You’re About To Be Down Several Customers, Too

I was working in retail during flu season. One day, in particular, I was sick as a dog, my nose running like a tap. When I was not working, I managed that symptom by keeping my head tilted slightly up so everything could drain backward. But that’s not an option when you’re looking down to pack bags and make change every few seconds. Even with tissues and sanitiser, I was serving very slowly because I’d have to stop myself from snotting on the customer’s produce.

I thought a sensible thing to do was to put up my closed sign so people would queue elsewhere and probably get served faster. I’d then call over one person at a time so I was still working the whole time but we’d have fewer annoyed customers.

I got reamed out for closing my register without asking, in front of the customer I was serving at the time.

The reason I didn’t go home? I’d asked, but they’d already let someone else go home (who was far less sick) and they didn’t want to be down another cashier.