She Needed a Single Small Replacement Part for Her Microwave—Until a Missing Receipt and Vague Explanations Left the Store Employee Completely Stymied
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A simple replacement part shouldn’t require an employee to accept verbal abuse.
What happens when a customer responds to a normal receipt request with instant swearing and anger?
Instead of continuing the argument, this appliance worker set a firm boundary and handed the problem to a manager.
Check out how one tiny screw caused such a huge scene.
You don’t get to talk to me like that.
I work at a discount appliance store. I frequently get customers who are missing things like screws, kickplates, knobs, etc.
It’s normally a very easy process to get these parts for the customer, but this particular one finally broke me.
C: holding up a mounting screw “I bought a microwave from here, and you didn’t put two screws in my packet, so I’ve come to get the other one from you.”
She just needs to see the receipt.
I’ve never seen this woman in my life; I didn’t sell her the microwave and I certainly don’t assemble the mounting kits so my next response is:
Me: “Alright, that’s not a problem, do you have your receipt with you?”
C: “Are you freaking kidding me?”
Me: “You don’t get to talk to me that way.”
Will the woman’s husband have the receipt?
Her face completely changes from anger to…well, her face looked silent, if one could see silence.
Then her husband started walking up. As I see him, I’m about to ask if he happens to have the receipt in his pocket, but before I can get a word out the customer starts yelling:
C: to husband “Where did we buy that microwave?”
Husband: “Uh…here?”
She can’t take it anymore.
C: “And where did we buy the stove?”
Husband: “Here, why?”
At this point, I’ve had enough. So I say:
M: “Ma’am, it’s obvious you don’t want my help, so let me get someone else for you.”
The manager figured out what the customer actually wanted.
So I go get my manager, explain the situation, and he comes out to deal with the woman.
Afterwards, my manager comes and tells me that he thinks the woman wasn’t looking for a second screw; the screw she had with her had been stripped, and she was likely looking to get a free replacement off us.
He gave the customer the screw, but agreed that I didn’t deserve to be treated like that.
Now, that was a good manager, learning to speak crazy customer, solving the problem and reassuring the employee that she handled the situation well.
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Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.
Why was the customer so upset about a receipt?
It’s not like one screw costs a lot.
This is crazy!
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who alerted their manager after seeing a customer sign the wrong name on a credit card slip.
The customer did seem to have a screw loose.
This employee only requested a receipt to confirm the microwave came from that store, but the customer immediately started swearing.
The manager agreed that the behavior was unacceptable and suspected she simply wanted a free replacement for a stripped screw.
All that over one tiny screw, and her manners were still the biggest missing part.
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