TalesFromRetail

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/daizepam on 2024-05-30 04:18:23+00:00.

I currently work as a dispense tech at a pretty busy pharmacy, and currently in my second year of bacholers of pharmacy. I’ve been working at this pharmacy for over a year now, so it’s safe to say I know my way around medicines especially since it’s what I’m studying as well.

An elderly lady comes in, and asks for someone that knows mandarin to help her decipher which medications she wants from her scripts as this lady does not speak a wink of english, so I come over to help her. Note that I do come from a chinese background and can speak mandarin as it is my first language, however I have stayed in Australia for long enough that I am more fluent in english than I am in mandarin.

She hands me 5 scripts, 3 of those I offered to fill as it seems that 2 scripts are new and she isn’t aware the doctor prescribed her new medications. After a lot of back and forth, she decides out of the 2 new ones she wants Atorvastatin, so I bring the medication box over to her according to the script. She puts it through google translate, and ‘Atorvastatin’ written on the box translated into the same word as ‘Atorvastatin’ written on the script, but with slightly different pronunciations in mandarin. At this point I’m baffled, I don’t know how to explain to her that if you match the letters on the box it actually corresponds to the same letters as they appear on the script, because it’s THE. SAME. MEDICATION. Here’s roughly what happened:

Lady: “You’re wrong, What you brought me isn’t what’s written on the script.”

Me: confused, “Atorvastatin is Atorvastatin..”

Lady: “you must be new here, you don’t know what you’re talking about because you’re making mistakes. Can you bring me someone else to show me the correct medication?”

At this point I pulled a pharmacist aside to confirm the medication right in front of her, even then she doesn’t believe me, so I just offered her to fill the scripts she’s sure of and leave that one for now. Boy I wish the story ends here, but it doesn’t.

In Australia, there are basically two healthcare cards. One of which is a basic healthcare card (medicare) that is offered to all Australian citizens, and the other is a concession card that only certain people can apply for which subsidies majority of your medication costs.

While I’m dispensing her script, I notice her waving her Medicare card around in front of me, demanding me to put this through the system so she gets a discount. I explained to her that firstly, I already have her card details and secondly, the card she’s waving around isn’t a concession card and therefore you do not get discounted medications.

I kid you not, before I even get to finish the sentence she cuts me off and says “You’re wrong, this DOES get me discounts!” I’m baffled at this point, and points out that what she’s waving is a medicare card and not a concession card, and asked her if she has a concession card. I can’t even make this up, she said back “this is the only card I own, I don’t know what you’re asking of me!”

I’m genuinely fed up at this point, so if she believes the wrong card can offer her a discount then so be it. A few minutes passes and she gets her medications, and lo and behold cashier staff rings, and this lady is asking why she doesn’t have discounts on her medications. I let them know that she doesn’t have a concession card and just to be safe, to double check with her for the 5th time. I don’t recall much of what follows next, and I assume she just walked out after paying the full price.

I normally don’t let work affect my daily life, but honestly this experience ruined the rest of my day after that.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/TheAskewOne on 2024-05-29 15:42:16+00:00.

I was just starting my shift yesterday, first customer is a young woman. I ring up her purchases, among which personal hygiene products. She pays, have a nice day, you too, totally normal interaction. Enters the guy behind her in line. He gestures towards the young lady who's leaving the store.

Guy: are you not grossed out?

Me: what?

Guy: I said, are you not grossed out?

Me: I'm not sure I understand.

The young lady didn't do anything wrong that I'm aware of, she was polite, our conversation was pretty unremarkable.

Guy: those things. The women's things.

Me: huhhh you mean... the sanitary pads?

Guy: yeah

Me: what about them?

Guy: they're gross. I could never touch that.

Me: well Sir as a cashier I'm supposed to scan every item and those were new, clean packs, I don't know what...

Guy: come on. That was disrespectful, she should have chosen a female cashier. Men shouldn't have to touch that.

Me: oh don't worry I'm fine with it.

I scan his purchases and he has a mega pack of TP rolls. I smile at the irony but he doesn't seem to get it. People, I swear.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/treblehex on 2024-05-29 11:30:53+00:00.

