When most people make a simple mistake like misreading something, they laugh it off and move on. Some people, however, simply can’t admit that they were wrong.

That is what happened to the retail worker in this story when a customer mistakenly said his code contained zeros instead of O’s.

The worker was very patient with him, but he also made sure that the customer eventually had to admit his mistake. Of course, this only made the customer even more upset, wasting everyone’s time.

Personally, I don’t understand why people refuse to just admit their mistakes and move on. It would save everyone a lot of time and annoyance. Oh well, read through the full story here and see what you think.

“Sir, that’s not a zero” and other things I didn’t think I’d have to say out loud at work

I work at a mid-sized retail chain that sells a bit of everything, but the front end is mostly returns, online pickups, and people insisting the app is “broken” because they can’t remember their own password.

Everything is a crisis to some people. Let’s see why this guy was upset.

This happened last weekend during the after-lunch rush when the line is long and everyone is already annoyed at the concept of waiting.

A guy in his 50s comes up with a small box of fancy printer ink and slaps it on the counter like it personally offended him.

That isn’t as helpful as you might think, sir.

He says he needs a refund because “it doesn’t fit,” and when I ask for the receipt he proudly holds up his phone with a screenshot and says, “I have the code.”

Cool, no problem, except the screenshot is a blurry zoom of an order number where half the characters are cut off.

Of course, he won’t just pull up the barcode.

I ask if he can pull up the full email so I can scan the barcode, and he gets this wounded look like I’ve asked him to solve a math problem.

He starts reading the number to me, very slowly, like I’m the one struggling. It’s something like 8O1O7B, but he keeps saying “eight zero one zero seven bee.”

It is even funnier because he is so confidently wrong.

I repeat it back and ask, “Is that an O or a zero?” and he snaps, “It’s a zero, obviously. It’s a number.”

I try it, system says invalid. I try it again, same. He leans closer and says, louder, “ZERO. Like 0. Not a letter. Why would it be a letter.”

Once again, just pulling up the barcode would make this so much easier.

The line behind him is doing that shuffle where people pretend they aren’t listening but they are, totally.

I keep my voice calm and say, “Sometimes order codes have letters, can you tap the order and show me the barcode?”

Why do people get so upset when they make a mistake?

He sighs like I’m wasting his valuable time, then scrolls dramatically and shows me the same screenshot again, just bigger now.

That’s when I see it clearly: it’s not a zero, it’s the letter O, twice, and the font just makes it look round. I point at it and say, as gently as I can, “I think those are O’s, not zeros.”

I’m not surprised; he is doubling down.

He goes red and says, “No. I typed it. I know what I typed.” So, I do the only thing that works with this type of customer.

I turn my screen slightly and say, “Okay, can you type it in for me then?”

What’s his excuse now?

I hand him the scanner keyboard and he pecks at it like it’s contaminated, still muttering.

He types 80107B with zeros, hits enter, invalid. He stares at it, then at me, then at his phone like it betrayed him.

I love that he made him admit it in front of the whole line.

I don’t say anything, I just wait, because sometimes silence is the safest customer service tool. He squints at his screenshot again, and I watch his brain do the slow, painful recalculation.

Finally he says, very quietly, “Fine. Put O.” I type it with O’s, it pulls up instantly, and of course the return goes through.

And of course, he doesn’t take any responsibility.

Instead of being relieved, he pivots straight into blaming our system, saying we should “make it clearer” and “not use confusing fonts” because it’s “basically a trick.”

I just nodded and said, “I’ll pass that along,” because what else do you do.

This guy is unbelievable.

When I handed him the refund slip he snatched it and then, right before walking away, he said, not looking at me, “You could’ve told me sooner.”

Like I didn’t try. Like I wasn’t telling him the entire time. The next person in line stepped up and whispered, “For what it’s worth, it was totally an O,” and I laughed a little harder than I meant to.

The worst part of this story is that the guy went home believing that he was right and the store was the one that needed to change. Some people just can’t be reasoned with.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a customer complaint that led to them losing their VIP status.

Check out what the commenters on this story have to say.

This is one way to look at it, but it isn’t nearly as fun.

This is one option, or just let the guy scan the barcode.

He taught him a lesson, but I doubt the guy actually learned anything.

This person blames corporate.

He was just embarrassed.

Why is it that some people get upset rather than admitting they made a simple mistake? Everyone has mixed things up like this before, so it isn’t even embarrassing.

It seems like anger is the default response for so many people, and it honestly makes their own lives a lot more difficult.