If Only Yellow Shirts Were All It Took To Banish Bigots

(It’s a Sunday evening and we’re having a big sale, so the store is quite busy. We have a lull in the customer waves and an elderly lady approaches my counter. I ring up her items and the following ensues:)

Me: “Okay, your total is $56.09 with your 30% off; do you have your [Store charge card]?”

Customer: “Yep! It’s right here!”

(She hands me the card and I try to scan it through. A bigger man in a yellow shirt with a baby carriage sits at the register across from me. I try three times to scan the card, even typing in the number, but no dice.)

Me: “It seems your card isn’t going through!”

Customer: “Oh! I haven’t used it in a couple of years!”

Me: “Let me call my supervisor over here.”

(I call my supervisor over. He’s a little flamboyant but has never disclosed his sexual orientation. After telling me to have her reapply, she starts to do so. The man in the yellow shirt gets up and proceeds to angrily walk away.)

Yellow Shirt Man: “What is it with the men in this store all being f****** [homophobic slur]s?!”

(He walks out into the outer area and sits on a bench. The elderly lady turns to me with a frown.)

Customer: “I don’t get why he had to be so f****** vulgar! I mean was that even necessary? D***!”

(I stifled a laugh as she finished her transaction. That little old lady made my day!)