My wife and I went to an outlet mall in one of our state university towns. We went into a national brand shoe store to look for a pair of casual shoes for me. I found a pair and bought them. The clerk took my cash, gave me the change, bagged the shoes, and left to chat with a coworker, as there was no one else in the store at the time.

Shortly, I returned to the register with a problem with my change. After trying to ignore me, the clerk finally, with eyes rolling, came to find out what I wanted.

Clerk: “Is there something else I can help you with?”

Me: “You gave me the wrong change.”

Clerk: “No, sir. I know I gave you the correct change.”

Me: “No, ma’am, you didn’t.”

This went back and forth a couple more times until I got more forceful.

Me: “No. Let me show you. I still have the change in my hand. The ticket says the shoes cost $60 and coins. I gave you a hundred and the coins and you gave me 3 twenties back.”

Clerk: *Wide-eyed* “Oh, I gave you twenty dollars too much.”

Me: “Yes. You came back to me with a defensive posture before you knew what my problem was. Change your attitude until you find out what is going on with the customer. I know the drawer being short would come out of your pay.”

Clerk: “Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry, but thank you for being honest.”

I work in a concessions stand, and we don’t usually have change for large bills. It is quite a hassle to have to get change for large bills, so we always ask if the customer has a smaller bill or another form of payment. Usually, they do; they just don’t want to use it.

One day, a customer who has issues with me — I don’t know the reason — comes up to my register.

Customer: “I’d like to buy a large [Soda].”

Me: “Got it! Is there anything else I can get you?”

Customer: “No.”

Me: “That will be [price].”

The customer tries to hand me a $50 bill.

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry, but I do not have change for that. Do you happen to have a smaller bill or another form of payment?”

Customer: “No, I don’t. Can you not just accept it?”

Me: “Unfortunately, I cannot accept the bill.”

I am not going to budge on this after another coworker was recently yelled at by a different customer that we didn’t have change for their large bill.

Customer: “I don’t have other payment. Can I just get it and pay for it later?”

Me: “No, I cannot let you have the item without paying for it.”

Customer: “No, I want to pay for it later.”

Me: “I cannot give you something for free.”

Customer: “I’m not asking for it for free. I just want to pay for it later.”

This went back and forth several more times until they left without their item. I don’t know why they thought they could just come back and pay for something later. It doesn’t work that way, especially for concessions items. It would basically be getting an item for free as we cannot ensure they’ll even pay for it.

I work in a small shop in a small town where there are only two ATMs and usually one is out of service. We used to offer up to £20 cashback with any card purchase, and although it wasn’t super popular, enough people used it to just about make it worth our while.

One regular was rude, entitled, and always loudly complaining. We were too slow, he had to wait too long, he wanted more than £20, and why were there only two ATMs? Like that was our fault!

One day, he comes back in.

Customer: “You didn’t give me my money!”

Me: “I’m sure we did. Did you check your pockets and wallet?”

He refuses to check, insisting he is right. Our manager counts down the till and everything adds up, but the man still stands there shouting that we’ve stolen his money before giving up and leaving.

The next time he comes in:

Manager: “Did you find the missing money, sir?”

Customer: “Oh… yeah, I found it in my pocket.”

Of course, he doesn’t apologize. Our manager decides at that point to stop offering the service and puts up signs to say so.

The next week, the man comes in as usual, and I have the pleasure of serving him:

Customer: “And £20 cashback.”

Me: *Pointing at the sign* “We don’t offer that service anymore.”

Customer: “What do you mean? You have to; the cash machines never work. Where am I supposed to get my money?”

Me: “Sorry, but we don’t give cashback.”

Customer: “I don’t believe this! This is terrible service! Everybody’s going to complain! Why have you stopped?”

Me: *Staring him straight in the eyes* “Well, we got some complaints about being too slow, and then a customer falsely claimed we had not given him his money, so we decided it was best to stop offering cashback at all. It’s a shame, really, because every other customer has been grateful we offered the service.”

He went several interesting shades of red and then silently left. He hasn’t been back since.

