I'm a cake decorator at a chain grocery store. Maximum output for stagnant wages. Yesterday was mother's day and my boss and the lead took off so I was there alone. It was very busy.
This (50s?) woman comes to the counter right before the end of my shift and says she needs a white sheet cake with white frosting. I had made some but they were all gone. I gave her the autopilot response I give 50 times a day. “I'm so sorry we only have what's out there. Did you check the big freezer there?”
“But those cakes are frozen..”
“They'll be good after about 20 minutes.”
“Ohh reeeeally?? Well thank you! /s”
I thought she was gone but then she came back. “Those are all marble and chocolate. I need a white cake.”
So I stop what I'm doing and go out front to show her we don't have any because she clearly isn't understanding. I apologize again and tell her, again, that this is all we have left.
“Well go to the back and get me a white cake.”
“There aren't any back there.”
“WHO IS YOUR SUPERVISOR?? GET ME YOUR SUPERVISOR RIGHT NOW. WHAT IS YOUR NAME?”
“You can go to customer service if you have a complaint. They're all very busy right now.”
“No! You call your supervisor here right now.”
I didn't want to lose my job so I went to the back to calm down hoping she'd go away. Nope. She's still there when I come back and starts switching from asking me questions about cakes in the case to demanding to see a “supervisor” and calling me rude for not helping her. Then she says this- “You know, I'm from the place that handles your benefits!” This bitch really tried to threaten me with my health insurance; and I just got a test result with abnormal cell growth that'll need a lot of attention. I felt like crying.
Short story, I called a pissed off manager back and they had to soothe the irate customer. She picked out a cake and had me write on it. I got told to calm down and always make sure the customer is taken care of even if they're being rude. “Your face showed a bit of an attitude on it.”
I'm just so fucking tired of this!! I'm tired of being treated less than human for having a shitty job. I make $14 an hour and my health insurance eats a lot of it. Wtf makes a person treat another human being like that? Throwing a damn tantrum and making threats because we didn't have a specific cake?? To a working mom who's just trying to get home after a long ass shift on mother's day. Just fucking ridiculous. If I have cancer I can't even quit because I need my insurance. I'll have to keep working even if I end up dying anyway.
Oh and it turns out she doesn't work for our company at all. She just lives in the town our headquarters are at and “knows people.”