(I am the assistant manager of a gas station when I am in college. In our area, gas pumps are just being changed to prepay only to avoid drive-offs. People who drive off without paying for their gas are a special kind of evil, by the way. The way our gas pumps are set up, we can see all but the last two of them from behind the counter, so those last two are the only pumps set at prepay only. One day, I am working by myself and it is a pretty busy day. The last prepay pump keeps beeping at me but I have been told by my boss that I should never turn it on for anyone without them paying first so I just keep ignoring the beeping. Finally, after 15 minutes of beeping, an older lady wearing a sweatshirt that says, “Jesus is the reason for the season,” comes bursting into the store.)

Customer: “Your f****** pump is broken! You should really put a d*** sign on it so that people will f****** know it’s broken!”

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t realize we had a broken pump. Do you mind telling me which pump it is so that I can put a sign up?”

Customer: “That’s not my f****** job, but just so you know, it’s number 12.”

(Number 12. The prepay-only pump.)

Me: “I’m so sorry for the misunderstanding, ma’am, but that pump has recently been changed to a prepay-only pump. We can’t turn it on unless you pay first.”

(At this point, the customer wearing the “Jesus is the reason for the season” sweatshirt completely loses it. She starts yelling and screaming about how that is the most ridiculous thing that she’s ever heard of and that we should have a sign on the pump that says that it’s a prepay-only pump. When I try to explain that the pump in question actually does have a prepay only sign on it, she takes it as a personal insult and a challenge and tells me she is going back out there to look, and that if that pump doesn’t have a sign on it, then I will pay for her gas with my job. She rushes back outside, comes back in a minute later with a red face, and, without another word, throws two $20s at me and goes outside to pump her gas. Her car only holds $30 so she has to come back in and get her change. The whole time she is in line she is seething and muttering various expletives about me. When I hand her her $10 in change, I smile very sweetly and look pointedly at “Jesus is the reason for the season” written across her shirt.)

Me: “I hope you have a great day! Nice shirt, by the way.”

(And then, this little old lady started swinging at me across the counter. If I hadn’t have stepped back, I would have gotten a solid right hook to the eye. It took two of my regular customers to pull her away from the counter and out of the store. The whole time, she was struggling to get to me and shouting the foulest language.)

(I work in a gas station well known for its coffee and sandwiches, I have just finished working a 15 hour shift and it is 5:30 in the morning, an older gentlman approaches my coffee station and starts pouring a cup of decaf, I was told off the day before for not interacting with customers enough)

Me: Good morning Sir, Oh, you are getting decaf? I’m so tired that I couldn’t possibly drink decaf!
Old man: (Throwing his drink and cup in the trash and storming off angrily)
Me: Oh… Ohkay
(A few minutes pass and I forget about the incident until my General Manager approaches me)
Manager: That gentleman said you were extremely rude to him and made fun of him for the type of coffee he was drinking, watch what you say to people

(This happened to me in my days as a pump attendant. In the defence of the customer i did neglect to ask them a crucial piece of information before starting the pump. I was outside with my colleague chatting with them, it was nearly the end of my work day when a new Ford diesel super duty pulls up and asks for 20 dollars of diesel. Most people who ask for 20 dollars of fuel usually just hand me a 20 dollar bill so i decided to just pump it without asking, and this happened)
Me: OK so that’ll be $20
(Customer shoves a debit card at me, tells me the pin and his member number, and says he wants a receipt)
Me: (saying inside “oh crap”) oh…..OK, I’ll be back in a minute.
(I go inside and attempt to pay but I forgot the pin, so i go back out)
Me: Hi, sorry I seem to have gotten your pin wrong. What was it again?
Customer: buddy! Come on! You should have asked me how I was paying first! It’s (pin)!
(I go back inside, enter the pin info correctly but apparently got his member number wrong. I’m just finishing up and getting his receipt when he comes in)
Me: Oh! Hi! OK so I got it all done for you, here’s your receipt….
(He looks at me with a very condescending expression, points at my nametag, says my name out loud, just nods, turns around and walks out. This was the end of my shift so i went into the back to start changing out of my work gear, when my Co worker comes in)
Co worker: so that guy you helped just came back in screaming “where’s that (name) kid! He got my member number wrong! If i see him again I’m going to pin him against the wall!”
(After that moment i never failed to ask how the customer was paying before hand. I’ve had angry customers before but they’ve never threatened to physically harm me. Funny thing is i have a Co worker with the same name as me and he came back another day, saw his nametag, and started giving him a hard time!)

(I am filling up my car at a gas station when a fairly disheveled man comes up and tries to open my passenger door. When I call out, he walks around, gets up really close to me, and tells me that he needs a ride. I am leery, given that he is twitching and quite a bit bigger than I am. The gas station attendant comes out and ends up shooing him away. Immediately afterward, a man standing at the next pump over pipes up.)

Man: “Wow. You’re a real jerk, aren’t you?”

Me: “What?”

Man: “That man has nothing, and you couldn’t even give him a ride.”

Me: “I didn’t see you offering to give him a ride, either.”

(He gave me a little glare before driving off past where the man was standing on the sidewalk. I did consider driving over to give the man a ride, but a police car pulled up and the officer got out and started talking to the man, so I left it at that.)

(A customer turns in $4 worth of scratcher winnings and has a $0.89 drink. This takes place just after I told him how much he won on them.)

Customer: “I’d like $14 out on pump three, please.”

Me: “All right, that will be $10.83 altogether.”

(The customer hands me two five-dollar bills and starts looking at a pocket full of change.)

Customer: “Wait, what? No, I wanted $14 in gas.”

Me: “Yes, you owe $10 for the gas and 83 cents for the drink.”

Customer: “But I want $14 in gas.”

Me: “You won $4 on your scratchers, so you still owe $10 for the gas, and the drink is 83 cents.”

Customer: “So, what do I owe you still?”

Me: “You still owe 83 cents.”

Customer: “But I had $4 on those scratchers and wanted $14 in gas.”

Me: “Yes, you already gave me two fives for the gas and just owe for the drink; did you want it rung up separately?”

Customer: “No.”

Me: *giving up on trying to reason with him* “It’s just 83 more cents and you’re good to go.”

Customer: *counts out change and hands it to me* “All right, if that’s what I still owe…”