I work in a hotel. It’s Friday, and my coworker and I are about halfway through our seventy-five-ish check-ins for the day. We’re down the street from a big college campus, so it has been pretty much all students and their parents getting ready to move into their dorms tomorrow.

They’ve been a super nice crowd, and for a super busy night, our shift recap only has three things on it. While no one makes a fuss about our incidental hold, and only a couple have questions about how it works, there is only one that has an issue with it. Go figure, too, she is a [Rewards] member. She is pleasant enough, but as soon as I mention the hold, things get catty.

Guest: “Now, why would I need to pay you more if I already paid for the room?”

Me: “It’s just a hold; you’ll get it back tomorrow after housekeeping gives it the all-clear.”

Guest: “Do we really look like the type of people who would damage your room?”

Me: “That’s not what I said. Thi—”

Guest: “Well, that’s why hotels take them, right? To scare people into not trashing the rooms!”

Me: “Yes, but that’s only par—”

Guest: “So, you think we’re just like the other trash you must normally get, is that it?! I’m a [Rewards] member! This is not how I’m normally treated at your hotels!”

Me: “I’m sorry you feel that way, but that’s not what I was insinuating at all. We have to do it for all guests; it’s just corporate policy.”

Guest: “Bulls***! You can tell corporate if that’s the case that they just lost one of their top customers! We’re never staying at any of your s***ty hotels ever again after this! Unbelievable!”

Me: “I’m sorry you feel that way.”

Then, I just try to get on with checking her in. All of our [Rewards] members get a complimentary room upgrade, so I inform her that we were able to get her upgrade for the night, and y’all know what she says?

Guest: “That’s nice, but a stupid upgrade isn’t going to buy back my loyalty. If you really appreciated my loyalty, you would’ve waived the hold instead of giving me the sorry excuse you call an upgrade.”

I decided I was done with this interaction, so I told her when breakfast would be and which floor she’d be on and sent her up the elevator.

The boss lady asked me the next day when I came in what I did to that lady to make her so angry. I guess my general manager had gotten an earful that morning. She laughed when I told her it was just about the hold, which the lady did get back. My boss said that the way that lady had been talking to her, you would’ve thought I’d called her every rude name in the book. But nope, I just asked for something that’s standard policy in 90% of hotels!

I’m the author of this story. In that story, I was suspended without pay for three weeks while Human Resources investigated a customer complaint directed at me for accidentally using a word considered discriminatory.

I uploaded my story to Not Always Right, and a lot of the comments told me I shouldn’t have put up with having no pay for a customer complaint.

As I am young and this is my first job, I wasn’t sure what was normal or not, but I built up some confidence and I arranged a quick talk with my manager.

Me: “Hey, [Manager], I wanted to talk to you about my suspension.”

Manager: “Yeah, that was terrible. I’m sorry they did that.”

Me: “I’ve been talking to some people, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t think I should have been suspended without pay. I should have been paid while the investigation took place and only disciplined if it was proven I had done something wrong.”

Manager: “Yeah, I agree.”

Me: “You do?”

Manager: “Well, yeah! It was totally unfair.”

Me: “Then why did you let them do that to me? The investigation concluded I wasn’t at fault!”

Manager: “Listen, kid, you’re young. This is America, and these big companies, they don’t give a s*** about people like us. I’m going to level with you. ‘the district manager has been trying to make us do more with a 10% budget cut this quarter, and your suspension was part of that budget cut.”

Me: “I almost failed to make rent because of a budget cut?!”

Manager: “No, it was because of some stupid customer who didn’t have anything better to do than just target some minimum-wage teen!”

Me: “Am I going to get the three weeks of pay back-paid?”

Manager: “Of course not. You’re hourly, not salaried.”

Me: “Fine.”

I finished out my shift thinking about what I wanted to do, and I eventually decided to quit. If the company wants to save money so badly that they will throw a worker under the bus, then they can make savings by not paying me.

I started a new job yesterday at a small family-owned bakery. The hours start super early, but I am in the back away from customers and there IS NO CORPORATE! Should keep me out of trouble while I save for college!

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