(I am working as a cashier at a popular superstore.)

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, your card declined. Do you have another form of payment?”

Customer: “What the h*** did you do? Try it again and this time, don’t touch it!”

Me: “Of course. Slide your card again, please.”

Customer: *slides card*

Me: *presses button to process card*

Customer: “I said don’t touch it!”

Me: “Ma’am, I have to press the button, or the transaction will not process. I’m sorry, the card is still declined. Do you have another card you want to try?”

Customer: “My card is good! You are doing this on purpose! Run it again, and this time don’t you dare press that f****** button, you dumb b****!”

Me: “Please, there’s no need for that; there are children here. We can try again if you’d like, but I will need to press the button, and I don’t think the outcome will change.”

Customer: *slides card while grumbling under her breath*

Me: *presses button to process card*

Customer: *screaming now* “I told you not to press that d*** button. Are you deaf or just stupid?! Get me a manager now! I will have your job!”

(My manager is nearby and has heard most of the exchange.)

Manager: “What seems to be the problem here?”

Customer: “This b**** keeps pressing her little button and making my card decline! I want her fired immediately!”

Manager: “Ma’am, I hate to inform you of this, but there is no button she can press to make your order decline. There must be a problem with the card or with your bank; you will need to use another card, or I can set your items aside if you want to come back at another time. ”

Customer: “F*** all of you! You’re a bunch of liars! My card is good! MY CARD IS GOOD!”

(The customer continues screaming, cursing, and destroying displays until security removes her from the store.)

Manager: *to me*  “Go ahead and take your break a little early tonight.”

(I am working as a cashier when a woman and little girl, maybe five years old, approach my register. The woman begins to unload her items while staring intently at her phone and ignoring the little girl. The girl starts running back and forth along the register belt with her tongue on the edge of the belt.)

Me: “Oh, sweetie, don’t put your mouth on that. It’s very dirty; you could get sick.”

Girl: *stops and looks at me, confused*

Woman: *looks up and gives me a death glare* “How dare you correct my child?!”

Me: “I’m sorry, it’s just that I don’t get to clean the register often, and people touch it and put packages of raw meat and other items like that on it all day. It’s probably covered with germs.”

Woman: “Look. No one tells my kid what to do but me; just keep your mouth shut and do your job!” *goes back to her phone*

Me: *goes back to scanning silently*

Girl: *looks at me smugly and goes back to licking the register belt*

(I’m a manager at a discount store. Every couple of months our store has a “sidewalk sale” where we mark all of our clearance items down to $1 and put them outside. I am currently outside at the sale, training an associate on what to do. We have just finished ringing up a rather large order totaling around $200. We only have one register outside, and the only thing running to it is power, so we can only accept cash. We have signs on top of every rack, on every post, and taped to the register. The customer hands me a debit card.)

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but unfortunately we are only able to accept cash.”

Customer: “Excuse me?”

Me: “We can only accept cash as form of tender.”

Customer: “Why?”

Me: “Well, ma’am, since we are outside, we are only able to have power going to the register here. We are not hooked up to our system or anything.”

Customer: *yelling* “What kind of business is this? You will take my card now!”

Me: “Ma’am, again, I have no way of taking your card. I do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. We do have an ATM right inside if you would like to run in and use that.”

Customer: *still yelling* “No! If you wont take my card, then it is your fault that I can’t pay. These items are mine! I spent an hour looking through all of these racks!”

(The customer then grabbed her bags and took off running. Luckily, loss prevention was right around the corner and took off running after her, tackling her in the process. The customer started hitting our LP guy and trying to bite him. She ended up being arrested for assault.)

Recently, our store’s trash compactor broke down. For the time being, management just had our clerks put the trash bags out in the rear lot on pallets next to the compactor until they could bring a dumpster in. This was all store trash, including things like scraps from our meat shop, sitting outside for two or three days in 90-degree heat.

Once they brought a dumpster in, they assigned two of the clerks to take all those trash bags and throw them into it to be taken away. One unlucky clerk went to throw a bag of meat shop trash in, and had it burst in his hands, splashing him from head to toe with rancid, raw meat and drippings.

That’s gross and unfortunate, but it got stupid when he asked to go home and change, and was told by the store manager to stay and finish his shift. The guy lived just down the road, probably would have been back within 20 minutes, and even offered to work past his shift to make up the lost time. But instead, they kept him working in those filthy clothes for another three hours. And he was told to do nothing but lot duty — something clerks are only supposed to do in half-hour increments in hot weather — the entire time so the smell wouldn’t offend customers.

He’s been one of our best and most reliable clerks — it says something that he followed orders there — but he put in his two weeks after that.

This story is part of the second Heatwave roundup!

Read the next second Heatwave roundup story!

Read the second Heatwave roundup!

(A woman who frequents my store has a habit of buying something on sale, usually with additional coupons and price matching– or complaining until we make up a discount for her — then “forgetting” her receipt upon return. Without a receipt, an item must be returned for the price that day. Many of us are aware of what she is doing, but we cannot call her on it or refuse the return because we “think” she’s scamming us. On this day, I am on register. I see her walking toward the store from the parking lot and notify my manager. She comes to the front and tells me to go straighten up a nearby shelf. The woman enters with an aquarium filtration system in her cart. Today, this system is $200.)

Customer: “I want my money back.”

Manager: “Welcome to [Store]. Do you have your receipt?”

Customer: “Just give me my money.”

Manager: “Could I get your phone number or membership card?”

Customer: *rattles off phone number* “Why?”

Manager: “Without your receipt, I can only give you store credit. Do you remember how you paid?”

Customer: “My bank card! Are you going to give my money back or do I have to call corporate again?”

Manager: “I apologize for your wait, ma’am. I was just researching your receipt history.”

Customer: “That’s an invasion of privacy! The manager always gives me cash.”

Manager: “Which manager is that?”

Customer: “Oh, uh, some guy.”

Manager: “Right. Okay, I see that you purchased this filter a little over a week ago.”

Customer: “Well—”

Manager: “And after the membership discount and what appears to be a price match, you paid $90. That’s a great deal!”

Customer: “But—”

Manager: “Your money will be credited to the account linked to the card ending in [numbers].”

Customer: “I want the full $200! This is ridiculous!”

Manager: “Just following policy, ma’am. Your money will be credited to your account in three to five business days, depending on your bank. Have a nice day!”

(My manager then took the cart from the woman and walked to the back of the store without another word.)