This Customer Is Broken

(I am cashiering, and about six-months pregnant with a belly that is really showing. I am used to my regulars pushing their cart around to the end so I can scan larger items without lifting them, and think nothing of it when an older woman pushes her cart to the far side of the belt. I reach in and pick up her bag of pizza rolls, scan them, and proceed on to scan a 7oz package of turkey. As I set the turkey back down, on top if the frozen pizza rolls, she hits my scale with her fists, and stares me down with venom in her eyes.)

Customer: “You’re going to break them. Don’t touch the stuff. Just ring it up.”

(I am confused, and pick up her eggs to scan, and she yanks them out of my hand, all the while going rabid in front of my very eyes.)

Customer: “I told you not to touch them! You already broke my pizza rolls. You always break everything!”

(She is near tears, and I am kind-of scared of her, so I page my manager. My manager takes over and after a long time of coaxing her to let him, he manages to scan every item. The whole time, this woman is spitting out her teeth about how I break her pot pies, smash her bread, and bruise her apples. Being hormonal and agitated, I walk over to the woman, and in front of my manager say:)

Me: “I expect an apology from you. I have never done a thing to you, and had done nothing to deserve this emotional payload on top of me. You make me feel bad, you make me look bad, and this is my JOB. Please do not come through my line again. If you do, ask for the manager. I will not serve you again.”

(I turned around, weeping furiously, and took a break. The next day, she came in with a red rose, and apologized to me… but as she walked out the door, she screamed, “Don’t let them get your baby. Don’t let them kill your baby!”  My manager overheard, and told her she was no longer welcome on our establishment.)