When you work in retail, you are going to run into people with strong opinions on the weirdest of things.

What would you do if a customer reported you to the district manager just because you didn’t like the same video game console as him?

That is what happened to the sales rep in this story, and even though he did get an apology, he was still written up.

Let’s read all the details.

Got Written up for Preferring the PlayStation over Nintendo

Back in 2007 I, a 23m at the time, worked for a large video game chain.

Now this was shortly after the Nintendo Wii came out and we were always sold out.

Every morning, we would have a line of customers that would wait around for our daily deliveries to see if we had any new Wiis coming in.

So, one evening I was working a fairly slow shift and these two kids came in and started chatting with my coworker and I. Both of them were probably around 14 years old and came around frequently.

Everyone likes different consoles when it comes to video games.

One of the kids started talking about how great and wonderful the Nintendo Wii was. He started asking for my opinion.

And I simply told him that it was a good console but that I was not a fan of the idea of motion controls and didn’t want to get one. I went on to say that I was more of a fan of the PlayStation.

He started to lose his mind over this.

Well, I should say that he pretended to lose his mind over this. You could tell that he wasn’t really upset that I didn’t like the Wii and that he just wanted to mess with me.

It sounds like this customer is just giving him a hard time, no big deal.

He started to demand that I say that the Wii was the greatest and that there was no other better console.

To be honest, it was getting to be a bit much. I just stood my ground and continued to say that the Wii was not something that I liked.

The kid started getting really frustrated because I would not say what he wanted me to say. At this point I think he was starting to get upset for real instead of just messing with me.

Oh come on, why would the manager care which console he likes?

He then pulled out the manager card. He told me that he knew the District Manager and that if I did not say that the Wii was the best console out there that he would report me.

Now anyone that works in retail has probably heard that line before, so I brushed it off and kept my position.

The kid and his friend eventually stomped off and I thought that was the end of it.

I was wrong.

Can you imagine complaining to the manager that someone has a different opinion about video games?

This kid actually knew the District Manager.

He ended up going to the District Manager and came up with some lie about how I was extremely rude and an overall jerk to him.

This manager is horrible.

The District Manager immediately wrote me up. She did not talk to my Store Manager or my coworker who was there that night before putting in the paperwork.

After writing me up the District Manager called my Store Manager to go over the writeup.

My Store Manager was shocked. She immediately defended me saying that there was no way that I would treat a customer that way.

Oh, now she realizes she was in the wrong.

The District Manager at this point realizes that she may have been a little rash in her decision to write me up and asks the Store Manager to investigate the event.

My coworker and I arrived that afternoon and sat down with the Store Manager. She tells me that I have been written up because I was rude to some kid.

I tell her my side of the story and my coworker tells her what he saw as well.

At least the store manager has his back.

My Store Manager went back to the District Manager, told my side of the story and as well as my coworker’s version.

The District Manager ended up going back to the kid and figured out that he had lied to her.

The next time that I had to work, I got a face to face visit from the District Manager. She starts apologizing to me about writing me up without even looking into the event in question.

What? She can’t correct her own screw up?

But she told me that she cannot undo the writeup, that once the paperwork goes through that it cannot be undone.

I always wonder if she could have reversed the writeup but said that she couldn’t in order to save her own skin.

As for the kid, he was forced to give me an apology.

The Store Manager gave me the option on whether he would be banned from the store. I was even given the option to permanently ban him but I didn’t want him bitter over a stupid mistake.

Hopefully the kid learned his lesson.

I ended up making the ban for something like 3 months.

I never did see that kid after he got banned, even after the ban had been lifted. I kind of wonder if he was too embarrassed to show up while I worked.

Nowadays I actually prefer Nintendo over PlayStation but I am still not that big of a fan of the Wii.

The worst part of this story is that the district manager admitted she made a mistake but ‘couldn’t’ fix it, which I am sure is just because she didn’t want to look like an idiot to her bosses.

Read on to see what the people in the comments on Reddit have to say about this story.

Got to get your jabs in.

This commenter has a good idea.

Always know your rights.

I love this idea.

Now this would have been funny.

Come on guys, it’s just an opinion.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.