Imagine working as a cashier at a store that just had a big sale. What would you do if a customer came in to return something she bought on sale but didn’t understand why the amount she was getting back was the sale price instead of the normal price?

In this story, one cashier had to deal with that exact situation, and I don’t think the customer ever fully understood the reasoning no matter how many times the cashier explained. As if that wasn’t annoying enough, the situation escalated even more when the customer overheard the cashier talking to a coworker.

Keep reading for all the details. If you’ve ever worked in retail, this might bring to mind your own crazy experiences with customers.

no ma’am I cannot give you money you never spent.

So at the time I was working at a store that sold cosmetics as their primary wares, and some of these cosmetics got quite pricey which often lead to a bit of crazy behavior from customers.

On this particular day we were coming off a month long sale where different items would be half off for every day of the month. We did a lot of business with these sales as sometimes the items on sale would be pretty decent stuff for the incredibly decreased price.

We also did a lot of returns because people would buy things they didn’t really want due to them being so heavily discounted, which is fine because as long as you bring back the merchandise within 60 days we will take it back for a full refund.

One customer had a lot of things to return.

A woman who looked to be pretty young, maybe in her early thirties, approached our registers. Well call her ‘EC’ (for entitled customer). She had a large box full to the brim with different products in varying states of use. She plopped the box down right at my till.

EC: I need to make a return. Everything is on different receipts but I have all of them.

OP: No problem! It might take me a minute just to match all the receipts up to the correct items.

She nodded, giving a little sigh like that wasn’t exactly the answer she was looking for.

The items at the bottom of the box stood out.

I got to work sorting through the box and scanning things in. It took a while to even get half way through the box, I had to call one of my coworkers to the front to keep the line moving while I processed the return.

I tried to make polite conversation with her as I did so but she didn’t seem to be up for talking much as she scrolled on her phone and dug through her purse, which I understood. Not everyone likes small talk. I certainly don’t, but it is my job.

As were nearing the end of the transaction I find a few foundations in the bottom of the box that look to be brand new. They were Lancôme foundations. Anyone who knows about makeup will know this already, but these are almost $60 products. They were items sold recently in our half off sale.

I assumed she had done what most had and just made a purchase she hadn’t really wanted to and now needed to turn them back in to us.

It sounds like the customer is lying.

OP: And are these products used at all?

EC: what? oh yeah they are

I sighed looking at the seal still intact on both bottles of product. I was gonna have to destroy both bottles of brand new product. Once the customer says they’re used I can’t contend them.

Despite my frustration I scan them in and drop them in the box of products I’ll need to destroy once the transaction is complete.

The customer noticed the refund price.

The products ring in for half the original price because she had in fact purchased them during the sale. The computer and her receipt proved as much.

Just as I’m about to grab the next product from her mystery box of returns she speaks up.

EC: Uhm… excuse me you rang that up wrong, those foundations are $58 each!

OP: Oh I’m sorry you actually purchased these during our holiday sale for half off, so that’s why they rang up that way.

The customer is either trying to scam the cashier or she’s not too bright.

EC: That’s ridiculous that’s not what they’re worth. Just give me my money back

OP: Don’t worry you will get all your money back, it’s only not $58 each because you payed $29 for them.

EC: Well they’re full price now so you can just go ahead and give me the full price back.

OP: Okay uhm… I can’t really do that because you didn’t pay full price for them.

EC: That literally doesn’t make any sense. They’re full price now so I need that money back.

I love OP’s response.

OP: Alright. I unfortunately can’t give you money back that you never gave us because our registers would come up short.

EC: How do you even know I bought them during the sale? You didn’t check me out so you have no idea.

OP: The barcode on your receipt calls back all that information for me, it’s logged in the computer. The computer knows you bought it during the sale.

EC: Whatever. This is stupid just finish my return I need to get home.

The return was finally over.

I nodded and finished up the last few returns. Without much more incident I finished scanning and sent her on her way.

However, she didn’t leave. She went into the store to do some shopping.

I went over to the garbage can behind our counter to destroy the products that needed to be damaged out. My coworker who I had called up earlier (NC) was stilled there and started to help me destroy things.

NC: so what was that lady saying to you

The customer overheard the conversation.

OP: Oh she just had a bunch of returns, I don’t know she wanted a full refund for something she only paid half price for so I had to tell her a couple times we couldn’t do it for her, that was it really.

Just as I finished my sentence the woman popped out from behind the first isle across from the registers. She looked like her head was about to start spinning with how mad she was. At this point I was completely lost at why she was huffing and puffing.

EC: OH SO YOU HAD TO EXPLAIN THINGS TO ME?? LIKE IM STUPID OR SOMETHING?? THATS WHAT YOURE TELLING YOUR LITTLE FRIENDS BACK HERE.

OP: what?? (I didn’t even really get what she was talking about fully since she popped out of no where)

That escalated quickly!

EC: THATS EXACTLY WHAT I THOUGHT. IM GOING TO FIND YOUR MANAGER SO SHE CAN KNOW WHAT A WITCH YOU ARE TO PAYING CUSTOMERS. IM GONNA HAVE YOUR JOB BY THE TIME I LEAVE.

I didn’t respond to her, only looked at her strangely as I was still a little confused. Me and NC watched as she stormed into the back of the store. NC was just as confused as I was.

Plenty of people were staring now that she had screamed bloody murder at the front of the store. I don’t really do well with confrontation so the unwanted attention made me tear up a little.

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I escaped to the back quickly to wait it out and see what happened.

The manager was on her side.

It was about five minutes before my manager (M) came back to talk to me.

M: Alright OP tell me what happened

I proceeded to tell her the whole story.

M: Yeah that’s what NC said too. What she told me didn’t sound like something you would do so I figured there had to be a bit of embellishing somewhere.

The customer definitely embellished the story.

OP: What did she say I did??

M: Well she said that you called her an ‘effing idiot’ for having to explain our return policy several times and then made fun of her with NC when you thought she was out of ear shot. She told me if I was smart I would fire you. Obviously I’m not gonna do that I just needed to know if something happened.

And then I waited patiently in the back for the woman to leave so I wouldn’t have to see her again. 😛

Wow! That’s a lot of crazy drama for one customer transaction!

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

This person found the story funny.

This person has questions.

Another retail worker shares their experience.

This person shares what they do in situations like this.

It’s so crazy that the customer made such a big deal out of this whole situation. If I had been the customer in this story, I would’ve been embarrassed at misunderstanding because I would realize that it would make me look stupid to think I could get back more money than I actually spent. This customer sounds like she really was just that stupid. Either that, or she just likes to cause trouble.

I’m glad the manager was on the employee’s side.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who rejects a low contract offer and leaves the company instead.