Here's mine:
I was working at my local community college for about three years at the ID and information desk. The title "information desk" was always slightly wrong; we didn't have all the answers, we only really knew where to send people to the departments that could answer questions for them.
It would happen ALL THE TIME that customers, typically parents of young college kids, would come to ask us questions and expect us to know everything. For example, "How do I fill out this section of the financial aid form?" or, "How do I pay this late fee for tuition?"
I make student ID's, but I didn't work in financial aid or the cashiering departments. So, I'd redirect them to the office that could help. Every time? They'd say, "Aren't you supposed to be the information desk?"
It's clever at first, but after you've heard it for the nineteenth time during your first hour of an eleven hour shift on the first day of school, it gets a little old.
Anyway, I digress.
I worked out at a campus that mostly had nursing classes, and only a few generals. My campus also handled parking tickets, and guess who gets yelled at every time someone doesn't read the signs littered around the parking lot stating they need a parking pass?
You guessed it.
So, one lazy day, I'm working by myself, and a student probably in his early twenties comes storming up to my desk, parking ticket in hand. I already know this isn't going to end in us holding hands and singing Kumbaya.
So here's the deal: I was a student at some point, myself. I know what it's like to not have very much money, and parking tickets always really suck. It is literally my job to take people's money when they come in with tickets. It isn't anything personal, and you're always welcome to pay later, but the fee of the ticket doubles after seven days. Our tickets were $10 USD, usually.
As it turns out, this guy with the ticket had four overdue, unpaid tickets. That's $80, guys. Once you have four unpaid tickets, our meter maids put a boot on your car. The boot is $25 to get removed.
This poor guy owed the school just over $100 dollars, and he was furious, because he couldn't go anywhere until he paid all his tickets and I made the call to parking services to get the boot removed. He was rightly angry, because who wouldn't be? So, he comes up to my desk, slams the ticket on my counter, and says, "Why'd you boot me?"
I was sympathetic - that sucks, after all. I told him I was sorry, and that once he paid for his tickets, I could call someone to get the boot off.
He snorts - actually snorts, muttered "Fucking leaches," under his breath, and then said, "You know I pay thousands of dollars a semester to come here, right? Shouldn't the parking at least be free?"
I was pretty tempted to give him the "I just work here" line, but I'm shy, and I buckle when people yell at me. Instead I told him that we have the cheapest parking in the state. Our year-long passes at the time were only $30. One semester was $15. You could buy a single day pass for $1. Our local university single-semester pass costs well over $200, for comparison. Their tickets are RIDICULOUS.
Once I made it clear that he could appeal the tickets with parking services, but he still had to pay first and they would reimburse him later, he grudgingly began to fill out the appeal form. I pointed down the hall and told him, "You'll have to turn the form in to the cashier's desk, right down there, but I can't take them personally. They're on lunch but they'll be back in thirty minutes."
He looked at me, said, "Are you serious?" and I nodded.
He very violently crumpled up the form, knocked over my mug of pens, and stormed out, called me a "money hungry bitch", mentioned more about how much he paid for tuition, and then said something about how this would never happen at a "real university".
I in no way got any money from parking tickets. I made nine dollars an hour. Once again, I primarily made student ID cards, but I have a dozen stories just like this about people that blamed me for their parking tickets. One lady even told me she would call the police because I had ticketed her unfairly (her argument was that she didn't know she needed a parking pass).
((Also I wasn't the one that actually ticketed. I just sat behind my desk all day.))
Anyway, I felt kinda crappy for the rest of the day, but I have no idea how that guy got home.
I really hope he didn't try to drive with the boot on his car.
So, that was long-winded! Anyone else have similar customer stories? I'd love to hear them. Please feel free to contribute, and if you made it all the way down here, you have the patience of a saint. Let's swap stories!