‘You can’t sue someone for a review’: Family ends up in public beef with business, and all over a broken rock

Listen, we’ve all had those moments in a store where things just go sideways. While these little mishaps are annoying, sure, they’re usually nothing a bit of patience and a good attitude can’t overcome. But that’s contingent on one crucial factor: the response from customer service.

The true test of a shopping experience often hinges on how the staff handles the situation. A calm and helpful response can diffuse tension. However, there’s the flip side—when customer service staff, rather than soothing the situation, escalate a simple snag into a full-blown drama. This is precisely what unfolded in a story shared by TikTok user @mailletfam.

It all began when her mother and sisters were shopping at River Laurel Gifts and Boutique in Copper Hill, Tennessee. The kids, a 10-year-old niece and nephew, were checking out some magnetic rocks on display when the niece accidentally dropped one. Cue the employee from hell, who comes barreling over, accusing the kids of breaking the rock and demanding payment. The nephew, bless his heart, tries to explain that it was already broken, but the employee’s having none of it. She insists that she checks them every morning and that the kids are lying.

The sister steps in, agrees to pay for the rock, and hands over her card. But get this – after charging them 20 bucks for four tiny rocks (highway robbery, much?), the employee has the audacity to try and keep the rocks! The mom’s like, “Excuse me, we just paid for those,” but the employee was not having it. The sisters decide to cut their losses and leave, but not before demanding the rocks they rightfully paid for.

But here’s where things get really wild. The next day, @mailletfam and her sister started getting bizarre likes and comments on their old posts from the same person. Then, out of nowhere, a comment appeared on one of @mailletfam’s recent posts: “I know what you did this summer. You’re not a very nice person, Miss Tiffany.” Long story short, it turned out to be the store owner herself, stalking and harassing the family online.

She even went so far as to post surveillance camera pictures of the kids on her page, trying to paint them as troublemakers. Who does that? When @mailletfam left a bad review on the store’s Facebook page, calling out the owner’s behavior, the owner had the audacity to threaten a lawsuit. Over a review. On the internet. Here’s the thing: you can’t sue someone for sharing their honest opinion online. It’s called freedom of speech. Plus, if you’re going to run a business, you’ve got to be prepared to handle some criticism from time to time. It’s part of the gig.

In the end, @mailletfam did what any self-respecting person would do: she took to TikTok to share her story and warn others about this unhinged boutique owner. And honestly, I can’t blame her. If you can’t trust a business to handle a minor dispute over a rock without resorting to online harassment, how can you trust them with anything else?

It didn’t take long for the comments to start rolling in on @mailletfam’s TikTok post. One user pointed out the obvious: “It’s the fact that she obviously went and looked back at the transactions to find y’all’s names.” Others were more concerned with the logistics of it all. “How did she know that was your fam & find your socials??” one commenter asked. It’s a valid question and a little unsettling to think about. This owner must have a lot of free time on her hands.

Several commenters pointed out the absurdity of the store owner keeping the rocks even after the family paid for them. As one user put it, “They have insurance for a reason most stores wouldn’t ask someone to pay for it and would just write it off. The audacity that they kept the magnetic rocks they paid for.” Then were others who could relate to Tiffany’s story so much. “Something like this just happened to me. I dropped a mug and the side chipped a tiny bit. I paid for it and the employee was mad when I took it. She was going to write it off and pocket the money, Imo.” Yikes.

Overall, the store owner may have gotten $20 out of the deal, but she also got a whole lot of bad publicity. Businesses need to be extra careful about how they handle customer complaints, because one misstep can quickly escalate into a PR nightmare.