Every customer service job I have worked has had managers like that. This was before smart phones so maybe they just weren’t worried about getting caught.

Absolutely.

When I was a retail manager any manager like that would have been out the door. Their job is to make it possible for the floor people to do their jobs, and part of that is protecting their staff from asshole customers.

Even when our people screwed up, we didn't tolerate abuse of our staff. If the customer has a legitimate complaint they can be civil about it. Otherwise they're welcome to leave. Even from a pure business perspective, you can't tolerate abuse. New staff costs more than assholes spend.

Sounds like retail to me, that industry is a breeding ground for abusive environments.

At my last job the store manager got away with smacking the assistant manager on camera in front of people. Multiple reports sent up the chain. But the assistant manager had already put in two weeks notice a week before this happened, so head office just brushed it under the rug. I had watched the security video of it happening myself so I know it's not for lack of evidence.

The running theory was that that manager gets transfered to stores as the company's wrecking ball when they want to clean house. She would get transfered to a store, then all of the staff would end up quitting or getting fired for bullshit reasons. We weren't the first store it had happened to. I ended up quitting to go work at a warehouse for more money with a fraction of the responsibility.