TalesFromRetail

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/PyroZach on 2025-08-01 00:00:39+00:00.

I've been out of retail for over a decade but another post jogged my memory of an event.

The store I worked at also did automotive services such as tires and lube, aside from all kinds of stuff available in the rest of the store. I was manager of the automotive merchandise but this overlapped with helping out in the shop and running the check out counter there.

There was an exit to the shop area, and then outside, that required a code to be entered, or a hidden button pressed behind the counter so we could let customers exit. Customers didn't know this so if I wasn't paying attention it would result in an awkward yank on the door and a "Sorry, try again" as I pressed the button. So I got in the habit of just pressing the button as some one was walking to the door.

One day a man is heading towards the exit, nothing suspicious, I press the button and as he exits the anti-theft scanner alarm goes off. I say "Excuse me SIR" and he breaks into a sprint, gets outside, hops in his car and peels out. So I'm confident he stole something, in face I'm pretty confident it was a fairly expensive OBDII scanner I found the package for later that day.

Dumb mistake and I felt pretty bad, but my district manager happened to stop by to inspect the store that day and was at the counter when that happened. I wasn't reprimanded in any way for unlocking the door but I was nervous for a while that I was going to be and especially embarrassed.

I do sometimes wonder how the story would have gone if he wasn't able to exit.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/EncinoJoe on 2025-07-31 05:37:12+00:00.

Whenever my job is about to close we do the tills and can’t do anything on the registers in my department. If a customer needs something unlocked, we unlock it and if its small enough, put in a lock box and send them up front to the self checkout or if it is big, we walk them upfront to the self checkout. This customer im helping wanted an iPad. Already I knew things were gonna get rough because he was passive agressive and insisting I got the iPad name wrong when he told me the name first. I unlock the ipad and walk him upfront to self checkout. He makes a “joke” about how apparently this makes him feel like he is being walked up into court. So we head to self checkout, I leave him at a self checkout area with a scanner and etc with the ipad. Plenty of other employees and people around if he needed help, not to mention cameras and said employees if he was gonna do anything funky. He shouts at me and says “thats all? You’re gonna leave me alone with this tablet?” He also then says “You have been here for a long time” I didn’t hear the rest and he is like “real professional, I know the ap here!” Instead of escalating I walked off and a employee grabbed the scanner and scanned his tablet from the self checkout area. In the past, I had zero issue doing it like this really. Ive done it with prepaid phones and other items and nothing bad has turned out because of it. Even if he did something, its the responsibility of the employees in that area and we have cameras y’know? I later found out he had two beers before and that explains it but was I in the wrong?

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Frosty-Resort-4163 on 2025-07-28 19:47:49+00:00.

I work at a high-end salon and this happened a few years ago when I was assisting a master colorist and slowly building my own clientele. One of the stylists I assisted had a regular client who was beyond high maintenance. We’re talking three shampoos in ice-cold water, plus a custom scalp treatment every single time because she swore it was the only thing that soothed her scalp after color. Micromanaging the product I use and how I performed the blow dry- even though it was clear I was juggling multiple other people as an assistant. She always put me behind schedule, but I put up with it because… professionalism.

Despite her demands, I treated her kindly and she actually warmed up to me. I’d do her blowouts on the days I took my own clients, and she even gave me a wedding gift when I got married. So I thought, cool, maybe we have mutual respect here.

Well. One day I was out on vacation and she needed a blowout, so I referred her to a very sweet and talented coworker for just that ONE day (who honestly does better blowouts than I do, and I say that as someone who prides myself on my work!). The client agreed to see her, and after the appointment she texted me venting about it.

She went on and on about how the stylist didn’t listen, her hair was flat, she could’ve done better herself, etc. She also asked me not to say anything to the stylist, which I wouldn’t have anyway, but the sneakiness? 🙃

Even though I apologized for her less than ideal experience and told her I’d love to see her again soon … poof. Never booked with me again. After seeing me regularly for blowouts, sometimes almost weekly. After me staying late and accommodating every weird request. After the wedding gift. I guess recommending a coworker while I was on vacation was the ultimate betrayal?

