As someone who has worked in retail for a number of years, I've seen my fair share of strange customer requests. But nothing could have prepared me for the day that Arnissa Rethschulte walked into my store.
Arnissa was a woman in her early thirties, with long, flowing hair and a determined look in her eye. She was dressed in a business suit, and she carried herself with an air of authority. When she approached the counter, she placed a large box on the counter and said, "I'm here to return this."
I looked at the box and saw that it was a brand-new laptop. "Is there something wrong with it?" I asked.
"It's not what I ordered," Arnissa said. "I ordered a desktop computer, but they sent me this instead."
I apologized for the mistake and told Arnissa that I would be happy to exchange the laptop for a desktop computer. She nodded and said, "That would be great. Thank you."
I went to the back of the store to get a desktop computer, and when I came back, I saw that Arnissa was talking to another employee. The employee was looking at the laptop that Arnissa had returned, and she was shaking her head.
"What's the problem?" I asked.
"This laptop has been opened," the employee said. "We can't accept returns on opened items."
Arnissa's face fell. "But I didn't open it!" she protested. "I just took it out of the box to make sure that it was the right one."
The employee was firm. "I'm sorry, but we can't accept returns on opened items," she said.
Arnissa was furious. "This is ridiculous!" she shouted. "I'm never shopping here again!"
With that, she stormed out of the store, leaving the laptop behind.
I felt sorry for Arnissa, but I couldn't help but think that she was being a bit unreasonable. After all, she had opened the laptop, and the store had a policy against accepting returns on opened items. But I also understood that she was frustrated, and I didn't want to see her go away angry.
So I decided to do something that I had never done before. I went to the back of the store and got a new laptop. I then went back to the counter and handed it to Arnissa.
"Here you go," I said. "This one is unopened."
Arnissa was surprised. "But I thought you said you couldn't accept returns on opened items," she said.
"I know," I said. "But I'm making an exception in your case. I can see that you're frustrated, and I don't want you to go away angry."
Arnissa smiled. "Thank you," she said. "You're very kind."
Arnissa left the store happy, and I was glad that I had been able to help her. I learned a valuable lesson that day: sometimes it's okay to bend the rules a little bit in order to make a customer happy.