(I work in a video game store that also rents consoles by the hour. However, for some reason, since I opened, there has been no Internet connection. As such, our Xbox One is completely unplayable and some games in our Xbox 360 consoles that require an account to log in are also inaccessible until it’s solved with the company. A regular customer comes to the front desk.)

Customer: “Hey, can I get one hour of Black Ops 3?”

Me: “I’m sorry, we have no Internet and the games on the One aren’t playable.”

Customer: “Oh, okay… then give me an hour of GTA V in the 360.”

Me: “Sure thing.” *I start to get the controller*

Customer: “Can you put it online, please?”

Me: “Um… we don’t have any Internet. Sorry.”

Customer: “Oh, right. Then just get me Gears of War instead.”

(I do as he says and then go to attend some customers at the register. Soon I notice he’s flagging me down.)

Me: “Yes?”

Customer: “The game isn’t letting me log into Xbox Live.”

Me: “…”

(Luckily, this time he really understood the concept of not having Internet.)

I’m telling on myself in this one. I was working at a video game store in a large, busy strip mall. The parking lot was usually very crowded, so we had a constant problem with our customers parking illegally in the fire lane in front of the store. At first I would just politely inform customers they weren’t allowed to park there and they were risking getting a ticket, but only some seemed to actually care.

Then, one day, our manager told us that he’d been warned that the store could get fined for letting customers park there, and it could possibly mean us getting fired over it, so we really needed to enforce the parking rules. I never found out if that was actually true, but in any case, I wasn’t going to risk losing my job because customers were being lazy and parking illegally.

Eventually, I started to get a bit overzealous about it. Whenever I saw someone parking in the fire lane I would quickly rush out to the sidewalk so I could tell them to move their car.

For whatever reason, this particular week was really bad with people parking in the fire lane. During my last shift of the week, I was starting to get really frustrated, as it had happened multiple times in the first couple hours of my shift. Then, I noticed a huge vehicle pulling up and parking in front of the store. At my wit’s end, I rushed out to the sidewalk, ready to yell, when the coin finally dropped and I realized the vehicle I was looking at was a firetruck — the exact vehicle that the fire lane is meant for!

Fortunately, I caught myself before I blurted out anything stupid. The firefighters weren’t there for an emergency. It turns out they were just bored and were coming to shop for some video games to take back to the station house to play while they waited for a call.

They were extremely nice, and while ringing them out I admitted to how I almost yelled at them for where they parked. They got a good chuckle out of it.

(I work in a video game store in a shopping centre, and am currently working floor, which means I go around and talk to customers about what games they might be interested in. A family of two boys, a little girl, their parents, and their grandmother come in. The two boys argue for a while over which game to buy, and for the most part I help them out and chat to them. After a while, I’m standing next to the checkout while they purchase their new games. The little sister, who can’t be more than five, comes up to me.)

Little Girl: “Are you a customer?”

Me: “No, I work here.”

Little Girl: “You work here? Why?”

Me: “Well, I get the money, and I like to talk about video games!”

Little Girl: *pauses, looking very confused* “Why?”

Me: *at this point, I am trying not to smile* “Because I like games.”

Little Girl: “You like games?”

Me: “Yep!”

Little Girl: “Do you like Star Wars games?”

Me: “I do, yeah!”

Little Girl: *at this point she gets a shocked look* “You like Star Wars?”

Me: “Yeah!” *almost laughing at this point*

Little Girl: *pauses again, looking rather disapproving* “Are you a boy?”

(This makes me laugh, as I do have short hair and often wear a binder for the support at work.)

Me: “No, I’m a girl.”

(I also spot my coworker, who has also gone bright red in the face laughing at the conversation.)

Little Girl: “No, that can’t be right! Only boys like Star Wars!”

Me: *still laughing* “No, that’s not true! Boys and girls can like Star Wars!”

(It went back and forth like this while the checkout went. I did try to convince her that “Star Wars” can be for everyone, but she didn’t seem to have any of it! Her grandmother, who was also laughing, explained to me that her two older brothers often go on about “Star Wars” so she gets fed up with it! And the “Are you a boy?” question has become a running gag at work whenever someone mentions “Star Wars” or anything else typically for a gender!)

This story is part of the Star Wars Day: May The Fourth roundup!

Read the next Star Wars Day: May The Fourth roundup story!

Read the Star Wars Day: May The Fourth roundup!

(I have this conversation on an almost daily basis:)

Customer: “Do you have [thing that was produced in very small quantity and became unexpectedly popular, and is therefore sold out everywhere]?”

Me: “No, we sold out almost immediately, and our distributor didn’t have any left by the time we reordered. We’re waiting on it to be reprinted.”

Customer: “Well, can’t you order it?”

Me: “We have. As soon as we drop below our minimum inventory threshold, we order a restock, but since even the manufacturer doesn’t have any we can’t get them.”

Customer: “But why don’t you just order more?”

Me: *inside my mind* “Because we knew infuriating people like you would want them, and we want to be able to tell you, ‘No,’ honestly.” *out loud* “I can take your name and number and wait-list you for when the reprint finally happens, but that will probably be a few months from now.” *our industry is chronically undercapitalized and multi-month stock outages are common* “If you’re in a hurry you can buy it from a price-gouger on Amazon or eBay.”

Customer: “No, that’s okay. I’ll just come back.”

(Repeat entire conversation next weekend because “months” means “days” in customer-land.)

(A customer comes into the store to return a Wii console.)

Me: “Do you have the receipt?”

Customer: “Oh, it’s in my car; I’ll go get it.”

(He comes back in and hands me a crumpled receipt, folded over.)

Me: *looks at receipt* “Sir, this receipt is for [Competing Store].”

Customer: “So?”

Me: “So, I can’t give you a refund if you didn’t purchase it from here.”

Customer: “But you sell these here, so I should be able to return it here.”

Me: “Yes, sir, we sell them here, but you gave your money to [Competing Store], not to [Our Store], so we can not return the money we never had in our possession. That’s a loss for our company, and a gain for our competitor, and I wouldn’t even be able to sell this system as new because it has been opened and played.”

Customer: “Let me speak to your manager!”

Me: “I am the manager on duty at this time, but I will tell you that even our corporate office will tell you the same thing.”

Customer: “But you have Wiis here! I don’t see the problem!”

Me: *mentally slams head into counter repeatedly*

Related:
Refunder Blunder, Part 38
Refunder Blunder, Part 37
Refunder Blunder, Part 36