Retail workers see it every day — customers who negotiate themselves into worse outcomes.

When a one difficult customer demanded a very specific discount on a gift card, the cashier quietly let the math teach her a lesson.

Keep reading for the full story!

The customer is not always right (or good at math)

At the restaurant where I work when I’m home from college, customers can buy gift cards for 15% off around the holidays.

That means if they buy a $100 gift card, they get the full card but only pay $85—it’s a great deal.

But not all customers are able to pick up on this.

Today, I was selling these gift cards when a woman came up to me and asked for a $115 gift card. She wanted me to take $15 off so the total price would be $100.

I tried to explain that 15% of $115 is more than $15, and that she could actually get a higher discount than what she was asking for.

Refusing to be reasoned with, this customer ended up talking herself into a worse deal.

She wouldn’t listen and insisted I do exactly what she requested.

So, I made her a $115 gift card and took $15 off, just like she asked.

In the end, she only got about a 13% discount instead of the full 15%.

It’s a very small amount of money she could have saved, but I still thought it was funny that if she had listened, I could have saved her more.

Some customers just refuse to be reasoned with.

This user had the exact opposite experience.

The customer is always right? More like the customer is always wrong.

This kid made out like a bandit.

Math isn’t everyone’s strong suit, but come on.

Turns out insisting on being right can cost more than just pride.

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.