(I am a cashier at a grocery store that has a customer rewards card, and you get all your items discounted to sale price when you have a card.)

Me: “Okay, your total today is $85.36. Do you have your rewards card?”

Customer: *studying the screen* “Wait, that’s not right! Everything was on sale!”

Me: “Do you have your rewards card?”

Customer: “Everything was on sale! That’s too much! Did the chicken ring up buy-one-get-one-free?”

Me: *getting impatient* “Ma’am. Do you have your rewards card?”

Customer: *still squinting at the screen when the lightbulb FINALLY goes off* “Oh, yeah! It’s right here.”

Me: *scans card* “Okay, your total is now $52.44!”

Customer: “Oh, that’s much better!”

(This happens A LOT more than you’d expect.)

(I’m cashiering at customer service. The customer pays with a credit card, so I ask to see her card to confirm a match to the signature and numbers on the receipt.)

Me: “Ma’am, your card is not signed. May I see your ID?”

Customer: “Oh. No, I’ll sign it right now.” *with her hand out to take the card*

Me: “That’s a good idea, but first, I need to see your ID to check the name on the card.”

Customer: “Give me my card! I told you I’ll sign it right now!”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I need to see your ID first to be sure the names match.”

Customer: *getting angry* “You’ll see the name matches once I sign the card! Now give it to me!” *attempting to snatch the card out of my hand*

Me: *firm but polite* “Ma’am, once I see your ID and confirm the name, I’ll give you the card back to sign. In fact, it’s a good idea to write ‘Check ID’ on the card so everyone will—”

(The customer threw her wallet across the counter at me, grumbling about me and my persistence. I matched the names and thanked her as I handed back both the wallet and credit card. Her grumbles now included a mocking “thank you” in a rude, childish voice. I offered a cheery “Have a nice day!” as she left. This inspired another bout of grumbling, again loudly mimicking me as she forced through the other customers on her way out.)

(I’m working on the tills at a fast food restaurant when a customer comes in and asks for a meal that comes in two variants: standard meal and box meal, with the box meal having a few extras to the side. She asks for the standard meal.)

Me: “Okay, so that’ll be [price], please.”

Customer: *pays and waits for me to close the cash drawer* “I wanted the box meal.”

(She says this without looking at her receipt, so she obviously knew she ordered the wrong thing but didn’t want to say until I had already taken the money.)

Me: “All right, unfortunately, I’ll have to charge you for the box meal and then refund the meal you just ordered.”

(I get to the checkout.)

Me: “That’ll be [price], please.”

Customer: “Here you go.” *hands over price difference between two meals*

Me: “I’m very sorry, but due to the way the tills work you’ll have to pay the full price for the box meal and then I have to refund you for the standard meal.”

Customer: “I gave you [price] and [price], that makes [price].”

Me: “Yes, but unfortunately, I—”

(At this point, I get interrupted as not only is this customer causing a big queue, but she starts behaving like an immature child and creates a massive scene.)

Customer: “YOUR TILLS ARE NOT MY PROBLEM! I GAVE YOU THE MONEY; I NEED TO GET HOME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!”

(This continued for a very long time whilst I, as politely as possible, tried to explain that the tills wouldn’t let me process the order in that way, all while being screamed at. Eventually, the customer walked over to the collection point, leaving me stuck on a till with no way to process the order any further. I told my manager and we ended up telling the till that she’d paid the full amount for both meals and then got refunded for the first, which we normally wouldn’t do because it results in inaccurate receipts, but this customer obviously didn’t want hers anyway, and it wouldn’t have an impact on the money in the till.)

(A customer waltzes up to our gelato counter at work and we start chatting. Then, he pulls a $10 gift certificate out of his wallet. People like this come into my work and try to bully me at the counter on a regular basis to get discounts or promotions by using my boss as an excuse. My boss recently told us that he’s had enough of it, and we have to follow policy.)

Customer: “How many gelatos can I get with this?”

Me: “Two. The total for two is $8.50 and I can’t give cash back. So, you could use it to pay for nearly three of them. There would be maybe a dollar or two left to pay.”

(The customer then pulls out a $5 gift certificate and adds it to the ten.)

Customer: “Then how about this: you use both of these and then write on the back of the $5 one that I have $2.50 left.”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, I can’t give you cash back.”

Customer: “I’m not asking for cash back; I just want you to use the ten and the five, but not all of the five, and then I have a 2.50 credit to bring back.”

Me: “I’m sorry, I can’t do that. Our policy is use it or lose it.”

Customer: *gets an angry look* “Excuse me?”

Me: “I’m sorry, but that’s what I’ve been told.”

Customer: *flustered and domineering* “Well, I know your boss and we have this deal because I teach his kids art lessons and he gives me these certificates in return.”

Me: “Well, I still can’t go against policy, sir. I’ve been told by my boss this is how it works. The only way I will do otherwise is if I am told otherwise by him.”

Customer: *gets very frustrated and ornery* “Well, I’m going to talk to my wife about this, and I’m going to call your boss and talk to him about his.”

Me: “That’s fine, but I still have to follow policy.”

(The customer then got very upset and started complaining to his wife, who took the logical approach and did exactly as suggested at first: use the $10 gift card and then pay the extra.  The extra leftover came to be $1.96. Not too bad when the total was $12.75 and the certificates take off tax as they’re used.)

(I work at a popular craft store. Our coupon policy states that customers are limited to one coupon per day and cannot combine offers. This week, we have two coupons out.)

Customer: “I’d like to use both of these coupons in my transaction.”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can only use one coupon today.”

Customer: “How come? I don’t understand.”

Me: “It is company policy. Customers are limited to one coupon per day.”

Customer: “Well, can I do two separate transactions?”

Me: “No, ma’am. Unfortunately, you can only use one coupon per day. See, it says right here on the coupon.”

(I read her the coupon policy, which clearly states that customers are limited to one coupon per day.)

Customer: “I still don’t understand. Why can’t I use both of my coupons? Other stores do it.”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am. That’s company policy. I can’t.”

Customer: “What if I came back later in the day? You wouldn’t know the difference.”

Me: “Ma’am, I’ll be here until we close.”

Customer: “I don’t understand! Why can’t you do it?!”

Me: “Because, ma’am, I don’t want to lose my job!”

Customer: *complete tone change* “Oh. That makes sense.”

(After that, she didn’t say anything anymore.)