I work in retail. A lady comes into the store and approaches the customer service desk.

Customer: “I’ve broken a plate from my dinner service, and I’d like to replace it.”

Me: “Okay, what’s the manufacturer and the name of the design?”

Customer: “I dunno, but the plate is about this big.”

She held her hands apart exactly the distance of every dinner plate in the universe.

I advised her to go home and look at the underside of the plate, where the manufacturer and the name of the pattern would be emblazoned.

A dad came into the store with his three-year-old and picked out a $150 headset.

Dad: “I want to buy this for my daughter. I need to one-up my ex-wife.”

Then, his girlfriend came in and they started arguing over the price. The kid was all alone, halfway across the store, chewing on merchandise

They also yelled at me and my store manager when we asked them to pay for the $3 blind box that the kid had left soaking wet with her spit.

In the store where I worked, we had different products on sale every week. These sales were divided between Monday to Thursday and Friday to Sunday. This interaction happened many times.

A customer comes to the register with a product. I give them their total.

Customer: “It said in your weekly magazine that this was on sale!”

Me: “Was there a sign stating that the sale started?”

Customer: “No, there wasn’t! But it was in the paper, so it should be!”

Needless to say, the customer had come in on Tuesday trying to buy from a sale that started on Friday.

Then, there were customers who screamed at me for false advertisement because they couldn’t read the ten-centimetre-high letters stating which product was on sale.

These kinds of things happened around twenty times a day, every day of the year, and sometimes even more. We all definitely lost some brain cells and had some venting screams in the break room.

A few months ago, I had this old man in my line who wasn’t wearing his mask properly.

Me: “Sir, can you please pull your mask up?”

He IMMEDIATELY launched into a rant.

Customer #1: “Only female employees ever give me a hard time about my mask! Women are going to be the death of me. You’re always nagging!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but rules are rules, and they apply to everyone unless you have a doctor’s note.”

My coworker from the register behind me, also a woman, piped up and told him off, as well. From what she said, it seemed that she had dealt with him about the same issue before. He still wouldn’t pull the mask up.

Then, the customer behind him — a man — spoke up.

Customer #2: “Just follow the d*** rules like everyone else!”

He finally pulled the mask up.

I am unloading boxes on the far side of the store from the counter. We have a sign on our register saying, “Ring the bell loudly for service.” I finish up with a batch of boxes and head for the register. I find a woman standing there.

Woman: “FINALLY! I’ve been waiting here forever for you!”

Me: “Did you ring the bell?”

Woman: “NO!”

So, she didn’t ring the bell. She just silently stood there waiting for the only employee to somehow know that she was there while I was clear on the other side of the store.