There’s a regular customer who always comes in with her five-year-old granddaughter who, as she claims, chose to be a vegan. They always order wheat bread and request for the staff to change their gloves and to use a new knife.

One day, there’s no line, and I see the woman come in. On that, I immediately take off the gloves I’m using and go to the back to get a fresh knife, and when I return, I wash my hands and put on a fresh pair of gloves, while in view of the woman. As soon as I am at the counter, ready to take her order…

Customer: “My granddaughter is a vegan. Can you go get a new knife and change your gloves?”

Internal facepalm.

I am fourteen. It’s a morning shift working drive-thru. I’m the person that hands you your card. My coworker finishes an order and they pull up to my window. It’s three twenty-year-old guys.

Me: “All righty, your total is $16.80.”

Guy #1: “All right.” *Hands me his card*

[Guy #2] is right next to him while [Guy #3] is in the backseat. While [Guy #1] is handing me the card, [Guy #3] moans and the other two start laughing. I ignore this and continue the transaction. I then hand the card back and pull them forward, BUT they pull up just a little to where [Guy #3] can face me.

Guy #3: “You’re beautiful, very pretty!”

Me: *In my customer service voice* “Thank you, sir, but please pull forward!”

I then slammed the window on him and walked away before he had the CHANCE! No way in h*** was THAT gonna happen!

I work in a food service establishment with “bagels” in the name. We’re known for our New York-style bagels and we’re only open during breakfast and lunch.

Customer: “I’ll have a sausage, egg, and cheese.”

Me: “And what bagel would you like that on?”

Customer: “Bagel?”

I gesture to the wall of bagels behind me.

Customer: “Don’t they come on wraps?”

Me: “We used to offer wraps, but corporate discontinued them.”

Customer: “Oh, never mind.”

Like, what? Bagels are in the name. We’re not called [Store] Wraps; we’re [Store] Bagels.

A family member picked up some groceries yesterday but got the wrong flavor of an item. I forgot to put some stuff on the weekly grocery list that I needed for meals this week, so I volunteer to go.

I decide to exchange the wrong item first and then go around and grab the other items I need. I walk up to the customer service desk, and after explaining, the manager there tells me to get what I need. I come back to a line. The service desk has three registers; the one on the side has a temporary rope barrier forming a line with signs that say, “For lottery, please enter here.”

I get in line behind an employee (probably shopping on her break) at the other end. Another woman gets in line behind me and an older man gets in the lottery line. He immediately starts huffing and puffing that there is another line.

Man: *Rather loudly* “I guess no one can read the signs.”

Me: *Deadpan and looking straight at him* “No, I guess not.”

He gets red-faced and we can tell he is getting mad.

Woman Behind Me: “I don’t play lottery, so why would I get in that line?” *Towards me* “I guess today is lottery day, huh?”

Me: “I wouldn’t know. I don’t play this stuff.”

All the while, the guy is getting madder and madder while the woman and I exchange pleasantries. Then, the manager tells me to come to the counter. I point to the employee in front me.

Me: “She was here first.”

I figure the poor girl is on break and probably doesn’t have a long time, and I can wait. The man huffs rudely.

Man: “I’m in a hurry, if you don’t mind.”

Woman Behind Me: “We all are.”

The manager quickly finished with the employee, with the man complaining the whole time. I motioned to take the rude man before me. Another employee called me up to a register next to him.

The rude man in a hurry poured out pennies on the counter to pay for his lottery tickets. He then complained when the manager had the unmitigated gall to actually COUNT each coin.

As I was checking out, the manager came up to me, apologized for making me wait, and thanked me for letting him get the man out quickly. He told me the man comes in every week, is rude, claims he is always in hurry, complains about having to wait even for thirty seconds, pays for a stack of lottery tickets with pennies and nickels, and complains on the way out. 

I told him not to worry about it because there are far greater things in the world to be upset about.

Related:
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 20
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 19
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 18
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 17
In Line And Out Of Line, Part 16

A long time ago, before computers were common, I worked at a college. Many students needed to verify grades and attendance to the sources of their financial assistance. In some cases, they had to pay money back.

A young guy came in with an older guy, presumably his father.

Young Guy: “I need a letter stating I was enrolled during the most recent semester.”

Me: “Just fill out this form.”

He filled out the form and I printed something off of the microfiche. (Really!) The guy looked at the paper.

Young Guy: “No, I need a letter saying that I attended the last semester.”

Me: “I can only print a transcript.”

I looked at the transcript and realized he didn’t attend the semester in question.

Young Guy: “Can’t you just say I attended?”

Me: “No, I really can’t.”

As they walked away, I heard:

Dad: “I told you so!”