rSlash - r/Talesfromretail Angry Karen Customer Gets Charged $10,000!

Episode Date: November 6, 2020

r/Talesfromretail In today's episode, a cashier accidentally overcharges a customer by 10 cents, realizes the mistake, and then immediately offers a refund. The customer demands the money be returned ...to her account, but the store says it will take a few days. So, what does this Karen do over a 10 cent mistake? She starts trashing the store, causing thousands of dollars in damages. The store then sues Karen and wins a $10,000 judgment. Woops! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Business notifications getting out of hand, buried under an avalanche of customer emails, texts, and social media messages? Keep your edge with Thrive Small Business software and never miss a message again. Thrive offers one solution to communicate, market, and run your business, but simply, small businesses run better on Thrive. Get Command Center for free today at thrive.ca. That's THRYV.ca. Terms and conditions apply. Free plans have limited functionality.
Starting point is 00:00:30 Welcome to R-slash, a podcast where I read the best posts from across Reddit. Today's subreddit is R-slash Tales from Retail, where a customer makes a $10,000 mistake. Our next Reddit posts from Aliepo. Working the register as lead cashier won wonderfully busy day, I had the pleasure of interacting with a rather lovely human being. This guy and his buddies were standing in line, not being too obnoxious, just a little loud. They ended up in my register, dumping their goodies on the counter while complaining about the wait.
Starting point is 00:01:00 After thanking them for their patience, I tried to make small talk, but the guy decided to change the tone. He started making a rude comments to his friends about the cashiers. I get it, it's not my favorite job, but it pays to bills while I'm in school. So, after I'd run up all of his items, he swiped his car through the machine. As I was hitting the fun sequence of buttons to end this excruciating encounter, he decides he's not done being a jerk. You didn't ask to see my ID for my credit card.
Starting point is 00:01:27 It's your job to make sure I'm not using a stolen credit card. He elbows one of his buddies to witness this mockery. Oh, sorry, the system is running at his debit. Did you put in your pen? It's not a debit card, it's a credit card. It's really not that hard. He holds up his card to show me. Look, it even says CID on the back of the card. It's really not that hard. He holds up his card to show me. Look, it even
Starting point is 00:01:45 says CID on the back of the card. I don't know about other retail stores, but we had already moved away from checking signatures on the backs of cards against the signature line because by that time the transactions already gone through. We don't have a definite policy of asking for ID as long as the back of the card is signed. All right, cool. Can I see your ID? Thank you. You should have done that to begin with. He opens his wallet and begins fishing through his wallet, looking for his ID. After a moment, a blank look crosses his face.
Starting point is 00:02:17 I don't have it. That's okay. I can take another form of payment. I don't have another way to pay. You have to take the card. I'm sorry, sir. Once I've asked for ID, it's store policy that you have to show it. So I know that we have this policy for this process when it comes to buying alcohol. I just went with this logic that the same is true for credit cards.
Starting point is 00:02:38 I was pleasantly surprised you didn't throw a fit at this point, but I used his own logic against him. After the shuffle of shame from his group of friends, one of them moves forward. he didn't throw a fit at this point, but I'd used his own logic against him. After the shuffle of shame from his group of friends, one of them moves forward, swipes his debit card and paged for the stuff. I think them for coming in as they hit it off the door laughing, but this time it wasn't at me. Our next reddit post is from FuzzyOne. So this is an old story for me.
Starting point is 00:03:01 Happened back in 2008 when I was a young and trepid stock person in the Big Box all purpose store, including a grocery section. story for me. Happened back in 2008 when I was a young and trapped stock person in a big box all-purpose store, including a grocery section. I had a working knowledge of where pretty much everything was in the store because I was all over the place. But the grocery department had its own stock team specifically, so I wasn't as knowledgeable there. Now, two things of note here, I'm of Lebanese descent, and I was working in South Florida
Starting point is 00:03:21 at the time. For those that don't know, South Florida has a significant Cuban population, but not so much Middle Eastern folks. I got confused for Cuban all the time because I had a darker skin tone, so more to a lot of Cuban folks. I also speak fluent English, Arabic, and French, but I was born and raised in the Midwest,
Starting point is 00:03:40 so my accent gives no indication that I might be a Middle Eastern heritage. On this fine afternoon, I was willing and empty tub back to the stockroom after having emptied it out one department over. Walking through the main aisle next to the grocery I hear an excuse me. Not rude, but definitely not polite either. I turned to find the air equivalent of a caron. Let's call our Cadija.
