[I have greeted a customer with a question about an order she placed.]
Customer: I ordered a recliner from your other store yesterday, and I was told it would take over two weeks to come in, can you check to see if they’ve shipped it yet?
Me: Unfortunately, the order is in the other store’s system, I don’t have the capability to check it on our computer, but I can call them and ask.
Customer: But you can check orders right?
Me: We can, but only the ones placed through our store. [I pick up the phone to dial the location she ordered the chair through.]
Customer: I want to check my order!
[I ended up calling the other store. It hadn’t been shipped yet.]

(During college I worked the night shifts at a sandwich shop located in a h= ospital cafeteria. Night shift was scheduled as 5pm-1am since the shop clos= ed at 1am but in reality you were usually there a bit longer because hospit= al staff would rush the place (since it was the last place in the cafeteria= to close) just before closing and you’d end up staying later to re-do= most of the closing routines. When this happened we were usually in a rush= because the POS system would auto-reboot itself and log us all out of the = time keeping system at 2am and once it did that, you were unable to log bac= k in for a few hours, so anything we did after 2am was basically for free. = One night after a particularly bad rush, the three of us on shift are tryin= g to clean up as quickly as we can so we can all leave. All the food is put= away and the bottles drink cabinet is locked, we have dimmed the lights ar= ound our area and we are all sweeping, mopping or scrubbing various surface= s. At this point it’s about 1:30am, so 30 minutes after we close, and = a group of 3 12-13 year old boys wander over to us and start tugging on the= door of the locked drunk cabinet)

Coworker #1: *had been cleaning the drink fountain area next to the cabinet= * Hey, guys, we’re closed.

Kid: We just want drinks

Coworker #1: We’re still closed and we’re not going to open the c= abinet up for you

Kid: *to me as I come out of the back and start punching my employee meal i= nto the register since I made it earlier but didn’t have a chance to r= ing myself out because of the rush* Hey, if your register is still on you h= ave to sell us drinks

Me: Well, we close at 1 and it’s 1:30 so no I don’t. But there&#0= 39;s a vending machine back the way you came you can get the same drinks fr= om. And it’s cheaper too, the machine chargers $1.25 and we charge $2 = a bottle.

Kid: My Dad said you gave him his food and drinks after 1 so that means you= ‘re open and have to get us drinks.

Me: He probably got in line with the last rush but that rush is over now, w= e’re closed and the vending machine is like a dollar cheaper anyway, j= ust give it up. *goes back into the back*

Kid: *keeps pulling at the door, muttering about how he’s going to get= his drink anyway (note that the door despite being locked, was pretty lose= and a really good tug could open it up even with the lock on most because = people did exactly what this kid is doing)*

Coworker #2: *hearing him as she comes over to the register from counting b= read and other inventory kept in the front so she can count out the money i= n the till* Hey, if you break that and take anything, there’s a securi= ty camera aimed right at that thing.

(The kid grumbles some more but he and his two friends leave. The next time= I worked there was a note on the white board in the back from our manager = about a customer complaint about us stressing them out during their hospita= l visit because we wouldn’t sell their kids an overpriced soda)

I work as a sales associate in the women’s clothing section of a department store.

A women came in holding a tote bag that we sell.

Woman: “Someone gave me this as a gift and I want to give her something of similar value. Could you tell me how this costs?”

As a joke, I replied: Four hundred and fifty dollars.”

The blood ran out of her face.

Woman: “What!”

Me: “Just kidding. That bag costs twenty-nine dollars.”

She started screaming at me, saying I should not have “tricked” her.

(It was mid January and I was stopping in to pick up some snacks and some things to drink. Soon after I enter the store I hear some yelling. I’ve been in this store a few times and I recognize the cashier. The man yelling was in his mid to late 30s. The cashier is at no personal risk, as he’s sitting behind a large plexiglass partition that customers can’t get through.)

Customer: I gave you that fifty cents, where’s my drink?

Cashier: You’re still short, man.

Customer: You’re just trying to steal from me, man.

(At this point, I realized that I walked into a bad situation, and I was just trying to figure out how to deal with it. The customer grew increasingly aggressive, yelling threats at the cashier. So I wandered off to a corner of the store and just looked down, trying to be as invisible as I could while I hoped the aggressive customer would get kicked out.)

Customer (getting increasingly angry): Give me my booze man.

Cashier: Get out of the store.

(At this point I’d already given up on trying to buy anything and was just hoping he’d either kick the guy out or I could leave without being noticed. It was clear the customer was not listening, so I started walking towards the door).

Customer: Man I’ll just kick your friend’s a**, then you’ll give me my money back.

(I didn’t realize he was talking about me until I was almost out the door)

Customer: (Aggressively) Hey! You friends with that guy?

Me (Incredulous): No

(I don’t know what it was, but he turned around and started yelling at the cashier. I have no idea how that situation ended, but I just wanted out of there.)

[I’m Indigenous, but can pass for white. The customer in front of me, who’s being checked out by the clerk, is a petite African-American woman. A white guy with a shaved head steps in line behind me.]

White Guy: “Look at that disgusting [racial slur]. She ought to be put on the next boat back to Africa.”

Me: [Ignores him]

White Guy: [taps me on the shoulder to get my attention]

Me: [Turns my head to acknowledge him]

White Guy: “I think only natives should be allowed in this country. Don’t you agree?”

Me: [replies in my tribal language]

White Guy: “What was that?”

Me: [switching to English] “I believe you just said that only natives should be allowed in this country?”

White Guy: “So I did.”

Me: “Translated, what I replied was `I agree 100%. Now get the hell off my land, paleface.'”

African-American Woman: [bursts into giggles, collects her groceries and heads out]

White Guy: [glares daggers at me]