No One Is As Bad At Math As A Customer Who Thinks They’re Right

I work at a backyard and patio store. This was a couple of months ago, in our off season, so there was plenty of time for me to spend with a single customer. This customer came in about a half-hour before closing to sort out an order of his.

He had ordered a fancy BBQ, cover, and assembly and delivery for a total of $2,600. He also got two patio chairs at $370 each, and assembly for both chairs for $60. His grand total was $3,400.

Since the BBQ and chairs were coming from different warehouses, we couldn’t be sure that it’d all be able to be delivered at the same time. Because of this, it was arranged that he’d pay in full for the BBQ stuff and half for the chairs — $2,600 on the BBQ and only $400 on chairs, for $3,000 paid total. He did get the BBQ items, but it turned out that we couldn’t get the chairs to him in time, so he wanted that part of the order refunded. Sure!

But this is where things get difficult. Seems that the customer forgot this arrangement. When he showed up, he wanted a full refund of $800 for the chairs.

I tried — for thirty minutes — to explain to this customer that no, we could not refund him money he didn’t pay us in the first place. I tried four methods of explaining. I added up the value of what he was keeping. I explained that if I gave him $800, he’d owe us $400 on the BBQ. I tried.

I wrote the math on paper. I showed him on a calculator. I proved it every way possible. But no. No. Thirty entire minutes. My manager — the only other one in the store — watched me the whole time, not knowing how to explain it any better than I already had. I felt something break during those thirty minutes that he insisted we were ripping him off.

The customer left that night angry that we had “cheated” him out of $400, but at least my manager told me he’s not sure he would’ve been nearly as patient. Yayyyy.