I work in a small family-owned shop that sells a variety of hardware and homewares. Today a family came in with their very small daughter—I’m terrible at guessing ages but she can’t have been older than six or so. I’m busy facing up the garden section when I hear her loudly and enthusiastically exclaim, “FANNY!”

Whatever the equivalent of a double take is for something you’ve heard rather than something you’ve seen, I did it. For context, I live in the UK. “Fanny” doesn’t mean the same thing here that it does in the US. It doesn’t mean “butt”. It means “lady-bits”. Her mum clearly has the same record-scratch moment that I did, because she asks, “…Did you just say ‘fanny?’”

“FANNY!” announces the kid again. She seems very excited about it.

The whole time they’re browsing around the shop, I can hear her going, “FANNY! FANNY!” and I’m starting to wonder if I’m mishearing her. Finally, they get to the till and I go to ring them up. As I’m scanning their things, she points to the box of battery operated handheld fans that we have on the counter. “FANNY!”

Her mum looks relieved to finally understand and tries to give the kid a graceful out. “Oh. You mean fans."

“Fanny!” says the kid. “Mummy, can I have one?”

At this point, the woman is obviously trying not to laugh and the dad looks like he’s dying inside. I’m trying to keep my face more isn’t that cute rather than out-and-out schadenfreude. They pay and leave very quickly, and my co-worker and I have a good giggle at their expense once they’re gone.

They did not get their daughter a fanny. I’m very disappointed for her.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Stressed_Writer_8934 on 2024-05-23 02:43:20+00:00.

I work in a store that sells wine, beer, spirits, & more (😉). I’m a Merchandiser so I mainly work on digital orders placed by customers to be picked up by them or through DoorDash, Grizzly, or Uber Eats. We have signs posted everywhere yours eyes could possibly travel to saying “please show your ID” “we ID all customers”. Stuff like that.

I’ve been working here a little over a year now and it was a few weeks ago that I had someone come in to pick up a DoorDash order. I ask who it’s for, find the order and scan it. I ask for their ID and scan that. It comes up with an error and I turn it around to see the year: 2006. I suck at math so I had no idea how old he actually was but according to my device h3 definitely wasn’t 21+.

I tell him so, you are not of age to be picking up this order. He looks at me all confused like “can’t pick up order?” (English is his second language).

I hold my tongue to stop myself from going off on him by saying something like, NO you cannot handle this alcohol because you’re under 21! I’m pretty sure I had, had a bad day that day. Can’t remember but I remember being dumfounded.

I tell him, no I cannot release this order to you because you are under age. Bc English is his second language I think he just left out of confusion.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/AutoModerator on 2024-05-01 12:00:55+00:00.

Welcome to /r/TalesFromRetail's Express Lane - your quick stop for short tales, pithy observations and general retail chat about how things are going with your store, your customers and yourselves.

Please follow the rules regarding anonymity and derogatory speech. NO BUSINESS NAMES

(All comments will be sorted by "new")

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/ObliviousKT on 2024-05-18 17:37:31+00:00.

This literally just happened an hour ago and I just had to make a post. First guy comes in and asks for 4 packs of cigs, I ring them up and say the total. Cue the dramatic “How much?” -and then the talk of I can get them cheaper down the road, you know, the place he drove past to come here for some reason despite that being the case. Legit just said “okay” as he left.

Legit next dude that’s a regular asks for 1 pack of his usual cigs, transaction goes normal but he ends up saying something along the lines of “They were more expensive before.” When I had him repeat bc I wasn’t prepared for that sudden comment, he added. “I know prices don’t just go down.” I just ended up saying I’m not really sure to which he added in “I guess it’s different depending on the customer.” something along the lines of saying that we just change the price however we want to whoever we want. I say a little less politely but still nicely “Well no, it’s the same price for everyone.” to which he says “yeah I don’t count on that” as he leaves.

I genuinely don’t understand. Complaints about stuff being too expensive is the norm at this point with customers, driving past the ‘cheaper’ stores for whatever reasons. -but I still have trouble understanding the ones when the price is cheaper, according to this guy apparently. Thinking we’re deliberately changing our prices for each customer unfairly, instead of just not letting it be that deep and idk being grateful. It was like someone that couldn’t appreciate the little things, no, had to berate them.

