I work at a pet store with a grooming salon. A woman comes up to the register with her freshly groomed dog under her arm.

Me: “Hi there, how—”

She rattles off her phone number.

Customer: “…and I have a coupon.”

She hands me her grooming paperwork showing an $80 bill and a photocopy of the front of a coupon from a booklet you can buy. It is for a free bath, not a full groom which includes nails, ears, and a haircut, and, again, it’s only a photocopy of the front of the coupon.

Me: “I’m sorry, but I can’t—”

Customer: “Your manager approved using this already.”

Me: “I didn’t—”

Customer: “Listen, sweetheart. I’m good at getting people fired. Just put the coupon through, or I’ll stand here and call corporate.”

Me: “This coupon is invalid. I’m sorry.”

Customer: *Heavy sigh* “Okay. I didn’t want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice.”

She pulls her phone out, dials a number, and starts talking almost immediately.

Customer: “Yes, I’m at your [Town] location, and… *reads my name tag* “…[My Name] won’t honor your coupon for a free bath.” *Barely a pause* “Yes, I spoke to the manager, [Generic Man’s Name], and he approved it.”

Me: “Ma’am—”

Customer: *Holding up a finger in my face* “Yes, I told [My Name] to do it, but she is refusing. I expect more from [Pet Store], to be quite honest.”

Me: “Ma’am—”

Customer: “I am talking to your corporate.”

Me: “Okay.”

I lean against the register and wait.

Customer: “Yes, you agree she should put it through, or she’s fired? Thank you.”

She puts her phone away, smiling.

Customer: “Well, go ahead.”

Me: “Ma’am, not only is this a photocopy of a coupon — which is invalid — but it’s a photocopy of an expired coupon.”

Customer: “Well, corporate said—”

Me: “And our corporate office closed two hours ago.”

Customer: “But your manager said—”

Me: “Who?”

Customer: “[Generic Man’s Name].”

Me: “I am the store manager. I did not approve this coupon. You did not speak to corporate. Now, you can pay, or I can call the police.”

She slams down a $100 bill. I make a whole show of checking the authenticity before returning the change. 

Customer: “I will never be back.”

Me: “Okay. Have a nice life.”

She has been back several times since but has not tried to pull that scam again.

This took place in the 1990s when I went from cook/trainer to being trained on registers at a franchise restaurant. Computers were not as user-friendly at that time.

Two ladies, friends, separately order a simple meal and drink. Somehow, I accidentally hit the button for a 10% discount and cash the first lady before opening the drawer. There is no way back after this and I inform her of my mistake, with the second lady hearing every word, and the first’s accidental saving of around a dollar or less. This transpires right after I ring up the second lady and cash her out, making it also irreversible.

Customer: “Why wasn’t our bill the same?”

Me: “As I told your friend, I made a mistake and proceeded too far to correct it. So she got a free 10% discount by my fault.”

Customer: “But that doesn’t make sense. We got the same things, so they should be the same price.”

Me: “Well, they are; if you look at the amount prior to taxes and discounts, you are paying the same. She has only benefitted because I am learning this computer and accidentally approved a discount she shouldn’t have gotten.”

Customer: “So, you make a mistake and I pay more?”

Me: “No, she paid a little less because I made a mistake.”

Customer: “So, you just couldn’t make mine the same price?”

Me: *Puzzled* “You want me to purposely make the same mistake just so you pay the same amount?”

Customer: “Exactly!”

Me: “I can’t just purposely make that mistake. As it is, they will have a record that I made the mistake already.”

Customer: “Then let’s talk to your manager.”

My manager explained why there was a difference in price and that she would not reverse the transaction and authorize a discount that shouldn’t have been applied the first time, because she would then have to discount others in line, by the same logic. The lady did sit and eat with her friend, but she gave me the side-eye the entire time she ate.

I am working the cash register at a pharmacy with a corner store attached. This elderly customer approaches the register. As it’s early morning on a Monday, the store is dead.

Me: “Find everything you’re looking for?”

He stops dead in his tracks and looks at me like a French bulldog looks at a steak.

Customer: “As a matter of fact, no. I want to get a bottle of multi-vitamins, and they’re locked up.”

