Isn’t it insane when people buy electronics from drugstores?

This person shares a horrible experience while they were selling a laptop at a drugstore.

Check out the full story!

Buying a laptop at a drugstore

Last night I had to deal with one of the most entitled customers I’ve ever had the displeasure of helping.

I work at a drugstore. We mainly sell food, makeup, and fill prescriptions, but we also sell electronics at ridiculously marked-up prices (as if everything else isn’t ridiculously marked-up).

This is where it gets crazy!

We keep a lot of the more expensive items behind the cash register in lock and key so no one steals them.

I was doing my job as a cashier and an old couple approaches me. There are a lot of elderly who shop here in our area, and most of them are rather friendly 99% of the time.

Unfortunately, the 1% still roam here, and I could tell I was in for (at least) an inconvenient time immediately. As soon as the old man opened his mouth, he loudly inquired about one of the Acer laptops behind the glass case, specifically the specs like ram and disk space.

UH OH…

I got the keys and took it out of the glass case. You see, the thing about these laptops is that they’re shipped to us in plain brown boxes. The most you’ll learn from the box is the model number, UPC and serial number.

I couldn’t help them without bringing out my phone and looking it up- that’s something my bosses don’t really want me doing in front of customers, so I couldn’t be of any help; in addition, my phone wasn’t even on me.

The guy tells me to read the price tag, and all I can get from that is the screen size (15 inch) and disk space (128 gigabytes). It’s something, but not enough for him.

Everything was fine at first…

“Can you scan the barcode and see what the specs are?” No… that would… ring it up on the cash register… like everything else in the store…

The woman asks if they can buy it, open it and then return it if they don’t like it. Can’t do that- store has a policy against returning open products, especially $350 electronics.

They get irate when I tell them this- as if I’m the one who decides such policies. I tell them; “Listen, I’m just a worker, head office decides these things- I know it’s stupid, but I can’t do anything about it.”

That’s INSANE!

As I try speaking, they keep interrupting me. Specifically, the rather polite old man- every time the lady tried to speak, he shushed her, and then shushed me.

It was an endless loop of the same questions, asked with more aggression and confusion each time, like some sort of feedback loop.

I had an idea for a second- write down the model number so they can look it up at home and do research that way! I was quick on my feet with that one. Not too bad of a resolution here- until the old man tries grabbing the box out of my hands aggressively.

They’re being so rude!

The gall of this guy, like I’m too incompetent to read a box, yet alone the lack of manners. I turn away from his grip. “No, no, no- you can’t do that. These are behind the register for a reason. I can’t give this to customers, anyone could walk out of the store with it. It’s a security policy, sir.”

That’s when I figured out I was in harm’s way. Me, the lone worker who must be making all of these draconian and unreasonable policies- how dare I do my job! They thought this was a free country!

The old man starts yelling. “How dare you! I’ve been in this country for 50 years and I don’t need a little kid like you (I’m not a kid) accusing me of stealing! You think I’m going to steal from you? How dare you. This is ridiculous!” and so on.

He was not expecting that!

He repeatedly points his fist at me as if he’s going to knock my lights out, then lowers, and repeats. So naturally I start to get a little bit worried.

He tries to lunge at me to grab the laptop again. I try to explain… these aren’t MY rules! These are company policies, and they surely aren’t personal (as much as, deep down inside in my own heart, it was). What else do I do?

Then the woman starts squawking. “You should be ashamed, first you don’t let us return such a thing and now you’re saying he’s stealing, he’s an honorable man! He would never do such a thing! What is the point of buying anything from you people?”

And as always, came threats of me losing my job- for refusing to do things that will, inevitably, cost me my job.

Things got heated up!

Oh great, now everyone else is looking at us.

I don’t blame them, what else are you going to do when you hear such a commotion? This guy was about to throw hands, I was seriously considering just giving them the laptop because it wasn’t worth this hassle of being ganged up on, and I don’t get paid enough for this.

I pleaded with them that I would call my supervisor- which I would have done much earlier if they weren’t giving me sensory overload. My coworker already noticed the commotion and brought the supervisor over before I could pick up the phone.

Finally someone came in to save this kid!

She asks what’s wrong… the couple try their best to paint me like a villain, saying “I wasn’t letting them return it”, or “I wasn’t letting him inspect it”, or “I was accusing them of theft”.

My coworker goes- “Yeah, no, they didn’t do anything wrong. That’s all policy.” Phew, these guys were legitimately gaslighting me into thinking I was doing something wrong here for a second. I’m just that dumb, surely.

They ask for the supervisor again- my supervisor, right next to me and a lot shorter, speaks up- “I am the supervisor.” The couple’s face light up. Surely that woman can’t be supervisor!

It went on and on!

Of course, my supervisor says the exact same things I told them. And funnily enough, these two were actually capable of reasonable emotion- using phrases like “I understand” and “Oh, I see”. And no threats of physical violence! I was astonished.

To spray down the grease fire a bit more, she looked up the model number on her phone on the manufacturer’s site.

As always, it was much cheaper on the site, so she just referred it to them, and told them to buy it there. They were both glad they got what they wanted (I guess?)

He was so done with these people!

With all my teeth and facial features intact the same way they were 10 minutes ago, they both left and thanked my supervisor for the help.

Of course, no apology to me. My supervisor flipped them off on the way out behind their backs (she already gave her two weeks, so she had nothing to lose). Good coworker right there. Both my coworkers tell me I did nothing wrong.

I was so very unreasonably (/s) shaken up, so I had to take a breather.

He’s so done with such customers!

This is another example of that classic retail trope; the first person you speak to just doesn’t know anything, but the second person does.

Also, threatening minimum wagers no matter how explicit or implicit said threats are will always work out. But also; good coworkers will stand up for you and help you out in the wake of these threats, which can be hard to come by these days.

My advice to the lovely couple?

Next time, go to some place like Best Buy- where they give you… I dunno, a warranty, and a chance to inspect the item freely.

This all could have been prevented if they were educated on what they were fighting for- an overpriced laptop from a drugstore.

YIKES! That sounds like a lot of drama!

Why would drugstores even sell products at such high prices?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this one.

This user had no idea that drugstores were selling laptops.

This user has a funny take on the story.

This user would have taken a safety measure!

That’s right! This user knows cashiers need a backup!

This user knows how thieves function!

Someone’s being really creepy here!

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.