Service workers reveal epic stories of karmic retribution for rude customers

Working in the service industry isn't easy. Whether the barista behind the Starbucks counter, the fast food worker at the drive-thru or retail worker helping customers, all must deal with irate customers, some of whom are so angry it becomes an absurd story. Some of those horror stories went viral this week when food service workers turned to Reddit to tell their worst cases of instant karma on rude customers.

One fast food worker was covering the drive-thru window and cooking food when a customer drove up, paid for his meal and then threw a bunch of trash at her through the window before speeding off. "A couple seconds later I hear a small bang of metal on metal. I walk to the lobby and look out the windows. The douchebag slammed into a police cruiser who was about to loop around and use the drive thru himself," RedditWhileWorking23 wrote.

At a convenience store Reddit user faxinator worked at as a teen, a man brought several cans of food to the counter and stacked them up in a pyramid-like shape. Faxinator was still in training and watching the boss ring up the cans. One by one she took a can from the pile to ring it up. Once she reached the bottom, she discovered the man had pulled his pants down to display his penis behind the cans. Without hesitation faxinator's boss took a can and smashed it.

Sanch3z90 watched her co-worker get bawled out by a hotel customer who wanted a refund for his room. She wouldn't do it because his reasons seemed like they were made up. "He threw his receipt on the floor and powered walked his way out into a very clean glass door," she wrote.

A server at a popular corporate bar and restaurant was waiting on a couple that was rude and belligerent, taking up the table for two hours. "They waited till I bused another table and went back to the kitchen, wrote 'bad service' and drew a d*ck on their check...then walked out without paying," StabbiSabi wrote. Unfortunately, they left their keys and a cell phone behind. "Sure enough, they called, manager answered and politely and enthusiastically told them to come right in [to get their stuff]. And when they did, I sat there holding the keys and cell phone with a huge smile on my face, while my manager demanded payment for their $129 tab."

PsychoSemantics was once a pastry chef at a place that did high tea when "some snobby rich lady pull the 'don't you know who I am?!' thing, treated the staff like sh*t the entire way through...and then her credit card got declined at the end."

Anyone working retail has a shoplifter story but the one NermalKitty posted is truly epic. Working retail at an electronics store that sells DVDs, NermalKitty asked those working on the floor to assist customers to find reasons to check on the shoplifters once they're spotted.  One shoplifter was spotted and a customer service staffer gave them a hand basket, signaling that they knew. The shoplifters then started walking around the store putting DVDs in random places to ditch the things he was stealing. After each DVD was left behind, one of the staff would follow behind and pick it up. "So they start freaking out," NermalKitty describes. "They dump the rest and just book it towards the door full speed. No one chased bc they ditched all the merchandise. As they exit one of the dudes turns around and starts flipping everyone off yelling 'F*** (store name)!' As he's doing this, he steps off the curb into the front driveway in the parking lot and promptly gets hit by a car."

But it wasn't just customers. Some stories were about manager horror stories. Like the manager that wouldn't let an employee come in late so she could attend her college graduation, bad managers are taking their power trip out on workers under them everywhere. Reddit user EmberDione explained that the worst manager was one that played favorites. Those she liked were allowed to stay home during a dangerous storm where other businesses shut down. EmberDione had to work with a few other employees, did everything needed, but without customers, there was nothing left to do. The manager was livid and threatened to write them up for standing around watching the treacherous wind bend the trees. Just after yelling at the staff, the wind blew the giant air conditioner off the building, into the parking lot and directly into her car, flattening it.