One summer, the company decides to renovate our gas station, with extensive work being done on the outside of the building as well as inside, including new flooring and furniture for our sales floor. This means that we have to close the station for over a month.

On our floor, we have a little bit of everything, from food and drinks to cleaning supplies and hygiene products. During the renovation, everything will be removed from the sales floor, even the freezers.

Our storage space in the back is rather small and everything that does not fit in there will be stored in a container that will be outside for five weeks, without shade, during a hot summer, so the types of things we can put in there are quite limited.

A week before we close, we stop getting our merchandise delivery that normally comes twice a week and we discount many things that will expire soon after we will reopen in an effort to bring our stock down and avoid having to throw things away.

The plan for the reopening is that the furniture will be installed over the weekend, we will all come in and start stocking the shelves on Monday, and we will reopen with a fully stocked store the next evening after we stock our regular Tuesday delivery. But when the furniture is already installed by Friday morning, my managers decide on a change of plan: instead of all of us stocking on Monday, we will start Saturday and work in smaller groups. Since the computers are already running and we will be around anyway, we also open for customers with a limited service: they can get gas and all merchandise that is already on the floor, but nothing else.

I work Sunday morning. The night shift has already finished with the drink coolers, so I get started on the sweets. As many people don’t know we are already open, it’s slow, and even though we get much stocking done, many shelves and displays are still empty. Most customers are understanding and happy that we are already open. Around noon, a regular customer approaches me after checking the coolers.

Customer: “Hey, I can’t find the [Brand] beer!”

Me: “Oh, it’s in the first cooler, second shelf from the bottom.”

I show it to him.

Customer: “No, that’s the bottles. I want the cans! They are your buy-two offer this month!”

It’s the first of the month. I have not read the monthly offers yet as we have not hung up the advertisement posters and the register applies those offers automatically, but as we often have offers like that, I believe him. The spot in the cooler assigned to the [Brand] cans, however, is empty.

Me: “Yes, but as you can see, we are currently out of the cans. I am sorry, but we won’t get a delivery until Tuesday.”

Customer: “Then get me cans from the back!”

Me: “I am sorry, but I can only sell things that are out on the floor already. Also, the coolers are already stocked with all beverages we have right now. We just opened after being closed for over a month and our delivery won’t come until Tuesday, so we are short on some things.”

The customer glares at me, grabs some other cans of beer, and storms off to my coworker’s register. He slams the cans down and glares at him.

Customer: “I’ll have these cans. I wanted the [Brand] cans but you do not have them!”

His voice gets louder with every word and he keeps glaring at us. After he pays and leaves, my coworker turns to me.

Coworker: “What was that about?”

Me: “We don’t have any [Brand] cans right now.”

Coworker: “That’s it? We were closed for five weeks! We open three days early as a courtesy, which allows him to get beer today when almost everything is closed around town, and he kicks a fuss because we are missing one type of canned beer?”

Related:
Very Bad Beer-havior

I was a cashier at a local supermarket. Whenever I estimated someone to be over 70 and buying alcohol, I would also ask them for an ID. Usually, this got a laugh, sometimes it got people offended. Once a lady even called for a manager, who had to come to clarify to her that it was a joke – you know the type.

However, one man ruled the joke. He was just buying a few beers, and I asked him for his ID because he looked way into his 90s. He laughed, grabbed his wallet, and handed me a card in a plastic casing.

Still with a huge smile on his face, he asked me:

Customer: “Do you know what that is?”

It looked sort of like an ID, but I had never seen anything like that one. What I could tell was that it was old and something from the military.

Customer: “What you are holding now is my military ID from the second world war. Is that a valid ID here? Because I no longer have my driver’s license.”

It was at that point that I was at a loss for words. This man took my joke, handed it back and won.

I work in a theater where guests get a free drink with their entrance ticket. If there is a break in the play, people can get their free drink then, which means we have to get a couple of hundred guests their drink within a short period of time.

Up comes this guy who immediately has a rude tone. 

Guest: “What kind of red wines do you have?”

Me: “We actually have this one really good w—”

Guest: “Just one? What is this place?”

The group he is with already has this look that says, “Here he goes again.”