We are truly just damned either way.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Curious_Ad_6039 on 2024-05-17 17:02:03+00:00.

I work in a chocolate shop which sells ice cream and drinks. And this woman and her 3 daughters (teenagers, the one in question was at least 15) one daughter wanted an ice cream so i amde hers while getting the other stuff ready for the other orders.

The daughter wanted sauce on her icecream and then shook her hand like no when i went to get the chocolate square we put on at the end and so i thought she didnt want the sauce so i threw it away. I went to make a new one and she said sorry i meant i didnt want the square and i was like no its okay ill make you a new one. Then i turned around to the mum coming up to me saying i was rude to her daughter and i needed to apologise. So i looked at the daughter to apologise and suddenly her eyes are red like shes crying when 2 seconds ago she was fine??? So i apologised and the mum was like you shouldnt be in retail if you cant talk to people. And asked for a refund and stormed out.

I was so confused, i should have asked what i had done. I look young so i think the mum thought she could bully me back.

Side note: this was at 4.30pm I had been at work since 8am...

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/SurfaceSavant on 2024-05-03 23:10:55.

Long ago I did in home sales. I'd already had a long day in a very long week and my patience was pretty short. Fortunately I worked for a small family owned business so I was not too concerned with catching flack. I arrived at a customers house to inspect the jobsite and then try to sell the customer on my service. I was barely in the door when she starts trying to tell me how to do the service that I was quoting her. Keep in mind that this was a highly unique process that most people still have never heard of.

I made several attempts to explain why I would need to do something a certain way and she kept cutting me off and talking over me. All the while I was thinking about all of the work that I still had to complete that week. Finally I hit the breaking point.

Practically shouting I said, "Ma'am, I do not need your business and I do not need your attitude! You asked me to come here to quote you a service. If you want me to give you the quote then be quiet and let me explain how I have to do this. If not, then I am leaving now!"

I was fully expecting to be kick out of the house. But she calmed down instantly and let me proceed with my usual estimating. She booked the service and I even upsold the job. I'm not saying that this was a good idea, but sometimes it is worth showing that you have a backbone.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Accurate_Positive_13 on 2024-04-23 06:54:40.

In my 8 years of working in retail I've only had one other incident where I felt so scared and mortified at what I did while helping a customer!

I 27 female work at a popular fragrance store at my local mall. It was an hour before closing when a couple walk in to shop. I greet them and tell them the sale for the day before heading back to my register. After about ten or fifteen minutes they come to my register to check out. I noticed the lady need three more products to compete the promo we were having so I info her of this. She then goes to get three more products. I noticed the lady grabbed a try spray so I go to grab another spray from the top shelf near where her man was standing before she gets back to my register.

This is where it all happened. I some how in my rush to get back to the register before the lady returned to finished getting the rest of her purchase. I basically pushed the spray I was grabbing from the top shelf to the floor where the top of it snapped cleanly off when it hit the floor right beside this man foot spilling the contents all over this man sneakers!.

I immediately frozen with a red embarrassed face and the fear of god in my eyes as I waited for his reaction. He slowly looked down and made a joke about at least my shoes will smell good now as I'm apologizing and trying to clean it up. Then he tells me it's ok they are just shoes. But he clearly looked annoyed. The rest of the transaction went normal. I'm so thankful he was calm about it. I'm pretty sure his shoes were ruined though...hopefully he doesnt complain to corporate.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/AdrielBast on 2024-04-15 04:34:11.

Working in retail y’all know you’re gonna get some dumb encounters, and I think this one takes first places out of my last three shifts.

Regular came in, as soon as she’s at the counter she went “I don’t have an ID on me, I want Marlboro lights,”

I can’t sell without an Id, I tell her as such. She’s a regular, she knows the rules,she tries to argue, and I repeat that I can’t sell and wave over the next customer. Lady grumbles, starts to stalk away before turning to the customer I was helping, “you got an ID on you?”

