I was having a decent day at the register, and things were going great. Then came this customer. She was in a bad mood, and I was trying to stay positive, but she kept telling me to hurry up when I was scanning because she was in a rush. She had a full cart of stuff.

Me: “I’m going as fast as I can. I’m sorry.”

Customer: “You shouldn’t be making $11 an hour! You’re too slow!”

She just kept berating me as I rang up her items.

Finally, the time came to pay. She swiped her card and it was declined. She tried again. Denied. Third time. Denied.

She called the bank and learned that her account had been run almost completely dry and only had about $24 left.

She stormed out quickly after, and I got some time away from the register to put her groceries away.

A customer makes an order that goes out via [Shipping Company]. They are all sorts of messed up right now. The customer’s order was shipped a week ago, and it’s still in my city. The customer calls us all bent out of shape, demanding a refund.

Our policy states that we need to have the unused product in our possession before we issue any refunds, and [Shipping Company] isn’t refunding anything right now.

Me: “I don’t have much authority over this, but I can process a refund for the product. We need [Shipping Company] to refund us before we can send the fee back to you.”

Customer: “You’re not doing your job appropriately! I want my refund now!”

After a four-minute tirade, he asked for a manager.

My manager got on the phone, and the guy was super polite, even after the refund I was issuing was rescinded.

I enjoy most of our customers, but this was a typical Monday Troll.

I work in retail. We had this customer who came in once a month on Friday nights. He always stayed for half an hour after closing, and he rarely bought anything. We were not allowed to kick him out, so we had to stay until he left.

Then, the higher-ups started complaining about overtime.

The result was that we had to send full-timers home early on the weekends after that customer’s visits.

I work for a store that has sibling stores of different “status” levels. I am working the closing shift with another associate and the manager on duty. Right as I am going for my break, a mom-daughter duo comes in.

Thirty minutes later, I come back out and the associate pulls me aside.

Associate: “That lady and her daughter have been here for a while, and they’re still trying on clothes.”

I brush it off; maybe it’s an extreme shopping spree for new wardrobes.

Then, another hour goes by. Then, it’s closing time — a total of an hour and forty-five minutes so far. They’re STILL trying on clothes. But this is when it gets sketchy.

The manager on duty tells me to close the doors, and the shopping mom speaks up.

Mom: “Oh, I can do that for you!”

Huh?

Turns out the duo works at the “higher-end” version of my store, and they know EVERYTHING. The mom even mocks me about my folding.

Mom: “I’ve been working at [Sibling Store] for longer than you’ve been alive!”

Weird flex, but okay.

Thirty minutes past closing, they were finally ready to check out. This is when the sketchiness started to concern [Manager].

The daughter offered to check HERSELF out; she wanted to go behind the counter and do the work. We politely declined with raised eyebrows. Throughout the transaction — roughly $1,000 worth of clothes, but after discounts only $400-ish — she talked about staying past closing, how she knew how annoying it was, and blah, blah, blah. [Associate] was sweeping, and the mom kept saying, “Let me do it!”

Finally, they left forty-five minutes past closing. Was this annoying? Absolutely. What made it worse? The store is in a mall, which means that thirty minutes after the mall closes, the doors are locked.

I don’t know how the mom and daughter got out, but the three of us had to find security to open the doors for us.

I talked to the store manager about it and asked if we could’ve kicked them out sooner. She basically said no, and even if customers stayed past midnight, we still had to check them out.

That’s ridiculous to me.

I was working in a store. One night, we had a lady ignore our multiple closing-time announcements. She stayed thirty minutes after closing before she paid and left.

Fifteen minutes later, she came back and began to bang on the door and get our attention. I went to the door.

Me: “Did you leave something behind, ma’am?”

Customer: “No, I just wanted to buy more things!”