Annoying/Rude Customers

[Kagayours]

I work as a computer lab assistant at my college campus. The biggest part of my job is to keep the printers running well and stocked with paper and ink, because tons of students have things to print and so the printers are basically running 24/7.

Students are given a print quota of 500 pages per semester. You can print up to 500 black-and-white pages (with 1 color page counting as 5 black-and-white pages) in a single semester, and if you use up all of those pages, then you have to pay extra to add more pages to your quota.

Sometimes technical difficulties happen with the printers and students lose a few pages from their print quota because they had to re-print a document due to a paper jam or something. And with the limited print quotas, I can understand why students would be upset by some of their pages going to waste, which is why we do have a system in place to refund people's pages when technical difficulties happen. But the thing is... hardly anyone ever gets remotely close to going over their print quota during the course of a semester. So most students really don't need to have their pages refunded. The refund system is intended to be used in cases where a student lost a large number of pages and there's a chance that they might not have enough pages left to make it to the end of the semester.

And yet, I have seen so many students angrily demand a refund for the lost pages, even when they only lost, like... less than 10 pages. With a remaining quota of 300 or 400-something. On the second-to-last week of the semester. >.>

And the thing is: the refund system doesn't just add those lost pages back to your quota. It sends you a check in the mail, equivalent to how much those pages would've costed you if you needed to add that much to your quota. And, off the top of my head, I'm not sure how much these additional pages cost. But they must not be very expensive, because the students who demand refunds for such a small number of pages usually wind up with a check for like… 12 cents. (Or, when I tell them it's only 12 cents, many of them say "just forget it" and stomp away at that point, lol.)

And it's not really a quick fix, either. It's a bit of a tedious process to enter all the needed info to send in a refund request. So then people get all angry that they have to go through all this trouble only to not even really get their pages back like they wanted, and/or to only get a very small amount of money. (Even though I usually try to warn them that they'll be refunded with a check and not with more pages, and that they probably won't get very much money… but, they don't seem to listen.)

Overall I'm just amazed that people can get so upset about losing a few pages from their quota. Like, if you were already close to running out of pages then I can understand the frustration, but otherwise… it shouldn't make any difference. The school doesn't even give anyone any money back for their unused pages at the end of the semester. So, assuming you're in no danger of running out, you have nothing to gain from fighting tooth and nail to be compensated for a small number of lost pages — except for maybe a check for 12 cents.


I suppose this is all relatively tame compared to many of the other stories in this thread, lol. But I'm still amazed that people can become so outraged over the thought of losing a mere 4 pages from their quota. o_o Especially given just how many papers wind up going straight into the recycle bin because people print stuff out, forget about it, and then never come back to pick it up.

 

[777]

so i work at a barnes and noble (pretty neat huh), and it's a great job that offers a lot of experience and great interactions with interesting people. i love my job and wouldn't want to trade it for anything in the world.

though, at my barnes and noble, there's been a few passing incidents that have come up.

the barnes and noble i work at is stationed in a mall, and so we have high traffic on most days and a variety of people roving in and out from open to close. here are some of my favorites from my coworkers and myself.

first story is that we have a cute cafe that the cafe workers work hard to clean and maintain. however, some asshole struts in, sits down, and begins clipping his goddamn toe nails on the tables. i shit you not, the customers were frantically and desperately eyeing the cafe workers; and my manager had to come in and stop the guy from, y'know, clipping his toenails on the tables. he makes enough fuss that he earned a big ol ban from our store.

here's the kicker though. the ban lasts a year, right? the fucker comes back a year later, on the day that the ban ends, and clips his toenails again on the tables. i asked what happened after that, and my manager shook his head. he just shook and walked away, and i never learned about what ever happened to toe nail man.

another, smaller favorite is, again in the cafe, a woman stubbornly stomps back to the counter and slaps her coffee down. the barista raises and eyebrow and asks what's wrong.

"the coffee is all wrong." she grits through he teeth, and barista offers to make a new coffee for her. the new coffee is handed off and the problem appears as if it's dealt with. though, she comes back, even angrier, and she begins to scold the barista. the barista at this point is at their wits end, and they ask what they've done wrong.

"the coffee is too bitter."

the barista stares at her in disbelief for a moment, and then she looks at the other cafe worker. they whisper amongst themselves to figure out how to remedy it, and then they hand off another drink. this time around the woman is satisfied, and leaves with a 'hmph'.

apparently all they did was steam some milk and give it to her.

"does that woman even know what coffee is?" the other barista said in passing, baffled as she watched her leave.

then my personal favorite is when this russian woman stormed in, with who seemed to be her butler, and rushed over to customer service.

"barrons," she stated, not asked, stated, in the thickest russian accent i've ever heard, "do you have it."

i look at her, and then i look it up on the computer, and i say i can't seem to find it. a vein seems to pop on her forehead, and a sweat breaks on my lower back.

"it's a very important magazine!" she wails, "how could this be?!"

then my other coworker comes to customer service and she leaps at the chance to seize his attention. he practically confirms what i said, and her eyes bulge out of her head in what seemed to be anger. though, she says nothing, and she disappears into the store, her nervous butler(?) following suit.

"are all russians like that?" my co worker asks and i frown.

"i wish i could say no."

and yeah, retail man, gotta love it.