Customer: “You’re really pretty. Are you sure a pretty girl like you can’t give me a discount?”

I am smiling even though I want to crawl out of my skin and tell him he’s really barking up the wrong tree as I am very happy with my girlfriend.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, there are no discounts, and my boss wouldn’t be happy if I gave you one.”

Customer: *Smile slides off his face* “Well, I know [Owner] and [Manager].”

Me: “So do I, sir, but I still pay for my pastries. Have a nice day.”

He went and paid after that.

I was working at the service desk. A man in a hoodie with the hood up came up and got behind the guy I was helping. Then, an old black woman came in. She walked right past the man waiting and plopped her things down as soon the man who was being helped was done.

I looked at the man in the hoodie and called him forward.

The lady immediately began to yell and accused me of being racist for helping the “white” man before her.

The man pulled his hood down. He was also black. The lady then went quiet.

My aunt (we’ll call her Jane) was dating a man (we’ll call him John) who was twenty-two years older than she was, and he eventually became her second husband. He pulled this gag on her at a store’s checkout.

As they approached the cashier’s station, John hung back, so it wasn’t obvious that they were together. Jane didn’t think anything of it and started placing her items on the belt. Just as she finished, John walked up and put a pack of gum on the belt. The cashier looked at my aunt, who said, “Go ahead.”

The cashier finished ringing her out and announced the total.

John: “I’ll get this.”

Jane: “It’s okay. I’ve got it.”

John: “I insist; it’s the least I can do.”

Jane: “Well, okay.”

He hands the cashier money and gets his change, and then…

John: “Now that I’ve paid for your purchase, will you tell me your name?”

Jane: “JOHN!”

I worked in a store during a big console launch. Our store had only gotten enough to fulfill preorders, so they were all locked in the office, bagged, with the customer’s details taped to them so that the customers’ copies of the paperwork could be matched up to their orders. All staff attended a training where this was made very clear, and they were reminded about it afterward.

A customer asked for a console.

Cashier: “I’ll go grab you one.”

I stopped them and turned to the customer.

Me: “Can I see your preorder slip?”

Customer: “Oh, I didn’t preorder it.”

Cashier: “It’s fine; we’ve got plenty.”

Me: “No, we don’t.”

Cashier: “Yeah, there’s loads in the office. I’ve already sold six!”

They’d been asking other managers for access to the office. Those managers were assuming no one could be that stupid. They assumed wrong; the cashier was tearing the paperwork off and binning it.

I work in a [Sandwich Chain] inside of a [Big Box Store]. One of my friends gives me a [Big Box Store] lanyard so I can stick my keys and stuff on it. I get off work one night and decide to do some shopping.

A customer proceeds to whistle at me like a dog. She does this for a minute or two before she decides to walk over to where I am.

She starts screaming at the top of her lungs at me for not asking if she needed help.

After letting her rant herself out:

Me: “Ma’am, I don’t work at [Big Box Store].”

Screaming Woman: “But you have one of those necklaces the people that work here wear!”

Me: “Ma’am, I am also wearing a neon orange shirt with [Sandwich Chain] across the front — and the back — in huge letters.”

Screaming Woman: “That’s beside the point! You’re wearing a [Big Box Store] necklace, so that should be all I need!”

As I tried to process the nonsense level of that statement, she huffed and stormed off without another word.