I was a cashier at a pet store. A customer wearing a hoodie with the local college name on it came stomping up to me.

Me: “Hi, how—”

Customer: “Are you a manager?”

Me: “No, but I can—”

Customer: “Your worker over there? With the brown hair? You know?”

Me: “I do, but like I said, I’m not a manager. Would—”

Customer: “That stuck-up snot-head wouldn’t sell me a guinea pig!”

Me: “Okay. I’m not really—”

Customer: “Why would you have animals if they’re not for sale?”

Me: “Well, they are, but—”

Customer: “Like, I have a hamster cage. I have hamster food. I have everything.”

Me: “A hamster?”

Customer: “Yes!”

Me: “But you wanted a guinea pig?”

Customer: “Yes! Can you talk to her?”

Me: “All I can do is get you a manager, but you will need to get new stuff. A guinea pig is completely different from a hamster.”

Customer: “That’s stupid. They’re all rats. I don’t think I’ll ever come back here after this. You’re treating me like some kind of f****** idiot.”

Me: “Right. Well, you have a good day.”

Customer: “F*** you!”

She left, slapping the door with her palm before realizing it opened inward. I tried not to laugh, but it was hard.

[Coworker] came over after she was out of sight.

Coworker: “So, you’re a manager now?”

Me: “Looks like it. You refused her sale?”

Coworker: “Sure did.”

Me: “How can she think a hamster setup is good for a guinea pig? It would barely fit.”

Coworker: *Stunned* “What? She didn’t tell me she had hamster stuff.”

Me: “So why did you deny her sale?”

Coworker: “She’s sixteen. She thought wearing a [College] hoodie would mean she didn’t have to show me an ID. When I told her we didn’t sell to anyone under eighteen, she lost it.” 

Related:
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 12
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 11
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 10
The More You Read, The Worse It Gets, Part 9
The More You Read, The Worse It Gets, Part 8

I do not work in a bank, nor have I ever. I work in a pet store. I am a supervisor. My cashier came to get me saying a woman wanted change. I figured he had forgotten to give her some dollars. I am met with a woman asking to make change for her twenty-dollar bill. She hasn’t bought anything.

Customer: “I shop here all the time, and I want you to break this $20 for me so I can give my hairdresser a tip.”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I don’t have change.”

Customer: “Back in my day of retail, we helped our customers. You’re not sorry.”

She walks out and then comes back in.

Customer: “I just wanted you to know that from now on, I’m going to be ordering my stuff online!”

She stormed out. I am not a hairdresser, either.

I work at an animal rescue that happens to be connected to a mall. We’re technically retail as we have an animal supply and food store at the front of our space. We’re not part of the mall, but when they have a fire alarm go off, we have to evacuate also.

I’ve just started working here, and I am still going through some training. The manager and supervisor have stepped out for a moment to deal with something, and it’s just another trainee and me staffing the place for a few minutes.

Suddenly, in the worst timing ever, the fire alarm goes off, and we need to evacuate.

Me: “Oh, no! What do we do?”

Trainee: “We need to evacuate, right?”

Me: “But… the animals?”

We currently have fourteen dogs, nine cats, two hamsters, and a parrot (not a rescue, he just lives here) in the store.

Trainee: “I haven’t been trained on how to evacuate them!”

Me: “Me, neither!”

A customer is in the store area and has heard us talking.

Customer: “I have an idea! I left my shopping outside!”

He runs out, and we wonder what he meant by that. Then, we see him take his full shopping cart and tip EVERYTHING onto the sidewalk. He then rushes in with the now-empty cart and shouts:

Customer: “Let’s get as many as we can in here!”

Between some of the bigger dogs that we can walk separately, we are able to fit all of the animals into the large cart — thank goodness they all get along! — with the exception of one nervous cat we can carry in its case.

Thanks to the customer, we are out of there in roughly two minutes!

This is about as much time as it takes to see the manager and supervisor rushing over as quickly as possible.

Manager: “Oh, thank God! We heard the alarm and came running back!”

They both take stock of the situation: all the animals either sitting in the shopping cart, with my coworker and me carrying or holding a bunch more, with a crap-ton of grocery shopping all over the ground and another customer comforting a nervous puppy.

Supervisor: “How did you get all the animals out?”

We point to the customer who helped us and explain what happened. The fire alarm ends, and thankfully, we can get all the animals back inside.

Manager: *To my coworker and me* “Okay, ladies, we’re going to train you on what to do in a fire emergency right now!” *To the customer* “But not before we get this man free dog food for life!”

Customer: *Still holding the nervous puppy* “That will come in handy, as I don’t think I can explain to my wife why all our groceries ended up on the floor without coming home with this little guy as evidence!”

He took home the rescue puppy and lots of puppy food, and we helped him salvage as much of his groceries as we could and carry them into his truck! He’s been a regular ever since!

This story is part of the Best-Feel-Good-Stories Of-2023 roundup!

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Our pet store has an extensive aquarium and fish section. A couple is wandering the store and the husband comes on over.

Customer: “I’ve been looking into getting fish for the first time. What are good starter fish?”

I go through everything a novice might need and what kinds of fish would be suitable.

Me: “Now as for feeding them—”

Customer: “Feeding them? Don’t the fish just… like… eat the water?”

Me: “No, sir, they don’t. They need food.”

Customer: “I just want fish who eat water! I don’t want a high-maintenance fish tank!”

Me: “Well, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that’s—”

In one big swooping motion, the customer’s wife closes the distance between where she was browsing and where we are, grabs the tube of fish food I had placed on the counter during my explanation, and holds it up to her husband.

Customer’s Wife: “This makes the water taste nice, so the fish will eat the water even more, making it extra yummy!”

Customer: *To me* “Well then, why didn’t you say so? You’re not a very good salesgirl, are you?”

I left them to browse a bit longer, with the wife loudly convincing her husband that they didn’t have room for a fish tank (while winking at me), but that they could do with another plant. At least that can survive on water!

Customer: “I need some of that spray that stops the dogs from chewing on my table legs.”

Me: “Yes, we have some over here.”

Customer: “Oh, no, not that brand. My dog doesn’t like that one.”

Me: “…”