, so rude, so disrespectful. Always come in, and if you don't know him, like it's a huge issue. He refuses to talk to you. Like he will not tell you his order. It's like so disrespectful, apparently. If you ask him what his order is, he will not like tell you anything, what's wrong. He will just expect you to read his fucking mind, and then if you can't read his mind, it's like a big thing, and you are like trash and you're so disrespectful. One day he came in like later in the afternoon and he had some problem like on his app in the morning when I wasn't there. So like I'm the manager, of course, I gotta deal with this shit. So I'm like, hey, like, so can you tell me what happened so I can try and help you? He was so offended. I asked that. He's like, Do you know who I am? You're disrespecting a six-year-old man right now. Why don't you know what is what happened? Like he wanted me to he wanted me to help him without him telling me what's wrong. Like the math just doesn't math with these people. Like, where are all these people coming from that act like this? Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I don't think I popped off like this since like episode four when I popped off on hinge dating. Cause it's like all coming back to me right now, and I just I don't get it. I don't get it. Like, where are all these people coming from? Why do people operate this and think like this? Like, how am I supposed to help you if you don't tell me what's wrong? I'm not disrespecting you. I don't care if you're a six-year-old man, no matter how old you are. You have to tell me what's wrong so that I can then help you. Anyway, he's like, I'm gonna talk to your manager. What about you and this and that? I'm like, okay, bye, sir. You think my manager is not on my side? Cause yeah, they are like, Oh, I love when they threaten like your job or like that other lady, like that I pay your bills. That's just so funny. That's so funny. Because at that time we had a manager that we kikied with, so sorry. You can talk to him all you want. Like, I'm sticking around. I'm sticking around, unfortunately, actually. Uh, but in all these moments, I think in working customer service, you really do trauma bond with your coworkers. It's like no one gets you like them because no one exactly knows your experiences as much as they do. Um, and then yeah, so when I like switched locations, it was like a weird goodbye because it's like, wow, we went through so much together. Only you know really what it's like because you're just you're fighting for your life. You're fighting for your life at the Square Bucks in your green apron every day with these people, so it really does something else to you. It is a weird, weird relationship. So then when I decided to move to Los Angeles, we're now transferring locations. Um, so we're transferring locations from Atlanta to an LA one when I moved. And right around when I moved last January to LA, Starbucks enacted this new rule where we no longer give out free waters and the bathrooms are for customers only. So moving to this location off Santa Monica Boulevard in LA, this was not gonna fly. This did not fly well. It did not go well for me or anyone there. This location was already like a horrible harassment location, but now it made it even worse because a lot of unhoused people would go and call scenes, and we weren't allowed to like let them use our bathroom or um give them waters, and it started a lot of harassment. I had I had 911 called on my phone like almost every shift, at least once or twice a week. And in LA, the police are busy, so it's like either they show up two hours later, they don't show up at all. Every once in a while they would show up within a reasonable time frame to help you. But really, like you could call them, but you can't always rely on them. I always had to like exaggerate just to get them to talk to me on the phone because they're like, We're busy, we have other things going on, and I don't care if you're being harassed, we are busy out here, so no, I can't help you. So it was it was a toll, a mental, mental toll. Just trying to do my job, and every single day I'm being screamed at, and I've been called a uh dick sucker, an asshole. One day I had to like work for two hours straight as this um man yelled at me and called me all those names, called me a dick some uh dick sucker, uh bitch, uh see you next Tuesday, and I just had to keep working as this man was shouting at me for two hours straight until the police came. Because obviously, like I couldn't put myself in danger, like physical danger, and go up to him. So that's like the environment every single day I had to work under. And oh my gosh, just uh God bless, God bless anyone who has to go through that because it was a lot, it was a lot. Like I was on the phone on the reg with 911, and anyway, so everyone would get so mad and we couldn't give waters or the bathroom, everyone would start yelling at us, and this and that, and people