When these landscapers got a referral from one customer to another, they had to explain some important caveats. Unfortunately for the landscapers, these clients were not happy with the deal they were going to get.
Referrals are really important to many companies. In recent years, there’s even a big incentive by lots of brands to tell your friends about their product. How many times have you gotten a friend to sign up for a random product just so you can get a discount? Or, if you’re crafty, you use multiple emails, and add yourself as a friend to get that 15% off discount you really want. It’s worth it for these companies to lose money if they can gain a new customer.
These landscapers had the opposite problem, as they shared in a malicious compliance story. U/jodakotbe shares that they were the owner of a landscaping business. They’d taken it over from their dad, who had a few clients that were getting landscaping services at a steep discount. These were loyal clients who’d been there from the very beginning, and they had a special low rate as a reward. That ended up being an irritation for the OP after a while, but luckily for them, the problem solved itself.
Next up, this fast food restaurant manager got their entire staff to walk out on the job — and they cost their boss $25,000.