Their Understanding Is Limper Than The Grab Machine’s Grip

(I am working at the box office of a local movie theater for the summer. We have several games — animal cranes, car racing, stacker, etc. — set up in the lobby.)

Customer: “Hi. The crane game ate my quarters; can I have my money back?”

(Thinking it is just a normal malfunction, I say, “Sure, here you go,” and write up a slip. I sit there reading a book until the lady comes back, this time with a child in tow.)

Customer: “Excuse me. I tried it again and it did the same thing. The machine is broken.”

Me: “Okay, here’s another refund; maybe try one of our other machines.”

(The customer comes back not even five minutes later, very frustrated and at this point basically dragging the poor kid behind her.)

Customer: “That machine is broken, too!”

Me: *suddenly getting suspicious, asks a question before giving her the third refund* “What exactly is the machine doing that you’d consider it broken?”

Customer: “Every time my kid pushes the button, the crane goes down, but the prongs aren’t strong enough to grip anything!”

Me: *completely dumbfounded at this point* “The machines aren’t broken; they’re designed that way so that it becomes quite hard or impossible to win. Every single one is like that.”

Customer: “So, you’re telling me that game is rigged?!”

Me: “Um… yeah?”

(She just looked at me for a second, then stormed off muttering about how she’d never play one of “those stupid games” ever again and how we should be fined for knowingly putting a rigged game in our lobby.)