Still bugs me to this day. Was she that upset her hair wasn’t perfect one time, or was she embarrassed she trashed my coworker behind her back and just ghosted to avoid awkwardness? Either way… yikes.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Virtual-Pie5732 on 2025-07-28 02:26:33+00:00.

Okay so one of my biggest pet peeves when I worked retail was my manager's insistence that I had to check up on the customers like every 5 minutes.

The store I worked in was small enough that you could see everyone and what they are doing from the register. It was especially annoying when I had stuff to do behind the register.

So this instance, several years ago, I'm in the store, and it's very slow. No one is in there at that moment. But inventory is in so I have something to do. Someone walks in, I greet them "Hey my name is Sam, let me know if you need anything lists some sales."

The customer's like okay, and they go about browsing. Manager comes out from the back, probably not even 10 minutes later. Walks over to me and ask if I helped the one person in the store. I told him I greeted him and if he needed anything, to come get me. Doesn't satisfy my manager, so I am forced to walk up to the guy and ask him, again, not even 10 minutes have gone by, if he needs help. He says no, he's just looking around and seeing what's on sale. I leave him alone and he continues to wander about the store. Only roughly 5 minutes go by, when my manager himself walks up to the guy and ask him if he needs help. Dude is now clearly annoyed but politely tells my manager he's fine on his own. Manager comes over to the register and stands next to me. Just a little over 5 minutes goes by, and he tells me to go again and ask if the guy needs help! I walk over to him, and I can clearly tell him om his face he's ultra annoyed.

So I say low enough that my manager can't hear "Hey I'm sorry I know you don't need help but he's making me ask."

The guy is still annoyed, but there's a look of understanding now. So he goes rather loudly so my manager can hear "Thanks I'm fine! I don't need help! If I do I can find you, I'm not a baby who needs to be walked around the store!"

I smile and go back to the register, where my manager is standing there now with this look I can't even describe. But he finally goes to the back and for the rest of the day he didn't bother me about bothering customers.

Cut to present day.

I'm a customer, wandering the mall. I go into a clothing store. There's like four people working there. I'm greeted and proceed to wander the store, because I'm just browsing. I'm barely in the store for 10 minutes, and every single worker there has come up to me and asked me if I needed help. After 2 of them had come up for a second time. I finally go "You know what? I'm not okay, could you get your manager please?"

The girl I asked, looks confused but goes and gets a manager. Manager comes out middle with that standard overly strained customer service smile, and ask me what's wrong.

I told her that I'm annoyed with the fact that I'm basically being followed around the store. I don't need to be asked 20 times if I need help. If I need help, I can find someone. I'm just browsing, and all this badgering is making the experience very less enjoyable, and now I don't want to shop here anymore. I understand that this is a policy you guys make your employees do, but I'm letting you know right now it's a very bad policy. I'm going to leave now, and I want you to know it's because of that.

Her smile very much dims and it's clear on her face dhe's trying to process a proper sentence to respond. Meanwhile, I noticed a little off to my left, two employees watching us, both smirking and smiling, one doing their best to hold in laughter. And the other one is quickly texting on their phone, I'm assuming to some kind of sales associate group chat or a friend.

Before the manager can finish her apology, I just politely tell her I'm leaving again, and exit the store.

Also, I know some stores do this to prevent theft. But you don't need to hound your customers.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/TheBlackCajun on 2025-07-24 21:56:16+00:00.

So I work in the dairy section of a big grocery store. One day on my lunch break, I grabbed food from the hot bar and went to checkout. There was this older lady in front of me finishing up, so I waited by the card reader and I put my food box on the conveyor belt, not even moving just looking at my phone.

Suddenly I look up and this lady is a barely a foot in front of me and close to my face, grinning hard and saying, “Do I know you?” Then she says I was “too close to her” even though she literally walked toward me from the other side. I was confused, but I didn’t argue, I just went ahead and stepped back. Even the cashier lady was like “you didn’t even move, she came over to you.”

