Shop Worker Is Cheered for Epic Response That Left Customer Speechless

A woman's response to an entitled customer is being applauded online. A rude shopper was caught trying to scam the retail worker, not realizing her father owns the business.

Sharing the tale with Reddit's Petty Revenge forum, user u/eightballwitch explained she works at her father's store. Managing the front counter, she spends most of her day interacting with customers.

Her dad also runs a second business, so it's not uncommon for clients to come looking for him during her shifts. One day, a man shows up looking "pretty ruffled," asking if her father was around.

After telling the man that her father was out running errands, he became "very loud [and] unprofessional." The man then attempted to "trade" an item to cover some work her dad supposedly owes him money for.

"Keep in mind I know most of my dad's workers and have never seen this guy before," the daughter added. "I can't just let him leave the store with something for free."

The poster told the man that she doesn't handle negotiations, and that her boss wouldn't approve the decision.

In response, he told her: "You're making a big mistake here and you must not know _____ very well, because he would do this for me and blah blah blah."

The poster just looked at him and replied: "I actually do know him quite well, seeing as he is my father."

The man became speechless, and eightballwitch could tell that he felt stupid.

"He ended up waiting around in his truck for my dad to show up and guess what? He wasn't gonna do a trade," she explained. "It's almost like I know my boss well."

Reddit users found the story hilarious, with the post receiving over 14,000 upvotes.

Why Do Some People Become Entitled Customers?

Anyone who has worked in customer service will have a few horror stories, but what turns a person into every worker's worst nightmare?

Frank Thewes, therapist and owner of Path Forward Therapy LLC, told Newsweek that entitled customer behavior is usually about power, rather than a discount.

"It's highly referential and comparison-based," Thewes said. "[They're thinking], 'I'm above you because you're a service worker.'"

Describing this behavior as "false empowerment," Thewes added that entitled customers often lack power in other areas of their lives. Their attempts to belittle or scam service workers can temporarily boost their self-esteem, but leads to deeper humiliation if it backfires. Physical or verbal abuse is a more extreme example, but often originates from the same source.

"It's a desperate attempt to feel some power and value in a life that usually feels the opposite," Thewes said.

'Relatable'

Fellow Reddit users shared their own amusing anecdotes, with liquorcat26 writing: "This is so relatable."

"I worked for a friend years ago. I had one woman try to tell me she was his wife... I said 'really, when did he get divorced again?'" wrote Ok_Tea8204.

"I once had a woman imply that she was sleeping with the owner of our restaurant to get 50% off a cheesecake. I lived out of state and people didn't know me, so she had no idea she was talking about my dad," commented vhn1542.

"[A woman] asked to speak to the owner or manager. I literally did a 360 and introduced myself again," posted S13pointFIVE.

"Had a boss who told us that if anyone ever pulled 'I'm a friend [o]f the owner,' we were to respond [with] 'I know the owner. He has no friends,'" commented Excellent_Squirrel 86.

User bitemark01 wrote: "A place I used to work at had an office cat, named something like 'Mr Tibbs.'

"It was a really small business but they listed him on their website as head of HR.

"So occasionally they'd get cold calls saying how they're good friends and they have business etc etc, it was pretty funny."

Newsweek reached out to u/eightballwitch via Reddit for comment. We could not verify the details of the case.

Have you had a workplace dilemma? Let us know via life@newsweek.com. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek.