Customer service often means handling unreasonable demands with a polite smile, but some customers push the limits.

When one man turned his banking woes into a personal vendetta, then tried to backtrack, he learned the hard way that banks keep records of all interactions.

Read on for the full story!

Close your bank account? Yes sir!

I work at a local credit union (similar to a bank) in back office support.

Most of my direct member (customer) contact is through the online chat and message systems. I have never worked in a branch.

So one day, I get a message from this dude demanding to know where his new debit card is.

Not asking. Demanding.

The support staff tries to reason with him, but he’s not having it.

I check and let him know that it was mailed about two weeks ago, and he should have it by now, but I would be happy to mail him a new one, or he could come into a branch and we could print him a new one on the spot.

He asks to have one mailed.

I verify his address (he was less than a 10-minute walk from one of our branches and MAYBE a five-minute drive, but whatever, you wanna wait for the mail, be my guest) and mail him a new card, thinking that was the end of it.

Nope.

The customer wasn’t exactly winning any awards for patience either.

A week later, he messages back enraged that he has not gotten his card yet.

I let him know it takes about 5–10 business days, they are sent regular mail, we have no tracking on them, etc., and he is welcome to come into a branch to get one printed right now if he would like.

He was not a fan of that.

Then the customer started to project his rage directly to the support staff.

He tells me that I PERSONALLY have caused him to get fees (looks at the fees — they have nothing to do with the card; they are all online gambling sites linked directly to his account and routing number) and that I need to refund all $200+ in fees.

This would be in addition to the $100+ we have already refunded for the year.

The rude behavior was getting this customer nowhere fast.

Here’s the thing —  if you ask me nicely, I will probably move heaven and earth to get fees refunded, even if we have already refunded the max limit for you that year.

We are all human, I get it, and I do feel that some fees charged are stupid and morally objectionable.

If you DEMAND I refund your fees? The odds of those getting refunded just dropped by, like, 99%.

So when he’s told no, his anger only boils over more.

So I tell him that I will not be refunding his fees, and he cusses me out. (Always makes me laugh when I get cussed at over chat and messages because someone took the time to type that out and capitalize it.)

He then tells me to just “******* close his account then” if I refuse to help him.

So the support staff does exactly this.

There are a few things we need to send a request to close an account.

The account needs to be positive (his was, but barely), have no loans on it (including credit cards), not have a balance of over a certain amount (no danger there), and we need the address verified (which he had done when I sent him a new card).

So I say, “I am sorry to see you go, but I understand that you need to do what is best for you financially,” and I send the request to close his account.

And then I wait.

But this isn’t actually what the man wanted.

A week or so later, I get a call from a teller at a branch.

They have this “gentleman” in front of them, OUTRAGED that his account was closed and asking what happened.

I let the teller know that he sent a profane request to close the account, so I sent the request to our back office to be processed.

The customer is now irate and tried to backtrack.

She relays this, and he starts calling me a liar, telling the teller that he NEVER cussed at me and he for SURE never asked to close the account.

Not sure if he thought that we just delete messages and have no records?

Anyway, I take screenshots of our messages and send them over to the teller. I listen as she shows them to him on her computer.

But once he’s shown the evidence, he’s finally backed into a corner.

I can hear her trying not to laugh as he goes, “Oh… well… yes…”

She thanks me and ends the call.

Later, she messages me telling me that he apologized for cussing, we reopened his accounts, and that she has NEVER had to stifle laughter that hard before.

Some people learn from their mistakes, but this customer doesn’t seem like the type.

What did Reddit have to say?

Customers like this aren’t exactly known for their critical thinking skills.

Some customers will do just about anything but admit when they’re wrong.

Being nice to customer support yields better results? Who would have thought?

Even someone who was prepared to help before may turn on a customer who’s determined to be rude.

When you gamble with rudeness, you’re destined to lose.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.