Told a coworker in the maintenance section later and he said “she probably liked you.” But all I could think was…. if an older man did that to a young woman my age (20), it wouldn’t be brushed off like this.

Anyway just weird, Retail stays wild 😅

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/GoblinQueenForever on 2025-07-24 21:26:16+00:00.

I work in a discount store, a fairly large store that sells a variety of items with five checkout lanes. Today, there were only two of us on the tills, and it was BUSY! Long queues for us both, no time for breaks, 'cause we didn't have anyone who could step in and help, customers were grouchy and (understandably) impatient; the usual. So, I'm serving, trying to get as many people through the line as possible, and my gaze lands on a guy whose just kinda... lingering along the fringes of the queue. Not joining it, just standing in a place like he's looking to jump the line or something. He sees me looking, then calls over really loudly,

"Can't you open another till?"

And I'm just like... WTF man? If we HAD anyone else who could be on the tills, they would BE ON THE TILLS! We're not hiding able-bodied employees up our arses to inconvenience you!

And I don't know why specifically this guy - I get asked this so many times when it gets busy, and normally I can control myself and just smile and apologise politely no matter how much I HATE that question - but this time I just snapped.

I look at him and I'm like "Wow, that's SUCH a great idea, why didn't I think of that! Hey Collin (supervisor's name, he was working on the till right in front of mine), why don't we just get someone else on the till?"

He doesn't look back at me, just answers all serious, "We don't have anyone."

So I look back at the guy, sarcastic smile gone, and deadpan, "We don't have anyone."

He looks incredulous for a moment, then replies, "This long line and there's only two of you?"

I smile again and just say, "Welcome to retail!" All chipper like, before returning my attention to my customer, whose items I had not stopped scanning during this momentary bout of pettiness, I assure you. The next time I look over, he's walking out of the shop, just dropped his items on the floor and everything.

Could I have been nicer? Yes. More respectful? Certainly. Do I regret it? No.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/kinkywayne on 2025-07-23 15:30:53+00:00.

We do home appliance delivery for your local big box store and one of our clients takes customer reviews way too seriously.

Delivery time frame provided to customer when scheduling: between 9:00am and 10:00am

Delivery ETA provided to customer via text with a link to track the truck in real time (text sent the day before and day of): 9:41am

Actual arrival time: 9:38am

Customer review: 1 out of 5 stars

Customer complaint: “I was ready and waiting at 9am, but they didn’t arrive until 9:40. Wasted my time.”

Now we have to have a meeting to discuss what we could have done differently, which is required by our client for any 1 star review.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/the_DARSH on 2025-07-20 09:43:38+00:00.

This happened years ago when I used to work at a cell phone store. A dad and two young boys came in and I ask how I can help them. Dad says they need to get a new phone for one of the boys, and points to the one. So I go, not thinking, "aw did you break your phone man?" and he goes "No, it got burned up when our house burned down." And then, the other kid says, "Yeah, and our dog got burned up too." Aaaaaaaand they both start crying. Dad is looking at me like "damn you." I tried to salvage what I could out of the interaction and just made the rest of it as fast and easy as I could, no upsells. I felt terrible, I'm sure getting a new phone was the ONE thing that kid might've been excited about. I STILL feel bad about it, but at least I didn't ask a fat lady when the baby was due like my coworker did.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Forward-Wallaby-1809 on 2025-07-17 20:13:34+00:00.

I work at a store that sells them. Every day I get kids in here screeching at me and parents angry over the prices. It's to the point where we say, "yes they're expensive. Yes we know. Please take it up with corporate."

It's exhausting. These things are turning people into animals. Common sense and decency goes out the window when they see that stupid nine toothed monster in our window. They were cute at the beginning but now all I want is for them to go away. It's like tickle me elmo except I'm being called slurs at work.

Yes I could find a new job, I'm working on it but maybe teach your kids it's rude to shout in people's faces. Please. I'm begging you.

Edit: this is specifically about labubu's because I deal with it daily. I'm just sick of hearing about them. I ended up selling mine because work ruined them for me.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/speddie23 on 2025-07-16 12:02:18+00:00.

