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IKEA Workers Share Funny Customer-Meltdown Stories, And We Can’t Stop Laughing

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There are few things in life more stressful than furniture shopping with your partner, except maybe attempting to navigate an IKEA showroom.

Thousands of furniture choices all crammed into one tight, confined space — it’s a recipe for disaster that we all continue to put ourselves through because we just need those Swedish flat-packed products.

Without a doubt, IKEA employees have the front-row seat to an IKEA emotional breakdown. In a new Reddit thread, employees have been sharing the worst family meltdowns they’ve seen, which are equal parts hilarious and terrifying. Take a look below, and then check out these teacher jokes!

“He took the bed.”

This was my IKEA family meltdown. My then-boyfriend and I were getting our own place just after college.

Things start off OK. We start with lunch, admire the living room couches, and move into the kitchen area. So far, it’s an enjoyable fantasy. And then we reach our destination: Bedrooms. A sea of beds in a variety of price points greet us with brightly-colored duvets. As an experienced furniture buyer, I start scanning the price tags to narrow the options. I bring him to an attractive, yet affordable model that I think matches some of our bookcases. And this is where the trouble starts.

See up until now, I didn’t realize exactly how bad this man’s fear of decision making was. He stares at the bed incomprehensibly for literal minutes, refusing to talk about it. Eventually, it is discovered that buying a bed means committing to delaying graduate school, never moving to the east coast, and having children with me. I don’t understand that logic and request explanation, which is slowly and tearfully given.

We spent three hours in that IKEA and left with nothing. About a month later, we went back and again, after several hours, bought that exact bed. He never went to grad school or moved to the east coast. We also did not have children and broke up a few years later. He took the bed.

“Yes, but where is IKEA?”

I used to work at IKEA in my student days at the Glasgow, Scotland, store. When it was newly opened, an elderly Irish guy and his wife stopped me and asked where IKEA was. I explained that they were in IKEA and they couldn’t understand.

They had arrived at the ferry port in Ireland that morning and decided that they’d go on a day trip to somewhere they hadn’t been before. When they arrived at the port in Scotland, there was a dedicated ‘IKEA’ bus. They thought IKEA was an actual place in Scotland and didn’t realize it was a store.

I walked away laughing, as I could hear them blaming each other for the mistake!

“Start behaving like an adult, or we’ll leave now and I’ll take away your Xbox for a week.”

I’m currently in an IKEA, making the most of my complimentary cups of tea. The couple at the next table over just had an argument about whether or not they could put a TV in their bathroom. He thinks it will fit, his wife/girlfriend thinks it’s the stupidest idea ever: They don’t need it, it won’t fit, and if he wants to do that, then he can move back in with his mother. He keeps asking her to give him half of her cake. After about five minutes of whining, she told him that if he wanted some, he should have bought one, because apparently he always does this.

Later, I saw them again and he was playfully throwing pillows at her to get her attention. She turned around and said (scarily, but calmly), “I know that you think you’re being funny, but you’re not. So if you’re going to act like a child, I will treat you like a child. Start behaving like an adult, or we’ll leave now and I’ll take away your Xbox for a week.” He pouted and marched off, muttering under his breath.

IKEA lady, if you’re out there, I hope he grows up, and also, I really like the peacock-blue pillow you bought.

“Then the hoard came.”

Two words: “Black Friday.” It was 9:55 p.m., we open at 10 p.m. We were almost done, all that we had left to do was put out some children’s kitchen sets. What we didn’t realize was that the sets were selling at 50 percent off. I only had two pallets left to put out when the store opened. Then, the hoard came.

They were crazy, sprinting, pushing, and shoving. They fought to get to these kitchens, and when they noticed my pallets, they tore them open and took them. Eventually, one woman started screaming and attacked the guy who took the last one off of the pallet, not noticing the two full pallets. I had to pull her off of him and security came. After about 10 minutes, the chaos ended, and I cleaned up.

At that point, an elderly couple came and asked if there were any kitchens left. I put one in their cart as my coworkers and I laughed at what had just occurred.

Can’t get enough IKEA? Check out the video below to find out 10 things you never knew about the retail chain:

This article originally appeared on our sister site, Now to Love.

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