20 Managers Share The Most Eccentric Complaints They’ve Heard

You could be going about your work day minding your own business but someone could take offence that you keep to yourself and next thing you know, you’re in front of the manager facing a complaint. Sometimes it can even seem like the world is full of people working hard to be offended. 

#1

Not my employee, but a lady did complain that the employee was cutting her fudge “too aggressively”.

Image source: GiggleTwin, ROMAN ODINTSOV

#2

One of the trades working for me right now asked me to kick a guy off site because he doesn’t talk much. Like, the guy was competent, friendly enough, but just didn’t really have a lot to say about anything. Other workers on site would pester him about things and he’d give 2-3 word answers most of the time.

I get that people like to be able to talk to people working next to them, but how am I supposed to justify getting this guy off site simply for not being talkative?

Image source: P0ster_Nutbag, Life Of Pix

#3

Karen didn’t like one of our Cashier’s giant [breasts] distracting her 12-year-old son.

Image source: randy88moss, Andrea Piacquadio

#4

I had a customer complain that our carrot sticks were too thick and were for horses. She threw it at my server…which she then ran to me in tears. I walked out there and she was just some stupid c**t who wanted to make someone have a bad day. Her words were, “it’s our job as customers to let you know every thing that’s wrong.”

How about you f**k your self and treat people like human beings?

Image source: SalveBrutus, Antoni Shkraba

#5

I had a 55-ish year old man on THANKSGIVING scream at the top of his lungs at me for about…. 30 minutes because the employee was using the same bathroom that his daughter could potentially use.

In short. one of the employees was using the single-use bathroom. We had four other bathrooms in the Theatre. He got there first and was already inside when she walked up. He was mad that she (his daughter) had to walk into the women’s room next to it use THAT Bathroom.

He wanted me to reprimand the employee in front of him, and then fire him “For using the wrong bathroom”

I refused to do so. He literally stomped around and threw a tempter tantrum like a child.

Image source: SpacyCats, Maria Orlova

#6

Used to manage a sporting goods store in a strip mall. The whole storefront was large glass windows. I got a couple of comments from customers and other employees that one of the guys was pretending to be a cat. I had never seen it myself, but the kid was a little off typically, so I figured I’d look into it. I drove to the store in a different car than usual on my day off, when he was scheduled for a shift. Sure enough, this 18 year old boy was standing in the window licking his hands like paws, batting at things, and meowing to himself. I watched for five minutes, with customers entering the store and he wasn’t even attempting to help them. I called my district manager and told him what was going on. He checked the security camera, thanked me, and told me he’d come take care of it so I could enjoy the rest of my day off.

Image source: householdplumbus, Antonio Sokic

#7

Customer called my manager because I was off the clock and wouldn’t help her. It was my day off and she demanded I help her because she knew I was an employee there. I just walked away while she had a tantrum in the store.

Image source: Rxckless92, Talal Hakim

#8

I own an establishment that serves alcohol. We had a guy complain that the bartender was pouring his beer into “gay glassware” and I need to train him to pour beer for men into manly glasses. He was dead-a*s serious.

Image source: fukn10ply, ELEVATE

#9

I was working customer service at the time, the guy wanted to complain that the agent he just spoke to was too attractive to be on the phones. I wasn’t sure if he was phisihing for a physical description or legit concerned that her voice was going to tempt him to hell and damnation through sinning. Either way, I flagged his account written communication only and he never had to worry about us speaking to him again.

Image source: tdasnowman, MART PRODUCTION

#10

We have a store next to a massage business. A woman complained that the loud cackling of the manager of my store ruined her massage. Really funny.

Image source: mastad0420, Elina Fairytale

#11

I was a supervisor/manager and an official complaint was filed against me because I told my team to do their work. My project manager had to have an official talk with me, laughed the whole time, and then thanked me for actually making that team do more than go to lunch.

Image source: jmartyg, Andrea Piacquadio

#12

I once had a manager come up in a sort of serious way and say “so, um… One of your co-workers said you were asking about his favorite teletubby and he’s just kinda a little freaked out about it” One of my proudest moments at work.

Image source: anon, 70023venus2009

#13

Not a manager but years ago at a job I got called into the office of the big boss. My boss was also there. I was told about my unacceptable behavior from that morning. Confused, I asked what I did. Apparently, my boss passed by my desk that morning and said “good morning” and I said nothing back. They told me it was unprofessional to be giving her “the silent treatment.” I laughed because I thought they were joking around. They were totally f*****g serious and didn’t believe me when I said I just didn’t hear her. They gave me an hour speech about how mean and unprofessional I was and how bad I hurt my bosses feelings.

Image source: gouwbadgers, Djordje Petrovic

#14

I work in a gas station so we sell a lot of cigarettes I had a young looking lady asking me to fire an employee because he carded her. She was 28. I don’t know about you but I would have taken it as a compliment.

Image source: anon, RDNE Stock project

#15

My MIL is a customer service manager at a grocery store. She had a customer complain to her once that the cashiers had followed her home and vandalized her yard with the sale papers from the store. She said she would have taken a photo, but by the time she got her camera the cashiers had cleaned it all up.

This same woman had many other complaints, but that was the first one I thought of.

Image source: Cadence_828, Nik Cvetkovic

#16

I’m not a manager, but I once worked with a manager who liked to share the oddball complaints with us.

The manager of another department made a formal complaint against me because I was too *friendly*. He felt it was a huge waste of his precious time to have to say hello back to me every time we passed in the hallway.

One of my colleagues had a complaint made against him for being too *helpful*. He offered to press the lift call button for a woman in a wheelchair, who couldn’t reach it by herself. She found it ‘belittling’.

Another colleague was accused of being too *happy*. Whistling a tune while walking from one work order to the next. Disgusting.

And I collected another complaint for being too quick. A user claimed that I couldn’t possibly have fixed his computer in the few minutes I spent in his office. The manager got him to switch it on and he had to admit that it worked fine now.

Image source: I_throw_socks_at_cat, Andrea Piacquadio

#17

Manger at Walmart. A older woman would call at least once a week for a month to complain that my employee was a witch who put a curse on the toaster she bought and she wanted the employee fired.

Image source: DerpyTheCow47, Erica Strolen

#18

I used to manage a dominos pizza. The only complaint I personally ever receiving was from some lady who freaked out because her sandwich took so long to make. While she was talking to my cashier up front I overheard her order and had it made and halfway through the oven before she even paid. She waited a maximum 3-4 minutes after paying and then went off on me for my poor customer service and inability to do my job. She asked for the manager on duty and surprise! Told her to get the hell out of my store and not come back.

Image source: USDAprimebeef69, Muffin Creatives

#19

Not a manager, but my manager did share with me the weirdest complaints he’d gotten about me.

One was that I didn’t flirt with the customer. I was being “so nice and helpful”, but me not flirting with this customer was apparently worth complaining to my manager about me.

Second weirdest was this older woman screaming at my manager about being “inappropriate”. According to her, I was doing some very lewd things to my coworker in full view.

What had actually happened was this coworker sent a friend to ask me out, and I pulled him aside afterward to talk to him about it. We were close together, in an alcove, and talking quietly because I didn’t want the entire store to hear me tell him I was gay and thus unable to be interested. Somehow in her dirty mind, this translated into something much more X-rated.

Image source: murrimabutterfly, Polina Zimmerman

#20

I’m a bartender, and I had someone complain that the fish our restaurant served would give her coronavirus. Second best complaint was that she didn’t like me serving her because I was “being haunted by something.”

Image source: dollyeyedgore, Valeria Boltneva