It\’s been over a decade since I worked in retail but reading this sub lately has brought back so many memories and I thought I would start to share.

I worked in a store selling dvds, cds, games, vinyl and a bunch of other entertainment related stuff. This story took place the day after the launch of the Nintendo Wii.

Our store had guaranteed that if you had pre-ordered a Wii by a certain date then you would get one. If you had not pre-ordered then it was first come, first served for the remaining stock. No one was able to place an order or reserve one after the release day as we could not guarantee when we would get stock back in.

The day after the release, we had just opened and I was standing by the entrance of the door to greet customers when this big angry looking guy comes charging through the door straight up to me …

Customer: do you have any Nintendo Wii\’s in stock ?

Me: Hi, I\’m sorry we sold out of the stock we had yesterday.

…on hearing this the customer stamped his foot and slammed his shopping bags against his side. I knew at that point drama was about to unfold.

Customer: Right, well I want to pre order one.

Me: I\’m sorry, we can no longer take pre orders as it\’s now after release day and we are unable to take orders as we cannot guarantee when we will receive stock back in since the product is in such high demand

Customer: That\’s a lie!

Me: What?

Customer: You are lying to me, I was in here 2 weeks ago and was told if I pre ordered I was guaranteed one on the day of release!

At this point, I\’m thinking maybe I\’ve misunderstood and he has in fact pre ordered so I make an attempt at clarifying…

Me: Oh, are you here to collect a pre order? Do you have your order slip and receipt?

Customer: No I don\’t have a slip, you should have one for me because I enquired about wanting one weeks ago! Either give me one now or order one for me! My son wants one!

Me: That\’s not how it works unfortunately, we only pre order with a deposit. If you have not paid a deposit then we do not have a pre order for you. I cannot order you one either as our system will not let us.

Customer: This is ridiculous! Get me a manager right now as you are obviously incapable of sorting this mess out. I\’m not leaving here without the Wii!

As angry as this guy already was, he was about to get even angrier as I now had to inform him that I was in fact the manager on duty and the only one around.

(I was a supervisor who did opening and closing – supervisors were designated managers on duty when there were no real grown ups around)

The guy flipped out…pointing his finger in my face, calling me a liar, telling me there is no way some little girl was a manager.

Just as I was starting to worry this guy was about to physically assault me something wonderful happened. I felt something brush over the top of my shoulder from behind and suddenly the customers face dropped and he was being dragged towards the door.

Unbeknown to me, our security guard had just come on shift and was just entering the shop floor when he heard the customer screaming at me. He walked straight up from behind me, grabbed the guy by his neck and dragged him outside backwards telling him \”you\’re done.\”

Once outside, the guy stood between me and the security guard…almost foaming at the mouth with rage for a good minute before turning and storming out of sight.