I work for a manufacturer in Germany. Recently, we started selling refurbished items on an online marketplace that exclusively sells refurbished items. The description of the equipment always states the condition they are in. Most of the items we sell here are returns from our regular online shop.

If a customer makes a complaint at the marketplace, we can answer the complaint, but it can also be answered by the marketplace customer support.

Yesterday, we got a customer complaint that the item was used because it had a few scratches, which had been clearly stated in the description. It’s quite audacious but unfortunately nothing uncommon.

What really got me was what happened next.

Customer support for the marketplace decided to step in. They told the customer that they were sorry that they had received a used item when they ordered a new one!

I’m wondering if they are aware of what company they are working for? It’s even literally in their name!

I’m working at the customer service desk at a store. I have given my two weeks’ notice, and it’s my last week working here. A customer comes up with a bag with the item inside and a receipt.

Me: “How can I help you?”

Customer: “I need to return this; it’s broken. It keeps making a ticking noise.”

I look into the bag, then at the receipt, and then at the customer. I look back at the item and then at the customer again.

Me: “Ma’am, it’s a clock.”

Customer: “Yeah, but it ticks too loud.”

I just threw it into the damaged returns pile and did the return. By that point, I didn’t care.

I have just been promoted to assistant store manager of the small pharmacy where I work. This is when companies are coming out with various home tests for [certain respiratory illness], but before insurance companies start paying for them up front. If you want to get reimbursed, you have to keep your receipt and turn it over to your insurance company.

It’s an hour before we close, and I’m closing drawers for the night when my cashier calls me to the front.

Me: “Hi, I’m the assistant store manager. What can I help you with?”

Customer: “No, I want to talk to the store manager!”

Our store manager has taken a week off for her brother’s wedding.

Me: “Ma’am, our store manager is out for another few days, but I am more than willing to help you with whatever you need.”

Customer: *Grumbling* “Fine! I bought these home tests here, but when I called my insurance company, they said I never should have paid for them because insurance pays for them now, so I want my money back!”

I stare pretty stupidly for several seconds, knowing this isn’t going to be a fun conversation.

Me: “Ma’am, I apologize, but due to certain health reasons, the tests are non-refundable.”

Customer: “But I have my receipt! I want my money back!”

Me: *Reading the receipt* “Unfortunately, even if these items were refundable, you purchased these items three months ago. Our return policy is sixty days. But again, it is a serious health violation to try to return these tests.”

Customer: “I DON’T WANT TO RETURN THEM! I JUST WANT MY MONEY BACK!”

Me: *Staring at my cashier in disbelief* “You… want to take home your money… and the tests?”

Customer: “This is why I wanted the store manager!”

Me: “Ma’am, even if she were here, she would tell you the same thing. These tests are non-refundable. The CDC has issued this warning. Please understand that there is literally nothing I can do. The system simply won’t allow me to refund these items, no matter how upset you are.”

Customer: “I WANT TO TALK TO THE STORE MANAGER! WHEN IS SHE COMING BACK IN?! NO ONE EVER TOLD ME THE TESTS WERE NON-REFUNDABLE! I WANT MY MONEY BACK!”

Me: “Ma’am, the only thing I can suggest is possibly calling corporate and asking if there’s any way around this?”

Customer: “I’M NOT CALLING ANYONE! I! WANT! MY! MONEY! BACK!”

Me: “Would you like me to call for you?”

Customer: “YES!”

A phone call is placed. The woman screams at the person on the other end for not having a sign in OUR store saying the tests are non-refundable, and she demands to know what he would do to rectify that. I pull away and speak to the person quietly, asking if there is ANYTHING I can do for this woman.

Corporate Representative: “I’m very sorry, but if she wants her money back, she will need to get reimbursed through her insurance company. However, not all insurance companies cover these tests.”

I hang up after several minutes of pleading to find the woman speaking kindly to my cashier.

Me: “Ma’am, I apologize, but he also said the only way to get your money back is to be reimbursed through your insurance company. We cannot do anything for you here. I’m sorry, but that’s the law.”

Customer: “Why’s it so hard for you to give me my money? I work hard to put money in my FSA [savings account], I have a job, I pay my taxes, and I’m a law-abiding citizen! What makes a little white girl think you can just steal my money like that?!”

She’s Black. At this point, I’ve had ENOUGH. NO ONE accuses me of being racist when race was never part of the conversation in the first place and gets away with it. I’m done playing nice.

I step back and point to the door.

Me: “You can see yourself out.”

Customer: “Oh, you’re mad because someone finally called you out on it!”

Me: *With a strained smile* “No. You probably weren’t aware, but you’ve been yelling at me for the last forty-five minutes, and we close soon. So leave.”

Customer: “WHAT IF I WANT TO BUY SOMETHING ELSE?! HUH?! I’M A PAYING CUSTOMER! YOU CAN’T JUST KICK ME OUT!”

Me: “Ma’am, I do not get paid to get yelled at by customers who think they’re above the law. You can leave now, or I will call the cops and have you forcibly removed from this building.”

