Clear Some Space For Her Emotional Baggage

I work in a children’s clothing store near the outskirts of the city. In September, customers come like a massive river, flooding everything, and we can barely get any cleaning and tidying done since we are only four people working.

A woman comes in with her daughter and starts leaving all her clothes on the socks section, covering all of them. We have a table where people can leave their stuff and see if it fits the kids or their tastes, and it’s full at the time, but I can’t let her put her stuff there like that, so I go to talk to her.

Me: “Excuse me, ma’am, but you can’t leave your stuff there. Other people will not be able to grab the socks.”

Customer: “But the table is full; I don’t have anywhere to put it.”

Me: “You can grab one of the big bags next to the door if you want, or I can try to make you space on the table.”

The woman looks at me like I’ve annoyed her, and she doesn’t answer. She takes her daughter by the hand after a mean look and disappears down one of the aisles. After a while, I am tidying up one of the aisles when the woman suddenly comes over to me.

Customer: *Screaming* “EXCUSE ME! Can you make me some room on the table, please?!”

I was utterly confused by her reaction, but I said yes and I did it. She answered me with an angry, “THANK YOU!” and I left to do my job. When she went to pay for her clothes, she started ranting to my coworkers about how bad a store clerk I was and that I should be fired.

My coworkers, who know me well, didn’t trust her, and they even told me that she was actually angry with her husband for not coming to the store with her, so she started venting her frustration with me.

Either way, she never returned to our store after that.