I work in a shop that mainly sells materials for woodworking. Most of our customers come in to buy timber, finishes, oils, repair products and bits for DIY or professional projects. We also have a small display of handmade items made by local hobbyists—things like bowls, spoons, ornaments and other small wooden gifts.

It had been a painfully quiet day, so when an elderly lady (I’d guess somewhere in her 80s) walked in, I was more than happy to help.

She looked around for a minute before asking,
“Do you sell walking sticks?”

I assumed she meant hiking poles, because we do stock those, so I replied,
“If you mean hiking sticks, yes, we do.”

She shook her head.
“Oh no, I mean a proper handmade wooden walking stick.”

I apologised and explained that unfortunately we don’t sell those.

She looked genuinely baffled.
“But why not? That’s so silly. People would buy them. Surely you have them somewhere.”

I politely explained again that we simply don’t stock them.

Internally I was thinking, Our customer base is mostly people coming in for woodworking supplies. Handmade walking sticks aren’t exactly something we’ve ever had people asking for.

Trying to be helpful, I added,
“If you happened to know someone who works with wood, you could always choose a suitable piece here and have one made.”

She looked at me as if I’d suggested she build a rocket.

“Why would I know someone who makes walking sticks? I don’t know anyone who does that.”

Fair enough.
She then noticed our shelf of locally made wooden gifts.

“But you have local makers. Why don’t they make walking sticks? They’re missing a trick.”

I explained that the people who supply those items do it as a hobby in their spare time and mostly make smaller things like bowls, spoons, ornaments and decorative pieces.
That still wasn’t enough.

“Well, do you have one of their business cards?”

“I’m afraid not,” I replied. “They’re not businesses, just local people who enjoy making things. They bring us items whenever they have something finished.”

“So give me one of their phone numbers then. I’ll have a word with them.”

I had to explain that I couldn’t hand out someone’s personal contact details.
She let out an audible scoff.

“Well then, do you know anywhere that does sell walking sticks?”

I suggested trying online or perhaps another local shop that specialises in mobility products or country goods.

She looked thoroughly unimpressed.
“Well, this is all very stupid.”

She wandered around for another minute or two before heading for the door.
Just before she left, she stopped, shrugged at me and declared,
“Well, young lady, you’ve lost a customer today.”

As politely as I could, I wished her a good day.

The thing is, I genuinely don’t know what else I could have done. I answered every question, offered alternatives, explained why we didn’t stock what she wanted, protected other people’s privacy when she asked for their personal numbers, and even suggested where she might have better luck.
Sometimes in retail, people seem convinced that if they argue long enough, an item will magically appear in the stockroom.
Sadly, that’s not quite how it works.

Hi, I haven't posted in a while here, I am not the best at explaining but I will try and tell what happened to me a few days ago.

I alongside some partners run a used video game store. Like other stores of my type we do the buy sell trade aspect that brings product, however some people cling on to the "buy" and "trade" aspect kinda hard.

This "customer" has come before, but I will only focus on what happened with this situation specifically). He called asking if we got any new PS4 games. I told him we have gotten new ones but since I was dealing with online business and we get new stuff in all the time I am not sure specifically what is new but I asked him what he was looking for. I can't remember which game he asked for but I remember we didn't. He asked me to literally go through our entire PS4 stock and I told him I have other customers in the store and I can't and he began calling me a liar on the phone saying he knows I am not busy and he is a store owner too and begins telling me that from store owner to store owner I am unprofessional. I don't know how he thinks he "knew" I wasn't busy, that was strange but he then said he will check our website to see what we have (We do have a website and I guess this dude is obsessive, I don't want to say too much but he always trades and it is literally the only way he has ever gotten games from us. I am guessing that the trade aspect means enough to him that he researched us but this is all just speculation).

So literally minutes after hanging up he called again and said he saw we had Elden Ring and asked if it was still 30. I told him to let me check right quick just to make sure because our website has allowed orders that it shouldn't. After I verified we had it he said he wants to sell back 2 games he bought from us and I bumped it up but it ended up being 14 and he began randomly mentioning 6 dollars. I asked him why does he keep saying 6 dollars and he said he already has store credit. Ok I told him I don't know exactly what the tax will add but it is about a 10 something dollar difference and he got annoyed and he asked if he traded another game which we could offer 5 and I told him it would be a 5 something dollar difference. He began getting even more annoyed and told us that the trade ins are his best offer and we should lower the price so he could get it. He began saying we lowered prices for him before (not sure what he said was true, but we don't just lower prices for no reason).