Customer: *On the way out* “I’M GONNA CALL CORPORATE AND COMPLAIN! I’LL CALL YOUR BOSS! I’LL FIND YOU ON [SOCIAL MEDIA] AND LET THE WHOLE WORLD KNOW! YOU CAN’T TREAT ME LIKE THIS! I’LL HAVE THEM ALL FIRE YOU! YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY!”

I text my boss after we (barely) manage to close on time that night, telling her what happened.

Me: “[Cashier] was present for the entire thing, so he can back me up.”

Boss: “Don’t worry. Once a customer makes the complaint personal, i.e., ‘I’ll find you on [Social Media],’ corporate trashes it.”

Me: “Well, it makes me feel better to know I won’t be fired for not breaking the law, lol.”

Boss: “Oh, I would’ve kicked her out after ten minutes. You have so much more patience than I do. But… does she not know how to read, or is she just blind?”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Boss: “Well, she said no one ever told her that the tests were non-refundable, but in order to walk into the store, buy the tests, and then walk out, she has to walk past at LEAST three large, bright yellow signs that say, ‘[Illness] home tests are NON-REFUNDABLE and only covered by SOME insurances.’”

I slapped myself on the forehead for not thinking of that.

I was not fired.

Related:
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 31
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 30
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 29
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 28
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 27

A few years ago, I was heading to class to take a final in my music history class and forgot a scantron (a form where you fill in the bubbles for multiple-choice tests). I stopped by the college bookstore, grabbed a scantron, and ran up to the counter. This is when I met “her”. “Her” was a woman in her mid-fifties with wrinkles on her face that can only come with holding a constant scowl on your face for decades.

When I pulled out my card, she pointed to a sign that said there was a $10 minimum. Yes, $10. The scantron was about twenty cents. I can totally get a $5 minimum, but $10? Come on.

Well, I didn’t have any change in my pocket, but there was a “take a penny, leave a penny” jar. So, I reached over and grabbed a couple of dimes someone was kind enough to leave.

Employee: *Putting her hand over the jar* “You can leave change, but you can’t take change.”

At this point, I figured I could either get really upset or play the game she wanted.

Me: “I understand. There are a few more items I still need.”

I proceeded to go the the furthest corners of the store and pick up about $200 worth of small items from the highest, lowest, and most inconvenient spots in the store. The entire time, “Her” had a wicked smile on her face like she’d won.

I walked up to the counter with my basket, paid, and signed for the items. Then…

Me: “I’d like to return everything but the scantron please”.

She was livid! People don’t usually yell at me, but she completely lost it. She ended up calling the campus police and the other workers.

When the campus police arrived, they informed her that what I had done was completely legal. “Her” couldn’t handle it but had to refund me for everything but the scantron.

Campus Officer: *Smirking* “Please don’t do that again.”

Me: “Yes, sir!”

I was about twenty minutes late for the final, but I ended up making an A.

I work in the curbside pickup department of a grocery store. If a customer orders alcohol, I am required by law to check their ID before giving them the product. My little computer device will not even proceed to show me the order’s substitutions, let alone actually dispense the order, until I have entered in the driver’s birthdate, and I have to actually see the ID to confirm it’s valid first. My only options on the handheld device are to enter the birthdate or scan the barcodes on the alcohol to remove them from the order. No ID = no alcohol.

A customer who appears to be in her thirties comes to collect her order.

Me: “Hello, ma’am. Can I get the name for the order?”

Customer: “Yes, it’s [Customer].”

Me: “Great! I see you have some alcohol in your order today. Can I see your ID?”

Customer: “Shoot! I left my driver’s license at home. Can I just tell you my birthdate?”

Me: “No, ma’am, I’m sorry. I’m going to need to see your ID.”

Customer: “Can I text my husband and have him send a picture of my license?”

Me: “No, the ID has to be with you.”

Customer: “Fine. Just remove the alcohol. I’ll come back later to get it.”

I scanned her drinks and confirmed that they were removed from the order so she wouldn’t be charged for them. Then, I loaded everything else into her trunk and she drove off.

The next day, a coworker told me a man had come storming into our department the night before yelling about how he and his wife were charged for alcohol they did not receive when the dumb employee couldn’t just see that the wife was clearly over twenty-one! He needed a refund, or he would just take the alcohol off the shelf.

My coworker checked the status of their order on our computer and confirmed that everything was paid for except for the alcohol, which was listed as refunded. The coworker explained this to the man, who kept yelling and referring to the “dumb employee”, so a manager was called.

The manager asked to see the man’s receipt. The email “receipt” he had been reading was just the list of products the wife had ordered, not the actual receipt of items received. He sheepishly found the correct email and, lo and behold, there was no alcohol listed.

According to my coworker, as soon as the man saw that, he just turned and walked away without another word, presumably to buy his alcohol.

Related:
No ID, No Idea, Part 52
No ID, No Idea, Part 51
No ID, No Idea, Part 50
No ID, No Idea, Part 49
No ID, No Idea, Part 48