Mean cashier!

For my first job, i was a cashier at my local grocery store. One night i was closing, so there was an express lane open, then my lane for larger purchases behind the express lane. An older man goes through the express lane, which i can see from where im standing. As im helping a customer of my own, i happen to look up and glance around at a few things (wondering how many customers are left, where managers are if i need them, how many groceries are left on my belt, etc.) I notice the old man was looking at me, but i dont give it a second thought and continue scanning items. About 20 minutes after the old man leaves, my manager gets a call.

Manager: “Hey, do you remember the old man that went through the express lane a little while ago?”

Me: ” Maybe, i see a lot of faces during my shifts. Why?”

Manager: *sarcastically* “Well this particular old man is very angry with you for giving him a dirty look!”

Me: *confused* “I literally glanced in his direction. He was staring at me and i didnt make any face at him at all.”

Manager: *Laughing* “Well clearly he did not like that at all! I guess were going to have to fire ya.”

Me: *Laughing at this point*

Needless to say it became a joke between us that night and will always be hilarious to me.

(I was taking people’s orders at a fast food place and after handling some difficult customers these people really made my day.)
Customer: Hey you can smile now we aren’t like those customers you just had.
Me*starts smiling* thanks what can I get for you guys today?
Customer: *orders*
Me: Ok your total is ***
Customer: Oh! I forgot one other thing Please!
Me: Hahaha thanks so much
(I gave them 10% off because they were being really nice and they paid. They really made the rest of my day a lot better!)

(I’m a professional symphony and jazz trombonist in southwest Ohio. On the side, I run a small professional brass instrument shop. We build and sell custom brass instruments, sell customers’ used instruments, and repair damaged instruments customers may bring me. I’ve had some absurd repair stories come in, but this one was one of the best/worst I’ve seen in a while.)

(I was working on a build in my shop and an older lady about mid 60’s walks in with a trumpet and a scowl.)

Customer: “I’m not happy with you!”
(She says nothing else, not even hello.)
Me: “??? Ok ma’am can you explain what’s wrong? Maybe I could help out.”
Customer: “Yeah you can! I brought my trumpet in to your shop for a service, cleaning, and polishing, and take it out of the case and I look at my horn and there are scratches everywhere on it! I’m a professional and take really good care of my instruments! This is unacceptable!”
Me: “That sounds pretty serious, my repair techs are some of the best in the country and always do top notch work. I’m surprised to hear this. Can I take a look?”
(The customer hesitantly hands her trumpet case over to me. Seems like she wasn’t expecting me to do this for some reason… I open the case and I can tell right away it is an older student model instrument. This instrument is worth MAYBE $300 max. Definitely not something a so-called “professional” would use. Professional trumpets range from $2000 on up; mine start at $3000. Looking at it right away I can see red spots called Red Rot on the pipe where the mouthpiece fits, called the leadpipe. These are typically signs of age and usually poor quality brass. If it’s not fixed it can be a serious problem, potentially causing pinholes in the tube.)
Me: “Ma’am, I can see a bunch of red rot here on your leadpipe, is that what you mean? This can be a problem if it isn’t fixed soon…”
Customer: “No, no, no, I’m not worried about that! I’m talking about all these scratches!!” (She points at the bell flare at the end of the trumpet, which to my eyes, is immaculate.)
Me: “I’m not really seeing anything wrong here, certainly not any scratches. Even holding up to my light I can’t see anything. Maybe one tiny hairline that looks like it happened from being in the case. Sometimes hard cases like these can cause light scratching against the lacquer, particularly on these student line instruments…”
Customer, clearly not happy: “Are you blind?! My husband could see there’s scratches all over it and he doesn’t even see that well! Just look!”
(At this point I’m starting to think maybe her husband just wanted her out of the house… but being the owner I wanted to make things right. I took the horn out into the bright sunlight to look. Still nothing. Maybe one tiny hairline barely visible to me, who was wearing magnifying goggles. I go back in the store and try to figure out more about this instrument.)
Me: “Ma’am I’m still not seeing anything significant in terms of scratches. You SURE you didn’t mean this red rot here?”
Customer: “Yes I’m not worried about all that, just all these scratches.”
(I’m starting to suspect SHE is the one with the vision problems…)
Me: “Ok how long have you had this horn? Do you play it often?”
Customer, proudly: “15 years! Been playing professionally with my church!”
(Volunteering to play at your church is not a “professional” gig, for the record.)
Me: “Ma’am that’s an awfully long time spent with one brass instrument. You sure that these ‘scratches’ didn’t happen during any point in that time? This is a student model instrument, and they aren’t exactly built to last these days.”
Customer: “Absolutely! I take perfect care of my trumpet, that is until you guys worked on it!”
(The large amount of red rot on the leadpipe says otherwise. We always recommend fixing big issues like that.)
Me: “Ok ma’am it seems you’re not happy with what I have to say. Let me call one of my techs down and see if he can’t give us a second opinion. He’s been doing this since before I was even alive.”
(Long story short he says the same as me.)
Customer, clearly not getting happier: “That’s absurd! You all are blind!”
(Now my whole staff is looking around the corner seeing what the fuss is. So before she ends up throwing a fit or something I offer to help out, but I needed to check our records first.)
Me: “Ok ma’am both of us see just a hairline. We’re sorry to have potentially caused this. When did you have this repair work done?”
Customer: “6 months ago!”
Me: …
Customer: …
Repair tech: …
Me: …
(She is actually blaming US for something that would’ve happened 6 months ago. That’s a bit like getting your car oil changed, then blaming the mechanic 6 months later when your spark plugs need changing… I try to diffuse the situation.)
Me: “Ok that’s a long time between using our services and now, we can’t exactly give you a refund for that. Tell you what, I can buff that hairline scratch for you, though it will damage the clear lacquer that’s over it. There’s nothing I can do about that, unfortunately. I HIGHLY recommend replacing that leadpipe too since it’s full of red rot. I’ll even offer to replace that for you at a discount.” (Since that in reality is the REAL issue with this horn. Besides the player of course.)
Customer, clearly defeated: “No I just wanted to tell you that you didn’t do a very good job!”
(She packs up the case and leaves in a huff. We’re all just standing there stunned that this exchange even happened. We suspect she was trying to play us and get a freebie out of us for something we didn’t do. Oh well.)

