Entitled customer demands cashier breaks their $100 bill and they maliciously comply.
Graveyard shifts invite a cast of strange characters. Drunk young people, insomniacs, and people too afraid to come out in the sun. If you've ever worked a late night shift, you've probably encountered a strange character or two in your time.
On a popular Reddit thread on the Malicious Compliance Subreddit, a convenience store worker maliciously complies with an entitled late-night customer.
They write:
Years ago, I worked at a convenience store, and this store handled a lot of cash. We had a sign stating bills over twenty were only accepted with the manager's approval. In practice, we could accept them after using the detector pen and visual inspection. We also had a policy to keep the cash in the drawer under a certain amount.
We had a safe system to make drops and get change, but it had limits and timers when dispensing. It could take thirty minutes to change a one-hundred-dollar bill depending on what was needed. I was solo on a graveyard, kept my drawer low, and didn't have to request change often.
The drawer had five slots for bills and five pockets for coins, but we only kept 1s, 5s, 10, and 20s in the slots; other bills/checks were put under until we had enough for a drop. The extra coin pocket was used for dollar coins, half-dollar coins, coins people left (some people would tell us to keep the change), etc. We'd use the spare change if someone were a few cents short.
I kept my drawer under the limit. When I was on the graveyard, I was solo and kept my drawer very low and didn't have to request change often. One night, one of our odd regulars came in and bought some stuff; he paid with Sacagawea dollar coins. They didn't fit in the safe tubes, so I had to keep them in the drawer.
It was just over $100 in coins. I spread it out over all the slots so that one side wouldn't get too heavy. The drawer would stick if it was too lopsided. I also made a lot of changes to payphones, the air and water machines, people buying items to get change for laundry, etc. I was down to three $1 bills, the Sacagawea dollar coins, 0 quarters, a few dimes and some nickels, and a bunch of pennies.
A guy comes in and comes to the register with a 10-cent candy. He slaps a $100 bill on the counter. I ask him if he will get anything else, and he says, 'No.' I ask if he has anything smaller, and he says, 'NO.' So I tell him, don't worry then, the candy is on the house; I can use the 'have a penny, leave a penny' money.
He gets mad and says he won't take charity, and I need to make change for him. I try to explain that I don't have the cash in my drawer and it would take 30 minutes to get the change, but he keeps interrupting and not listening. He yells, 'You are required by law to take my legal tender and make change for me RIGHT NOW.' All full of attitude and entitled-ness. So I say, 'OK.'
He acts smug, like he won something when I pick up the bill. I pull out my detector pen, and he starts b*tching and moaning. I use the pen in view of the camera. Then, I hold the bill up to inspect it in front of the camera. I then put the bill in a safe tube to drop it as we were supposed to drop large bills on the graveyard before even opening the drawer, then make the slip and drop that after.
The customer is still smugly grumbling, and I enter the amount tendered into the register. Now, the counter is raised, and the drawer is just below the counter, so it's out of reach of the customers unless they lean and reach. It also doesn't pop open like usual this time because of the weight of the coins.
I open the drawer and push the three singles back in their slot so the customer can't see them even if he leans over to look in the drawer. He's being dramatic and turning to make a show of how long he is waiting, and can you believe this to an audience of no one so he doesn't notice at first that I am pulling out all those coins?
I pull out the 88 cents or so in change, primarily nickels, and then start pulling out the Sacagawea dollar coins and putting them on the counter. He turns around, sees the coins, and asks, 'What the f*ck is this sh*t?' So I tell him, 'I am required by law to accept the legal tender and make a change. You are required by law to accept legal tender as change. This is what I have available.'
He continues having a fit and says, 'YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME.' I tell him, 'I tried explaining, sir, but you interrupted and insisted I make change,' I go back to counting out the 99 Sacagawea dollar coins. He is silent and then asks, 'How the f*ck am I supposed to get this home?' I told him I was not responsible for his change after I gave it to him.
He eventually gathers it up in his shirt ( he pulls the bottom hem of his shirt about halfway up to make a large pseudo pocket) and slinks it off.
This guy is given red flags to the internet.
bro_d8 says:
A single 10-cent candy? My fifteen years of retail red alert is going off. I'd check that bill thirty times and have it blessed by the Virgin Mary herself before I'd break it.
sittinginaboat says:
Plus, you didn't have to deal with all those Sacajaweas at closing!
Salt_Spray_Rose says:
Convenience stores are not banks. If he needed to break a $100 bill, he should have planned better. I love seeing people learn that lack of planning on their part does not constitute an emergency on someone else's.
That odd-customer paying in those dollar coins really came in handy.