Why do people double down when they make a mistake?
Callers and clients routinely misdial numbers, forget addresses, or provide incorrect details, yet refuse to admit the error and instead blame the staff. This immediate defensiveness forces customer service workers and property managers to waste time arguing with callers who insist they are right, preventing staff from resolving the actual issue.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from September 2026.
- This comes up 111.8× more often in r/PropertyManagement than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1taking fake orders on mute while letting customers rantDid this help you?
- 2calling back the person yourself to help them reach the correct destinationDid this help you?
- 3making a mental note of difficult tenants and ignoring their future complaintsDid this help you?
- 4Approaching them by asking questions to understand their thinking rather than telling them they are wrongDid this help you?
- 5Quietly pointing out errors to avoid public confrontationDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“She said “No 4332 you don’t think I know my own address and where I live.””source ↗
“She responded “you haven’t been here long enough to know what you are talking about, I will take a picture of the building and come into the office and show you and we can go into rounds” and then hung up.”source ↗
“She responded “It’s 4323 I switched the numbers around but you should had known what I was talking about.””source ↗
““why should I tell you my name when you’re the one who called me” “you should know what property I’m calling about I’ve been looking at many places how do I know who you are…””source ↗
“the people calling would always double down and insist that they were calling the pizza place, to the point it was downright ridiculous”source ↗
“the tenant freaks out and starts calling him a telemarketer and she has no appliances and a m****f**ker.”source ↗
“Rarely were they willing to accept the idea that they had dialed the wrong number.”source ↗
“Some guy called us wanting to know the dates he lived at the property and he couldn't even pin down the year, but he thought it was within the past 5 years.”source ↗
“Another doggie daycare/boarding place opened up two states over with the same exact name. I once answered a call from a guy who grew increasingly irritated when I told him that I could find no record of him or his dogs in our system”source ↗
“have had clients where I manage their single family homes for years and when they call in with a question can't remember the address of the home we manage for them.”source ↗
“Like how coworkers might get a little defensive if you ask about an entry they made knowing it’s incorrect in a very respectful way and they just keep fighting back to defend their stance when you know it’s wrong.”source ↗
“Agreed that when you quietly tell a coworker it’s wrong and they take it personally, it’s awkward on how to proceed.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5Clients who refuse to fix underlying problems before repairs
- 4Why do I have to confess my mistakes at work?
- 2Am I liable if a mechanic breaks something during repair?
- 2Why do tire shops say a puncture can't be fixed?
- 4What to do when students deny cheating despite evidence
- 17Why am I always the scapegoat when someone else messes up?