(I work at a popular clothing store, and my job is to fold and hang anything customers mess up or pull off hangers. A middle-aged woman and her young daughter — about six or seven years old — come over next to me while I am folding a pile of t-shirts. I have just finished folding the shirts when, without saying a word, she picks a shirt from the pile, holds it in the air, crumples it, and throws it back down, and then continues doing that with the rest of the shirts.)

Me: “Ma’am, please don’t do that; I have just folded those. If you tell me what size you are looking for I would be glad to help.”

(She keeps unfolding each and every shirt until she has unfolded all of them, and then starts browsing all the other clothes. After she has moved, I start to refold the pile all over again.)

Daughter: “I can help you fold these again; I am sorry about my mommy.”

Me: “It’s okay, sweetie. You don’t have to. Thank you.”

(Her daughter starts folding the shirts, anyway, and folds a few so perfectly and cleanly.)

Daughter: “It’s okay. Mommy makes me fold my clothes all the time.”

(She made my day. Thank you, little girl, for restoring my faith in humanity!)

(I am at the register and this guy walks in. He’s looking around, so I go out and ask him if he needs help.)

Customer: “Parlez-vous francais?”

Me: “No, I’m sorry.”

Customer: “Me, either.”

(He then continued talking… in English.)

(I get a call from the customer service desk telling me that there is a customer coming back from the service desk to men’s belts, so I go to meet the customer. He has a broken belt in his hand.)

Customer: “I need to find a belt like this. I can’t believe this! They treated me like some kind of thief! I know the manager! I can’t believe this!”

(He then looks at a few belts that are similar to the belt that he has, but they are a different brand. I take a look at the belt so I can see what brand it is. The logo looks a bit like the [Brand] logo.)

Me: “Sir? What brand is this?”

Customer: “[Brand].”

Me: “We don’t carry [Brand] here. I would try [Department Store].”

Customer: “You don’t carry [Brand]?”

Me: “No, sir.”

Customer: “Are you sure?”

Me: “Yes, sir, we don’t carry this brand. I believe [Department Store] does.”

Customer: “I knew I got it somewhere in this town. I guess I have to go back up to the service desk and apologize.”

(I overhear this conversation between a coworker on register and a customer.)

Customer: *puts almond milk on counter* “Hi. Can you tell me if this tastes sweet?”

Coworker: *begins reading ingredients* “Well, it looks like the second ingredient is high fructose corn syrup, so—”

Customer: “I don’t care about that! I just want to know if it tastes sweet!“

(We offer to cash checks in our store, provided the customer holds or signs up for a rewards membership and has a photo ID, and we have the cash to do so. This happens in the evening only an hour before we close.)

Me: “Hello, sir, how can I help you?”

Customer: “Yeah, I need to cash this check. Hurry up, though; I have to be somewhere.”

(I take a look at the check. It is for over $700, which is more than twice what I have available in my drawer. During the day we can get loans from the cash office, but as it’s quite late, I am not able to. )

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t have enough cash on hand to cash this.”

Customer: “Well, then, get it! You guys do it all the time!”

Me: “Again, sir, I’m sorry. But it’s too late for me to get a loan. You can take the check somewhere else to cash, or you can wait and see if we have the money tomorrow. It’s unlikely I will be able to cash it later tonight, as we close in an hour. You could also try tomorrow.”

Customer: “Man! The f*** is this?! Just give me my d*** money!”

Me: “Again, sir, I’m not able to. I have given you alternatives. Perhaps you can try [Grocery Store] across the street? They tend to have more on hand at this time of night.”

(The customer swears under his breath and leaves. He comes back five minutes later after I have helped two more customers.)

Customer: “You going to cash my check now?”

Me: “Again, sir, I don’t have enough. We close in less than an hour; I won’t be able to—”

(The customer leaves again. He then comes back AGAIN a few minutes later.)

Customer: “You got it yet?”

Me: “Sir, please, I will not be able to cash your check tonight! You can go somewhere else, or wait until tomorrow! You are asking me to do something I am literally unable to do.”

(By this point my manager has heard all of this and comes over. He asks to see the check and, despite it being against company policy, agrees to check and see if there is enough cash in the office to do the transaction. He asks the customer for ID.)

Customer: “I ain’t got no ID; that’s why I can’t go to [Check Cashing Store] or the bank! Now give me my money!”

(My manager makes him leave. The customer tries to resist, but my manager is about 6’5″ and very broad, built like a linebacker, and weighs at least 260 pounds.)

Manager: “You don’t feel bad about that one bit. You did good. Start closing up; maybe we can go home early tonight.”

(With that, he walked away, whistling. Just goes to show: don’t mess with retail workers!)