When some people get ideas in their heads, there’s nothing you can say to change their minds.

So, what would you do if a customer demanded you print invitations covered in copyrighted Disney characters, then became angry after you explained your company legally could not reproduce them? Would you bend the rule for them? Or would you stick to the store policy and refuse?

In the following story, one copy center employee finds themselves in this predicament and sticks to the policy. Here’s what happened.

Another person that doesn’t understand copyright at a copy and print center!

Hello! I work at a copy and print center at a certain nationwide store chain, where we copy, print, fax, scan, etc.  At my job, we get people who come in to get party invitations printed and cut (we offer cutting services too).

This is a rough area we have to deal with, because 1 out of 5 of these invitations that we receive either online or over the counter has some sort of copyrighted material on them.

We have a very strict copyright policy, so we have to explain why we can’t print or reproduce their item and turn these people away, which usually doesn’t end well.

The lady came in for copyrighted invitations.

A lady came in yesterday to get some party invitations printed. My co-worker opened the file on the work PC, and there was Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse plastered in plain sight in the middle of the invitation.

Noticing this, my co-worker showed the lady the invitation on the screen and said, “We cannot print this because there are Disney characters on the invitation, which is considered copyrighted material.”

The lady made that angry face customers usually make when they’re upset, and said with a sharp and loud tone, “WHAT?! I just had these printed at that other store not too long ago!”

The coworker refused to help.

My co-worker said, “Well, I’m sorry, but I cannot print these. It’s against company policy. These are easily recognizable Disney characters.”

She basically repeated what she said about three times. My co-worker called the manager over, and she went off on her tantrum on him.

My manager said, “I understand that the other store printed these before, but we are not supposed to print these under any circumstance. It is copyright. I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Eventually, the lady called out, “Well, if you aren’t gonna help me, then I’m gonna go to that other store!” and stormed out.

When all was said and done, the manager offered some kind words to the employee.

After this whole fiasco, my co-worker, who gets anxiety easily, was a little upset. So, my manager went up to him and said, “Copying copyrighted material is against policy. You were completely right, and I’m glad you did the right thing.”

You’d be surprised how often this happens. It happens maybe once or twice a week: Customer brings in copyrighted materal; We explain why we can’t reproduce it; Customer gets upset.

I don’t think it’ll ever stop lol.

Eek! That probably gets really old.

Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit feel about situations like these.

The ’80s were a different time.

That’s funny.

This reader had no idea about such policies.

Here’s someone who understands how uninformed people are about copyright items.

Hopefully, the store down the road didn’t break the rule again, because they sure created an entitled customer.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who was on break when she was physically dragged back to the register by a customer.