CHICAGO — Sheer crazy and just plain ol’ funny. Heart-touching, madcap, and memorable.
You’ve seen all these types of customers. You’ve smiled and laughed and shaken your head in amazement over their antics, nutty peculiarities, and touching gestures.
Now, we bring some of your tales together in one place.
American Drycleaner asked dry cleaners from across the country to share their favorite “customer crazy” moments, and here they are. Funny! Amazing! Touching, too! Sit back and enjoy!
CHECKING UP
Rita Foley, president, Regency Drycleaners, Durham, N.C.:
“We’re in a college town with Duke and UNC colleges. So it gets a little crazy here. One thing we work hard on every day is our customer service. Most customers are normal. Then there are these:
“First up: we have one customer who comes in to the cleaners three times a day, every day. He brings in a couple of items each morning, stops in at lunch to say hi and ‘check’ on his order, and back after 5 p.m. to pick it up. It’s nice to know he is always checking on the store!
“Next: A customer who routinely comes in with a lamp, a smoke detector, and other small appliances and wants to know if we can repair them. Sometimes our manager helps him figure out what is wrong. He also brings his dry cleaning in, so he knows we are a dry cleaner.
“Then there’s this: We had a customer questioning our employees if they had any hidden tattoos. (What?)
“Next one: We had a 14-year-old girl (14!) drive her mom’s car right through the front of our store. Her mom had a revoked license.
“There were chairs for customers on the other side of the outside wall that she went through. We were very fortunate that there was no one sitting there at that moment.
“The craziest thing of all was that her mom would not stop yelling at her daughter for ‘running through the building!’ (Where is Child Services when you need them?)
“OK now: A customer requested that two of our CSRs sign a form saying that it was his signature on his car title. They had absolutely no way of knowing if it was or not. What’s even crazier is that they signed it!
“What’s even more funny is that our store manager called one of the CSRs from an outside phone where he could see her expression, and he pretended to be with the ‘City Fraud Department.’ Her expression was priceless!
“Next: We had a customer swear that one of our employees had worn his wife’s white jumpsuit and soiled the crotch area. (Really?)
“Then we had a first- and only-time customer bring in a raincoat with a rubber lining that bubbled up when cleaned. She claimed she paid $300 from Jos. A. Bank.
“We took it to the store. They looked up the Registration Identification (RN) number. It was a coat that had been sold almost 15 years ago. Come to find out, she bought it at a garage sale. (People!)
“And finally: A customer anonymously mailed us a letter and $20 apologizing for picking up and not paying for a comforter in 1988. He sent us this letter in 2008 — 20 years later! That was pretty cool.”
TOUCHY
Nolina Luna, store manager, GreenStreets Cleaners, San Francisco:
“A customer came in claiming to be missing an item from one of his recent orders that he picked up.
“I explained our tracking system and asked him to review the detailed invoices to let me know which shirt he was missing. He pointed out the item that was in question.
“I then noticed the item description was similar to the shirt he was wearing. I kindly asked him if I could look inside his shirt.
“It’s kind of awkward touching someone you barely know, searching for a tiny bar code! I found the bar code pretty fast and, what do you know, he was wearing his ‘missing’ shirt!
“He apologized and hasn’t returned since.”
YELPFUL
Mike Bleier, owner, Greener Cleaner, Chicago:
“So, in general, we love our customers and they love us! But there’s a certain group of people out there who are ‘Yelpers’. You know who they are. Here’s a recent story:
“Customer sent in three king comforters, total price was something around $115. She called to get the exact amount before she came to the store to pick up. When I gave her the final price, she tried to tell me that she had called and was quoted $19.95 for each comforter by someone on our staff.
“Since we’ve never charged $19.95 or anything close to that for a king comforter, I knew she was not telling the truth, and I politely explained that all of my clerks know our pricing and nobody would ever quote any sized comforter at that price.
“So then she changes her story and states that three separate people quoted her that price. (No word on why she called three different people to ask the same question.)
“She told me that if I wasn’t willing to honor the quoted price, that she ‘knows how to write a good Yelp review,’ and even goes so far as to say, ‘I was an English major as an undergraduate and I can get to the heart of the story.’
“OK, well, here’s where, on my side of the phone, my face turns bright red in anger and I change my tone completely. I don’t like to be threatened, and to me, this is most definitely a threat.
“In actuality, it’s more like a form of extortion! A customer trying to get away with paying 50% less than normal pricing, and if we don’t capitulate, she’ll slam us online and damage our reputation forever.
“Well, guess what? I don’t budge. Her price was $115 and I’m sure a nasty review is being typed as we speak. But thankfully, we have many five-star reviews to combat her review should it come in!”
“INDEEEE!”
David Coyle, owner, In The Bag Cleaners, Wichita, Kan.:
“About seven years ago, when we were very active in hotel valet service, we got an order from the Hyatt and in the bag was one shirt.
“The shirt was tan in color but had blue dye all over it. The valet slip inside the bag simply said ‘Ford’ and had a phone number.
“You could tell the shirt was very expensive, and the tag said it was handcrafted in Beverly Hills, Calif.
“Not thinking much about it, we called and a woman answered (later found out it was the man’s personal assistant) and we asked if we could have a few days with the shirt, as we thought we could get the dye out if we had some extra time.
“She said no problem, it was Mr. Ford’s favorite shirt. I thought, hmmm, Mr. Ford?
“She gave us an address in Malibu, Calif., and an AmEx card for any charges and expedited shipping.
“We got the dye out of the shirt and it looked beautiful: fully restored to its original state.
“Apparently, as he would later tell me, his dry cleaner got this dye in his shirt and he always used our dry cleaner when he came into Wichita for flight training.
“Two weeks after the shirts were mailed, I got a large envelope with a Malibu return address.
“And lo and behold, we saved Harrison Ford’s favorite shirt and he sent me a signed photo!
“It was very thoughtful of him to take time out of his busy schedule to show his appreciation for a little old dry cleaner in Kansas!”
• • • • •
Dry cleaners, if you have a “customer crazy” story you’d like to share, e-mail [email protected]. We may share it on Facebook and/or perhaps in a future print edition.
Tales like these from “over the counter” prove that in this great big world, there’s a never-ending, cheerful supply of crazy customer encounters — joyful and memorable!
To steal a famous movie title, it really and truly is a “Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!”
To read Part One, go HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].