Many customers don’t understand the day-to-day operations of the stores they patronize, but some take their ignorance to a new low.

When a demanding customer dragged a manager into a dispute over a closed meat machine, one seasoned employee was happy to maliciously comply.

The end result turned the customer’s smug attitude into a very expensive wait.

Keep reading for the full story.

Rude customer wants to buy meat from our meat department.

I was working at a local supermarket in the meat department and had risen through the ranks to basically be in charge of running it.

We were constantly short-staffed, and it was always one person left to close during the last four hours the store was open.

Whichever employee was working ended up wearing a lot of hats.

This meant dealing with the occasional customer, washing dishes in the back, cleaning machines, putting stock in the walk-in, and handling other prep tasks.

One machine in particular—a motorized meat tenderizer—had to be cleaned and soaked overnight.

This machine was the bane of the employee’s existence.

Because it was literally two spiral razor blades, it took serious effort to clean and generally had to soak for at least a half hour before you could rinse it off and soak it again.

Because of that, it was common to disassemble this machine about an hour before closing, while everything else remained operational until close.

So when one customer came in demanding they drag the machine out, the employee was quick to shut her down.

The rude customer in this story was a woman who would constantly come in and insist we tenderize her meat selection.

Every time, she got the same answer: “We’re sorry, but that particular machine is closed earlier due to it being harder to clean.”

She would scoff and leave.

But still, the customer persisted.

This went on for about two weeks, despite many attempts and offers of our direct line so she could call ahead and have her order ready.

No dice.

One night, I was closing down the department with about 40 minutes left before closing when the entitled lady walked in and made her way up to the meat counter.

She asked for the same order again, and I explained—again—that the machine was closed.

She scoffed and walked off, and I thought that was the end of it.

Nope.

This time, she had brought reinforcements.

She came back with the store manager, who she was friends with, and once again I explained why I couldn’t make her order.

The manager told me to just go wash the machine and take her order.

The lady looked pleased, and I said okay, I’ll get right on it, then went into the back room.

So the employee did exactly as they were told.

I started washing the blades on the rollers, which obviously didn’t do much since they hadn’t soaked long enough.

I found a small brush that could fit between the blades and started scraping out the buildup.

This entire cleaning process took well over 30 minutes.

Finally, the customer began to realize the employee was telling the truth.

The whole time, I watched through the one-way glass as the woman’s look of joy slowly turned into anger when she realized I wasn’t exaggerating.

Eventually, she got fed up and went back to shopping.

Once the order was finally done, the employee ran to catch up with the customer.

By the time I finished cleaning and reassembling the machine, she was already in line at the front of the store, ready to check out and leave.

I quickly turned the machine on, processed her order, packaged it up, and almost ran over to her cart to hand it to her.

She said she didn’t want it anymore.

The employee wasn’t about to let this slide.

I happily told her that store policy requires customers to pay for processed orders even if they no longer want them.

I dropped it into her cart and told her to have a great day.

But that wasn’t the only good thing that happened.

The best part—and probably the most malicious—was that I still had all my normal closing duties left to do.

Because the store owner had the keys, she had to stay late and pay me overtime while I finished everything up.

After that night, they never questioned me again.

Turns out, this encounter sent this customer packing once and for all.

The rude lady never came back to my knowledge, and yes—she did have to buy the meat.

I watched her check out and try to fight it, but no luck for her.

If you’re out there, lady, I hope your meal was wonderful. 😌

Serves the lady right!

What did Reddit have to say?

Perhaps handling the machinery was a bit of a hard sell for potential employees.

This commenter commiserates about how difficult this machinery can be.

This particular machine was often known for being out of order at this commenter’s store.

This commenter seems to know a lot about this particular machine.

At the end of the day, the customer got what she demanded — just not on her schedule.

The real tenderizing was to the customer’s ego!

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.