(I own a small cookie bakery on a busy main street on Cape Cod. A customer and his wife have purchased a cookie and some coffee and sat outside to enjoy it. I am having a conversation with my son, when the customer walks back in after they’ve finished.)

Customer: “Excuse me. Just a little constructive criticism.”

Me: “Okay. Sure!”

Customer: “The cookie we had was too salty.”

Me: “I’m sorry about that. Which cookie did you purchase?”

Customer: “The lace cookie.”

Me: “You mean the one topped with sea salt?”

Customer: “I’m not sure why it tasted so salty!”

My Son: “But it’s… it’s topped with sea salt.”

Customer: “You know, you REALLY need to be careful about stuff like that when there are people like us who are watching our salt intake!”

Me: “Well then, sir, I’m not certain you made the best decision. Out of our 14 or so varieties, you chose to purchase a salted cookie.”

Customer: “But it was—” *reads description* “—OH! I see. Um, okay, have a great day!”

(I work in a little bakery. It’s been a quiet evening when a customer’s car comes speeding in to a parking spot outside the front door. She gets out of her car with her cell phone in her out-stretched arm. She looks utterly confused as she enters the store.)

Me: “Hi there!”

Customer: “Yeah, hi.”

(The customer spins in a slow circle and looks around.)

Me: “Can I help you with anything?”

Customer: *looks at her phone* “Yeah, I’m looking for [address of location].”

Me: “You found it!”

Customer: “NO! My phone is saying this is [coffee shop]. This is supposed to be [coffee shop]!”

Me: “Oh, yeah. It used to be over two years ago, but they closed down and we moved in.”

Customer: “NO! My phone is saying that this is the location of the coffee shop. Where is it!?”

Me: “They closed over two years ago—”

Customer: “NO! Phones are not wrong. This is supposed to be [coffee shop]!”

Me: *looks around the bakery, than back to the customer* “Nope, this is [bakery]. Sorry to disappoint you.”

Customer: “I’m sorry; I’m just not understanding.”

(I have no idea how much more clearly I can let this customer know that the coffee shop closed down and she is standing in a bakery.)

Me: I’m sorry, ma’am, but this is [bakery]. There is another coffee shop down the road though.”

Customer: “Okay, I guess I’ll go down the street. But you’re sure there isn’t a coffee shop here?”

Me: “One thousand percent sure. Have a wonderful evening.”

(I watch her leave the store. She sits in her car for 10 minutes playing with her phone. I see violent movements coming from the car, so I call my coworker to the front. We watch while she violently shakes her phone and yells. I hope she finds that coffee shop and gets a decaf!)

(It’s Valentine’s Day. The bakery that I work at is flooded with couples on dates. At the end of my shift around seven pm, I’m about to leave when I notice a girl sitting alone, staring at her cell phone while crying.)

Me: “Miss, are you all right?”

(She looks up to see me, and quickly tries to hide her tears.)

Girl: “No. Nothing’s wrong. Was I bothering anyone?”

Me: “No, I just heard you crying and I thought you were having a problem.”

Girl: “No, I’m fine. Don’t worry.”

(It is obvious that she is upset, but I don’t want to pry it out of her. As I begin to walk away, I hear her crying start to pick up. To try and cheer her up, I go to the counter and buy her one of our cupcakes. With the cupcake in my hand, I go to her table and place the cupcake in front of her. She takes a moment to look at it, and then looks at me.)

Girl: “What’s this for?”

Me: “You just look like you need something to cheer you up. It’s on the house.”

(I smile at her, which she returns with her own smile. I proceed to turn around and walk away, but she stops me. She points to the seat, prompting me to take it. I sit down and listen to her story. She learned that she’s pregnant, and wanted to tell her boyfriend of four years. However, she was dumped via text message because he didn’t believe the baby was his. The further she gets into her story, the more she cries. At the end of the story, she is completely in tears.)

Girl: “I just… I don’t understand. We’ve been together for four years. Why would he do this now?”

Me: “I’m sorry for what happened, but that’s life.”

Girl: “What?”

Me: “I don’t mean to sound like an a**, but that is unfortunately how life works. You think you find that one thing that makes life special, only to find out in a rude awakening that it isn’t true.”

Girl: “That sounds a bit like experience.”

Me: “Yeah, I’ve been through two relationships already. In both of them I was dumped. It was painful, but I just kept believing that there would eventually be someone for me. I just stopped trying to look. I promise you that you’ll find someone just for you.”

(The girl is dead silent, trying to process everything I’ve said.)

Me: “Listen, if you don’t really have any plans, do you want to go see a movie or something?”

(Her eyes go bright and she smiles. I take it as a yes, and proceed to take her out. We spend three hours together, watching a movie and getting to know each other a bit more. I take her home and she surprises me with a kiss on my cheek before she jumps out of the car without a care in the world. That was five years ago. We’re now married with beautiful twin girls.)

(I am working the counter at a bakery. An older customer comes up to order.)

Customer: “Hi, can I get a chocolate croissant and red velvet cupcake please?”

Me: “Oh, good choices! The red velvet cupcake is my favorite. I was actually going to get one on my break.”

(I go to grab his order, and realize there’s only one cupcake left.)

Me: “Lucky you, you got the last one!”

Customer: “Oh… are you sure you don’t want it? I can get something else.”

Me: “It’s okay, sir; that’s just the luck of the draw I guess.”

(He reluctantly accepts. Once he pays for his food, he takes the cupcake and puts in on the counter.)

Customer: “For you, my dear.”

Me: “What? No sir, it’s really okay. I can always get one tomorrow!”

Customer: “Well, I’m leaving it on the counter and walking away. What you do with it is up to you. Have a good day!”

(True to his word, he leaves the store. I have to say it was the best cupcake I ever had!)

(My grocery store bakery has started a new display in our chilled sweets case, showcasing a whole cake on a pedestal with a slice of it on a plate, along with it’s price on a tag that is clearly labeled ‘Display Only’. These cakes, since they are clearly not sold, are not changed out very often. I notice that one of the plates is behind the display cake, which I find odd. My manager also notices and laughs.)

Manager: “Did you notice this?”

(My manager holds up the slice that had been placed in back of the display.)

Me: “Oh yeah, I noticed it was in an odd spot. What’s up with it?”

(My manager brings the plate over to show me. The piece of cake has a bite taken out of it, and the fork displayed along with it is dirty.)

Manager: “A customer must have tried to eat it!”

Me: “Wow, those cakes have been in there for ever!”

(To prove a point, my manager takes the fork, and pokes at the cake. It is quite literally rock solid; it even sounds rock solid.)

Manager: “They didn’t get very far! They must have taken that one little bite and realized it was inedible.”

Me: “How the heck did they get to it?”

Manager: “Well, the front window does swing open with some effort for cleaning but…”

Me: *laughs again* “I know it says ‘display’, but come on. Display does not mean ‘sample’!”

(We can only guess that a customer tried it after the bakery closed for the day!)