He didn’t respond, didn’t hear her, asks for a few cans of chew and she stalks back to her car (which was given a nightmare parking job and was blocking access to multiple gas pumps) . As I’m ringing his stuff up, punching in his ID for the tobacco, she comes back over. The guy hasn’t even left yet, still pocketing his things when she repeats that she wants her smokes. I do what you do and ask if she found her ID, and I kid you not, she pointed at the guy I had just finished up with and said she was gonna use his ID.

Never mind that the guy never even said he’d loan her his Id, there are a whole bunch of reasons why I can’t do that. I tell her no, point out that using someone else’s ID is illegal, and she tries to argue again, I tell her no again, and she stalked off cursing up a storm

All the while the guy is just wide eyed asking what just happened and confused af over why she thought he was gonna give her his ID.

Edit; before I get this asked over and over; it’s store policy. Doesn’t matter who you are or how often you come in, all alcohol, nicotine, or tobacco purchase requires a valid government issued ID. ,

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Internal-Donut4637 on 2024-04-13 22:21:23.

During my time at a Spanish supermarket in California, where the majority of customers spoke Spanish, I encountered a situation with a particularly challenging customer. Although my parents are from Mexico, I was born in California, so while I can speak Spanish, my American accent occasionally slips through, and I might forget a word or two. Typically, people are understanding.

However, there was one lady who was quite different. I was stationed at the customer service desk when she approached me, asking for the location of an item. It was nearby, on a specific shelf. Unable to recall the Spanish word for "shelf," I described it as a "fixture that holds things" or something similar.

"'Fixture that holds things'? What on earth is that? Do you even speak Spanish?"

I apologized, acknowledging that I had forgotten the word for the item, but assured her that the item she sought was nearby.

Despite the shelf being clearly visible to both of us, she refused to look.

"You clearly don't speak Spanish. Find me someone else to assist."

Slightly perplexed (after all, it was just one word I couldn't recall), I noticed my manager nearby and thought she might be available to help.

(In perfect Spanish)

"Lucia, could you assist this customer? Apparently, I don't speak Spanish, so she's unable to understand me. Although it certainly sounds like Spanish, she insists it's not, leaving me unsure of the language I'm speaking. Nonetheless, she requires assistance locating the (item), which I've indicated is over there. However, it seems she needs to hear it in Spanish, which, according to her, I'm unable to speak."

Lucia, familiar with the difficult customer, wasn't surprised by her behavior and struggled to keep down a laugh during my explanation. The lady had a 1000 yard stare like she had just been hit with the idiot stick.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Travisrashawn21 on 2024-04-11 04:55:46.

So yeah I'm just minding my business working with the shopping carts, and here comes one customer, he returns one shopping cart and sarcastically tells me I'm welcome while he hands it to me. The problem is, he said it way too soon and didn't even give me a chance to thank him. So I glanced at him, shocked at what just happened. And while he's walking away, I holler back, "GEEZ DUDE I WAS GONNA SAY THANK YOU!" and retorted "I DIDN'T ASK YOU TO DO THAT FOR ME!" My way of telling him not to do nice things for strangers and expecting gratitude afterward unless they ask first. I was legit mad that I almost cussed him out while on the job. Such an arrogant thing to do. Why did he feel the need to scold me too soon? Because I didn't thank him quick enough? Don't get me wrong, I've been the person to say you're welcome but this was just downright petty.

Doing good deeds for total strangers only to call them out when you didn't get the reaction you wanted is petty.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Digital_Utopia on 2024-04-10 02:45:30.

(originally from 2018)

At work, older guy comes in to pre-pay for gas. Tells me $60 on pump #2. Tells me he has a fuel rewards card (automatic, minimum 5 cents/gallon off) Tell him his total, and he complains that it should be less - because of the rewards card.

Explain to this math genius that he is getting the discount - regardless of whether gas is $2/gal or $6/gal, he's paying for $60 worth of gas.

The lightbulb in his head hits a momentary bright point, and we continue with this transaction. He takes out his debit card, and see him attempt to use the chip slot. Except our system isn't set up for it, so we have a card in said slot, with the words "No Chip" written on it in Sharpie. Still he's attempting to cram it in there.

