Earning Negative Money
I used to work at SEARS back in college, and we were on commission in lawn and garden. One month we had a MASSIVE storm, with trees down all over town. Some people were looking at weeks to get out of their driveways, etc, if they waited on the city to clear.
So they would get out on to a main road and get a ride down to our place, figuring they’d buy some chains to yank the tree out of the way, or a chainsaw to cut it up, or something equally imminently reasonable. In theory.
Once they got home, they realized their Honda Civic wasn’t going to pull that 40 foot tree anywhere, or that they didn’t actually know how to use a chainsaw (blade oil, fuel mixture, etc.).
The city was actually incredibly good at getting stuff cleared, so most of this stuff got returned on me (I think we had a 1-month window where it could take our commission back).
So I come in to work and clock in that weekend, and I’m something like -$1,500 on my numbers. No one had ever seen someone start that much in the hole on a single day….
Worst day of my retail career…. Story credit: Reddit / Wadka