Imagine working at a retail store when a customer tells you they want to complain about something. I can only imagine bracing myself for what they’re going to say next.

If they ended up making a suggestion that you knew was a really bad idea and actually even impossible to do, would you smile and nod, tell them the truth, or laugh about their stupidity later?

In this story, one cashier encounters a customer who wants to make a complaint about the parking lot. Let’s see how the story plays out.

Handicap / Disabled Parking Spaces

When I was in my early – mid 20’s, I worked in a local “Big Box” Home Improvement Store (probably not the one you’re all thinking of…).

At this time I was Lead Cashier / Front End Supervisor and was placed at the Service Desk for this shift.

A lady [C = Customer] walks in, casually but nicely dressed, smiling with a pleasant demeanor. She approached me with a nice, quiet voice.

The woman was there to complain.

C: “I’d like to make a small complaint.”

Me: “I am the front end supervisor on duty at the moment. I’ll be happy to take your concerns and escalate them to Management, ma’am.”

C: “Thank you! I’d like to say that your parking lot has too many Handicap/ Disabled spaces.”

I was quite stunned for a couple of seconds! I kind of stuttered a bit when I first tried to talk again!

Actually, they don’t have too many handicap spots.

{I’ll take this opportunity to note that the General Store Manager had mentioned only a few days previous that he had been informed we had a commercial / retail compliance person (not sure of the actual title of the person) inspect our location and they had noted that we had the absolute bare minimum of Handicap / Disabled parking spaces per the amount of non-posted spaces for the size of our lot.}

Me: “I am sorry if this is an inconvenience for you, but we are required to have that many posted parking spaces for the size of our parking lot.”

C: “Oh!” She cocks her head to the side and thinks for a few seconds. “Well, do they all have to be at the front of the store?”

At least the employees got a good laugh out of it!

Me: Utterly Dumbfounded I think I actually laughed! “Ma’am, if they weren’t at the front of the store, that would sort of take away the point of them being for Handicapped / Disabled persons! They would be useless to the people who need them!”

C: Again cocks her head to the side and thinks. “Oh!” Then walks off to do her shopping!

I was left with a headache trying to figure out how someone could seriously be that dumb! At least the managers had a good laugh when I “escalated” her complaint!!

What a crazy thing to complain about!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

At least the customer wasn’t angry.

She probably realized her mistake.

I’m not sure what studies this person is referring to, but it is possible that the law requires more parking spots than most stores actually need.

This person can relate to this story.

Customers really need to think before they complain.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.