Oh man, been there and it sucks. What worked for me was pulling up a strand test right in front of them so they could see it stretch and snap, then I wrote down exactly what I would and would not do and had them initial it. If she still walks, she walks, but at least you covered yourself and the right client will respect you for it.

Watched a guy in a Model Y treat the whole row like his personal valet stand last month, backed in at an angle so nobody could get to the other plug, then walked off to Cinnabon like he owned the place. Free chargers pull in a certain crowd that has zero sense of shared space, and the app waits are pure fiction anyway. You did the math right when you bailed at 12 percent, because another 20 minutes of mall air and second hand cinnamon smell would have cost you more than the L2 ever will. Paying the 10 bucks is basically buying back your evening and your sanity, which beats standing around guarding a cable like a hawk. Schaumburg is a madhouse for this, every plugged in car there seems to be charging to 100 at 3 miles an hour. I stopped chasing the free stuff after one too many of those standoffs and my blood pressure has never been better.