'There will be no more exchanges': Customer tries to return 24 "spoiled" salads

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Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 11, 2024 5:00 PM EDT

This deli manager is pretty fed up with her customer's repeated attempts to get free food. 

Everyone needs to eat, and not everyone can afford to do so. That's why there are food pantries and resources for those who need them. Some people who are having trouble making ends meet go to food pantries to stock up on basics, and then go to the grocery store to buy whatever else they can afford. But this customer seems to want free food from a grocery store… which aren't exactly known for doling out free goods. Because, you know, they're a store that needs to turn a profit from selling their food. If they gave free food to everyone, no one would want to pay! We'd all appreciate some free food, but if you're in need, you're supposed to take the ethical route of heading to a food pantry, not by swindling the good folks at the supermarket. 

This person doesn't seem like she's in need. Instead, she thinks she's found a loophole to get infinite free potato salad and macaroni salad. Of all the foods in the world to try to get for free, why these items? That's like, party food. You tend to see these dishes at family parties, in my experience, because they're a side dish, not a main course. It's not often the kind of food that people just eat for dinner or whatever. Maybe that's just her favorite type of food… but she's not convincing anyone with her weak arguments. 

Next up, this tour bus driver had to refuse to drive 40-ish people to the airport, causing some pandemonium in the group. 

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  • 01
    "Entitled lady: "I threw them all away. But I have the receipt."
    via nrd on Unsplash
  • 02
    Entitled lady always gets rotten salads Medium This story belongs to my Beautiful Wife, who is a deli manager in a major regional grocery store in our area. She runs a tight ship and likes to keep things clean and up-to-date. So imagine her surprise when a customer (let's call
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 03
    her the Entitled Lady) reports that eight out of eight boxed salads (think macaroni salad, potato salad, that sort of thing) she had just bought were all bad. Entitled Lady: "I just bought these eight salads and every single one of them was spoiled and inedible." Beautiful Wife: "I'm sorry to hear that. It surprises me.
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 04
    Do you have them with you? I'll be happy to exchange them." Entitled Lady: "No. I threw them away. But I have the receipt." Beautiful Wife looks over the receipt. It is recent (like a day or two old) and all in order. Against her better judgment she errs on the side of good customer service and replaces the
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 05
    eight salads just on the basis of the receipt. That was Monday. Come Wednesday, Beautiful Wife is working on the fryer when she hears a familiar voice telling one of her team "I just bought these eight salads and every single one of them was spoiled and inedible." Beautiful Wife steps forward and says, "I've got
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 06
    this." and the Entitled Lady does not look pleased to see my wife again. "So, still all bad? did you bring the salads back with you to exchange?" Entitled Lady: "No. They're too disgusting. I threw them all away. But I have the receipt." Beautiful Wife: "The trouble with that is that I can't send
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 07
    your receipt back to my vendor for credit on the bad salads. I need the salads to do an exchange." Entitled Lady: "You didn't need them last time!" Beautiful Wife: "Actually, I did. But I took you at face value and ate it that time. That is not something I'm inclined to do again."
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 08
    Entitled Lady: (starting to rise like a cobra ready to strike) "How dare you address me like that! Don't you know how good a customer I am to this store? I want to talk to the manager!" Beautiful Wife: "Well, sweetie that would be me. No spoiled salad to exchange, no exchange."
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 09
    At that, Entitled Lady storms off in a huff. Beautiful Wife checks with the rest of her team. It becomes clear that at least twice in the last week the Entitled Lady had hit the deli during their busiest times and gotten new salads without having brought back the purportedly bad ones. That's at least 24 free salads over the last couple weeks.
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 10
    Right about then, Busy Store Director comes storming over with the Entitled Lady in tow. "What's this I hear about you insulting our customers, Beautiful Wife?" Beautiful Wife: "What did she tell you, Busy Store Director? How I refused to exchange a product that she doesn't have? Or that over the last two weeks she is the ONLY person to
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 11
    complain that any of our salads are bad, and oddly enough EVERY SINGLE ONE she got from here was bad? Or that we already gave her dozens of free salads and that is more than enough generosity for one deli? I'm not saying she's scamming us, sir, but if she doesn't bring the spoiled salad back with her to exchange, there will be no more exchanges."
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 12
    Busy Store Director: "I see. As you were." Then to the Entitled Lady, "You're lucky I don't ban you from the store for this behavior!" The Entitled Lady realizes she won't get any further today, and sulks away. Beautiful Wife makes sure to train everyone on her team to require the old product be returned for any exchanges.
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 13
    A couple days later, she is coming out of the cooler when she hears a familiar voice: "I bought these eight salads the other day and every single one of them was bad." It's a different worker who wasn't there the last time. Different Worker: "Did you bring them back with you to exchange?"
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 14
    Entitled Lady: "No. They were gross. I threw them all away." Different Worker: "I can't exchange them unless you bring them back." Beautiful Wife smiles. Entitled Lady: "Not even just this once? It's an honest mistake..." Beautiful Wife steps out into full view: "Not even just
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 15
    this tenth time. Now get out of my deli and DON'T EVER COME BACK!" The Entitled Lady fled and was never seen in those parts again.
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 16
    MGMOW-ladieswelcome. Why do people fixate on a petty fraud and try to replicate it over and over? Does she do this with other places and different items, or is it some sort of perverse ritual exclusive to salads? And why is it always eight salads?
    via u/MGMOW-ladieswelcome
  • 17
    otideaonotica One time a customer bought several large, expensive oversized canvases, and claimed after she took them home that the employees that brought them out scuffed them. Customer service offered for her to ship them back to the warehouse free of charge and receive a
    via u/MGMOW-ladieswelcome
  • 18
    replacement, but she didn't want that. We offered for her to bring them back to the store then for a refund/replacement; she didn't want that either. All she wanted to keep all of them and receive a full refund! Why must we make things so DIFFICULT for her?!
    via u/MGMOW-ladieswelcome
  • 19
    She tried it on three different managers in the span of three months before giving up.
    via u/MGMOW-ladieswelcome
  • 20
    Internal-Car8922 OP Glad no one caved to her demands. •
    via u/Internal-Car8922
  • 21
    MissorNoob I used to work in the produce department and we kept any bad product we found throughout the day in a banana box in a shopping cart by the door to the cooler, and we'd scan it out every night before close. This one lady would come in at least twice a week and try to take produce
    via u/MissorNoob
  • 22
    out of that box, buy it, and then return it (we had a double money back guarantee on fresh items). She got away with it an embarrassing number of times before management actually let us do something about it. People are so annoying
    via u/MissorNoob
  • 23
    Internal-Car8922 OP Wow. Just wow.
    via u/Internal-Car8922

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