Not Keeping Her Cool About The Ice

I work as a cashier in a large chain grocery store. We sell ice, located in a large freezer near the front of the store next to the registers.

It’s slowing down in the store and I have some return items at my till that need to go back. We can either bring the items to customer service so they can return them to the shelves, or we can go return them directly. The item I have is located in a nearby aisle, so I decide to return it directly.

Our large ice cooler is located at the end of this aisle. As we have been having a heat wave lately, our ice is sold out again today.

As I turn up the aisle and pass the ice cooler, I hear a woman close the cooler door and comment out loud, “Oh, there’s no more ice!” I continue walking and return the item to the shelf. As I turn around, the woman is standing directly behind me, blocking my way out of the aisle, and glaring daggers directly into my eyes.

Customer: “Did you just ignore me?!”

Me: “Pardon? Did you need help with something?”

Customer: “Did you. Ignore. Me?”

Me: “No, not intentionally? I was returning an item to the shelf. I’m sorry you had the impression I was ignoring yo—”

Customer: “There’s no more ice in the cooler.”

Me: “Yes, we are all sold out of ice.”

Silence. She looks at me blankly and does not say anything else for seconds, seemingly unhappy with my answer.

Me: “We don’t have any more ice. We are sold out.”

Customer: “Well, where am I supposed to get my ice from?!”

Me: “You could try [Gas Station] across the street; they usually have some.”

More silence. She’s still glaring at me.

Customer: “I came here to buy ice.”

Me: “We do not have any ice in stock at this time.”

She waves her hand at me and turns to leave.

Customer: “Don’t be so rude!”

I really didn’t think I sounded rude, and I was genuinely confused when she came up to me asking if I ignored her. She didn’t address me directly at all before she confronted me — no “Hey” or “Excuse me” to get my attention. Although I did hear her say, “Oh, there’s no more ice!”, it sounded more like an observation out loud rather than asking an employee if there was more somewhere else.