There are many hallowed American principles. “Add high fructose corn syrup to all food and beverage products.” “Reality teevee is a vaunted art form.” But dearest among our aphorisms might be “The customer is always right.”

On September 7, witnesses in the Sprint store at 5th Avenue and Union Street learned that this last principle might not be so absolute. According to the filed police report, a suspect entered the store and spoke to a customer service representative about his broken phone. In a typical display of American patience, the suspect wanted the phone replaced “immediately.” This idea did not square up with the “repair or replacement procedure,” as explained by the customer service representative. The report then states that “the suspect became ‘irate’ according to [the victim] and threw his phone at him.”

Shockingly, the victim handed the phone back to the suspect and continued to explain company policy on repairs and replacements. Hearing the same policy again didn’t make the suspect any less angry. The report states that he again threw his phone at the victim before telling him to “cancel [his] account.”

Now this is where Hulk-rage enters into the story. The suspect had brought his bike into the store and in the process of storming out, he allegedly threw open the doors…just not wide enough. According to the report, “The doors closed and the suspect caught a pedal of his bicycle on the door. The suspect yanked and pulled on the bike, dislodging the door from its hinges.“

Ever the faithful cogs in the corporate machine, employees in the store “declined to provide the suspect (sic) name or store security video” since “it was against corporate policy.” The report indicates that the case will now be investigated by Sprint security.

But maybe we shouldn’t be too harsh on the suspect—according to Google Maps, the Sprint location in question has six reviews so far, each earning just one star due to poor service.

15 replies on “Mobile Phone Meltdown!”

  1. I had a guy throw his star-tac at me when I was selling phones in 98. He dropped it off a second story building and it stopped working. Me yeling “GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY STORE” at top volume in front of 20+ people was not policy, but I did get a round of applause from the other customers.

  4. The employee did what he had to to keep his job in a rough economy. You speak up, the customer complains to corporate, you lose your job.

    You fight back, the customer sues you and corporate, and you lose your job.

    Talk to the police, you didn’t follow procedure, and you lose your job.

    Don’t think of this employee as some ‘cog in the corporate machine’. That’s the same problem all of us in the service industry face every day from uncaring assholes who pile this sort of abuse on us. He or she is a person with thoughts and emotions who just wants to get a paycheck at the end of the day and eventually move on to another job where they won’t have to put up with this shit.

  7. Steven Slater’s popularity makes it clear that the majority of people loathe entitled fucks like this, and yet corporate America continues to insist on sucking up to them.

  14. @6: Really? So if something has already been written about somewhere on the Internet one may not write about it again on another site?

    I guess that would make surfing the Web simpler, but I think you’re going to get awfully tired commenting on every blog post on the Web that discusses a story that was already reported elsewhere.

  15. I think the point 6 was trying to make (not that any of the slogophants will care) is that this story is 3 days old. It’s not really a story anymore. Also, give jonah some credit.

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