Starting point is 00:04:02 Cadija is a 30-something looking woman wearing yoga pants in a skin-tight shirt, and I'm really fancy hijab and jewelry because that makes sense, standing with her husband. I grew up in a predominantly Lebanese community in Southeast Michigan, so I definitely know the type. The conversation goes as follows. How can I help you miss? I'm looking for a specific item, but I can't find it. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm not very familiar with the grocery section, so I'm not sure what that is. Let me grab one of my colleagues for you, one moment. I could see one of the other customer service guys in the grocery section, so I radioed him to come over and help her out. He'll be with you shortly, miss.
Starting point is 00:04:39 Thank you, but I'm in a hurry. I thought you were carrying new year's store. I'm really sorry, miss. I don't work in this section, but my colleague is coming right now. Then, Kadeja says to her husband in Arabic. They always get these stupid kids to work in these places, but they don't know how to do their job. This fatso doesn't know his hate from his butt. The husband gave Kadeja a look, probably because he saw my expression in turn from my
Starting point is 00:05:03 customer service smile to a frown. I had an internal debate about what to do next when her husband spoke. He said in Arabic, stop talking, I think he understood what you said. I have coerced he didn't, he's an idiot. He doesn't know his hands from his feet. That's an Arabic idiom that doesn't translate very well to English. I say in Arabic, actually I understood every word you said. I don't appreciate being called fat and stupid. An older lady like you should know better than to insult people trying to help you.
Starting point is 00:05:33 Worst, you wear your hijab like a hypocrite. Pretending to be devout, yet you abuse your perceived social lessers. You should have some respect for yourself. Kadesha looked like she'd been hit by a frickin' truck. Her olive skin turned ghost-white and she spotted at me. You, you speak Arabic? I say in Arabic. Obviously, I do. Maybe next time you'll think before you insult people who help you when you think they can't understand you.
Starting point is 00:06:01 Kadesha grabbed her husband's arm and dragged him out of the store completely mortified. I could hear her husband yelling at her in Arabic when he warned her not to be a beward all the time, especially when she doesn't know who can understand her. I wasn't personally that offended, but I won't deny that it was satisfying to scare some sins into her. And down in the comments, we have a similar story from Donnie's denier. I've got a funny one.
Starting point is 00:06:25 I'm Russian. I was snowboarding solo in Vermont when winter and hopped on a chairlift with a family of skiers. A mom, a dad, and a young teenage son. In Russian, the mom and dad immediately start complaining to each other about being stuck on a lift with a snowboarder. And the entire write-up, talking about how they hate snowboarders. And we row in the mountain, and we ride too fast and all of that.
Starting point is 00:06:46 I'm just minding my own business, laughing to myself under my jacket. As soon as we get to the top in Russian, I said, have a nice ride, guys. Without skipping a beat, the dad replies, still in Russian. You too. Then it clicked for all three of them. The kid starts laughing, and the mom and dad got so quiet and just rode away. Good times. Our next reddit post is from Han Yolk. This happened a few years ago when I was working on a large upscale beauty supply. They sold wigs, weaves, etc. Our register was a bit old fashion,
Starting point is 00:07:16 so we had to punch in some items by hand. Usually not a big deal, but definitely left some room for human error. One day a woman came in and my coworker pressed the wrong button and overcharged her by 10 cents. My coworker instantly realized what happened and refunded her the money and gave her a few free samples. But upon hearing that a refund would take a few days to process, the woman flew into a rage. At this point, I, being the manager, came over and tried to smooth things over.
