Karen Tries To Maliciously Comply By Paying In Bags Of Coins, But Repair Shop Owner Turns The Tables On Her
Let’s just put it out there: working with clients and meeting them face-to-face is no easy walk in the park. Whether it’s irrational demands, disgruntled complaints, or baseless accusations being thrown at you without a care in the world, there are bound to be some unfortunate situations. Entitled customers can really test your limits, but only if you let them.
A few days ago, Redditor PracticalDadAdvice created a post about encountering an unhappy customer at his repair shop where he employs local kids to teach them skills. When a woman came in to fix her busted electronics, the result didn’t live up to her standard. She became more and more irritated while listening to the user’s calm tone, and she even asked, “Do you know who I am?”
Well, the shop owner didn’t, but his problems didn’t stop there. The customer’s check bounced and inspired her to become even more bitter. She decided to act all maliciously and came back to the shop with quite a few heavy bags filled with loose coins. However, while the woman proudly dumped them on the front desk, it seems she didn’t think her plan through. Read on to find out how the story unfolded and tell us what you think about it in the comments!
Recently, a repair shop owner shared a post of how an unsatisfied customer went way too far and tried to pay her bill with loose pennies
Image credits: Hillary (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Nic McPhee (not the actual photo)
Instead of arguing with the woman, the user maliciously complied
Image credits: Jonathon Burton (not the actual photo)
This whole situation left the workers in stitches
PracticalDadAdvice’s story has amassed over 20K upvotes and nearly 800 comments at the time of writing. The user later revealed in the comments that he did not expect this post to blow up as much as it did. “I’m not a super-extroverted kind of guy, so all of this feedback was a little overwhelming,” he wrote.
The shop owner provided some more insights about this incident. First, he mentioned this story takes place outside the US, but since he grew up there, he translated it into American English. “There’s no coin called the ‘penny’ where we are, but there is its equivalent; I also translated our currency into dollars for the ease of context and extra deliberate obfuscation.”
“Also, thank you for not pig-piling on the woman who tried to pull this stunt. I genuinely harbor no ill will towards her; she did a foolish thing and got swacked for it — as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of the story,” PracticalDadAdvice added. “I hope she’s having a better day and making better choices than she was on the day in question.”
We managed to get in touch with PracticalDadAdvice who was kind enough to have a little chat with us. The user explained to Bored Panda that he decided to post this story on the Malicious Compliance subreddit because it seemed like the perfect place to share it. “I’m not usually a big post-er, but one of my shop kids likes that subreddit and suggested it,” he said.
Finding healthy and professional solutions to disputes with clients can sometimes seem like an impossible task, but the user managed to remain cordial, maintain a calm tone, and listen to the woman’s concerns. When we asked for his opinion about why she acted this way, the shop owner revealed that everybody’s entitled to have bad days. “Everybody makes bad choices when they’re stressed out or feeling overwhelmed. It’s important to recognize that in yourself and not try to take it out on other people, though,” he told us.
PracticalDadAdvice revealed this customer was far from the worst person who ever came into the shop. Yet, “The vast majority of our customers (and people in the world, I might add), are kind folks who are just trying to get through their day. We try to treat everybody with a baseline of dignity and respect — but if you come after one of my kids, we’re going to have a problem.”
Most of us have been taught to be polite and considerate, so no wonder many people online saw the woman’s actions as spiteful in nature. However, when it comes to customer service, the general public often has this mentality that “the customer is always right”. We were curious to hear the user’s take on this cliché.
“Customers are not always right, but nobody’s always right,” he said. “We will bend over backward trying to do good work for people, and we expect that at the bare minimum they won’t treat us in a rude way. The goal is to help each other get through this chaotic world, not make things harder for everyone,” PracticalDadAdvice concluded.
Here’s how Redditors reacted to this story
That woman is awful, but he did an amazing job handling that! His shop seems like a great place to work, as well.
She wouldn't have been able to pull a stunt like that in the UK, and I am sure in other countries too. In the UK the Coinage Act 1971 states that 1p & 2p coins (bronze) are not legal tender for payments above 20p. Sure you can try it and i would generally think most people wouldn't bat an eyelid at payments of a few pounds being made in bronze, but it is at the discretion of the shop[ owner.
Generally, if you pay in pennies out of anger or some misguided sense of retribution, you're not inflicting any inconvenience on the entity you are actually angry with, you are inflicting an inconvenience on some low-level employee who had nothing to do with it and you're just a jerk.
here is where i finally confess: i did this with a $215.00 bill at the dentist. my son had a dental emergency & before the dentist began the work i told him that i couldn't pay that day but my payday was at the end of the week. he said no problem and did the work. two days later i get a call from the office manager telling me that she was going to charge me with theft of services since i didn't pay the day the work was done. i told her that the dentist had agreed to wait until friday (two days away) but she said (literally) "he may be the dentist but i am the manager and his wife so payment is due at time of service." it was her attitude that pissed me off. so, yes, i got $215 in pennies, carted them in there. she told me the same as this guy-she had to count them & wouldn't give me a receipt until she did or i could pay w/check or cash. told her i'd wait, sat down, pulled my knitting out of my tote, my thermos w/coffee and let her count away. it took a long time.
