Customer: “I’m so happy you had this sauce! I was looking everywhere for it!”

Me: “Oh, I’m usually pretty good at knowing what we have in stock, but I’ve never seen this one. What’s it for?” 

Customer: “It’s used for Puerto Rican food. It’s a very special and unique flavor that you can’t really get from anything else. I love that your store sells it.”

Me: “I’m really happy we had it for you! I’ve never had Puerto Rican food, but I’ll look up this sauce later and see what it goes well with.” 

They check out, and I continue with my shift as normal. About three hours later, I see the customer back at my checkout lane.

Customer: “Oh, good! You’re still here! I was worried your shift might have ended!”

Me: “Is everything okay?”

They hand over some Tupperware containing what looks like many different types of food.

Customer: “I was telling my mom about the cashier who’d never had Puerto Rican food, and I swear you could’ve heard her gasp from here. She cooked up a little bit of everything and made me run back over here for you to try some.”

Me: “Oh, my! That’s so nice of you! And her! Thank you so much!”

Customer: “I’ll be back next week for your opinion!” 

Me: “And the Tupperware!” 

Customer: “Nah, it’s okay. Mom never expects to get those back.”

Not only was the food delicious, but I tried it with the sauce from my store, and it really enhanced it! I still returned the Tupperware the next week (I had it on me for every shift just in case), and it’s a good thing I did because even more food came my way from that crazy Puerto Rican mother the following week.

I became an expert on Puerto Rican food just from sitting at my checkout lane!

This is during the early stages of the world going crazy in 2020. Everyone is wearing masks, and we’ve just started using clear plastic dividers at the checkouts.

Customer: “You poor things; you look like you’re stuck in some weird little boxes.”

Me: “Yeah, it’s kinda weird.”

Customer: “I really appreciate you being open, especially with how crazy it is out there. I don’t know how I’d cope without my supplies.” 

Me: “Gotta keep the world turning somehow!”

The customer makes a big show of rubbing cleaning alcohol all over her hands and then passes me a $50 bill contained inside a Ziploc bag.

Customer: “To show how much I appreciate it!”

Me: “Oh, ma’am! That’s very kind, but I can’t accept that.” 

Customer: “If you’re worried about germs, keep it sealed for a few days so anything nasty inside can die, and then—”

Me: “No, it’s not that. Thank you for thinking about the germs, but it’s just that we can’t accept tips.”

Customer: “What are they gonna do, fire you when the world needs you the most right now? Let ’em try! Besides, it’s not a tip, it’s hazard pay!”

And with that, she walked away with her groceries, refusing to take no for an answer. Those were my hardest years in retail ever, but customers like her, who appreciated us for being there instead of shouting at us for having the audacity to ask customers to wear masks for our own safety, kept me going.

Related:
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 32
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 31
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 30
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 29
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 28

I work in a dog-friendly café. One of our long-term coworkers is working her last shift, and the mood of the entire day has been bittersweet. My manager, the leaving coworker, a few other coworkers, and I are talking at the end of her shift.

Leaving Coworker: “Oh, look, my husband is here to pick me up.”

All Of Us: “Does that mean he brought Stitch?!”

Stitch is their huge and derpy German Shepherd. He’s a big, beautiful idiot who was named after the cute but destructive little blue alien from “Lilo & Stitch” for obvious reasons. 

Leaving Coworker: “Yeah, I just saw him jump out of the pickup.”

Her husband comes in, and Stitch goes wild at the attention given to him by all of his friends. We chat a little with our coworker’s husband while she goes to the back to change. She comes out with her uniform shirt in her hands.

Leaving Coworker: *To our manager* “I’ll take this home, wash it, and bring it back at the weekend.”

Manager: “Nah, keep it. We have plenty. Keep it as a souvenir.”

Leaving Coworker: “Thanks. I will.”

She then places the shirt over Stitch’s head, and he looks extra cute wearing one of our uniforms. To complete the look, we put one of our work caps on his head and take a few pictures.

After this, most of us go back to our regular duties, and a customer walks in, looking at their phone. The customer then looks up, takes a look at Stitch in the café uniform, then looks at me, and then looks at Stitch again.

Customer: “I know the news is telling me that nobody wants to work, but this is getting ridiculous.”

One of my friends was working in a bakery, and she commented on a lady’s moose necklace. They got to chatting. It turned out that the lady was from Canada, and my friend had always wanted to go there.

My friend was pretty shocked when the lady took the necklace off and gave it to her!

She tried to give it back, but the lady insisted.

Lady: “I have loads of moose necklaces. Clearly, this one was meant for you!”

My friend and I lost contact when I moved jobs, but I remember her wearing it all the time.

I’m an American in Japan, and my boyfriend is Japanese. My parents decided to come visit my boyfriend and me for Christmas, and together we plan to go on a short trip. However, my boyfriend and his family don’t speak much English, while my parents don’t speak much Japanese, so my parents decided to study Japanese while my boyfriend studied a little English so they could meet in the middle.

Today, my mom called because she was excited to tell me all she has learned.

Mom: “彼氏は美味しいですか？” “Kareshi ha oishiidesuka?”

That translates to “Is your boyfriend delicious?”

When we laughed, she immediately fixed it and changed 美味しい/oishii (delicious) to 優しい/yasashi (friendly), but we were already all laughing so hard.

I can’t help but feel like the luckiest person in the world because both my boyfriend and my parents love me so much they’re willing to learn foreign languages (and incredibly difficult ones, at that) so that they can communicate with the other half of my life.