'The Customer Is Not Always Right. You're Fired, Effective Immediately' : HR Roast Bitter Boss and Fire Him Following His Strict Rule of ‘Customer Is Always Right’ That Resulted in Loss of Profits

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Feb 24, 2023 7:00 PM EST

HR exists for various reasons, one of them being they oversee employee relations, but it isn't often that you come across HR that has an employee's back. Especially if the employee is maliciously complying… But when said malicious compliance results in loss of profits, you bet they're gonna have the worker's backs — perhaps not for the right reasons, but a win is a win!

This employee in particular deserved a big win, and although it took some time, karma did its job — well, I might add. OP worked at a food service job within a retail store, and the manager there was the type of person who liked the little power he had in his life, using it to make himself feel better about his miserable existence (I assume). He would write up employees for no good reason — or worse, he would write them up for following the employment policy. Y'know, the rules.

One time, a Karen entered the store (as they always do), and was upset that add-ons cost money (Shocker). There was a big fat sign with the words 'Add-ons cost extra', but she didn't care. Instead, she wanted to speak with the manager. OP was initially thrilled, thinking (wrongly) that the manager would have their back. What ensued was a big scene where the manager got mad, yelling 'The customer is always right!'. Karen got her free food, and so OP decided they would get petty revenge. Cue the first step — malicious compliance.

Feeling belittled and angry, OP began taking this 'rule' very seriously. Add-ons don't cost extra if someone complains? Cool, everyone gets free extras! This began adding up, and the store was losing profits, fast. HR got involved, and the rest is history. Scroll down for the full, detailed series of events. For more, check out this entitled nepo-baby employee that thought he could report his boss for negligence (plus attempt to sue him) after he got fired for negligence. It did not well end for the nepo-baby, that's for sure.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/Hyperquizzitist 1 day ago "The customer is always right" L OC About 9 years ago I worked at a food service job within a retail store. This job was absolutely horrible, as I got written up for anything and everything I did. If I took my breaks, write up. If I didn't take my breaks, write up. I called out once with a doctor's note saying that I absolutely
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 02
    Font - could not work, as my illness was highly contagious, write up (this was my first time ever calling out, and I gave 48 hours notice. The second, and last time, was for my grandma's funeral, which I had requested off and was denied, I was written up then too). Any excuse my supervisor could find to write me up, he did.
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 03
    Font - Being in high school at the time, I took this very personally and assumed that I had done something wrong. I worked there for 2 years, taking each write up as a "learning opportunity". However, I finally reached a point where I recognized that it wasn't my fault, and the malicious compliance began.
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 04
    Font - In this job there were add-ons, and these add-ons came with an upcharge. I had customers complain to me constantly about not wanting to be charged extra, but normally they would just pay it and move on. One customer, however, refused to pay for the add-on, but wanted it anyway. I pointed to the sign which
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 05
    Font - said that it would cost extra, and tried my best to politely explain to her that I can't give it to her without charging her. She demanded to speak to my manager. I happily called the manager over, as at that time the leader was also my area supervisor (each day there was an overall leader which would cycle, but
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 06
    Font - each department had their own supervisor as well). I'll call him Bob. Bob was employed through the retail store specifically. Regardless, I thought that surely Bob would have my back, as he knows the most about the rules that I had to follow. I was very, very wrong. After listening to the customer, Bob proceeded to yell at me in front of her, stating "the
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 07
    Font - customer is always right, and you are not paid to argue with her. Give her what she wants and DO NOT charge her for any of it!" He also informed her that I would be written up for this, and I was.
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 08
    Font - From that moment on, whenever a customer complained about having to pay for an add-on, I didn't charge them for it. If they demanded their items for free, stating that they didn't like them or had a bad experience in the past, I gave it to them for free. After all, the customer says that they shouldn't have to pay for it, so who
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 09
    Font - was I to argue? Of course, he meant that I shouldn't "argue" to the point of the manager being called, but he didn't specify and I didn't want to be written up for it again, nor did I care to follow a "do as I mean, not as I say" policy anymore. It didn't take long for the people who worked in
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 10
    Font - the actual retail store to learn that they could also get add-ons for free if they complained about it, as at the time that they were ordering, they were technically customers. Since each add-on cost between 60 cents and a dollar, and most customers wanted more than one add-on, the
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 11
    Font - company was losing an average of 2- 3 dollars per transaction on the add- ons alone, not even considering the customers who got their entire order for free.
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 12
    Font - Of course, 2-3 dollars doesn't seem like much, but it was enough to catch the attention of my district supervisor, who I will call Ann. Ann was employed by the food service company, and her job was to oversee the branches that were inside retail stores. Ann was very nice and respected the employees who worked with her company,
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 13
    Font - regardless of if they weren't employed directly by her company, as was my case. She first asked Bob about why our location appeared to be less profitable than other locations, and less profitable than it had been a few months previously. He tried to pin it on me, saying that I was stealing from the company by giving my friends and coworkers free items. Ann, understanding how
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 14
    Font - serious of an accusation that was, insisted on speaking with me alone. I expected to be fired, but she instead asked me why profits had gone down. I explained to her what Bob had told me about the customer always being right, and how I had gotten written up and didn't want to be written up again, so I followed his instructions word for word. For the
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 15
    Font - first time since starting this job, someone took my side! She agreed that not charging for those add-ons would explain the loss she was seeing, and that how Bob handled the situation was unprofessional and entirely against policy.
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 16
    Font - Having Bob accuse me of stealing to protect himself was my last straw, and I put in my two weeks notice that same day. HR had apparently taken notice to how Bob was treating me, as her exact words were, "it's about time, I'm glad you're finally standing
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 17
    Font - up for yourself." With my consent, she altered some of the dates to make my end date be a week earlier than it should have been since the schedule had not been written yet, to this day I think of her as my guardian angel.
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 18
    Font - Shortly after my last shift, I was informed by my friends that Bob no longer worked there as well. Ann was so upset with him that she called his supervisor and launched an investigation into his behavior. As it turns out, I was not the only one he would write up without a legitimate reason. They were also incredibly upset that he directly caused an
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 19
    Font - unnecessary loss in profits. He could not blame me for it, as it was his words, and many people corroborated that he had said the same to them at one point or another. I was just the first to maliciously comply with his request, thus bringing his behavior to the attention of someone in a higher position than him. He was fired, effective immediately.
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 20
    Font - TLDR: My supervisor yelled at me for upcharging for add-ons because "the customer is always right", and in this instance, being right meant not having to pay for add-ons. I proceeded to to give anyone who complained the add-ons for free, resulting in a loss in profits, and him getting fired.
    via u/Hyperquizzitist
  • 21
    Font - Lay-ZFair +1 - 1 day ago The customer may have been right but obviously Bob wasn't. 4 1.1k Reply Share LunaMunaLagoona 21 hr. ago Bob the builder... of resentment and profit loss. Vote Reply Share
    via u/Lazy-ZFair, u/LunaMunaLagoona

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team-of-employees humor karens fired hr malicious compliance entitled-manager petty revenge loss-of-profits Horrible Bosses customer is always right retail-store terrible-management
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