"My husband is a MEXICAN!"

A few years ago, a woman came into our store to demand a refund on a bill that her husband had just paid. I had waited on him, and she insisted that I give her a refund. It seems that her bill HAD to be paid that day and since she had paid it with us, the electric company had told her that we were not an approved payment contractor and they could not verify her payment. This, despite my having given her husband his receipt and told him he could not verify his payment with the company as we were not directly connected to them, but that it would take a few days to get there.

When I explained to this woman that I could not refund her money once I submitted the payment, she ratcheted up her voice and insisted that I had to give her a refund because her husband paid the bill and he didn't speak English! "HE'S MEXICAN! He can't speak ENGLISH!" I pointed to the sign we had in Spanish just for that purpose but I guess he didn't read, either. She insisted that we were obligated to refund the money because he didn't speak English. I didn't ask her, why doesn't he learn English so your power doesn't get shut off? If he can't understand English, why is she sending him places in AMERICA to pay his bills? Why not call it in to the electric company and get a Spanish-speaking representative?

Just the other day, I heard that another woman had come in and used the "HE'S MEXICAN!" excuse to try to get us to refund a payment. And, when that didn't get her money back, she exploded and said, "I'll never come back here!" Oh, sniff sniff...! Just find it hard to feel sorry for someone who uses that as an excuse; it's a fair bet he's not here legally if he's so hindered by non-English speaking skills.