Managers of Reddit past or present, what is your favorite "I AM the manager" story?

1. I worked at a restaurant where you filled in a ticket with all the ingredients you wanted on your pasta/pizza/salad. There were large boards above a counter explaining how to order correctly. Once customers filled out their ticket they could bring it to the register. During a weekend lunch rush with a line of at least 25 people, a woman comes up to the counter and tells our cashier what she wants. When the cashier told her that he needed a ticket she got annoyed about the "inconvenience," all while the line builds up behind her. She demands to be given a ticket and begins filling it out right there. Seeing this, I come up to the cashier and tell him to ring up the people behind her while she takes her sweet time making the important decision of which pasta sauce she wants. She finally finishes, pays, and sits with her gaggle of companions. Later she comes up to me and tells me that my behavior of having the waiting customers pay before her was extremely rude. I respond by telling her we try to make sure every customer gets speedy service and her holding up the line because she didn't read our large signs was also rude to all of the other customers. She tells me that she'd like to speak to the manager to complain about me. With a gleeful (and maybe slightly evil) grin I reply, "You already did. I'm the manager." The look on her face when she realized she wasn't going to get to bitch and feel vindicated about my "mistreatment" of her was lovely and even though this was years ago, it still brings me joy.
   — KedynsCrow


2. Worked as a supervisor in a optical retail store. We got issued name badges with our first name and job title written on them, and as I was only recently promoted I put on my badge saying "optical assistant", with my supervisor badge in my pocket. This isn't a massive issue as normally when dealing with customers if you tell them you're a manager they respect that. Normally. Enter customer C that doesn't adhere to this rule. They had a problem that I was very easily able to offer a solution to, but was absolutely adamant they wanted to speak to a manager. C: "Can you please get me your manager?" Me: "Actually I am a manager, how can I help?" C: "No, get me your manager. You know, the person in charge?" Me: "Ma'am I am a supervisor and I'm more than able to help you with any complaints. Unfortunately the only other manager in is taking care of yesterday's banking and is unable to leave." C: "That's not good enough for me! Go get the manager!" So at that point I realised I didn't have the correct badge on, so I turned around, switched them over and turned back to the customer: Me: "Hi, I'm the manager. How can I help?" She stormed out and put in a complaint against me. So worth it.
   — scottishwanderer


3. Automotive industry here. Quick lube style place. Franchise where owner only owns two locations. I'm the service center manager of one location, and area manager over both. Customer rolls up and asks for an oil change. She drives her van in, hops out, and walks around the side of the building. Once we finished the service she walks back around and gets in the van. She starts to pull the van out and starts yelling about her window, saying we broke it and that it wouldn't roll up now. I immediately pulled up the camera footage clearly showing the window was down when she pulled in, and she didn't want to hear it. She promptly asked for the manager. I explained that I was the manager. She demanded to speak to my "regional manager". I explained that I was the only person she'd speak to, as the owner is fairly absent and doesn't handle petty store level complaints. She called the corporate 1-800 number on the back of our invoices. Because we're a franchise, that complaint gets typed out and sent right back to my email inbox with a phone number to contact the customer. She wasn't pleased to hear my voice calling her to shut her down again.
   — Photographitti






4. Back I the early 2000s, I worked as Assistant Manager of a popular video game retailer. On a slow day, I had a guy come in and tell me he wanted to buy 2 PS2s, 2 copies of all the popular games, controllers, etc. Personal experience told me that something was fishy. I gathered up all he wanted and proceeded to ring it up. He whips out a credit card and tells me that this will be tax exempt. His credit card was for the local airport authority and says "Tax Exempt #" on it with no number. So I ask the guy for a copy of his Tax Exempt certificate. He says that he doesn't bed one and anything charged to the card is tax exempt. I proceeded to tell him how tax exemption works and the fines that my company would face of I didn't follow the law. There was some back and forth and in the end I refused to processes it as tax exempt. He refused to make the purchase unless it was tax exempt. He says, "You just lost a big sale, buddy." I was already on my way back to the stock room, so I replied back, "Well, I'll just go the back and cry, then." He got pissed and asked for the manager. "I AM the manager." "Well then, who's you boss? I want his number." I proceeded to grab a business card and write down his name and office number on the back. After the guy left, I realised I might have given him the wrong number. I ended up calling the district manager anyway and explained the situation anyway. He agreed I was right for refusing the transaction. I then called the airport authority and spoke to HR that explained that the person was just fired that morning and said that he didn't have the card on him. They were pretty sure the card hadn't been deauthorized yet and thanked me for notifying them.
   — BizzyM


