It’s very easy to spot entitlement. It’s also very easy to defuse it as it often flies over any bit of reason the person might have. And boy are the results great for everyone around (they’re probably munching on popcorn, too).

And you don’t even need a complicated premise for it—it can be something as simple as demanding discounts. In fact, both of them can already be at the person’s disposal, just that it might be tricky for them to understand how rules work because of their entitlement and lack of mathematical sense.

More Info: Reddit

They say you should be careful what you wish for—even more so when you have zero idea how math and company policy works

Image Credits: Stockmann Group (not the actual photo)

A Redditor recently shared a story of malicious compliance, teaching an entitled customer a lesson on how discounts don’t stack

Image Credits: u/Neat_Warthog2633

In the end, the customer opted for a 40% off coupon over her 10% senior discount, but it came close to screwing her over

Image Credits: Kzoo Cowboy (not the actual photo)

Redditor u/Neat_Warthog2633, with whom Bored Panda got in touch, recently shared a story of malicious compliance. You see, OP works at a department store—like any other retail locale, a place too often frequented by questionable clientele.

One such client, “Karen”, takes center stage at the cash register with a large cart of shoppables, a 40% off coupon and a smug grin on her face (probably… or I’d like to imagine it that way). Once each item is accounted for and the coupon is applied, she also asks for her 10% senior discount to be applied.

Unfortunately, company policy states that customers can’t stack discounts. However, instead of that making perfect sense to the Karen, in her mind, it somehow (very likely) got translated into “we won’t accept your senior discount.” That was not the case—it was just mathematical sense dictating that 40 is more than 10. And the customer wants to win, right?

Wrong. Having completely misunderstood how capitalism works, she starts demanding her senior discount and she is having none of it. Even the manager got involved, but that made no difference. So, the next logical step was to just do what she asked for—to apply her senior discount.

Only now did it occur to the very difficult customer how very wrong she was with the very simple decision she made in that moment. Confused, she asked where her 40% off went, making the manager repeat themselves yet again. This time, however, it seemed to make sense as she immediately backpedaled to the 40% discount. So much potential for unnecessary karma, all ruined. [sigh].

Image Credits: Midnight Believer (not the actual photo)

But hey, it turned out to be quite a good story on Reddit, garnering a bit over 6,000 upvotes (with a 97% approval rating). Folks were quick to applaud both OP and the manager for being good sports and tag-teaming the Karen. Others either bashed the customer for her lack of awareness, intelligence and everything else in that vein, and yet others were poking fun at how it could have been even worse.

Some of the jokes included “‘Prices subject to change depending on customer attitude’—you’re annoying me, +10%” and “sorry that coupon has already been scanned, we can’t apply it again.”

Originally, OP posted their story in the Malicious Compliance subreddit as they enjoy malicious compliance and felt that it was a good fit. “My friend group enjoy my retail stories so I thought I’d try out the written form of a story for a different audience.”

When asked for their take as to why the Karen was so set on getting that discount, OP guessed that it was probably her being so adamant about the senior discount that it clouded any logical sense and reason as to why it couldn’t be applied.

Though, many seemed to be hoping karma would bite her on the butt, and OP was no exception. “I think if she hadn’t seen that the 40% was removed and she left with only 10% would have been more rewarding to me. But as fellow Reddit commenter[s pointed out], she needed to realize that she didn’t get her way.”

“I think she will try it again, but with one of our younger, newer employees. Karens have a sense of who they can manipulate. As I was the only clerk at the time, she was stuck with a more experienced cashier,” concluded OP.

Image Credits: Michael Lehet (not the actual photo)

This just goes to show that the customer is not always right, and there is solid reasoning for actually not abiding by this rule. Kumar Arora, an investor and entrepreneur has argued that the customer is always right mentality is just a fancy way of instilling quality into customer service in the eyes of the customer, urging employees to follow a mantra that would help them focus on making decisions that best benefit the customer.

However, there are many problems that arise because of this. For starters, it’s impossible to satisfy everyone. On a deeper level, this flat out puts employees below customers, and not all customers are actually right and not all customers are actually worth keeping. Employees, however, might quite likely be.

Kumar concluded that it’s OK to let customers be wrong. There are a lot of such sayings that are embedded in business people’s minds and reviewing them with modern eyes is a must. And if getting rid of them means growth for the business and happiness to the employees, then let customers be wrong. Which is what OP and their manager did.

So, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think you could have somehow delivered more karmic justice to the irritating client lady? Let us know in the comment section below!

Folks enjoyed the story, praising both OP and the manager for their perfect execution, and cracking jokes along the way

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