He's certainly not the first person to ignore that - which is why I tell customers to swipe. Every other time, this works. But this brain surgeon decides to double his efforts. By the fourth time of me saying "swipe" he finally looks up to me, and sees me pantomiming swiping the card. The light bulb flickers on one more time, and we can finally end the transaction.

Oh, but we are not out of the woods yet, friends. Because this credit to humanity, still has to actually pump said gas. At this point, I'm basically saying a silent prayer that he pumps all $60. If he doesn't, that means I'm most likely going to have to deal with him, one more time.

He didn't pump it all.

Now, since he pre-paid with a card, the change will automatically be credited back to his account. Many people, understandably, do not know this - so when such a thing happens, I already have the final receipt printed out, so I can prove it to them.

That wasn't why he came back.

He came back to tell me that the "pump stopped" - an infrequent, but not unheard of complaint by people who don't quite understand how gas pumps work. What he meant, of course, was the lever disengaged. This is something that happens when the pump doesn't detect enough airflow - which should only happen if your tank is nearly full. Of course, this is supposed to prevent overflow/spillage. However, if the vehicle's filler neck has a blocked vent, or there's a similar issue with the pump handle, it will trigger this cutoff as well. But it's usually a mixture of the two reasons.

It does not mean the pump stops - it just means that you usually have to reposition the nozzle to allow more airflow, so you can continue pumping. Of course, I wasn't about to explain this to the guy - as I doubt it would've done any good. So I just handed him his final receipt, and shrugged.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Lord_Nikolai on 2024-04-08 06:35:38.

This happened a few years ago. At the time, my store offered One Hour photo processing, and I was the head photo tech in our lab. This did not make me a manager in any way, but I had just been in the position for years at this point.

If no one has ever worked in a photo lab, you should know that we have to deal with US Federal Copyright Law. If someone tried to print a photo that they did not create themselves, or an image owned by someone else, we cannot legally print it without permission from the owners.

The customer that came in had several images of Disney characters that she claimed to have bought off of Etsy. Regardless of where she bought them, Disney characters are a big "No-Go" on the copyright scale. We can't even print those novelty photos you get taken at the park, without a release.

I tried to refuse her images, and she starts throwing a fit. I expected as much, most people have issues when I don't let them have "Their photos" without understanding the rules we have to follow.

Normally just explaining it to them is enough to get them to calm down, but this customer was cussing and yelling at me and would not calm down, regardless of what I did. So, eventually she said the magic words of "I want to talk to your manager!"

Fine by me.

I call my boss, tell him what is going on and he comes to talk to the customer. He explains everything I just explained to the customer again, and apologizes to the customer, "There is nothing we can do, sorry it is the law."

The customer leaves and I don't think anything of it. Until she came back two days later.

At first she was ok. She came up to the lab, patiently waited her turn, and tried to print the photos again. We had the same run around, and after calling the same manager again, the customer tried to apologize to me saying she just really wanted the photos, and she was sorry for calling me every bad word you can think of.

Her: "I apologize, can we put this behind us?"

Me: "No. I do not accept your apology, there was no need for you to say any of what you just did."

Her: (Looking very confused) "You can't not accept an apology!"

Me: "Yes I can. I hold you responsible for what you said, and your words hurt."

My Manager: (Trying not to laugh) "Ma'am, I think you should go now."

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Sorceress683 on 2024-04-07 22:30:27.

Back in the bad old days when I worked retail, cashier at an everything store, I was in charge of self checkout one day. It was early, nothing going on, few customers. Guy with a half full cart came into self checkout and scanned...one item. He paid for it and got cash back. Scanned another item, paid, and, you guessed it, cash back. After a few times, he moved registers. Same thing. Guy visited at least three before finishing. I didn't say anything about it to him because as far as I know, there hadn't been a rule against it, but was told not to allow that in the future. Three machines had to close all morning until the cash could be refilled. TLDR: customer found a loophole to get around ATM fees for large withdrawal and drained three machines.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/wakeangel2001 on 2024-04-07 16:30:29.

