I’m checking out a customer at the register when a man comes in and makes a beeline for the soda fridge we have in the next-in-line area. He then walks off into the store.

Me: “Sir, you need to pay for that.”

Customer: “It’s okay. I’ll pay when I leave.”

Me: “No, you need to pay for it first.”

Customer: “Don’t worry; I promise I won’t drink it.”

His girlfriend comes in.

Customer’s Girlfriend: “What’s going on?”

Customer: “She says I have to pay for the soda before I can start looking around.”

Customer’s Girlfriend: “Seriously?! They don’t even do this at [Local Grocery Store Chain]!”

I let them go, since I’m still with a customer at the register and I figure that I can just have somebody keep an eye on them. As they go further in the store, I hear the girlfriend say that they should “report it to her manager”. The woman I’m checking out tells me that I was right and that she’ll back me up if they do get my manager.

I do seek out my manager on the floor and ask him if we’re allowed to let them do that — take a soda and let them pay for it later — and he says that it’s not ideal, but it’s better to avoid a fuss. I see them on the floor, too, but make a point of giving them a wide berth.

At a later point, the man comes to the register to check out, and he has clearly drunk out of the soda. He puts down his items and the first words out of his mouth are:

Customer: “So, are you single?”

He keeps hitting on me through the whole transaction. Thankfully, nobody, customer or otherwise, is nearby, so I can get away with not even trying to be friendly. I’m not rude, mind you; I just say everything through gritted teeth. At the end of it, my manager comes by just as I’m saying, “Have a nice day.”

Me: “Yeah, this guy just started hitting on me.”

Manager: “What?!”

Customer: “Sorry, sorry, she was just being so mean. I had to try and loosen her up a little! She’s such a b****, am I right?”

My manager then takes him into the vestibule near the register and says something to him — I can only make out the words “very special girl.” Afterward, he comes in, apologizes, and then leaves. My manager then comes to me.

Manager: “Are you all right?”

Me: “Yeah, just mad. He’s that guy I was telling you about.”

Manager: “With the soda?”

Me: “Yeah. It had clearly been drunk out of when he brought it up. And he came in here with his girlfriend, too!”

Manager: “Yeah, I think the girlfriend might have been responsible for these.”

He shows me a bunch of packaging for power banks, earbuds, etc.

Me: “And he drank the soda before he paid for it, too!”

We contacted the other stores to let them know about him and his girlfriend. Thankfully, he had easily identifiable and hard to conceal facial tattoos. But really, the nerve of some people!

A customer comes up to my register with a bathroom rug.

Customer: “Don’t put it on the counter. I don’t want those germs on it!

She expected me to hold it in my hand throughout the transaction. I wanted to say, “So, you’re not washing it before use?”

A woman walks up to my register with her two-year-old and orders a drink. The two-year-old reaches into our tip jar and pulls out a quarter. I protest.

Mother: “It’s just a quarter. I give you people too much already anyway.”

And with that, the mother and daughter just turned and left.

I’m a cashier at a big chain retailer. I have a rare muscular disability, so I have a stool (that I purchased) that I use while I’m working. While I can walk short distances and stand for short periods of time, I have a lot pain if I do it for a while. I have a wheelchair, but I typically don’t use it at work since I don’t walk too much at my lane, and the stool is a lot less bulky. I also typically work a small, belted self-checkout lane.

I’m working at my typical self-checkout lane when a woman comes to check out with a mountain of groceries. I greet her warmly and with a smile.

Me: “Hello, how are you?”

Customer: “I’d be better if this store wasn’t so f****** confusing. I couldn’t even find the gift cards! What kind of a store doesn’t have gift cards?”

There is a gift card stand right next to my checkout.

Me: “I have a stand right over here if you’d like one?”

The woman responds while looking at her phone.

Customer: “Good, get me two $10 [Fast Food Restaurant] cards. And hurry. I’m sooo tired of standing.”

I know that I can walk that far without a problem.

Me: “Of course, just a moment.”

I walk over to the stand, grab the gift cards, and come back to see the woman putting my stool off to the side and sitting on it.

Customer: “Good, you’re back. Ring up my stuff and tell me when you’re done. I need to call my mother.”

I start to die on the inside because it’s a self-checkout, but I don’t want to be yelled at any further.

