(I wake up feeling sick and miserable, but I have to work, so I drag my sick carcass in. I get in late and overall feel bad. A few hours into my shift, an older lady comes in with a smile, saying she wants to pay her bill in her unit. I say it’s no problem, but I sound stuffed up and I sniffle and croak. I apologize for being sick and that I probably look and sound gross. The woman looks at me.)

Customer: “Oh, honey, no! You’re fine. You’re sick, and you look it, but there’s nothing wrong with that; you can’t help it. Really, it’s fine.”

Me: *giving her a smile* “Thank you.”

(I process her bill and as I am printing a receipt:)

Me: “I don’t know. It’s probably the change in weather. I’m a scrawny guy; I get cold easily.”

(I laugh it off and the woman only looks at me with concern.)

Customer: “Maybe it’s allergies; have you thought of that? Well, there is a dollar store up the road, very cheap. You should get some allergy medication, and if that doesn’t work, buy some cold medicine. That should do the trick!”

Me: “Why, thank you. I should be going to lunch here soon; perhaps I’ll run up there.”

(She nods, takes her receipt, and walks to the door before turning around.)

Customer: “I believe in being kind and understanding to people; we all share the same planet, after all.”

(I agree and thank her for the advice and bid her a good day. About twenty minutes go by and the woman reappears. I turn to ask her what she needs as she walks in, and she smiles and hands me a bag.)

Customer: “Here you go, dear. That should help you out!”

(I look inside and there is allergy medicine and two boxes of cold medicine!)

Me: *shocked but grateful* “Oh, wow! Thank you! You really didn’t have to!”

(I thank her profusely, but she only shakes her head and says:)

Customer: “Kindness goes a long way. We all share this place, so we should take care of each other. Get well soon, dear!”

(And with that, she gave me another smile and left. Blessed be to that kind woman. She has no idea how much she made my day and restored just a little faith.)

My mom always tried to ensure my siblings and I had wonderful Christmases, even when money was extremely tight. This usually meant that Christmas was provided to us by thrift stores, grandparents, and/or my mom’s sewing skills, but we never complained; we were just delighted to have something under the tree.

One year when I was about five or six, I’d expressed interest in having my own plot in the family garden… so it was a stroke of luck when Mom found a kid’s gardening book at the thrift store. It even came with seed packets that had yet to be opened by the previous owners! Unfortunately, said book also had a sizeable chunk ripped out of the cover, meaning there would be no way to pass it off as new. Fortunately, my mom is a creative problem solver.

On Christmas morning that year, I found the gardening book under the tree… and a note from “Santa” that read:

“[My Name], sorry that Rudolph took a bite out of your new book. He thought it was food! I hope you enjoy it anyhow and grow a big garden this year!”

I was so excited to have a book that one of Santa’s reindeer had tried to eat, and had a lot of fun helping plant in the garden that spring. It didn’t occur to me until much later to question why “Santa” had handwriting just like my mom’s, but to this day I have fond memories of that Christmas gift, and a love of gardening!

(One of our self-scan registers is down, so I call tech support. Our company’s tech support is primarily located in the US, but sometimes I get agents from other countries. This time I get a couple of Russians. The first agent realizes about halfway through that we need to escalate the issue. He conferences in the second agent before he disconnects his end of the call, rather than just transferring me.)

Tech Support #1: “I leave you now with Marko, level two support. He is good at his work. I am leaving you in good hands, strong hands; he fix issue.”

Me: *trying to not laugh at “strong hands”* “Excellent. Thank you for your help!

Tech Support #1: “Thank you. Have a good day. Marko, [something in Russian].”

Tech Support #2: *dryly* “Hello, this is Marko. I am the one having good, strong hands.”

Me: *laughing* “Good morning, Marko. How are you?”

Tech Support #2: *still dryly* “I am good, but my hands are more good.”

