Customer posts 2 negative reviews about worker, then tries to hire them again: 'I ended up giving them a discount just to get rid of them'

This customer must have forgotten that they burned bridges with a contractor, because they just reached out again. 

We all know that our reviews are public-facing, correct? Every time you use Yelp or Google Reviews, your name is attached to it, possibly even your picture. 

And I don't know if customers understand this or not, but a lot of employees do Google their own company, just to see what the tea is. Sometimes you come across hilariously bad reviews that you can share with your coworkers and commiserate. Especially if you work somewhere where you wear a name tag or your name is easily available for customers to access, you might literally get called out by name. Not to mention that a lot of companies have social media staffers who monitor this and respond to customer complaints. So it'd be easy for that person to reach out, either to you or your boss, and share the specifics of what made that customer unhappy. 

Other companies' reviews come in either anonymously or pseudonymously — but if you work with like, 10 clients a month and someone named April S. or Jared L. comments on your page, it's completely obvious who's ratting you out to the boss. April and Jared, how could you?! 

For this person, though, customer reviews are no laughing matter, because their complaint led to that customer being given a discount. This unfortunate "life hack" is easy for customers to use against workers. And for this type of customer, if you give them an inch, they'll take a mile. If they get a discount once, they'll want it every time. Instead of appreciating the value of your work, they'll devalue it each and every time. And unless you're really strapped for cash, you don't need that kind of negativity in your life. If that customer can literally look you in the eye (or inbox) and ask you to perform a job for them after leaving a scathing review, they're either lacking in brainpower or they're asking to get half-baked results from a worker who couldn't care less. 

Check out the full saga below, as well as the comments from multiple people who shared excellent ways to respond to this customer. These responses range from polite to scorched Earth, and I hope this person reports back to share which level of spice they went with in reply.