Everyone wants their wedding to be perfect — but the pursuit of this perfection can make some customers forget how the real world works.

One shopper fell into this trap when she asked a shoe store employee to mix and match designs for her wedding shoes like some kind of magician from a fairy tale.

So the employee decided the best way to deal with this ridiculous request was with a little humor.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

What? There’s no Elves in the backroom?

Back in my shoe-selling days, I had a common joke I told my coworkers:

“When are the shoe elves getting back from the holidays?”

But the inception of this joke was quite entertaining.

A woman (W) comes into my shoe section in a department store with some friends, carrying a wedding dress in a very unique silver-grey color.

This isn’t unusual, as many brides-to-be would bring in their dresses to find shoes that matched.

I spent about 10 or 15 minutes helping her narrow down her selection. She was extremely picky about everything, but it’s for her wedding, so whatever.

Soon the bride found herself with a dilemma.

She narrowed it down to three different pairs, but none of them matched what she wanted exactly. She and her friends were comparing the shoes and what they liked about each.

One was the right color, one was the right heel height, and one had the best style.

They stood in my section for almost an hour comparing these shoes. I would check in on them, offer small opinions, then leave them to further discussions.

By this point, I’m pretty tired of these women taking up my entire section, but what can you do?

So the employee made the mistake of asking how they could help.

Coming by yet again, the bride is now very frustrated. I ask if there’s anything I can do.

W: Yes, I need you to go in the back and make this shoe (holds up the good-style shoe) this color (holds up good-color shoe), and if possible, switch out this heel.

The employee couldn’t believe what they were hearing.

Me: ………Pardon?

W: My friend had a great idea. Just use the dye for that shoe on this one.

Me: Oh, I’m sorry, but we can’t dye any of the shoes.

Friend: What? Of course you can dye shoes!

Me: Yes, some shoes can be dyed. This one (good style) actually can be dyed. But—

The customer only heard what they wanted to hear.

W: So do it. And I want this heel. (Holds up shoe with good heel.)

Me: …We get shipments of shoes. We don’t actually make them here on site.

Friend: You just admitted these can be dyed!

The employee grew more and more frustrated by the second.

Me: Yes, by YOU at HOME. We don’t have any ability to do anything you’re asking here in the store.

Friend: This is such terrible service. It’s clear you’re just lazy. Just go in the back and do what we asked, or we’re complaining to your manager.

I’m done by this point. These are $25 shoes in a big department chain. This is not even a nice department store, and they’re asking for custom shoes??

Me: Let me see what I can do.

So here’s where the joke was really born.

So I walked to the backroom where my manager was and loudly yelled, “Hey, are the shoe elves back from vacation?”

My manager, who was very cool and understanding, looked at me bewildered.

Me: So no shoe elves? None?

Manager: o_o??

The employee goes to break the news to the nightmare customers.

And I walked back out and shrugged to the women.

Me: No luck.

They stared at me for a good minute in stunned silence before clucking angrily among themselves and leaving.

They ended up calling my manager, who told them they were idiots, essentially.

Regardless, the joke really stuck.

From then on, whenever there was a crazy request from a customer, it became tradition to check with the shoe elves.

Customers often overestimate just how little minimum wage retail workers actually care.

What did Reddit have to say?

This commenter can’t believe a customer could be so clueless.

Many customers seem completely disconnected from reality.

Reasonable customers do things quite differently.

According to this user, there was a time where shoes could be dyed in the store.

Sounds like this customer needs to find her way back down to Earth.

This isn’t a fairytale, lady — this is retail.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.