A customer approaches me at the grocery store where I work.

Customer: “Hi. They told me the salad dressing was in aisle nine. I’m not from around here. How do I find aisle nine?”

CONTENT WARNING: Stalking

I work in a deli inside a 24-hour grocery store. The deli closes at 10 PM and I stay on after to clean everything. I am down on my knees and scrubbing the back of something when I notice a customer just staring at me.

Me: “Sorry, sir, the deli closed at ten. We’ll be open again tomorrow at six.”

The customer just nods slightly but doesn’t move. I go back to my cleaning and when I emerge from the corner, I see that not only is the customer still there, but he has gotten closer. He is also, from what it looks like, touching himself.

Immediately freaked out and grossed out in equal measure, I run to the back and find my manager.

Me: “There’s a guy out there touching himself while is he looking at me!”

Manager: “What? What do you mean?”

Me: “He is enjoying himself watching me bend over to clean stuff.”

Manager: “Oh… Oh! Is this on camera?”

Me: “It’s at the deli.”

Manager: “Okay, I’ll check it. You go back to cleaning.”

Me: “I am not going back out there if he’s still standing there!”

Manager: *Sighs.* “Fine, I’ll check with you.”

He comes out to the deli, and we can both see that the customer has gone. I know this was a bad idea, but I agree to finish cleaning and my manager leaves. When I am close to finishing, I see the customer again, standing further away in an aisle, but sticking his head around and continuing to stare at me. He doesn’t look away when he sees me notice him.

I run back to my manager to tell him. He rolls his eyes and says I am overreacting.

Me: “Women are killed every day for being gaslit into thinking they’re overreacting. That’s not gonna be me! I am being followed!”

My manager finally agrees to check the footage (I think he was hoping I would forget about it) and we can clearly see the man pleasuring himself while staring at me.

Manager: “I’ll walk you to your car.”

Me: “Are we going to call the police?”

Manager: “That’s… a lot of paperwork.”

Me: “Are you serious?”

Manager: “Look, I’ll walk you to your car. If he comes back I will have a word with him.”

Me: “You will call the police or I am not coming back.”

Manager: “Seriously?”

Me: “Try me.”

He tried me.

I quit.

When I explained to HR why I didn’t hand in my two-week notice, they agreed with me, although I am sure they were just grateful I didn’t take any legal action against the store.

I contacted the police myself, who saw the video and traced the customer via his car registration from the parking lot cameras, which helped me file a restraining order. Some may say I overreacted, but I am still alive and I do not care.

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I am shopping in the frozen meat aisle. I am perusing the shelves when another woman is slowly making her way down the aisle while on her phone. She is speaking loudly, which doesn’t usually bother me, but what she is saying is.

Customer: “Yeah, I need to get the chicken thighs to make that [n-word] fried chicken that they seem to like down at church. You know, the [n-word] kind that has all those spices.”

Shocked at her brazen use of a racial slur (she’s white), I stare at her for a moment, which is when I catch the eye of an employee who is walking past, also in shock from what they just heard. The customer continues.

Customer: “Yeah normally I wouldn’t eat any of that ethnic crap but the kids seem to like it and one of the kids is – y’know – slow and special and they’re bringing that [r-word],[n-word] friend that they seem to like. Put the [n-word]s and [r-word]s together in the corner and they stay out of trouble for the rest of us.”

Still in a trance about how much more offensive this woman can be, I realize I am standing in front of the frozen chicken thighs. Without even thinking, I grab all nine packs and put them in my cart. The woman finally makes it to the thighs section and sniffs in disappointment when she sees that they’re all gone. Then she sees my trolley.

Customer: “Hey, you don’t need all those thighs, do you? I needed some.”

Me: “Sorry, I kinda do. I’m feeding a bunch of special and slow people who also happen to be black. You know how it is.”

Customer: *Eyes wide.* “That was a private conversation!”

Me: “Not at the volume you were speaking, lady.”

Customer: “Give me some of those thighs!”

Me: “Sorry, they’re in my trolley. They’re mine.”

The customer turns to the employee and points to him.

Customer: “You! She’s taking all the thighs! Tell her to give me some.”

Employee: *Who is black.* “Sorry, I’m just a slow [n-word] that doesn’t know anything.”

He walks away and so do I, leaving her sounding like she’s about to screech.

When my husband asked over the next few months why we were always eating chicken thighs I told him we were fighting discrimination.

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I have handed in my notice and it’s my last two weeks of work at the grocery store I have been at for five years. There have been some emotional farewells here and there, but I am mostly happy to be leaving.

We have one notorious customer who is hated by pretty much everyone. Their behavior really should have got them banned but corporate have no backbones so they always get a free pass.

I am working as checkout manager and I am called over to a coworker who is having issues with said customer.

Customer: “You! Train this idiot better! She’s not accepting my coupon!”

Coworker: “Ma’am, like I said I can accept the coupon but for the correct product. This coupon is only for [Store Brand] products and you’ve selected [Premium Brand].”

I take a quick look at the coupon for show, but I already know what it says.

Me: “My checkout clerk is correct, ma’am. This coupon can’t be used with this product.”

Customer: “Are we really going to do this song and dance… again? We both know you have the override code you can just type into your little machine so why don’t you save us all some time and just type it in so I can get on with my day?”

Me: “No, ma’am, I won’t be doing that.”

Customer: “Fine, then I guess we will be calling your manager, who will call corporate, who will tell you to do as I say. And for the inconvenience of wasting my time I will be demanding a discount too.”

