Their Argument Comes Apart At The Seams

(I’m an assistant manager at a clothing store, and there is a sales associate we are wanting to promote to management. We are giving her more opportunities to work on her own to see how she handles it. One night, she and I are working together and I tell her I am going to organize our shoes in the back and to let me know if she needs anything. Everything is going fine until about 30 minutes before closing, when she comes back to the stock room.)

Coworker: *visibly upset* “I’m so sorry to bother you, but this customer is out here demanding to speak to a manager. He’s Russian and his English isn’t great, but he wants to buy a jacket for the woman he’s with. He says the threads are loose on the seam and he wants a discount. I told him we could only give him 10% off, and he started yelling and asking for a manager, and I didn’t know what else to do…”

Me: “You handled that just like you should have. I’ll come out and talk to him.”

(I go out to the sales floor and greet the customer and his girlfriend.)

Me: “So, what seems to be the problem with this jacket?”

Customer: “The threads are loose! It is no good! See!”

(He shows me a seam of the jacket that looks fine, but it honestly isn’t the highest quality stitching as the jacket is only $50.)

Me: “I see. Well we can offer you 10% off.”

Customer: “No! You must give it to me for $20. The jacket is no good. This seam is so loose; she will probably wear it five times before it falls apart!”

Me: “I’m sorry sir; the largest discount I can offer for damaged items is 10% off. If you’d like I can call another one of our stores to see if they have the jacket in her size, but I can’t give you a lower price than that.”

Customer: “But how can you sell this for more than $20? It is just going to fall apart!”

(We go around in circles like this for a while, and I start to get fed up and know I need to start shutting the store down soon. I finally run out of patience with the man, who is obviously just trying to bully me into giving him the jacket for a low price.)

Me: “Sir, with all due respect, if you believe this loose stitching is going to cause the whole jacket to fall apart after a few wears, why would you want to buy it at all?”

Customer: *angrily* “I will give you twenty dollars and that is all!”

Me: “Then you will not be purchasing the jacket. Y’all have a great night!”