'I just want to make sure I do my job correctly, ma'am': Video store clerk makes impatient customer wait while they scan 50 DVDs

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Oct 16, 2023 11:00 AM EDT

Before streaming services existed, we had movie rental chains. Going to rent a video or DVD was a whole endeavor. In my family, we'd often do the usual Sunday morning activities, then go grocery shopping, and then stop at the video store near us to pick out a movie for that night. This was a big treat every time! Whether we picked a Disney movie or an old comedy flick, it truly was fun for the whole family. 

If they didn't go out of business before I was old enough to work there, I know I would've applied to work at a video rental store with all my friends. This person did get to experience working at one while they were in high school. They point out that one nice perk of working there was that their bosses constantly encouraged them to watch movies. That's an amazing bonus! Unfortunately, the OP did have to deal with customers like this woman, which they told all about in their malicious compliance story. 

Check out u/Bunch_of_Nerds' story below, including comments from people who enjoyed the tale. After that, this law firm just wanted some bagels for their employees---so they hired a chef for a single day. 

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  • 01
    Blue - S 'Enjoy all the late fees!'
    via Cameron Bunney on Unsplash
  • 02
    Font - Enjoy all the late fees! Not going to apologize for grammar or format because I don't give a s
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 03
    Font - Back when I was in high school, I worked at one of the large movie rental chains. Not the block breaking one but the other one.
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 04
    Font - Anyways, I was working the front register, ringing up peoples rentals and giving people on their way in suggestions on which good films are currently available. Thats when LATE FEE BI walks in and tosses her returns into the return bin.
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 05
    Font - To give you some insight, the rental return is directly behind the registers and guests will place their returns there as they walk in. Whenever I have a free moment, myself or one of my coworkers will go through and check in all the rental returns. As I was the only one in the store at the time. the return pile can get pretty high before I have a free moment to get to you. Anyways back to the main story -
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 06
    Font - LATE FEE B has selected her terrible choice in films and is next in line. She hands me her choices, I ask for her rental card which she hands to me, and I pull up her account. Immediately a red flag notice pops up on her account.
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 07
    Font - ME: "I'm sorry, it appears you still have some rentals out and have reached your maximum level of rentals. I won't be able to rent these out to you until they are returned."
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 08
    Font - LATE FEE B : "Are you f kidding me? I JUST dropped them into the return bin on my way in. Is your machine broken or are you blind?"
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 09
    Font - ME: "Oh, no worries. I'll just override the flag on your account and check in the rentals as soon as I can." (this happens all the time and is not a big deal, I always just override the flag and check in the rentals when I have a free moment, but no, she decided to make it a big deal)
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 10
    Font - LATE FEE B "No you guys always accuse me of having rentals out! I want to watch you scan them in right now so I know you guys are doing your job correctly!" ME: "Sure thing, just one moment."
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 11
    Font - I go to the rental bin and proceed to pull out every single rental that has piled up. Maybe about 50 DVDS at this point. I pull out one by one and begin to scan them in. And not at my usual speed, but a nice leisurely pace.
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 12
    Font - LATE FEE B H: "I didn't rent ALL of those films! I rented (4 random titles)! Can't you just scan those? I don't have all day! ME: "It looks like there are multiple copies of those rentals in the bin, and since I have no way of knowing who rented what I have to check them all in." (This is true)
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 13
    Font - LATE FEE B: "This is ridiculous I have places to be!" ME: "I just want to make sure I do my job correctly, ma'am." After about 7-8min of her standing there and me scanning in the rentals, I finished.
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 14
    Font - LATE FEE BI "Finally! Now please hurry up with my rentals" I scan her rentals and uh, oh! Another red flag pops up.
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 15
    Font - ME: "I'm sorry ma'am, but it appears you have a late fee. I'm unable to rent you any more films until the balance is paid off." (I can override this too but her, plus I'm not technically supposed to but I usually do and people just pay up the next time)
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 16
    Font - Her films were over a week late which means her late fees will be for about two rental periods, on multiple movies so it was about $50 just in late fees. Which probably cost more than buying the actual films. LATE FEE B __: "This is f ridiculous! Can't you just override the late fees?"
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 17
    Font - ME: "That wouldn't be doing my job correctly, would it?" She got super ped and left without a word. She sent her husband in a min later who came in and told me I was r de. I just smiled and said "Have a great day!" Anyways I got fired a couple months later for clearing all my friends' late fees! Good times.
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 18
    Font - lectricpharaoh Anyways I got fired a couple months later for clearing all my friends' late fees! Good times. If only she'd been your friend for five minutes, she could have got the fees cleared and got you fired!
    via u/lectricpharaoh
  • 19
    Font - BlakAcid I worked at the block breaking chain for about 3 months. Best thing about that job was getting 10 rentals for free each week. Managers encouraged us to watch as many as we could so we could make better and more broad recommendations to customers. I also had a ton of hard drive space and some decent DVD ripping software. My collection soared during that job.
    via u/BlakAcid
  • 20
    Font - Bunch_of_Nerds OP. Yes! We also got to rent for free and usually a week before the films were available to the public. We were encouraged to watch everything as well and I had absolutely no problem obliging.
    via u/Bunch_of_Nerds
  • 21
    Font - MERC399 As ways to get fired go, at least yours was productive 152 Reply Share Bunch_of_Nerds OP. They went bankrupted and started closing down a few months later anyways. Maybe I had something to do with it...
    via u/MERC399

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karens workplace-stories jobs dvds rental job malicious compliance retail retail worker work customers videos malicious-compliance-reddit DVD workplace entitled store karen entitled people
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