Upset That You Gave Her Nothing To Moan About

(From the ages 14 to 15, I volunteer in the local Oxfam charity bookshop. When this incident takes place, I am working on the till. A lady comes up to pay for some books.)

Me: “Hello, is that all for today?”

Customer: *takes one look at me* “Where are all the older people?” *talking about the older volunteers who work during the week*

Me: “Um, well, this is currently my shift, so I am serving customers today.”

(The lady glared at me as I rung up her books, and grumbled something about the youth of today and insolent, immature children who shouldn’t be allowed to work in respectable shops. As a teenager who is not the stereotypical “youth,” I smiled sweetly at her as she marched out of the shop. Later on, my manager praised me for handling it maturely. I then found out that that lady was the same woman who blamed my mum for starting the war because she is German, despite the fact that my mum was born in 1972.)