Related:
In Soviet Russia, Accent Speaks You

(I am 16 and working my very first job at a fast food place. I have been there for a total of two weeks, and we are slammed with a line out the door. I am doing my best to keep calm and not stress out, when this guy comes through.)

Me: “How can I help you today?”

Customer: “I’d like a number one and a number five, both mediums.”

Me: “Absolutely! That will be [total].”

(The customer hands me a large bill, I notice him counting change but don’t think anything of it. I get into my drawer and give him $.47 back in change and close my till. As I try to hand him his change back, his face turns bright red in anger.)

Customer: “You idiot! Don’t you see I am counting change here?! I don’t want $.47! I want to give you this $.53 and you give me a dollar! Why would you hand me my change so fast? I obviously wanted to use the change I already had to finish paying! I can’t believe how stupid you are! Take this handful of change, and you give me a dollar, like you should have in the first place!”

(I don’t know what to say. I’m trying to open my till, but it won’t open without a manager code. My managers are both busy dealing with other customers.)

Me: “I’m very sorry, sir. It’ll be just one moment; I can’t open the drawer until a manager comes back over here.”

Customer: “You’ve got to be kidding me! I just want a dollar in change back instead of all these coins! Why is that so hard for you to understand? Are you that stupid?”

(Another customer in line behind him steps forward. I’m crying and can’t even hide it anymore. [Customer #2] is a very large, intimidating guy. Without saying a word, he holds out a dollar and puts his hand out for the change. [Customer #1] sheepishly takes the dollar and hands the guy the coins and goes to wait for his food.)

Customer #2: *breaks into a huge friendly smile and says very loudly for everyone to hear* “Don’t worry about him, honey. Some people just have nothing better to do with their boring, useless lives but come and pick on teenagers. Must be pretty sad!”

(Pretty much everyone in line laughed as [Customer #1] grabbed his food and left. These days, I pause for a second before counting back change, even if they show no signs of holding coins. Just in case.)

(I’m grabbing some groceries. After I put my items on the belt, the cashier closes the checkout by turning off the overhead light and asking me to place a “Till Closed” separator at the end. [Customer #1] then puts her items on the checkout belt. The cashier tells her the till is closed, but as she only has a few items, the cashier agrees to serve her. [Customer #2] then approaches the checkout.)

Cashier: “Sorry, this till is closed. You need to use the other till.”

Customer #2: “Oh, but I only have one thing.” *makes puppy eyes and waves a single packet of ham*

Cashier: *clearly frustrated* “Okay, fine.”

(The cashier then turns away as she starts scanning my items. [Customer #2] waves her husband over with a full trolley and the two of them start firing items onto the conveyor belt as quickly as they can. The cashier notices them, but seems to ignore it. She finishes serving me, and while I’m organising my shopping opposite the end of the till, she also serves [Customer #1]. The cashier then gets up and starts walking away.)

Customer #2: “Excuse me! Where are you going?”

Cashier: “Home. My shift has ended.”

Customer #2: “Okay… So, will someone else serve me?”

Cashier: “No, this till is now closed. If you want to be served, you can go to the other till.”

(The cashier walks around and locks the gate between the end of the till and the exit.)

Customer #2: “Uh, you said you would serve me here! All my stuff is on the belt. I’m not putting it back in the trolley. The other till is really busy now, too.”

Cashier: “I only said I’d serve you because you said you had one thing. You lied, so I’m not helping you. If you had gone to the other till in the first place, you’d be finished by now.”

Customer #2: *fake giggling and playing cute* “Well, when I said one thing, I meant one trolley!” *giggle*

Cashier: “I don’t care. You can put everything back in your trolley and bring it to the next till.”

Customer #2: “This is terrible customer service! Get me the manager.”

Cashier: “I am the manager, and I’m going home. ” *walks away*

(As I was leaving, I saw [Customer #2] and her husband start putting her items back in the trolley. I really hoped they didn’t open another checkout before [Customer #2] had unloaded everything again at the next checkout.)