Patience patience.

NO NOW!

You’d think you just read a very short interaction with a child.

But no, that was in fact the TL;DR of this amazing story of outright rudeness.

Some people, I tell ya.

Always good to know there’s that last and final ace up the sleeve when you’re dealing with someone like this.

And it’s compliance of the malicious variety.

Need an answer now, Okay

I work as a supervisor for a small, family run, online “designer” bathroom retailer, want more choice than the the big box stores you come to a company like us. We are also much cheaper than buying directly from a brand.

Any return that is outside the standard 30 days would be at the discretion of the manufacturer / brand. That doesn’t mean no, but we need to check with the brand that a customer purchased and see if they would still accept it back and if so would there be a restocking charge.

I have had similar conversations like this many times over the years but the one that sticks to mind as the others I try to be more helpful.

He details the customer in focus, and how it was his initial mistake that caused this entire story to begin with.

A customer purchased a stone effect shower tray from us, the size he ordered would have weighed about 50Kg and had to be sent with a fragile goods courier.

About 2 months later he called and advised my colleague that he had measured wrong and needed a different size. Annoying, but if you are reordering from the same brand then it will likely just be the cost of carriage for delivery and collection and restocking is waived even though it’s outside of 30 days, however we need to check with the brand to confirm this as it is not always the case.

Add a little stress to the mix, with a plumber on-site for the customer who doesn’t know how to measure things, and you get a hot head.

“Shouty and sweary” – I like that.

This is where the problem for him started, his plumbers are on site and he needs an answer NOW. My colleague explained that it would only take an hour or two to get written confirmation from them and that it would be 2-3 days delivery of the size he did need regardless.

This was apparently not acceptable and he got shouty and sweary and therefore ended up being transferred to me.

Shouting at our staff because of a problem entirely of your own creating will make me immediately not want to go out of my way to help more than I have to.

OP yet again explains this very reasonable, longstanding business practice they’ve had in place, and that’s unfortunately where the situation stands right now.

He can still order the correct size, if the customer would like…

I explain to the customer the same thing as my colleague and that because this is outside of the returns period the discretion is with the brand, but providing they order an alternate size and that the one he has is in the original packaging and condition that it should just be cost of carriage.

That’s when he reveals that his plumber actually threw away all the packaging for tray and that it was a ridiculous policy, the whole time still being very shouty and sweary.

I explained that I can speak to the brand and see if they are able to repackage it but that I know if they are able to do this that they would impose a 25% restocking fee on top of the carriage charges. This was not acceptable, he needs a definite answer NOW.

Cue: big Jim Carey Grinch-like smile across OP’s face.

Enter malicious compliance.

Okay. No.

He was far too rude to continue any further so he is getting the answer now, and that answer is no.

He stuck to his guns. This is, after all, how you deal with an actual child.

No was the answer, and it is still the answer.

Needless to say he was not happy with no and then tried to make me check with them like I previously said I would, but I stuck to it and advised him that a return or exchange would not be accepted as it was outside of time and he hung up out of anger.

Never did hear from him again, not even in an angry review. I assume he paid to have a builder extend his walls to make the tray size work as how specific of a tray he ordered would not have sold easily 2nd hand either.

Moral of the story is be nice to people, or at the very least don’t be rude, and don’t ask for an immediate answer if you are not happy with all the possible answers.

Let’s see what folks had to say about this man-child of a customer.

Some people, like this person, are just down-right baffled at the pushiness.

While another commenter applauds OP’s resolve.

One Redditor brought it full-circle, as it’s a perfect mirror to their little daughter.

No means…mmmm…still no.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.