He was getting more agitated and told us he isn't trying to spend any money and after some more attempts to get us to lower our prices he said he saw we had God of War on PS4 on our website, we do. He asked if he could trade the first two games for it so I told him there was a bit of a difference then he said he thought I said he had 20 and began talking over me so I told him if he let me explain he was getting 14 for the first two games and 6 for the store credit but while I spoke he just got angry saying I was pissing him off that he wasn't going to "f with my store anymore" and he was going to come to my store to f me up.

I did call the non emergency police to report what happened and I was told I was going to be called by an officer... didn't happen. and the person did come. My partner did talk to him and the customer apologized and said his mom (grown adult btw) told him he was wrong for how he acted. We try to not kick people out and we have thick skin so my partner told him that last part will not be tolerated again, we have only ever kicked 2 people out of the store for extreme reasons. He did trade those games and got God of War and even admitted he understood the store credit stuff and just claimed he was having a bad day. Hours later an officer did arrive to ask about the situation. Nothing came of that.

So I was putting out plastic containers in the back corner of our store, right near the bathroom, and a customer says, "excuse me, can you help me open the bathroom door?"

I look over and he has the key, so I'm not yet understanding the problem, but I say okay and take the key.

I go up to the door, and hear someone inside, so I stop and say there's someone in there.

The guy says, "yeah I know, I'm trying to open the other bathroom." I then tell him that's the employee bathroom, and it doesn't use this key.

But rather than have to wait or reflect, or learn something, the previous customer came out then, and so he got to use the correct one.

The same guy came back about an hour later, and had lost his phone.

He had our cashier call it but couldn'thear it anywhere. They asked me to check the bathroom. He and I go in, and he says, "nope, looks like it's not here." I looked over the edge of the trash can and there it was, pressed against the closest side of the can. He starts saying, "you saved my life, I never would have found it! How did you do that?"

Dude, I play seeing-eye-dog for our customers/products all day, this kind of thing happens a lot! Usually it's with products people are standing directly in front of but ask me the location of anyway, and not phones, but yes, phones too sometimes...

It's a hot summer where I live. I work at a garden store, so naturally, the store itself is also pretty warm. So, of course, we sell drinks at the front of the store in order to quench our poor customers' thirst.

A woman wanted some sprite. We sell all the basic sodas, sprite being one of them, so when she asked if we had regular sprite, I pointed her towards the fridge.

"But this sprite is lemon-lime! It's not normal sprite!"

I looked at her and said "uh.. that's the default sprite flavor?"

"No it's not. Sprite is sprite flavored."

I've been drinking sprite my whole life and I'm fairly certain it has always been lemon-lime flavored.

I didn't even know how to handle it at that point. I just shrugged and asked if she still wanted it. She did. She didn't open it while she was there, but I really wish I could've been there when she figured out it tasted like regular sprite.

A vendor for one of our designer handbag brands supports our store once a week with fill-in, recovery, markdowns, setups, etc. She had been assigned to our store for the last year or so.

Our merchandising manager doesn't like the way the vendor does her job and told her to her face because she had enough. The vendor said our manager doesn't know what she's doing (MM has been doing this successfully for 20+ years).

The vendor has intentionally changed things to how she wants it vs. what our company's standards are. The vendor insists that at her other locations her way works and we never give it a chance here and we're always the ones giving her a hard time.

As a result of this, the merchandising manager started having our merchandising colleagues do everything the vendor is supposed to do instead so when the vendor comes, she has nothing to do. Then she complained about why the work was already completed. Our manager told her that if she as so much touches anything on those tables/fixtures, she will report her.

Right before a recent regional visit, the vendor came and changed everything because at her other location the same people who visited liked it. Our merchandising manager saw her changing it and flew into a rage. She yelled at her and scolded her for disobeying her and told her to leave. Vendor left crying. It took hours to re-do it at the last minute. During the regional visit, they loved what we did with our display and then proceeded to trash what they saw at the other store that the vendor did.

After this, the merchandising manager informed the vendor's manager about what happened and said that the vendor doesn't do any work when she comes to our store and should be reprimanded. She left out the part that our team is intentionally doing her work. Vendor was reprimanded and our store is no longer part of her stores based on this lie.

The merchandise manager reached out to vendor's other stores and told them what happened too and encouraged them to call her boss too and get her dropped from there too.

