A woman at the Atlanta airport Avis Car Rental melts down when she rented car seats as an add-on for her “babies” but the car seats “do not function” and she’s trying to get help but the employee “reek[s] of marijuana.” She says to call her “Karen” but don’t tell her to calm down because she’s relying on Avis for her children’s “well being” and they “failed.”
The video is definitely not safe for work. It is not safe for work. This is a mother with justifiable rage. (She is not, however, justified in taking poor rental car practices out on this front line employee who may just want to be high in peace.)
To you, I rented car seats from you for my babies, and they do not function. And you reek of marijuana, so I don’t think I’m the one who needs to chill out more. I think you’re fully f’ing chill. You’re risking my children’s lives, and you can call me Karen and call me f’ing whatever, but do not… tell me to f’ing calm down! Because I relied on your company for my children’s well-being and you f’ing failed!
Okay. Have a blessing.
God bless you and your [inaudible]
“Valid crashout” seems to be the most common reaction to the video – that she’s got a valid point, even if she’s unhinged – though she’s also yelling at the wrong person. And as far as weed, that’s just normal in a lot of big cities nowadays. My own view is you do you at home, don’t bring it to work.
“That skip off means she’s getting ready to write a letter to corporate.”
“No one, in the entire history of calming down, has ever calmed down by being told to calm down.”
“If hanging up forcefully on a cell phone were a person.”
“It was at this exact moment that her flabber became gasted.”
Never rent car seats. I have a son who isn’t yet two. We travel with a car seat, because we don’t want to rely on the rental company or anyone else (other than the airline not to lose it, but baggage offices often have extras for that sort of occurrence).
Avis markets child seats and says that while models vary by location, the seats “will meet all recommended safety standards.” Good luck with that. Avis also says these seats are subject to availability, and that they are “not responsible for injuries resulting from installation or any defects associated with the device itself.” They charge for it but assume no liability.
If there are two adults, one is stuck driving the car to the nearest Walmart or Target to buy a car seat. It seems like if rental car companies can deploy AI scanners to identify and bill (and sometimes overbill) small dents and scratches, they ought to be able to track the condition of car seats and ensure they have those available for customers that are being charged extra to rent them.
Commenters start out laughing at this woman, but most end up siding with her against Avis because “the car seats for my kids don’t work” is a much stronger grievance than “she reclined into my space.”
Car rental companies are probably the worst businesses in travel, perhaps alongside Airbnb. Whether it’s getting their customers arrested, leaving guns in vehicles for children to find, or taking reservations that they don’t honor there’s little good or premium about the experience.
Airport car rentals have the most junk fees in travel usually bumping the quoted price by about 50%. You get scammed for gas charges even when refilling the tank, get nickeled and dimed for damage you may not even have caused, and hit with hundreds in fees for toll tracking when you go through a single toll during a rental.
Ultimately these are capital-intensive businesses where it’s expensive to operate at an airport, and it’s become largely a commodity industry. It’s all about cost and fleet utilization, not quality. Silvercar seemed like it might disrupt the premium end of that industry, but the big players kept them out of airports and the pandemic did in what was left.
*WOULD* meme
One of a hundred reasons I no longer rent cars
What is working at those facilities its1800 we dont care from the office manager down to the front line employees
I’m here for the comments defending one’s right to be left alone and given a pass when they’re stoned at work.
My private driver decided to no longer accept people outside of our circle that require child seats. Too much unnecessary risk ( plus he didn’t want the hassle of storing a baby shop of the correct seats) he is a wonderful person that does not need the extra work. If employees smell like the skunk I throw a fit too
Not defending Avis in the slightest here, but how do we know they were actually broken? There isn’t a lot to break on most child safety seats. Is it possible it was just a different model than she had at home, and she just wasn’t familiar with how to install that particular model?
If it really was broken, why not just ask for a replacement? Most airport locations have dozens of them lying around.
Traveling is stressful. Traveling with kids is even more stressful. Traveling alone with kids and trying to rent a car and install child seats is extremely stressful. The Avis dude seemed cool as a cucumber. Maybe he should have offered her a bit of his stash. 🙂
@Maryland — Private driver? Ooh lala…
@Jonathan — Now THAT’s a creative solution!
I believe her, Rental Car Agencies have been hitting the bottom of the labor pool lately. At MDW, Avis gave me a damaged car and the numbskull at the counter could not understand why I did not want it. Hertz at BNA cursed reeked of weed and cursed like a sailor. Turo has been sounding great lately.
Atlanta Avis location is one of the worst.
My employer has Avis as the main and I’m here every other week or so. It became so bad – one of the last experiences that was when I had a car auto assigned to me but the car wasn’t there in the assigned spot.
I had to go to the preferred plus desk and they treated me as if I stole the car and begrudgingly gave me an inferior car. The staff at Atlanta a Avis is the worst. They even have the gall to have the regional manager email me asking how things are going using form letter but when I respond asking for help they never bother to respond.
To be fair after the last incident I sent another email and they responded saying they’re so sorry about it.
Anyway now I’m using the client’s preferred vendor which is National and it’s a lot better.
“God bless you and your [inaudible]”
[inaudible] = “soul”
If you lose control of your emotions like this in public, I have absolutely no sympathy for you whatsoever. Not a damn bit. Losing it like this nullifies any legitimate grievance you may have.