Film Clips of poor customer service or angry customers

November 9, 2006 6:39 AM

Examples of poor customer service/angry customers in movies.

I need scenes from classic or popular movies that depict poor customer service or angry customers or both. So far, I've got:

• the diner scene from "5 Easy Pieces"
• the rental care scene from "Planes trains and automobiles" Help me think of others, preferably funny.

posted by cosmicbandito to Media & Arts (48 answers total)

Blues Brothers in the restaurant scene.
posted by plinth at 6:42 AM on November 9, 2006

A whole bunch of scenes from Falling Down.
posted by maxpower at 6:42 AM on November 9, 2006

The McDonald's scene from Big Daddy (which was kind of a ripoff from Falling Down).
posted by knave at 6:44 AM on November 9, 2006

Clerks, 1994.
posted by enfa at 6:50 AM on November 9, 2006

I think the best has got to be the paperboy in Better Off Dead who shows up throughout the movie, screaming, "I want my two dollars." It's a great gag used to great effect to ratchet up the stress at all the right points.
posted by OmieWise at 6:51 AM on November 9, 2006

The "Liter of Cola" scene from Super Troopers
posted by muddgirl at 6:53 AM on November 9, 2006

You have to have The Fisher King in there. There's a scene where a crazed video store customer is looking for a funny movie, a "Chevy Chase-y kind of thing." Jeff Bridge's character hands her a porn movie instead, and the ensuing dialogue is hilarious.

Many of the scenes from Falling Down also come to mind.
posted by Ostara at 6:56 AM on November 9, 2006

Sorry to dumb it down, but the fast food scene from Half Baked is satisfying:

"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you're cool, fuck you. I'm out."
posted by look busy at 7:13 AM on November 9, 2006 [1 favorite]

Office Space, specifically the scences with Brian, overenthusiastic waiter at Chotchkie's at the beginning. Granted that was annoying customer service rather than poor.
posted by PenDevil at 7:22 AM on November 9, 2006

yeah, CLERKS is basically your answer. Even CLERKS 2 for that matter.
posted by TwilightKid at 7:29 AM on November 9, 2006

High Fidelity -- any interaction between Jack Black and a customer.
posted by parilous at 7:32 AM on November 9, 2006

I'm sure theres a lot of it in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Particularly 'Interior Decorator' from the first series. And its funny too!
posted by xvs22 at 7:37 AM on November 9, 2006

What about Coming To America? A guy tries to rob the fast food joint and Eddie Murphy saves the day. Is the thief considered an angry customer?
posted by spicynuts at 7:38 AM on November 9, 2006

Ben Stiller boarding the flight near the end of Meet the Parents.
posted by AgentRocket at 7:40 AM on November 9, 2006

On the Chappelle Show, they did a skit at a Kinkos type of place that was pure rudeness on the sales people side.
posted by stavx at 7:41 AM on November 9, 2006

Judge Reinhold threatening to kick the (admittedly annoying) customer's ass in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
posted by Scoo at 7:42 AM on November 9, 2006

Not a movie, but from Seinfeld Episode no. 28:

Agent: I'm sorry, we have no mid-size available at the moment.

Jerry: I don't understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?

Agent: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars.

Jerry: But the reservation keeps the car here. That's why you have the reservation.

Agent: I know why we have reservations.

Jerry: I don't think you do. If you did, I'd have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don't know how to *hold* the reservation and that's really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody
can just take them.
posted by FreezBoy at 7:44 AM on November 9, 2006

Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
The car rental specifically, but pretty much every time Steve Martin talks to a service person.
posted by madajb at 7:46 AM on November 9, 2006

Waiting- a movie about restaurant servers. There's one particular scene where someone goes apeshit.
posted by jmd82 at 7:54 AM on November 9, 2006

Army of Darkness

Ash: Lady, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask you to leave the store.

Possessed woman: Who the hell are you?

Ash: Name's Ash.

[cocks rifle]

Ash: Housewares.
posted by Lokheed at 7:58 AM on November 9, 2006

In Taxi 9-2-11, the whole movie is war between an obnoxious customer and an enraged taxi driver.

Hmmm, come to think of it, Taxi Driver.
posted by Methylviolet at 7:59 AM on November 9, 2006

Any scene with Zooey Deschanel The Good Girl -- I love when she sabotages a makeover, fixing a woman up to look like a drag queen while assuring her she looks beautiful this way.
posted by junkbox at 8:24 AM on November 9, 2006

There's Pretty Woman, of course...the snooty women who won't wait on her when she's still in hooker costume.
posted by bingo at 8:43 AM on November 9, 2006

Any scene with Zooey Deschanel The Good Girl

"It's called Cirque du Face. That means Circus of the Face.". God I love that scene. Zooey's awesome in that movie.

Also, I second the plane ticket purchase in Meet the Parents. Every part of that scene is fantastic, from the purchase of the ticket to the luggage that won't fit in the overhead bin. Classic.
posted by mcstayinskool at 8:50 AM on November 9, 2006

The chicken salad on toast scene in Five Easy Pieces
posted by hortense at 9:07 AM on November 9, 2006

I hate to be the loser who bring this up, but the Chinese Fast Food Scene in "Dude, Where's My Car?" where the drive thru lady just keeps repeating "And theeeennnnnn?!"

