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If you've worked customer service, you know. (Ikea TikTok guy)

Deleted member 3812

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,821
The Ikea TikTok guy made the local news in my state:

Meet the comedian behind the viral Angry Ikea Guy TikToks - Baltimore Sun

In November 2016, Dundalk native Scott Seiss began working at an Ikea call center near the company's store in White Marsh. As part of his job he reviewed emails and social media messages sent by customers who often reported late deliveries or missing parts. One man, Seiss recalls, was so irate with the delay in sending him a replacement for a wonky piece of furniture, "He just sent a video attachment of him burning the table," Seiss recalled with a laugh. "Customers are so wild."

It's sort of funny in a twisted way, but, eager to break into the world of standup comedy, Seiss kept his day job strictly separate from his ambitions. Seiss, a 27-year-old graduate of Eastern Technical High School in Essex and the University of Maryland, left the area — and his job at Ikea — in April 2019, moving to just outside New York City to Bloomfield, New Jersey, to pursue his career in comedy.

Ironically, Seiss' hilarious portrayal of a disgruntled Ikea staffer just might help launch his career as a comic. In a series of videos posted to TikTok and shared widely across the internet, Seiss, his old Ikea lanyard around his neck, imitates customers and mocks their complaints.

Responding to an often-heard gripe: "You just lost yourself a customer," Seiss gets in close to the camera. "You think I own this business?" he sneers. "You think I own Ikea? I'm a part-time employee halfway through a two-week notice. I don't give a [expletive.]."

Collectively, Seiss' Ikea employee videos, which now number 21, have garnered tens of millions of views on TikTok alone, and more on platforms like Twitter and Youtube. Among his newfound fans are celebrities like Peyton Reed, director of "Ant-Man." Comedian Patton Oswalt shared the videos and wrote: "I can't stop watching this." Even basketball legend Lebron James shared the videos on Twitter, writing: "I'm literally shedding tears right now."

Seiss says he was doing dishes when a friend texted him to say James had tweeted about his video this week. "That can't be right," Seiss thought.

He began filming the Ikea videos in February, testing them out on his wife, Amanda, who shared her own retail experience working at White Marsh Mall. "She makes sure that it feels truthful to the retail experience," Seiss said. "I see her reaction to see if the videos are funny enough to post." He filmed and posted the videos over a period of around two months — stretching over two different haircuts. "Since February I've been posting two to three retail videos on my TikTok per week," he says. He doesn't have a title for the bit — which he thinks of as Angry Retail Guy.

Angry Retail Guy isn't his first stab at TikTok virality. Earlier videos see him skewering the children's book author R.L. Stine, or depicting a meeting between Ebenezer Scrooge and Jeff Bezos. (Scrooge is astonished by Bezos, who seems to one-up him in the Evil Department by refusing his employees even a bathroom break).

But nothing has taken off quite like Angry Retail Guy. The first video alone has now been viewed more than 8 million times. Viewers have included comedians like Jim Gaffigan and Paul F. Tompkins, who have both shared the videos on Twitter. Seiss says he's extra appreciative when retail employees like and share his videos. "Labor policies, workers' rights, making sure workers have the right to support themselves... that's huge for me," Seiss said. "That's why it means so much to me that people that work thankless jobs like the videos I make so much."
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Älg

Älg

Banned
May 13, 2018
3,178
I feel like I'm probably the only person in the world that had a positive experience working in retail lmao. Sometimes I even miss that immediate feeling of helping people.

Probably helped that I worked in a chain that enabled me to be a nice guy though.
 
Commedieu

Commedieu

Banned
Nov 11, 2017
15,025
TAJ said:
The last time I almost immediately realized I needed to return something I looked in the bag... and they'd given me someone else's receipt.
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how about dirty ass bedsheets that you bought friday (There was packaging)
and you show up monday saying you didn't like the feel, you want a return, and to speak to manager and no theres no receipt or packaging and you're just tossing dirty ass sheets on the counter. They are fuck stained.

