I'm sure everybody here that works retail has plenty of stories of strange customers, idiots, etc... let's share!
*** LONG STORY ALERT ***
I work at a small hobby/crap store in town.. we sell pretty much everything that other stores couldn't sell 10 years ago. So we get our share of regulars... but the best one started earlier this year.
This guy comes in one day (3 months ago or so), and right away I could tell he was strange. He wears jeans and a black button up shirt tucked in... every day. He has long curly black hair, with a beard and mustache, and he's pretty skinny. He looked like a pirate is what he looked like... So he comes in and he starts talking to us.. telling us stories that we don't care about., and generally acting strange. He's the kind of person who thinks he's our friend, but we hate him.
At first he wasn't too annoying, but then one day he found out that we sell large steel ball-bearings. He started going crazy, because he collect marbles of all types, and he's been looking for these all his life. So he starts going nuts and is taking them all out and looking at them.. and this is where the fun starts. He started coming in literally every day to look at the marbles. He'd buy them sometimes, but mostly he would come in, take them out, polish them, examine them, re-examine them, etc... and talk to us. Now there is little traffic in our store most of the time, so he can just stand there at the front and talk to us pretty easily. Well he starts telling us all these stories of his life, how he's rich, he doesn't need to work, how he lives in an apartment, he drives a $135,000 Camero (???), yadda yadda yadda. EVERY DAY.
Now, it's hard to describe this guy exactly... just the way he talks and acts is strange. Not threatening... but he just exaggerates everything, talking real slow and dramatic.. it's strange. He tells us how he also collects rare coins.. and how he has this solid gold coin that was the only one made, and how it's so perfect that the International Coin Raters or whatever they are, can't even rate it for him.
He also is a 3 time world champion slot car racer... he collects knives... he's apparently filthy rich... etc etc etc. He tells us stories of his life out of nowhere. He's a fruit.
So anyway, fast forward a month. I try to avoid talking to him, because I hate him by now. My co-workers still try to humor him. My boss is a spineless little buy who just wants to make everyone happy, and this guy keeps getting him to order different marbles and stuff for him. So whenever he talks to me, I always just ignore him. It's pretty obvious too.. I'll be standing there, he'll say something to me, and I won't respond in the least. So he starts telling my co-workers while I am not there that I'm not friendly, I'm a 'poindexter' (What the..?), etc. And by this time I have been told by my co-workers that he has been asking about other female co-workers... mentioning things about where they go to school, their personal lives, etc.
So my sister started working at my store about a month ago, so I have been fairly aggressive on trying to get this guy kicked out. He seemed to realize that I hate him, so he managed to not show up much when I was there... hence not allowing me to kick him out (my boss won't). One day while I am working, my co-worker tells me that he came in one day and told my boss that I called the police on him. I had no idea what he was talking about... but apparently I stepped out to make a phone call one day, and at the same time, a police car showed up for another reason parked across the street. Ok... So then one day my sister tells me that he came in and was showing off this knife he had around his neck... he just pulled it out right there and was showing them, saying "I'll bet you've never seen such a beautiful specimen... exquisite... " etc.. (that's how he talks most of the time). So I get pretty upset, and tell all my co-workers to call me when he comes in so I can come and ban him fromt he store/ call the police for real. However, he hasn't shown up in the last couple weeks now.
So now I am mad that he WON'T come back in... because I want to make sure that he never steps foot in my store again after I leave for college.
Long story, and it's hard to grasp exactly how this guy acts... but it's the best I can do.
*** LONG STORY ALERT ***
I work at a small hobby/crap store in town.. we sell pretty much everything that other stores couldn't sell 10 years ago. So we get our share of regulars... but the best one started earlier this year.
This guy comes in one day (3 months ago or so), and right away I could tell he was strange. He wears jeans and a black button up shirt tucked in... every day. He has long curly black hair, with a beard and mustache, and he's pretty skinny. He looked like a pirate is what he looked like... So he comes in and he starts talking to us.. telling us stories that we don't care about., and generally acting strange. He's the kind of person who thinks he's our friend, but we hate him.
At first he wasn't too annoying, but then one day he found out that we sell large steel ball-bearings. He started going crazy, because he collect marbles of all types, and he's been looking for these all his life. So he starts going nuts and is taking them all out and looking at them.. and this is where the fun starts. He started coming in literally every day to look at the marbles. He'd buy them sometimes, but mostly he would come in, take them out, polish them, examine them, re-examine them, etc... and talk to us. Now there is little traffic in our store most of the time, so he can just stand there at the front and talk to us pretty easily. Well he starts telling us all these stories of his life, how he's rich, he doesn't need to work, how he lives in an apartment, he drives a $135,000 Camero (???), yadda yadda yadda. EVERY DAY.
Now, it's hard to describe this guy exactly... just the way he talks and acts is strange. Not threatening... but he just exaggerates everything, talking real slow and dramatic.. it's strange. He tells us how he also collects rare coins.. and how he has this solid gold coin that was the only one made, and how it's so perfect that the International Coin Raters or whatever they are, can't even rate it for him.
So anyway, fast forward a month. I try to avoid talking to him, because I hate him by now. My co-workers still try to humor him. My boss is a spineless little buy who just wants to make everyone happy, and this guy keeps getting him to order different marbles and stuff for him. So whenever he talks to me, I always just ignore him. It's pretty obvious too.. I'll be standing there, he'll say something to me, and I won't respond in the least. So he starts telling my co-workers while I am not there that I'm not friendly, I'm a 'poindexter' (What the..?), etc. And by this time I have been told by my co-workers that he has been asking about other female co-workers... mentioning things about where they go to school, their personal lives, etc.
So my sister started working at my store about a month ago, so I have been fairly aggressive on trying to get this guy kicked out. He seemed to realize that I hate him, so he managed to not show up much when I was there... hence not allowing me to kick him out (my boss won't). One day while I am working, my co-worker tells me that he came in one day and told my boss that I called the police on him. I had no idea what he was talking about... but apparently I stepped out to make a phone call one day, and at the same time, a police car showed up for another reason parked across the street. Ok... So then one day my sister tells me that he came in and was showing off this knife he had around his neck... he just pulled it out right there and was showing them, saying "I'll bet you've never seen such a beautiful specimen... exquisite... " etc.. (that's how he talks most of the time). So I get pretty upset, and tell all my co-workers to call me when he comes in so I can come and ban him fromt he store/ call the police for real. However, he hasn't shown up in the last couple weeks now.
So now I am mad that he WON'T come back in... because I want to make sure that he never steps foot in my store again after I leave for college.
Long story, and it's hard to grasp exactly how this guy acts... but it's the best I can do.
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