I’ve gone into the store for a few things I need, and I end up seeing several things that catch my eye in addition. I take it all to the cashier, who seems perfectly normal.

Cashier: “Did you find everything you needed?”

I’m in a good mood, and I am getting a fair bit of stuff, so I decide to deviate from my usual one-word response. I respond very cheerfully, loading my things up to be scanned. 

Me: “Yep, and more!”

Instantly, the cashier’s whole demeanor changes, and her tone turns frosty.

Cashier: “I’ve never heard that one before!” 

She glared at me the whole time she was scanning, and her tone was hostile for the rest of the transaction.

I know phrases like asking if you can get it free are annoying, but I’m still baffled. I’d assume you’d hear the same few ways to just say “yes” over and over, too. I’m still not sure if I did something very wrong or if she was just having a bad day, but I’ll stick with answering with a quick “yep” from now on.

In Ontario, they have done away with plastic shopping bags. I’m in a dollar store with my six-year-old daughter, and as always, I’ve left my reusable shopping bags in the car.

Cashier: “You can take a box from the pile at the front.”

I send my daughter to pick a box. She picks one with a picture of a toy on it, and it is bigger than needed. I don’t care. The cashier does.

Cashier: *To my daughter, in a rude tone* “That box is too big! Pick the one beside it.”

[Daughter]’s face falls, and she looks so crestfallen. She puts back the box she picked, does not pick another one, and just walks over to me, all sad.

I get the momma bear look on my face and stare at the cashier, who goes over and picks up the smaller box. When she sees my face, she puts down the small box.

Me: *To my daughter* “Go pick the box you want.”

She happily skipped over and got it. The cashier said nothing for the rest of the transaction.

When we got home, the box was turned into a house for one of [Daughter]’s toys.

The moral of the story: let a kid pick whatever box they want… or give out shopping bags again.

When I was a kid, our whole family went to a sporting goods store. We all needed new things of different sorts: my sisters needed some winter clothing, I needed some football stuff, my mom needed some hiking boots, etc.

Dad was “the money”. He wasn’t buying anything for himself, so he just hung out near the cash register while the rest of us shopped for all the stuff that we needed. It took over an hour.

Eventually, we brought all the stuff up to the cashier. It cost quite a lot (the equivalent of over $1,000) seeing as we had a lot of stuff. At this point, my dad turned to the cashier with a smile.

Dad: “Any chance of a ‘waiting discount’, since I’ve been so good, waiting here for an hour?”

The cashier smiled back and gave him a 10% discount — a significant amount since the total was so high.

As my dad put it later: you can always ask. The worst that can happen is that they say no.

I was at the liquor store recently purchasing two bottles of wine. That’s not something I normally do, but I cook with wine, and I was out of one type and needed the other for a new recipe. I approached the register and saw that the cashier had a beautiful shade of blue-purple hair. 

Me: “Oh, I love your hair! It’s really pretty.”

Cashier: “I love yours, too!”

I moved the two bottles up the belt for her to scan. She paused and, entirely out of nowhere and apropos of nothing, asked:

Cashier: “Oh, my God, are you pregnant?”

I was taken aback but coherent enough to respond.

Me: “Christ, no. I hope not, anyway.” 

For the record, I am very petite (5’0″), and while I’m not a waif, I am not heavy, either, but with a small chest and not having a bra on, other parts were sticking out more than my breasts at the time. It was already strange enough to be asked that question, without even factoring in that I was buying TWO BOTTLES OF WINE.

Cashier: “Well, we’re all in this together, right? I have one son, and that’s it for me.”

She then proceeded to LIFT UP HER SHIRT and show me her stretch marks! I work in the area of sexuality and am all for openness and body positivity, but I did not know this woman from a hole in the wall.

For lack of knowing anything else to say, I just said:

Me: “…Wow.”

She finished ringing me up.

Cashier: “Have a good day, love!”

Cue me walking to my car, shaking my head in disbelief, and wishing that I would’ve responded, “Yes. I’m drinking for two now,” if I hadn’t been so caught off guard. To this day, I’m still not sure how that whole exchange happened.

