When you’ve worked in retail as long as I have, you tend to get a sense of people. It’s not 100% accurate, but more often than not, you can tell if someone is having a bad day or not.

This customer I am serving seems like they’re having more than a bad day. They look like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. I always try to be extra nice and friendly to these people; having been there myself, even just one nice encounter can be what helps you get through the day.

Me: “Hi there! How are you doing today?!”

Customer: *Solemnly* “I’m… okay.”

Me: “You’re buying some baking trays? Nice. I love baking myself; I’m always making cookies!”

Customer: *Brightening a little* “Oh, really? Cookies are nice.”

Me: “Yeah! I make mine with peanut butter M&Ms. So unhealthy, I know, but they melt into the cookie dough, and they taste amazing.”

Customer: *Actually smiling now* “I never thought of that.”

Me: “I’m actually baking some this weekend. If you happen to be shopping on Sunday, I’ll be working. I’ll save one for you!”

Customer: *Looks like they might actually cry* “That… that… that’s so nice of you!”

We chat a little more and she actually leaves smiling, which also makes me feel a bit happier. Like I said, I don’t know why, but I had a feeling she needed that pick-me-up.

Sunday rolls around and, like I said, I am working. A familiar face rolls up.

Customer: “I… uh… I made these, because, well… you were the first person to be nice to me in a very long time, and I… I couldn’t not… do something about it.”

She gives me a HUGE Tupperware of homemade cookies!

Me: “Wow! That’s so many! I can’t take that many!”

Customer: “Please… I wanted to say thank you. I lost my husband last week, and… well… his family never really liked me because I don’t share their religion, so it was… very tough. You were nice to me at a time when no one else was, and I couldn’t not do this.”

Me: “Wow, I am so sorry to hear that. And to make it worse, I only have the one cookie for you!”

We did our (very unbalanced) cookie swap and chatted for a little longer before I had to serve another customer. She left, saying, “See you next Sunday.”

The next Sunday, we both had a different type of cookie to share with each other!

Every Sunday is now a cookie-off where we compete to see who can make the best cookies. My family has grown to love them so much that she’s bringing a batch over for Christmas this year! 

Related:
And That’s How The Kindness Cookie Crumbles, Part 4
And That’s How The Kindness Cookie Crumbles, Part 3
And That’s How The Kindness Cookie Crumbles, Part 2
And That’s How The Kindness Cookie Crumbles

I work for a retail company. We get an employee discount in stores and online, but if you want to use your discount online, you have to use [Company] tender — meaning either a store gift card or a credit card.

I don’t have a store card, but any time I need to order something online, I try to go to the store and order at the register. It’s a couple of extra steps, but basically, I work with the cashier and we figure out the cost with my discount, I purchase a gift card for that amount right there, and we turn around and use the gift card to order. Again, it’s a couple of extra steps, but since I don’t order online from us all that often, I’m not too upset by it.

One time, I go to the store and try to get a couple of things in different colors. This location doesn’t have one of the colors in my size, so I say I’ll order it online and grab a gift card. The cashier looks confused. I figure she’s new, so I explain it to her.

Me: “We’ll just figure out the total with taxes and shipping with the discount, and then I’ll put that amount on this gift card. Then, you can use [Ordering System] to place it, and I’ll just pay for it with the gift card.”

I work for corporate, so while I know the systems and have a decent idea of how they work, I technically don’t have permission to be behind the counter and place the order myself

Cashier: “No, I don’t think that’s what you do.”

Me: “Uh, yes, it is. Since you can only use your discount with [Company] tender, and I don’t have a store credit card, using the gift card is the way to go.”

Cashier: “Is that a new process? I’ve never heard of that.”

Me: “Well, it’s been the process as long as I’ve been here. I know they used to have a [Company] debit card that you could get, but they stopped that shortly after I started. So, it’s a credit card or a gift card.”

Cashier: “No, I’m pretty sure that’s not it. But you should just do what I do: I order it online, and then when it gets here, I return it and buy it again with my discount.”

Me: *Stares in eye-twitch*

I end up just purchasing the one item that they have in my size/color and not getting the other one.

The next day, I message a coworker who used to work in one of the accounting departments.

Me: “Hey, do you know if they changed the process for using your discount online?”

Coworker: “Not that I know of. Why?”

Me: “Well, I was just at one of the stores yesterday, and I wanted to purchase something online. I had to explain to the cashier about purchasing online with a gift card since I don’t have a credit card. She told me that she just ordered things, and when they showed up, she’d return them at the store and then immediately purchase them again at her discount. I feel like that’s a bad thing.”

