(I am ringing up a customer. As always, I ask how she’s doing.)

Customer: “I hate [Store].”

Me: *wondering why she’s here if she hates it* “Oh. Okay.”

Customer: “With a passion.”

Me: “Okay.”

(I expect her to explain why she hates it, but she doesn’t.)

Me: *lighthearted* “I assume you don’t have a [rewards card], then?”

Customer: “Oh, no, I have one.” *gives it to me*

Me: “???”

(I finish ringing her up.)

Customer: “This place is just beyond.” *leaves*

(She wasn’t exactly rude, but I’m not really sure why she felt a need to tell me she hates our store, why she didn’t make some specific complaint so we could try to help, and why she still shops there often enough to justify having a rewards card.)

(I work at a “budget” grocery store, where customers are expected to bag their own items. My customer and I bond over the fact that she works as a cashier at [Way More Expensive Grocery Store] and we casually make fun of bad customers as I ring her up.)

Customer: “Yeah, customers can be awful. But, I mean, you know, at least at [Expensive Store] we actually do our jobs and bag groceries, unlike here where they don’t understand customer service.”

(Her tone has quickly switched from happy and friendly to quite nasty, and I’m rather taken aback at the change.)

Me: “I… I’m sorry?”

Customer: “Yeah. We just work way harder than you. You just stand there.”

Me: “I can assure you, ma’am, we work very hard here.”

Customer: “Not as hard as we work at [Expensive Store]. I actually do more than stand around and scan things. It’s just ridiculous that we have to bag our own things! It’s not right! We’d never treat a customer like that at [Expensive Store]!”

Me: “That’s not really called for. We all work hard here, and—”

Customer: “Ridiculous!”

Me: “I’m sorry you’re frustrated, but not paying for baggers is how we keep our prices so low. [Expensive Store] is almost twice the price for almost everything, and their prices are higher specifically because they have more luxuries, like paying to have enough staff on hand that you have time to bag between customers.”

Customer: “Oh, my God, I looooove how cheap you guys are compared to [Expensive Store], nowhere near as expensive as my work. That’s why I love coming here! You just need to learn to do your job properly and bag things!”

Me: *sigh*

(Every year, my brother and I go home to our parents’ farm where we grew up, and every year, I hear jabs about my education. I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts; my mother has a PhD, and both my dad and brother are engineers, my brother with an added Ivey business degree. They have nine years, seven years, and eight years respectively, while I only attended university for three years. Once again, my lack of education is brought up and I finally snap.)

Me: “I make over $8,000 a month in my chosen field while [Brother] hasn’t used any of his education and needs you guys to pay for his plane ticket home to visit.”

(They were genuinely shocked, as I’d been hiding my income so as to not stand out from them who had all always struggled for money. They had been so derisive of my artistic line of work that it never occurred to them that chasing my childhood dream wasn’t a bad path to take.)

(I recently started working for the tech department of an office supply chain store, and I quickly started to learn that the customers who need to buy software and hardware for their computers aren’t always the brightest bulbs of the bunch.)

Customer: “I am looking for MS Office.”

Me: “Sure, right this way.”

(I start to lead the customer toward the software section.)

Me: “Just out of curiosity, what are you going to be using it for? For work, or for college…?”

Customer: “HP.”

Me: “Sorry?”

Customer: “On an HP laptop.”

Me: “Oh, sorry. My mistake. I was actually wondering what you were going to be using it for?”

Customer: “MS Office.”

(I almost facepalm and rub my eyes as I sigh, trying to hide my frustration.)

(A bus drives past the stop but decides to let us on when he sees two of us running and waving.)

Driver: “You need to pay more attention!”

(I suspect this is the driver that has skipped my stop three or four times last month.)