I work in a store that handles mostly video games and related items, but we also buy and sell preowned tech.

Me: “Hello, welcome to [Store]. What brings you in here today?”

Customer: “I would like to see what I could get for my iPhone XR.”

Me: “Well, to do that, I need to hook it up to our system. Is that all right?”

The system just verifies that the phone works and hasn’t been jailbroken.

Customer: “Yeah, that would be fine.”

I let the system verify that it works, and the glass and display pass our visual inspection.

Me: “All right, you will get $326 for your phone. Do you want to complete this order?”

Customer: “Not right now; I will be back in later.”

A few hours pass, and I honestly don’t expect to see him back in. It happens all the time. Surprisingly, he actually does come back.

Me: “So, did you decide if you wanted to sell it?”

Customer: “Yes, I want to sell it.”

I start hooking the phone back up to our system.

Customer: “Why are you doing that?”

Me: “I have to do this; we have to check each phone even if we already checked them. This is because our system also wipes your phone.”

Customer: “Oh…”

As I am doing the screen check again, I also realize that he has a screen protector on his phone. When I pull it off, I see that there is a small crack in the corner of the phone so I have to fail the glass. This causes a drop in the price that he will get, due to the fact that we have to repair it to sell it.

I will also state that, with my experience with repairing phones myself, replacing glass isn’t cheap since you also tend to replace the LCD and touch panels, as well, since even small cracks can cause damage.

Me: “Since the phone is damaged, we will only be able to give you $150.”

Customer: “What? My phone is not damaged. I demand you give me the $326.”

Me: “Sir, there is a crack in the glass. This causes the phone to fall under our damaged category. I have to give you the price the system tells you.”

Customer: “You are lying! There’s no damage, and if there is, it’s your fault!”

I start getting pissed, but I stay calm and stand my ground.

Me: “Sir, the screen is damaged so I have to put that it is damaged. Also, at no point did I drop your phone. Do you want to sell us your phone or not?”

Customer: “No, just give me back my f****** phone!”

As he is leaving the store, I hear him call me names under his breath.

Me: *Sarcastically* “Have a great day!”

My manager came out from the back office and asked what had just happened. I explained the situation. He just chuckled and told me I had handled it well. We never heard back from that guy, and I’m glad about it.

I am shopping around for a video game when I overhear the following conversation between an employee and a customer.

Customer: “Hey, do you know if this will work on my computer?”

Employee: “Do you know what kind of computer you have or what you have in it?”

Customer: “No, it is just a regular computer with Windows on it.”

Employee: “Well, I can’t really tell you if it will work.”

Customer: “Can I return it if it doesn’t work?”

Employee: “We are not allowed to take back PC games once they are sold. If something is wrong, we can exchange them. Would you like to look at the Nintendo or PlayStation games?”

The customer is now very irate.

Customer: “No, I don’t let my son sit there and play those; he doesn’t sit there and play video games and rot his brain all day! He is a very smart kid and has a 4.0 in school!”

I finally have had enough and chime in.

Me: “Excuse me, ma’am. He is just trying to help you. And computer games are the same as video games. This young man is just trying to help you out. It is not his fault you don’t know what kind of computer you have so he can help you make a decision.”

Customer: “How would you know? You probably play video games all day!”

Me: “Actually, I have my Bachelor’s in computer science; I work on developing software and was able to read at a college level before I was thirteen. And I’ve played video games ever since I could hold a controller. And if you really don’t want your kid playing video games, maybe you should buy him a book to read, instead.”

The customer grabs her son by the arm and leaves the store in a huff.

Employee: “Thank you for that.”

I am a shift lead at a fairly well-known video game store. Our company dress code says we should wear collared shirts or video-game-related tees, plain jeans or khakis, and some kind of close-toed shoe. As for shirts, our current boss prefers that we only wear collared shirts. I usually do both; I will wear a collared button-down over the gaming tee of my choice, but if I get too hot from running around the store doing my job, I’ll often swap to just the tee so I don’t pass out from heat exhaustion.

The following exchange occurs with a general associate on one of those occasions.

She is over an hour into her shift, speaking to a customer, looking over at me.

Associate: “Man, I wish I got to wear tee-shirts.”

I turn around to give her a long look, as she is wearing a floaty blouse, skinny jeans, and cowboy boots.

Me: “Really, [Associate]? Really?”

Associate: “You’re always wearing just tee shirts! I thought we were supposed to wear collared shirts.”

Me: “It does seem unfair when someone else isn’t following the dress code, doesn’t it?”

I’m not sure she ever caught on to the irony of her complaint.

I’m working at a popular video game store during the holidays. Obviously, any digital content cannot be returned, since we can’t guarantee the code hasn’t been used.

A dad and his eight-year-old come in with a case for a hugely popular online game, which actually only has a digital code.

Me: “Hi. How can I help you?”

Dad: “Yeah, we need to return this.” 

Me: “Well, we can’t return it since it’s digital, but I can see what I can do for you.”

Dad: “You need to return it. It doesn’t work.”

Me: “Well, is it giving you any error?”

Dad: “Yeah, it’s a bunch of gibberish. I want my money back.”

Me: “Well, usually, looking up the error code will help, though it also gives a basic description of what the error is.”

Dad: “It says something about a connection. I just wanna return it.”

I flag down my manager since I can tell this guy won’t budge.

Me: “Unfortunately, we cannot refund digital content. We can help you troubleshoot the issue and give you the number for [Console Company]’s support line, but we cannot refund you.”

Dad: “This is bulls***! I bought it here and it doesn’t work!”

Manager: “Sir, we’re going to ask that you watch your language. My employee is right; since the issue is in the console or your connection, there’s nothing we can do other than offer a support number.”

Dad: “Well, I already called. They said because my kid forgot his account password, they can only send a reset email. I never got it.”

Manager: “That’s still an issue beyond us, and there isn’t an issue with the code you bought, so we cannot return it.”

Dad: “F*** you guys!” *Storms out*

My manager looks at me.

Manager: “I’m willing to bet the guy just doesn’t want to admit his kid’s dumb as s*** and forgot his password.”

Me: “That, or he used the code and is trying to scam us.”

It is the time of the PlayStation 2.

Customer: “Yeah, I’m looking for a wireless controller for my PlayStation 2.”

Coworker: “All of our PlayStation 2 controllers are in the clear plastic baggies in the display case right behind you.”

Customer: “But how do I know which ones are wireless?”

Coworker: “Well, um, the wireless ones don’t have a wire coming out of the controller.” 

Customer: “Could you show me?”

Related:
Wireless, Clueless, Hopeless, Part 36
Wireless, Clueless, Hopeless, Part 35
Wireless, Clueless, Hopeless, Part 34