5. I used to work for a particularly large ISP doing tech support. One day the guy working next to me was dealing with a particularly rude business customer. The business customers were usually treated like kings but this guy was having a particularly hard time even getting a word in. Eventually he put up his hand to motion the supervisor come talk to the customer. Right then the owner of the company happened to be walking by with another one of the execs. I've met the guy a few times at the company social events and he is a really down to earth employee friendly boss. He asked what the issue was with his customer and after it was explained he took the headset and picked up the line. After listening for about 4-5 minutes he said very flatly "That's never going to happen, especially not when you have an attitude like a 13 year old girl." Again listening for a minutes before he said "I don't have a manager. I own this company and I don't have to listen to this shit from an asshole like you and neither do my employees. I'm terminating your account with us." He hung up and I watched him disable this guys account and add a note to the file. "Customer is an asshole. Do not reinstate account - Boss". Then he just handed back the headset and carried on about his day.
   — inappropriate_jerk


6. When I was in high school I worked at a candle store in the mall. For the most part, everything was returnable for store credit unless it was a sale item or holiday specific stuff. I had a woman giving me the hardest time about not being able to return something that had obviously been used for an event and she no longer needed. She asked for the manager, who was there but wasn't satisfied with her answer. She went on to ask that we contact someone else about it and it just happened that we had a visitor from head office at the store that day. Still not happy with getting the same response from all of us, she went on that general disgruntled customer rant of "this place is terrible and I'm going to tell everyone how terrible it is and no one is going to shop here" And in the best move I've ever seen, the woman from head office dragged a ladder out into the middle of the mall walk way and insisted that the woman start telling people about her experience right then and there. The woman quickly shut up and left. It was beautiful.
   — goldy_locks






7. Back in my 20s, I owned a custom frame shop. I frequently referred to myself as the manager, because my primary clientele was middle-aged women, and although they had no problem accepting a college-aged guy as the manager, they seemed to have trouble accepting that someone the same age as their children could own a business. Customers would bring in art, and I'd build custom-designed picture frames for them. It normally took about two weeks, and then we'd call them to come get their newly-framed art. We'd charge 50% on order, with the other 50% due at pickup. Called a customer several times to let her know that her frame was ready, always got voicemail, left messages. Three months later, she comes storming in, pissed as hell, shouting at my employee, "When is it going to be done?!" Employee: "Oh, hey, it's been done for two and a half months!" Her: "Nobody ever called me!" (I interject at this time, because I can tell she's angry, and things aren't going to go well) Me: "I called you. The notes say that I called you seven times during the last two and a half months, and I left messages." Her: "Who the hell are you?" Me: "I'm the manager, and like I said, I'm the one who called. Her: "Are you sure you were calling the right number?" (I read it off, and now she's furious) "You've been calling the wrong number, you idiot!" Me: "Mam, it's in your handwriting." Her: "Let me see that!" (Snatches the form out of my hand) "I didn't write that!" Me: "We ask the customers to write their own phone number, so that there's no confusion, and we don't have any women working here right now, so I'm certain it's your handwriting." Her: "I don't have to put up with these accusations; let me speak to your manager!" Me: "As I said before, I am the manager." Her: "What kind of business would have someone like you as a manager? Let me speak to the owner!" Me: "I am the owner." Her: "Yeah, right! I've been coming here for years, and I've never seen you before." Me: "I opened this shop four years ago, I only have employees for the holidays, and I've never seen you before. And after you settle your account, I never want to see you again."
   — Alrik


