SOMEONE Is Gonna Put It Away, One Way Or Another

A few years ago, I was in a large home improvement store. I had a regular shopping buggy as well as a lumber cart, both filled with materials for whatever remodeling job I was doing at the time. I did have a T-shirt on that matched the aprons worn by employees, but I most definitely did not work there.

As I was going down one of the aisles with both of my carts, an elderly gentleman stopped me.

Man: “Do you work here?”

Me: “I don’t, but I’m happy to help you find what you need.”

We walked a couple of aisles over, leaving my carts in the aisle where we met. As I was explaining the difference between two similar products, another customer came up and was obviously waiting to talk to me. She needed help deciding what kind of doorknob she needed for a storm door, which I gladly helped her pick out.

I was finally able to get back to my carts to finish gathering supplies when an actual employee approached me.

Employee: “Now that you’re done helping customers, do you think you can get all this junk put back on the shelves?”

Me: *Laughing* “No, I’m good.”

The employee got red in the face.

Employee: “You need to put all this crap back or I’ll call the manager.”

At this point, I realized that I was once again being mistaken for an employee.

Me: “Go ahead and call him.”

The employee punched some numbers into his phone and started talking to whoever picked up.

Employee: “The new guy has two carts full of random stuff in aisle [number] and is refusing to put it back on the shelves.”

The manager quickly came to the aisle we were in. I figured at this point everyone could have a good laugh at the misunderstanding. I was wrong!

Manager: “You will take these items and put them back where they belong, or you will be terminated!”

I tried explaining that I didn’t work there but was further verbally abused by the manager.

Manager: “I saw you on the monitors wandering around the store talking to customers when you should’ve been putting all this back where it belongs.”

At this point, I decided I was done with that particular store and just walked out, leaving about $4,000 worth of merchandise sitting on the two carts for someone to put away while loudly telling the manager, “I DON’T WORK HERE!”