Now, normally, I would leap at a chance to leave the penalty box that is the front register. However, the vitamin lockbox is the one lockbox that only the manager has a key for — the exactly one key, so that’s never a point of failure.

I put on my apologetic face.

Me: “Oh, I am sorry, sir. If you go back to the case, there is a Customer Service button. Hit that and the person with the keys will come to help.”

Instead of smiling and going to do as I suggested, he chooses to get indignant.

Customer: *Grumpily* “What? Why can’t you help me?”

I do my best to repress a heavy sigh.

Me: “Because, sir, I do not have the key for that box.”

So he grumbles the whole way, something like, “Razza-fragga, I’m a veteran. Grumble-mumble, I’m no thief.”

I ignore him and head back to the register to wait for his return.

Eventually, the sound of the service button being pressed is heard overhead. Good. All is right in the world. Right?

Right?

Well, it takes my manager three cycles of the alarm going off before he arrives at the lockbox. I can hear the old man from clear across the store.

Customer: “What took you so d*** long?”

Eventually, the old man makes his way back to my register. This time, having learned my lesson, I do not ask if he found everything. I just go through the normal questions. “Do you want a bag?” “Are you a member of our rewards program?” All those time sinks.

Once he is finished, he snatches the bag off the counter. He again looks me in the face and grumbles:

Customer: “Ya shoulda asked if I found everything.”

I’ve had just about enough of this guy, so I break out… Mr. Nice Guy.

Me: “Oh! Oh, I am so, so sorry, sir! Please excuse me!”

I start to flail my hands around as if I am partially trying to fan off my face.

Me: “I had already asked and I had helped you. I thought you had found everything. Please forgive me, sir.”

The old guy was so unprepared for such a response that he just stood there, blinked, and then slowly walked out of the store.

The power of groveling.

This is during the mask mandate. I’m a cashier and I notice I start to get a bit shaky and hungry. I buy chips to eat while I do not have customers in my line. I’m eating and have my mask down while I do, because I can’t eat through a mask. A male customer comes up and shoves the large “please wear a mask” sign into my face and walks off. About ten minutes later:

Manager: “I just had a customer complain that you weren’t wearing your mask.”

Me: “Did they mention I was eating? You can check the cameras. My blood sugar dropped.”

Manager: “He did. You’re not in any trouble at all. Just giving a heads-up it happened, and he walked out saying he’s never shopping here again.” *Walks away*

How much of a jerk do you have to be over someone eating potato chips for their blood sugar and complain I wasn’t wearing a mask at the time? Sorry I don’t put holes in my mask that’s meant to protect me to eat or drink.

Back in the late 2000s, I use to work for a supermarket chain in my state where I would switch between cashiering and scanning departments. This chain of stores would occasionally have the cashiers ask all customers if they wanted a donation to be made to any school in the county by having the store donate about 6-10% of the bill to the school of the customer’s choice.

During one cashier shift, I was dealing with a small rush that hit my lane and going through orders as quickly as possible. As I got to this gentleman and his two kids, I greeted him as I have been with everyone and scanned and bagged up his items without incident.

Then, I asked if he had coupons, he said no, and I asked if he wanted to donate to a school. Immediately, he lost it. He went into a full, angry rant at me.

Customer: “How dare you ask me to give more money to this store? I put my kids through school with my own money, not relying on others!”

I couldn’t get a word in edgewise as he spewed more irrational hatred at me (I can’t remember whatever else he said), threw his money at me to pay for his things as I managed to get out his total for the groceries, and stomped over to the customer service desk. He then proceeded to yell at the manager for what I did to him and scream that he wouldn’t be coming back again. His kids didn’t do much except carry the groceries out behind him.

The customers behind him reassured me that I was just doing my job and hadn’t done anything wrong. Once the rush was done, I walked over to the customer service desk and asked the manager about that guy. She told me she’d heard the whole ordeal between me and him and that he was in the wrong; he was probably blowing off steam on me since I wouldn’t do anything to retaliate. I never saw the guy again during the time I worked there, and I never even had any complaints lodged against me by anyone.