The vendor went and reported what our merchandise manager did to her to our company's HR even though she is not an employee of our company but is doing so because our company has a no-tolerance policy for this type of retaliation against a vendor.

Now there is a full investigation happening.

I only recently started working in retail, which means I'm not as fast as a cashier as I was.

Yesterday it got fairly busy, we had a huge line and I had trouble with some items not scanning. While one coworker was helping me figure everything out, we obviously called someone to open up another cash register.

Apparently we took too long and this one lady in line just threw her shopping on the floor (some pool noodles and towels) and stormed out of the store, calling me horrible names while doing so.

And while I do get the frustration and how she probably had places to go, we really only took 2-3 minutes. With another cash register opening that she could have gone to.

I was doing work in our fabric department, but I'm not well versed in fabric and sewing. A lady asked two questions that I couldn't answer, and the actual fabric people were away at the time. She then found a fabric she wanted before the fabric people came back, so I went to cut it for her. I was hoping her request would be simple since I already failed her twice lol. She decided to take the whole bolt, which was 4¾ yards in length. She asks if we can do 4½. I said yes. We would have to clearance the remaining ¼, but it's no biggie. I measure it out and make one cut. She goes, "NO! Don't cut it!". I was so flabbergasted that I forgot about customer service and blurted, "You can't have 4¾ for the price of 4½!!?!" If you tell me you want 4½, I'm going to assume you want 4½ yards total. It's crazy to think I wasn't going to cut the fabric!!!

I just started a new job. I have worked in retail a couple years and started working at another store. Since today was my first day at this store, I spent most of it doing modules but they put me on the register towards the end of the day. I reached to the end of my shift and it was about time for me to clock out when my coworker, the only other person working the front, ask me if I could hold down the fort while she went on break. I agreed to it because it was only 10 minutes. What could possibly go wrong?

Dumb decision. I don't know what it is but for some reason you either get the most customers, or the most difficult customers right before you clock out. It's like they can smell it or something. Anyway, no sooner had she gone to the break room then my register was absolutely swamped. I was doing all right taking care of everything, but then The assistant manager came out and asked me if I could help ring up a few balloons this guy was buying. It's a bit of a complicated process because you can't just scan a balloon that's already been inflated. There's individual numbers for each and this guy got a bunch of different ones so I had to type them all in.

At the time I was in the middle of helping a customer and I asked her if I could wait until I was finished with him and she said yes. The guy I'm helping asks me if I'm sure about that and I say yes without a second thought. I mean shit. I've already handled a huge line and a lady who must have bought half the store. Can't be that challenging, right?

That's when I look up and make eye contact with the guy. He's making the most unhinged, maniacal, "HEEERE'S JOHNNY" looking grin I've ever seen and I wonder what the hell I just got myself into.

He buys about three fairly inexpensive items. Nothing crazy. Maybe he's just messing with me. But then when I'm done he grins even wider and hands me a big wad of change and I suddenly realized why he said what he said.

It wouldn't have been so bad if it was quarters but it was almost all nickels and a few dimes. And he had three customers behind him, including balloon guy. I managed to count out the change far more quickly than expected, as someone who isn't exactly a math or numbers person but God the whole process of counting out all those nickels was a bitch!

He apologized afterwards and we joked about it a little bit. In retrospect it was sort of funny but also WTF dude?

Years ago, I had a guy at the garden center I worked at tell me he had just gotten his medical card for cannabis and I HAD to tell him everything he needed to know to grow weed.

I have no objection to anyone partaking in cannabis, but I had never grown it myself. I could tell him how to start seeds and get a plant growing, but he wanted a start to finish tutorial on growing indoors.

I told him I did not have the knowledge base to advise him and suggested he get a book on the subject . ( This incident was in the mid 90s predating smartphones, and everyone having internet access)

He did not like this answer and demanded that it was my job to teach him and he had a medical card and I had to tell him what to do!

Like dude, I can teach you how to grow tomatoes prune your roses and the like, but I have never grown weed! Somehow, the 80 year old Italian guy I work for must have missed that part of my training !

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.

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This happened a number of years ago but it is a story I still tell and probably one of those work stories I will never forget.

I worked for a supermarket, on this particular weekend we were having a heatwave. As I worked in one of the non-food sections this particular store never switched on the air-con. The next day we had a major visit scheduled, some extremely high profile high ups were coming for a store walk around. Remember this.

