I am at the cash register one day when a lady approaches me with a few items.

Customer: “I would like to pay for these with a check. I’m going to write it for twenty over.”

I ring her up and start processing her check.

Customer: “I don’t have my ID on me; is that going to be a problem?”

Me: “As long as you’re in our system, it shouldn’t be.”

I process her check and it asks for ID.

Me: “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but it’s asking for ID. Without one, I can’t finish the order; our system doesn’t let us override the ID requirement.”

Customer: *Concerned* “I only have my checkbook on me. Could a supervisor help?”

Me: “I think I have a better idea.”

I decide to pay for her order since it’s not too expensive, and she seems grateful and walks off with her items. Not long after, I am sent on break.

When I return, one of my coworkers seems furious, so I ask her what’s wrong.

Coworker: “Some lady came in saying she asked for cashback on her order and you didn’t give it to her. I told her you paid for her order and that’s why she didn’t get any, but she kept arguing with me about it and basically accused you of ripping her off. I’m surprised she left without asking for the manager.”

Hearing that basically ruined the rest of my shift. Now that I’ve been working here for a while, I realize the lady was probably a scammer hoping we could override the ID requirement on checks. I only wish I had known that when I served her.

Thankfully, she never returned. I’m afraid that if she had, I might have demanded my money back!

I was working at the customer service desk. A customer came up to me screaming.

Customer: “Your employees are idiots! They can’t even tell the right fruit from the wrong one! They rang my fruit up as the wrong thing, and I demand that you correct it!”

To be fair, the two kinds of fruit look really alike.

I returned the fruit that was charged “wrongly” and charged her for the fruit she swore it was. I bet you can imagine the big smile on my face when I told her she had to pay another twenty-five cents. She was LIVID.

I started a new medication after my blood pressure was persistently high, and on the first day, I unexpectedly became dizzy and nauseous while out and about town. I bought a small cup of fountain pop from a street vendor and then sat down against a building to get myself back together.

After about fifteen minutes, an older woman walked up to me, dropped some coins into my soda, and then gave me a package of muffins.

Woman: “Be strong. You can make it.”

Then, she walked away, while the only thing going through my head was, “Huh?!”

It took me several seconds to figure out what the h*** that was about, and then it hit me.

I’m really trying not to come off as bragging, but, lady… I am wearing an almost brand-new pair of Air Jordans that I spent $125 on, I have a $200 pair of wireless Beats headphones resting around my neck, I have a $600 iPhone in my hand and a laptop bag resting against me with the logo from MSI gaming laptops (hint: they aren’t the cheapest laptops on the market), and I’m wearing a polo shirt with my employer’s name and logo embroidered on it — a company that produces software.

Bless your heart and your generosity, lady, but you aren’t the most observant person, are you? Thanks for the muffins, anyway. They were actually pretty good and I felt much better!

I was working at the cash register when I had a woman cut the line and start screaming at me.

Woman: “I put the wrong information on this prepaid card, and now I can’t access my funds! Open your register and give me $1,000 now!”

Me: “I can’t do that, ma’am. One, prepaid cards are nonrefundable. Two, you just admitted that it was your mistake. And three, we don’t keep that much cash in our registers, anyway. I can call a manager to assist you if you’d like.”

Woman: “No! You! You will give me my money!”

I just leaned back on the wall behind me with my biggest smile.

Me: “Ma’am, there is absolutely nothing I can do for you. But if it makes you feel better to scream at me, go ahead. I can take it.”

A manager finally escorted her away after she’d screamed a bit more. No, she didn’t get her money back, and I have yet to be sued as she threatened me.

I work in a small on-campus pub at a university in Germany.

Me: “One small beer is 1,50€.”

Student: “Oh, come on. Can’t I just pay the price for close friends?”

This is “Freundschaftspreis” in German.

Me: “Well, okay. One small beer is 2€, then.”

Student: “Wait, what?”

Me: “We are a non-profit. Friends do support us and pay more.”

We managed this pub in our spare time and didn’t get any money for it. Every bit of income was used to maintain the pub. We could, however, get a few drinks for free when we worked, so if someone was really broke and nice about it, we often gave them our free drinks, but not if they were nagging us about it.