Sometimes, you can’t tell whether a customer is trying to trick you or just making an honest mistake.

This woman was working the customer service counter at a UK retail chemist in the 1990s.

A man came in trying to return a CD rack without a receipt.

When she scanned the item, she noticed the product clearly wasn’t from their store.

The customer got embarrassed and left, while she felt triumphant.

Check out the story below to find out more.

That one time the customer was wrong…

This was in the early 90s, UK.

I was a teenager working at a retail chemist.

Let’s call it Froots.

I was working on the customer service/returns/photo processing counter.

This woman explained that they can only exchange non-receipt items.

Customer: “Hi, I would like to return this CD rack for a refund.

Unfortunately, I can’t find the receipt.”

We allowed this on store-branded products.

But only for an exchange, not a refund.

And I explained this to the customer, who was okay with that.

She tried to scan the box and found out it wasn’t their item.

Me (after attempting to scan box): “I’m sorry sir, but this isn’t our product.

We can’t exchange this or refund.”

Customer: “No, I definitely bought it here… blah blah blah.”

Me (pointing to well-known brand name on box): “It says St. Shmichael.

This is Froots, not Quarks & Fencers.”

Customer: “Erm… oops?”

The customer was embarrassed and apologized.

I still don’t know whether he was trying it on, but I don’t think so.

He turned pink, apologized, and I heard a muffled “FFS” as he left.

My triumphant feeling lasted at least an hour.

Got to savour those small victories.

Let’s see how others reacted to this story.

This comment makes sense.

This user shares their personal thoughts.

Here’s a valid point from this one.

This person shares their honest opinion.

Finally, this one narrates a similar story.

Sometimes, winning against a customer can give the most satisfying feeling.

You have to take the wins where you can.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.