Naturally everything had to be perfect for the next day so we were super busy with a massive job list and an attempt to keep the shop floor as tidy as possible. A customer asked me for help, a normal question, I had to get something from the warehouse for them. On the way I remember seeing a cricket toy on the floor. At the time, our toy section sold some life sized very realistic cricket toys. I took note so I could go pick it up after I was done with the customer I was helping.

On the way back, I bent down to pick up the toy and it moved. It was no toy at all, it was a real cricket. I suddenly hear one of my co-workers from the next aisle along, she was the sweetest little old lady who just worked a few hours in the week to buy stuff for her grandson. I ran around the corner to help her as she is running towards me with her hands in her hair ruffling her hair around. I look down the isle and we have 5 more crickets down the aisle. Real life crickets, and one of them just landed in my co-workers hair.

Remember how I said they never switched the air-con on in my section? Well they were testing it for the big visit the next day. They had not switched the air-con on for so long that a bunch of crickets had made a nest in the air vent and rained crickets down onto the shop floor.

Me and this co-worker stared down this aisle, baffled at what to do. It was defiantly one of those 'I do not get paid enough for this' moment, also I do not do well with bugs at all. That's when a few customers came over to ask what was going on, to which I only pointed and said the work 'crickets'. The customers also stared down the aisle dumbfounded as we were. My section leader then comes over thinking there was trouble with the customers. When we explained, she too did not like bugs and stared with the rest of us. The security team seeing a big group of us then decides to come over, once again they did not know what to do.

So there we were, 2 colleagues, 1 section leader, 2 members of security, 5 customers baffled why we had crickets raining down upon us. It is that moment a women who worked in the bakery section comes over with a huge box scoops up all those crickets like a pro. She walks past us all nods like a champion and says 'My lizard will feed well tonight' and walks off.

And thus ends the tale of when my place of employment tried to recreate one of the plagues of Egypt upon us on a casual Sunday with crickets rather than locusts.

I no longer work there, but the store does now use the air-con in that section regularly. Whenever i hear it go off as i am shopping I do look up nervously to check, you can never be sure lol.

I work at a retail supermarket, and just yesterday right at 9:00 AM, we had our first customer of the day walk in and demand a cash withdrawal. Our company allows people to do cash back from their bank accounts at the till, but the catch is that we can only pay out what we’ve actually taken in from cash-paying customers only Since the store had just opened and the tills were empty, I told him we didn’t have the funds yet. He absolutely lost his mind and demanded a manager. When she came out and explained the exact same thing, he stormed out of the store violently kicking a display plant on his way out.

We thought the drama was over, but five minutes later this guy bursts back through the doors wielding a fire extinguisher. Before any of us could even react he started spraying the entire front staff with it, screamed that he was phoning corporately, and marched back out. We were all just standing there covered in white powder, completely shocked. It was barely the start of the morning shift, and we had already witnessed a grown man throw a temper tantrum, assault a plant, and commit a literal felony before most people have even had their morning coffee.

I work at a phone store. A woman came in for help with her husband’s phone. She couldn’t tell me what was wrong with it or why he sent her in there, just that we needed to fix it. Asking her questions was like trying to swim in a pool of molasses. Maybe it has a virus? She’s not sure.

At some point, she produced a notebook. There was nothing written in the notebook. She thought I might be able to tell her what should go in the notebook. I remain unconvinced that she is literate.

She set the notebook on the counter and, lo and behold, what crawls out? A cockroach. Scurrying across the counter, clearly not expecting this woman to ever have need of a pencil and paper.

I *thwack*ed it with a notepad of my own. I look at the bug guts. I look at her. I look at the bug guts and I look at her. She says nothing. I say, “oh my god.” She says, “so does it have a virus?”

(It did not. It was a perfectly functional iPhone 15 and I have no idea what she wanted from me)

Recent reader, first time poster.

I(F) recently left my job as a meat cutter at a local grocery store, and I have filled up my notes app with ridiculous stories from that place. The work was great, my direct department manager is one of the best men I've ever known, but the costumers...

And even the NON-customers.........

January. Right after the holidays. We're coasting along, recovering after busting our asses - the store I worked at hand-cuts every single product that hits the shelves, and everyone's enjoying joint pain and calluses decreasing.

Man calls in, I have the joy of answering.

Me: "meat department, this is me, what can I do for you?"

Ham Man: "if I bring in a ham I bought a month ago, can you cut it for me?"

Not a concern - our hams are dated to last about two months, though that's not even his issue. However...

Me: "I'm sorry, sir. Once a product has left the store, it can't be brought back to be sliced."

Ham man: "so you can't do it?"