Way back I worked for a big box electrical retailer.

One of the manufacturers of products we sell was doing a promo for one of their new items, and sent us shirts they wanted to wear to promote their new product.

The shirts were meant to say "[Product name]. Ask me where to go!"

At our morning pre-opening standup meeting my boss gets the box of shirts sent to us and explains we need to wear these shirts for the next week or so.

He opens it up the box and pulls out a few shirts.

There was clearly an issue with final checkoff for these shirts by the manufacturer as rather than saying "[Product name]. Ask me where to go!" they say:

"[Product name]. Tell me where to go!"

He just looks at the shirts and says "yeh, we aren't wearing these. Just keep wearing your usual uniform"

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Virtual-Pie5732 on 2025-07-09 22:07:40+00:00.

So my work history is a majority in entertainment. My first job in college was dancing in a theme park. But entertainment is a very unstable career so I've had to work different jobs in-between.

One job was a video game store (the one I'm sure we all know of).

During my interview the manager commented on my "lack of work history".

I had at least 5 years of work experience but they were all performance/entertainment jobs.

He asked me: "How does your history as an actor help this store?"

Me: "Well if I'm dealing with a difficult customer I can act like I care and keep a smile on my face the whole time."

The hiring manager burst out laughing and said "That's a good one." Before writing something down.

At the end of the interview I was offered a job on the spot.

Edit: the title is spelled wrong, but I don't know how to fix it. 🥲

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/paintedkneecaps on 2025-07-09 18:00:36+00:00.

So I work as a bookseller at an independently owned bookshop, and, as most of my coworkers are introverts who prefer the back-end of store duties, I am affectionately hailed as one of the store's two "personality hires", and often tasked with managing the front desk.

I like customer service. I enjoy talking to people, and judging by the amount of life stories and opinionated rants I am regularly regaled with (you would be surprised at the things complete strangers tell me on a daily basis), people enjoy talking to me, too. I love people, and I'm an easy person to talk to and joke around with, especially when it comes to books.

Unfortunately, my general friendliness has caused me some issues with boundaries when it comes to customer interactions. I am very squeamish about people touching me, especially unexpectedly, and become very anxious and uncomfortable when strangers do so. I think this is a reasonable thing to be uncomfortable with, honestly, and sort of thought it was common sense, but you'd be surprised. Thankfully its always been relatively harmless, i.e. a friendly nudge after making a joke or some such, but as I am a smaller woman in my early 20s and most of the interactions I've had like this are with men old enough to be my father or even grandpa, it's easy to feel powerless to set boundaries, more so when I'm being paid to talk to you, and can't really tell you 'no' without coming off as hostile or rude.

I digress, however. My most recent blood-boiling interaction was with an older man who was browsing the shelves while I sat at the desk, minding my own business. The way the store is set up, the desk is a floating island off to the side, and there are shelves behind it that people are allowed to walk behind the desk and browse, meaning my back is to them. Said customer is around the side of the desk, not quite behind me, but just out of my line of sight as I am facing outward toward the store in order to greet new customers.

The man is talking on his cell phone, and in his other hand, he is holding a book that he wants to set down. Any normal person would take three steps around the side of the desk, enter my line of vision, and hand me the book so I can hold it at the desk for them, or so I thought.

THIS man takes his book, a large hardcover children's book, think encyclopaedia, and instead of putting his phone down and saying "excuse me" to get my attention, POKES ME IN THE RIBS with the corner of the book from behind, and when I turn around in alarm, casually hands it off to me and turns back to browsing.

I was floored. I felt disrespected and belittled. My blood is still boiling just thinking about it.

Later, I left the desk to go straighten shelves, just as this man was coming up to check out. He started jokingly hopping from side to side like a goalie trying to block my path, which usually I would laugh at politely if the customer had been courteous enough to treat me like an equal human being deserving of respect, but I was feeling very confused and uneasy, so I'm sure my awkward chuckle was not in the least bit convincing. Needless to say I got him out of there as quickly as possible.

