I am working at the drive-thru in a popular fast food restaurant. A customer pulls up to the speaker.

Me: “Hi! How can I help you?”

The customer remains silent. I wait a few moments before asking again.

Me: “Is there anything I can help you find?”

Customer: “NO!”

She is silent for a moment.

Customer: “Well? Are you ready?”

Me: “I am sorry. I asked if you needed help and you said no, so I was waiting for you.”

Customer: “Are you baked?!”

Me: “Excuse me?”

Customer: “I want to speak to your manager!”

I turn to my manager and quickly explain what is happening.

Me: “All right, just pull up to the second window and he can speak with you there.”

The customer pulls forward and starts ranting at my manager, and after a short conversation, peels out.

Me: “So, what did she say?”

Manager: “She was out of her f****** mind. She said you told her to wait and then yelled at her for not ordering.”

Me: “Are you serious? I didn’t do that!”

Manager: “I know. I was listening. Some people…”

We cracked up over this. Someone was baked, but it certainly wasn’t me!

Our thrift store gets a new person to handle the shoes and purses department. She seems to be settling in well and she proves to be a good worker. It’s fairly common for people in one department to price things for someone in another. One day, several months in, the new person gives a half-yell in frustration.

New Coworker: “Oh, this is bulls***!”

Me: “What’s up, [New Coworker]?”

New Coworker: “Oh, [Coworker] asked me to keep an eye out for high heels for him. Do you have any idea how much that sucks?”

[Coworker] likes to crossdress and do shows.

Me: *Cautiously and a little worried* “Sucks?”

New Coworker: “Yeah, he needs a size ten. The biggest heel size I’ve ever found is a nine, and even that’s turning out to be really rare. I just can’t find any in his size! I found plenty of cute purses for him but no heels!”

Me: *Relieved* “Oh, well, don’t stress about it too much. He probably figured it would be nearly impossible to find them in his size. They probably have to be specially ordered in the store, so it’s not likely they’d be donated often. Just keeping an eye out is a big help.”

A few days later, I saw [New Coworker] with a small tub of priced purses showing them off to [Coworker]. He was overjoyed to go through them and make his choices for his next show.

I think management picked a good one for the team.

This story is part of our Feel Good roundup for October 2020!

Read the next Feel Good roundup story!

Read the Feel Good roundup for October 2020!

We do live music outside on Fridays for a few hours. I personally refuse to work music nights, because they get very busy and it’s impossible to enforce social distancing, but that’s another story. We have signs posted all over about the new mask regulations, which include that NO ONE can enter or approach the counter to order without a mask on. This customer, an older man, strolls up to the counter.

Customer: “Are you still doing music on Fridays?”

I notice his mask is around his neck and take a few steps back.

Me: “I can help you, but I need you to please put your mask over your face.”

Customer: *Immediately defensive* “Well, I thought you wouldn’t be able to hear me.”

He pulls his mask halfway over his face, under his nose. It’s clearly been way too loosely tied, so it falls back down immediately.

Customer: *Clearly annoyed* “There. Now. Music on Friday.”

I am still standing away from the counter.

Me: “I really need you to pull it all the way over your face, please, or I’m afraid I can’t—”

The customer is suddenly furious and screaming.

Customer: “YOU DIDN’T ANSWER MY QUESTION!”

His outburst is so sudden and dramatic that I think he’s joking, especially because he’s standing both next to a sign AND directly in front of a sign that each state the current regulations.

Realizing he is serious, because he turns in a huff and storms out, I’m a little stunned. Someone toward the back clears his throat and I turn to look. The next customer, who I now realize came in with the first man, speaks up:

Next Customer: “Uh… Sorry about… Yeah. So, is there music on Friday?”

Me: *Cheerfully* “There sure is! Thank you so much for following our state guidelines. Music starts at six. We’ll be happy to see you there!”

Related:
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked

This is Christmastime in the late 1990s, and I’m shopping for a present for my brother-in-law. He just purchased a CD player for his home and I want to get him something for it. I decide on The Beatles’ “White Album.” There’s only one record store in my town, a now-defunct corporate chain.

I can’t seem to find the album on the CD rack, so I ask a sales clerk, who doesn’t look a day older than twenty, for some help.

Me: “I can’t seem to find the White Album by the Beatles.”

The clerk gets a dumb look on her face.

Clerk: “What’s it called?”

Me: “The Beatles’ White Album.”

Clerk: “So, the cover’s white, but what’s it called?”

Me: “It’s the White Album. It’s by the Beatles. It’s kind of famous.”

Cue an “older” clerk, about thirty.

Older Clerk: “Let’s look it up in the system.”

The older clerk goes to the computer.

Older Clerk: “Nothing is coming up. Maybe it hasn’t been released yet?”

Me: “Never mind.”

I wound up making a few phone calls and found a small record store the next town over — about eighty miles away — that had it. They offered to ship it, but I made the drive over anyway. I love small businesses with competent staff.

I’m working at a Renaissance Faire — my first job — where the fairground is built in a circle formation. Security has blocked off part of the circle and designated the gate as “employees only”. This has been in force for all four weeks. As the nearest worker to the gate, I try to politely inform customers that they must go around.

Me: “Good morrow, miladies!”

They ignore me and keep walking.

Me: “Miladies, please do be advised that the gate be intended for employees only.”

Customer: “Don’t get an attitude with me! My husband works here, you know!”

Me: “Milady, I work here, too. Please do not go through that gate.”

She huffs and continues through the gap in the fence. I hear her talking to security on the other side.

Customer: “That girl at the soda booth had such an attitude!”

I don’t hear the rest, but when the security guard peers around the barrier, I raise my hands in an irritated gesture. Later, one of the other security people comes over to me.

Security: “I heard you had an altercation with some customers. What did you say to them?”

I recount the conversation.

Security: “Okay, well, they said you swore at them.”

Me: “What? W-why would they say that? I don’t swear!”

By this point, I am tearing up. I never, ever swear, and especially not at people I’ve never met before.

Manager: “What happened?!”

Security: “Some customers accused her of swearing at them. She says she didn’t do it.”

Manager: “I believe you, [My Name]. You okay?”

I was now crying hard enough that I couldn’t talk. He was kind enough to sit with me until I calmed down, and many of my coworkers came by to say that they didn’t believe the customers, either. I can’t wait to go work at that faire next year!