Me: “Ma’am, I’d be happy to help you scan your items, but I need my stool in order to do that.”

She looks at me and huffs.

Customer: “Excuse me? I’m a paying customer! I’m tired and I want to sit! Now do as I say, or I will get you fired!”

My legs start to shake and pain begins in my knees and ankles.

Me: “Ma’am, I have a physical disability, and I use that stool to avoid getting hurt. If I stand for too long, I get in a lot of pain.”

Customer: *Getting louder with every word* “Well, I had to stand for hours to get all of this! And you’re probably faking your disability so you can sit! Just check me out!”

My supervisor, who must have heard all of the commotion, comes over and sees that I’m standing and obviously in a lot of pain.

Supervisor: “Hey, [My Name], what’s going on? Why aren’t you sitting on your stool?”

Customer: “Finally, a manager! Your stupid employee won’t ring up my stuff, and she wants me to give her my stool so she can sit on her f****** lazy a**!”

My legs give out and I fall to the ground, crying in pain.

Supervisor: *Concerned* “[My Name], are you okay?”

He goes on his walkie-talkie and calls a code that means an employee is injured.

Customer: “Don’t be so dramatic! She’s obviously faking it!”

Supervisor: *Livid* “Ma’am, she has a physical disability and needs that stool, not to mention that you’re at a self-checkout. If you want a cashier to check you out, then you should head over to our staffed registers.”

Customer: “But I don’t want to wait in that line!”

My manager comes practically running from the back of the store.

Manager: “[Supervisor], what happened to [My Name]? Does she need an ambulance?”

I shake my head no, still crying. Meanwhile, the customer starts snapping at my manager.

Customer: “HELLO! I STILL NEED SOMEONE TO RING ME UP! MY ICE CREAM IS GOING TO MELT!”

Manager: “Ma’am, we have an emergency with our employee. We need to help her first. Once this has been settled, I will gladly help you.”

Customer: “SHE’S FAKING IT! AND BESIDES, SHE’S TOO FAT FOR THIS STOOL, ANYWAY!”

Manager: *fuming* “Ma’am, get out of the store or I will call security. You do not get to talk about my employee like that!”

Customer: “YOU HAVE TO CHECK ME OUT! IT’S THE LAW!”

Manager: “LEAVE! NOW!”

The customer starts screaming at my manager that we clearly don’t know “who she is” or “what she can do to us” if we don’t check her out immediately. During her rant, my manager, finally having heard enough, turns to the supervisor.

Manager: “[Supervisor], call security.”

[Supervisor] nodded and called for them on his walkie. The customer shrieked even louder, demanding the number for corporate so that she could “report how horrible this store is at customer service!”

Security showed up quickly, and they almost dragged the customer out of the store. [Supervisor] and [Manager] made sure I was okay and told me to take the rest of the day off, fully paid. They called my mom, who came to pick me up and take me to the urgent care just to be sure. I was fine, but they gave me a note to take some time off to rest. Later, I was told that the customer was banned from the store.

I work for a gas station that has a loyalty program. The customer needs to swipe their loyalty card, I then hit a button on the register, and they have to hit a button on the card reader. If they are paying with a card, they can insert the card after this point. However, if they insert the card before the loyalty is processed, there is a chance that it will freeze the system and it will need to be restarted before I can proceed with their order. It’s an annoying system. So many people swipe their loyalty cards and immediately insert their debit/credit cards.

I have a customer do this one morning and the system freezes up. We aren’t busy, so I move him over to the other register so we can finish.

Customer: “I don’t understand what I did wrong. I did it like I do every day.”

Me: “The reader doesn’t like it when you put the card in before finishing the loyalty. Sometimes it just freezes up. Go ahead and swipe your loyalty card.”

Customer: *Swipes card* “Can I put my debit card in now?”

Me: “Just give it a second. When you see the button on your screen, just hit OK and then insert your card.”

Customer: *Hits the OK button* “Am I allowed to put my debit card in now?”

Me: “Yep.”

Customer: “I don’t understand! That’s exactly what I did on the other machine!”

Me: “Oh, all you did over there is put your card in a little too early, and the machine is being stupid. It happens every now and then.”

Customer: “But I didn’t do anything different!”

Me: “Okay… would you like a receipt?”

Customer: “I didn’t do anything different!”