Imagine ordering a really big and heavy item from an electronics store. Would you want help putting it in your car, or would you prefer to do it yourself?

In this story, one employee shares a tale about an older man who wanted help loading his purchase into his car but was too stubborn to follow the rules.

Keep reading for all the details.

“Why should I have to move my car!?”

So I work in the warehouse of a big-box electronics retailer.

One of the responsibilities we have involves handling orders placed online (prep for shipping, delivering product up front for store-pickup, etc.).

Part of this involves doing carry-outs for heavy things like TVs.

One customer bought a really big and heavy item.

So I’m asked to deliver a large poster-sized printer that’s huge and weighs a ton to the front and help carry the thing to the customer’s car.

I grab a hand cart and wheel it up to the customer service area where the customer, an old man who looked to be in his 60s, is signing the paperwork for his newly-bought printer. He gets taken care of and I ask:

Would you like assistance carrying this out to your car?

Yes, I could use some help with that.

There’s one tricky part about helping customers put their items in their car.

Now here’s where it gets tricky.

My store is part of a large shopping center type area and our property technically ends at the white lines on the pavement just in front of the doors. So for legal reasons, when we do carry-outs we have to ask the customer to pull their vehicle up to the doors.

This is important because if we should get injured on the job and we’re out in the parking lot doing a carry-out, the company could refuse to compensate us for medical bills, etc.

As you might imagine, customers don’t always react well to being asked to move their cars.

Sometimes, moving a car is too much to ask.

So I inform the customer:

Okay, just pull your car up to the white lines and we’ll get you taken care of.

I have to move my car? It’s not parked very far, couldn’t you just take it all the way?

I apologize to the customer and attempt to explain briefly what I mention in the paragraph above.

His demeanor instantly changes.

Then, no, I don’t want any help.

They keep an eye on the customer.

At this point the customer literally rips the hand cart out of my hands and storms out of the store with it and the printer.

Btw, the hand cart is our store’s property and we aren’t supposed to allow customers to handle our equipment. However, he’s already left the store by the time we even have the chance to react.

So, me and a couple other employees who witnessed this head over to where our AP associate is located (at the front of the store) and we set the parking lot cameras on the angry customer, partially to make sure he brings the hand cart back when we’re done with it and mostly to observe him for laughs.

OP really doesn’t understand why customers make the situation harder than it needs to be.

Now remember, this is a rather old-looking man who more than likely has a bad back and it’s clear to all of us that he’s struggling to get this thing into his car.

He ends up asking some random passerby to assist him, and when the task is done he graciously brings the cart back, complaining loudly about what a stupid policy it is that he should have to take five seconds to move his vehicle to ensure the safety of our employees.

I’ll admit that it’s annoying to have to jump through that hoop because of a legal loophole but I can’t understand why someone would think it’s easier to put themselves through all that grief just to avoid having to move their car.

It does seem like it would be easier to pull the car around than to put the item in the car yourself, but he’ll have to figure out how to get it out of the car himself when he gets where he’s going.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

It’s not like he won’t have to move his car anyway!

One person shares a story about why they weren’t allowed to help customers load their cars.

This person would do anything if it meant they’d get help loading their car.

An HR rep weighs in.

Some customers make really weird decisions.

If you liked that post, check out this one about an employee that got revenge on HR when they refused to reimburse his travel.