Me: "no, sir. If it left the store, we can't rework it."

And then he declares,

Ham man: "but I didn't buy it from you guys."

A long pause to take several breathes, & some struggling to continue the same level of "customer" service.

Me: "than we definitely can't do that, it's not even our product."

Ham man: "...........okay. I'll call the local butcher shop."

Me: "good luck, have a good one."

In this instance, you didn't give us your business, buddy, you don't get our services.

Many odd encounters at that job, but he was certainly the silliest.

I work at a large warehouse-style store, specifically in the curbside pickup department. Customers place their order on their app, select a pickup window, and we load it all into their car. It’s a very fast, high-stress, labor-intensive position and we (like everyone else) don’t always have enough staff to keep the flow within the company’s parameters for how long it takes an order to be taken to a customer after they arrive. We aim for 5 minutes, but when 10+ people all arrive at once and we have 2 employees doing it all, we can sometimes get up to 30 minutes wait time. It’s annoying, we hate making people wait, but we work as fast as we can. Sometimes people get pissed waiting for so long, and I understand. I always apologize and thank people for their patience, and 8 times out of 10 they’re cool.

This dude was Not. I had just finished my 30 min break, walked back through the store and entered the curbside area. There was this random, very large, very angry man standing in the center of the area. Now… you can only get into this area through the corner I entered from, which is usually taped off and surrounded by employees, and the exit door we use to go out to the parking lot, which is off the side of the building and auto-locks with RFID tag entry. This man had followed an employee up to the door, grabbed the door before it shut, let himself in the back, and was now trying to hold the entire curbside team hostage.

He was hollerin “give me my bag NOW, I’m gonna fuckin beat ALL yall ass!”. There were about 7 of us who had accumulated throughout the ordeal, and one coworker had taken the lead and was trying to de-escalate the situation. He was speaking calmly, saying things like “I’m sorry for your wait sir, we have a procedure we must follow. We are doing our best, it’s incredibly busy. You need to go back outside right now. You can’t be in here. Please just leave.”, and as expected this man was Not Having That. He kept insisting we were going to give in IMMEDIATELY or he was going to attack us. No team leads or supervisors jumped in to help. We have no security.

So the one coworker tried a different approach. He asked the man for his name and said we would prioritize his order, but he HAD to LEAVE. Turns out, homie was quite literally the next guy in our queue for his order, and his tantrum had added about 5 minutes to the wait time of every single one of the 12 people out there, including himself. My coworker told him that, “sir your order is next up right here, just go to your car and we’ve got it.”.

Eventually, we get him out the door most of the way. He sticks his hand in the door opening to prevent it from locking and so he can stay right there where we have to exit and enter, still threatening violence. A different coworker retrieves his order and walks it over to him… because again, we had no help from higher-ups and no security. What else were we supposed to do? Guy rips the bag out of his hands, says some shit, and leaves. Turns out his big important order… from the warehouse store where you buy in bulk… was one. Single. Pound. Of generic ground beef. That was the whole order. That was what was so important that he was threatening to beat and kill minimum wage employees over it. The police were called and a manager took statements… three hours after it happened. Idk what action was or wasn’t taken in the end, but customers need a paid membership to shop here so I hope at the very least that membership was revoked. They’ve revoked them for less.

I’ve worked at my supermarket for 10+ years. On Fridays, we run a burger promotion linked to a specific bank. You have to follow the T&Cs in the app and have an active loyalty card to get the deal.

A guy comes in only for the burger. It rings up full price because he didn't follow the steps. I try to explain the process to him, but he just starts shouting over me. I checked our system: he literally hasn't swiped his card at our company in 3 years. He just spawned out of nowhere because he saw a cheap promo. When I told him he wasn't getting the deal, he lost his mind. He shook his fist right in front of my eye and told me, I’ll punch your teeth out.

He then complained to my manager that I have no customer service and should be fired. The couple in line behind him saw the whole thing and agreed with me. It’s wild how violent people will get to save a couple of bucks.

Several years ago, I was working at a pretty major retailer. I was young, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. They never trained me to do anything besides register since I only worked on school breaks, so one busy Saturday day I showed up expecting to be doing just that. Nope. Turns out the Higher Ups were there to inspect things. I was to go around essentially doing janitorial duty and wiping down all the surfaces. Bad day to wear a flowy dress, but oh well.