weren't allowed to hang out in the cafe unless they purchased something, so it just caused so many issues. Um, one day this woman started freaking out, and she started like bashing the like credit card reader and like yelling at me and this or that. So I was like pretty much saying she had to leave. Um so I like was trying to escort her out, and she ended up like slamming the doors in my fingers, and like three of my fingers started bleeding. Um, so that was fun because she was also like harassing all the customers. I was trying to ask her out the store escort her out the store, and yeah, she ended up slamming the door on my fingers and they started to bleed. So that was a lot of fun and had file police report, just a casual police report on your job when you're just trying to make money and live your life. Um, and then other P of my coworkers, one got like spit on, like a customer or a person spit across the counter at them in their face. Another one got hot water thrown on them. Um, I think I said this before, but also hack. A girly came in one time because she thought she was being followed. So we gave her a cup of hot water to carry around with her outside as self-defense. That is a hack. If you're feeling unsafe outside, go in, get a cup of hot water. So if you feel like someone's falling or whatever, you can throw hot water because that's dangerous and like actually causes burns. But yeah, I had a uh co-worker who got hot water thrown on them by a customer, one who got shoved, and I was told punched. I at least know she definitely got shoved. I'm not sure about the punch part, but they had a whole court case about it. Like it was just non-stop nonsense. And on top of that, at that time, we had a manager who was a little bit older, like didn't know how to handle all this. She was such a micromanager too, so made even just the workings of our job difficult. Like, I would try to be like I was good at my job, and I would and like the baristas that worked under me, like they loved me, like I could handle our shit and get the job done in a good way. And um, but she was such a micromanager and like would be on top of you and like just like changing all these things and confusing everyone. So, on top of her being like a bad boss in that sense, I don't know if she really knew how to handle these situations because one day um people would steal all the time, shoplift. Like they would literally just walk in, grab the merch off the wall, and walk off because they're like, What are you gonna do about it? And like the unhoused people would come in and like grab all the food out of the case from it and just like walk out. Because again, they're like, What are you gonna do about it? But this like man, I guess, was coming in. And stealing like the cups off the wall. So she starts like yelling at him. He leaves, but because she's yelling at him, I guess that like triggers him to come back. And as he's coming back to the store, she like keeps yelling at me to run up and like lock the door, like over and over and over again. Like she's yelling at me, go, go, go. So I start to go just off of reflex, but then I'm like, what am I doing? Like just a few weeks ago, someone slammed this door on my fingers. Like, why is she yelling at me to put myself between him and her? Because we got to the door at the same time and I backed off because he like came at me, and that all happened because my manager yelled at me to put myself in that situation. Like, what? What? We this is not worth it. This is not our our safety is not worth this in the customer service industry. So yeah, I had issues with this manager, and again, these stories I'm telling is why I'm like changing the name and not specifically saying the name, even though you know. Because yeah, like that's just like the situations we got placed in, and the person that was supposed to lead us and help us out was just not and putting us in more danger. And I, as I was like, she was yelling at me to run, and as I was walking towards her, I'm like, what am I doing? And I lifted my hands up and backed off because no matter how strong I am, no matter how much I'm in the gym, hey, like this tall ass, stronger man is gonna be stronger than me. Like he's gonna win at the door. So why am I like, no, I'm not gonna fight someone for this job. It's not right. Oh my gosh, really, so glad I don't work there anymore. But anyway, because uh they ended up closing this store down, and how all the employees found out was not by them, not by our manager. We just showed up to work one day and they are we they were putting up a four-lease sign on our building. So that's how all the employees found out that they might not have a job. So that was really nice of them, really respectful of their employees to tell us how the store's closing instead of they just put a sign up, and that's how everyone found out. And we're like, great, cool, cool, cool, cool. Right, right. We need money though. Okay, cool. So anyway, I transferred