She’s Taking All Of These Personal Computers Personally

(I work for a small IT service provider. One day, a customer decides to replace all of their old PCs and screens in their office — a total of 15 PCs and 28 screens. We order them for the customer, devices are delivered to our office, and I install and prepare them before I deliver them to the customer to set them up. One day, I’m loading the first bulk of PCs and screens into my car to deliver them. A woman, probably in her late thirties, watches me for a while before approaching me.)

Woman: “Are you giving those away?”

Me: “Pardon me?”

Woman: “Can I have that one?”

Me: “I’m sorry, these are for a customer. I can’t give them away.”

Woman: “You really should give me one. It’s for my son; he needs a new computer.”

Me: “Again, they’re for a customer. They’re already paid for.”

Woman: “If they can afford that many computers, they won’t mind if you give me one. Don’t be so selfish! My son needs it to do his homework and play his games!”

Me: “He wouldn’t really enjoy it. Those are office PCs; they don’t have enough power to run any modern games.”

(In fact, these PCs are about 700€ each and don’t even have a dedicated graphics card.)

Woman: “You are so selfish! I’m a single parent; I only work part-time and can’t afford a new computer!”

Me: “I’m sorry to hear that, but these PCs are paid for; they belong to the customer. Even if that wasn’t the case, giving away PCs for free would get me into serious trouble. Now, please excuse me.”

(I close the trunk and get inside to get another load of computers. When I come back out, I see her trying to get the trunk to open. She must have noticed me not locking the car, but I have the keys in my pocket, so it locked automatically as I walked away.)

Me: “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

(She jumps.)

Woman: “I didn’t do anything!”

Me: “Right. You’d better leave now.”

(I start loading the rest of the devices.)

Woman: “You are so selfish! It wouldn’t hurt you to help me and my son! I’m going to complain about you!”

Me: “You’re very welcome to do so. Just go through that door; our office is on the first floor.”

(I’m done loading and I drive off. When I arrive at the customer’s office, I notice that my boss tried to call me. I call back.)

Boss: “That woman told me that you had promised her a free PC.”

(Aside from the fact that we didn’t have any PCs left — we don’t stock and only order on demand — he wasn’t prepared to just give away hardware for free, since we obviously have to pay for it, too. He offered her directions to a nearby computer store which also has refurbished PCs for a reduced price. Apparently, she didn’t want to hear about it. She wanted her free PC and refused to leave until he threatened to call the police on her. When she finally left, she kept yelling that she would tell all her friends how selfish we are, and that we would lose all their business. Guess we’ll have to close down soon.)