I am stocking shelves with my back to the store and don’t realize a customer has walked up behind me and asked something. She gives a little “ahem” and I turn around immediately.

Me: “Oh, hello! I’m sorry. What did you need?”

Customer: “Excuse me?! Well, nothing now!”

She turns to walk away.

Me: “I’m so sorry; I didn’t see you at first. Was there something you needed?”

Customer: “There was, but I don’t want it now! I can’t believe this!”

She walks back to her companion, takes the item he is holding out of his hands, and puts it on a nearby shelf. Then, she walks up to my manager, and I overhear what has to be the most sarcastic complaint ever. 

Customer: “Oh, I am so sorry. Can you please tell that girl how absolutely sorry I am that I interrupted her very important work with my little question? I cannot believe I would do such a thing and she was obviously oh, so busy that I’m just so ashamed I even thought of asking anything!”

With that, she grabbed her companion and they walked out, her companion looking thoroughly confused. My manager walked up to me and asked what had happened, and even when I explained, she still gave me a verbal warning for not being vigilant enough! I really hated that boss.

I have been working at my store for fourteen years. I’ve seen new babies and children growing up, but sometimes I forget just how long I’ve been here.

One day, I am sitting in the breakroom and a bunch of new hires come in on break from their tour of the store. One of the teenagers comes over to me.

Teen: “Hey, [My Name]!”

I’m still wearing my nametag so I just assume that is how he knows my name. I smile at him.

Me: “Hey! Welcome to the store.”

Teen: “You probably don’t remember me, do you?”

Me: “Um… no… I’m sorry.”

Teen: *Grins* “I have been coming through your line since I was about five years old.”

And then I felt old! But I eventually did remember him. When he was five or so, he came in with his mom to buy groceries. He had this little toy horse that was on wheels that he could pull behind him. The mom was $1 short in order to get it and she told him he would have to put it back. He didn’t scream or throw a fit; he just looked heartbroken as he handed me the toy. I felt so bad that I gave her the $1 she needed in order to afford her groceries and the toy. Apparently, he never forgot. He’s still a super sweet guy.

I’m in the shoe department of a department store. It’s an unusually busy day for a weekday and the two girls working are doing their best running registers and working with customers needing sizes. They are doing pretty well keeping up but I can tell they are getting tired from running back and forth.

A certain customer starts causing major slowdowns. She continuously walks up to the workers asking questions while they are helping other customers, which is rude to start off with. She then starts grabbing shoes and bringing them to the workers asking what they’re made of.

Worker: “Ma’am, I’m helping another customer at the moment, but if you look in the tongue of the shoe it will tell you if it is man-made materials or leather.”

The customer just stares at her. I can tell that other customers are getting annoyed, as well.

Worker: “Do… Do you need me to look for you?”

Customer: “Yes, that’s why I asked!”

Worker: “It’s man-made materials.”

The customer snatches the shoe back. This happens about two more times, both while the workers are checking someone out or answering questions for other customers who have patiently waited their turn.

The third time this happens, the lady shoves a shoe in the worker’s face while she’s talking to another customer at the register. The worker finally snaps.

Worker: “Is this some kind of weird power trip for you or something?!”

Customer: “No! Just when I ask you to do something you should do it!”

Their customer left shortly after the worker confronted her. I am unsure if she even purchased anything. She needed to be put in her place at some point!

I start wearing a Santa hat through the winter holidays, starting from Black Friday until the end of December. Every single shift, I wear that silly hat along with my nice dress and shoes. I get some friendly teasing about it from my coworkers, but my managers don’t care and even encourage it.

I’m in the staff room with some coworkers on Black Friday, sharing stories about the impossible customers they’ve had to deal with that day.

Coworker #1: “Ugh, I can’t believe I have six more hours to go.”

Coworker #2: “If that one lady is still down there when my break is over, I’m going to hide.”

Coworker #1: *Turning to me* “How’s your day been?”

Me: “Fine. I haven’t had any trouble yet.”

Coworker #1: “Seriously, no one’s yelled at you today?”

Me: “Nope.”

Coworker #1: “Ugh, lucky. You have fewer people to deal with in Jewelry.”

Me: “Nah, we’re slammed, and plenty of them are jerks.”

Coworker #2: “But you’re always so energetic and smiling, I think they’re less likely to get mad at you.”

Me: “Oh, I get screamed at plenty during the rest of the year, but people hold back during the holidays.”

I flick the pom-pom end of my Santa hat.

Me: “No matter how much of a jerk someone is, very few people want others to see them being the kind of jerk who screams at a girl in a Santa hat during Christmas.”

My coworkers both stare at me in silence, before [Coworker #1] slams up out of her chair.

Coworker #1: “I’m going to the [Holiday Store] next door! Be right back!”

Coworker #2: “I’m coming, too!”

And that was how half the staff started wearing Santa hats in the following weeks.

A woman looks around for a few minutes and comes up to the register. We are a department store that sells mostly clothing and cosmetics; we are not a grocery store or a supermarket and it is very obvious we don’t sell grocery items.

Customer: “Where is your cat food?” 

Me: “Ma’am, we don’t have cat food. [Major Retailer] down the road has cat food and I think [Pharmacy Chain] across the street does, too.”

Customer: “I don’t want to go to [Major Retailer]. I came here for a reason. What department is your cat food in?” 

Me: “There isn’t any cat food in this store, ma’am. This is [Store]. We don’t sell that kind of thing.” 

Customer: “Okay. Thanks, I guess.”

She then goes on to write a bad review to our store manager about how the cashier wouldn’t tell her where the cat food was and how we should have a better selection of pet items. 

My manager laughs at it the next day in our usual morning meeting.

Manager: “You can’t fix stupid.”