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Sometimes customers do the strangest things, and after working in a retail job for a while, you might begin to think that you’ve seen it all – only for another customer to blow your mind again the next day.

Because if there’s one thing that human beings are, it’s emotionally unpredictable. And when you throw the stress of finances and shopping in chaotic and sensorily overwhelming stores (sometimes even with kids in tow) in, you have a real recipe for some drama.

For the returns desk worker in this story, unusual customer behavior was nothing new. After some time spent working in the customer service department, he’d witnessed a lot from other human beings, and had stayed measured while helping them out of all sorts of sticky situations.

But there was one customer with a scheme so audacious that even years later, he couldn’t quite believe what she had tried.

Read on to find out what happened.

My favourite story from when I worked returns

I worked on a customer service/returns desk at a big box home improvement store during college, and this is the one that still makes me smile at humanity’s brashness.

A woman comes in with an entire cart full of individually boxed CFL bulbs. “I want to return these. You can look it up on my card.”

She tries to hand me her credit card. I am no slouch at this game, but even I am astonished and simultaneously amused at her gambit.

Read on to find out why he was so amused.

“Ma’am these are the Earth Day CFL bulbs we gave out for free with purchase. All day yesterday.”

She is completely unfazed by this: she had her next lines practiced.

“No, I purchased these. Look it up on the card.” Waves the card at me again, trying to get me to take it.

Nope. I pick up a box from the cart.

Let’s see how he dealt with this.

“Ma’am, look here where the barcode usually is? No barcode. It says ‘Promotional Item’. I cannot look it up, or return it.”

She pauses to consider this, as if it is news to her.

“Okay, I’ll take store credit then.” I almost fell over the counter laughing.

I went over the tapes with the LP later, and she sat out there in the parking lot for hours the day before, asking customers for their free CFL bulbs.

Yikes! This is either financial desperation on the part of the woman (in which case this story is incredibly sad) or one of the best attempted scams this store will have ever seen.

It’s a rookie error, overlooking the fact that the promotional bulbs lacked the barcode and were, in fact, marked as such.

Credit to her, though; this would have been a genius plan if it had actually worked.

Let’s see what the Reddit community said about this.

This person had a similar silly returns desk story.

While others thought of ways he could have complied with her demands.

Meanwhile, this Redditor thought her light bulb haul was a win in any case.

Genuinely, this woman must have been so disappointed that her master plan failed. Because if she had actually been able to return these bulbs for their RRP, she would have made a tidy profit from her day of sitting in a car park and persuading folk to give her their free light bulbs.

But she missed one key detail – the fact that the staff knew exactly what the promotional bulbs looked like, and weren’t about to be fooled that easily.

But let’s be real, light bulbs are expensive, and thanks to the refused return, she now has a lifetime supply.

She might be upset that she doesn’t have the windfall she expected, but in twenty years’ time, when another of her bulbs blows, she’ll be delighted that she doesn’t have to go to the store for a replacement. A lifetime supply of light bulbs, all in a day’s work. Now that’s not something to frown at.