I work at a mid-size convenience store, and let me be clear: we do not offer personal shoppers. I was working at the till and noticed my manager running around fetching items for a mid-age gentleman with a trolley. In between customers, I quietly joked to my manager:

Me: “You should get paid to be a personal shopper.”

Manager: “It’s not as if I have work to do.”

I was not looking forward to serving the guy, and I was quietly hoping he would go to the self-service machines. Nope.

He started putting the items on the counter one item at a time. He was sorting the items and putting some of them far away from me and some of them closer to me.

Customer: “Where’re the scones?”

Me: *Politely* “They’re by the bakery aisle.”

I thought he would go get it himself, but he yelled at my manager to grab the scones for him. My manager politely obliged.

There was a long queue, and I started to scan items as he put them on the counter. I had finished with the closer items and started to scan the items he had placed farther from me. However, he was not pleased with this.

Customer: “Stop! Scan the frozen items first.”

Me: “Okay.”

This caused a lot of delays as I had to wait for him to put the frozen items and had to stop scanning while he pushed around his trolley to get the frozen items.

All the time, he was complaining about “being a slave to the misses” and how this was his first time shopping. He also said I wouldn’t understand since I’m not married.

Me: *Politely* “Sir, maybe you could use our online ‘click and collect’ service if you want someone to do the shopping for you. Or, [Competitor] has delivery service.”

At that point, I didn’t care if we lost him as a customer; it was a small price to pay if it meant my colleagues didn’t have to deal with him.

He couldn’t hear me over the noise of the store. The mask muffled my voice a little. He asked me to speak up and speak slower.

I just nodded and pretended to listen to his moans. It was a noisy store, and I could only hear half of his complaints. He paid and said:

Customer: “I will make sure you have not double-charged me.”

He spent the next three minutes blocking that cash register and checking the looong receipt! While he was doing that, I said:

Me: “While you’re checking, let me serve the next customer.”

I gladly left him to his own devices and went to a different register to serve the other customers.

He was finally happy and said:

Customer: “You did all right.”

And he finally left.

My very first job was at a pet store, part of a regional chain. It was the summer after my freshman year of college, and I had never worked retail before. Thankfully, I had a good manager and some decent coworkers, and it was fun and interesting to learn how to take care of various animals and to advise customers on the same. We had some unpleasant customer experiences but nothing too bad.

One day, an older gentleman came into the store. He bought a few small items, and as I was checking him out, we had the following exchange.

Customer: “Have I given you a special person card before?”

I figure he means a senior discount card or something.

Me: “Oh, no, sir, I don’t think so.”

Customer: “Here you go.”

He handed me a card that had an affirmation on it, something to the effect of, “You are a special person, and you should never forget it.” I was so touched; it was genuinely the nicest customer interaction I had while working there. I kept that card in my wallet for over a decade.

 Do you ever feel like you’ve lost all hope for humanity? Check out other awesome customers like this one in our roundup: 14 Times Awesome Customers Proved That They Do Exist!

I am out with my two daughters, who are four years and ten months. We are at the checkout chatting with the cashier. 

Cashier: “What sweet children. And how fun! A little girl and a boy.”

Me: “Oh, actually two girls!”

The cashier points at my ten-month-old.

Cashier: “Oh, but she doesn’t have long hair.”

I didn’t have glasses until my twenties. There’s a whole saga behind it, but now that I have them, I’ve found that my ability to tell ages is terrible since I don’t have the experience many others have. So, of course, this involves one of the fan-favourite restricted items: alcohol.

I’m already kind of notorious in the store for calling for more ID checks than others, but I honestly have trouble telling what age someone is. And I had a friend who grew a thick beard at fifteen who I know used that to buy underage, so I have trust issues, too.

I get a customer who is tall, lanky, and most likely of age, but then I try to see his face. Every time I do, he looks away, hiding in the shadow of a baseball cap. I try asking some vague questions, as I would do in normal transactions, to see if I can age him from his voice — things like how his day is, how he’d like his groceries packed, even if he wants boxes, bags, a wine bag for the booze, anything! He mumbles and turns away again from my searching gaze, avoiding me. I try asking him outright to look at me. No dice.

Finally, I have scanned everything, asked every reasonable question — and a few odd ones — and have only had mumbles and avoidance for my troubles. I steel myself and ask in a firm tone.

Me: “Sir, may I see your ID?”

He looks up, shocked. The face is a forty-year-old man, even to my badly trained eye. As we make this eye contact, one supervisor who’s notoriously picky walks past, and I manage to get the ID to confirm the age, with the gentleman mumbling in an unusual accent that doesn’t suggest English as a first language.

After he’s gone, maybe an hour later, the supervisor catches me.

Supervisor: “You don’t ID people who are clearly over the age!”

She absolutely would not listen to how much he’d seemed to be avoiding me before I asked for ID; it was all my fault because I couldn’t see through his hat with my X-ray vision and he wasn’t wearing a badge with his age on it.

I know he may not have understood my questions and may have been mumbling in confusion, but I still tried to be clear about needing to see his face. At least the ID question got me what I needed.

I’m a cashier at a gas station. It is September 2022. I am vaccinated but still choose to wear a mask for two reasons. One, I handle money from hundreds of customers daily and [contagious illness] is still around. Two, unfortunately, due to two pregnancies and a lack of vitamins, at age thirty-one, I’ve had to have my teeth removed.

I’m working the register when a customer comes in.

Me: “Welcome to [Store]. How can I help you today?”

The customer pays for gas and a pack of cigarettes and then comes out with this gem.

Customer: “You know, you shouldn’t be bothering with the mask. You look like a Trump. No, even better, a Biden! You’re going to lose customers looking like that.”

Me: “Sir, it’s more of a personal choice. I don’t mind continuing to wear them. Have a great day!”

I don’t even wear proper hospital-grade masks. I wear fabric ones with prints — currently Halloween-themed — so I don’t look like a germophobe, though a proper mask would protect me better.

Also, I currently have a coworker out sick for the next five days with — you guessed it!

At this point, I assume the interaction is over, but of course, I’m not that lucky as the customer comes back in a minute later.

Customer: “I swore I bought [Cigarettes], but apparently not. I’ll take another pack.”

I ring him up without comment, only asking for ID again and wishing him a great day yet again. He walks all the way to the door before turning and practically yelling at me.

Customer: “You know, I should put in a complaint about you, Miss Biden. You’re just showing that your company supports him!”

Me: “Sir, as I’ve said, it’s a personal choice. Please, have a good day.”

Customer: “You’re what’s wrong with America!”

Me: “Okay, sir. You can leave now.”

The customer did leave, thankfully. I still think he came back in just to harass me again. I get the [health crisis] is over, but seriously, me wearing a mask affects nobody but me. I’ll never understand why people think they have a right to comment on another person’s appearance, ever.

Related:
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 28
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 27
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 26
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 25
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 24