Some employees make things harder than they should be.

This woman was picking up a rental at the airport when the employee told her she couldn’t rent it without an outgoing flight ticket. So this woman found a workaround that got her what she wanted.

Read the full story below to find out what she did.

no ticket? no problem

This summer/autumn, I briefly moved from Florida to Alabama. While there, I learned that, at Enterprise, you cannot rent a car on a debit card with an out-of-state license.

When I decided it was time to head back to Florida, I googled AND called other rental agencies to learn their policies regarding out-of-state licenses, and determined that Budget/Avis would accept the combination.

The closest Avis location to me was at the airport. I wasn’t sure where I was going to figuratively land once back in Florida, so I chose a municipal airport at which to drop the car off.

Picking it up, however, was a tight timeline – pick it up at 8am, meet the movers who quoted me “some time between 8 and 9am,” get that thrown into storage, meet with the leasing office to sign final paperwork, etc.

There was an issue picking up the rental.

I get to the airport, walk up to the counter, and the woman asks me for my outgoing flight information from drop off.

I told her I didn’t have an outgoing flight, and she told me that to rent and return to an airport, on a debit card, regardless of state ID, they REQUIRE flight information to rent a car, and she’s so sorry but maybe the local Enterprise can assist.

At this point, I’m over the world. I’ve just reached the culmination of a high stress week, I’m up and functional at least 4 hours before I normally am (third shift), and the ONLY thing keeping me from making it through to the end is the lack of an airline ticket?

Got it.

So she complied with the company’s demands and got the cheapest ticket she could find.

I wander over to a seat, look up the cheapest flight out of the Florida airport I can find, book it, and take my information back up to the counter.

I walk up and say, “Seems to me this is the path of least resistance.”

She looks at me, looks at my flight information, looks back at me, and exclaims, “Ma’am! I know you’re not getting on that flight!”

I just look at her. Finally, she goes, “I’ll do it for you this time, but we’re not supposed to .”

As soon as I got in the car, I cancelled the flight. They refunded half. I consider that $45 a convenience fee.

Now that’s how you outsmart dumb company policies.

Other people in the comments are chiming in.

A solid suggestion.

Here’s a funny retort.

A curious user here.

This one shares a valid observation.

And here’s a related story.

Stupid policies irritate staff and customers alike.

If you liked that post, check this one about a guy who got revenge on his condo by making his own Christmas light rules.