Starting point is 00:07:43 I offered her 10 cents directly from the register, but she refused. She wanted the money in our account immediately. At this point, she was screaming loud enough that the entire store pretty much stopped operating. Every customer in the store was focused on the drama. The customer wouldn't leave, wouldn't take a cash refund, and only wanted a direct deposit of 10 cents in a recount immediately. Then the lady starts screaming about how Chinese people are all thieves. I tell the lady that I was born in Virginia and she responds by telling me I came in on a boat.
Starting point is 00:08:15 At this point, I see no possible peaceful resolution, so I leave her with the assistant manager and head to the back to call the cops. While I'm in the back, I hear a sudden crashing sound followed by gasps. I run back out to the front and see the woman has knocked over an entire cosmetics display. Breaking most of the products and damaging the display itself, all while screaming over 10 cents. She was dragged out of the store by the police and we ended up suing and winning for around $10,000 in damages. OP, what I want to know is, when you guys won the lawsuit, did she pay you immediately right then and there? Or did you guys drive to her address and set her house on fire?
Starting point is 00:08:58 Childhood vaccines have been around for decades and are safe and proven to help protect children against 14 preventable diseases. Learn more at Canada.ca slash childhood vaccines. A message from the government of Canada. Why do I love getting my last minute gifts at shoppers drug mart? Well, lots of stores, many open late, great selection of gifts, and let's not forget the PC optimum points. I get gifts for them and points for me. And can you go to shoppers exclusions apply Our next reddit post is from lady teribert This happened years ago, but the leaves of logic people make still amazes me
Starting point is 00:09:35 During my stint at a store where everything costs one dollar I was just getting ready to leave for the day. I was almost unringing out the people in my line when a lady walked up with a full cart She took one look at my line my co co-workers line, and proceeded to the register behind me. A register that had no till, the door was clearly open and empty, all lights were turned off, and a closed sign was up. I noticed a lady was starting to put her stuff on the belt and said, ma'am, that till is closed. She ignores me as she continues to pile her mountain of items on the belt.
Starting point is 00:10:05 Ma'am, there's no one to ring you out. That register is closed. She turns to glare at me. It will be open. And then she went back to putting her stuff on the belt. I finished ringing out my customers and called up my manager. My manager came to grab me and we went to the office to count my tail out. My manager asked, is that lady waiting for someone? She wants to be rung out. Then why is she at a closed till? I told her it was closed, but she won't move. My manager thanks for a moment and says, she can wait there, I'm not opening another till just for her. So we count out my till which takes about 10 minutes. We signed the proper paperwork and I head back to grab my stuff. All of this took roughly 10 to 15 minutes. Guess who's still waiting up front standing at an
Starting point is 00:10:50 empty register? The lady gave me a hard glare as I walked out to go enjoy the rest of my day, while she continued to wait for a cashier that was never going to show up. The next time I came back into work, I learned that, apparently, the lady got so fed up with waiting that she left the store with all of her stuff still on the belt. As someone who worked at a grocery store in college, I can confirm that this is exactly something that people do. They just stand at the empty register and then give you attitude when you don't immediately go over to serve them. Just Karen's being Karen's, I guess. Our next reddit post is from Press Panda. It's been over a decade since I worked in retail, but reading this sublately has brought back so many memories, and I thought I would start to share.
Starting point is 00:11:32 I worked in a store selling DVDs, CDs, games, vinyl, and a bunch of other entertainment-related stuff. This story took place the day after the launch of the Nintendo Wii. Our story had guaranteed that if you had pre-ordered a Wii by a certain date, then you would get one. If you hadn't pre-ordered, then it was first come, first serve for the remaining stock. No one was able to place an order or reserve one after the release day, as we could not guarantee when we could get stock back in. The day after the release, we had just opened it, and I was standing by the entrance of the door to greet customers, when this big, angry looking guy comes charging through the door straight up to me.
Starting point is 00:12:07 Do you have any Nintendo Wii's in stock? Hi, I'm sorry, we sold out of the stock we had yesterday. On hearing this, the customer stomped his foot and slammed his shopping bags against his side. I knew at that point that drama was about to unfold. Right, well, I want to preorder one. I'm sorry, we can no longer take preorders as it's now after release day, and we're unable to take orders as we can't guarantee when we'll receive stock back in since the product
Starting point is 00:12:35 isn't such high demand. That's a lie. What? You aren't lying to me! I was in here two weeks ago and was told to fight pre-ordered I was guaranteed one on the day of release. At this point, I'm thinking maybe I've misunderstood and he has in fact pre-ordered, so I'm making an attempt to clarifying.
