(I work in a store that is predominantly staffed by foreigners, but I am Caucasian. A customer approaches my till.)

Customer: “Hi, there.”

Me: “Good evening.”

(I start scanning the woman’s sizable cartload of groceries.)

Customer: “I’m so glad to see a white person behind the till for once!”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Customer: “Well, I am so sick of dealing with all these foreigners every time I want to buy some groceries! I’ll be sure to come back here when you are working in future!”

Me: “Uh, ma’am? You may leave now. I will not serve someone as incredibly rude and racist as you.”

Customer: “What do you mean, you won’t serve me?!”

Me: “Exactly what I said. Leave now. You will not receive service here, from me or anyone else.”

Customer: “How dare you?! I demand to speak to your manager at once!”

Me: “Certainly, ma’am. Let me call him over for you.”

(I call the manager on duty over to my register. The manager in question is a Chinese immigrant.)

Manager: *in a thick Chinese accent* “What’s the problem?”

(The customer’s face turned paper white, and she virtually ran from the store, leaving all her groceries behind. My manager turned to look at me, but it took ten minutes for him to get an explanation because I was laughing so hard.)

It’s a very busy day at work because parents are trying to scramble and buy groceries before school starts.

I see two little boys walking barefooted:

Me: Hey kids, where are your shoes?

Boys:  in my mom’s car.

Me to the mom: Please — (I was cut off by the mom)

Mom (in a very rude tone): I got it. They’re fine

Me: But– (cut off again by the mom)

Mom: Are you not listening?! I got this!

At that point, I was tired and ready to go  home. I simply wanted to let the mom know that the boys should have been wearing shoes because I didn’t want them to cut themselves with debris  such as broken glass or wooden splinters from the floor.

(I used to work in a grocery store which also had the possibility of cashing out/putting in money directly to your bank account. We had a regular old lady who used to come in with an expired card or no ID at all. Since I was not at all trained to do these transactions, I had to call the store manager:)

Me: “Hello, what can I do for you today?”

Old lady: “I want take out money from my bank account.”

Me: “Sure, that’s no problem. How much?”

Old lady: I’ll have [Amount of money]”
(She then proceeds to just hand me her card, expecting me to know her pin)

Me: “I’m sorry m’am, but I don’t know your pin. And this card is expired.”

Old lady: “Yes you do. I always use this card!”

(At this point, I actually recognizes her, and call for help, before gesturing to the other customers in line to change registers, as only one can be used for her kind of transaction.)

Me: “There will be someone with you very soon, m’am. It won’t be long.”

(I then move to the other register, just across the lane we are in, when she apparently loses her cool.)

Old lady: “Excuse me!? Where is he? I am waiting. Where the f**k is Frederik. Have you even called for help!?

(I’m just sitting there, reassuring here that help will be there soon, and that I cannot help her. This was a regular occurence, and I never remembered her between each time.)

(I am a cashier at a local grocery store that prides itself on offering the very best customer service. I have just been talking to the coworker that is bagging for me about the fantastic ice cream sale we have going on that week, when an older lady and her very elderly mother come to my line.)

Me: Hi! How are you today?

Daughter: We’re good.

(I ring up most of their items and when I get to the ice cream I scan it and say:)

Me: See, [Coworker]! The ice cream was on sale! I told ya.

(The rest of the sale goes pleasantly and I tell them to have a great day as they leave. A few minutes later my manager asks to speak with me privately.)

Manager: A lady stopped me in the parking lot to tell me that you had called her mother a stupid old lady to [Coworker]. She said we need to fire you. Why would you say something like that?

Me: *shocked almost to the point of tears* I would NEVER talk about someone’s mother like that! I have no idea why she would say that.

(I have to go in the bathroom later to keep myself from crying, as my manager believed the customer over me. I didn’t get written up, but I did get a verbal warning. We never got to the bottom of it either. My only thought was she misheard when I was talking about the ice cream. I have never seen those ladies again.)

(I’m a bisexual female wearing a rainbow wristband. I am checking out a customer I have sometimes seen around the store. The customer has been friendly enough to me up until this point.)

Customer: *points at my wristband* “You’re one of those queer f******!”

(Occasionally, I deal with things like this, so I try to keep my cool.)

Me: “I prefer the term ‘bisexual,’ ma’am.”

Customer: “The Lord says you’ll burn in Hell! He condemns those who sleep with the same gender!”

(I sigh and endure this abuse for a bit longer because she has, unfortunately, purchased A LOT of items. Soon, I decide to ask her to stop after a particularly abusive comment.)

Me: “Look, ma’am, you can have the views you want on homosexuality, but please realize that abusing a cashier is not an appropriate response, especially in front of children.”

Customer: *shouting* “I will not do anything you tell me! God hates [slur]s, and therefore, so do I!”

(A girl who can’t be older than fourteen walks up to the woman who is ranting at me.)

Girl: “Hi.”

Customer: *coldly* “Hello.”

(The customer then continues yelling at me.)

Girl: “You’re not being very nice to the cashier. She never did anything to you. All she was doing was checking out your items.”

(I see the girl’s mom looking surprised and slightly pale.)

Customer: “So? God hates people like her.”

Girl: “That’s not true. I’ve seen you at church, ma’am, and I recall the pastors teaching us that God loves everyone. And He makes everyone, right? Doesn’t that mean that He made her?”

(The customer seems about ready to give up, but has something else to say.)

Customer: “It literally says in the Bible that He condemns homosexuality, so why don’t you go back to being a good Christian girl and love the Lord like everyone else?”

Girl: *visibly getting tired of this* “You know, I seem to recall that the Bible said it’s okay to own slaves and that women were the property of men. Please step out of your homophobic bubble and take a look at modern American society.”

(The customer goes magenta in the face and leaves, sputtering, with her groceries.)

Me: *to the girl’s mother* “You have raised an extraordinary daughter.”

Mother: “Don’t I know it!”

(I never saw the homophobic customer again, but I saw the girl and her mother several times at the store while I worked there and gave them a discount on their purchase each time.)