Imagine working at a retail store where a customer asks a question you’ve never been asked before. They claim the product they bought was missing an item, and they want to get that item. If they didn’t have their receipt with them, would you help them out anyway, refuse to help, or get your manager?

In this story, one employee tries to handle the situation herself, but she eventually has to call her manager.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

You don’t get to talk to me like that.

I work at a discount appliance store. I frequently get customers who are missing things like screws, kickplates, knobs, etc.

It’s normally a very easy process to get these parts for the customer, but this particular one finally broke me.

C: holding up a mounting screw “I bought a microwave from here, and you didn’t put two screws in my packet, so I’ve come to get the other one from you.”

She just needs to see the receipt.

I’ve never seen this woman in my life; I didn’t sell her the microwave and I certainly don’t assemble the mounting kits so my next response is:

Me: “Alright, that’s not a problem, do you have your receipt with you?”

C: “Are you freaking kidding me?”

Me: “You don’t get to talk to me that way.”

Will the woman’s husband have the receipt?

Her face completely changes from anger to…well, her face looked silent, if one could see silence.

Then her husband started walking up. As I see him, I’m about to ask if he happens to have the receipt in his pocket, but before I can get a word out the customer starts yelling:

C: to husband “Where did we buy that microwave?”

Husband: “Uh…here?”

She can’t take it anymore.

C: “And where did we buy the stove?”

Husband: “Here, why?”

At this point, I’ve had enough. So I say:

M: “Ma’am, it’s obvious you don’t want my help, so let me get someone else for you.”

The manager figured out what the customer actually wanted.

So I go get my manager, explain the situation, and he comes out to deal with the woman.

Afterwards, my manager comes and tells me that he thinks the woman wasn’t looking for a second screw; the screw she had with her had been stripped, and she was likely looking to get a free replacement off us.

He gave the customer the screw, but agreed that I didn’t deserve to be treated like that.

Now, that was a good manager, learning to speak crazy customer, solving the problem and reassuring the employee that she handled the situation well.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Why was the customer so upset about a receipt?

It’s not like one screw costs a lot.

This is crazy!

The customer did seem to have a screw loose.

When a customer gets crazy, get a manager.

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.