This story takes place shortly before Halloween when pumpkins are in stock. My fiancé and I are out doing our weekly grocery shopping, and I ask him to pick out a pumpkin to carve for decoration.

Normally at this store, we use the self-checkout, but this particular day we are lazy and choose to have a cashier ring us out. As a frequent reader of NAR and once a cashier myself, I try to make sure I ask, “How are you doing?”

I am generally as polite as possible to anyone working, including our tired-looking cashier for the night.

While I am closer to the bagging/cashier, my fiancé is driving the buggy, just a little further away than I am.

I literally have my mouth open, ready to ask how this particular cashier’s day is going, when my Viking-like, bear-of-a-man fiancé grabs the pumpkin by the stem, holds it up for the cashier to see, and shouts:

Fiancé: “PUMPKIN!”

His tone isn’t rude, more informative, but I stare at him in exasperation. How exactly am I supposed to follow that up with normal conversation?

As if showing how beaten down by these kinds of things the cashier is, without a blink, he looks at my fiancé and replies:

Cashier: “Is there a sticker on it?”

There isn’t, so he has to type in a code, and the rest of our (thankfully) short shopping trip is over.

I wait until we are out of earshot to tell my fiancé, despite how bear-like he is, as well as a descendant of Vikings, that he can’t just barbarically yell what he has in the cart at a cashier who has probably been yelled at enough. His response?

Fiancé: “Why use many words when few do trick?”

Every day when he comes home from work, I now shout, “PUMPKIN!” at him and hope the cashier at least found SOME humor in it.

Our big box store often hosts a Halloween event where different stations are set up around the store and kids can come and trick-or-treat inside. It is always really popular, and we love to see all the kids in costumes.

One year, we have a Paw Patrol theme for some of the things we hand out. At one point, a woman stops me.

Customer: “When does Paw Patrol arrive?”

Me: “Oh, that’s just the theme this year. We aren’t going to have any of the characters here to meet the kids.”

She leaves, but later on, I do see a mascot character interacting with guests. I feel bad because I genuinely didn’t know but am curious as to who got stuck having to be in the costume. I end up asking my friend who was assigned to a table in the back if she knew who it was.

Coworker: “I honestly have no idea. I didn’t know we were going to have a meet and greet. Go see if you can find out; now I’m curious, too.”

I end up finding the store manager and asking him.

Manager: “I honestly have no idea who that is.”

Me: “What?! What do you mean?! So that’s just some random person?!”

Manager: “Yeah. One of the parents showed up in costume with their kid and ended up just taking pictures and meeting all the kids. If they hadn’t arrived with a kid, I probably would have kicked them out.”

Me: “We can agree it’s a little weird, right?”

Manager: “Oh, no, it’s totally weird.”

A woman comes into my store with three small children in tow. Almost immediately, she abandons them to their own devices and wanders away to shop, leaving the kids screaming, running, and hitting each other with merchandise. I get on the intercom and make an announcement about how “for their own safety, children must be attended by adults at all times.”

My coworker eventually tracks down the mother, who begrudgingly stays a bit closer to her kids, but they continue acting up. I finally confront her.

Me: “Ma’am, this floor is solid concrete. They can’t be running. If they fall, they will seriously hurt themselves.”

Mother: “Oh, well, let them. Then maybe they’ll learn.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

My husband and I love Halloween. Every year, we take turns handing out candy. The person who isn’t doing so gets to walk around and observe the decorations and trick-or-treaters. We switch mid-way through trick-or-treating time. This happens when I’m the one walking.

I’m minding my own business, enjoying the spooky sights and sounds, when a little girl in the typical princess costume approaches me, her mother not far behind.

Girl: “Where’s your costume?”

While I am not dressed up for the holiday, I am wearing a Halloween shirt, pumpkin earrings, and a bat necklace.

Me: “This is it, I guess.”

Girl: *Confused.* “But, how can you trick-or-treat without a costume?”

Me: “Oh, I’m not trick-or-treating. I just like to look around.”

The girl’s eyes grow huge, and her mouth flies open.

Girl: “You mean, you don’t like candy?”

I try not to laugh. Her mom’s doing the same.

Me: “I like candy. Grown-ups just don’t trick-or-treat.”

The girl ponders this revelation and then holds open her candy bag.

Girl: “Here! Take one!”

This is the last thing I expected, but I’m genuinely touched, considering that we’re total strangers. I look to mom to make sure it’s okay. Mom nods with a big grin on her face. I reach into the bag and pull out a random piece of candy.

Me: “Thank you so much!”

Girl: “You’re welcome. Happy Halloween!”

Me: “You too!”

We walk away, and I hear mom praising her daughter for being so nice. Meanwhile, I happily munched on my peanut butter cup and continued my walk.

Related:
All Treat, No Trick, Part 2
All Treat, No Trick

I’m a supervisor in a home furnishings store. I’m working at the register late one afternoon when two women come to me with the floor model of one of our carpets.

Woman #1: “Can you please take a look at this rug? It has some damage to it, and I was wondering if we can get an additional discount.”

Sure enough, there’s a hole in the rug. It’s only noticeable from the back, but it’s still quite a rip and will require some fixing to keep it from getting worse, so I offer a percentage and she accepts.

Woman #2: “The man in the rug department told us to check with someone. I forget who, but he said she makes the decisions.”

Me: *Pausing* “Was it [My Name]?”

Woman #2: “That sounds right.”

Me: *With a grin* “You’re going to laugh, but… he told you to come and talk to me. That’s my husband, and he always tells everyone I make the decisions!”