I work in the fresh food section, which covers fruit and vegetables, deli, dairy, etc. A lady with her two children approaches me.

Customer: “I want to buy natural yoghurt.”

I show her where we keep the yoghurt and which brands we carry. She then starts shouting at me without warning.

Customer: “WHAT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND?! I WANT NATURAL YOGHURT!”

Me: “But, madam, these are natural?”

Customer: “NO, THIS IS ACTIVIA! I WANT NATURAL!”

Me: “Madam, natural yoghurt isn’t a brand on its own; it’s a type of yoghurt, like a Greek yoghurt.”

Customer: “No! There is a brand called Natural! I want to see your manager; maybe they know how to do your job!”

I happily got the manager and stood there while she also explained to this woman with two nervous-looking children that there wasn’t a brand known as “Natural”.

I could tell she didn’t take it well, mainly because she threw the two pots of yoghurt at me, which exploded and covered me in their “natural” goodness.

That incident helped me realise some things. The first is that people are idiots. The second is that even when they are clearly wrong, idiots like to carry on with the pretence, making them look even more idiotic because they believe they can “save face”.

I am a shelf stocker at a well-known retail and grocery store chain. I am on my lunch break, paying for my food, when the front-end manager calls me.

Front-End Manager: “[My Name], could you get the dustpan and broom and—” *pointing to a box of spilled cereal* “—clean up that spill over there?

Me: “I’m on lunch, [Front-End Manager].”

Front-End Manager: “You were asked to do something; now do it. Go over and clean the cereal.”

Me: “I can’t. I’m off the clock.”

Front-End Manager: “It’ll take you two minutes tops.”

Me: “I cannot work off the clock, [Front-End Manager]. Can you ask someone else?”

Front-End Manager: “No. I asked you, so you clean it.”

Me: “I’m not going to clean it while I’m on lunch.”

Front-End Manager: “That’s it. Come with me. Now.”

She writes me up for insubordination and makes me get the dustpan and broom. I’m not even halfway over to the cereal spill when she calls me back to the desk.

Me: “Yes, [Front-End Manager]?”

Front-End Manager: “You’re fired.”

Me: “On what grounds?!”

Front-End Manager: “Working off the clock.”

Me: “But you made me get the dustpan and broom!”

Front-End Manager: “I know. I just didn’t realize you were off the clock. You should have told me.”

Me: “I did tell you. Three times!”

Front-End Manager: “Well, I must not have heard you, then. Go clean out your locker, now. If you’re not out of this store with your things in five minutes, I will be calling the police.”

I don’t bother arguing any further at this point and go to the breakroom to clean out my locker. While I am cleaning, the store manager walks past.

Store Manager: “What’s going on?”

I told him what happened. He didn’t believe me at first, but when he confirmed it on the security footage, he was absolutely horrified. He called the front-end manager to the office to rip her a new one and sent her home early.

My firing was overturned, and the write-up was stricken from my record. As it turns out, the front-end manager didn’t even have the authority to write me up or fire me to begin with since I wasn’t in her department.

The store manager apologized for what happened but gave me a stern warning to let him know if I was ever asked to work off the clock in the future. I don’t blame him; I should have gone straight to him the moment I was asked to work off the clock.

As for the front-end manager, she had to explain her actions to the district manager, who then fired her for deliberately violating labor laws.

I’m a sixteen-year-old male. I work at a pretty big grocery store that sells beer. The catch, however, is that you need a smart serve and must be at least eighteen years old to sell beer.

Most of the time, customers don’t realize this and don’t read the sign to see which lane sells beer and when I tell them this, they either put up a bit of resistance or just move to another line.

It’s about 11 AM on a Sunday morning shift when a father and his daughter who looks to be around four or five years old come into my lane. I don’t realize that they have beer since they have a large cart full of items.

The father acts kind, asking me how I am, and I begin to scan his items. However, I get to the beer and kindly tell him that I cannot scan the beer because I’m not of age and don’t have a smart serve.

This leads to the father getting a little annoyed and after much pushback, makes me call somebody who does have a smart serve to override his beer because his having that six-pack of blue ribbon is just so important.

Somebody comes to override the beer and tells him politely that he should watch out for the beer lane sign next time because the company could get in trouble for a minor selling alcohol.

I kid you not, this guy freaks out and begins to yell, dropping the f-bomb on multiple occasions, going on about how they shouldn’t hire people under eighteen if it will, and all of this other ridiculous crap. All in front of his FOUR-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER.

He then proceeds to call the manager, complaining to him, and then once I finish scanning him out, he grabs the receipt right out of my hand and tells me to go f*** myself.

The manager ended up talking to me after, commending me for the way I handled the situation and we laughed about it.

May 17th has just rolled around, which is the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia. As a straight ally, to show support for this, I am wearing some LGBTQIA+ pins on my uniform (management approved).

I am stocking shelves at a grocery store when a customer storms up to me. I am sure you know where this is going.

Customer #1: “People like you should not be handling food!”

Me: “People like me? You mean employees?”

Customer #1: “No! Gays! You think you can just wear your pins and think you can spread your ways!”

Me: “Well, not that it makes a bit of difference, but I’m straight. I’m wearing this because today is the International Day Against Homophobia.”

Another customer perusing the shelves nearby joins in the conversation.

Customer #2: “I agree with this guy; you shouldn’t be wearing those today.”

Customer #1: “*D*** straight!”

If that was a pun, it was unintentional. Puns require a semblance of a brain to intentionally put together.

Customer #2: “Yeah, I agree. We should be against homophobia every day, not just today!”

I smile while the homophobic customer glares.

Customer: “You’re all a bunch of [gay slurs]!”

As happens during a NAR story, the customer stormed off. [Customer #2] was actually shopping for drinks for a birthday party for his brother, who falls under the “T” part of “LGBTQIA+”, and I ended up getting invited!

This awesome customer was able to step in when the employee probably couldn’t defend themselves. It’s allyship like this that should be celebrated among many other things during Pride Month! Here are 17 Stories That Will Have You Bursting With Love And Pride – For International Pride Month!

CONTENT WARNING: Child Neglect/Abuse

As assistant manager, I am running to the customer service desk because a customer is flipping out.

Customer: “Your house brand diapers are super poor quality!”

Me: “Sir, please calm down. What is your complaint about the diapers?”

Customer: “Your diapers start leaking after only five hours on my baby! [Competitor]’s lasts nearly seven!”

Me: “Five… hours?”

Customer: “You’re gonna give me my money back, plus $40 compensation because my time is worth $20 an hour, and I figure I’ve wasted two hours coming to the store to fix this.”

I quickly showed him the door, despite overly loud threats of “never stepping foot in this store again”.

Luckily, we thought fast enough to get his license plate from the parking lot so we could call CPS on his a**.