I used to work at a very famous toystore, and we always had an X-Box One demo set up in the video game section. Keep in mind, a demo is NOT a real console, it is a small computer with some sample software installed on it, covered in a plastic shell to LOOK like the console. The controllers likewise were also not real, they were directly wired into the demo unit with thick gauge spring wires (think that spirally wire that old phones used before they went wireless, but much thicker.) The controllers had nowhere to put a battery, had no wireless transmitters, and even IF you could dismantle the display enough to get their wires out of the unit properly they weren't compatible with any ports on an actual console. This did not stop people from stealing them by CUTTING through the wires within a few days of them being set up at most. Remember, cutting those wires means the controller will never work again, and wouldn't have been compatible with a real console anyway. You wouldn't even be able to sell them because anyone who works at a game store would instantly notice the stump of the wire sticking out the top of the controller, and the lack of a battery slot would be pretty obvious too.

Basically, thieves would go through the effort of bringing wire cutters into a toy store and going through the effort of discreetly vandalizing a game demo for the reward of having a paperweight shaped like an X-Box One controller.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/cyntheticturtle on 2024-04-07 16:28:10.

This story is a few years old, as I no longer work in retail, but it was still one of my most satisfying stories.

At the time of this story, I worked at a home improvement retail store. I was a cashier and on this particular day, I was scheduled to run the Self Checkout/Assisted Checkout, or SCO/ACO (it went by both names).

Now, for this to make sense, I have to describe the SCO machines. We had 4 SCO machines. On the left side, the machines took cash and card. On the right side, they only took card. The "card only" machines said they were card only in 3 different places. The first places was on the light for the SCO register. The second places was on the counter where you set your things in BIG letters. The 3rd place is on the screen of the SCO machine before you start checking out.

Despite the fact that there were so many things saying the machines were card only SCO machines, it was very common for people to attempt to pay cash. Usually, I was able to just suspend the transaction and take them to a machine that took cash, so they wouldn't have to restart the transaction and they would usually laugh at how they missed it being card only.

However, if this was one of the instances where they laughed the mistake off, I wouldn't be posting here.

I had a man at one of our "card only" SCO registers. I can't really remember what he looked like, but I believe he was in his 30s. I was probably 19 or 20 at the time. I noticed him with some cash, trying to find a place to put it in. He looks around and makes eye contact with me. I was already on my way over, so he started to ask me a question immediately.

Cast: Man-the customer Me- well, me

Man: "Where do I put in the cash?"

Me: (smiling and chuckling, as this is a common occurrence) "Oh, this is a "card only" machine. I can suspend the transaction and take you over to one that takes cash."

Man: (annoyed, and with attitude) 'Well why doesn't it say card only then?"

I stopped smiling and just decided to be blunt, because his inability to pay attention was not my fault. And I said "It does. It says it right here (points to counter), up there, (points to SCO light) and it says it on the screen before you start checking out."

This man was silent the rest of the time. He didn't say another word. He didn't apologize, didn't thank me, nothing. He was just silent as I suspended his transaction and took him to the cash machine so he could finish up.

I honestly don't care that he didn't apologize for his rudeness. It was satisfying to embarrass him into silence. I'd like to think he learned to pay attention and not blame others for his mistakes, but that is probably wishful thinking. 🤷

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/RealThomasAquinas on 2024-04-06 08:44:27.

I work at an equipment rental and sales company (which I will soon be leaving). Semi-recently a customer came in offloading a stump grinder. He dropped the tailgate on his trailer and like usual I started helping him unchain and offload it. Well as I was starting the equipment up so I could offload it, this guy hops in his truck and starts taking off and hauls ass in doing so. I had to jump off of the trailer and then run across the yard to flag him down. I don’t know what he was thinking. Customer service is killing me.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Routine_Ad_8979 on 2024-04-02 20:59:28.

This post is just an observation from my side. No one is meant to be targetted in this post.

From where I am, I feel that the customers I faced daily are generally nice , except some listed below:

1. The " I lived longer than you, therefore I am more experienced and I do not need to listen to you."

What happened in this situation is often the customers feel that they are more experienced, so it is okay not to follow safety advice about the installation and that they can do it however they liked it. When something happens, they will immediately turned victim and it suddenly became your fault.

