(I’ve been driving cross-country and looking everywhere for a mini-USB cable. I pull into a well-known electronics shop. It is very small inside, and there are two employees present.)

Me: “Hi, do you have any mini-USB cables?”

Employee: “Sure.” *shows me micro-USB cables*

Me: “No, I need mini, not micro. It’s for my camera.”

Employee: “Oh. I might have one in the back.”

(He goes to look. It’s a very small store, and he is back in less than five minutes.)

Employee: “Found one!”

Me: “Really!? Oh, that’s great! Thank you. I’ve been looking for one since Georgia! How much is it?”

Employee: *looks at me a moment* “There’s no tag. I think it’s too old for one.”

Me: “Oh. So, how much?”

Employee: “$20. Cash only. No receipt.”

Me: *laughs, thinking he is joking*

Employee: *stares at me expectantly, clearly not joking*

Me: “Never mind.” *leaves*

(To this day, I regret not calling back to talk to a manager. No wonder you don’t see many of this store anymore.)

(I work at a well-known electronics retailer that recently filed for bankruptcy. The customer base is primarily middle-aged men. I am a woman. Every day I have at least one conversation like this one:)

Me: *to male customer* “Hi, welcome to [Store]! How can I help you today?”

Customer: *condescendingly* “Oh, don’t worry about it, honey; I’ll wait until he’s free.” *gestures to my male boss, who hates it when people disrespect his employees*

Boss: “Oh, I’m going to be a while.”

(My boss sits at the desk and opens a magazine, very obviously ignoring the customer. The customer actually stands and stares at my boss for a few moments, waiting for him to finish.)

Boss: “Y’know, you can ask [My Name] if you need help. She does actually know what she’s doing.”

Customer: *huffing* “Fine.” *to me, very slowly and slightly louder than necessary* “I’m looking for a special kind of caaaaablllle—” *holds up his hands to indicate a cable* “—that will connect my laaaaptop to my TV.”

Me: “Sir, I am neither deaf nor mentally disabled. You’re looking for an HDMI cable. We have six-foot or nine-foot, and would you prefer blue or black?”

Customer: *startled* “Oh! Um, six-foot, black, please.”

Me: “Okay, that’ll be right over here with our LAN and Ethernet cables, next to the splitters. Here you are; is there anything else I can help you with today?”

Customer: *sheepish* “No, thank you. That’s all I needed.”

(I rang him up and he left. Only one of these kinds of customers ever actually apologized to me, but they all left fairly red-faced.)

(This conversation is over the phone.)

Customer: “Yeah, I hooked my printer up, but it won’t work! And when I go to select the printer, there are two of them there!”

Me: “Do they both have the same name?”

Customer: “Yes, but one has the number two after it in brackets.”

Me: “Have you tried printing to each of them?”

Customer: “No, just the first one.”

Me: “Okay, why don’t you try to print to the one with the two in the name, and see if that works, before we go any further?”

Customer: “No, I don’t think that’s the problem. It’s not working.”

Me: “Did you try printing to the second printer?”

Customer: “Why don’t you just transfer me to someone else who can help better?”

(I figure this comment was made because I’m a girl, and it happens a lot, which is annoying. I transfer him to an associate who is a guy. After he hangs up, I ask him if they customer got it working.)

Coworker: “Yeah, I just told him to try printing to the second one, and it worked.”

Me: “Did he question you about it?”

Coworker: “No.”

Me: “But that’s exactly what I said to do!”

(I work at a popular electronics store where customers are able to try out items. I notice that one customer left her social media account logged in on one of the computers. Since she has left the store, I log out for her. A few minutes later, she and her mother come back.)

Mom: “Excuse me. I think my daughter left her [Website] account logged in here.”

Me: “Oh, yeah! Don’t worry. I logged out for her.”

Mom: “You messed with her account?”

Me: “Of course not! I just—”

Mom: “You tried to hack it, didn’t you?”

Me: “No, I just logged off.”

Mom: “I’m going to sue you for hacking!”

(She left with her very embarrassed daughter.)

(I fix computers and electronics at a small-town electronics shop, in what is a pretty touristy town in the summer. In the winter the lake is frozen over and the tourists tend to stay home. It is currently the middle of winter, and well below freezing. My manager walks over.)

Manager: “Hey, you have a lot of experience working with small things; do you think you could fix this?”

(I look up to see a ten- to twelve-year-old girl peeking over my counter, and my manager hands me a pair of swim goggles with the nose-piece in the center unclipped from both eye cups.)

Me: “Uh… Sure? I can take a look?”

Manager: “I tried to get them back together, but my fingers just can’t work with something that small.”

(I manage to get the nose piece snapped back onto the eye cups, fixing the swimming goggles.)

Me: “Here you go.”

(My manager hands them back to the little girl, who whispers something to my manager and hands her something I can’t see. The little girl runs off happily.)

Manager: “You get a treat!”

(She hands me a small chocolate bar that the girl has given her to give me.)

Me: “Uh, thanks?”

Manager: “She couldn’t figure out why her mother sent her here to get those fixed. I guess because it’s difficult.”

(I was left very touched by the little girl sharing her treat, but very confused why she was sent to an electronics store to get swim goggles fixed… and wondering where she was going to go swimming in the frozen-over lake.)