When Shirt Hits The Fan

An older man strolls up to my checkout holding a shirt.

Customer: “I bought a shirt yesterday and when I got home, I noticed something isn’t right with the design. The inside design looks like it should be on the outside.” 

Me: “Okay, is the clothes label on the inside?” *I don’t know what else to say.*

Customer: “Yeah, I’m not stupid! Can’t you check if it’s supposed to be like that?”

Me: “Our company doesn’t have a computer system for looking up products, since we have such a huge variation in the stock each store holds.”

Customer: “Can you check if it’s been recalled?”

Internally: …wut.

Me: “Sure, I’ll just call a manager to check if any clothes have been recalled.”

He wanders off to find the shirt in question. I call a manager and confirm that, shockingly, no clothes have been recalled. In two years, I’ve worked here, I’ve never even heard of such a thing happening.

The man returns, holding up the shirt like a smoking gun. Now I see what he means: the inside has the same beachy palm tree print as the outside, just a bit richer in colour. But the label is still clearly on the inside. So, yeah… that’s how shirts work.

I agree it looks unusual, and offer him a return. But he insists on seeing a manager.

Unfortunately, at this time of day, all the managers are on break except one, who’s downstairs on the ground floor tills.

I brace myself.

Me: “You’ll need to head downstairs to speak with the manager there.”

He fixes me with a glare. 

Customer: “I used to work for a big company like yours. I could destroy you.”

And then he just… turns and storms out. No refund. No shirt. No destruction.

Just me, standing at my till, wondering if I’d just survived the most dramatic shirt critique in retail history.