Suddenly, I get called up to cashwrap (no walkies/headsets—everything was done over loudspeaker). Okay, there’s a line. Guess they want me to help get it down. I tuck the cleaning stuff away and log onto a register. After I check out one or two customers, a manager who had just gotten back from break approaches me and asks what I’m doing up there. I explain that I was called up to register, and they say, “No. We need you to keep cleaning. We have to keep everything looking nice for the inspectors.”

So, I go back to the floor, get the stuff out, and within 5 minutes I’m called up to cashwrap again. A separate manager asks me why I left, and I explain that I was instructed to. They say, “No. It’s too busy. We need you up here.”

Fine.

As I’m checking out a customer, I faintly feel something at the back of my neck. I reach for it, only to feel the unmistakable sting of a bee on my fingertip. I start to cry, alerting a manager. The following exchange happens:

Manager 1: What happened?

Me: A bee stung my finger!

Manager 1: Okay, okay, shh, stop crying. The customer is right there.

Manager 2: What’s going on?

Me: A bee stung my finger!

Manager 2: Oh, yeah, I think I saw a nest in the back the other day.

Manager 1: Just go to the break room and wash it, make sure there’s not a stinger left in there and don’t come out until you’ve calmed down.

(Worth noting that the customer was actually very concerned and trying to give me advice on how to treat the sting).

Anyway, I went to the break room and patched myself up. After about ten minutes they started to get antsy and came back looking for me to start up again.

They were damn lucky I wasn’t allergic.

Another time at this same job, a (unbeknownst to me) faulty sensor remover sliced through my finger and a good portion of my nail. Same comment from the manager about me daring to start crying. They handed me a wipe and a band aid and insisted I finish up with my current customer before going to take a closer look at the wound because “it’s just so busy right now.”

The customer was annoyed that a drop of blood ended up on a boxed piece of merchandise (imagine “You got some of your blood on it,” in the most bored, monotone voice you’ve ever heard in your life), so I gave her the clean alcohol wipe that had just been given to me for my profusely bleeding finger so she could wipe it off. She inspected it closely, then stated she “guessed she’d just HAVE to return it” if she found more blood while giving me a dirty look. Then she paid in cash, with like 50 ones I had to count out. I had to quickly bandage my finger and hold it away from the bills. I told her to have a nice evening when I was done, tears still streaming down my face. She rolled her eyes and left without a word.

I was shocked at my next job when I was asked to fill out a report form over a minor injury. 🙃

So, one day, while we were working our usual shift, we had a bit of a fiasco with the self-checkout. Someone had decided it would be a great idea to dump a whole bag of wet coins into the machine, effectively turning it into a coin geyser and breaking the whole thing. So, we had to pull all the soggy coins out, test the machine, and confirm it was out of order. Then we put up three massive "card only" signs, including one that was literally covering the coin slot and the cash slot, just to make sure nobody missed it.

But, as you can guess, not everyone reads signs. In comes one of our regular customers, he looks at the machine, looks at the sign, and then decides to lift the sign up like he's uncovering a treasure. He tries to shove his cash in and when it doesn't work, he just looks at me and says, "I don't think this is taking cash, dog." At that moment, I just gave him the most bewildered look I could muster. It was like a comedy sketch in real life

For context, I work at a large thrift store, probably the largest by volume in our area. Our inventory covers probably 4000-5000 square feet in total. I schedule pickups for new items through our system and man the front desk about 95% of the time.

There is a regular who hates me. Specifically, he hates that I do not have encyclopedic knowledge of our inventory. He is 6'4 and always wearing weird, shapeless jackets. I will confess that my own dislike for him is what is driving me to tell you that he also reeks of something that is either body odor or cat urine. For about 20 minutes every day, he will walk around the shop floor in silence, looking at everything the floor workers have set out, and then he will approach me empty-handed to ask me how much an item costs.

He is not describing these items to me in any kind of detail, for the record. He asks me how much "the red chair" or "shoes" will cost. I then have to ask him to clarify what he is talking about, which makes him extremely irritated.

One time he actually brought the item he wanted priced to the front, only it was still in a cardboard box that he would not open. I asked him several times if I could see or know what he was holding, and he rolled his eyes and said "I didn't say what it was, I asked how much it was." I had to call my supervisor over from his office to tell the man that yes, he did have to show me what was in the cardboard box, as I am not yet capable of seeing through solid objects.

Today he came in again and did his usual routine, but he seemed more sullen than usual, if that was possible. He finally came to the front and asked me how much the "clear tupperware" was. I assume that, if you are reading this, you know that most tupperware is clear. I asked him "Which ones?" and got up to go find what he was talking about.

