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“She Was The Most Delusional Customer I Ever Had”: Retail Tale About Return Of Used Costume

“She Was The Most Delusional Customer I Ever Had”: Retail Tale About Return Of Used Costume

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Some people just don’t have a common understanding of the simplest rules. Like this lady, who tried to return a worn-out Halloween costume years after she bought it. She was so memorable that the retail employee still reminisces about her 20 years after the event.

More info: Reddit

Sometimes retail employees have to deal with the most delusional people they have ever encountered and still keep their cool

Image credits: Daisy Anderson (not the actual photo)

A customer caused chaos when she came to a store trying to return a costume without its packaging and receipt

Image credits: Baker County Tourism Travel Baker County (not the actual photo)

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Image credits: Conner Baker (not the actual photo)

Image credits: textureworkshop

After she revealed that the costume was bought years ago and was worn by 4 people, the manager sent her to the secondhand shop

The story happened over 20 years ago. The OP worked as an assistant manager at a craft store, whose merchandise included Halloween costumes. 

The store’s return policy was that with a receipt, you can return an item that was purchased within 30 days in its original packaging. And there was one unusual return policy: no returns on holiday merchandise within 7 days of the holiday.

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One day, the manager, the OP, was called to the register because there was an issue with a customer returning an item. The item was a costume. And the issue was that there was no receipt or packaging. The costume was a ball of fabric in one of the store’s bags.

The OP ran through all the return rules with the customer, but the woman wasn’t taking no for an answer. After talking about the rule of no returning costumes within 7 days of the holiday, because there would be no time to properly clean and sell them, the customer expressed that they shouldn’t have trouble selling the costume. After all, 4 kids of hers wore and loved it. And she was returning it because, for some reason, her 5th kid didn’t love it.

That shook the manager. 4 kids wore it? That meant the costume had been owned by this lady for years. And the customer approved this as the truth. 

So, after understanding the whole situation, the OP gave the woman directions to the secondhand store, which was down the street. 

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Image credits: La Grande Oregon Economic Development (not the actual photo)

If you find yourself in a similar situation as this woman, where you want to get rid of a Halloween costume, there is a more fun way to do it rather than harassing retail employees! You can host or participate in a Halloween costume swap event

The general idea of these events is for people to come and swap their costumes, just as the name suggests. During these events, people can get rid of the costumes they’re bored of and pick up new ones. Not only do people gain something from such events, but the environment does too. Swapping costumes instead of buying new ones reduces the amount of resources that are used to make new costumes. So, everyone is better off. 

So, for everyone’s peace of mind and nature’s benefit, don’t shop – swap! 

Circling back to the woman who decided to harass retail employees, let’s look at what folks online had to say. Most of them shared similar stories they encountered either while being retail employees themselves or hearing them from someone who worked in retail. And let’s just say that these are no lesser horror stories than the one that OP told.

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Apparently this lady is not the only one who is delusional enough to try return worn costumes – netizens shared plenty of their own horror stories

Image credits: Oxana Melis (not the actual photo)

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Ugnė Bulotaitė

Ugnė Bulotaitė

Writer, BoredPanda staff

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I am a writer at Bored Panda. I have loved creating and writing down stories about people and things since I was little and I think this passion led me to get degrees in sociology, communication, and journalism. These degrees opened various paths for me, and I got a chance to be a volunteer in the human rights field, and also try myself out in social research and journalism areas. Besides writing, my passions include pop culture: music, movies, TV shows; literature, and board games. In fact, I have been dubbed a board games devotee by some people in my life.

Read less »
Ugnė Bulotaitė

Ugnė Bulotaitė

Writer, BoredPanda staff

I am a writer at Bored Panda. I have loved creating and writing down stories about people and things since I was little and I think this passion led me to get degrees in sociology, communication, and journalism. These degrees opened various paths for me, and I got a chance to be a volunteer in the human rights field, and also try myself out in social research and journalism areas. Besides writing, my passions include pop culture: music, movies, TV shows; literature, and board games. In fact, I have been dubbed a board games devotee by some people in my life.

Denis Krotovas

Denis Krotovas

Author, BoredPanda staff

Read more »

I am a Visual Editor at Bored Panda. While studying at Vilnius Tech University, I learned how to use Photoshop and decided to continue mastering it at Bored Panda. I am interested in learning UI/UX design and creating unique designs for apps, games and websites. On my spare time, I enjoy playing video and board games, watching TV shows and movies and reading funny posts on the internet.

Read less »

Denis Krotovas

Denis Krotovas

Author, BoredPanda staff

I am a Visual Editor at Bored Panda. While studying at Vilnius Tech University, I learned how to use Photoshop and decided to continue mastering it at Bored Panda. I am interested in learning UI/UX design and creating unique designs for apps, games and websites. On my spare time, I enjoy playing video and board games, watching TV shows and movies and reading funny posts on the internet.

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Alyssa Phillips
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Years ago I ran a bakery. Thanksgiving was my bread and butter. Typically slept in the storage room for the 3 days leading up. Lady comes in two days after Thanksgiving and tries to return a Fireball Pumpkin Pie --half eaten. Says it was good, they just had too many leftovers and I can just sell it as a half pie on shelf. 🫠

Nonnie Bear
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow...the audacity (and stupidity!) of some people never ceases to amaze me!

Load More Replies...
Nice Beast Ludo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to work at Target Guest Service and a woman brought back 20 laser tag guns and said they were ALL broken and ruined her son's birthday party. Another woman brought back a literal suitcase of her vacation clothes and returned them all saying they didn't fit. One had period blood on.

Mike Fitzpatrick
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really liked retail, except for the customers, lol. I worked for a chain hardware outfit. I had a guy come in one day with a plumbing problem and needed advice. Now the department managers got serious training, really serious, but the particular DM was a woman and this guy wasn't having that. He had her (the DM) come get me (asst store mgr) cuz a guy you know. I went to the aisle and listened to his problem, then turned to Robin and asked her "you're the pro, how do we fix this?" He was pretty plucked but I got my point across, the @sshole.

Load More Comments
Alyssa Phillips
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Years ago I ran a bakery. Thanksgiving was my bread and butter. Typically slept in the storage room for the 3 days leading up. Lady comes in two days after Thanksgiving and tries to return a Fireball Pumpkin Pie --half eaten. Says it was good, they just had too many leftovers and I can just sell it as a half pie on shelf. 🫠

Nonnie Bear
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow...the audacity (and stupidity!) of some people never ceases to amaze me!

Load More Replies...
Nice Beast Ludo
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I used to work at Target Guest Service and a woman brought back 20 laser tag guns and said they were ALL broken and ruined her son's birthday party. Another woman brought back a literal suitcase of her vacation clothes and returned them all saying they didn't fit. One had period blood on.

Mike Fitzpatrick
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really liked retail, except for the customers, lol. I worked for a chain hardware outfit. I had a guy come in one day with a plumbing problem and needed advice. Now the department managers got serious training, really serious, but the particular DM was a woman and this guy wasn't having that. He had her (the DM) come get me (asst store mgr) cuz a guy you know. I went to the aisle and listened to his problem, then turned to Robin and asked her "you're the pro, how do we fix this?" He was pretty plucked but I got my point across, the @sshole.

Load More Comments
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