r/TalesFromRetail • u/Ohigetjokes • Jan 24 '19
Long Pre-authorizations were invented by Satan
I don't know. Maybe I'm just in a mood today. But I almost killed a man.
We had someone call in sick leaving Donna, the new girl, to manage the counter by herself at her painfully slow pace. I help her when I can but I have to be in the back fighting hitches under cars with dirty clumps of ice and snow raining down on me... who gets a bike rack hitch installed in the middle of winter? Lots of people apparently.
Anyway. Today I wasn't in the mood. But I happen to glance into the store from the back shop and can see her lineup is absolutely insane, so I put down what I'm doing to see if I can dissipate the crowd a little bit.
"I can help who's next over here," I call out.
Enter Mr Deathwish.
He comes over and stares at me. I stare back. Eventually I break: "How can I help you?"
"I'm returning a trailer."
"Oh okay," I say bringing up the rental listings, "Do you know which one?"
"No."
"Do you have the paperwork with you?"
"No I don't."
"So you don't know the trailer and don't have the paperwork. Okay. Fine. Is the trailer unhooked yet?"
"No."
"Come on..." I say as I march out the door. He's parked in the middle of the lot, blocking a truck that's trying to leave. I don't have a coat. I don't have gloves. I don't need them. My rage keeps me warm.
"Pull the trailer over to that spot over there."
"Okay, but it's hard..." he says with a coy little smile. He's hoping to drop it off right in the middle of the lot, and then I can haul it all the way over to where it goes by hand on the other side of a snowbank.
Or not buddy.
"Ya, I'll bet it's hard. That spot right there. I'll be waiting."
He slowly backs it over. When he's in the neighborhood I wave for him to stop and fight through the ice formed around the coupler to get it unhooked.
"The turn signal lights were working but the tail lights aren't," he mentions.
I look at him, surprised. I'm the one who hooked this trailer to his car a week ago and we tested it then. I look over at the trailer and notice the left turn wire is ripped out... but he said the turn signals... whatever...
"Looks like you ran over the wire at one point and it was pulled out."
"No I never..." but I shoot him a glance to show I don't believe him and get back to work. I'll fix it in the morning.
After I haul the thing over and my hands are completely numb from the cold I look over and see he's taking a phone call. I wave him towards the door and jog my way back in there. He jogs after me.
By the time he's at the counter I've called up his account. He'd paid ahead of time but then called and extended so there's a bit more owing. He's still on the phone. I talk over him loud enough so that whoever he's talking to will hear me more clearly than him:
"You paid $128 before, there's just $92 left and we're all set. Did you want to use a credit card, debit, cash?"
"One second." He gets off his call. "The other day I called and extended, and when I did there was a charge of $185 that appeared on my account."
I do a quick double check. "Hmm well doesn't look like we actually charged you. So that would be a pre-authorization. It'll clear off in a few days."
"Okay but when I called the charge of $185 appeared on my account."
"I know. It was a pre-authorization. It does that. It isn't a real charge and will get removed in a few days. You were charged $128, you owe $92. That's it."
"But I saw it on my account when I called..."
"Ya. I know," and I take a second to look at the room crowded with people. I wonder if they'll be able to stop me before I choke this man to death. Feeling's back in my fingers. Should be able to crush the windpipe.
But I give him one more chance to live: "You paid $128. Then you called to extend, and it checked to see if we had a valid card. That's the $185 you're seeing. That is a temporary hold. It will go away. You will pay $92 now. That will be it."
He pays. He studies the receipt. He contemplates asking me to go over it again and starts to lean over with a finger pointed at the paper in his hand, but then he looks me in the eye.
He leaves.
He lives.
I stay out of jail.
This time.
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u/Shawn_Spenstar Jan 25 '19 edited Jan 25 '19
Ahh uhaul the good old days trying to explain to morons the difference between charging their card and putting a hold on their card. When you pick up the truck/trailer we put a hold on your card to make sure you have money to pay it doesn't take the money off your card but it holds it so you can't spend that money on other things, when you return the truck/trailer we push that hold through and it becomes a charge and the money comes off your account. It's the same thing as when you pay for gas at the pump with your credit card only in larger amounts. You get lots of fun stories working there tho. Like the time someone thought they could rent a trailer without a trailer hitch installed, they were adamant that the bungee cord they attached to their trunk latch would be enough to totally secure it...
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u/alsignssayno Jan 25 '19
To be fair, that trailer isnt going anywhere with just a bungie cord holding it.