People tends to forget that you have the right to pay in pennies since it's a legal tender but person who excepts the payment also has the right to count them all and make sure your payment includes every penny of the bill. I don't mind counting pennies, I am getting paid to count it.
Coins are only legal tender up to a certain quantity in the UK. Above that, the receiver does not have to accept them as payment of debt
Load More Replies...
I had a mentor who started as a bank teller in the 30s advanced to manager, and after WWII eventually became bank president. Back when he was a teller, a disagreeable customer did something similar- made their last mortgage payment by dumping out a wheel-barrow full of change- pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters in the center of the bank lobby on a Saturday morning- Ever the quick-thinking salesman, Bill called up EVERY boy-scout and girl-scout leader he knew> Then he rushed to the basement and started tossing boxes of "collect all the coin" books up the stairs- Even called up all the other branches to send over all the coin-books they had. It took about 2 hours, but they ended up with every kid in town either finishing off their coin-collection, or STARTING a coin collection (and about 50% of their parents opening checking accounts to boot)
I don't understand. What happened to the coins dumped at the lobby and why is this quick thinking and what sales?
Load More Replies... In Denmark you are entitled to pay in cash. Probably because not everybody has the option to pay in another fashion, e.g. children to young to have a credit card, and some people cannot figure them out (e.g. non-tech-savy elderly people) and denying someone a way to buy things would create a major mess. However there is a limit of maximum 25 of the same type of coins to avoid harasment. I guess that the rules were set like that in order to make sure that you could still use the profit from a tips jar to buy stuff. But going right to the limit, still makes quite a bag of coins if you have to pay for something medium priced, and sorting the coins to count them still requires a bit of effort. I learned that when a made such a bag to pay of a parking ticket for a "time violation" where the guard probably saw me leave the car but instead of having a bit of courtesy wrote a ticket on a technicality right after I left it. If you cannot be a little flexible, don't count on me making it easy
That couldn't happen here. In the UK, 1p and 2p coins are only legal tender up to 20p, 5p and 10p up to £5, 20p and 50p up to £10. There's no limit on paying with £1 and £2 coins.
When I worked in pizza I had a lot of people pay in change. Even on deliveries I would stand there and count it because we'd get short changed a lot - because no one thinks you'll actually count it. Today - if I ever need even just some quarters to pay for my food I give it to them in a neat row so they can count it quicker. I've had to count 25 bucks in pennies before.
Another response would be to insist that she have them in rolls for anything over fifty cents.
In Australia retailers are not obligated to take small coins above a certain amount ($20 I think). Someone tried this a while ago. He wanted to pay a parking fine in 5 cent coins, so he dumped them all on the counter and left. Not only did he still have to pay the fine, as well as a late fee. He got a fine for littering.
Unless I missed something, she paid $250 for a $100 bill, right? As the expression goes "What goes around, comes around."
You probably had more money invested in the copper than you did in the face value of the coins. Way to go on shutting such a spiteful person down!
I love how the OP refers to them as "my kids." That is so sweet and obvious he truly cares about "his kids" and teaching them valuable skills along with self confidence. We need more people like OP in this world. Those kids and the community are lucky to have him/each other. Keep up the amazing work OP.
The value of the pennies by weight is more than the monetary value of them...fui.
Clearly an example of more dollars than sense. And, generally not too much in dollars either since her check bounced.
When we go deposit change at the bank, it needs to be in rolls. So if the bank requests it, then shop should too. But if I were to receive this many, I would count them to make sure I wasn't short-changed in some of the rolls.
It's so funny how they wasted her time so much. They could have also just refused to accept pennies. A quick google search shows it's fully legal to refuse or accept only certain types of coins or payment, which is why they didn't accept the type of credit card this woman had.
Breath in, Hold, Breath out. Continue for five minutes. Now that you are calm, and you can think clearly, you can come.up with a plan to murder this karen.
This whole story sounds fake. Starting to think these are all fiction.
That woman is awful, but he did an amazing job handling that! His shop seems like a great place to work, as well.
She wouldn't have been able to pull a stunt like that in the UK, and I am sure in other countries too. In the UK the Coinage Act 1971 states that 1p & 2p coins (bronze) are not legal tender for payments above 20p. Sure you can try it and i would generally think most people wouldn't bat an eyelid at payments of a few pounds being made in bronze, but it is at the discretion of the shop[ owner.