2. The DIY genius

what happened in this situation is that the customers try to be creative with our product and try to gaslight you into saying "yes" to this product can be done in the way they wanted it to be and when they realised you are not going to yes to it, they look for another worker to torment.

3. The one with too much free time and resentment

What happened in this situation is that customers may have experienced a similar situation or they simply have too much free time so they go around to torment others. Even when you served them with a gentle tone and a smile, there is always faults to be picked on.

4. The sensitive one

What happened in this situation is that every word you use, every facial expression you have and every action you do are greatly "observed" by customer. Anything they do not like is the problem, even when your face is the "rest-bitch" face.

5. The one who is always right

What happened in this situation is that they hated it when you tried to correct them. When you are trying to help them come up with a solution, they refused to listen and react negatively. They will also try to find fault with unrelated stuff.

6. The impatient one

What happened in this situation is that the customer cannot wait for their turn and would cut through conversation rudely just to get his question answered.

Although I am young, I feel that it is also important to have mutual respect for retail workers. At the end of the day, we are humans. We made mistakes as much as we try to avoid it.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/ohcomeonow on 2024-03-30 15:54:09.

Let me preface by saying that I did not care a lot about this job/getting fired. Most customers were nice but we got our share of the insufferable type.

Another post here reminded me of the time I had a difficult customer late in the evening. This guy was trying to get a refund on an item without a receipt. Possibly stolen, I suspect. When I refused to approve the transaction, he demanded to speak to the manager. While I was not technically the store manager, I was the MOD. So I just said “That’s me.” Well, now he asks for the corporate phone number. I told him I didn’t know it off the top of my head but he could google that. He got all hissy and said that he knew the district manager and wanted their number. I said “You want to complain about me and expect me to help you do so? Yeah right. Figure it out then.”

He storms out of the store talking about how I won’t have a job tomorrow. Never a heard a word about the whole incident from my boss or the main office.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/-Kylackt- on 2024-03-30 05:26:53.

This happened just last night at work. So I’m Australian and work overnights for a service station/supermarket, a good job that pays well for a jaded world weary near 40 year old with no real direction in life lol. This young mother, early twenties at the oldest comes in just before midnight with her child (maybe 3 or 4 years old) to pick up some dog food and children’s Panadol (explains why the kid is awake so late and a little bit sooky and sad looking). They come up to the counter and she pays for her purchases and her son holds up his stuffed pikachu toy and says chu chu in the sad tone kids usually use when they aren’t feeling well. I look down at him and just go pika pika? And the kids face lights up and he starts talking about his favourite Pokémon (Pilachu Squirtle and three others I’ve never heard of) and asking me what my favourite Pokémon is (Charizard if you’re wondering, also haven’t really played since gen 3 hence my ignorance about his other favourites). And it just made my night seeing this poor kid who wasn’t feeling feeling well perk right up about Pokémon, even got a smile and a thank you from the mum for listening to him talk about Pokémon for a minute.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/StreetFriendship41 on 2024-03-28 20:41:04.

Some of mine!

1. "you've ruined my Christmas" because I refused an alcohol sale for no I.D. I just smiled and said "that's fine".

2)"Shove it up your arse! walks off turns around...and it's a big enough arse!" Like, do these people think I'm unaware that I'm fat? Or that their opinion matters to me?!

3. "look at your face, you look ridiculous" Same man as before presumably referring to the fact I was wearing a bit of glitter on my eyes as it was nearly Christmas! Ah yes, I'm definitely gonna take make up advice off some crusty middle aged man that 100% has skid marks in his undies!

4)"It's an abuse of power!" for refusing an age restricted sale because no I.D. I enquired as to what sort of power the customers felt I had?!

5. The traditional "jobsworth" for refusing an age restricted sale. I responded "are you going to find me another job when i get fired and pay my fine?" When repeating the story to a friend I said "I got called a jobsworth today...... by a c**t" which made them chuckle!

I've worked in retail for 15 years there's got to be more but those are the most recent ones that spring to mind!

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Greens_Sus on 2024-03-25 00:30:48.