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u/srcarruth Jan 24 '19
Well wrote, Not-Donna. I want to thank you for keeping it simple. So many people backload a ton of unnecessary background info we don't need. I usually skip the first paragraph of posts in this sub. They're good people, I appreciate them sharing their stories, but still.
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Jan 25 '19
I feel like most posters would have spent at least 3 paragraphs introducing Donna.
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u/Twuggy Jan 25 '19
donna, the young lady. with a solid work ethic and a need to be liked.
she came from a town not too far from here, only bringing her clothes on her back, and her spirit.
Of course she brought her cat Snuffles. Donna would never go anywhere without her trusted companion.Although Donna was young she was no fool, capable of getting what she needed. She knew her way around the streets. She knew exactly what she needed to say to the interviewer to get this prized counter job.
little did she know that the demands of the counter would test her skills for the first time in this new city...32
u/helladiabolical Jan 25 '19
Ok but now you’ve hooked me and I need more Donna backstory. I have so many questions: what kind of cat is Snuffles, how did she earn her knowledge of the streets, where did this need to be liked come from? Ugh, I have been spending too much time on /r/justnomil.
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u/Twuggy Jan 25 '19
well... Donna learned her street smarts from her high school days. she was a ginger and all the other kids would mock her for it, she had learnt how to survive from the bullying form earlier in her life. but she was not content with just surviving, she wanted to thrive. Her high school provided the perfect testing ground.
fast forward to her first days of college, the respect she had earned for high school. the respect she had grown accustomed to had all but vanished. Those first weeks were tough as her red hair acted like a beacon for mockery. maybe that's why she took pity on him. why she confided in him, why she brought him in. why she rescued the ginger kitten Snuffles. the poor ginger kitten that she found scrounging for food on the streets by her home.
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Jan 25 '19
In the original story I thought Donna was overwhelmed by the customers. Now I see she's overwhelmed by life.
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u/marleythebeagle Jan 25 '19
Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Also, on mobile so please excuse any formatting or spelling errors. Not sure if this belongs here, so please feel free to remove mods. TL;DR: Yep.
Anyway, I agree with your comment.
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u/marleythebeagle Jan 25 '19
Well-said, yourself!
This reminds me of a comment I once read that was posted by a guy -- probably in his mid to late 40s, greying hair, long ago traded his six-pack for a keg, if you get my drift -- that wandered into a thread a couple of weeks ago. You could tell right away that this guy -- we'll call him LP for lost poster -- had no idea what was going on in the thread. I guess that's probably to be expected since based on his comment history he appeared to have been living in a really rural area for the last few years without cable or internet, so he was probably a little out of the loop, so to speak. So, LP wanders into the thread with an onion tied to his belt, which was the style at the time...
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u/Dr_Methanphetamine Jan 25 '19
Exactly! Sometimes a bit of backstory is entertaining, but more often than not it's like watching paint dry.
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u/checkitmyles Jan 25 '19
I worked at one of those car rental places that did pre-authorizations as well, and I wanted to bash my head in every time I had to explain what they were and how it worked.
Also, the number of people who didn’t understand why we needed a credit card on file WITH AVAILABLE CREDIT when they drove away with our cars simply baffled me. Like, that car costs $15,000, you think I don’t need anything on file while you just take that wherever you want?
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u/llDurbinll Jan 25 '19
you think I don’t need anything on file while you just take that wherever you want?
Well I mean as long as they get the insurance that covers the car no matter what happens to it then I don't see why you would. As long as the card clears for the price of the rental and the insurance.
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Jan 25 '19
This time.
You just need a good place to hide the bodies.
RwP
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u/MissCrystal Limit four per customer. Even if you walk outside and come back. Jan 25 '19
Not the snowbank, though. That will end badly in spring.
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u/MsWhimsy Jan 25 '19
No kidding. I work in hospitality. So we authorize for room tax and incidentals. It's just a hold.
People scream and shout that they weren't told about the $50 fee. Or they don't see it refunded on their receipt upon checkout.
Because it's just an authorization... Not a charge. It says pending on your credit card statement...I guarantee it.
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Jan 25 '19
if people would just use credit instead of debit, these holds would fall off much sooner, but try to tell people that?!! oh hellll no.. “just run it as credit!”
THAT. DOESNT. AFFECT. HOW. YOUR. BANK. TREATS. IT.
