Unfiltered Story #146832

(I work at a convenience store that also offers movie rentals. Note: all of the newest movies are two-day rentals, though some people still believe it’s only one-day. Late fees are the cost of rental compounded by every day it’s late. So the $1.99 new releases cost $1.99 every day they’re late. If someone has a defective disc, they hand it back in person, we fill out a tag for it, and they receive credit for a movie of the same type. A new release for a new release, or an older stock title for a stock title. If a movie is turned in late and the person claims it defective, we can’t give them credit. At most, we can waive the late fee, depending on how late it is.

This particular night is both the one night a week our movies are all very cheap, and it is also the day the truck for the store arrives. So I’ve been running between stocking merchandise for an entire department and renting movies to nearly every regular we have. It’s toward the end of the night, and I am frazzled. A lady hands me a movie to rent, and I notice there’s a late fee in her account.)

Me: Alright, you have a $2.78 late fee from Fifty Shades of Grey.

Customer: *Goes from pleasant to condescendingly sour in a heartbeat* Didn’t you guys GET our NOTE?

Me: *Checks the memo box for their account* I don’t see a note, what happened?

Customer: WELL, it was DEFECTIVE. We couldn’t even see the ENDING.

Me: I see… unfortunately, since it was late, I can’t give you credit for it. The best I can do is wave the late fee.

Customer: Fine, whatever. We didn’t have enough time to watch it and get it back the next day, whatever.

Me: Oh, all of our brand new movies are two days! You have two days to watch it and get it back.

Customer: Yeah well, some of us have LIVES.

(I’m literally stunned by this. She’s fighting me over this late fee on the grounds that ‘people have lives.’ If her life was too busy to watch a movie and return it on time, she probably shouldn’t have rented to begin with. I go to swap for the actual disc while she rants on, now talking about Fifty Shades of Grey itself.)

Customer: I can’t believe I didn’t even get to see the ENDING. Do YOU know how it ends?

Me: *at this point, I’m fed up and really annoyed* God no, I have no desire to watch two hours of emotional abuse.

Customer: *Surprisingly shuts up, pays for her movie (which was a promotional $.79 instead of the usual $1.99) and leaves*