to a different location. A location that's in Brentwood. So it's in a nicer area. There's like security that drives around, so there's not as much as these harassment issues per se. But don't worry, there still were hella crazy stories from this store, just because there weren't the harassment stories. So at this new location, there was a manager who was younger, 24-year-old, worked off of emotion, had so much emotion, was very emotional-based, which you can't always do when you're the manager. He was petty, he was caused drama, he had a crush on my co-worker and caused drama around that. And then he, like, when I first started there, they had like a shift uh supervisor meeting that I was not at yet. He told me that all the other shift supervisors were saying certain things about me, and then later on, once I got close with them and talked to them about it, they were like, We didn't say that at all. Like he just made that up. Like he would just make stuff up and tell one person one thing and another person another thing, and it was just insane. I'm like, How are uh how are you our boss? Like, what is going on? Like, this is just unacceptable. He would then act like too, like the fact that we had lives outside of this place was like unacceptable to him. Like, if he asked us to stay later or work a day on our off day and we'd be like, we have other things to do, he'd be like, What? You you have other things to do out outside of this job? What you can't just like take your day off and come into work. You you you have other places to be, what? Like that's the reaction that we would get. So anyway, he ended up getting fired. He ended up getting fired for creating a toxic work environment. There was a big investigation, they had to interview us and all this drama when all this drama when we're just trying to make some money, we're just trying to have a flexible job and make some money, but yet no, it's never that easy. Never that easy. So he gets fired, and then guess who shows up as our new manager? I actually was gagged. I couldn't, I couldn't believe it. Gagged in a bad way. I walk into work, and before I see her, I hear her voice. And it's my old manager, the manager from that harassment store that tried to put me in danger, and I was like, no fucking way. No fucking way. I had gotten out from her, and yes, I was in this other bad scenario, but uh now I'm back under her in a bad scenario again, and I was like, I had no words, I was speechless, speechless, and I think I went to the bathroom and cried. I was like, what is this? I need to get out so bad, so bad. Ugh, I couldn't believe my life. I was like, oh my god, I can't believe she's back. I thought I got rid of her, and nope, she's back, she popped back up, and I lost my mind. I was like, this is not possible. Oh my god, but yeah, there were a few other things at that location. Like, oh, it was right by a school. So the afternoon after school rush, oh my god, I don't even know how to describe it. We're in Brentwood, so all these kids are spoiled and rich, right? They all come in with their parents' credit card, the whole school. It would be a mob house after school, Monday through Friday. A mob house of these kids. And when I'm telling you, these are the worst kids I've ever met in my life. Just horrible. So horrible. This working this job during those hours was the biggest birth control in my life. They were so horrible and mean. It made me so sad. They would bully each other, pick on each other, they would pee all over the bathrooms, they would get waters and chuck them at people walking on the street. They would just so horrible and mean children. And it's funny because whenever a parent would come in with their kid, they'll be like, Oh, I know, but it's not my kid. You don't know what your kid's like when you're not around. I'm just telling you right now, every parent who said that, I was like, Yeah, okay. I've seen what your kid is like when you're around versus when you're not around. And yeah, I hate to break it to you. I know you think it's not your own kid, but it is. It is, honey. I'm sorry, but oh my god, like they're actually the worst kids in the world. It was, I couldn't believe it. It was so sad, and I was like, biggest birth control. Like, no wonder I questioned if I want to have kids or not, because it was just so sad to see how they treat each other. It was so horrible, so horrible every day for two hours. Ugh anyway. So I don't know if well, I've definitely mentioned it on here, but I ended up getting laid off from this job, which was a blessing in disguise. But how they approached it, and it also why I'm calling it SquareBucks is because we had assigned some paperwork for our severance pay and stuff, and I'm pretty sure there was something about an NDA and stuff, but yeah, so I don't really know. Hopefully, hopefully no one comes for me for this podcast episode because I'm not sure I'm supposed to be saying any of this, but also like an NDA for this