I’m working stock at a popular discount variety store chain, when a father, a mother and their two sons walk in and start looking at toys. I overhear part of their conversation:

Father: “Only pick one each, we actually have to pay for these. It’s not like back home in South Africa where you could just walk out of the shop.”

(I’m on holiday when the town I live in is evacuated due to bushfires that have claimed three lives and damaged or destroyed over 200 homes. My husband, our three kids, and I have been staying in a motel for a week when the owner knocks on our door just after the evacuation orders are given. We are due to check out the next morning.)

Owner: “You guys are from [Town], right? I just heard that it’s been evacuated.”

Husband: “Yes, we’ve just heard. We might need to extend our stay if that’s possible.”

Owner: “You should be able to get housing through [Government Service]. I have a contact there; I’ll see what I can do. If not, we’ll work something out. Don’t worry about checking out tomorrow; just come to the office around 9:00.”

Me: “Thank you so much.”

(The next morning, he calls his contact, but due to us not being in our home they can’t help us.)

Owner: “Look, don’t worry about paying for the room. It’s yours as long as you need it; you guys have enough to worry about.”

Me: *crying* “Wow, thank you so much. This is our first holiday since before [Oldest Child] was born. I don’t know what we’d do, otherwise.”

Owner: “If you need anything, let me or [Owner’s Wife] know.”

(Thank you to these angels who have given us a little bit of hope when we don’t know if we could lose everything as there are catastrophic fire conditions throughout New South Wales and Queensland today. Please keep the people living in these areas in your thoughts and prayers.)

(I get called to our front counter by a fellow supervisor to help her with a refund. We were both employed at the same time and have been in with the company for about three years but for some reason, she’s never familiarised herself with the products we sell.)

Supervisor: “I’m trying to put a return through for this lady but the items won’t scan.” 

(I’ve not yet seen the items.)

Me: “Okay, where’s the receipt?”

Supervisor: “She doesn’t have one.”

Me: “We can’t do a return without a receipt.”

Supervisor: “I know that. I’m just going to give her store credit.”

(We aren’t supposed to but can do it to keep customers happy.)

Me: “Okay, then where are the items?”

Customer: “Here they are; I bought them from here.”

Me: *glancing quickly at the items* “These aren’t our items; you didn’t buy these here.”  

Customer: “Yes, they are. I bought them here.”

Supervisor: “How can you tell? You barely even looked at them.”

Me: “They are both brands we’ve never sold.”

Supervisor: “You can remember all the brands we sell?”

Me: “Not all of them, but this one is [Competitor]’s own brand and this one—” *flips package over to show a distinctive red and white logo* “—is from [Store].”  

Customer: “Oh, I could have sworn I bought them here, but I am certain I got that one here. I never go to [Competitor]. How do you know it’s their own brand?”

Me: “I worked there for five years, and if you read the package it will say that it’s exclusive to [Competitor].”

Customer: “BUT I BOUGHT IT HERE!”

(I wordlessly flip the package over and point to the fine print, which is too small for me to read.)

Customer: “Oh, it does say [Competitor], but I hardly ever go there.”

(She apologises and leaves.)

Supervisor: “I don’t know how you can remember what stock we sell.”

(I don’t know how she can’t, seeing that we only carry our own brands.)

(This takes place in a well-known Australian supermarket. Our store takes online orders for people at home. My job is to pick items off the shelf and place them in crates on a trolley. Each crate has a name and a corresponding address. Each item is bagged and tied by hand in plastic bags.)

Customer: “Excuse me.”

Me: “Yes?”

Customer: “Are these items on special?”

Me: “No, these items are for online customers. They are not on special.”

Customer: “Okay, then.”

(The customer then wanders off to a different part of the store. My next item requires me to leave my trolley to find an item that’s out of stock. This takes no longer than five minutes. As I return, I hear the following conversation with my coworker.)

Coworker: “Excuse me, what are you doing?”

Customer: “These were on special! I’m taking them.”

(I walk around the corner only to find that the customer from before has taken EVERY SINGLE ITEM out of its bag and into her own trolley. This is well over 100 hand-picked and bagged items.)

Customer: “He told me they were on special!”

Me: “I did not. I told you they were for online customers.”

Customer: “Liar! You’re just trying to steal them and keep them for yourself! I bet you don’t even work here!”

Me: “I do work here because my shirt has the [Store] logo on it. Also, the trolley clearly advertises who I am shopping for. Online customers! Not specials!”

(Thankfully, the customer turned around and left in a huff. I spent the next hour rescanning and bagging the items.)

(I work in an arts and craft store that sells spray paint. Around Halloween, an older man comes in, stops to look at our sale items — at the moment face and body paint — and then heads straight to the spray paint aisle. He then purchases quite a few cans of the cadmium spray paint we have, all of which have clear labeling on the sides about the toxicity of them and how you should wear a mask when using them. With each can, we offer a free face mask for convenience. As I’m ringing him up, the conversation goes like this:)

Me: “Would you like a few free face masks with your spray paint today? Or do you already have enough at home?”

Customer: “What? Why would I need a mask?”

Me: “This particular brand of spray paint isn’t very safe. Cadmium colours and spray paint in general are toxic to humans. If you breathe it in, it may make you very ill.”

Customer: “I won’t be breathing it in; it’s going straight onto my face! It’ll be fine!”

Me: “What do you mean, sir?”

Customer: “I use it as body paint!”

Me: “Our face paints are just there if you’d like to check those out, instead. I really wouldn’t recommend using these on your skin. Spray paint can cause irritation on your skin and cadmium, the colour, is similar to lead. It can really damage your body if you accidentally ingest it.”

Customer: “I’m not eating it, and I’ve done this since I was a child! It’s much easier than using those little pots of paint to cover a whole body! I’ll be fine.”

Me: “…”

(I still think about this man to this day. How he hasn’t gotten lead poisoning still baffles me.)