Several years ago, I was shopping at a discount retailer. I found a cart of items with a big sign saying, “Take an extra 50% off the lowest ticketed price. Discount will be taken at the register.” So, I found three items: a $1.00 item that would be $0.50, a $3.00 item that would be $1.50, and lastly, a $5.00 item that would be $2.50.

I picked out a few other things around the store and got in line. It was a long line, and there was only one cashier. I was in line for about twenty minutes before it was my turn. I watched as the cashier used a calculator to figure out the extra 50% discounted price. I paid for my purchases and walked outside.

Then, I started thinking that the price I had paid was more than I had calculated; I looked at the receipt, and I was right. The $1.00 item was rung up as $0.75 instead of $0.50, the $3.00 item was rung up as $2.00 instead of $1.50, and the $5.00 item was rung up as $3.75 instead of $2.50.

I went back into the store to see if I could get my purchases corrected to the right sale prices. There was another long line, so I waited again for at least another fifteen minutes. When I got up to the cashier, I showed her the mistakes on those three items.

Cashier: “No. Those are the correct prices.”

Me: “No, 50% of $1.00 should be $0.50, not $0.75.

Cashier: *Sighing* “Okay, well, you’ll need to wait back in line so I can take care of the rest of these customers.”

I turned around and looked behind me. There were at least ten more customers waiting.

Me: *Politely* “I’ve already waited in line, and I can’t wait any longer. Would you please just go ahead and fix it?”

Cashier: *Sighing again* “Well, you’re going to hold everyone else up, but I’ll do it. I’ll return the items and re-ring them.”

She did the return, and then she started ringing them up again using the calculator. She picked up the $3.00 item first.

Cashier: “Okay. This one should be $2.75.”

Me: “No. With 50% off, that would make it $1.50.”

Cashier: “No, it is $2.75.”

I got out my own calculator and showed her what 50% of $3.00 was. She sighed yet again and entered $1.50.

The next item was the $1.00 item. She did her calculations again and said this one should be $0.75. I got my calculator out again and showed her that it would be $0.50. She sighed again and put in $0.50. 

Lastly, she did the $5.00 item, used her calculator, and came up with $4.25. I got my calculator out again and showed her that 50% of $5.00 should be $2.50. 

She was now upset with me. I did remain patient with her and polite throughout the transaction. 

When she gave me my new total, it was still more than what it should’ve been.

Me: “Could you please tell me what the prices were by item?”

The only one that was wrong was that $5.00 item. She rang it up as four dollars instead of $2.50. I told her politely it should be $2.50, not $4.00.

She didn’t like this at all.

Cashier: *Rather rudely* “I came up with $4.00.”

Me: “Can I speak to a manager, please?”

Cashier: “I am the manager.”

Me: “Fine. Just take the [$5.00 item] off, please.”

She did so and then threw my bag and the receipt at me.

Me: “Can I have your corporate phone number?”

Cashier: “I don’t know it.”

I gathered my bags, and as I walked out, I told her I would find corporate’s phone number and give them a call.

As I was walking out to my car, I heard somebody yelling at me. I turned around, and it was the cashier.

Cashier: “I am the manager! Go ahead and call corporate!”

I got home, found the store’s corporate number, and called them to tell them everything that happened. I gave them the cashier’s name and told them she’d said she was the manager.

Two days later, I got a phone call from a man saying he was the district manager. He apologized to me for my experience, and he said he would look into it and then call me back.

A few more days passed, and the district manager did call me back. He said he looked into the situation. He had spoken to the real manager of that store, who would contact me next.

The real manager, who was a male, did call me back and apologize to me for what happened. They had investigated the incident, and the cashier who’d claimed that she was the manager was no longer there. 

It was a small amount of money, but either she didn’t know what she was doing or she was ripping customers off intentionally.

Related:
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 10
The More You Read, The Worse It Gets, Part 9
The More You Read, The Worse It Gets, Part 8
The More You Read, The Worse It Gets, Part 7
The More You Read, The Worse It Gets, Part 6