While I am running the cash register, I notice two young women in their early twenties join the line, whispering to each other and glancing at me. When the first woman comes up, she blatantly ignores me for the first few items, and then gets angry when something goes wrong. The scanned prices weren’t what she thought they should be, she swiped her card backward, cancelled her payment, dropped the receipt, etc. Finally, she walks away, waiting just outside the store. The second woman approaches.

Me:
“Hi, did you find everything today?”

Woman:
“Yeah, I guess. What was her problem?”

Me:
*Confused* “Oh, I don’t know.”

Woman:
“What are you going to do about her attitude?”

I realize she’s trying to get me to say something about the previous customer.

Me:
“Nothing.”

Woman:
“She was kind of a b****, don’t you think?”

Me:
“No, things happen.”

Woman:
“But she was being rude. Doesn’t that piss you off?”

Me:
“I’m okay.”

Woman:
*Getting annoyed* “But she was accusing you of all that stuff.”

Me:
*Shrugging* “Your total is [total].”

Woman:
“You’re absolutely fine with someone talking to you like that?”

Me:
“She’s entitled to her feelings.”

Woman:
“I can’t believe— Don’t you want to slap her?”

I hand over her receipt, smiling.

Me:
“No. Here’s your receipt. Tell your friend to have a good day!”

The woman stood there for a moment before snatching the receipt from my hand. When she got out the door, the first woman met up with her, where they stood talking and looking at me for quite a while. I smiled and waved at both of them. They turned and disappeared into the mall.

(I have a local number call me during business hours on my cell phone. Because it is local, I take it.)

Caller: “Hi! I’m calling about a revolutionary new home security system—”

Me: “I have a home security system. He’s a German Shepherd.” *click*

Coworker: “You really just did that?”

(I work in a pizza shop which delivers to local people and businesses. There is a nursing home nearby which is known — at least to us — for being awful to both patients and our delivery drivers, but it is mainly the patients who call, so we haven’t blacklisted them. Today, we send a driver over with an order for one of the patients. It costs $13.86, and our drivers carry fives and ones but not coins, which is a fairly well-known and obvious practice. We receive the following phone call from the receptionist at the nursing home.)

Receptionist: “Your delivery man came with an order and refuses to give my patient her correct change! The order was $13.86 and he only gave her $6 back! You need to make him give her the rest of the change! This behavior is absolutely unacceptable. You people are aware that this is a nursing home, and I need to stand up for my patient! You tell him—”

(I have been trying to interrupt her for some time now and finally get through.)

Me: “Ma’am, our drivers don’t carry change with them. If he hasn’t gotten too far I can have him check his car for spare change to bring back, but is fourteen cents really worth the trouble?”

Receptionist: “I am appalled! I can’t believe you people would try to take advantage of an old woman like this! I will be speaking to your owners.”

(She then hung up. The driver in question returned a while later and I asked him about the delivery. As it was a nursing home which houses dementia patients, among others, a security code must be entered before the doors can be opened to let someone leave. The driver said that the receptionist refused to enter the code until he gave her another dollar to cover the missing 14 cents. He also said that while she was on the phone with me, he was standing nearby, and witnessed a nurse screaming at a patient in a wheelchair for spilling a glass of water. At the end of the night, we sent an email to several county officials about the nursing home, so here’s hoping they close down or some people get fired.)

(Our door has a sign indicating if we are open or closed; open on one side, closed on the other. When we are open, “closed” faces the inside.)

Customer: *staring at the door*

Coworker: “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Customer: “Yeah… How do I get out of here?”

Coworker: “Um, through the door?”

Customer: “But it says it’s closed!”

Coworker: *facepalm*

(I work in a lingerie store at the mall. We have a store policy that we cannot accept screenshots or pictures of coupons, only the physical coupon or the email in which the coupon was sent. Usually, when I explain this to customers, they totally understand and everything is fine. Then, there’s this lady. I’m ringing out her items and she hands me her phone to scan her coupon. I see that it’s just a picture of the back of the coupon, so I hand her phone back to her.)

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I can’t accept a picture of the coupon, I’ll need the physical coupon in order to use it.”

Customer: “My husband sent that to me; I left it at home.”

Me: “I understand, but I’m really sorry. I can’t use it. You can always come back with today’s receipt and the physical coupon, and then we’d be glad to honor it for you.”

(Normally, this is where customers go, “Oh, okay,” and continue with the transaction. She does not. She steps off to the side with her phone. I don’t know what she is doing. Texting her husband to tell him to bring it in?)

Customer: “What’s the number to corporate?”

Me: “To… corporate?”

Customer: “Yes.”

Me: “Um, give me one second while I ask my manager.”

(I talk through my headset to my manager.)

Me: “Hey, I have a customer here at cash who wants the number to corporate.”

Manager: “Uh… well, we can’t just give them the ‘number to corporate.’ That’s not a thing. Here, I’ll give you the customer care number.”

(My manager gives me the number and I give it to the woman. She steps off to the side, and I suspend her transaction so I can continue to ring through the increasing line. Then, I hear her suck her teeth.)

Customer: “This isn’t the number to corporate. I want a direct line to corporate.”

Me: “Um, okay. Give me one second to see if we have another number.”

(I go on my headset again.)

Me: “Hey, so my customer wants a direct line to corporate?”

Manager: “What? Okay, well, here’s this number that skips through the number pressing and takes you right to a person. Hopefully, it’s the right person?”

(I give the customer the new number.)

Customer: “Ugh, this is the same thing. I want the number to corporate.”

Me: “I’m sorry, that’s the only number we have.”

(She rolls her eyes and stays on the line until a person picks up. I’m still working on ringing the next customers.)

Customer: *on the phone* “Yes, your cashier won’t take my coupon so she’s making me waste my time by calling you.”

(And now I was pissed. She literally didn’t say anything as she stepped aside to call “corporate” until she asked me for their number. I wasn’t making her do anything, and she was certainly wasting her own time. I guess my manager saw the look of pure anger on my face and told me to take my break. “Right now.” So, I did. By the time my half-hour break was over, this lady was STILL on the phone at the register. They gave her a 20%-off coupon code to redeem at the register just to appease her. I hate when they do that; it just teaches the customer that they can get away with s***. She apparently ranted the whole time about how we were all wasting her time, MAKING her call “corporate.” If she would have just agreed to come back later with her receipt and coupon, she would’ve been out of there in three minutes.)