Me: “You won’t be doing any of those things, ma’am. In fact, I will be refusing you service today.”

Customer: “Feeling brazen today, are we?” *In a sing-sing voice.* “Someone is about to get fiiiiired!”

Me: *In the same sing-song voice.* “Somebody has already quiiiiit!”

The customer is shocked into silence for a moment, and I feel a sudden wave of courage.

Me: “Get the f*** out of this store and don’t come back. We all loathe you. We’ve never encountered a human being so miserable and hateful as you and the mental anguish you’ve caused us means I am officially banning you as my last act as manager here.”

Customer: “I’m going to call corporate right now!”

Me: “My name is [My Name]. Tell them it was me. They’ll call me and I will say you’re a liability to our store and the mental health of all our staff. I will tell them that you’re the reason I am quitting and more will likely follow me if they let your spiteful soul back in. They won’t risk losing multiple staff to appease one customer who has claimed an uncountable number of unfair discounts over the years.”

The customer is still standing there, not sure what to do now that all their usual threats have failed.

Me: “Well then… off you f***.”

She stood just outside the door and angrily called corporate. As predicted corporate called my manager, who called me in. I told him that if her ban was lifted I am walking out right now and I can think of at least four more checkout clerks on their last mental thread because of that one woman and they were just dying to take a long mental health leave of absence on full pay. 

The ban was upheld.

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I have been working at my grocery store for a few years so whenever we get anyone new on the floor I take them under my wing until they’re up to speed. Our latest hire is a super-sweet sixteen-year-old girl who is working at the weekends to save up enough to not be a burden on her parents who are struggling a bit. She’s super nice and super hard-working.

This is why it pained me to see her walking away from a customer with tears down her face.

Coworker: *Through sniffs and crying.* “Can you please assist the customer in the baking aisle, I… I wasn’t able to give her what she needed.”

She pushed on through to the back to no doubt calm down, and I proceed to the customer she had just interacted. And there she stood… imagine the typical Not Always Right customer and she fitted the description to a tee – the oversized sunglasses, the designer bag, the “I want to speak to the manager” hairstyle, it was almost comical.

Before I could even speak, she starts running her mouth.

Customer: “Hopefully you’ll be of more use to me than that child you have working here. Absolutely useless, I should complain to management about your hiring processes but lucky for you all I am pressed for time.”

She’s pressed for time, but she hasn’t actually asked me anything yet. I stand and smile patiently.

Customer: “I’m making a mirror-glaze cake for the school bake sale and I refuse to be outdone. I need gelatine for the glaze and your stupid little colleague asked me if I would be making the cake for vegetarians! As if I would be stupid enough to accidentally put any meat into my cake!”

I realize my coworker was trying to be helpful and was likely recommending gelatine products that were standard (i.e. made from collagen from animals) or vegetarian options. However, this customer has still not stopped rattling on.

Customer: “I have been making the best cakes at my school bake sales for years and no one can believe they are vegetarian and vegan, and I do not intend to lose this year! Now if you would like to not get management called, please fetch me five more of these.”

The customer holds up a package of the gelatine she is using for her mirror-glaze, a brand that is most definitely NOT vegetarian.

Me: “Certainly, ma’am. I wouldn’t want to tell you how to bake your own cakes, especially when it sounds like you have as much experience as you do.”

She sniffs in approval of my “subservience” and I fetch her items for her.

Just over a week later I am working in another corner of the store, and I hear a loud barrage of obscenities and the voice of my manager trying to calm someone down. I peek my head around the corner, and I see the same customer, snarling and almost foaming at the mouth. She is pointing at my sixteen-year-old coworker and the manager is standing in the way.

When I next see the coworker in the break room, I ask what that was all about.

Coworker: “Oh, that. That woman is the mother of someone I go to school with, the leader of the “mean-girl” pack. Her daughter gets away with bullying because as soon as there is a complaint, she rolls up in her fancy car and strong-arms the principal into doing her bidding.”

Me: “Okay?”

Coworker: “She’s run the school charity bake sale every year since I can remember, something to make her look good but she uses it for bragging rights. She always boasts that her cakes are vegan and such, so when she found me in the aisle last week asking about gelatine I thought I should confirm if she was making a vegan cake or not. That’s when she exploded on me and I… I got a bit upset.”

Me: “You did fine, don’t worry about that.”

Coworker: “Oh I’m not worried. I posted this on the school’s Facebook page on the bake sale event.”

She shows me her phone. She posted this next to a picture of her “vegan” cakes.

Coworker’s Post: “Hey, Mrs. [Customer’s Name] if your cakes are vegan why did you scream at me to the point of crying last week when I tried to stop you from buying [meat-based gelatine] to put into your cake?”

What followed was a string of comments stating shock and disgust, such as “I’m a vegan and you made me eat meat?!” and “I’m never eating your s*** ever again!” and so on. It got worse, but hey… internet comments.

Coworker: “So she came back and tried to get me fired. Not much they can do though – I read the rules – I am simply a student at a school sending a personal message on said-schools private chat group. It’s a school issue, not a [Grocery Store] issue. She couldn’t get me expelled so now she’s trying to get me fired.”

She was right. The store or management couldn’t do anything, and the customer couldn’t even get Corporate to do her bidding, something she wasn’t used to. My sweet young coworker who I thought was going to be a quiet little sensitive thing only needed to work in a grocery store for a few weeks to become something scary and capable of revenge. Ah, retail…

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