Obviously your situation wouldn't spark any dread.
 
gaugebozo

gaugebozo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,833
Djalminha said:
I was like two hours from the end of my last shift, I got the job while looking for something better and I'd just found it. I absolutely hated that place. Once there was a fire nearby, the firemen said there was asbestos in the smoke (store was full of it) but regional manager said people (including minors) couldn't close and go home because they were scheduled to stay after hours to do cleaning. Another great story, once the CEO of Sbux Canada came to our store and took questions, blamed local coffee shops competition for low wages and said if they didn't produce so much waste they wouldn't be able to stay profitable (they'd just closed their most profitable year in history). They didn't let us ban customers from the store, even when they threw a mug at a barista, they just said ask someone else to help that customer in the future. So, by that point, I saw myself as an undercover agent trying to sabotage the company from within. Anyways, let's get into it.

My coworker, 17 year old girl, runs this order. It was a family, man and woman, late thirties/early forties and kids about 6 or 7.

They placed a massive order, maybe 20 items. She hands them the order and, since they were the last ones in line, heads back to the back to get ready for her break. The woman and kids leave but the guy sticks around, looking grumpy. I approach him "is everything ok, sir?" "She forgot my blueberry bar". "No problem, sir, here you go". Dude had his stupid blueberry bar within 20 seconds of her handing them the order.

But he didn't leave. He sticks around, the woman comes and asks him what's wrong and he says she forgot the bar. She asks if he's told us and he says, I kid you not, "that's not the point". She rolls her eyes and goes back to the table with the kids. My coworker comes back and he, pointing with his finger over the counter, yells at her "hey! You forgot my blueberry bar!". She froze surprised, so I stood between the two and told him to leave her alone and leave. He pointed again and yelled again at her over my shoulder (the counter still between us), so I yelled back much louder so the entire store could hear me "you are harassing a minor, if you don't leave immediately, you will be removed by the police". Like I said earlier, Sbux didn't allow to ban people from the store or stuff like that, but what are they going to do? Fire me?

But he didn't leave immediately. He mumbled in a pathetic voice "but, but, she forgot my blueberry bar!" and I said "and now you got it, so go EAT IT while you still have teeth", I said while pulling back my sleeves. I am not very big, but I'm bigger than him, although I think he was just legitimately shocked someone confronted him at fucking Starbucks. By that point the woman had left with the kids, visibly embarrassed. He turned around and left.

I know it's maybe not the superhero shit you were expecting but in a place where they didn't let us ban the drug addict who stole our tip jar, a place where I had to swallow my pride several times every week, it felt INCREDIBLE.
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fuck_yeah.gif
 
Dirtyshubb

Dirtyshubb

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,555
UK
"yeah I remember being happy....and then you walked in?" 🤣

I did however do the 'can you check the back' once. Was looking for a New 3DS and the site said they had them. Guy was rude off the bat so I didn't particularly care about pissing him off. Eventually he goes to the back, comes out a minute later with a brand new New 3DS and doesn't say a word as he was obviously pissed off he looked a fool.

Other than that though I do feel for store employees, I get pissed off enough just as another customer having to deal with the others being terrible around me.
 
alpha

alpha

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,010
So accurate. So very accurate lol.

And the thug life music hitting every time he was about to tear into the theoretical customer had me dying.
 
atomsk eater

atomsk eater

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,830
"Why are you working Thanksgiving" blasted me into a realm of depression. Got lots of "wow can't believe you guys are working today!" from people who were the very reason we were forced to work that day. STAY HOME AND STOP SHOPPING ON HOLIDAYS. I guarantee you will survive without premade soup until tomorrow.
 
Saganator

Saganator

Member
Oct 26, 2017
7,056
Yep. 11 years in retail and this is all so painfully accurate. Especially the Thanksgiving bits. "Wow sucks you have to work on Thanksgiving". No mother fucker it sucks that you're here on Thanksgiving, dick bag, get the fuck outta here.
 
Surakian

Surakian

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
10,867
I still work retail part-time to supplement my furloughed pay, and I swear every time I go in I am always 5 seconds away from resigning after being there for 5 years.

The Thanksgiving one really hit because I've legitimately had to deal with it multiple times over the last few years. One year I gave no fucks and ate thanksgiving dinner my boss brought us right in front of the customers' faces while they stood in the cold outside waiting for the store to open just so they knew how much I loathed them.

It should be mandatory that people work retail for at least a year.
 
