A Five-Dollar Hole

(We are extremely busy and a teenager comes up to the cash with a stuffed animal. It’s $16.99 and she hands me $12.00.)

Me: “Okay, I need about $5.”

Girl: “Oh, I don’t have enough. Can you just make an exception?”

Me: “Uh, no, sorry. Can you just move over so I can help the next person?”

Girl: “Really? You can’t make an exception?”

Me: “I’m not having a variance in my till for this. I don’t even know you.”

(The girl rolls her eyes and walks away. She comes back later with the right amount and she ends up with me as a cashier again.)

Girl: *as she hands me money* “Like really? You can’t just fake $5?”

Me: “Yes! The company will think I’m stealing. I’m not putting my job on the line for $5, for a girl I don’t even know.”

Girl: “I hope you die in a hole.”

(She storms away with her change and stuffed animal, and a new coworker gives me a look.)

New Coworker: “Wow. All that for a stuffed animal?”

Me: “Not the worst thing I’ve ever been told by a customer. Welcome to retail.”