8. Got a phone call from one of my salespeople. Guy wanted an item for the same price as Best Buy. Except Best Buy didn't have them in stock on their website or in store (I checked). Plus, *we don't have a price match guarantee*. So I denied the price match. Got another phone call about twenty minutes later from the same salesperson, sounding frazzled, for the same price match. I tell him to hold on, and decide to take a walk. So I show up and the guy is still there, and three of my guys are standing around with that "I just got yelled at for twenty minutes" look I've had on my own face far too often. I walk over and ask the customer what was the matter. I then make a big show of scanning the item and checking Best Buy's website and checking our internal POS system before sadly declaring that, gee, I sure would like to price match the item but, unfortunately, I cannot. Sorry. How would you like to pay today, sir? Guy freaks the fuck out, yelling about how ridiculous it all is and how we're violating our price match guarantee and how he's going to email Corporate. Unfortunately, sir, we do not have a price match guarantee. And I'm afraid we are unable to match that price in this particular instance. Now, would you like to pay for this item now, sir? I SAW A PRICE MATCH GUARANTEE ON YOUR WEBSITE IM GONNA EMAIL CORPORATE Sir, I'm afraid we have no price guarantee on our website. You may be confusing us with another company, sir. If you'd like to think about your purchase, we can always give you a price quote. YOU DO HAVE A PRICE GUARANTEE I SAW IT ON YOUR WEBSITE YOU'RE BEING VERY UNREASONABLE Sir, perhaps you'd like to think about your purchase and complete this transaction at a different time? THIS IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS And he took out his phone, snapped a picture of my face and a picture of my name tag, and stalked out. Over a $12 price difference. So I told the salesperson he could take an unlogged break, and I went back to my office. I looked up the guy's account, and then googled his name. A VP at some tech company in California. I put a note in his account, good luck getting a return authorization now, asshole. I informed the Director of Sales as soon as possible, because CYA. He giggled when I got to the picture taking part of the story.
   — Louis_Farizee


9. Not my story, but my parents. They owned a franchise deli some 12 years ago. My mom was there full time making things run smoothly and my dad would be there sometimes to help out when he wasn't working his tech job. Well this lady came in one time and ordered her food. When it arrived, she claimed that the kitchen made it incorrectly. My mom apologized for the inconvenience and comp'ed her meal as well as gave her a certificate for a free sandwich next time the lady came in. So the lady comes in again, orders her food, and again claims it was made incorrectly. My mom again apologizes and gives her another coupon for a free sandwich. This happened probably 1 or 2 more times. My dad had heard about it and was convinced they were just being scammed by this lady. Well, the next time the lady comes in, my dad happens to be working the kitchen. Sandwich lady comes through the drive through and orders, my mom recognizes her and so to make sure everything is perfect, my dad makes her food himself and gives it to her. A couple minutes later, the lady calls the store to say her food has been made wrong again!!!! My mom sets the phone down and goes to my dad and says "the lady is on the phone and says you made her food wrong again..." my dad says "You tell that bitch I didn't make her food wrong and that she is never welcome in this restaurant again!" my mom picks up the phone and says "uhhh" and the lady goes "I heard that!!! You tell that boy that he is fired!" and my mom responds with, "ma'am, that "boy" is the owner of the restaurant..." the lady hung up and never returned! My parents both have a long laugh about that whenever they are thinking of all the stupid bullshit that went on with that restaurant :p
   — Beaker93






10. Your favorite corporate coffee shop. A lot of the times I have a headset on to listen to the drive thru as well in case they need help taking an order or grabbing something, so I listen to all the customer interactions. Usually the customer will get upset about something, ask for a manager, and then when I have to go to the window to talk to the customer, I have my headset on with me, listen to what they said happened, and will tell them "okay but that's not what I heard on the headset, but if you want, I can also pull the recording as well." They leave.
    — hells_flower


11. We had this insane and rude as hell old woman screaming and ranting she couldn't use a coupon for something the coupon was not even for. We stood there arguing a good 5 minutes holding the line up. Her grown granddaughters were with her trying to call her down and embarrassed as hell. Usually... I would of just given in and let her use the damn thing but she was being so rude I was not about to help her. She asked me to speak to my manager and I said I was the manager and she didn't like that at all and said "well I'll just go to the other location in town they will take my coupon" and I said NOT IF YOU DON'T BUY WHAT IT IS FOR! She left. Few minutes later we run out of a product we need and I call other location and they have some we can borrow so I head over to get it. I walk in the store and who do I see about to get in line for some food? The old coupon lady. So I wash my hands... Glove on up and jump on the food line. The lady walks up to the counter and I smile huge and say "hello!!!! How can I help you?????" Her granddaughters both gasp and go "oh god here we go" and the look on the grandmas face was priceless!! She did not try the coupon again lol
    — butchyeugene