The Shape

The Shape

Member
Nov 7, 2017
5,027
Brazil
Djalminha said:
I was like two hours from the end of my last shift, I got the job while looking for something better and I'd just found it. I absolutely hated that place. Once there was a fire nearby, the firemen said there was asbestos in the smoke (store was full of it) but regional manager said people (including minors) couldn't close and go home because they were scheduled to stay after hours to do cleaning. Another great story, once the CEO of Sbux Canada came to our store and took questions, blamed local coffee shops competition for low wages and said if they didn't produce so much waste they wouldn't be able to stay profitable (they'd just closed their most profitable year in history). They didn't let us ban customers from the store, even when they threw a mug at a barista, they just said ask someone else to help that customer in the future. So, by that point, I saw myself as an undercover agent trying to sabotage the company from within. Anyways, let's get into it.

My coworker, 17 year old girl, runs this order. It was a family, man and woman, late thirties/early forties and kids about 6 or 7.

They placed a massive order, maybe 20 items. She hands them the order and, since they were the last ones in line, heads back to the back to get ready for her break. The woman and kids leave but the guy sticks around, looking grumpy. I approach him "is everything ok, sir?" "She forgot my blueberry bar". "No problem, sir, here you go". Dude had his stupid blueberry bar within 20 seconds of her handing them the order.

But he didn't leave. He sticks around, the woman comes and asks him what's wrong and he says she forgot the bar. She asks if he's told us and he says, I kid you not, "that's not the point". She rolls her eyes and goes back to the table with the kids. My coworker comes back and he, pointing with his finger over the counter, yells at her "hey! You forgot my blueberry bar!". She froze surprised, so I stood between the two and told him to leave her alone and leave. He pointed again and yelled again at her over my shoulder (the counter still between us), so I yelled back much louder so the entire store could hear me "you are harassing a minor, if you don't leave immediately, you will be removed by the police". Like I said earlier, Sbux didn't allow to ban people from the store or stuff like that, but what are they going to do? Fire me?

But he didn't leave immediately. He mumbled in a pathetic voice "but, but, she forgot my blueberry bar!" and I said "and now you got it, so go EAT IT while you still have teeth", I said while pulling back my sleeves. I am not very big, but I'm bigger than him, although I think he was just legitimately shocked someone confronted him at fucking Starbucks. By that point the woman had left with the kids, visibly embarrassed. He turned around and left.

I know it's maybe not the superhero shit you were expecting but in a place where they didn't let us ban the drug addict who stole our tip jar, a place where I had to swallow my pride several times every week, it felt INCREDIBLE.
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That's a great story and you should be proud for defending that girl.
 
Kenai

Kenai

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,187
My favorite regular one was always "your prices are too high". To me, a cashier.

Like thanks for your input I'll get right on that?
 
Saturday

Saturday

One Winged Slayer
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
6,376
More customer service-oriented than retail, but one from the trenches I think about once in a blue moon is when somebody goes along the lines of:

"Oh, I'm just complaining about your company. Not you. You're doing your best."

They then proceed to complain for like 15 minutes

Like y'all know it's a non-apology, right? "Sorry, but not sorry, I can now swear/complain indefinitely?"

I get it, Karen, you gotta complain to somebody, but you gotta realize when somebody gives me the ol 'I'm not complaining about you" shtick the conversation can shockingly be as stressful as if somebody was just yelling at me, except I can at least directly tell them to fuck off
 
Atlantis

Atlantis

Member
Oct 25, 2017
891
My personal favorite:

"What can I get for you?"

"A million dollars / winning lottery numbers."

Damn bro, you got the whole squad laughing.
 
Sybil

Sybil

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
1,642
The music cue every time is gold.
There needs to be another saga about refunds/returns because that's where the most nonsense comes from. Why do so many people go surprised pikachu (and then very angry) when some stores can only give store credit when you don't have the receipt
 
deimosmasque

deimosmasque

Ugly, Queer, Gender-Fluid, Drive-In Mutant, yes?
Moderator
Apr 22, 2018
14,207
Tampa, Fl
I Wanna Be The Guy said:
As a manager in retail, I laughed at the accuracy of this. Honestly nothing pisses me off more on a daily basis than when I'm called over to speak to a customer to tell them the same fucking thing the person at the till just said. Fuck off stop wasting my time my life is already wasting away here.