Had a guy come in last minute last night at the convenience store I work closing shifts for. Usually it’s not an issue, they’re usually in and out fast. I was literally fetching the key to lock the doors when the guy in question came in, so I have to wait for him to finish before I can shut down. So again, I didn’t think much because usually last minute stragglers as quick.

He wasn’t.

Between him practically inspecting every single item we had on shelves, going “wait I need to get more things” three times after coming to the register, and then wanting to keep chatting after he’d paid and had his stuff bagged, despite me being non receptive, it was almost fifteen minutes past closing time. I’ve done everything I could to not give him reason to keep chatting, trying to be polite and nudge him out the door, to no avail.

Then he went and asked “so what time do you close, anyway?” So I told him that we were supposed to have locked up fifteen minutes ago, hoping that he would get the message and head out.

Dude laughed, then kept trying to talk, like “oh you guys close early! When I worked retail we stayed open until midnight” and then tried to go on a tangent about how things were when he was a retail worker blah blah blah. I ended up having to be blunt, straight up telling him that if he’s done shopping I’ll need him to leave so we can close. He, of course, got sour after that because of course it’s terrible customer service. It’s small and mostly inconvenient, but holy crap does it infuriate me when people know it’s past or close closing time and want to hang out despite it.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/ChocolateGreedy7283 on 2024-03-24 16:55:09.

For reference, this is a story that happened to my coworker.

Basically around that time, it was Chinese New Year, and when a large majority of the population is Chinese, not to mention a public holiday, there would be a ton of people.

However, for some reason, someone from management had decided that it was a ‘wise decision’ to have 2 staff members (there were 3 including my coworker; it isn’t a particularly big store and we use self-checkout counters) to have their 1 hour break at the same time, leaving her completely alone.

This one customer seemed to be in a hurry and asked my coworker to help her, but she was completely swamped with the crowd, and told him that she was unable to. This got the customer so angry for some reason and he wanted to complain to the company about her.

This went on for the next 5 days, and he would come everyday just to complain about her, which is just completely unjustified and annoying.

(She didn’t get in trouble because we know how busy it gets during public holidays; it also became an unspoken rule to never leave 1 staff member in the store)

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/herequeerandgreat on 2024-03-24 14:02:31.

a few weeks ago, i was walking through the store that i work at when i came across an elderly woman on an electric cart and an elderly man with a walker. they asked if i could help them cut some wood. i a not qualified to do so so i told them as much. they looked rather annoyed by this fact, which i was expecting since customers can often be annoyed that i am not qualified to help them in certain things. however, nothing could have prepared me for what the woman told me next.

apparently, they had been waiting for 20 MINUTES for someone to help them. apparently, they had spoken to an employee and asked for help and the employee called someone. i was shocked. but, i radioed for help and went on my way.

9 minutes passed and i reentered the store and saw the couple coming to the front. being the decent human being that i am, i asked if they had been helped. the woman sharply replied no and told me that she wanted to speak to a manager. now, i was thoroughly pissed off. no one had come to help this disabled elderly couple.

as i walked with them to the manager and was apologizing profusely for how they had been treated, the wife enlightened me about some other things. namely, that the employee who had radioed for help was aloof and dismissive the whole time. this further boiled my blood because this is not how the people at my store treat our customers, especially a disabled elderly couple who needed to get home before dark due to difficulties driving in the dark(did i mention that this was happening after 5:00 before daylight savings).

in her infinite kindness, the woman told me that she would tell my manager that i was not at fault here. she told me "i am so angry right now but i don't want you getting in trouble for something you didn't do".

once we arrived at the manager, the woman was very frank and angry. she unloaded about the horrible customer service and even said "the boy who brought us to you is the only person who even tried to help us and he isn't even qualified to". the manager radioed one of the other managers to help the couple cut some wood.

it was a few weeks ago and my blood still boils over the treatment of this couple. all they wanted was some wood cut and they were treated appallingly. and even though they were made, they still went out of their way to make sure that i wasn't thrown under the bus. their willingness to do anything other then give us a horrible review will make them candidates for sainthood. and i really hope that the managers found out who that disrespectful employee was because i think a firing is in order.