I’m in a popular coffee shop. As I go to stand in front of the empty registers, another customer cuts right in front of me, almost knocking into me with her already completed order of 2 hot drinks. She apologizes and appears distracted. The barista comes over to see what’s wrong.

Customer: “I don’t know. I don’t know if it will be too strong. Can you take the tea bag out? It’s too hot.” She says some more that I don’t catch, but the gist is that the tea is hot, so she wants the barista to open the drink and dunk the tea bag a few times for her with her own bare hands.

Barista: “Like this?” while dunking the hot tea bag over and over.

Customer: “Yes, and now you can throw it away. I just don’t know if it’d be too strong.”

The barista is clearly bewildered about why she has to do this instead of the customer, and then she has to clean up the tea she dripped on the counter before she takes my order. I tipped her a dollar on my small coffee to make up for the previous customer being weird. The self serve bar and trash can were right behind us!

I work in a candy store that has a case line of fudge and cakes and caramel apples. One day a guy comes in with friends and buys one of the cakes we sell in a reusable silcone mold and then some candy.

me: okay so your total is [price]

guy’s one friend: you’re spending $35 on candy?!

me: technically he bought $20 in candy-

guy: *laughing* and $10 on cake

me: well yes. but the cake does come in a silcone baking mold-

guy: just stop right there, stop right there

the guy begins to leave saying how i was trying to swindle him and how now he was going to eat the silcone.
I was embarrassed in a whole store of people since I’m a shy person and now the whole store was looking towards me. And especially since I had to tell him the mold was silcone as allergy information we tell everyone as well as for other reasons (i.e. so they know they can reuse it, that its not edible, so they dont throw it away, etc.)

I’ve just finished serving a customer, everything has been going smooth. He leaves happily. I few minutes later he comes back.

Customer: This is not right.
Me (confused): This is according to your prescription.
Customer: No. I always get a bigger box.

I check the history of the electronic prescription and print it out. It shows he’s bought the same item in the same size five times earlier. I explain this to him.

Customer: No it’s always bigger! This one I could by without a prescription. I’m going to talk to my doctor and get a different list of my medicines, one that is correct.
Me : You do that.

Knowing this item doesn’t come in a bigger size, and that the ones you can buy without prescription are smaller to the size, I add in my mind: Good luck with that!

(So there is a father son duo that comes in about once a week, the father is about the sweetest adorable old man ever, but the son is a complete fucking asshole. As usual the old man, who walks with a cane, comes in first. He leans against the counter casually, not behaving like he’s in any discomfort and I decide not to ask if he wants to sit down * apparently those was a big mistake*. Eventually the asshole son comes in and the old man toodles off to his theater. I go to greet the son.)

Son: (immediately starts screaming at me) MY FATHER IS 89 TREATS OLD AND HE WAS STILL STANDING WHEN I CAME IN! HOW DARE YOU NOT ASK HIM TO SIT DOWN OLD PEOPLE DON’T KNOW WAT THAT WANT YOU HAVE TO TELL THEM!

Me: I’m very sorry sir, he didn’t ask me to sit down and I assumed he was okay. I apologize, I’ll be sure to ask him next time.

Son: * continues to yell, scream, rant, ave rave about what a horrible person I am for not asking/forcing his father to sit down*

Manager: (having heard the disturbance he comes to see what’s going on) what’s the problem * sons name*?

Customer: * proceeds to yell and scream at my manager , right in front of me so the other customers have to walk by him throwing a holy conniption fit I might add, about everything he felt read wrong with the theater and then about how my generation is clueless and doesn’t respect old people. FOR TWENTY MINUTES) And I wasn’t yelling at you, my voice just carries.

Me: I’ll bear that in mind.

Manager: (after he left) Yeah he was yelling.

Me: I noticed.

(I work in a card and stationary store.)

A woman comes in and I engage her in conversation

Me: Hi, how are you doing today? Is there something special I can help you find?

Woman: Yeah, do you have any cards with hummingbirds on them?

Me: Yes, we have a bunch! Did you need them for any specific occasion?

Woman: No, not really.

Me: Okay, well then we have many birthday cards with hummingbirds on them. This one here is actually our top-selling birthday card.

Woman: Actually, do you have any Thank You cards with hummingbirds on them?

Me: (thinking “Why couldn’t you have said this was what you wanted in the first place?) Yes, I think so, let’s go look. (after scanning the Thank You section) So I don’t see any out here right now, but let me check our database and see if there are any cards I’m forgetting about that we might have in the stock room.

(I look up “hummingbird cards” and find a few options) Okay, looks like I have one or two ideas. Let me just run in the back and grab them for you.

Woman: Okay.

(I come back a minute later with 2 options for her)

Woman: Actually, do you have any hummingbird cards that are blank inside?

(I walk over to our blank section and pull out 2 right off the bat)

Woman: Do you have any other options?

Me: I think so, let me go check.

Woman: Okay, I’ll keep looking.

(I again go to the back room and look for a minute or two and find a few cards that fit the bill. I return to the section of the store where I left her, and she is nowhere to be found–in fact, there are NO customers in the store at all!)

Me: *throws hands in the air in exasperation*

(Sadly, this happens on a regular basis. Why would you leave when I was gone for 3 minutes max and I’m trying to get you exactly what you asked for?!)