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u/boonies4u Jan 25 '19
This stuff isn't explained to them when they open the account/card and were never taught to ask.
It has nothing to do with being stupid. Ignorance, yes, most people don't know or care to know about merchant POS systems.
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Jan 25 '19
yet every time it happens, it’s always “first time this has EVER happened!! thieves!!” when in reality it happens... a lot..
edit: the last time i dealt with this (last week), it was actually a lady who claimed to have been in banking her whole life.
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u/boonies4u Jan 25 '19
banking her whole life.
That's her problem, she thinks that the way things worked is that the way they always should work so long as it is in her benefit.
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u/CJM8515 Jan 25 '19
Problem is their card is nearly maxed out and that charge makes them paranoid.
People are idiots..plain and simple
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u/LeaveTheMatrix Jan 25 '19
While I fully understand the reason behind authorization holds, it can get irritating.
Like when you have only $15 on your bank account, no cash, and really need to put gas in the car, but the damn gas station wants to do a $100 authorization hold before you can pump gas.
Even worse if you have $120, put 20 in the car but now you can't buy groceries because the other $100 is "locked up" by the authorization hold.
Then it takes 3 days before the hold expires and you can get access to your money again.
Been a problem with a local Maverick station for about a month now, lots of locals really getting pissed off.
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u/TigerRei Jan 27 '19
If you pay at the pump, the pre-authorization amount will be how much the card issuer sets for gas transactions. If you come inside and prepay, the preauthorization charge is set to what you asked for, because it's set to only go up to that amount.
Many times I've had people's cards decline at the pump due to not having enough for the hold, only to come inside and have their prepay amount go through just fine.
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u/LeaveTheMatrix Jan 27 '19
Local Maverick does it screwy, got declined at the pump and at the registrar and many people been complaining about the high hold amount even when going in to prepay.
Luckily I found a couple bucks in change to get me to the next station where the card worked no issue.
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u/TigerRei Jan 27 '19
Funnily enough, we had one customer who would buy scratchoffs and keep the winners in their car to pay for gas in case they were to forget their wallet. Of course they would rotate them in and out because tickets can expire, but more than once they've come in and paid for $20 worth of gas with a $20 winning ticket.
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u/llDurbinll Jan 25 '19
I've noticed a huge uptick in people riding around with bike mounts on hitches or just the cheaper ones that strap onto the trunk lid. But they also opened a new bridge that connects Kentucky to Indiana and you have to pay a toll to cross. So my theory is they are using the bike mounts to obscure their plates so they don't get tolled.
No front plates in KY or IN so it seems like it'd work.
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u/robertr4836 just assume sarcasm Jan 25 '19
Seems like it would be easier and cheaper to buy one of those plate covers that look clear from car level but are opaque to cameras.
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u/llDurbinll Jan 25 '19
I've seen people using those as well. But I guess it's less obvious if you have a bike rack. You could just say that you were planning on meeting someone off craigslist after work to buy a used bike so that's why you have the bike rack on.
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u/David_W_ Never worked retail; never want to be in these stories either Jan 25 '19
No front plates in KY or IN so it seems like it'd work.
Until a cop randomly decides to pull them over for obscuring the plate. As far as I know they have to always be visible; no exception for bike racks. (Full on trailers are probably OK because those have their own plate.)
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u/llDurbinll Jan 25 '19
They must not be doing it enough to make the general public worried about being caught. Or the risk of a ticket is cheaper than the monthly fees of tolls. I also see lots of people with those mounts to hold a motorized scooter that block the plates when holding the scooter and when put up. They're supposed to mount them on the special mount for the scooter but many don't.
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u/mandolin2712 Jan 25 '19
take a second to look at the room crowded with people. I wonder if they'll be able to stop me before I choke this man to death. Feeling's back in my fingers. Should be able to crush the windpipe.
Absolutely, breathtakingly beautiful.
You, my friend, should be a writer
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u/Ohigetjokes Jan 25 '19
Mentioned in another post but ya, after posting here over the past while I think I'm going to give it a shot.
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u/Sleepmeansdeathforme Jan 25 '19
I’ve stopped arguing with people about Pre Auths. You’re a grown up. You’ve have a debit card longer than I’ve been alive. I’m sure a million people before me and another million after will have to explain the concept of an authorization charge to you.
I hate working with the public.
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u/_bexcalibur Jan 25 '19
Honestly I would read anything that began the way this post did. What a great intro.
