Customer: “I’m here to return this dress.”

This dress has makeup all over it. This is a high-end place and the item was super clearance.

Me: “We can’t return this item.”

Customer: “Honey, look at me. I make more in a year than you will in your lifetime. You’ll take this back, or you may not have a job in the morning.”

Me: “That may be so, but if you earn that much money, won’t I cost more on unemployment from your taxes than the cost of the dress?”

She left in a huff, never to be seen again.

A young male customer comes into the store and starts loudly proclaiming at our customer service desk. All the employees are women.

Customer: “I need to get a bra for my girl! She’s super-hot and her breasts are huge! I need the biggest bra you guys have got!”

Coworker: “Uh… well, we have a lot of size options, sir. Do you know what specific size your girlfriend wears?”

Customer: “Didn’t you hear me? The biggest you’ve got! She’s super-hot!”

Coworker: “I’ll show you the… larger… selection we have in stock.”

Customer: “And I need panties for her! Super small, as she’s super skinny! Smallest you got!”

My coworker knows she is going to regret asking this.

Coworker: “Do you know what waist size she—”

Customer: “Smallest you got! She’s a model! Super skinny and super-hot! Don’t you know what kind of woman she is?”

Coworker: “Imaginary?”

I’m a thirty-year-old guy, traveling with my family to Miami to shopping and stuff. It’s my first time in the USA. There is a nice mall in front of our hotel. The shopping mall is big and very exciting. It is pretty fun to see different people at the same time and place from all over the world. I go into a clothing store to buy something for myself.

Suddenly, a female customer approaches me.

Customer: “Excuse me, do you have this in a larger size?”

At first, I think something like, “You know what? I want to help this lady!” I look around and find the same shirt in what appears to be a larger size.

Me: “I found this one. Take a look.”

She takes it from me, looks it over, and then gives it back to me.

Customer: “Okay, I’ll buy it.”

Me: “Um… okay.”

I try to hand the shirt back. When she stares back at me, I realize what is going on.

Me: “Oh, I don’t work here. I’m sorry!”

She takes her glasses off.

Customer: “Okay. Can you call the manager, please?”

I know this is probably the wrong decision, but it is my first time out of my country. At the time, I really think that the best thing to do is try to help and then leave. I go to a guy at a register and tell him what is going on.

Me: “That lady thought I worked here. Now she wants to talk with the manager. I just tried to help, I’m sorry.”

The guy gives me a smile, trying not to laugh.

Guy: “A wild [Nickname For An Entitled Woman] appears, huh?”

I get the Pokémon reference, but at the time, I think she is a well-known customer with a normal woman’s name. The guy goes upstairs to find the manager.

Since I am trying soooo hard to help, I make the most unforgettable/unforgivable mistake of my life. I approach the woman and say:

Me: “Ms. [Nickname], the guy on the register was—”

Customer: “HOW DARE YOU?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING TO?!”

I go pale. I just freeze while the entire store is looking and lift up my hands the exact way I’d do if I was getting robbed. For five minutes, the woman rants, saying all sorts of rude things. Slowly, I approach the register, as if I were a little deer scared by a wolf or a wild boar. The woman is following me, of course, step by step.

I see the manager approaching as my great white horse knight ready to protect me from that dragon.

Customer: “I demand you fire this… this lazy [profanity]!”

The manager takes a look at me and I slowly drop my hands down.

Manager: “Okay, lady. This guy tried to help you, from what I was told, but he doesn’t work here.”

The woman does not seem to be satisfied.

Customer: “You Latinos are just lazy, aren’t you?”

Manager: “If you don’t back off and leave this store, I will call the police, and I and this guy—” *points to me* “—are going to press charges for your racism.”

The woman left. I was like, “WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED?!”

The guy on the register then explained to me what a [Nickname] was.

I recently put in my notice at a clothing chain. [Store] really puts the pressure on us to get customers to sign up for rewards and credit cards. For rewards, the information we take is name, number, and email.

Manager: “From now on, just ask for the customers’ names without asking, ‘Do you want to sign up for the rewards program?’ Otherwise, they say no.”

Me: “Is that even legal?”

Manager: “It’s perfectly legal! And it’s not even morally wrong; they can still say no!”

In my mind, they want us to trick people and I’m just not comfortable with that. I try to explain myself, but the manager won’t really let me speak, so I just make faces at her from under my mask and go on with my day.

This is how management wants us to do it.

Employee: “Please enter your phone number into the PIN pad for rewards.”

The customer enters their number.

Employee: “I see you’re not a reward member. Can I get your name?”

This is how I do it.

Me: “Please enter your phone number into the PIN pad.”

The customer enters their number.

Me: “I see you’re not a reward member. Would you like to sign up?”

We are already talking about rewards both ways, but I think it’s both rude and misleading to not give the customer a clear place to decline.

I’m annoyed because I feel like you need consent prior to inputting someone’s information. I also try to look at it from the customers’ point of view, which I don’t think the managers care about. Some people might not understand that it’s optional, and some might just be too nervous to ask or say no. Several of my coworkers have agreed with me.

I manage a women’s clothing store. We have a big sale one day, offering 50% off everything, which is very unusual. Throughout the store, we’ve placed black signs that say, “50% off your entire purchase”. To signify the clearance section, we use red signs that say, “50% off”.

A customer comes up to the register with armloads of clothes. I ring her up and give her the total, which is ridiculously low for the amount of clothing she is getting.

Customer: *Dumbfounded* “No, you made a mistake. The clearance items are free.”

At first, I think she is joking with me, but no.

Customer: “I get two discounts of 50% each on all the marked-down stuff. The signs are different colors. I should get both colors.“