I have had other instances of customers invading my space (one woman came around the desk to lean over my shoulder and browse my computer screen while loudly crunching chips in my ear, that was a fun one) but nothing gets me as impassioned as neanderthals who touch service workers without permission.

I'm not your buddy. I'm not your daughter or granddaughter. I don't know you. I am paid to be nice to you. Please treat me with respect.

Thank you and goodnight :,)

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/PrankyButSaintly on 2025-07-06 15:52:35+00:00.

I had a crazy customer at my self checkout cashier job recently! So there was this guy who didn't know how to use the produce menu. That produce menu seems to confuse a lot of people, even though I personally think it's perfectly straightforward. But regardless, I'm happy to walk people through it when necessary!

So I'm trying to coach this man on it, and he is literally just standing there staring at the screen. Not saying anything, not doing anything, not reacting in any way at all. So I think to myself, "Maybe he's a little hard of hearing?" and I repeat myself at a slightly higher volume.

He proceeds to start full-on SCREAMING at me for supposedly "yelling at" him!" And when he finished screaming at me, he didn't even bother trying to continue checking out. Just stormed out!

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Any-Let-2861 on 2025-07-04 01:58:14+00:00.

I work in a clothing store in a major mall so I see lots of weirdness but today as I was checking out customers I hear loud shaking of an aerosol can that loud spray sound aerosol cans make and I look up and see a young 20 something woman spraying an aerosol can right at her face in front of one of our mirrors in the center of the store and she kept spraying for a good 30 seconds putting half the store and her face up in smoke. Not embarrassed, no sorry, no anything. There was literal smoke around her for a minute or two afterwards and the store is packed so people are walking through this waft of aerosol stuff that she sprayed on her face.

Then she grabs a brush out of her pocket and starts dabbing her face and going right up to the mirror almost kissing it. Thats how close she is. Then she leaves not even flinching or even looking around.

One of the strangest things I've ever seen in over 20 years in retail.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Skippy8898 on 2025-07-02 21:52:34+00:00.

Customer phones in an order which took about 20 minutes to do. During that time I had trouble hearing her as she was very quiet and she also had a semi-heavy accent so it wasn't a fun order to take. As we get near the end of her order she asks for an item that we do not have in stock. She mentions that our website shows we have them in stock so I do a bit of investigating.

It turns out we do have them in stock but they are all committed to an order she started but had not finished. On a whim I looked at the rest of what she had in the shopping cart and it's an exact copy of the order she placed with me over the phone. I have no idea why she just didn't place the order online.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Unlucky_Charm07 on 2025-07-01 23:55:44+00:00.

Me and two other coworkers were on till at the time. It wasn't very busy and we were waiting patiently for customers to come up so we could serve them.

This guy walks up between my till and my coworkers' and asks me if I can help him. He tells me that he's looking for a liver product in the meat department but he can't seem to find it. Since there was nobody working in the meat department at that time, he was wondering if we could help look for it or get someone else who could. I had asked him what type of liver he was looking for specifically. He told me it was beef liver.

By that time, my coworker piped up and was going to offer to go and help him look. She asked me as sort of a casual verification that the liver was in the meat department. Before I could say anything, the man suddenly got super annoyed and started to yell at my coworker and I. He threw his stuff on my coworkers' till and said to just ring him through, but before she could even do that, he changed his mind and said he didn't even want it and stormed out.

During the situation, I had called for a manager to come up. Unfortunately, the manager arrived seconds after the guy had left. He asked what happened and all three of us cashiers reiterated everything that happened. Of course, since the guy was already gone, there wasn't anything we can do about it.

It was a pretty stressful situation for all of us, but we were able to laugh it off and continue on with the rest of our shifts. Still, we were all pretty shaken up.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Rockxzzy on 2025-07-01 00:28:33+00:00.

So I have a tattoo on my arm of a snake which generally leads to questions about it, and if I like snakes, or I'll be talking with coworkers about my snakes, as I own 6. There's an older gentleman who loves to come in for daily lotto scratch offs and tickets, and he usually is asking everyone if they want mushrooms he foraged himself or not.

