Unfiltered Story #209638

(I work at a themed attraction, selling photo products. They’re not cheap, but not overly expensive: especially if you buy one of the bundles. This conversation centres around one of our most popular bundles. Two big prints, a keyring, a magnet, two tiny (smaller than credit card sized) prints and digital copies. The customer is a tall man, with a much smaller wife and a child sat nearby. He is being served by a new girl, who hasn’t memorised all the variations of price, size and discount yet so occasionally will grab me for clarification. She grabs me, alarmed and I finish with my customer before moving onto hers.)
Customer- (shouting) no, you’ve got to give me six items, and I want a magnet with that!
(He’s kind of right, the package is ‘six items’ and you CAN swap certain ones for others of the same size and price, but I’m guessing he’s shouting for a reason).
Me- sir, in this package you get (I recite the items on the price board) or you can swap for (second combination). We can also offer you (third combination).
Colleague- (whispers) I said that…
Customer- no, you’re going to give me two keyrings (from combination two) AND a magnet.
Me- we can’t do that. You’re getting two big prints, two keyrings, two small prints and your digital downloads…
(I can see he’s not happy with that. Other customers are starting to get nervous and he’s scaring them off.)
Me- so we can offer you the extra item for (discounted price) instead of (origional price)…
Customer- no, i get six items, I want two big prints, two keyrings and a magnet. I don’t want the small prints.
Me- well, they’re in the package as a free extra. You’re paying for the big prints and the keyrings or magnets. If you don’t want them, maybe you have a relative who might like them?
Customer- but you’re already printing them, can’t you give me a magnet to put them in?
Me- yes. For (discounted price)
Customer- but you’re just going to throw them in the bin!
(By this point I have literally no idea what he thinks is going on. Even if customers leave photographs, we make every attempt to keep and return them. If HE wants to throw the unwanted small prints in the bin, that’s his business).
Me- There’s no need to shout at us, sir. Here is the price board. If you don’t want that package, you can buy the items at separate prices for (bigger price). So you see, you might as well get the package even if you don’t use the small prints.
Customer- but you should give me a magnet for inconveniencing me!
(My colleague is virtually silent. I’m half hoping she goes for the manager who is on a break because, although he can’t authorise any ridiculous discounts or free items, he is at least as tall as the big guy yelling and making angry gestures)
Me- these are our prices. This is what we can offer you. Like I said, we can give you the extra magnet for (discounted price) and you could maybe give the other small print to your son’s grandparents…
Customer- I am not paying these prices! I want six items! I should get six items.
Me- the extra magnet would be seven and you’re not paying for it in the package.
(At this point he storms off, his wife appologising to us and other customers in his wake. I congratulate my newbie colleague for dealing with it so well and we go on serving other customers who are starting to come back to our desk. Maybe ten minutes later, his wife creeps back in with the money in hand.)
Customer’s wife- we’ll take the package as advertised for that price. I’ll give the spare photos to our mothers.
(She spends the entire transaction appologising and saying lovely things about how well we dealt with the situation.She then scurries off again.)
Me- You know, she was so nice I nearly wanted to give her a free magnet for dealing with him?