I work at a well-known home improvement store. I am giving one of my coworkers her break from our garden center. It’s usually pretty slow out there, so I have a lot of time to talk to customers and interact with them between transactions.

This lady and her husband come up to me and asked about the marigolds we have on special: five quart-size pots for around ten dollars. I point them out to her and she and her husband disappear for a few minutes. Eventually, they come back and grab five of the gallon-size pots and plop them down on the register.

I start scanning their items like normal, and when I get to the marigolds, they ring up at $4.98 each. I inform her of this and she isn’t the slightest bit happy. My register even says they are the gallon-size.

Me: “Ma’am, these are the gallon-size marigolds, as confirmed by my register. These are not the marigolds that are on special.”

Customer: “You don’t know a quart from a gallon! You need to tell someone to fix your advertisement sign.”

I wasn’t about to start an argument with her, but I remembered the conversion of four quarts in a gallon; I wanted to tell her that and to (kindly, of course) point out that there was no way in heck that four of the bigger pots could ever fit into one of the smaller ones. I finally got her the ones that were on special, but she was so mad at me.

It’s Christmas Eve, so everyone and their dog is at the shops getting food and last-minute presents, etc. I am there with two small children. I’ve been to a couple of shops already and my EFTPOS card has been working fine, but now, at the checkout, with $100 worth of groceries and kids who are losing their patience, my card keeps getting declined for some reason. The cashier has run it a few times now, and I have explained that it was previously working, but the machine just keeps saying “declined.”

There is a line of about ten people behind me. I’m about to cry in frustration while my one-year-old tries to climb out of the trolley seat for a cuddle and my three-year-old has found the mangoes and is starting to eat one, skin and all, when the woman behind me speaks up.

Woman: “Here, let me just pay for it. Merry Christmas.”

Before I could even protest or anything, she handed over her card and the cashier put it through. I thanked her profusely, wished her and everyone else a Merry Christmas, and got my kids out of there. I went to an ATM, got $100 out, and gave it to one of the charity collectors, and then I got us all home.

I’m still not sure if the woman’s primary objective was to do something nice or to just get the line moving so she could get home herself, but either way, she was kind, gracious, and generous and I will never forget that, and it’s certainly made me more aware of trying to help other people around me.

This story is part of our Feel Good roundup for December 2020!

Read the next Feel Good roundup for December 2020 story!

Read the Feel Good roundup for December 2020!

It is Christmas Eve and the store is insanely busy, as expected. I am head cash this evening, and most customers are extremely understanding if I make a mistake from going too fast or if we don’t have anything in stock. All in all, it’s a lovely shift since we close early at 5:00 pm.

A regular shows up beside my cash register on the other side of the half-door closing off the cash area; she’s waiting for her friend in the line. For context, she is extremely old, uses a walker, and most importantly, wheezes every three words and is incredibly annoying even if you aren’t overwhelmed by Christmas Eve in a retail store. She’s a talker, so while she’s sitting in her walker next to the cash she talks about God knows what.

My manager comes up and leans over her to look at the break schedule posted at cash. She has a few returns in her hand. The lady points at a pink fuzzy hair clip in my manager’s hand.

Old Lady: “Oh, I want this!”

Manager: “Oh, yeah, of course!”

The manager gives it to her and walks away.

Old Lady: *Turns to me* “Could you cash this out for me, dear?”

Me: “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait in line with everybody else.”

Old Lady: *Whining a bit* “Well, that’s not fair; it’s just one small item!”

Me: “It’s really busy and everyone else has been waiting in the line, and it wouldn’t be fair for me to allow someone to cut in.”

The old lady looks at the line and back at me with fake pain her voice and eyes.

Old Lady: “Oh, I can’t wait in that line!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but I can’t ring you through before everyone else.”

I turn back to the line of customers.

Me: “I can help who’s next!”

I’m ringing through customer after customer as fast as I can and even with all four cashiers working, the line is stretching almost in a circle back through an aisle. As I’m working, the old lady keeps asking me to ring in her item over and over and I keep telling her I can’t. Now my assistant manager comes up to go into the cash area.

Old Lady: “Oh, sweetheart, could you ring this up for me real fast?”

Assistant Manager: “I’m sorry, hun, but it is Christmas Eve and all these customers have been waiting. Now I’m gonna need you to move so I can get through the door.”

My assistant manager comes and goes, also dealing with the repeated question. Eventually, the old lady decides to silently lean on the half-door next to me and invade my space and wheeze in my ear. She eventually slides the hair clip and some cash onto the corner of my counter, making the customers I’m ringing up incredibly uncomfortable.

I’m trying my best to ignore her during this because I am not letting her think she can play a sympathy card whenever she wants. The second cashier finishes a customer and calls the next one up, and the old lady cuts in front of them and asks the second cashier, who has probably been watching this play out, the same question, complete with puppy dog eyes.

Old Lady: “Could you please ring this up for me?”

he cashier shot me a look that said, “Come on. I should just do it.” I shot back a look that said, “No, don’t; she needs to learn her lesson.” The cashier looked at me like, “Sorry!”, and then quickly rang the old lady through while the other customer was waiting.

Now I was fuming that the second cashier blew all my hard work of ignoring the old lady’s pleas, but later while thinking about it, I learned something that’s extremely important to know when working in retail: you have to know when to make a customer learn their lesson, and when to do what they want just to get them the f*** out of your store!

It is Christmas time and our lines are packed. I have just finished ringing up this somewhat old woman and I tell her the total:

Customer: “Okay, that’s on credit.”

Me: “All right, swipe your card there, ma’am.”

Customer: “No.”

Me: “Would you like for me to enter the numbers here, ma’am?”

Customer: “No, I don’t. That’s how the government tracks you. I don’t want them to know where I shop or what I buy.”

Me: “Well, then, this purchase will be unable to be made through credit.”

Customer: “This is discrimination. How dare you not take my credit card just because it’s an inconvenience?! Get me a manager. Someone that knows how to do this job.”

I call the manager on duty and she explains the situation to him.

Manager: “I’m terribly sorry, but if we don’t have your permission to swipe or enter the card information, then this cannot be purchased through credit.”

Customer: “Why, I can’t believe service these days! Don’t want my money, fine. I’ll shop at [Rival Store]; they actually care about us!”

It is the holiday season. A customer is making a rather large purchase of about $400. Everything is going well until the customer’s credit card gets declined.

Customer: “Can I try it again?”

Me: “Yes, you can, but it will be the same result.”

The customer runs his card again and it is declined again.

Customer: “Why is my card being declined?”

Me: “We do not have access to that information. Perhaps your card has reached its limit.”

Customer: *Loud and angry* “What do you mean, my card has reached its limit? I put $2,000 on it this morning!”

Me: “Do you have another card you can use?”

The customer mumbles under his breath about our store declining his card. He finishes his purchase with another card, and as he walks away, he says:

Customer: “My card was good at [Other Store] so it should be good here! I’ll never shop here again!”

Me: “Have a very merry Christmas!”