Today he came in asking about snakes to me and if I like them, I answered yes, he said "You'll get a snake one day". Like yeah, I have 6, I know. Go about my day as I would, because work.

This guy comes in later and says "I got you a snake" and brings in a to go plastic box with a mushroom, some grass, some fish and worms and a tiny snake in this thing. I'm shocked, just "Um, what" and he hands me the to go box and says "I caught him eating my fish, here you go!" and it's this tiny Dekay's brown snake(native to my area)

So now I have a tiny snake that I'm going to release in my backyard instead because, just, what even. I'm not even sure how to respond to that because, what even.

So yeah, my last 2-3 hours had a tiny, angry snake next to me as I'm checking out customers at the gas station. I took pics so I can share still.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/GracefulNanami on 2025-06-28 06:49:31+00:00.

The day on the register was generally fine. A few annoying experiences but that's how it goes.

I've clocked out, am coming down to leave. Almost to the exit, a man basically rushes me with his cart. No hi or excuse me or anything. "I'm asking you to check on an item." he says.

Slightly taken aback, I tell him I'm off the clock, let me get someone to help you. There's a manager a few steps away and I ask him to come over.

Man proceeds to blurt out "It doesn't matter if you're off the clock!" in a very bad tone.

Yes, it does, actually. Its not allowed to work off the clock. I would have had to get someone for you in any case because I'm a cashier. I can't check on item availability myself.

I just kinda stared and turned and left. I hope he has a horrible weekend. Why can't people just... be sensible?

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/artfanatic_809 on 2025-06-21 02:11:56+00:00.

I work as a merchandiser in a big box store. I delegate sales/product knowledge questions to whatever department I'm working in that day. If it's an inventory related thing, I can usually help. A customer approached me while I was working on clearance and asked if I could get something down for him. When I asked him to point it out, he was rather brief and impatient, even offering to get on the ladder and get it himself. Definitely a safety violation. What he was requesting was not only high, but also had a ton on other merchandise stacked on top. Even if I was 10 feet tall, it would've been nearly impossible to get it down from the top rung without pulling it out directly and having all these other boxes going flying everywhere. I turned to him and told him that it wasn't happening without a machine. We use power lifts for things that are too high, big or bulky to get down with a ladder. He complained to his friend this it was ridiculous that I needed power equipment for something "so simple". I didn't care. I've fallen off a ladder before at a past job and I was surely not risking it happening for someone this rude. A couple minutes later, I returned to the aisle driving the machine. Unsurprisingly, they were gone, probably to go to a competitor. I decided that since I was there, I'd downstock the item anyway. If they returned, it would be there. If not, someone nicer could buy it. My supervisor said I made a good call and thanked me for keeping myself and others safe.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/DifficultProject2835 on 2025-06-17 21:19:06+00:00.

i had my first rude customer that really dug under my skin. usually i go with the flow and don’t care if the customer is rude. they were doing a return of a lot of stuff, multiple receipts, and all purchased with a card that was closed. we put the returns on gift cards for them, but one item just wouldn’t work. it would only go back to the original tender. to make a long story short, they kept saying i was doing a poor job, demanded to see multiple managers, and said i was an idiot. i’ve been at this job for a little over 3 weeks. and to add the cherry on top, the coworker who was trying to help me yelled at one of my managers saying that they lost 3 sales because i needed help. i tried so hard to stop myself from crying, but the water works started. i just want to crawl into a hole and die.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Chibichulala on 2025-06-15 17:23:41+00:00.

I own a small game store cafe in a small town. I’m the only one within 45 miles but there’s still competition* from farther stores as people out here are used to driving long distances already. I have lots of stories from the time I opened and I’ve learned a lot! Also, while this story does involve coffee, my primary business is retail.

This day was fairly quiet- we had a couple shoppers here and there but otherwise not so busy. My husband was helping me this day and while he does his best, I’m still more adept at making coffees. This didn’t matter here though.

