The Student Is Not Always Right

(I’m standing second in line at a copy shop. The clerk is dealing with the customer in front of me who seems to be late for his bachelor thesis’ deadline.)

Employee: “Okay. That would be [price] and it will be ready in an hour for pick up or—”

Customer: *interrupting* “I’m sorry… WHEN?!”

Employee: “In an hour approximately. 12:30 pm.”

Customer: “Okay … And how are you planning to reimburse me?”

Employee: “I’m afraid I can’t follow you. Why would we need to reimburse you?”

Customer: “A friend of mine said adhesive binding only takes 15 minutes! The offices for university close at noon! You are responsible for me missing my deadline and having to repeat!”

Employee: “This time of year a lot of people need to turn in their theses. All we can do is—”

Customer: *interrupting* “You’re kidding right? Are you f****** serious?! NO! YOU’LL GET IT DONE IN 15 MINUTES OR REIMBURSE ME!”

Employee: *handing back the flash drive* “Tell you what: I’m going to do none of that. Please leave! Have a nice day and good luck!”

(The customer leaves, screaming profanities and how the copy shop is responsible for him failing his bachelor thesis. I step forward.)

Me: “Hi, I need an adhesive binding for my bachelor thesis, too. I’m a bit afraid to ask because of… well, all that… but my professor told me that you deliver to the university and that, if it’s printed the day of the deadline, it counts as turned in in time …”

Employee: “Sure thing. Yes, it does. We work closely with [University] and do that quite often.” *laughing* “I would’ve told him if he wouldn’t have interrupted me to make an a** of himself. Let’s just hope he learned a lesson from this, if it’s only not to wait until the last minute to get stuff printed.”