I work in the gift shop of an aquarium. We are close to the entrance, so I often end up answering visitor questions. I generally try to be proactive in talking to guests, especially if they look confused or lost.

On this day, it wasn’t all that busy, so I had pulled a couple of boxes from the back and was restocking the shelves. A lady wandered into the store, looking around but basically making a beeline right for where I was, so I stood up as she approached.

Me: “Hello! Welcome to [Aquarium]! How has your visit been today?”

Woman: *Silence*

Me: *After a few moments* “Is there anything I can help you with today?”

She continued to not say anything, looking anywhere in the store but at me.

Me: *After a few more moments* “All right, well, just let me know if you need anything.”

I turned to start stocking again. The moment I turned away, the lady suddenly and abruptly cleared her throat. I turned to look at her, just in time to see her sharply look away and keep looking around anywhere but me.

I turned back to the box, and sure enough, she once more loudly cleared her throat. Now, while I’m more than happy to help people, I’m not really willing to put up with being yanked around, so I simply kept pulling items out of the box.

She cleared her throat three more times before finally flouncing out of the gift shop entirely.

One night, as my coworker and I were about to close the gift shop where I used to work, a bird flew in the door. We had been leaving the door open since it was a nice summer evening. This was obviously a problem for both us and the bird.

I texted my manager to see if she had any experience with this kind of thing. It turned out it wasn’t the first time a bird had found its way in the door. In the past, birds had been unable to find their way out and would just fly into the front windows over and over again, hurting themselves and merchandise. My manager recommended getting a piece of bread and creating a little trail leading out the door.

While my coworker was locating a piece of bread, I slowly approached the bird and whistled at it. It just seemed like the thing to do. It promptly flew directly out the door. I don’t know what I said to it in bird language, but apparently, it worked.

With our bird crisis averted, my coworker and I finished closing as normal. We split a baguette, and I briefly got a reputation as a Disney princess.

I’ve worked in retail for a little over five years now. I work at a local gift shop, and it’s pretty small, so we don’t get too many rude people, but I still have some interesting stories since I also live in a small town.

A customer walks in holding a large jug of laundry detergent, and since we’re just a gift shop, I know he’s not trying to make a return or anything, so I wonder what he’s carrying it around for. He shops around for a bit and grabs a few items to bring up to the register. I scan everything while he starts to chat with a coworker of mine.

The total ends up being $20 even, and he then hands me the jug of detergent. Of course, I’m confused, wondering if he is trying to barter with me or something. He must notice the confused look on my face because he elaborates before I can ask.

Customer: “The money is in there, my dear.”

Even more confused, I take the jug from him and it’s HEAVY. I open it and it is completely full of quarters.

Me: “Uhh, is this all you have?”

He simply nodded and continued to talk to my coworker, so I had to stand there and count out $20 worth of quarters. I was thankful that there were no other customers because it took a good few minutes, mainly because I had to dump quarters out onto the counter since the jug was one of those ones with a small pour spout on the top.

Once I was finally done counting, he thanked me and went on his merry way, taking his quarter jug with him. He was definitely nice and stuff, and honestly, it wasn’t even a big deal, especially since small change is always more than welcome. I’m just thankful I didn’t have to count out $20 in pennies.

I work in a museum. Due to the recent health crisis, coupled with an extremely busy summer, our gift shop has been running low on product. Rather than have gaps throughout the store, we’ve consolidated what product we do have and left one small section of shelves completely bare.

Customer: *Sternly* “You know you have bare shelves?”

Me: *Begins the usual spiel* “Yes, unfortunately, it been very difficult for us to get product lately, so we’ve—”

Customer: “I don’t believe that! You’re just a bad worker!”

I think, “Surely, he’s just messing around?”

Me: “Haha, nah. I’m just a big fan of the clean shelf aesthetic.”

Customer: “No! You’re just a bad worker!” *Storms out*

I’m now less sure he’s joking, but I forget about it for a few minutes until I hear a commotion at the front desk from a familiar voice.

Customer: “I WAS FORCED TO LOOK AT DINOSAUR A**HOLES!”

Apparently, the man left the museum only to return and vent his various frustrations to one of my coworkers and a security guard.

