Overbearing On Overcharging
(One slow night, a couple of my coworkers are running the front register. A man and his disabled son walk in and want to see a movie that has not been sold for that show-time. They’re five minutes late, but we have no problem running them a private show.)
Coworker: “Any concessions as well for you, sir?”
Customer: “Of course not! I’m not paying for overpriced popcorn and soda! And frankly, it’s a crime for you to be able to price CORN that expensive!”
Coworker: “My apologies, sir. We try to keep our prices lower than our competitors as often as we can.”
Customer: “LIKE H*** YOU DO! Last time I went to the movies it was at the theater down in the city, and they’re charging a LOT less for their large popcorn then what your s***ty large popcorn costs!”
Coworker: “Actually, we frequently check on the competitor prices, and I believe their junior size costs $5.00 nowadays, about the same price as our large size.”
Customer: “Well, you’re WRONG! Better get your facts straight before calling me a liar!
Coworker: “I’m sorry, sir. We’ll be sure to check on it again for you. Total for just the tickets comes to $12.00.”
Customer: “AND you overcharge for TICKETS, too! Why can’t your prices be better that the city’s tickets?! You’re some dump theater out in the middle of nowhere! The least you can do is charge fair for your tickets!
(The price for our tickets at the time were $7.00 for adults, and $5.00 for children and seniors 60+. This is well known to be MUCH better than in the cities, where your standard ticket costs $9.00 or more. At this point, my coworkers start to see through his little haggle game.)
Coworker: “Sir, until we can get time to talk with management about changing prices, they’re staying where they are. Unless you buy tickets, we can’t let you in to see the show.”
Customer: “How… how DARE YOU talk to me in front of my son like that! You want him to be upset?! Upset his dad’s getting bullied in front of him?!”
Coworker: “Sir, will you be buying tickets with us today?”
Customer: “Of course I am! My son wants to see this movie! I just want you to know that I don’t appreciate customer service here! And I WILL be calling and complaining to your company about this!”
(The man paid for the tickets and stormed to the theater, dragging his son along with him. We didn’t hear anything from them for the duration of the movie. Right before the end of the movie, one of our employees went to stand outside the door with a mint tray. It’s a little gesture we did after every movie. The employee opened the door to find the theater completely empty, plus hundreds of mint wrappers thrown all over the room. We later looked at the security footage and found out that the last cleaning shift had forgot the mint tray in the theater. The man proceeded to unwrap all the candies, pocket them, walked through the aisles tossing wrappers everywhere, and left through the emergency exit before the movie ended.)
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Question of the Week
Have you ever served a bad customer who got what they deserved?