Coworker: “You just made [Husband] spit out his drink. He’s laughing so hard.”

Her husband used to be a manager at a couple of different locations.

Me: “Happy to provide entertainment?”

Coworker: “He says that not only is that not the process, but they probably need to be careful because the store can get hit for fraud if they do it too much. But also, they still take the hit on the return even if she immediately repurchases it.”

Me: “I thought there was something weird with her saying that, but when I tried to explain it to her, she told me that’s what she was told.”

Coworker: “Yeah, you might want to talk to [Manager] and see if she’s got any suggestions for who to reach out to. If that’s what that store is saying in their training, they need to be retrained. But it should be on all the documentation, so I wonder where someone got that idea.”

I did mention something to my manager, but I don’t know if anything has been done. The store is still operating, but there are new people there almost every time I go in, and I have no idea if it’s because I’m never there at the same time, or because people are leaving or going to different departments, or what. I have decided that if someone tries to tell me that again, I’m going to get the names of who’s giving them that information so that people can look into things.

I am a manager. We have a regular customer who has always given the cashiers a hard time. One day after one of my cashiers completes the transaction, this customer pulls out a coupon.

Customer: “I want the cash instead of this coupon, and don’t even think of telling me you can’t do it because I know your manager can, so be a helpful little worker and fetch them, will you?”

I am already next to this checkout lane, so I come over. I am trying to assist this customer with my fake customer service smile when she says something that makes me stop and question what I just heard.

Me: “Excuse me, but what did you just say?”

Customer: *Repeating* “I said I had better get what I want. You don’t want me to act like a donkey in here, do you?”

Me: “You already are.”

She never said another word, and I don’t remember ever having to deal with her again. 

Related:

The Couponator 43: The Visionary Gossiper
The Couponator 42: The Malicious Complier
The Couponator 41: The Saga Of The Long-Suffering Wife
The Couponator 40: Armageddon
The Couponator 39: The Yarn Of Time

I’m a cashier at large box store, working the bullpen where tobacco products are sold. It has a small gate to keep customers out. I’m ringing up this guy who keeps hitting on me.

Customer: “Wow, you’re so beautiful!”

I just want to be done with him, so I finally finish the transaction, but:

Customer: “I want to speak to the manager!”

I’m thinking he’s picked up on how I want him gone. My manager comes over.

Customer: “I want to complain!”

Manager: “About what, sir?”

Customer: *Pointing at me.* “She’s too sexy to be locked up in the bullpen!”

So gross.

I’m a manager in a grocery store, and I have been called to the checkouts due to a customer complaint. I get a lot of these when we have a certain member of staff working, but it’s not because she’s a bad worker; instead, it’s because she’s a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf, and a lot of customers in our part of the USA are racist pieces of s***.

As I approach the checkout lane I have been summoned to, my fears are warranted as I see an angry customer glaring at my checkout clerk, who looks over to me as we share a long-suffering look. 

Me: *Putting on the fake customer service smile* “How can I help you, ma’am?”

Customer: “I no longer want to support your company if you’re hiring illegal immigrants!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but what are you referring to?”

Customer: *Pointing to my clerk* “Her, obviously!”

Checkout Clerk: “She doesn’t believe that I’m from New York and also demanded to see my ID.”

Customer: “I should be allowed to check that the person serving me isn’t an illegal immigrant!”

Me: “First of all, ma’am, none of our staff are required to disclose their immigration status or place of birth to you. Second of all, do you have a complaint about the service that we have provided today, or are you simply picking on her because she’s a Muslim?”

Customer: “So, just because I want to check that laws are being followed, I’m a racist?”

Me: “No, it’s that you have been talking to me for a minute, and despite me having a thick Norwegian accent and my name tag saying ‘Bjørn’, you haven’t questioned my legal status in the US once. It’s that that is making you a racist.”

She starts to form an argument, but she knows she can’t form one without admitting she’s a racist.

Customer: “You’re all illegal immigrants! [Former President] will get rid of you all soon, you’ll see!”

She storms out without her shopping, and I share a pained sigh with the clerk.

Me: “What’s that, the fourth time this month?”

Checkout Clerk: “Fifth, but whatever. Is she going on the list?”

Me: “Oh, yeah, she’s banned forever.”

The list has been growing very fast since we’ve had her on the checkouts. I wonder why…

Related:
Careful, Customer, Your Racism Is Showing