I work in a discount store. Yesterday, we ended a special event where everything was 15% off. A customer comes to my register with a singular box of popular coffee pods.

Me: “That will be [amount], sir.”

Customer: “No! It’s [lower amount]! I have the ad right here!”

He holds up last week’s flyer for the sale event.

Me: “I’m deeply sorry, sir. That sale ended yesterday.”

Customer: “WHY DID NOBODY TELL ME?”

Me: “I’m sorry?”

Customer: “I was in here yesterday and bought a whole cart of stuff, and not one employee reminded me it was the last day of the sale! I would have just bought the coffee yesterday!”

I picture the flyers we had all over the store with the end date of the sale.

Me: “I’m so sorry about that.”

Customer: “So, how much is it?” 

Me: “[Amount], sir.” 

He paid and sulked out.

My only retail job was at a big box department store. This was the most fearful night of the year: Black Friday. There was a policy that if someone said an item was on sale and the price difference was less than $5, we gave them the discount.

One customer came through my line with a small tire. I didn’t even know we had those. It rang up as $54.

Customer: “It’s only supposed to be $5!”

She quickly showed me a photo of an empty display with a $5 tag. I called a floor person, who came up, and I explained. He heard “$5” and started to give the customer $5 off.

Me: “No, she’s saying this $54 item is $5.”

He froze for a moment. Then, he called a coworker on his radio and quickly reported back.

Floor Employee: “Not on sale.”

The customer didn’t take the tire and continued to complain. The floor person later apologized.

I’m fifteen years old, shopping with my mom. I quietly place a box of tampons on the counter amongst my mom’s groceries.

Mom: *Loudly* “I only bought some of those for you last month. What on earth are you doing with them?”

Me: “Do you really want me to tell you?!”

The checkout girl cracked up laughing. I was so embarrassed!

I used to work at an office supply store. I wasn’t regularly a cashier but filled in when needed.

I was filling in for the regular cashier’s break when a woman came up with a fairly large order. Some things didn’t want to scan, so the whole thing was a bit of pain. The total was $75 more than she expected.

I ran through everything and found it was mostly a box of printer ink driving the price — two had rung up. She said she only had one. I looked through the bags and only found one. The normal cashier had come back, so I had her double-check and she only found one. I deleted the extra from the total and the customer went on her way.

Normally, this is where I find out we got scammed, right? Well, the customer came back the next day, holding the phantom box of printer ink.

Customer: “Yeah, so, you know how this rang up twice? Guess I had two. I, uh, don’t need it. Here.”

I guess there are some honest people still.

My first official job was at a grocery store, bagging groceries. I worked the job for about a year and a half, and after that amount of time, you get really good at bagging groceries and you never forget how, kind of like riding a bike.

Fast forward twenty-five years. I’m at the local grocery store I usually visit. This grocery store chain is one where you bag your own groceries. I’m very particular with how I place my items on the belt for the cashier to ring things up; this way, the items come down the next belt so I can easily bag my groceries.

I finish unloading my groceries on the first belt, and the cashier has been ringing things up at the same time, so there’s a small pile of groceries (cans, boxed goods, and such) building up at the end of the other belt.

I make my way to the end so I can start bagging groceries. Across from me is the previous customer. She’s still slowly working on bagging up her groceries and standing next to her is her daughter who looks to be about five or six years old.

I line up a couple of empty paper bags and open up the plastic bag next to me for frozen items that will be coming down the belt soon. I start grabbing cans and boxes and whipping them into the bag with my right hand and catching them with my left and stacking.

After about ten seconds, I’ve got my first bag filled and moved into my cart, so I start on the second bag.

Small Girl: “Wow! Mom, look at him go! You should race him.”

Her mom laughs.

Mom: “I don’t think I’d do very well against him; he’s pretty fast at it.”

I look up from what I am doing and give the girl a smile.

Me: “I don’t think it would be fair. I worked bagging groceries for my first job, and I got really good at it.”

Small Girl: “I guess. But you’re so much faster than Mom. She’s slow with bagging. Can you bag our stuff when you’re done with yours?”

Mom: *Speaking to her daughter* “Slow and steady works for me, and we’re almost done. He’s got his own groceries to bag and doesn’t need us getting in his way to slow him down.”

Small Girl: “But, he’s almost done bagging and he has more groceries than us!”

I finish up bagging my groceries, pay, and wave to the small girl as I’m leaving. The mom and her kid are putting the last few items in their cart as I walk by. As I’m walking away, I hear the small girl talking to her mom.

Small Girl: “He beat you and you even started first! You need to get a job bagging groceries!”