(I’m a fan of children’s TV show and I wear a necklace with the “mark” of one of my favorite characters. For the most part, people believe that I just like rainbows or am pro-homosexuality, and I hear very little about it. This incident is when I am ringing up a woman and her little girl has been staring at me for a while.)

Me: *scanning items* “So, are you guys having a nice day?”

Woman: *not looking at me in the eyes* “Yes.”

Little Girl: *turns to the woman* “Mommy, look at her necklace!”

Me: “Oh? Do you like it? I’m quite the fan of Rainbow.”

Little Girl: “Yeah, I like—”

Woman: “[Little Girl], do not talk to people like her!”

Me: *taken aback* “E-excuse me?”

Little Girl: “Mommy, that’s—”

Woman: “It’s one thing to be like that in your own home on your own time, but to advertise such a thing in public in front of children?”

Me: *starting to catch on* “Oh, I think I might have confused you. I actually have a boyfriend.”

Woman: *not listening* “Then you are trying to brainwash children in liking a sin?”

Me: “Ma’am, this is a symbol from [Popular Children’s TV Show]. It shows which character I like the best.”

(There is an awkward pause.)

Woman: “Wait, what?”

Little Girl: “She has her cutie mark!”

Woman: “Cutie mark?”

Me: “It’s a symbol for a character’s special talent.”

Woman: “Oh… Why didn’t you say so?”

Me: “Love and Tolerance, ma’am. Your total is [amount].”

(The woman was much nicer for the rest of the transaction. Every time the woman and child comes back in, I have fun conversations with the little girl and the mother is almost overly nice. She even asked me if I wanted to babysit!)

(My girlfriend and I just arrived at our hometown’s main station after visiting her family for the weekend. We’re both a bit worn out, yet decide to head to the drug store at the station, as they’re the only one open today. We look around for a bit and some old woman occasionally runs into us and gives us dirty looks. She also complains to some poor employee that the store is too crowded and that they should really “take care who they let in.” Once we’re done picking stuff out, we head over to the registers. Although there are three registers open, the line is quite long. After about three minutes of waiting, the old woman queues up behind us and immediately starts mumbling about poor service, bad organisation, and so on. My girlfriend turns around to say something but decides to stop and whisper to me after seeing one of the woman’s items.)

Girlfriend: “Hey, I didn’t know they carried [Shampoo Brand] here. As we’ll be waiting a little, could you go look for it?”

Me: “Yeah, sure.” *heads off*

(The woman immediately starts talking about how we aren’t allowed to split up and we’ll have to requeue once we got everything, but I don’t think anything of it and leave. I find the shampoo and just below it there’s a little compartment attached to the shelf, which contains coupons for “50% off for any [Shampoo Brand] item,” so I take it. When I come back, my girlfriend is almost at the registers and one of the store clerks waves us over.)

Woman: *behind us* “They can’t go first; they’ll need to requeue. I have done all my shopping before queueing and it’s just unfair that they get to pay before me. I have important things to do!”

(It’s Sunday at 7:30 pm.)

Cashier: “Maybe they just forgot something. We’ll be done here soon, anyway, so please wait your turn.”

Woman: *starts ranting and swearing*

(We put our stuff on the counter and the cashier scans it. Once the [Shampoo Brand] is scanned, I tell her I have a coupon.)

Woman: “Where did you get that coupon? I’m signed up for all coupon programs [Store] offers, but I didn’t get one. You need to give it to me!”

Cashier: “Oh, they’re part of a new system where we place them right below the merchandise in little compartments on the shelf, so you can take them while shopping.”

Woman: “Great. Now you go get them for me; I’ll wait here and pay then.”

Cashier: *a bit taken aback* “I’m sorry, ma’am, I can’t do that for you. I’m at the register right now and I’ll be here all night, so you’ll have to get them yourself.”

Woman: “FINE!” *stomps off*

(We pay and try to sort our packing, which isn’t that easy because of our other luggage, so we’re still there when the woman returns.)

Woman: *runs straight to the register we were at* “Here I am. Scan my stuff now!”

Customer Behind Her: *who has heard everything* “Hey, lady, it’s my turn now.” *now in a mocking tone* “You can go requeue, as I’ve done all my shopping before queueing.”

(Everybody except the woman laughed, and the woman stammered something and left without buying anything.)

I am busy ringing up a customer when someone spills coffee on the floor. They pretend it didn’t happen and walk away. A moment later, an old woman, also carrying coffee, walks by and I warn her not to slip and fall. She mishears me and starts yelling that she is not the one who spilled it.

Then she says, “See? My coffee is a different color!” and proceeds to pour her own coffee on the floor to prove it.

(I am a customer who overhears this exchange. A customer rattles the door of the restroom, which is locked. She calls out to an employee.)

Customer: “The bathroom is locked! I need you to unlock it.”

Employee: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t do that. It’s not a public restroom.”

Customer: “But someone opened it for me before! You need to open this for me. I need to use the bathroom! Can’t you make an exception?”

Employee: “You can go next door to the grocery store. They have a public restroom in the front.” 

Customer: “But I can’t make it there! If I could make it there, I wouldn’t have asked you! Now I’m going to s*** in my pants!”

(I have moved several rows over from this discussion as the customer gets increasingly agitated.)

Employee: “I’m sorry, I can’t open the door.” *goes back to work*

Customer: *stomps off with her cart, shouting* “I just s*** my pants! I HOPE YOU CAN SMELL IT!”

My friend and I popped by a well-known drug store so I could pick up some medicine for my cold. She noticed that tampons were on sale and grabbed a box, along with some chapstick. We got up to the register, I paid for my medicine, and she put the tampons and chapstick on the counter.

The guy at the register visibly paled upon seeing the box and used the chapstick to push the box onto the scanner and then into a bag so that he wouldn’t have to touch an unopened box of tampons. I know periods are bad, but you do realize you don’t magically get them if you touch a box of tampons, right?