A common theme among difficult customers seems to be that they are pennywise and pound foolish.

What would you do if you had to handle ridiculous requests that in no world make sense, but it was part of the paycheck? One person recently shared an iconic instance of this.

Here are the details.

Wait, you REFUNDED me?

I work at a large retailer of lumber and other sundries.

Woman calls in half and hour before close wanting to “buy the stuff to build a fence tomorrow.”

Oh dear, heaven help us. I’m also down a computer. FML.

So after haggling on with her for ten minutes about the things she says she wants but doesn’t want to call it what I’m calling it, I pass her to a manager who (thank god) kindly spends his time building the order with her.

It seems like it’s going okay.

I run to the other end of the store to the working computer to ring her up via phone.

Me: Oh hello, I have that order ready for you totaling $2,500. Can I please get the card number?

CW: Sure. It is 123456789. *card declines*.

Me: I’m sorry. That card was declined. Can I get another card, please?

CW: Oops. OK. Its 23456789. *Card goes thru without a hitch*

But there’s a problem.

Me: Thank you. I’ll email you the receipt.

Ten minutes later the phone rings. It’s CW.

CW: My credit card company called. They declined that card b/c they thought it was fraud. But I REAAALLY want the points. Can you re-ring that please?

Might as well humor the customer.

Me: Sure, but it’ll be at least fifteen minutes.

CW: OK. Thanks.

I finished with my line, refunded her first order, rebuilt a second order, and then found coverage for my position and hauled butt to the other side of the store with the working computer.

Me: HI CW! I’m ready for that other card number!

This is screaming scam.

CW: Great- it’s 123456789. *Card declines*

Me: I’m sorry. It still isn’t working.

CW: Oh fine. Can we just cancel this and keep the other order then?

Me: No, I’m sorry. I’ll need another form of payment. I already refunded your other order.

This woman sounds like a handful.

CW: You WHAT? Why’d you do that?

Me: Sigh Because I didn’t want to tie up your accounts for nearly five grand.

CW: Well now what happens if my card goes over the limit because I charged it twice?!

She was not happy, but she repaid with the original card and finally hung up.

Tomorrow is going to be a bad day for another coworker.

I’m so glad I don’t work tomorrow when she’s picking this all up.

She ordered huge quantities of panels and concrete.

She thinks they’ll all fit on her truck.

In one load.

Maybe I should warn my coworkers….

What an absolute character. Let’s see what the good people of Reddit had to say about this.

Many were empathetic to the poster.

Some asked the important questions.

Others made some witty remarks.

And one person ultimately wished them good luck.

Some customers make the most infuriating requests.

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.