(A customer is trying to purchase a vinyl-to-CD converter; they retail at around $230, normally. They rarely go on sale.)

Customer: “When does your flyer end?”

Me: “Our new flyer just began today.”

Customer: “Oh, well, it was only $128 yesterday. Can I get it for that price?”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but that was the sale price from the flyer for last week that ended yesterday. This item isn’t on sale anymore.”

(I’m not even sure if the product was on sale in the first place.)

Customer: “Well, I thought your flyer ended today — that’s why I waited — so I should get it for that price.”

(Our flyers have ended on Wednesdays for several months now, and this woman is a regular in our store.)

Me: “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you the sale price. The sale is over on that product now.”

Customer: “I’d like to speak to your manager, then.”

(My manager was on the till right behind me, so I took the couple steps over to him and in a low voice explained what was going on. He told me to switch tills with him and went to help the customer. I heard him tell her the same things that I had just told her. Eventually, she decided to not take the item and left. My manager came back over to me to tell me what happened. Apparently, that was the third time that day alone she had tried to get the item for that price. She just kept going to different cashiers every time.)

(I’m opening on concession. This is my first guest of the day: a 40-something mom with her two teenage daughters. This entire time, more and more guests are starting to show up and line up behind her.)

Me: “Hi, how can I help you?”

Customer: *literally the most dull, ho-hum tone I’ve ever heard* “Oh, I don’t know… like… I know I want popcorn and probably two sodas. I guess.”

Me: *trying to be perky and cheerful* “All right, let’s start with the popcorn. What size would you like?”

Customer: *deep, slow sigh* “I don’t care.”

(I flinch, because “I don’t care” is pretty much a sure sign at my theater that it’s going to be a needlessly LONG and tedious order.)

Me: “We have three sizes available: small, medium, and large. There’s about a dollar difference between the sizes, and large comes with a free refill. I could give you a large and some trays to split it up, if you think you’ll all want popcorn, since it’s the best value.”

Customer: “Probably not large. But I don’t know. Girls, what size should we get?”

Daughter #1: “Doesn’t matter to me.”

Daughter #2: “I’ll leave it up to you.”

Customer: *turning back to me* “I don’t care. Just get me a popcorn.”

Me: “Absolutely. I just need to know which size you’d like.”

Customer: *deep yawn* “But it doesn’t matter to me.”

Me: “I understand, ma’am. But we have three sizes, so I need to know which you’d like.”

Customer: “Can I see the sizes?”

Me: *gesturing to a display case* “Yup, absolutely. Right here we have the small, medium, and large.”

Customer: “I really, honestly don’t care.”

Me: “All right, how about a medium?”

Customer: *looks at the display for about 20 full seconds* “Eh… Small. I’ll save the extra dollar.”

Me: “All righty!”

(I prepare her small popcorn. She suddenly perks up slightly and shows me a rewards card that gets free upgrades and earns points.)

Customer: “Can I use this to earn points?”

Me: “Sure thing! You could also use it to upgrade to a medium popcorn for the same price as a small if you’d like.”

Customer: “I don’t care.”

(At this point, I’ve had enough of “I don’t care,” so I decide to move on, especially as there’s now a half-dozen people behind her.)

Me: “How about the drinks? What sizes do you think you’d want?”

Customer: *another deep sigh* “Look. I keep saying, ‘I don’t care.’ I just want drinks. This is far too slow. I just want drinks.”

Me: “Yes, ma’am. But I need to know what to get for you.”

Daughter #1: “One will be a [Soda #1]!”

Me: “Great! What size?”

Daughter #1: “Oh, I don’t know.”

Customer: *interrupting* “So, with the rewards card I can get a medium popcorn for the small price?”

Me: “Yes. Would you like to change your order to a medium?”

Customer: “I don’t know.”

Me: “All right, just let me know when you decide.”

Customer: “I probably won’t. I don’t really care.”

Daughter #1: “Mom, I was trying to figure out which size to get for my drink! You interrupted me! What size can I get?”

Customer: “Whatever you want.”

Daughter #1: “It doesn’t matter.”

(At this point I’m screaming inside, and there’s now more and more people lining up behind her.)

Me: “How about a medium? It’s still quite big, but it doesn’t cost the most.”

Daughter #1: “Okay!”

(I prepare the medium drink.)

Daughter #1: “I didn’t want ice.”

Me: *fighting to urge to throw the drink in her face as I pour it out to make another one without ice* “Sure thing.”

Daughter #2: “Can I get a small [Soda #2], please?”

