Some people don’t think about the cost when they’re upset and demanding extra work.

So, what would you do if your client insisted that you comb through every single bank statement to find missing deductions, even though you told him the numbers were correct?

Would you do the research for free? Or would you have your most valuable (and expensive) employee do the job for him?

In the following story, one tax manager chooses the latter, and the man never acts like that again.

Here’s what happened.

Look through ALL your bank statements to find deductibles? Okay!

I did an internship at a tax and administration office years ago.

The job was nice, but many of the customers were pretty demanding.

My boss was the… Well… Boss of malicious compliance.

The guy failed to ask about the hourly rate.

One day, a client came in who was unhappy with how his taxes had been done. He only got back €200 when he expected €400.

He yelled at my boss to “Fix it, find those deductibles, just look through my bank statements, and you’ll see them!”

My boss hates being yelled at but likes the passive-aggressive approach, so she just said, “Okay, we’ll look through ALL your bank statements.”

Once the client was gone, she told the second-in-command (whose time was most valuable; clients are billed €120 an hour for her) to look through all the bank statements this customer has ever provided us.

He was much nicer the following year.

He had been with us for 5 years and had a few different bank accounts, and so did his wife, so it was quite a lot to go through.

After 4 hours, the second-in-command was done and had found an extra €50 in deductibles. She then redid the taxes, taking about half an hour, and told the boss she was done.

The boss sent the client the bill of €540 (€120 times 4,5 hours) and his new tax form. He sent back an email saying “thanks,” and the following year, he was much nicer.

Wow! That was an expensive lesson that he learned.

Let’s see what the people over at Reddit think about what happened.

This person wants to be paid like that.

Not sure how this relates, but okay.

According to this reader, gaming helped their career.

It is very crazy, but true.

She did the right thing.

That guy was ridiculous for all that.

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.