Customer harshly requests a product manual to be printed at check-out right before the store closes, gets owned by employee when he realizes it's 650 pages

Author image for Lana DeGaetano
Lana DeGaetano • "Show me to me please."
Aug 11, 2024 9:00 PM EDT

"… the husband looked smug[ly] at me, probably feeling like he had won over the big man."

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  • There's nothing like the feeling when you know you're about to clock out after a grueling day in your customer service job. Then you hear an ominous, obstructive noise coming from down the aisle you just swept. Your. last customer of the day, walking toward you at a snail's pace hoping to make your last few minutes on the clock as insufferable as humanly possible. What is it with 10 minutes before close? Everyone decides they need you ASAP and will keep you inside your workplace for a lot longer than you had anticipated. Even if they're fairly nice customers, things just seem to be completely out of your favor. Sometimes you need to partake in some malicious compliance to get your mojo back.

    The employee in this story was cashing out his last customers of the night, a man and his wife who purchased a camera that the employee gave a great deal on. Seems simple enough. But no, the man harshly demands to have a manual that is accessible online printed in the store so he can read it when he gets home (as if he can't do the same thing, just online). The employee reiterates the availability of the manual digitally, but the customer won't budge. So, the employee does exactly what he asks. Knowing that the store's printer is immensely slow, he prints the entire 650 page manually there at the register while the customer waits there for over 30 minutes. Scroll to read the rest of the story, and maybe this will inspire you customer service workers out there.

  • 01
    You want the manual physically, Okay
    via The_LMG
  • 02
    For context: I just went into my old workplace and remembered this story. Five years ago I used to work for a large electronics store in Scandinavia. We sold everything from TVs to dishwashers. Being a physical
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  • 03
    store, we had a lot of display items and often sold them at a lower price when the product was discontinued. please note that we rarely had the original packaging or manuals lying around, this will be important.
    via The_LMG
  • 04
    This story takes place a late afternoon about 30 minutes before closing. I worked this shift in the computer department and was asked to help at the camera section of the store, as I was the go-to person for cameras. I was
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  • 05
    greeted by a couple, who I would guess were in their late 50s, and they were looking at one of the display models. I walked them through the camera's specs, let them test it out, and explained
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  • 06
    that while we had all the necessary accessories, the original manual and packaging were thrown away. They seemed perfectly fine with this, especially after I offered them a fantastic deal on the camera.
    via The_LMG
  • 07
    We headed to the checkout, where they paid, and everything seemed to be going smoothly. That is until the husband turned to me and asked, "Where's the manual?"
    via The_LMG
  • 08
    I was thinking "Oh shoot, maybe I didn't explain it well enough". I started to explain again, reiterating that we didn't have the original manual but that it was easily accessible online. I had even included a link to the manual on their receipt.
    via The_LMG
  • 09
    This was not taken well by the husband, who started raising his voice at me, and said, "Online? I brought this product and I want the manual physically so I can read through it at home."
    via The_LMG
  • 10
    Which I do understand, and tried explaining that I normally would print the manual. However, the manual for this particular camera was about 650 pages. Please note, that they both are more than capable of looking up the manual, as I saw them browsing the web looking at reviews for the camera.
    via The_LMG
  • 11
    The husband angrily started to berate me for about 5 minutes, about how this wasn't a way to run a business and how he wouldn't leave without it. I tried explaining, that the manual was 650 pages, how long that would
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  • 12
    take to print and we were closing in around 10 minutes. But he was having none of it and he wouldn't leave without it. Now, I am normally a kind and respectful person and would do everything to fix a problem, but he was being disrespectful and I was
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  • 13
    paid by the hour anyway. So with my best customer service voice, I told him "Sorry sir, of course the customer is always right" and started printing the 650 pages, while the husband looked smugged at me, probably feeling like he had won over the big man.
    via The_LMG
  • 14
    But the thing was, the printers we had at the sales desk were only meant for printing receipts, so they couldn't print double-sided and though they were relatively fast, they were not 650 pages fast and only held around 300 sheets of paper at a time. As the
    via The_LMG
  • 15
    minutes ticked by. With each sheet of paper that emerged from the printer, the man's smug expression disappeared. His wife, who had initially seemed passive, began to look annoyed and a bit embarrassed. Then the printer ran out of paper, and you could
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  • 16
    see the relief in their eyes as they thought the printer was finally done, but that was quickly gone when they saw me coming with a huge stack of paper to fill it up. 20 minutes and 400 pages in the wife started to look even more desperate realizing that they were the only customers in a
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  • 17
    store that closed ten minutes ago. The husband was beginning to realize his mistake and nervously began to ask when it was done printing. I just smiled with my best customer service smile "We were about two-thirds of the way". He sighed and just continued to look at the mountain of paper that slowly got bigger and bigger.
    via The_LMG
  • 18
    Another refill and 200 pages later, the husband's defeat was evident. He finally asked if he could just take what had already been printed and leave. But by then, only like 50 pages remained. so I told him "That we were almost done, and I would hate if he left without the last pages, in case he would miss something important."
    via The_LMG
  • 19
    When the printer finally stopped, I handed him the entire 650-page manual, still smiling, and said, "Here you go. I hope you have a great day and enjoy the camera." They quickly left the store silent and defeated. And I never saw them again
    via The_LMG
  • 20
    Quick edit to clarify some things: I got paid 1.5 my wage + afternoon addon, so staying 30 minuttes longer was actually a plus for me
    via The_LMG
  • 21
    I would have loved to say that the manual was in 6 different languages, but it wasn't. But the manual have so much info that is only relevant if you are a professional photographer, which they were not. Oh an did I mention that I didn't put any staples or holes in the paper. Good luck keeping it together
    via The_LMG

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