Don't get in a p_ _ _ ing contest with a skunk!

A few months ago, I had a customer who bought a dress for his sister. Not knowing whether or not it would fit her, I gave him one business day to return it for credit.

The deadline for return came and went. The day after the deadline, the customer attempted to return the item. When he wasn't allowed, he became belligerent. I wasn't there that day, but my employee explained the policy from which we don't deviate. (Note that the overwhelming majority of resale shops have no return policy.)

He was told he could call me on a day I was working, but he never did. One morning about two weeks later, I entered another store on my way to work. I was only in the store for a few seconds when a man approached me - he watched me get out of my car which has the store's name on it.

He demanded I tell him why I never returned any of the five (!) calls he made to me. (remember he never called when I was in the store, even though he had been told my schedule.) He was immune to my explanation that a policy is a policy. He said I needed to be flexible, to which I replied I was flexible in that instance - I normally don't allow any returns at all.

I finally just had to walk away from him as I felt he was getting a little too threatening. The last thing I heard him say was, "Don't worry, lady, what goes around comes around."

Situations like this make me have second thoughts about how I operate my business. But hindsight being 20/20, I'm so glad I didn't back down.

Can you think of an example when you stood your ground even after having second thoughts?