Generally when people would come in and order a coffee first thing we would get it made and give it to them while they continue to shop. Cashing them out right away was something that I, at the time, concluded would create more hesitation in additional purchases. No one wants to stand at the counter and scan their cards multiple times in a row. I’ve since learned that people actually don’t mind that, and frequently when they’re here for long hours, it’s as though its a competition to see how many times they can scan their cards for a couple dollars at a time in one visit. One regular’s personal best was nine. We’ve begun running tabs.

A couple came in, first time visitors though I wouldn’t call them customers. They each ordered coffees, frappes I think, vanilla. They continued to browse so my husband just jumped on making them while I tidied up around him. They received their drinks and sat down in our comfy chairs to chat, then the man brings his back. No flavor, he said. Weird, considering I was sure I’d seen him put just as much vanilla in as I normally do, and I had tasted it before made the same way and thought it was fantastic - but I added more; so at this point the drink had probably ten pumps of vanilla in it; blended it back up, and gave it to him. I was feeling particularly anxious about this screw up- we were a fairly new shop at the time and still learning the ropes, trying to entice customers to come back or to visit in the first place. How could we have screwed up something so simple? Surely these people wouldn’t be coming back and I had failed.

They thanked me and continued to chat, shopping around a bit, enthused about how the coffee finally had enough flavor, and we got busy doing other things, helping someone else at the counter, cleaning etc, discussing how we’d made the coffee and how we could do better.

Then they left. No transaction had been rung up, they never approached the counter to attempt to pay- no, they simply left, over-vanilla’d frappes and all. I blame this partially on myself, as I hadn’t stopped them on the way out, partially on my husband, as he had handled the order, and partially on the two people who complained about the flavor of the coffee and left without paying. I’ve never seen them again.

Lesson learned- new visitors always pay for the coffees up front. Also, some people truly do have dead tastebuds.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Unlucky_Charm07 on 2025-06-14 20:27:12+00:00.

We've all had those customers who come in pretty close to closing to shop. I'm also pretty sure we've had those people who think that they have all the time in the world to shop just because they made it in the store before the doors shut. However, that is not the case. If you're a couple minutes past closing, that's usually fine, but it's not when you plan to spend another 15 minutes or so longer.

So, around five minutes to closing time at the store I work at, there was still one customer shopping with a grocery cart. He is a regular customer. The fifteen minute and five minute closing announcements had been done. When we do the five minute announcement, we politely ask that all customers still in the store bring up their items so that we can finish up our closing procedures and go home. Usually, us cashiers aren't too bad about late shoppers who are cutting it close, but it was really annoying to see someone with a full cart still strolling around.

The time we closed came around, and we had to do a "we're officially closed, please bring your items up to the front" kind of announcement, and this guy kept on walking. The people in grocery reminded him that we were closing, and that he could come back tomorrow to get the last things he was missing, but he ignored them.

Eventually, my coworker on till told the man that we were closed and that she would ring his groceries through. He turned to her and said, "do you know how much money I spend at your store?"

She replied, "I understand, but we are still closed and we have to ask you to pay for the groceries you have now and come back tomorrow."

Thankfully, the man finally went through her till, though he was still pretty annoyed that he had been asked to leave. He complained a bit more, but my coworker kindly explained that when we're closed, we have a couple more things that need to be done after all the customers are out and we unfortunately won't be paid overtime.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/Skippy8898 on 2025-06-09 18:19:29+00:00.

Customer wanted a quote on 3 items. On each item we have three different brands they can choose from (think how you can buy a battery from Duracell, Energizer, or some other brand) so I sent over pictures, pricing, and availability via e-mail. Despite having all the information in front of them they still messed up the order.

Item #1 had the wrong size listed which is not only discontinued and is from a completely different brand than they wanted. I didn't even put that on the quote.

Item #2 was listed on the order twice but with different quantities.

Item #3 was also listed on the order as well as different quantities. This one also had an additional wrinkle where one line was from one brand the other from a different brand. The one brand is way more expensive so it doesn't make much sense to order that one.

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/DisastrousTarget5060 on 2025-05-31 20:09:50+00:00.

