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: 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.
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.
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.
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)