I encountered a father and son in the toy section. Their cart had a lot of toys already. The father was showing his son a toy.

The son gave a long sigh and said, ” Fine, but THAT’S IT! We don’t have the money for all this.”

(I am a department volunteer for a popular comic convention every year. My department is badge solutions, so people who have issues with their badges come to me. Badges are non transferable, meaning the only person who can be wearing your badge is you and anyone working the convention is allowed to ask for ID to prove it. In the recent years the badges have switched from just paper to RFID “radio-frequency identification” so we can keep better track of valid badges, and cut down on scalpers because the badges can be disabled. This year the RFID is a small sticker on the back of the plastic badge holder, it’s on every badge except child badges. It’s around 2pm on the busiest day when a woman approaches my desk with two badges in hand. )
Woman: “Hi, my badge doesn’t have one of those stickers on it”
(looking over the badge it looks as if it never had an RFID on it, like a child badge, so red flags go up)
Me: “Okay, that’s strange, may I see your ID?”
Woman: “No. I don’t have it”
(more red flags going up, at this point I wave over a supervisor who has been listening in)
Supervisor: “You don’t have any ID?”
Woman: “Well no!” (pointing to her costume which is quite small and tight with no pockets)
(My supervisor then picks up both badges the woman set on the counter and the woman is looking increasingly uncomfortable)
Supervisor: (referring to the second badge) “So who’s badge is this”
Woman: (pointing vaguely in a direction of a man and child) “it’s hers”
Me: “It’s a child’s badge? Why is it printed like an adult badge”
Woman: “No not the child it’s his badge” (pointing to the man)
Supervisor: “Does he have ID?”
Woman: “Yeah he has ID”
(The woman waves him over and as she does that my supervisor is telling me we can at least look him up. As he approaches he is taking out his ID, which I can see the back of, but before he gets it out his wife leans over and whispers something in his ear and he starts to put it back)
Man: “oh sorry, I don’t have my ID”
Me: “Yes you do. I just saw you take it out”
Supervisor: “So who’s badges are these”
Woman: (looking defeated) “That one is mine, the other one is my mom’s”
(We look it up in the system, and have her verify all her information to prove the badge belonged to her. Turns out the RFID sticker on her mom’s badge belonged to her badge. Still not sure how she snagged a child’s sleeve for herself as her daughter was still wearing the badge issued to her. She starts to beg and whine about getting her daughter into the convention.)
Supervisor: “The problem is you continually lied to us and you broke the badge policy. We should be confiscating these and kicking you out”
Woman: “NO! you can’t do that, please she is just a kid she wants to see the show! can’t we just buy one for my husband?”
Me: “Well the show has been sold out for months”
Woman: “Oh Bullshit!! You can sell us a badge”
(At this point I’m fed up and annoyed and beg my supervisor not to just give the woman her badge and send the husband on his way because we shouldn’t break the rules for people like that. But my supervisor at the time as a complete pushover and didn’t want to send the husband home. We ended up selling him the badge and I was pissed. Not to mention the whole time their kid was being a terror. Reaching over the counter and messing with my signs and computer. When I asked her to please stop she would get a evil look and then do it even more. I really wish my supervisor would have enforced policy because all they learned that day is that they can bully and whine their way into anything)