(I’ll leaping with joy in my head, since she’s the only one who seems to know what she kind of wants. I make her drink, after making sure she wants ice.)

Me: “All right, ma’am. Anything else?”

Customer: “I don’t think so.”

Me: “Okay. Before I finalize the order, did you want to upgrade the small popcorn to the medium with your rewards card?”

Customer: “I. Don’t. Care.”

Me: “I’ll just do it. No reason not to. Okay?”

Customer: *under her breath* “This is the worst service I’ve ever received… Can’t even follow simple orders.”

(I finished up her order, now with almost 20 people behind her, all waiting angrily because this one order had taken so long. The final punch to the guts? Upon asking if she wanted to use the $20 in rewards she had on her card to cover the order? “I don’t care,” of course. Oh, and having to deal with the next few customers chewing me out for being “too slow with that last lady.”)

(I have just gotten out of school and it is snowing aggressively, on the verge of hailing. During my second to last class period, my period surprises me by arriving early. It ends up soaking through a tampon and my jeans. I clean up as best I can and tie a sweatshirt around my waist until I can go home. Unfortunately, I have to stay after school to make up a chemistry test, and have to suffer through until I’m done. Afterwards, I walk to a nearby drug store because my ride won’t arrive for another hour. I place my variety of purchases on the counter: pads, a pair of cheap leggings, chocolate poptarts, and a soda.)

Female Cashier: *puts two and two together* “Oh, sweetie, I’m not supposed to do this, and don’t tell my manager, but I’m going to give you my 10% discount.”

(It is around Black Friday. I have only been working at this store for a few days, and my main job is to fold clothes and keep the racks neat. I am working in the ladies department, which has no registers. All of the other registers are in use, with long lines, so even if I wanted to, there is nowhere for me to hop on. If you want to order shoes, you have to do that in the shoe department.)

Customer: “Excuse me!”

Me: “Oh! I’m sorry, sir, I didn’t realize you were behind me. Can I help you with anything?”

Customer: “I’ve been standing here for five minutes! This is ridiculous!”

Me: “Again, sir, I am sorry. I wasn’t aware that you were standing behind me. What can I do for you today?”

Customer: “Order these in a size nine!”

(The customer shoves a shoebox in my face. This is odd, because shoeboxes aren’t displayed; there is only one display pair of each shoe. This man has to have picked a shoe and asked the shoe associate to get him whatever size he was holding. The fact that he knows we don’t have any in the size he wants means that he has to have asked the shoe associate for that size, been told that we don’t have any, and declined the shoe associate’s offer to order them, before walking away with the wrong size to find a random ladies associate to do exactly that.)

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t have any registers in my department, and as the store is very busy, none of them are free for me to hop on. If you don’t want to order them in the shoe department, the next nearest register would be in jewelry. I’m sure an associate there would be happy to help you!”

Customer: “I asked you to order it.”

Me: “I know, sir, and on any other day, I would be happy to do that for you. Unfortunately, they didn’t build any registers in my department, and there are no available ones for me to use. You can order the shoes in the shoe department or jewelry. If you don’t want to go to either of those registers, there are also associates in kids that are able to help you.”

Customer: “Fine. Never mind.”

(The customer complained to corporate about me and I got written up. Every time I tried to explain what happened, my manager would just say, “He spends hundreds of dollars here! And you ARE seasonal!” I actually kept my job there for a year, anyway, before quitting and moving to a company that doesn’t treat its employees like garbage.)

(I work in the pharmacy of a large drug store chain. A few weeks prior to this incident, a man came in and was acting twitchy. He eventually shoved some greeting cards down his pants and put a beer in his pocket before leaving. Shoplifting is hard to prove, but we got it on camera. On a day I am working, he comes back in with some prescriptions. I start putting them in; I have no idea about the previous incident.)

Lead Tech: “Stop! Don’t fill his stuff. [Manager] said since we got him stealing on camera, we can ask him to leave.”

(He goes to alert the pharmacist of the situation.)

Pharmacist: “[Shoplifter]! I am sorry, but I can’t fill this prescription for you.”

Shoplifter: “Why not? I need my medicine.”

Pharmacist: “Sir, last time you were in, we caught you stealing on camera, and we are choosing not to serve you. Please take your prescriptions elsewhere.” *hands him back his papers*

Shoplifter: *takes them* “It was only a beer!”

(He did end up taking his prescriptions and leaving, and the pharmacist filled me in on the previous incident. We were all so shocked that he admitted to stealing, and then also tried to act like it was okay!)