40 Weird Customer Requests That Retail Workers Shared

Working in retail can be incredibly challenging.

Damjan

Published in Funny
17 Feb 2021

40 Weird Customer Requests That Retail Workers Shared

Anyone who has ever worked in retail knows how tough it can be. You encounter all kinds of people. Some are good and kind, while others are not so much. There is one particular type of customer—those who come to the store solely to make your life miserable. There is simply no other explanation for these strange customer requests.

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Twitter user Pigeon Fancier asked, "What's the most ridiculous demand a customer has made of you?" The answers came flooding in! We have compiled a list of the weirdest demands, and we know you are going to enjoy them.

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Research published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology in 2017 concluded that people treat retail employees worse when they're looking for good deals than when they are less price-conscious. The University of British Columbia (UBC) research team examined several aspects to determine how customers treated workers. One variable that researchers investigated was the language customers used when addressing employees.

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They discovered that clients of the budget airline Ryanair used fewer humanizing words than those flying with Lufthansa. Researchers believe this plays a significant role in how clients treat employees.

"When shoppers focus solely on paying the lowest price, they become less attuned to understanding the human needs of others, or even recognizing them," stated Johannes Boegershausen, a UBC Sauder Ph.D.

Researchers also examined customers' attitudes toward personnel by showing them photos of a flight attendant in the Ryanair (budget) uniform, the Lufthansa (luxury) uniform, and a neutral uniform.

"We simply varied the brand and found that people ascribed lower capabilities for experiencing emotions and feelings to the Ryanair flight attendant," Boegershausen explained.

In another study, participants interacted in a live chat with a rude customer service agent. They were then given a chance to punish the worker through a complaint. The participants were 18% more likely to give a bad rating to an employee when they were price-conscious than when they were not.