And a lot of the Santa scenes in Bad Santa.
posted by sarahnade at 9:13 AM on November 9, 2006

"As Good As It Gets" features Jack Nicholson as a supremely rude and arrogant customer, generally toward serving staff.

Kind of a funny film (in a cringeworthy way) - not the best ever, I suppose...
posted by Chunder at 9:19 AM on November 9, 2006

There's a rude supermarket clerk in Terms of Endearment that Lithgow tells off.
posted by gfrobe at 9:22 AM on November 9, 2006

Paul Giamatti's character in Duets when he can't use his frequent flyer miles for a hotel room and pulls out the gun and proceeds to shoot up the lobby.
posted by i_like_camels at 9:23 AM on November 9, 2006

NO SOUP FOR YOU!
posted by maxpower at 9:31 AM on November 9, 2006

The convenience store scene in Falling Down.
posted by The Great Big Mulp at 10:06 AM on November 9, 2006

What about Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? There's the great DA convention check-in scene, where the cop is all red-in-the-face with the check-in clerk. Among other hilarious episodes involving Johnny Depp as Hunter S. Thompson.
posted by rocketman at 10:09 AM on November 9, 2006

I was just about to say The Good Girl when junkbox got there first.
posted by essexjan at 10:53 AM on November 9, 2006

Punch-Drunk Love, the whole mattressman scene?
posted by aeighty at 11:02 AM on November 9, 2006

Steve Martin's sarcastic waiter in The Muppet Movie.

"Don't you want to sniff the bottlecap?"

The interactions between Brent and the Corporate Trainer in the first (British) season of The Office are a funny meta-example, if you're making a compliation for a staff training session or something.
posted by Paragon at 12:07 PM on November 9, 2006

the opening scene from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective with Jim Carrey as an abusive "UPS" deliveryman.
posted by the painkiller at 12:07 PM on November 9, 2006

Oh, and still on Steve Martin, the staff at L'Idiot in L. A. Story are pretty damn funny.

Making a booking: "Hello, L'Idiot? Yes, I'd like to make reservations for two for Friday. [sound of laughing over the phone] Saturday? ... Sunday? ... Ah good. Eight-thirty. ... Five-thirty or ten-thirty? Um, five-thirty. Visa... I'm a weatherman... yes, I'm on tv! ... Renting... I just sold a condo... yes in this soft market... well, I don't see how that's any of your... the low fifties."
posted by Paragon at 12:12 PM on November 9, 2006

The "I don't own a dildo" luggage scene in Fight Club.
posted by Anything at 12:25 PM on November 9, 2006

Please don't forget the "Busy Bee" scene with Parker Posey from "Best in Show." Frazzled because she wants to replace a very specific type of dog toy (which the poor pet store owner doesn't have) she throws his suggestion back at him, screaming, "This isn't a Busy Bee. It's a BEAR in a BEE COSTUME!"

It's way funnier than my description...
posted by CMichaelCook at 12:57 PM on November 9, 2006

I mis-remembered that "Best in Show" scene a bit. Fortunately, YouTube's got it.
posted by CMichaelCook at 1:06 PM on November 9, 2006

Scorsese's After Hours has some choice service moments in it.
posted by dog food sugar at 1:38 PM on November 9, 2006

• Mickey Blue Eyes, where he's put a proposal into a fortune cookie to surprise his girlfriend but she won't eat it. Elderly Chinese Restaurant Lady: "Eat the fucking cookie!" [NB: only good bit in entire movie]
• Forty-Year-Old Virgin, where the two guys very ineptly take a big-screen TV out to a customer's car. I wince at the slight tinkling sounds heard when they dump it into the trunk, plus they're having an incredibly inappropriate conversation the whole time.
• American Beauty, when Annette Bening comes to the drive-through window with her lover and the girl is all "you are so busted!"
• Spinal Tap, when they discover their reservation is messed up and Ian calls the desk clerk a "twisted old fruit". TOF: "I am just as god made me, sir."
• Fawlty Towers (if you're accepting TV shows), just about every moment from start to finish but perhaps particularly the one with the little boy who doesn't like the chips or the one with Bernard Cribbins?
• Not The Nine O'Clock News (again, TV, and old, and British), I still laugh at the Hi-Fi shop sketch where the service staff humiliate the customer for not knowing the jargon about "woofers" and "tweaters" and so on. He tentatively tries to get a hint from them what word he should use and they say "no clues!".

posted by AmbroseChapel at 3:05 PM on November 9, 2006

I can't believe that nobody has suggested Clerks or ClerksII.
posted by radioamy at 4:08 PM on November 9, 2006

radioamy, see comment four and comment ten and your belief might be restored.
posted by OmieWise at 4:42 PM on November 9, 2006

Monty Python's Meaning of Life: "And finally, monsieur, a wafer-thin mint."
posted by kirkaracha at 4:51 PM on November 9, 2006

Joe Pesci in Lethal Weapon 2 in the drivethrough.
posted by forrest at 5:13 PM on November 9, 2006

Terms of Endearment - Shirley Maclaine is trying to get a pain shot for her daughter (Debra Winger)
posted by JujuB at 9:48 PM on November 9, 2006

The original Out of Towners with Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis is loaded down with poor customer service and frustrated customer response.

The 1999 remake with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn is good because of the insufferable performance of ex-Python John Cleese.

On further thought, these movies illustrate how NYC treats out-of-towners.
posted by choragus at 10:22 PM on November 9, 2006