Retail jobs are full of surprises, especially when emotions run high.

One frustrated father’s demand for the “right” gift card for his autistic son soon turned one employee’s patience into a test of endurance.

It didn’t exactly end on friendly terms.

Read on for the full story.

“My kid is special needs so I’m going to be a jerk to you!”

I work at a thrift shop and my girlfriend is my manager and the owner (it’s a small-town local place her family opened).

A customer comes in looking for a gift card for his son to a popular gaming platform (which releases a new expansion in 7 days) which we don’t carry.

But when the employee informed the customer of this, that’s when it was clear there’d be trouble.

So I tell him we don’t carry gift cards to other shops, but that I could get him a prepaid Visa which we do sell.

He gets visibly frustrated, saying he needs this specific gift card because his son is autistic and would freak out if it’s not the specific card.

The employee wasn’t sure why this had to be their problem.

Okay, that’s—I mean—sorry? Like what am I supposed to do, man?

Regardless, they try and save face and suggest alternatives, which only ends up making the customer even matter.

So I tell him that the (scummy game resale place) the township over carries them (we’re on the line between three major townships).

At that, he starts to berate me for not carrying this specific card.

Finally, it’s time to call in reinforcements.

So I call over my girlfriend and have her see if she can do anything (because she’s much more patient than I am).

His girlfriend decides to take a rather unorthodox approach.

Eventually, after about 20 minutes of yelling I couldn’t make out—because he was yelling and lip reading is difficult enough without telling—my girlfriend comes over and has me drive over to the other store to buy the card for him.

When I get back, he’s red-faced and crying and storms over to me and grabs the card.

This extra effort would come with an extra cost.

Then he makes a fit over spending twice as much as the card’s value (she made him pay for “shipping and handling” on it lol).

She said, “Could’ve gone yourself and gotten it cheaper. Oh, and never come back.” And he stormed out.

Like, sorry about the situation, but seriously forget you.

The store bent over backwards to help him, but it still wasn’t enough.

What did Reddit think?

This user agrees the customer had no right to put his own stress on this poor employee.

No matter what’s going on at home, this father still has a duty to behave like a considerate person in public.

Bad parenting is bad parenting.

This user hates to see people on the spectrum get a bad name.

After this experience, none of the employees will be in a rush to welcome him back.

Life can get stressful, but that doesn’t give you a free pass to act like a jerk.

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.