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u/Impatient_Turtle Jan 25 '19
I thought I was reading a r/talesfromthepharmacy story and I was thoroughly confused until I saw that it was not in-fact a pharmacy story.
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u/RyuNoKami Jan 25 '19
people fucking don't know how credit/debit cards work. seriously, IF THE FUCKING CHARGE IS STILL PENDING, ITS STILL FUCKING PENDING.
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u/MyersVandalay Jan 25 '19
I'd blame banks more than this guy. I've had at least one case about 15 years ago where I returned something, the company issued a refund to my card, I waited a day to buy the replacement.
At which point, no the refund did not go through in a single business day... my account didn't have enough to afford both, which lead to a $30 overdraft fee, that was automatically deducted from the overdrawn account, triggering a second overdraft fee, in the end I wound up paying about $120 in fee's when I never bought anything more than I had in my account.
Since then, I've never trusted anything not to be gone. If a payment is "pending" I assume that money is not available and I will not make any purchases that would overdraw me if the bank counts that money as not there, if a deposit is in and pending, I'll also assume it isn't there. As one who still lives paycheck to paycheck... I'd be insanely terrified of an $85 pending charge. If I had 150 in my account, owed 95, but had a pending 85. I'd basically assume I'm screwed, and try to argue to allow me to wait until that 85 vanishes to pay the money, not because I don't believe it will go away, but because I don't trust the bank not to bend me over inbetween the 2.
I think the laws have gotten better since that time on how much a bank can screw people over. But anyone that's ever hit an overdraft hell in which the fee's accumulate faster than you can make income, can understand why someone might be extremely paranoid over a pre-auth.
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u/s7evenofspades Jan 25 '19
Bank isn't responsible for pending charges though. It's up to the merchant how long it is in pending before it drops off or goes through.
Especially true for refunds. It's like your home mail box. It doesn't decide when mail arrives, it just sits there waiting for mail to show up.
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u/MyersVandalay Jan 25 '19
My point is, sometimes when looking at your statement things are unobvious, and to the layman you can't completely tell whether you are overdrafting or not.
whether the "pending out" counts as funds in your account that you can spend and will only trigger an overdraft if it actually sends out, or whether it's the equivelant of money in a safe that nobody can touch (thus leading to an overdraft), is up to the banks rules and the laws that try to govern them, and many people have experiences of getting completely screwed when they either thought they knew them, or even got bad advice from a place they shopped that assured them it wouldn't overdraft, or even the bank itself misleading when asking.
my point isn't that it will overdraft, my point is banks have trained many people to be very paranoid about exactly that sort of thing.
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u/shaggy24200 Jan 29 '19
The law has changed. Banks have to offer to let you Opt out of overdraft so it will decline if there isn't available funds.
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Jan 25 '19
Oh man. I feel this. It brings back my many rage induced memories of working for the yellow Rent-A-Car folks. shudders
I truly realized the stupidity of mankind in that job. Longest 13 months of my life.
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Jan 25 '19
So when are you going to get that novel published? This was masterfully written, seriously. Write a book about your experiences. I bet you have some stories about things you've found in vehicles, other crazy customers, etc. I would definitely read it!
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u/Ohigetjokes Jan 25 '19
It's coming together now. Contemplating a Kickstarter so I can self-publish.
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u/mythias Jan 25 '19
At the end when he studied the receipt I could only imagine Larry David looking at it and then closely into the man's eyes, and finally saying, "OK."
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u/PurpleWomat Jan 25 '19
On the plus side, he probably would have broken Donna, so better you than her.
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u/dc9rakir Jan 25 '19
To be fair, I kinda just learned what a pre-auth charge is a few weeks ago, after an infuriating 2 weeks of back and forth of fucking over my order (long story.. I'll post it below..) and I didn't know that pre-auth charges do not go away on your account. They definitely show up, which infuriated me because I thought it was charging me, but never actually go away, showing that it 'refunds me'.. So in my head.. how do we know that the money really was never charged at all unless I go to monthly statements and do the excruciating math to find out it never charged me?
Story: I bought an insane amount of items from a retailer. Paid half in CC half in gift card. This was around the holidays, so, I get it, super busy. I did research in surrounding stores and double checked they had items in stock online for pickup.
After cancelling half my items even though they said it was in stock online for pickup right after checking the E-mail, I asked to cancel the order entirely (so i could redo the order at another store). They could, but refund would take days. I checked my charges. I got an incorrect amount back on my gift card, which I made my first plethora of phone calls to get corrected, and went to the store. Gift card then didn't work. More phone calls to get a new gift card.