I know you guys are looking at retail from your minimum wage this sucks viewpoint and I've been there and it sucks. But honestly management in retail is fucking awful too. You'd be amazed how hard I work for such shit pay. The hours are shit. The pressure put on me is really fucking unnecessary, everything's getting cut less staff I'm running around doing everything and yes customers are dickheads.

I really need to quit but I have nothing to fall back on. No grades no skills no hope.
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Solidarity!

Worse is at my store I have my allowed hours cut so low that basically work the counter most of the day and still expected to get all their stupid reports that the owners could literally pull themselves because it's all online in the franchisee website.
 
Stabi

Stabi

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,608
France / san francisco
Sounds like a regular french vendor to me.

I'm telling you I've been shocked by how nice (hypocrite?) the vendors in the US are (forced to be)
 
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Ketch

Ketch

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,291
When I worked retail I used to love checking in the back... like "you want me to check in the back?".... (sweet, see you in 10 mins, if you're dumb enough to wait)
 
Midramble

Midramble

Force of Habit
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
10,461
San Francisco
Yeah I hated retail (gamestop), but it's not as bad as customer side food service. I only ever worked in the kitchen for food service but having to deal with hungry/thirsty entitled assholes is a level above retail. I don't know how corporate chain food cashiers do it.
 
Petruccis Biceps

Petruccis Biceps

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,535
I used to work at Burlington Coat Factory from 2003-2007 and the amount of asshole people who would stay past closing hours browsing pissed everyone off so much. We would usually give warnings over the loud speakers saying like "15 minutes until registers close." We used to close the registers out 5min past closing but corporate said we're not allowed to close the registers until all customers are out no matter what so that stopped. Had one woman stay 25minutes after closing trying on clothes and ended up not buying anything.

Fuck I hated retail.
 
Sully

Sully

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,387
Anyone that has ever worked retail can feel these deep in the soul. Makes sense the channel is killing it
 
King Alamat

King Alamat

Member
Nov 22, 2017
8,116
I'm getting flashbacks to my Domino's gig and I at least had half the shift alone to myself making deliveries. Nothing is as soul-crushing as someone calling in an order two minutes before close.
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,300
20+ years of retail. Yes all of this is true. You learn to deal with it though and it's very different per country anyway so I think I got off lucky.
 
Petruccis Biceps

Petruccis Biceps

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,535
King Alamat said:
I'm getting flashbacks to my Domino's gig and I at least had half the shift alone to myself making deliveries. Nothing is as soul-crushing as someone calling in an order two minutes before close.
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The movie "Waiting" taught me to never ever do anything to piss off people that handle you're stuff, ESPECIALLY food. My wife recently wanted to get pizza but it was late and the place was closing in 15min and I was like "theres NO way I'm putting in an order now."
 
Papercuts

Papercuts

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,026
These are all 100% accurate and it's infuriating. Love the one about opening more registers when it's clearly because you got fucked over on being staffed properly, something that is entirely out of your control and done to save money.
 
King Alamat

King Alamat

Member
Nov 22, 2017
8,116
Petruccis Biceps said:
The movie "Waiting" taught me to never ever do anything to piss off people that handle you're stuff, ESPECIALLY food. My wife recently wanted to get pizza but it was late and the place was closing in 15min and I was like "theres NO way I'm putting in an order now."
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Like, that specific order is burned into my memory. Not only was it completely dead the hour before, but it was a delivery to a secluded house buried in the middle of the woods on the very edge of our delivery range. They didn't even bother to answer the door when I arrived. Closing time was at midnight and I didn't get to go home until 2 in the morning because my store couldn't afford more than two people to close every night.
 
GhostTrick

GhostTrick

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,314
"call me the manager"
I dont get why people are upset by that sentence.
Whenever I heard that before, it meant I could get away from a shitty situation and get that annoying manager get shit with the clients. :""")

"Call me the manager"
"As you wish :-)"
 
Sunfyre

Sunfyre

Member
Jan 15, 2020
585
"Can you check in the back?" Is just a code word for me to drink something and browse Era for a few minutes. Even my boss is on board with this. Especially if the customer says that I should go to my manager to make a price cut happen.
 
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