Customer: “I’M GOING TO CALL TOMORROW, AND I EXPECT TO TALK TO WHOEVER’S IN CHARGE ABOUT THIS! OTHERWISE, I’M COMING BACK!” *Storms out again*

I explain to my coworkers what he said in the store.

Security: “Yeah, he seemed to be under the impression that the shelves were bare because we’re hiding product from the new exhibit from him.”

Me: “But, we do have [New Exhibit] products; they’re on the very first table he’d have seen when he walked in!”

Coworker: “I tried to tell him that, but I couldn’t get a word in.”

Me: “And the dinosaur a**holes?”

Security: *Sighs* “He was also upset that some of the dinosaur skeletons were facing away from him when he got to that section, ‘forcing’ him to stare at their butts.”

In this museum, there are two directions you can walk; one is more oriented for the new exhibits, while the other is more oriented for the dinosaur exhibits. He apparently chose the former, so when he reached the dinosaurs, some of them were “backward”.

Security: “He also believed we were hiding snacks from him.”

Me: “We haven’t sold snacks in the gift shop in years.”

Security: “Not according to him. Anyway, he demanded [Manager]’s number, so I’ll warn them they may have an interesting voicemail on their office phone tomorrow.”

A lady customer who was waiting in line behind the guy (and clearly had been trying to contain her laughter) passes us to enter the dinosaur exhibits.

Lady: “For what it’s worth, I’m now kind of excited to see some dinosaur a**es!”

That gave us all a good laugh!

Later, the guy revealed he was a long-time member! So, not only should he have been familiar with the direction of the dinosaur skeletons (seeing as they haven’t changed in years), but we now have all the info we need to trespass him if he returns!

I am working in the gift shop at a zoo to get by while I am in college. The shop is pretty big; from one end, you can’t really see the other end. There’s one checkout next to the entrance; it’s kind of on its own at that side of the shop. Then there are the three main checkouts at the other end of the shop by the exit.

One day, I’m standing at the checkout by the entrance. I like working on that one because it’s never busy; people don’t normally walk through the whole shop and then go back to the entrance to pay. It’s an odd place to have a checkout, but I’m not complaining — easy day for me.

A guy walks out of the zoo and into the shop. He immediately turns and looks at me.

Guy: “Is this checkout open?”

Me: “Yes, is there something you’re looking for?”

He doesn’t respond and just walks back out of the shop and back into the zoo. Bit weird, I think, but I don’t really think anything more of it and carry on working.

About half an hour later, my manager comes over and asks me to cash up and go and takeover from someone at one of the main checkouts. I cash up and close the checkout. I turn all the lights off, put a cover over the desktop, and put out the sign that tells people to pay at the exit.

These are all pretty clear signs that the checkout isn’t open, especially the literal sign.

A while later, I’m working on the main checkouts and this guy comes stomping up. I realize it’s the same guy that came in like an hour ago asking if that checkout was open.

Guy: “I’ve been stood waiting at that checkout for twenty minutes!”

Me: “Sorry, sir, that checkout has been closed. You can pay here, though.”

Guy: “Well, you told me it was open, and now you’ve wasted my time!”

Me: “Again, I apologize, but we closed that checkout.”

Guy: *More annoyed* “I came in before and you told me that it was open. You lied to me.”

Me: “Sir, the checkout was open an hour ago; since then we’ve closed it. There was a sign that says to pay over here.”

Guy: “Well, I didn’t see any sign, how am I supposed to know it’s closed? And why would you close it after telling me it’s open?”

I’ve had enough. How clueless is this guy? Who in their right mind comes into a shop an hour beforehand to see if a checkout’s open? Things aren’t going to be the same an hour later. How could he not tell that it was closed? Every other customer had no issue with seeing that. Did he not notice flocks of people walking past with items to pay at the other end?

Me: “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but again, we closed that checkout a little while ago. I’ll see what we can do about making it more obvious that the checkout’s closed.”

Guy: “It’s just poor customer service. You’ve wasted my time here! Your management is going to know about this. Just check me out so I can leave.”

I thought it best to not say it out loud, but I was thinking, “You’re d*** right they will. My manager’s going to love this one.”