Me: “We’re just a small theatre, but I can assure you that the wine is really good! If you’d like anything else we also have—”

Guest: “Just give me the red wine, quick. I bet it’s not even that good.”

I proceed to give him his wine and help the rest of his group, who are being really kind. 

The break usually takes about twenty minutes, and toward the end, this guy comes back with a sour — pun intended — look on his face. The rest of his group are behind him, wanting to get back to their seats. He puts the empty glass on my bar. 

Guest: “I knew this wine was going to be bad. It tasted like cork and even had cork in it!”

Me: “Sorry to hear that, but are you sure, sir?”

Guest: “Excuse me?! I know my wines and this had cork in it!”

Me: “Well, that’s odd—” *grabs the bottle* “—because our bottles have a screw cap.”

The look on his face was priceless as he stormed off, whilst his friends were laughing it up! Everything lined up perfectly, and after work, my colleagues and I had a good laugh about it.

This story is part of the second Wine roundup! This is the last story in the roundup, but we have plenty of others you might enjoy!

23 Stories About Wine, And The Customers Who Shouldn’t Be Drinking It

Read the next Wine roundup story!

Read the Wine roundup!

I am at the grocery store where I used to work, picking up a few things for the week, including a case of beer. The cashier, who I do not know, asks for my ID. I show her and she moves on with the transaction. I am twenty-one and she had no problem with me purchasing this alcohol.

She is almost done with the rest of my items when one of my mom’s former students sees me and runs up to give me a hug. She is in middle school now, so she is only twelve or thirteen. Remember that this girl has only just shown up and our conversation indicates that we have not seen each other for a while and we are not together.

Cashier: “You’re going to need to wait for my manager to come void the alcohol; I can’t sell this to you.”

Me: “But I already showed you my ID; it clearly states I am old enough.”

Cashier: “Yes, but you are with a minor, and store policy states that I cannot allow you to purchase this.” 

This confuses me because I clearly remember from training that there can be some exceptions to selling alcohol to people who are accompanied by minors, mostly parents who are shopping with their kids.

Me: “She is not with me. I just happened to run into her. It’s not like we are going to the same place.”

Cashier: “You could have planned to make it look like you just ran into her. I have no way of knowing and I’m not going to get fired because some kid asked you to buy them beer!”

The student’s dad is aware of the situation and steps in at this point to confirm that we definitely did not come to the store together and I am not purchasing alcohol for his daughter.

Student’s Dad: “Look, I know they can be strict about this, but I can promise you that [My Name] is telling the truth.”

Cashier: “Well, we’ll see about that!”

One of my former managers finally arrives, and after listening to the situation, just rolls his eyes.

Manager: “Yeah, [Cashier], why don’t you just go bag on another lane; I’ll take care of this.” 

The cashier leaves.

Manager: “Hey, [My Name], sorry about that. I’ve had to talk to her a few times about this. Last week, she tried to deny cigarettes to a guy who was with his eight-year-old son! Looks like I might need to ask another manager to try and get through to her. Here’s your receipt!”

I saw that same manager a few weeks later, and he told me they had to fire her for stealing loyalty points from customers!

I am working the only open register on my end of the store. The store has a strict carding policy for forty and under. A woman in her mid-thirties walks up with a bottle of vodka, talking on her cell phone.

Me: “Hi. Did you find everything okay?”

Customer: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

She seems to be in a hurry.

Me: “May I please see your ID?”

She sighs and pulls it out, all flustered and rushed. She’s still on the phone.

Me: “I’m so sorry, but I cannot sell you this vodka. Your ID is expired.”

Customer: “You’ve got to be kidding me! I am obviously over twenty-one.”

I point at the pin on my shirt stating our forty-and-under policy.

Me: “I’m sorry, but it’s store policy and I am on camera.”

Customer: “Well, here’s my liquor license; it has my date of birth on it.”

Me: “A liquor license is not a valid form of ID. It says so on the bottom of the card.”

She angrily picks up her IDs, putting them away, still all flustered.

Customer: *Talking into her phone* “You will not believe this. The dumb b*** at the grocery store won’t sell me the booze cause my ID’s expired!”

She stormed off out the door and up the street. Serves her right. I wouldn’t have carded her if she hadn’t been sooo rude walking up on her cell phone and acting like I was an inconvenience.