This was apparently Joe Catpee's last straw. He scoffed and pointed at me, then told me to "NEVER ask 'which ones?'!" I told him I did not in fact know what he was talking about, that I am not in charge of inventory at the store. He kept repeating "Which ones? You asked me WHICH ONES?" at increasing volume until my manager had to get involved and ask him to either bring the tupperware to the front and pay whatever they cost or get out.

He did, in fact, pay for the $2/piece large tupperware containers. My manager then took the guy outside and told him that he was to bring anything he wanted to ask me about or negotiate the price of to the front from now on. Mr. Catpee does not like this rule, and he has said things indicating he might never come back.

Please let it be true.

Edit for those worried about me: thank you for the support! For what it's worth, I am within easy hollering distance of multiple big dudes who would drag this guy out if he ever caused real trouble. I honestly don't think this guy would escalate to violence, but I'm being careful regardless. My manager is a good guy and has made it clear to J. Catpee Esq. that he will not be welcome back unless he starts acting like a normal person.

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I’ve been working in retail for over a decade now, and recently had one of my all-time strangest interactions with a customer. I work in a record store, and we’ve just had Record Store Day (if you’re not familiar, it’s a day where labels put out many special releases in limited numbers) on Saturday. Incredibly, incredibly busy, borderline unmanageably so, but it makes the company a shitload of money so I guess we’ll be doing it forever. The tales I have of how grown adults behave towards staff on this day could be its own thread, but my tale is from a few days later.

The phone rings, and it sounds like an older (though not elderly) gentleman. He says “I visited your store on Saturday afternoon [an inauspicious start] and picked up a few Record Store Day titles. When I got to the counter, I asked about another title but the girl told me that none of your stores ever had it [not unusual; some titles are not released for every territory but can potentially be imported later]. Later, when I got home, I received a text from your shop [he means an email from the website] telling me that I could order it. Now, that’s not very good, is it?”.

It had been a long few days, and I could sense that he was attempting to make a complaint about something that had happened but I wasn’t sure what, exactly. I asked him if he could tell me again what his issue was. He recounts the same story, adding that he’s not happy he made a wasted journey to our store. Now, I know the textbook customer service thing is to give a professional, insincere little apology but I was just too perplexed. I repeated his story as I understood it, back to him. I’m thinking he’s perhaps confused about the email notification - maybe he thinks it means that the other item was in stock, after all. I check the system during his soliloquy and confirm that no store ever received the release he wants. I reiterate this to him, as gently as I can, and suggest that if the email he received is inviting him to order the desired release, he should do that. His response is“but what are you going to do about my wasted journey?”. Again, feeling like I’m in some sort of hostage negotiation, I very gently remind him that he did, in fact, buy 3 other things he seemingly wanted. And that this other release was never here, but he’s welcome to order it on the website if the email he’s received invites him to. He says “well, I don’t think it’s very good service”. I know I’m getting myself into dangerous territory as I respond “I think maybe it’s about a difference in temperament, because if I was a customer somewhere and I wanted something, but was told it wasn’t in stock, and then received an email saying I could order it, I’d be quite happy”. Miraculously, I think I just about get through to him somewhat. He starts saying things like “I’m not trying to have a go, I love your store and just wanted to vent my frustration”. The phone call eventually ends after 20 minutes (he speaks very slowly), and I seem to have left him happy.

Now, I know he doesn’t know how insanely busy it’s been, how grown men have screamed in the faces of young women wearing lanyards because we sold out of a limited live Pink Floyd album, how the shop looks like a grenade exploded over the Pop section, how there’s discarded drink and food wrappers in record racks. And I know that, to an extent, it’s my job to listen to venting customers. But it really did sap all my energy and patience and, I daresay, compassion for my fellow man. Just for the rest of that day, I’m back now. Still not sure I understood his grievance, though. I may never know, and I’m okay with that.

tl;dr: customer complains about the “notify me” system working as intended

I’m a supervisor at a grocery store. Back in the day and I mean way back our company had a policy where kids could get a free piece of fruit while parents shopped. However, because people kept taking advantage of it that promotion was officially scrapped over five years ago. This lady walks in, grabs a banana off the shelf, and hands it to her kid. When she gets to the register, the cashier asks her to pay for it. She immediately gets defensive, claiming it’s free for kids. I stepped in to explain that the policy ended years ago. Her response was blaming us for not notifying her that the promo ended. However when the promo was active, there was a specific stand with smaller fruit. She just grabbed a regular one from the main display. After being told no, she marched back to the shelf, grabbed the biggest banana she could find, had it weighed, and paid for it out of spite. We didn't even ask her to do that; we were fine chalking it up to a misunderstanding but she just went away and did it