Starting point is 00:12:56 Oh, are you here to collect a pre-order and do you have your order slip and receipt? No, I don't have a slip. You should have one for me because I inquired about one in one weeks ago. Either give me one now or order one for me. My son wants one. That's not how it works, unfortunately. We only preorder with a deposit. If you haven't paid a deposit, then we don't have a preorder for you. I can't order you one either as our system won't let us. This is ridiculous. Get me a manager right now as you're obviously incapable of sorting this mess out. I'm not
Starting point is 00:13:31 leaving here without the Wii. As angry as this guy already was, he was about to get even angrier as I now had to inform him that I was, in fact, the manager on duty and the only one around. The guy flipped out, pointing his finger in my face, calling me a liar, telling me there's no way some little girl was a manager. Just as I was starting to worry this guy was about to physically assault me, something wonderful happened. I felt something brush over the top of my shoulder from behind, and suddenly the customers faced dropped, and he was being dragged towards the door. Unbeknownst to me, our security guard had just come on shift and was just entering the shop floor
Starting point is 00:14:09 when he heard the customer screaming at me. He walks straight up from behind me, grabbed the guy by his neck and dragged him outside backwards telling him, you're done. Once outside, the guy stood between me and the security guard, almost foaming at the mouth with rage for a good minute before turning and storming out of sight. Our next reddit posted from shenanigan. So a few years back, I worked for a large retail and grocery company. And like most grocery stores we have a deli section. I was working the returns desk, which I was still fairly new at, and a customer rolls up
Starting point is 00:14:41 with a cart that had two cardboard boxes of half-eaten fried chicken. I don't think I've ever seen that much fried chicken before. Hello, how can I help you? I would like to return this fried chicken. What's wrong with it? I ordered this for a family reunion this past weekend. I took it home to my family and when we started eating it, it was all burnt and nasty. We weren't satisfied and I'd like my money back. I'd like to know that she was still wearing her family reunion shirt. She's quoting our fresh food policy,
Starting point is 00:15:10 which is a hundred percent money back guarantee. So I decided to follow through with a return. Although in my head, I'm thinking why anyone would buy fried chicken from us, ever. Of course it was going to be bad. Our deli food is known for being nasty. Anyways, she hands me her receipt and it says that she bought two orders of 75 pieces of chicken, totally out to about $100. I do the return, give her a money back, and I come
Starting point is 00:15:35 around to grab the card of chicken. It doesn't end there. Later, I'm taking the return items back to the respective stations, bakery to bakery, frozen to frozen, etc. I roll the chicken card over to the respective stations, bakery to bakery, frozen to frozen, etc. I rolled the chicken cart over to the deli, and the two workers greet me, confused. What's this, one of them asked. Claims, a lady came and returned these. She said they were burnt nasty. And you took it back?
Starting point is 00:15:57 I shrugged. Yeah, it's policy, 100% money back guarantee. At this point, they're now visibly angry. I haven't many freak out and start to doubt myself. Is that the policy? Did I do it wrong? I was still new at return, so it's possible. I asked, was I wrong?
Starting point is 00:16:16 They tell me no and sigh. They ask what the customer look like and I describe her to them. They get more angry. One of them says, she came in last weekend to pick up that big order of hers. Took us all day to make it. She comes in and she doesn't have enough money. Told us she didn't know it would be that much. She told us about our family reunion and how much it meant to her.
Starting point is 00:16:38 Then she started crying. She only had about 80 bucks on her, so the deli and bakery workers decided to chip in and help her pay for the rest. All three of us look down at the card and cardboard boxes filled with happy, nasty chicken. This is why I have trust issues. That was our Slash Tales from Retail, and if you like this content, then be sure to follow my podcast because I've put out new Reddit podcast episodes every single day. because I've put out new Reddit podcast episodes every single day.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.