job, like kind of dramatic. But obviously, they have a lot of hide, and obviously this company was in the headlines all the time. They loved a headline, they loved being in a headline, they always had drama, they loved being in a headline. So, anyway, we got laid off. We were told, I think, two days before they were closing the store. Luckily, I was out of town at my best friend's wedding, so that was interesting. It was good and bad because I was like, didn't tell anyone because obviously it was there for my friend, so like, and then I was like flying back into an unknown situation, but also like it was good to take my mind off and be around my friend, so good and bad. But laid off, got two-day notice. They told everyone that they may just transfer us to a different store. I think they just told everyone that so that they would show up for their shifts the next like two days and help clean out the store. I wasn't there, but anyway, they didn't transfer anyone, they laid everyone off. And then within the next few weeks, multiple other managers contacted me trying to hire rehire me. And I said, Well, I went to an interview and I said afterwards, yeah, no. Sorry, no, sorry, this was just for sitch and giggles. Um, it actually was like the best thing ever to get laid off because I was trying to get out of these jobs for a while, but obviously we all know the job market is horrible. I had been applying to so many other jobs that I would rather do and just nothing worked out or like paid what I was getting paid, or like, you know, no insurance, whatever. I don't have that now. Love, live, laugh, love. Well, I have to pay for it now, you know, not through my job. Anyway, I'm rambling, rambling, rambling on, but got laid off. They told us two days in advance and kind of changed my life. Before, um, before I got laid off, obviously I was so excited to move here and so happy, but the stress of these customer service jobs was really taking like a number on me and my mental health, and I just had it in my head, like, I'll be happy as soon as I get another job. Like, I'll be happy again once I get a different job. And then I got laid off and I was like, could breathe a little bit. Obviously, being laid off is stressful and it was scary at times, but it led me to a job now that I'm just no matter what happens there, I'm like, at least I don't work in the like it's still kind of in customer service. It's in a restaurant, but definitely in a different way than these other customer service environments. But every day when I'm driving home at 4 a.m. from the club, I'm like, thank God I'm not going into work right now. I had a certain alarm that would go off at 3 15, whatever ringtone of that alarm. If I ever hear it, I literally get I get triggered. I'm like, think my alarm's going off that early in the morning to go to work and be at work by 4 a.m. Oh, I I actually can't like that was horrible. Horrible, horrible,

Conclusion

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horrible. But anyway, here we are now. We got out, we started this podcast. I'm at a job I like better. And we're we're working through the customer service trauma. But I feel like it really, I feel like people who maybe have worked in customer service or these type of jobs will relate to this, relate these stories. Hopefully you found them entertaining because some of them are just like absolutely crazy. The things I've gone through over the years are crazy, and I think, yeah, people who have worked these kind of jobs like understand. And I'm sure you have lots of crazy stories yourself. I'd like to hear them. And but they these things they made me a better person. Like, I you you do have to work a customer service job, I think, at least some point in your life, because it will make you so understanding to other employees and what they're going through, and it'll make you so much more respectful and like just a better human and really thick in your skin. Like, I've been called every name under the sun during my job. So, yeah. I think hopefully, hopefully, it may be a better person. At least, at least I got something out of it, because you gotta hold on to whatever you can get out of it. Um, so yeah, I want to hear your stories if you have them. This was I really popped off. I really just got brought back to these days, and they made me really emotional again. But yeah, I hope you enjoyed. I hope you could relate. I hope you share your stories um with me. I want to hear. And um, yeah, we're gonna get into some more spirals and topics next week. And yeah. Live, laugh, love. I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying anymore, guys. I was up early and did solid core. I was up early at 6 30 in the morning. I don't know what I'm saying anymore, okay? So I gotta go. I gotta go to my other job now. Back to work, but anyway. Um, love you guys. Hope you have an amazing rest of your day, rest of your week. Stay tuned for more episodes, and yeah, until next time.