Then things got weird. She started demanding to know how long I and the other supervisor had worked for the company. We’re both just looking at each other like, What does this have to do with the price of a banana? She then hunts down the Store Manager to grill him on his start date, too. Despite everyone telling her the same thing, she insisted we were all wrong and that the fruit is supposed to be free. She ended her tantrum by screaming that she’s going to post us all on social media because we’re incompetent and can’t do our jobs. Lady, there is no signage, no shelf, and no policy. You're literally fighting for a promotion that died in 2021. Good luck with the Facebook post!

This happened on Friday, but I'm still baffled by it today. None of my coworkers know what this person's deal was, either. I think she spawned into existence to make my day marginally worse and significantly more bizarre.

I work at a thrift store. We are basically a dumping ground for a bunch of different organizations in the area. I'll refrain from going into more detail than that, but the long and short of it is that we have a lot of inventory going in and out all the time and no one to consistently price it. Some things have prices set ages ago that we basically never change, and everything falls into a general range (e.g. most loveseats are around $20). This means that we all have a rough idea of what everything is worth, and we'll give anyone who asks a price based on our estimates.

I'm pretty much in charge of pricing, and I have my own personal list for consistency. I'm also fine with bartering, and I will lower prices quickly. I've sold a $25 item for $5 because the customer was nice and seemed down on their luck. One time I sold a coffee maker for a dollar. Stuff like that.

This one woman came in on Friday and gunned it for the section where we keep art and decor. I could not describe anything about her appearance save that she was blonde and wearing one of those Lily Pulitzer shirts that looks like it was designed for (and by) the colorblind. Her expression was already pissed. She came to the register with a table lamp and asked how much it was. I said 5.60, plus tax (a price set for all lamps long ago before my time here, one that I am too superstitious and lazy to change now). She scoffed and loudly stated that someone sold her one for a dollar less than that a month ago, and that we needed to be more consistent with our prices.

I remembered suddenly that a month ago, I had met this woman who had bought a different lamp. I also said 5.60 at that time, and then dropped the price at her request. I did not correct her, because it was about 20 minutes to closing and I wanted to go home. Okay, sure, four American dollars and sixty American cents, why not?

I rang it up in our ancient chugging computer system, and with tax included, it came out to about 4.96. She paid with a 50, which... alright. Sure. I gave her $45 in change and turned around to grab a pen I'd dropped earlier. She counted it loudly, then said "What the hell? You said $4.60!" I turned around and started to explain sales tax to a middle-aged woman who presumably knew the concept. She scoffed and said "So I'm supposed to believe that it came out to exactly five dollars? Sure, Jan." in what I think was a Regina George impression? Her voice was really high and "valley girl" for a second, which isn't what Regina George sounds like, but that line is from Mean Girls so it was my best guess.

I told her that her total was $4.96, but that there was a penny shortage (we have a sign up in the shop mentioning that the smallest change we usually have is nickels). I said that I could try to find four pennies or give her one nickel if she wanted that, and that I probably had some pennies in my wallet.

She snatched up her lamp and accidentally threw off the lampshade in my direction, which made her way angrier, and she yelled "Oh my god, WHATEVER, keep your pennies if you NEED THEM so much. I can't believe this, the guy who worked here in March was SO respectful and you're just so UGH."

I should add that I am not a man, but I honestly think she was talking about me, because no one else sold something to her in March. I work here full-time. I'm not insulted, because I'm pretty butch/"tomboy", but it was a baffling detail nonetheless.

I think she was about to tear into me again, but we were interrupted by the sound of a baby scream-crying. Like the way babies sound when they're on an airplane and they haven't popped their ears or equalized the pressure yet. I started looking around in shock before she suddenly took her phone out and answered it, and the crying stopped immediately.

I realized at this point that this was her ringtone? A baby crying and screaming?? I have tried to think of an explanation other than "this woman specifically sought out and chose baby crying SFX to use as her phone ringtone" and I cannot find one.

She hasn't come back yet. I dread the day that she does. I think I might invest in more baggy shirts and hats so that she thinks I'm "the nice young man" and not the evil penny-withholding bitch. I can't get over it. Four pennies. She was driving a BMW bigger than my kitchen.