I work as a checkout operator at my local supermarket. I’m helping a mother-daughter combo with their shopping, and behind them is another lady customer.

While I’m helping the mother, her daughter goes to put their basket away, but as she walks away, she accidentally taps the basket on the lady customer’s shoulder.

The lady is livid and glares at the two women but doesn’t say anything. The mother and daughter finish their transaction and walk away, with the lady customer watching them.

She then leans over the till towards me and says, rather menacingly:

Customer: “I hope she gets mugged on the way home.”

I just sat there and continued doing my job, while silently fearing for my life.

My store manager opens the store while I man the registers. A few customers enter straight away. I am serving a customer who is almost finished, literally about to pay, when two more customers queue up. I can see that my next customer only has three items, so I know that this will be a fast transaction.

Me: *To my current customer* “Here’s your receipt and have a nice day!” *To the queue* “Next, please!”

The third customer in line suddenly speaks up.

Customer #3: “Oh, my God, isn’t there anyone else in this d*** store that can help serve? I’m in a rush and I’ve been waiting forever!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but the only other person in the store is my store manager, and he’s on the phone right now.”

That’s not technically a lie; he did mention having to make a phone call after opening the store.

Customer #3: “This is ridiculous! I’m in a rush to get to work, and I have been waiting for ten minutes!”

Me: “Ma’am, it is currently 8:37 am. We have only been open for seven minutes.”

Customer #3: “Oh.”

The customer is quiet during her whole transaction and practically snatches the receipt out of my hand when I offer it to her. As she rushes out, I put on my fakest polite voice I can muster.

Me: “You have a lovely day!”

I work the return register at my store. If a customer has lost a receipt but paid for their purchase with a credit or debit card, we can use that card to pull up a list of all their returnable transactions.

I always say this to every customer I do this for.

Me: “You will insert your card here, kind of like you’re paying, but the machine will beep and say ‘Not Completed, Remove Card.’ After that, please remove your card.”

After I say this, one of two things will happen.

The machine beeps, and beeps, and beeps.

Me: “Please remove your card now.”

Customer: “Oh, I didn’t know I was supposed to take it out.”

I silently judge with a smile on my face.

Or, the machine beeps.

Customer: “It’s saying ‘Not Completed.’ What do I do?”

I silently judge with a smile on my face.

Me: “Oh, you can just remove the card now so the system can pull up your transactions.”

The sad part is that every time I tell a customer about how the process works, they nod their heads and acknowledge what I have said in some way. I have literally never had a single person follow my instructions without having to go through one of the two situations above.

This morning, due to a software update, our registers are extra laggy. An elderly gentleman approaches with two boxes of band-aids. The usual pleasantries are exchanged. 

Me: “That will be $6.50.”

The customer hands me a twenty-dollar bill. I hit the cash option and flinch inside when I see the hour-glass of impending doom.

Me: “Sorry, the register is being a bit slow this morning.”

Customer: *Humorous* “Huh? It doesn’t want my money. Guess it’s free, then, right?”

I laugh politely. A minute passes and the register crashes.

Me: *Cringing inside* “Oh… looks like it crashed. I’m so sorry. Let me try checking you out in a different lane.”

Customer: “I’m telling you, it should be free. I should just go and walk out the door.”

I attempt to check him out again on another register, which freezes just like the first one did before it crashed.

Me: *Shrinking inside* “So sorry. I don’t know what’s with these registers this morning…”

The customer turns to the lady behind him.

Customer: “They’re giving out free stuff today! The registers don’t want our money! Ha!”

The lady makes a half-hearted laugh, and then gathers her things and makes a hasty retreat to self-checkout.

Customer: “You sure you can’t give it to me for free?”

I give him an uneasy smile. The humor has definitely worn off.

Me: “I wish I could, but I’d get fired.”

Customer: “Now, let me tell you something. You should never worry about getting fired. There is always another job out there that pays more.”

I am poking the register, silently praying for it to work.

Me: “Mmm-hmmm…”

Customer: “Back when I started out, I made $10,000 a year. Then they fired me for acting up, and two days later, I got another job that paid $30,000. Then, I left that job because the company went out of business and I got another job that paid $100,000 a year.”

I am thinking to myself how all my attempts to get a job with my degree over the last decade have failed due to my very bad eyesight, how I got my first job with dumb luck, and how it took me months to finally get this current job.

Me: “Uh-huh…”

Customer: “And now I’m seventy years old and just don’t care!”

I want to put my fist through the register screen. Instead, I flag down my boss. I explain the situation and she attempts to get the previous register up and running.

Customer: “It’s like I was telling her, I should just get this for free.”

Boss: *Taking the items* “Let me see what I can do here.”

Customer: “You know, I got paid $50 an hour… Does that mean I owe you like $8?”

My boss mutters out of earshot and then gestures me over quietly.

Boss: “You know, I’m just going to requisition this. Just give him these and send him on his way.”

It takes a second to process this in shock as, after all this fuss, I really wanted his $6 on principle. After a second, I slide his cash and the items back to him.

Me: “Here you go. You can just have these…”

Customer: “Wait? Really? You are giving it to me for free? Man, I should have got more stuff! Please, please can I go get more stuff?”

Boss: “No, I can’t let you get more. But you can take those items and go.”

Customer: “Well, great!”

He walks away.

I am staring dumbfounded after him, feeling flustered and slighted. I give my boss a questioning look.

Boss: “That was not worth the $6.”

That guy is likely at home entertaining his grandkids with the story of how he got free stuff, not realizing he also made a cashier want to crawl out of her skin in the process.

My name itself isn’t uncommon, but the pronunciation is. I’m used to correcting people about it, and most of the time, they’re understanding. I’m out grocery shopping. I buy wine, and I show the cashier my ID.

Cashier: “Oh, [Common Pronunciation Of My Name], that’s a great name!”

Me: “It’s actually [Correct Pronunciation], but thanks!”

Cashier: “You’re wrong, though. It’s always been [Common Pronunciation].”

Me: “That’s the more popular version; I have the German variation. It’s spelled the same, which is why a lot of people get confused.”

Cashier: “No, you’re lying. I bet that ID is fake.”

I’m super confused at this point. The cashier pages a manager, who already looks annoyed.

Manager: “What’s going on?”

Cashier: “She’s trying to use a fake ID to buy alcohol!”

Manager: “Can I see it?”

The cashier hands it over. The manager turns it a bit, checks both sides, and then looks at the cashier.

Manager: “Why are you saying it’s fake? It looks real, all the info looks right, and she’s over twenty-one.” 

Cashier: “She’s made up some s*** about her name being pronounced [Correct Pronunciation]!”

Manager: *Pauses* “Is that really why you’re saying it’s fake?!”

Cashier: “It’s always [Common Pronunciation]! She’s making it up to try to use someone else’s ID!”

Manager: “It’s not fake. [Correct Pronunciation] is a variation on that spelling. Please finish ringing her up, including the alcohol.”

The manager handed my ID back. The cashier refused to speak to me for the rest of the transaction. My receipt had a survey link at the bottom, and I made sure to note the incident in it.