My husband and I are visiting my parents for my dad’s birthday. After lunch, we’re sitting outside in their yard and they’re telling us something that happened on their week down the shore.

Mom: “Dad and I were playing air hockey and suddenly we couldn’t find the puck. We called the worker over and she couldn’t find it, either. We looked everywhere. They even brought the manager over and they took the brand new table apart.”

Me: “So, where was it?”

Dad: “Under my paddle. I thought they were going to kill me.”

We all laughed. To that worker, thanks for being so patient and understanding.

I am watching the self-checkout at the store where I work. I notice a couple with some odd items: entire dish sets ringing up as a single plate, silverware platters ringing up as a set of forks, a large frozen meat pack being held over the scanner but not ringing up, etc. So, I pause their transaction from my screen. They both look up at me.

Woman: “What the f*** is wrong with your machine?”

Me: *Playing dumb* “Oh, it’s frozen. I’ll call for help.” *On the headset* “Could I have someone from [Fake Department used to call security] come look at self-checkout?”

Security: *On the headset* “Be right there.”

Man: “You’d better hurry up. I got s*** to do.”

The two huff and puff until security arrives. I show the security guard what my screen says and point to their cart. At this point, the couple has figured out that they’ve been caught and they try to leave. Security stops them and the pair are escorted with their cart to the security office.

I’m not allowed in the security office so I only know what happens next because the security guard tells me. He tells them that they are stealing because they blatantly pulled UPC stickers from other items and placed them on larger items, and they covered the UPCs on other items and pretended to scan them. The couple denies it, demanding proof.

Security: “Okay. Let’s trace your steps back through the store.”

Woman: “That’s illegal!”

Security: “Ma’am, you are on camera from the moment you pull into this parking lot to the moment you leave. I can watch your every move.”

Woman: “I’m gonna call the police!”

Security: “Please do.”

What did the woman do? She called the police! She insisted that the video evidence of her swapping UPCs was not valid because she did not consent to being recorded. The police came right over and arrested the couple for attempted theft.

I am the author of these two stories. This story takes place in 2018 at the grocery store I transferred to. One week, our store manager holds a series of mandatory team meetings with several groups of associates. Per store policy, I have to be on the clock for these meetings, and I get inexplicably scheduled for a half-hour on one of my days off for my group’s meeting. It is very rainy that day, and I end up having to take an Uber to the store since I don’t have a car or even my driver’s license at the time, and it’s a nearly two-hour walk there from my house.

The meeting itself is just thirty minutes of the store manager talking about the company’s new customer service campaign: “Yes, I can!” Basically, it means asking EVERY customer for help, and if a customer asks us for help, we HAVE to help them, even if it means simply directing them to the actual person or department they need to go to.

At the end of the meeting, the manager asks us if we have any questions. I come up with one simple question.

Me: “What happens if a customer asks us to help them while we’re off the clock?”

The store manager pauses for a moment.

Store Manager: “Well, when a customer asks you for help, just remember, help them to the best of your ability.”

Me: “But wouldn’t that be working off the clock?”

Store Manager: “It’d probably only take you a couple of seconds to a few minutes at most.”

I stood dumbfounded. Had he really just told me that we were now essentially EXPECTED to work off the clock? But that’s not even the worst part.

Two days later, while I was on my lunch break, a customer asked if I could help her to the car. I told her I was off the clock but I would find a coworker to help her, which I did. As soon as I got back from my lunch break, the store manager called me to the office and scolded me for not helping the lady, threatening to write me up if it ever happened again.

Now, I’d already been frustrated enough with this job for a number of reasons, which I will not go into detail about. However, being threatened with corrective action for NOT breaking labor laws was the last straw, and I put in my two weeks notice shortly afterward. I spend the remainder of 2018 working for my dad’s construction company before finding a new job at a competitor grocery chain the following year.

Related:
This Write Up Isn’t Going To Stick(er)
Bad Manager Reached Breaking Point

I am a cashier at a large retail chain. We have our own payment option through the company app that works like Apple Pay.

Customer: “Hi, I’d like to use my [Company] Pay today. It’s my first time using it.”

Me: “Great! Just scan the QR code on the card reader.”

The payment option lights up on my monitor, but the transaction can’t be processed.

Me: “Sorry, ma’am, it says there is no money in that account so the payment can’t go through.”

Customer: “That’s ridiculous! Why not? Try it again.”

Me: *After another try* “Same thing. Do you have your account set up all the way?”

Customer: “Of course.”

She tries to show me her screen but I’m not trained to deal with tech problems.

Me: “Why don’t I call over my manager and see what they can do?”

My manager arrives and I explain the situation.

Manager: “Do you have a bank account connected to the app?”

Customer: *Narrows her eyes* “What does that mean?”

Manager: “Do you have a credit card connected to your account?”

Customer: *Visibly frustrated* “No! I don’t want my phone to have my credit card information. I don’t trust the security.”

Manager: “You need to have money on there to buy things.”

The customer angrily puts her phone away.

Customer: “Fine! I’ll just use my card. I am never shopping here again!”

She was there again the next week.

Related:
Gotta Give Them Credit For Trying, Part 4
Gotta Give Them Credit For Trying, Part 3
Gotta Give Them Credit For Trying, Part 2
Gotta Give Them Credit For Trying

(It is Black Friday and I am pulled to cover a break on the registers. I am checking out a woman with an assortment of electric toothbrushes.)

Customer: “Those are supposed to be on sale.”

(The register only shows the actual price being rung up so it may be on sale and they don’t realize it. I grab my store device which checks prices. It’s not showing it on sale at all.)

Me: “I’m sorry, but what did you think the sale on it was? It might have been put in the wrong spot.”

Customer: “These were all supposed to be buy-one-get-one-free.”

(This instantly sets off an alarm for me because we never ever offer that type of sale, even on Black Friday.)

Me: “Ma’am, are you sure? That’s not a sale we typically offer. I can have someone double-check the price, though.”

Customer: “No, just never mind. I can’t believe this; even the department girl helped me pick this out.”

(That’s when I knew she was 100% lying. Why? The only person working that department was me and, as I said, I ended up getting pulled to the registers, and most other employees try to stay out of my area due to how difficult some of the customers are. She ended up not taking them and, when I finally went back and looked at the signs, everything was in its place and clearly marked what the sale was. All of the ones she grabbed were the expensive models not on sale at all, while the cheaper ones were on a special where if you buy one you get a $10 gift card. I honestly find it funny that of all the registers she could have gone to, it was mine.)

This story is part of our Black Friday 2023 roundup!

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