Me: “Hi, [Cake Shop]. How may I help you?”

Caller: “Yeah, hi, do you have cake boxes?”

Me: “Like the ones we put the sold cakes into?”

Caller: “Yeah, but do you have just plain coloured ones?”

Me: “No, sorry. We only have ones with the company’s logo on it.”

Caller: “Well, can you order one? I told my friend that I got a special cake shop to make the cake, but I made it, and all I need is a plain box.”

Me: “Sorry, we can’t do that.”

Caller: “Okay, then, I’ll just get the one with a logo. Can you mail it?”

Me: “No, that’s not store policy. Customers have to collect it themselves.”

Caller: “Well, then just fax it to me.” *tells me his number – and before I can respond* “Thank you!” *hangs up*

Customer: “Hi, could you point me in the direction of the butter?”

Me: “Of course, it’s just over here.”

Customer: “Do you have these in liquid form? Like watery?”

Me: “I’m not sure what you mean.. Did you want cream?”

Customer: “No, no, like liquid butter?”

(At this point I look at the customers shopping list: it’s a recipe list for pancakes and it clearly says ‘melted butter.’)

Me: “You want to buy melted butter? You know you can just make that, right?”

Customer: “Oh, really? You actually make it yourself? How do you do that?”

Me: “You just put regular butter in a hot pan and it melts.”

Customer: “Wow! That’s fantastic! Thank you so much!”

(At the cinema the water is really expensive. The bottle we sell costs $5.10 but anywhere else it would be $2.)

Me: “Hi, what can I get you?”

Customer: “I’ll just grab a water, thanks.”

Me: “Sure, that’ll be $5.10.”

Customer: *shocked* “$5.10!?”

Me: “Yeah, sorry, just our prices.”

Customer: “But it’s water. You know, that s*** comes from the sky, right?”

This story is part of our Water roundup!

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(An elderly man, his son, and a nurse stop by the hospital cafe. The man is looking at the soft drinks in the fridge.)

Man: “I want a lemonade!”

Me: “Are you allowed to have lemonade?” *to son* “Isn’t he diabetic?”

Son: “No, he’s Lebanese.”

(A customer comes to my register with prenatal vitamins and a book on conception.)

Customer: “The tablets scanned at $32.50. They’re supposed to be $20!”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll just get someone to check the price. Won’t be a moment.” *checks* “No, I’m sorry. $32.50 is the correct price.”

Customer: “$32.50 is way too expensive! I don’t want to conceive that much!”

This story is part of the Cheapskate Customers roundup!

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