I am running the drive-thru two days after the great return of pumpkin spice lattes at my store. The truck that was supposed to be here last night to give us all the pumpkin goodness and other pastries never showed up, so we are vastly understocked. My manager is trying to get a hold of them to see where they are, and a fellow team member and I are just trying to hold it together, seeing as we are out of all pumpkin.

Pumpkin spice latte? No. Pumpkin muffin? Nope. Even our regular items are flying off the shelves, and by the afternoon, we have been yelled at, screamed at, and cussed at more times than I can count.

The drive-up dings to let me know we have someone waiting. I answer it, and the girl on the other side asks for a pumpkin spice latte.

Me: “Ma’am, I’m so sorry, but we are out of the pumpkin syrup at the moment.”

Customer: “Oh, no worries. Could I get a [completely different drink]?”

Me: “Ma’am, uh, we are out of that syrup, as well…” 

I brace for an explosion, but the customer laughs.

Customer: “Oh, dear. What about [another drink]?”

Me: “We actually have that one, ma’am.”

Customer: “Yay! Oh, and can I add a pumpkin muffin?“

Me: “Uh… you won’t believe this…”

Customer: “Oh, no.” *Laughs again* “Well, how about the new apple pastry?“

Me: “Uh…”

Customer: “Oh, wow, been that kind of day. What about a protein box?“

Me: “Well…“

Customer: “Oh, my gosh!” *Laughs again* “I am so sorry… Do you have a chocolate croissant?“

Me: “YES!“

Customer: “Yay! Okay, I’ll take one of those, then.”

Me: “Absolutely, and ma’am, I’m so sorry.”

Customer: “No worries!”

My manager hopped on the headset as soon as she heard me tell the customer we didn’t have something and heard the whole interaction. As the customer drives around, my manager says:

Manager: “She was so nice about that!

This customer pulls around, pays for her items, and makes small talk, mostly about all the items we are out of.

Customer: *Smiling* “Don’t let the muggles get you down; it happens.”

Me: “Yeah, well, you are the nicest one we have had today!”

Customer: “I used to work in retail, so I completely understand. Don’t worry; y’all are doing your best!“

We ended up giving her the pastry for free because she was so nice. I know it’s a small thing, but it really made our day to have someone not only understand what we were going through but not take it out on us.

Related:
Tell Me You’ve Worked In Retail Without Saying You’ve Worked In Retail

My friends and I travel by train from our town to a big city to go to a gaming convention. It’s the second year we’ve done it, and it’s a lot of fun, but the actual travel is a bit tiring. Nevertheless, we manage to make it to the convention center in good time and with all our gear.

Or so we thought.

Friend: “I don’t have my convention badge.”

Some back-and-forth more or less confirms that he left it on the train somehow, but the convention rules are clear: no badge, no admittance. We’re at a bit of a loss until we remember the glory of instant communication and contact the convention through their official social media address.

Good news! We’re told that if [Friend] goes to the Will Call desk, they’ll give him a new badge.

He gets in line, explains the situation, and is summarily told that they don’t have any extra badges and can’t give him one. He tries to explain again, even showing the replies that he got from the social media account, but their hands are tied; they have rules and they can’t do anything about it. They are very apologetic, but we eventually determine that they literally don’t have any extra badges. They have the badges for people coming to the Will Call desk and that’s it. Giving one of them to my friend would result in someone else not getting their badge, and that’s not acceptable to either us or them.

We’re all pretty upset; the big draw of the convention for the three of us is going together, and if he can’t get in, we’re not going to leave him behind no matter how much he insists that we do it. Disheartened, he explains his experience through the social media account and gets a surprising response.

Social Media: “Where are you right now?”

Friend: “I’m… at the entrance, near the Will Call booth?”

About two minutes later, the business manager of the company that runs the convention (aka the guy who organizes, runs, and markets the convention) walks up.

Business Manager: “[Friend]?”

Friend: “Uh… yes?”

Business Manager: “Enjoy the show.”

And with that, he handed a badge to my friend and walked off without another word, leaving us completely flabbergasted at the actions of the absolute top guy who most likely had a TON of other stuff to do on the opening day of a 50,000-person convention.

He didn’t even let us thank him before he took off!

I’d had an annoying morning at work — staff not performing to expected standards, huffy customers, etc. Then, one of my colleagues got out of a meeting with their boss. It hadn’t gone well, so they started taking it out on me. We aren’t in the same reporting hierarchy, but that didn’t stop them from saying I was a terrible manager, a useless human being, and so on. No one was around when this was going on, and I couldn’t really report it because… well… our company doesn’t like to intervene when things like this arise, especially when it’s a you-versus-them situation with no witnesses to back up either side.

To get out of the toxic atmosphere, I went to a local big chain coffee shop, and I may have been crying whilst heading over. One of the usual baristas was on duty when I walked in. She spotted that I was upset, asked if I was okay, and then said my coffee was on her that day. This made me cry again — in a good way this time — and I thanked her for being so nice.

Rather than heading straight back to work, I opted to sit outside the coffee shop for the rest of my break and called a friend to vent. As I sat there, the barista followed me out, gave me a free cake from the other staff members, sat down, and asked me what was up. Once I’d explained, she gave me a massive hug and said what an awesome person I was.

Since then, the staff at that shop — at least the ones I’m most familiar with — have been super nice, and I can’t help but remember how nice they were to a random regular customer when I really needed that boost.

My coworker is still toxic but is retiring soon, so for now, I’ll keep going to the shop when I need a break!

Years ago when I worked as a museum educator, I was running a drop-in gallery program. A small girl around five years old confidently approached me and leaned on my table like she was about to smoothly order a drink at a bar. 

Little Girl: “I like this museum, and I would like to work here.”

I was about to play along and ask her if she knew a lot about history when a woman, presumably her mom, appeared behind her

Woman: “No, honey! You can’t work at the museum! Remember…?”

And this little girl sighed, eye-rolled, and said:

Little Girl: “I know, I know! Child labor laws!”

I sensed that they’d had that discussion before. I think that kid is going places!

This was during the launch of the SNES Classic (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). Anyone who remembers the launch of the NES classic remembers just what a dumpster fire it was; from massive demand to underwhelming product amounts, it was a nightmare all around. Imagine my surprise when we not only got enough SNES Classics to last until 10:00 am at the latest!

At around 10:00, a dad and his kid came in to get the SNES Classic, which was our last one for the day. As he was checking out, an elderly lady made it up to the counter and asked if we had any left. She didn’t seem too upset over having missed out by about a minute, but she had to stop and take a breath, having some health issues.

Now, normally, you’d expect the dad and his kid to get the item, and that’d be where it ended.

To my surprise, the dad immediately offered the lady the last console. She declined. It turned into an argument over who should have it, but instead of each of them arguing on their behalf, they were arguing that the other should have it. In the end, the elderly lady won, and the dad and his kid walked away with the console.

I have never seen anything like that before or after that point.