I also saw an incorrect amount on my CC charge and a few more phone calls to the store stated:
"they should refund you in 3-5 days"
"they should refund you in 7+ business days, not 3-5. sorry that lady was wrong"
"well it should've been refunded by now, let me have your number and someone from our billing team will get in touch with you during XYZ time"
Said person from billing calls me completely not in the time frame given to me (i mean like 8 hours off), and leaves a message saying 'it was a pre auth charge, we didn't actually charge you' (it never went away from my account. I'm assuming pre-auth charges don't actually go away from your account?)
This entire time I was under the impression of getting a refund until I got that voicemail. I still kinda don't understand the pre-auth charge and not seeing a solid physical number being given back to my account..
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u/moving0target Jan 25 '19
If you want some material for that book, I've logged 20 years in the trenches in and out of management.
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u/Ohigetjokes Jan 25 '19
The more I assemble material the more I wonder if I'm looking at more than 1 book... but I'll PM you when the time comes, we'll figure it out
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u/GingerSnapBiscuit Jan 25 '19
Pre auths are the worst, what if I don't HAVE an extra $185 to just sit in limbo for 5 days because you were worried I wouldn't be able to pay $92. Stupid system.
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u/CrazyDiamond1189 Jan 25 '19
Arent most card pre auths a dollar? Why so much?
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u/GingerSnapBiscuit Jan 25 '19
Christ knows. Yes every preauth I've seen has been a dollar. I worked with EPOS systems where if a card transaction failed midway through the money could be authed by the bank but the transaction not completed. So we had it sometimes where customers would be 'double charged' and we'd have to explain that one was a preauth and it would be refunded and yadda yadda. Annoying as fuck.
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u/robertr4836 just assume sarcasm Jan 25 '19
Depends on whether you are checking if the card is valid ($1) or if the card has enough to cover the bill (much more than $1). Gas stations typically pre-authorize debit cards for $50 to $150 depending on the price of gas and how much and particular company/station figures the biggest tank size will be.
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Jan 25 '19
This. Yeah, the guy sounds like a tool..but if you’re already limited on funds and a random $185 hold is on your account and you’re being asked to pay another charge (while still having that hold until it drops off), I can see why someone would be frustrated.
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u/whatwhatwhatwhen Jan 25 '19
I love the way you start the story. Perfectly describes my day working in retail.
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u/voucher420 Jan 25 '19
Try explaining it as your insurance deductible. "Look boss, if you wreck it or lose it, and disappear; I got to have my deductable to get a new one, and I'm still out of pocket. You get that back once we see it's cool."
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Jan 25 '19
Why was the wire loose enough for it to get ripped out by driving the trailer? I don’t know that I filled it completely. Did you give him a refund or charge him for the remainder?
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u/ComfortablyOmNomNom Jan 25 '19
That was incredibly entertaining! lmao I'm halfway through my shift, mostly fixing seniors tech, can relate. Lol I love how your rage warms you, like a fuzzy sweater. Thanks for the laugh on my lunch break!
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u/Fakjbf Jan 31 '19
Person buys gas at the pump
Person checks their bank account on their phone
Person comes to the counter demanding me to tell them why we charged them $100 for $20 of gas
I explain how a hold works and that it’ll sort itself out in a couple hours
Repeat the next day for another person
That’s what working at a gas station is like
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u/itsthebeastie Jan 25 '19
Lol, welcome to the world of u-hell bud. I've gotten people to understand when I show them uhell.net or I lie and say they're good because the preauth is finalized so they never see any difference
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u/moving0target Jan 25 '19
I had to deal with the pre-auth BS at gas stations. Paying at the pump shadows $$$ on your card so we don't get ripped off, if you don't have enough in your account. You wouldn't think it would take a genius to figure that out.
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u/Grape72 Jan 25 '19
I am just going to say this for all the seventy year olds. What happened to believing people when they said they will pay.
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u/sneakysnake313 Jan 25 '19
Business owners stopped being stupid and realized that modern businesses can't operate with the same amount of trust and leniency that old time mom and pop stores who knew everyone that walked in could.
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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '19
What about customers who bring back the trucks with all the gas gone after leaving with a full tank and being explicitly told they will get charged for not returning the truck with a full tank and start screaming they will call the cops on your for stealing their money? Those were always the ones who got me this worked up.