(I go shopping at the new supermarket that has just opened up. I had an issue with the staff previously but decided to give them another chance. There are only two registers open, both with sizeable lines. I wait over 10 minutes for my turn; I’m not in a hurry so it isn’t a huge deal. I put my items on the belt and wait for the cashier to start scanning them. She stands there, not looking at me, hands on her hips sighing. I am about to ask what is wrong, but before I could she waved another customer over.)

Cashier: *to the other customer* “I’ll ring you up now.”

(The other customer walks around through the exit of the lane and stands in front of me and the cashier begins to scan his three items. I am trying to figure out what has just happened and decide not to say anything because I’m not one for confrontations and I just want to get out of there. Several minutes later she finally starts scanning my items. Note, she still hasn’t looked at me nor acknowledged I was standing there.)

Me: *because I work retail as well and know how demanding the job is, wanting to be polite* “Hi. How are you?”

(The cashier is still silent, and still won’t look at me. I am really frustrated by this point but I decide to let it go since it is almost over. I then notice that she has just put my grapes at the bottom of a bag and put a liter of coke on top.)

Me: “Oh, ma’am, can you take the coke out of that bag? I don’t want my grapes smashed.”

(She finally looks up at me, rolls her eyes but still says nothing, and continues to scan without moving the coke. I reached over take the coke out of the bag and place it in my cart. I start loading up the bags when I see her putting some lunch meat in with a bleach based cleaning product. Now I’m quite irritated.)

Me: “Ma’am, could you not put the food in with the bleach?”

(The cashier rolls her eyes again, still not making a move to correct the problem. Instead, the last few items she scans passive-aggressively, snickering and putting a single item per bag.)

Me: *after re-bagging my items and paying, more irritated than I’d like to admit* “Well, I hope you have a better day tomorrow.”

Cashier: *still silent*

(As I was turning to walk away, she turns to the customer who was behind me.)

Cashier: “What the h*** was her problem?”

(I leave, silently fuming but vowing never to go into that store again.)

IP Address:

(I am walking down a grocery aisle when I overhear this exchange from another couple.)

Man: “Saying ‘I’m sorry’ is not enough when you hit a parked car.”

Woman: “She was sitting behind the wheel. She should have moved!”

(I don’t like wasting food and have something of a cast-iron stomach, so even if I realize a product is a slightly past its ‘best by’ date I’ll still finish it off. However, while browsing the store I go to most frequently I come across something that I feel I need to bring up to customer service.)

Me: “Um, I thought you guys should know that these two which were in the freezer are way past-due, but it looks like everything else is okay.”

(Despite no one else being there, it takes the lady at the counter a good three seconds after I finish talking to look at me.)

Worker: “What’s wrong?”

Me: “These two boxes are way past their sell-by dates.

Worker: “Oh, those are just suggestions. They’re still good for a bit.”

Me: “They expired in FEBRUARY. It’s now AUGUST!”

Worker: “Yeah, but they’re frozen. They’re good for, like, forever. Don’t waste food.”

(Shocked at her callousness, I go to find a manager and explain the situation to him. Since these things are handled at the customer service desk anyway we go back. At this point the same employee is helping another person, and being exceedingly kind and receptive to her, until she finishes and notices I’ve returned with the manager.)

Worker: “Oh, come on! You’re actually giving him his money back?”

Me: “I never SAID I wanted money back. These were on your shelf!”

Worker: “No, you came up here demanding money back for something you had left in your freezer!”

Me: “The hell I did! I specifically even told you everything else on YOUR SHELVES were okay!”

Worker: “[Manager], come on. You’re not giving him a refund, are you?”

Manager: “No, because he wasn’t ASKING for one. And this is the third time I’ve caught you harassing male customers while bending over backwards for female ones. Expect to be having a meeting with your supervisor.”

(I didn’t actually WANT to get the girl in trouble, but her stammering for getting called out on her preferential treatments was too funny!)

(When I was 10 I really liked bleu cheese. I was excited when they were giving samples at a store.)

Me: “Mommy, can I go get some bleu cheese?”

Mom: “Sure, honey. Go right ahead.”

Employee: *guarding the sample tray as I am trying to reach* “You won’t like this. It is bleu cheese.”

Me: “But I like bleu cheese.”

Employee: “No. It is a grown-up food.”

Mom: “Honey, what’s the matter?”

Employee: “Your daughter is being rude to me.”

Me: “All I said was that I like bleu cheese.”

Employee: “No, she doesn’t. No kid likes bleu cheese.”

Mom: “My daughter has a wide palate. She likes bleu cheese.”

Employee: “No, she doesn’t. She probably just says that to you.”

Mom: “No. She eats it a lot.”

(Mom takes two and gives one to me.)

Employee: “Oh. I guess she actually likes bleu cheese.”

(About 15 years ago I worked in a very popular super retail store that had a sporting goods section that had just stopped selling guns and only sold pellet rifles and paintball guns.)

Customer: “Hello, I’d like to buy a gun.”

Me: “Well, we don’t have any guns anymore. We do have pellet rifles. What did you want it for?”

Customer: “Oh, um, there’s a coyote that has been getting into my yard and I wanted to get rid of it.”

Me: “Hmm… Well, a pellet rifle might scare it off so it won’t come back?”

Customer: “Oh. Well, it’s really for my neighbor’s dog.”

Me: “I see… Well, I don’t think I can help with that.”

Customer: “Actually, it’s for my neighbor.”

Me: “…”

Customer: “He’s a jerk.”