Our hotel has one room left. Everyone was checked in already, and I was waiting for the clock to strike 10 PM so I could go home. At around 9 PM, I get a call from a hotel a town over.

Other Hotel: “Do you have a double room for two people?”

Me: “Only a twin room for 100€ a night.”

Other Hotel: “They will take it.”

Twenty minutes later, sure enough, an older gentleman arrives and says he is from the hotel that called, ready to check in for two people.

Me: “Welcome to our hotel. I will just need ID or a passport.”

He provides me with three passports.

Guest: “It’s my two kids. I have the older one in the car.”

Me: “The room is a twin bed; it will be hard for three of you to sleep there.”

Guest: “Actually, we are four.”

Me: “So you book a plane the same way? Buy two tickets and hope you will get free seats?”

Guest: “What does it matter? They are five, seven, and twelve!”

It was raining really hard outside, and I had no heart telling them no; I knew everything else was booked.

Me: “The room is a twin bed, how you will sleep is your problem, not mine. The price does go up, however, it will be 200€.”

Guest: “What? So much?! For kids?”

Me: “Our rate for four people in the family room is 250€, I’m giving you a discount. Take or leave it.”

He did take it and had the audacity to complain that there were only two of everything: pillows, covers, towels, etc.

That has happened three times in one week. I somewhat understand for a baby that parents don’t say they will be traveling with one, but for kids that age? Trying to get lower prices on every turn…

I work in a superstore that’s connected to a mall. 

A customer walks up to me as I’m walking around the store with a price gun.

Customer: “The lamp you sell in the furnishing aisle. It’s a dollar cheaper this week! That’s not fair!”

Me: “Prices do change frequently, sir. I just change them as I’m told; I don’t always know why.”

Customer: “But I got that lamp last week, and now I’m out a dollar! Give me a dollar!”

Me: “Do you have the receipt?”

Customer: “Who walks around with week-old receipts?!”

Me: “Well, the next time you’re in the store, bring the receipt with you and bring it to the customer service desk. They should be able to help you.”

The customer huffs but walks away.

Three hours later, he marches back over to me.

Customer: “Here! I have the receipt now!”

I walk him over to an assistance desk and start processing a price match for him. As I’m doing so, I’m making small talk.

Me: “Oh, so you did have the receipt on you after all?”

Customer: “No! I had to drive home and get it! You have no idea how annoying that was! I live forty minutes away! I had to dig around the trash to get it! And then I almost ran out of gas on the way back and had to find a gas station! You should make it easier for me to get my dollar back!”

Me: “Sir, I said the next time you come in you could bring the receipt. I didn’t suggest you make a dedicated journey for it.”

Customer: “You were just hoping I’d forget! I know how you tricky people work! Well, you’re not gonna win with me! I won’t allow it!”

Yeah, he wasted three hours of his Saturday, had to rifle through his own trash, and had to top up his gas… for a dollar. Yup, he sure is the winner here…

A customer brought in a computer with a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) problem, and apparently, completely ignoring the signage everywhere (including on the form he signed to drop it off) stating there would be a minimum cost, was furious that there was actually a charge to fix his computer, upon his return.

Customer: “You’re a bunch of scam artists! You can’t expect people to see and read everything. I bet you don’t read the terms and conditions all the time either, do you? You should have told me verbally!”

Funny enough, though, I had only literally just fixed it (it was a corrupt file, which you just renamed, and Windows fixed it with a scandisk on restart), so the computer was on the bench, and actually still on.

The dude was still furious and continued to loudly declare statements like:

Customer: “This isn’t right! If I’d have known there was a charge, I wouldn’t have bothered!” 

I calmly told him:

Me: “I will see what I can do.”

I go into the workshop, straight to his computer, and simply rename the restored/fixed version and revert to the original corrupt file. I then turned the computer off, unplugged it, and brought it out a short while later. As soon as I came out with it:

Customer: “There’s no way I’m paying for it, though!”

Me: *Smugly, smiling happily.* “My apologies for the misunderstanding. Here’s your computer back, and there is no charge.”

Customer: “That’s d*** right there isn’t. But you fixed it, right?”

Me: “Well, it was fixed, but you made it clear you had no intention of paying anything to fix the computer.”

He was about to continue his rant when I just cut him off and continued.

Me: “It’s an honest mistake; you somehow managed to completely miss all the signs trying to make it clear we’re a business, and you simply don’t understand that a business needs to charge people for their services to stay open. So, in accordance with your wishes, I’ve reverted my work, and I’m giving it back to you in the state you brought it in, which has incurred no charge to you.”

Customer: “Yeah, but for this inconvenience I expect it to be fixed… you’re telling me it’s still broken?!”

Me: “Well, yes. As you literally just made clear, quite belligerently, you didn’t want to spend any money on this computer to fix it. I’ve literally done what you wanted.”

This confused him for a moment, and I could see he was about to simply continue his tantrum until he got his way, before I again cut him off.

Me: “Unless you’re a scam artist and never intended to pay for the repair, this is exactly what you wanted. We have literally no more reason to continue this discussion unless you intend to pay for our services to have the computer fixed.”

I could see he was still angry and was probably going to continue to be an a**hole, but thankfully, the phone rang, and I picked it up.

He then took the computer and, cursing under his breath, left the store… only to have his wife drop it off to be repaired, at cost, the next day.

A customer walks over to the cutting counter, carrying one of our three-foot lengths of copper pipe.

Customer: “I want this piece of copper pipe.”

Me: “Sure thing!”

Customer: “But I only need nine inches of it.”

Me: “We can cut it for you, ma’am.”

Customer: “Thank you.”

Me: “Since you only need nine inches of it, I’d recommend getting the two-foot pipe, as it’s cheaper.”

Customer: “Does it matter? I’m only buying nine inches.”

Me: “Uh, well, it doesn’t matter how I cut it, you still pay for the whole piece. That’s why I recommend getting the smallest piece we sell.”

Customer: “H*** no! I’m not paying for copper I’m not going to use!”

Me: “It’s good to have a backup—”

Customer: “—No! You will give me a discount. I am not paying for more than I need.”

Me: “I can’t do that, ma’am. Our register doesn’t even allow it.”

Customer: “This is terrible service!”

Me: “You’re getting what you need for $12, ma’am. I’d say that’s service.”

The customer then TOSSES the pipe at me, almost like a javelin, and storms out. Luckily, she had zero strength, and her aim was s***, but it’s still the craziest overreaction I’ve seen to a customer being ‘forced’ to accept off-cuts.

A regular customer of ours gets coffee every day, and it always comes to $3.23. He hands me $3.

Customer: “We’re good, right?”

Me: “No, I still need $.23”

Customer: “But then I have to go out to my truck for change.”

Me: “That’s okay! I will wait.”

Customer: “Ah, come on! I’m here every day. I thought I had it like that.”

Me: “No, sir, you do not, “have it like that”. It’s $3.23. If I did this today, next time it’s, “Oh, I forgot my wallet,” and it spirals.”

Customer: “But I come in every day!”

Me: “So do most of our customers.”

Customer: “Well, I want this for $3. I’ll pay the rest tomorrow.”

Me: “Okay!”

I take the coffee and take a big gulp out of it.

Me: “That should be about $3 worth now.”

Customer: *Stares at me shocked.*

Me: “We’re good, right?”

Still shocked, he silently walks out with his now-smaller coffee. 

He paid with his card every day after that…