Working with customers often means walking the fine line between steely patience and losing your mind entirely.

And sometimes, it means dealing with arguments that don’t hold up under closer inspection. Like the customer who tried to claim an expired sticker still guaranteed her a discount.

Read on for this tale from retail!

If you’re going to claim a sale based on the writing…you have to accept all the writing.

I worked at a print/ship establishment. Each month we would get marketing packets with various stickers to put on display items advertising the sales for that month.

We had a regular who, while overall nice, was also very vocal and opinionated, making for interesting customer service encounters.

So one day, this difficult customer decided to pick a fight about one of the “sale” items.

While I was helping the customer in front of her in line, she noticed the sticker on our canvas print sample and expressed her excitement that they were 50% off.

Unfortunately, it was one of the many little stickers that our marketing packets are very specific in telling when and where to place them, but are not as good at telling you to take them off.

When the employee tries to explain, the customer refused to be reasoned with.

So I apologized and told her that the sale ended 3 days ago and I forgot to remove the sticker.

She insisted that she wanted a print for half price.

I, again, apologized and told her that sale ended and I couldn’t give her a print for that price.

Then she starts making threats.

She squared up and said, “Your display specifically says right here that these prints are 50% off. I’m looking right at it. If you don’t honor your own words, it’s false advertising and I’ll have to report you.”

But not before the employee managed to outwit her.

I smiled and in my best customer service voice replied, “Yes ma’am. I agree that the writing is important. That’s why you’ll also see right under the number 50 on that sticker it says the sale ended 3 days ago.”

Thankfully, that’s when her other side kicked in and she smiled, knowing I won that one.

I did tell her that we tended to repeat those sales every couple of months and called her when the next one came up, and she bought 3 prints.

Sounds like this customer had finally met her match.

Redditors chime in with their thoughts.

It turns out, it’s actually pretty hard to report a store for “false advertising.”

This customer maybe could have gotten away with her antics had she tried them in a different country.

Sometimes, though, it’s just easier to give the customer what they want.

This customer may have come in hot, but once she realized she was cornered, she finally backed down.

Outwitting an entitled customer is always a sweet victory.

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.