At the beginning of the summer, I (19 y/o college student) took my 13 y/o sister and her friend to see a movie. I didn't have my student ID, but I figured I would try to go for the student price anyway, since they usually don't care..
The ticket person was the most unreasonable woman I had ever met. She wouldn't give me the student price. Ok fine, even though I'm all decked out in college gear, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm a student.. fine. I'll pay for the adult one, no problem. But what about my little sister?
"Well you all look like you could be out of school." (um WHAT?) "I need to see their IDs too." (of course they didn't have them...*my sister isn't in high school and doesn't have one yet.. the friend is from out of state and apparently had one at home) We argued for a while. I'm not the type of angry customer normally- I've worked several cashier and waitress jobs, and I know how a nasty customer can ruin your day.. and I know how to deal with them- calmly explain why you cannot honor their request, or finally just give in if it's not that big of a deal... but this lady was nasty from the beginning, before i even started to visibly become an angry movie theatre patron.
What kills me is that she contradicted herself, but I was too angry to even realize it... "Well you could just buy child's tickets for them" (whatever happened to them looking like they're out of school? now they look like they're twelve?!)
Ok, so if you're trying to get me out of my hair, why would you offer that instead of just letting me buy the student tickets?
I went ahead and paid for the tickets, but I was still fuming about the whole situation, so I decided to try to find the manager to complain to. Well guess what. It was her..
edit: man, i just wanted to vent.. but in my defense:
When I used to work in a grocery store, I'd frequently scan coupons for people who didn't have them. I didn't see how that was hurting the company, and it really made the customers very happy. Quite frankly, I don't see how it's THAT big of a deal.
But I guess not every employee has that kind of mantra-- and I respect her right to be a stickler.. just not necessarily a selective one.. and definitely not a rude one.
So in summary: what i was upset about was her attitude for absolutely no reason. I've dealt with bad customers, trust me, and I'm not one.