A Totally Unrewarding Experience

I used to work at a hardware store, and for a while, I was not only the youngest but also the only female. Part of the sexism was that I was told to stay at the register and wasn’t allowed to go out on the floor. You can only imagine how fun that is.

Part of the whole spiel I had to say to customers when they came to check out was to ask if they were part of our rewards program. One day, two coworkers and I were up front at the registers — one next to me and the other a little down the wall — when an old guy came up to check out.

Me: “Did you find everything you were looking for today?”

Customer: “I did.”

Me: “And are you a member of our rewards program?”

Customer: “No, I’m not.”

Me: “Would you like to join?”

Customer: “Well, what’s the reward?”

And before I could answer, he cut in:

Customer: “I’ll only join if I get a kiss from you as the reward!”

I was so disgusted. This old guy was at least the same age as my grandfather, and he was hitting on me. I turned to my coworker right next to me for help, and all he did was start laughing along with the customer and joking about how red my face was getting. That was only one instance of what I dealt with there.