I worked at the BIG movie rental store. Before they got rid of late fines, it was my job to call customers and tell them about late movies. I had an account with one of the big, really popular older Disney movies (think like Cinderella) checked out.
I called the customer, and he claimed:
Customer: “I don’t have any kids, so why would I rent that?”
I called every few days and kept getting the same thing. Then the guy started threatening to have me and my boss [Store Manager] fired for harassment and even arrested. So we stopped calling for a bit.
I called him back a few weeks later to remind him that the movie was still on the account. He said, and I quote:
Customer: “My daughter checked the movie out. She took it to school, but she’s on spring break. I’ll return it on Monday when she goes back to school.”
Me: “Thanks.”
Come Monday, he returned the movie. Of course, his fine was HUGE.
Customer: “Can you do anything about the fine?”
Me: “That decision is up to the manager.”
Our store manager was awesome. His usual response was to cut the fine in half. Don’t want to lose a customer, but don’t want them to think they can keep stuff forever with no consequences. We just wanted the movie back. Also, the Disney movies back then couldn’t be easily replaced because they were only available at certain times (they got put in a vault for years at a time).
He happened to be in the store at that time, and I went to get him. He came out and said:
Store Manager: “Usually, I would help you, but since you tried to get me and my best employee fired and arrested because you were LYING, I’m not going to do anything.”
And he walked away. The customer paid the fine. When the store manager went back to the office, he called his boss, the District Manager, and let him know what had happened.
The customer called the District Manager the next day to complain. The District Manager’s response was:
District Manager: “Not sure what you want from me. I wouldn’t have been that nice.”
The customer ended up being one of our regular customers. His family of five (yes, he had three kids) was in the store all the time.
