You can spell things out for a customer, but that doesn’t mean they’ll believe you until it’s too late.

So, what would you do if a customer showed up demanding a package you warned them they’d never be able to pick up?

Would you bend the rules for them?

Or would you stand firm and let the chips fall where they may?

In the following story, an employee finds themselves in this exact situation and chooses to follow the rules.

Here’s what happened.

“I’m doomed to be like Cassandra: predicting future disasters but never believed by others”

I wanted to share a funny (for me) interaction with a customer from a few days ago.

This guy comes in to pick up a package for his friend, but I can’t find it. I find out that it’s still in the process of being delivered and that it’s a laptop.

I tell him that it’s still on a truck somewhere and also warn him that, because of what it is, we will not be able to give it to him.

I tell him that this is a hard rule and we will not budge on it.

The guy comes back a few days later.

I suggest that he get the person for whom the package is for to contact the shipper and try to get his name put on the shipping label.

I give him a piece of paper with this information.

A couple of days later, he’s back and holding the piece of paper I had given him. The package is here, but his name is not on the label, so I refuse to give it to him.

My boss can hear him getting mad and comes over to help.

My boss tries explaining to him a few times that it doesn’t matter what he shows or who he calls. His name isn’t on the label, so he doesn’t get the package.

After speaking with the boss, the customer requested the item to be returned to the shipper.

He gets his friend on the phone and insists that my boss speak to them.

My boss does and tells them the same thing, along with their options: come get the package themselves, or we’ll send it back, and they can make arrangements with the shipper.

The friend chooses the second option, so back on the truck it goes.

I really don’t know what was going through this guy’s head when he came back. I warned him that this would happen, and lo and behold! It did!

Geez! Some people like to learn the hard way.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit relate to customers like this.

Here’s someone who may be onto something.

This reader thinks the guy’s friend is being a pain.

According to this comment, some people live on hard mode.

It sure sounds like he was asking for one.

He should’ve expected that! It’s not like he wasn’t warned.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.