It is my fifth shift on the job and, as such, I am spending a large amount of time manning the checkouts. It is a quiet period in the store and two people approach the tills at the same time to pay. One is an old lady with a large number of reduced items while the other is a young woman with her infant with a basket full of what seem to be “top-up” shop items for restocking a home fridge and such.

The old lady places her basket next to the till.

Old Lady: “Could you ring me up slowly? I’m not too sure what I have the money for today.”

Me: “Sure, would you like a bag?”

Old Lady: “Please.”

I ring up and bag most of her items and tell her the total as I go along. It gets to about £6 or so and she takes out her purse and pulls out a £5 note and 50p explaining that this is all she has.

Me: “If you want, I can take the muffins off for you, and it should take the total down.”

Old Lady: “That would be great, thank you. Could you put the rest of my items behind the till, please? I might come back for them later.”

Me: “Sure.”

I go and place all the rest of her items behind me in a box and have her pay for the stuff she can afford. The young lady, who has been very quiet, speaks up as the older lady is turning to leave.

Young Lady: “Put the rest with mine, please.”

Me: “Are you sure?”

Young Lady: “Yes.”

I rang up the rest of the old lady’s items and she left with a smile on her face, seeming so happy that someone else was willing to help her. I am happy to have served both those people today.

This story was included in our May 2020 Inspirational Roundup.

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Customer: “I’m from Oregon, so I don’t pay sales tax.”

Me: *Confused* “Um, what?”

Customer: “I’m from Oregon, so I don’t have to pay sales tax.”

Me: “Well, you are in California right now and we pay sales tax, so you have to, as well.”

Customer: “Isn’t there any way you can take it off?”

Me: “Ha! No, you can’t get out of paying tax.”

Customer: “What the f***?! This state is f****** ridiculous!”

The store where I work has self-checkouts, and the following story happens more often than you’d think it should.

When a machine is having an error dispensing or accepting cash, or it is out of cash to dispense, we put up a sign above and over the part where you put cash in stating, “EFTPOS ONLY — NO CASH OUT.”

Customer: “Where do I put my money in?”

Me: “Sorry, this one is EFTPOS only at the moment since there is a technical issue.”

Customer: “But the sign only said, ‘No cash out.’”

Me: “Yes, it also says, ‘EFTPOS only.’ There’s an issue with it giving out change.”

Customer: “Well, it doesn’t say, ‘No cash in,’ so I should be able to put notes in.”

This happened often enough that we eventually added on all our printed, laminated signs a line in permanent marker saying, “NO CASH OUT/IN,” just to stop the constant arguments.

I’m a cashier at a local grocery store, about to go to lunch. The head cashier comes around, turns off my light, and tells me to finish the line and go. She puts a “LANE CLOSED” sign at the end of my lane to let customers know.

Still, people line up and expect me to ring them out. I can’t tell them I’m closed or ask them to go to another line — per “the customer comes first” policy — so I keep going.

I’m nearly done with the last customer in line when a woman comes up with a huge cart of items. She looks at the “LANE CLOSED” sign and then looks at me.

Customer: “Are you open?”

I am careful to avoid saying I am closed.

Me: “I’m about to go to lunch, ma’am, I’m sorry. The registers on either side of me are open, though.”

Customer: “But you’re not open?”

Me: “I’m going to lunch as soon as I’m done with this customer.”

Customer: “Well, are you open or closed?!”

Other Cashier: *Waving* “I can ring you out down here, ma’am! Come on down!”

Customer: “I’m asking if she is open!”

Me: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, I—”

Finally, the woman I’ve been checking out speaks up.

Customer: #2 “She can’t tell you she’s closed, but she is. If you’d listen, you’d know.”

Customer: *Stunned* “Excuse me? Was I talking to you?”

Customer #2: “I’m talking to you. Go get in another line.”

Customer: “This is how you treat customers? You’ve lost a sale!”

The woman storms out, leaving her cart at my register. After I am done with my last customer, I take the cart to customer service to sort into the return bins. While there, my last customer comes over with a manager.

Manager: “[My Name], I need to speak with you.”

Me: “Uh… okay.”

Manager: “This customer tells me you had a woman who tried to come through your line while you were closed.”

Me: “Um… yes. But I didn’t—”

My manager holds up his hand.

Manager: “You’re okay.”

Customer #2: “I told him what happened, just in case she complains.”

Me: *Relieved* “Oh. Thank you!”

Sure enough, the woman called and complained that I was rude to her, told her to find someone else to ring her out, and even made fun of her! She demanded a $500 gift card for her “emotional trauma” and threatened to call the news stations and the BBB if we didn’t give her what she wanted. The manager told her he’d reviewed the tapes and saw none of that. She screeched and hung up.

I notice a customer pulling out her checkbook and I interject.

Me: “I can’t take a check.”

Customer: “What do you mean, I can’t pay by check?”

Customer’s Friend: “Nobody takes checks anymore.”

Customer: “Why didn’t I know about this?”

Customer’s Friend: “Maybe if you got out more than once a year, you’d know these things.”

Customer: “Well, I don’t like paying cash!”

Customer’s Friend: “Use a card.”

Customer: “I don’t want to have a credit card!”

Customer’s Friend: “Your bank will give you a debit card for free.”

I was trying desperately to control my urge to cheer, and to thank the customer’s friend for saying EXACTLY what I wanted to say but couldn’t.