I am processing a transaction for a slightly older woman. It has been going smoothly up until this point.

Me: “All right, ma’am, could you swipe your card for me?”

Customer: “Of course!”

She swipes her card and I wait for her to sign on the screen. She simply stares back at me. This happens quite often, so I cheerily say:

Me: “Once you sign on the screen for me, we’ll be all set!”

Customer: “Oh! Okay.”

Although I don’t have a full view of her screen, I watch her sign, then use the pen to click the enter button. Usually, at this point, the register will print the receipt and the transaction will be ended, but my register is still processing. The woman is staring at me again.

Me: “Would you mind signing again? This register has been a bit off lately.”

Customer: “Oh, okay.”

She signs again, and the same thing happens. At this point, the line is beginning to build up, and I’m about to call a manager over to see what’s going on.

Me: “I’m sorry, this is really weird. This has never happened to me before. Once you hit enter, my register should print the receipt automatically.”

Customer: “Oh, I’m supposed to hit enter? I thought I was supposed to hit the ‘clear’ button.”

Our return policy is that you can either bring your receipt or the card you paid for an item, and you can return the item(s) for what you paid for them. Without a receipt or a card, the item will be the lowest price the register can take for it. As you can imagine, we can’t see your entire purchase history to find an item to return if the item no longer has an intact barcode. A customer brings a girls’ dress to return. 

Customer: “I don’t have the receipt, but I paid for it on my [Store] card. My granddaughter also took the price tag off the dress, so I brought this one to use.”

The customer places both dresses on my counter.

I look at the dresses and notice that they’re two different sizes. This means that, while they look exactly the same, their barcodes are slightly different. If the barcode isn’t EXACTLY the same, the dress will not show up on the card. 

Me: “I’m sorry, but the dress has to be the same size as the one you bought. I’m going to look online and see if I can find the correct barcode.”

Customer: “But it’s the same dress. They do this all the time.”

Me: “I know, but the dress has to be the same barcode.”

I notice the correct size is no longer in stock and will not give me the barcode online.

Customer: “If I have to go to a different register, I will. Not to be rude, but they do this all the time. I bought the dress back in February just in time for Valentine’s Day, so surely you can go back that far on my card.”

I want to roll my eyes so badly.

Me: “The lack of receipt is not the problem; it’s the lack of a barcode.”

Customer: “They’ve returned things without the tag before, too. I had this purse and they returned it without a tag.”

Me: *Giving up* “Okay, slide your card, and I’ll see if it pulls up.”

The customer slides her card, I scan the dress with a barcode, and the dress does not show up on her card like I knew it wouldn’t. 

Customer: “Just put my dress in the bag, and I’ll take both of them to another register.”

If you know how to do my job, by all means, come and do it. Otherwise, be a little more grateful we’re a store that will let you return things without a tag at all.

Due to too many cashier errors, when doing scratchcard payouts for customers, we can no longer do it in the same transaction. So, if someone wants to pay with their scratchcard winnings, they have to give us the scratchcard first. Most people are okay with this. But as with anything, there’s always one who makes a fuss.

Or in this case, one person making a fuss repeatedly. A woman comes in with a basket full of shopping and dumps it in front of me. I scan and bag everything for her and read the total. She then takes out a bunch of scratchcards and hands them to me.

Me: “I’m sorry. I’ll have to give you your winnings separately.”

Customer: “What? Do it now!”

Me: “I’m sorry but I can’t.”

Customer: “Someone did it for me last time!”

I’ve worked at that shop for a year, and in that time we’ve never paid out winnings at the same time.

Me: “Again, I am sorry. Our tills do not let us do it.”

Customer: “I don’t see what the problem is! Just give me the money!”

Me: “Our tills don’t let us select the ‘payout’ option once something has been scanned. We can only do it after you pay.”

Customer: “I don’t have any money on me. I wanted to use my scratchcard winnings to pay with! Just go and do it and stop being awkward!”

Me: “This is something we have no say over. The only way to do it is to void the transaction, give you the money back, and then scan it through again.”

I called a supervisor to void it off. All the while, the woman was muttering under her breath about how ridiculous it was and how much we’d inconvenienced her. Finally, I processed her winnings, gave her the money, and scanned it all through again.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t the last I saw of her. Just a few days ago, she came back in, gave me her shopping, and then once again gave me a scratchcard after I’d scanned everything through. I explained again how I had to do it separately. She nodded and then stood there staring expectantly at me. I repeated that she had to pay first.

Again, she complained about how pathetic it was, but this time, she had other cash on her. I think she expected me to suddenly decide I could override the entire companies till system just for her if she stood, stared, and wished hard enough!

I’m at the registers. I’ve just been told to take my lunch, so I finish with my customer and sign off my register. I take two steps away when a customer starts unloading a cart FULL of stuff.

Customer: “Where are you going?!”

Me: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I have to go to lunch.”

Customer: “No, you’re going to serve me!”

Me: “I can’t, unfortunately, but it looks like [Coworker] can ring you out one register down!”

Customer: “No! I want you to ring me out!”

Me: “I have to go clock out, ma’am.”

My coworker tells me to just go clock out for lunch. I have to pass the customer to do so. When I go to pass her, she GRABS my arm and refuses to let go.

Customer: “YOU WILL SERVE ME NOW!”

Coworker: “[Manager] to the front!”

I try pulling away, but the customer has a death grip on my arm. My manager comes up.

Manager: “Ma’am, let go of my employee!”

Customer: “SHE’S REFUSING TO SERVE ME!”

Manager: “If you don’t let go, I will call the police.”

The customer refuses. There’s a line behind her, and they all look stunned at the situation. My manager pulls out her phone and dials the police.

Manager: “Yeah, we’ve got a customer assaulting an employee—”

Customer: “NO! I’M MAKING SURE SHE DOES HER JOB AND SERVES ME!”

I am stuck there, arm in a death grip, until a couple of cops come by. They end up arresting her. As she’s being walked out…

Customer: “SHE’S SUPPOSED TO SERVE ME!”

Manager: “You wanna go home early?”

Me: “I don’t get paid enough for s*** like that. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I ended up getting the next day off.

I am usually the person who closes, so I tend to get a lot of crazy people. The day has been rather slow and I end up getting slammed. I am not supposed to have more than a certain amount in my drawer, usually LESS than a hundred dollars. A customer holds out a $100 bill.

Customer: “Can I get five twenties for this?”

I already know I do not have five twenties or enough change in my drawer to break it.

Me: “I am sorry, but I can’t break a hundred right now.”

Customer: “Seriously?! You don’t have five twenties?!”

Me: “No, sir.”

Customer: “Really? You don’t have five twenties?!”

Cue five minutes of me repeatedly telling the man I can’t break it. The customer places a pack of gum on the counter and holds out the hundred.

Me: “I still can’t break it.”

He grabs four sodas.

Customer: “Fine! How about now?!”

I sigh, because the gum and four sodas are only around $8.

Me: “I still can’t break it, sir.”

Customer: “What the f***? Then what do you do if the customer only has a hundred?!”

Me: “They can—”

He cuts me off before I can tell him.

Customer: “You know what?! Never mind!”

He starts to storm out but stops at the door.

Customer: “What’s your name again?!”

Me: “It is [My Name].”

Customer: “Well! You will be hearing from me again!”

He storms out to his car.

Next Customers: “He was a jacka**.”

This happened two weeks ago. I have not heard from him since or anything from corporate. If he did complain, he probably got laughed at, or someone told him he was an idiot for trying to break a hundred dollar bill at a SMALL gas station.