Legal Question in Civil Litigation in United States
I have a customer who comes into my deli, steals soup, cusses out my employees, makes sexual comments to my girls, constantly asks for free stuff, and overall very rude and disrespectful to my whole staff. Can I refuse him service? Let you know I am a deli manager working under a store manager.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Those are perfectly valid reasons to refuse service. Most businesses would tell a customer like that to leave and never return. But the fact that your company can refuse to serve him doesn't necessarily mean the decision is yours to make. It's up to your superiors whether you have the authority to refuse service or whether you must ask your boss. They could fire you for doing this if you're not authorized to make such decisions on your own, if it defies instructions from one of your superiors, or if it violates company policy. None of these things seem likely, but they're worth mentioning.