I had a customer call up my store looking for a package. Here is the conversation I had:

Customer: "I had a package redirected to your store and wanted to see if it was there"

Me: "Of course. What is your last name?"

Customer: "It's [last name]"

Me: "One minute while I look." Puts phone down and goes through packages and comes back empty handed. "I'm not seeing anything with that name. Could I get your tracking number please?"

Customer: "It's [number]"

Me: seeing that he had redirected the package today and that it's not here yet. "It's not here yet. It shows that you asked to have it redirected to this store today. It takes two business days for the request to be processed. Unfortunately, it's not giving me an estimated delivery date so I can't tell you when to expect it."

Customer: "The lady on the phone said it would be there Monday (it's currently Saturday). Can I get it today?"

Me: "Unfortunately not. It's not here and since it's not giving a delivery date, I can't even guess when it'll arrive."

Customer: "so what can I do to get it today?"

Me: "nothing. There is no possible way that I know of to get it today. I can give you a 1-800 number to call along with which option gets you a person. They may be able to help you but they're closed now so you'd have to call them Monday"

Customer: "Where is my package?"

Me: "probably on a truck in the city somewhere"

Customer: "So how do I get it today?"

Me: "As far as I know, you don't. If you enter the tracking number into the website you'll be able to see when it arrives"

Customer: long pause "so it'll be there Monday?"

Me: "I don't know. It's not showing a delivery date so I can't tell you when it'll arrive"

Customer: "okay. I'll call back Monday"

Me: "Alright. Anything else I can help you with today?"

Customer: another long pause "No. That's everything"

Me: "alright. Have a good day" hangs up before he can think to ask if they can get the package today for a third time.

I swear, people forget that things don't happen immediately in real life

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The original was posted on /r/talesfromretail by /u/suminorieh77 on 2025-05-30 13:07:12+00:00.

i was cashiering in the lawn and garden center at my store. when i was “trained” as a cashier, there was no training on the products throughout the store, just how to scan the product and the basics of customer service. therefore, i really don’t know anything about the plants and trees and flowers; that’s the associate’s job. they stock them, so they know where they are located. the store phones will often not be useful in the location, due to getting multiple lawn and garden trucks during the week and the associates moving things around to make room for new products. but ultimately, i don’t know boo about whether this plant or that flower will thrive in full sun or if the ferns are still outside or if they moved them again. as a cashier, you are not allowed to leave your register to roam around or help the customer find something. my job is to ring you up, and that’s it.

the clientele in lawn and garden is mostly pleasant people looking to build their gardens or buy a lovely hydrangea for their mother. but often, at least in every shift, there is one person who feels slighted because you have no knowledge.

older lady comes up, has a buggy full of plants and flowers. she began putting the plants one by one on the counter and asking questions about them, to which i would answer, “I don’t know” and “I’m not sure”. i offered to find an associate for her, but she just waved her hand like it was no big deal. by about the 5th plant, after i had said yet again that i didn’t know, she pulls her sunglasses off, looks me in the eye, clearly exasperated, and says, “How can you work out here and know nothing about the plants?!”

i told her that i was rotated throughout the store like the other cashiers and that we are not trained to know the products we are selling, and that because we are are not allowed to leave the register, i can’t really familiarize myself with the plants and flowers. i asked again if she’d like me to find an associate, who does know the products. she said she didn’t have time to wait for someone. i plucked the plastic label from one of her plants out of the soil and showed her the that it tells a bit about the care of the plant, and also there is a QR code that you can scan with your phone that will help, too. i was sincerely trying to be helpful, but she took that as being snarky (i could tell by the way she gave me a long stare).

as she finished paying, she put her glasses back on and said nonchalantly, “Do you have a break coming up?” odd question, but i checked the clock and said, “Yes, m’am, I have a break in about 30 minutes.” she said, “Well, perhaps on your break you can walk around out here and learn something.”

i wished her a good day. i took my break 30 minutes later, sat in my car, listened to Primus, ate a Slim Jim, and took a nap (like normal). perhaps when she got home that day, she looked up the plants she bought and learned something.