Generally, if you pay in pennies out of anger or some misguided sense of retribution, you're not inflicting any inconvenience on the entity you are actually angry with, you are inflicting an inconvenience on some low-level employee who had nothing to do with it and you're just a jerk.
here is where i finally confess: i did this with a $215.00 bill at the dentist. my son had a dental emergency & before the dentist began the work i told him that i couldn't pay that day but my payday was at the end of the week. he said no problem and did the work. two days later i get a call from the office manager telling me that she was going to charge me with theft of services since i didn't pay the day the work was done. i told her that the dentist had agreed to wait until friday (two days away) but she said (literally) "he may be the dentist but i am the manager and his wife so payment is due at time of service." it was her attitude that pissed me off. so, yes, i got $215 in pennies, carted them in there. she told me the same as this guy-she had to count them & wouldn't give me a receipt until she did or i could pay w/check or cash. told her i'd wait, sat down, pulled my knitting out of my tote, my thermos w/coffee and let her count away. it took a long time.
People tends to forget that you have the right to pay in pennies since it's a legal tender but person who excepts the payment also has the right to count them all and make sure your payment includes every penny of the bill. I don't mind counting pennies, I am getting paid to count it.
Coins are only legal tender up to a certain quantity in the UK. Above that, the receiver does not have to accept them as payment of debt
Load More Replies... I had a mentor who started as a bank teller in the 30s advanced to manager, and after WWII eventually became bank president. Back when he was a teller, a disagreeable customer did something similar- made their last mortgage payment by dumping out a wheel-barrow full of change- pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters in the center of the bank lobby on a Saturday morning- Ever the quick-thinking salesman, Bill called up EVERY boy-scout and girl-scout leader he knew> Then he rushed to the basement and started tossing boxes of "collect all the coin" books up the stairs- Even called up all the other branches to send over all the coin-books they had. It took about 2 hours, but they ended up with every kid in town either finishing off their coin-collection, or STARTING a coin collection (and about 50% of their parents opening checking accounts to boot)
I don't understand. What happened to the coins dumped at the lobby and why is this quick thinking and what sales?
Load More Replies... In Denmark you are entitled to pay in cash. Probably because not everybody has the option to pay in another fashion, e.g. children to young to have a credit card, and some people cannot figure them out (e.g. non-tech-savy elderly people) and denying someone a way to buy things would create a major mess. However there is a limit of maximum 25 of the same type of coins to avoid harasment. I guess that the rules were set like that in order to make sure that you could still use the profit from a tips jar to buy stuff. But going right to the limit, still makes quite a bag of coins if you have to pay for something medium priced, and sorting the coins to count them still requires a bit of effort. I learned that when a made such a bag to pay of a parking ticket for a "time violation" where the guard probably saw me leave the car but instead of having a bit of courtesy wrote a ticket on a technicality right after I left it. If you cannot be a little flexible, don't count on me making it easy
That couldn't happen here. In the UK, 1p and 2p coins are only legal tender up to 20p, 5p and 10p up to £5, 20p and 50p up to £10. There's no limit on paying with £1 and £2 coins.
When I worked in pizza I had a lot of people pay in change. Even on deliveries I would stand there and count it because we'd get short changed a lot - because no one thinks you'll actually count it. Today - if I ever need even just some quarters to pay for my food I give it to them in a neat row so they can count it quicker. I've had to count 25 bucks in pennies before.
Another response would be to insist that she have them in rolls for anything over fifty cents.
In Australia retailers are not obligated to take small coins above a certain amount ($20 I think). Someone tried this a while ago. He wanted to pay a parking fine in 5 cent coins, so he dumped them all on the counter and left. Not only did he still have to pay the fine, as well as a late fee. He got a fine for littering.
Unless I missed something, she paid $250 for a $100 bill, right? As the expression goes "What goes around, comes around."
You probably had more money invested in the copper than you did in the face value of the coins. Way to go on shutting such a spiteful person down!
I love how the OP refers to them as "my kids." That is so sweet and obvious he truly cares about "his kids" and teaching them valuable skills along with self confidence. We need more people like OP in this world. Those kids and the community are lucky to have him/each other. Keep up the amazing work OP.
The value of the pennies by weight is more than the monetary value of them...fui.
Clearly an example of more dollars than sense. And, generally not too much in dollars either since her check bounced.
When we go deposit change at the bank, it needs to be in rolls. So if the bank requests it, then shop should too. But if I were to receive this many, I would count them to make sure I wasn't short-changed in some of the rolls.
It's so funny how they wasted her time so much. They could have also just refused to accept pennies. A quick google search shows it's fully legal to refuse or accept only certain types of coins or payment, which is why they didn't accept the type of credit card this woman had.
Breath in, Hold, Breath out. Continue for five minutes. Now that you are calm, and you can think clearly, you can come.up with a plan to murder this karen.
This whole story sounds fake. Starting to think these are all fiction.
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