Customer blames car wash for car damage, demands compensation but refuses to let employee check the security cameras: ‘I know a liar when I see one’

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Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Apr 1, 2024 11:00 PM EDT

No one loves to admit they are at fault when they make a mistake. It's an uncomfortable feeling, and if the mistake costs money, that is even worse. But, as we are all adults, sometimes you have to own up to your mistakes and pay for what you caused.

Not this customer though, he absolutely refused to admit to the damage he caused. In this Reddit story, two customers approached a car wash employee and accused the car wash of causing their cars to crash into each other. The employee, who had to deal with these accusations before, calmly heard the customers' explanation and realized that something about the story didn't seem right. Luckily, the car wash has a security camera that would allow them all to see exactly what happened. However, once the employee suggested looking at the footage, one of the customers started getting extremely defensive and angry.

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  • 01
    "I know a liar when I see one"
    via Canva
  • 02
    Fender-bender in the car wash. Who is at fault? Let's find out!
    via u/Phexler
  • 03
    Several years ago I worked at a gas station with a car wash. This car wash uses a chain that pulls every vehicle through at the same speed, about 25 feet apart. The car wash was the
    via u/Phexler
  • 04
    cause of about 80% of all customer greivences. This one was a bit different... One weekday afternoon I was stocking shelves when a young woman and an old man come in
    via u/Phexler
  • 05
    together. They spot me and say we need to have a conversation, so I move back behind the counter. "Okay, so what can I do for you?" I ask with a smile.
    via u/Phexler
  • 06
    The woman is about to speak when the old man cuts her off. "Your car wash damaged my car! Both of ours." Not the first time I've head this. "Huh, how so?" I ask.
    via u/Phexler
  • 07
    The woman chimes in. "We were both in the car wash. I was ahead of him, and the car wash pulled his car into the back of mine, hard."
    via u/Phexler
  • 08
    Immediate red flag: that's impossible. The chain can't pull one vehicle faster or slower than another. So I tell them exactly that.
    via u/Phexler
  • 09
    The woman says, "Is it po--" "Are you calling me a LIAR?!" the man asks, interrupting the woman. The woman is visibly annoyed.
    via u/Phexler
  • 10
    "What I'm saying," I point out to the man, "is that the car wash couldn't have done this. Either you," I make eye contact with the woman, "hit the brakes," I look back at the man," or you hit the gas."
    via u/Phexler
  • 11
    "I didn't touch the brakes," the woman said, sounding as though she's started second- guessing herself.
    via u/Phexler
  • 12
    "I'm not STUPID!" the man shot back. "I never touched the gas pedal!" Now, not to be agist, but old people are usually the ones who have issues with using the car wash, so he was my prime suspect.
    via u/Phexler
  • 13
    "Well, thankfully the car wash is lined with cameras, so I'll just go rewind the footage and see what happened." I say matter- of-factly.
    via u/Phexler
  • 14
    "Oh, uh that's not necessary, we'll just have [company name] pay for the damages." the man says agreeably. Hmm.
    via u/Phexler
  • 15
    "Well [company name] is gonna wanna review the footage anyway, so I might as well do that now." "No no, let's not waste any more of our time." the man says nervously.
    via u/Phexler
  • 16
    I exaggeratedly raise an eyebrow at him, then glace over at her. She clues in that I'm laying the pressure on him, and also looks at him suspiciously. Now it's time to twist the knife.
    via u/Phexler
  • 17
    "Oh but surely the camera footage will prove your Innocence, sir?" Silence. Yep, it's him. So I review the footage and sure enough, while he was being pulled by the chain at first, he hit the gas and rear-ended her.
    via u/Phexler
  • 18
    I came back behind the counter and look at the woman. "Well, turns out he hit the gas and rear-ended you. Now even though it happened in the car wash, it wasn't caused by the car wash, so this matter will have to
    via u/Phexler
  • 19
    be solved between the two of you. If you would like the camera footage to provide to insurance, I'd be happy to give it to you." I look over at the old man with a smirk. He clearly
    via u/Phexler
  • 20
    dd a little on the inside, knowing he's sed. She thanks me and looks over at him as if to say, "Pay up, sober."
    via u/Phexler
  • 21
    Runyc2000 People always think that they can get car washes to pay for their own screw ups. I've reviewed the camera footage at numerous car washes on
    via u/Runyc2000
  • 22
    numerous occasions as they all have cameras from multiple angles. I can count on one hand how many times the equipment malfunctioned or there was a failure outside of the driver's control. They always hit the gas or brake or turn the wheel.
    via u/Runyc2000
  • 23
    Phexler OP Oh yeah, I worked at the gas station for 3 years, and any time there was car damage in the car wash, it was caused by the driver having an IQ the same as their shoe size.
    via u/Phexler
  • 24
    Deltethnia Don't most car washes like that tell you to turn off the engine and put the car in neutral? If he had then even accidentally stepping in the gas wouldn't have done anything.
    via u/Deltethnia
  • 25
    Lucy_Lastic I'm a suspicious person, wondering if he had existing damage and did this so the car wash could take the blame and pay him for repairs ...
    via u/Lucy_Lastic
  • 26
    Phexler OP I thought about that at the time. That's entirely possible.
    via u/Phexler

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workplace-stories employee job retail tales-from-the-workplace retail worker reddit story entitled customers workplace tales-from-retail Reddit funny entitled people
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