Working in any customer service job is a lot more difficult than it would seem. There are lots of customer complaints, and sometimes long hours without being able to sit down. But despite the troubles of retail, these incredible workers went above and beyond to serve their customers.
Retail workers shared their stories on reddit, and these are the best ones that we found. Check out the source link at the end of the article to read more!
I work in a small, locally owned toy shop in little college town, however we have a lot of down to earth people and families.
Couple comes in with three kids and immediately the kids go wild, wanting to show their parents every single toy in the store.
It’s a small store but is broken into three distinct sections, rooms connected by walkways. We have a card rack next to the cash wrap that has all sorts of cards.
As the wife is being dragged by her kids around the store, the husband comes up to me and quietly goes “Don’t let my wife see, we are big star wars fans” and slides me this card and cash to pay for it. I quietly make small talk with him about the weather and ring him up. I finish just in time as his wife and kids walk around and then grab their dad to go beg and ask for toys.
I’m chatting with the mom and she sees a card on the card rack and says “This would be perfect for [husband] but don’t let him see this,” and slides me cash, finishes the transaction and winks. It’s the exact same card.
They finish their shopping, purchase a few toys for their three kids and walk out, both chuckling to themselves about how clever they are.
awkward_pwnguin
A few years ago, I worked in a certain mall store that retails massage chairs. You can probably guess which one, and they have a pretty strict no social media policy but who cares I don’t work there anymore.
One of the managers and I were running people through the chairs (10 minutes for everyone, no kids, no shoes, no food, etc).
A very very pregnant lady comes in and beelines for the hardest hitting massage chair we have. People let her cut in line because nobody is going to stop a pregnant woman from sitting down.
She starts to turn on the remote to turn on the massage and my manager sees this and heads on over.
He says “Hello ma’am, feel free to use the leg massager for 15 minutes or so, but I’m going to set up the remote in a way that it does not cause medical complications for you or your child”
She asks “why can’t I get a full massage?”
“Well, there is a possibility that it could induce labor prematurely” he says, starting to dread the following interaction.
“I’m ready”
“Excuse me?”
“The due date is tomorrow, might as well give birth now”
The manager is silent for a couple of seconds. This guy is a veteran, but he did not know how to handle the situation.
“Ma’am, please don’t give birth in my store”
BlatantConservative
Working at a children’s clothing store usually means dealing with a load of screaming kids, annoyed parents, and a hell of a lot of clothes to constantly clean up. It’s exhausting, especially as a job to just get me through college, but it has its perks. Cut to today.
An older woman and a little boy came into my store today. She approached me and asked me to help her pick out jeans for her grandson. She seemed to need a lot of help with understanding the sizes of the jeans and how they’re supposed to fit. She then explained to me that the little boy’s parents had passed away a few weeks ago, and she became his legal guardian, along with his two older sisters. I now understood why she was having so much trouble with picking out clothing.
My heart broke for this woman and her grandchildren, but she was doing the best she could and that was very inspiring. Long story short, I gave the woman every coupon we could possibly give; she got almost ten pairs of jeans half-off. As the pair were leaving, I heard a small voice behind me: “Excuse me, ma’am?” The little boy was staring up at me. I smiled and asked him what he needed help with. “I just wanted to thank you for helping me today. My grandma is usually really stressed when we go shopping. Thank you for helping her. Thank you so much.”
That makes this job worth it.
I work as a cashier for a small garden/general old lady knick-knack store. Most of our customers are elderly gardeners or young hipsters.
It was a very busy spring day and an old woman wearing a rainbow, sequined dress, leather clogs, and a brown fedora walked up to my register with one small plant. She had stubble, no eyebrows, and white hair.
She was very friendly, and I rang her up as normal.
I like to decorate the registers sometimes and had placed a small bird statue on the corner of it, facing the customers.
As I handed her the receipt, she picked up the bird statue, audibly bit it’s head, said, “Oh, that’s hard,” put it down, and left.
Fiftydollarvolvo
There wasn’t much to do so I decided to walk around maybe reorganized misplaced items when suddenly a kid (maybe 3-4 years old) holds my hand. I kind of look around to see if someone lost their kid and then I see a young lady gave me a “go on” gesture. I’m a bit confused as what she wants me to do but whatever I was bored and this kid looked cooler than my friends. So I asked if he liked candy and asked which one he liked. He didn’t say anything and just pointed to some gummy worms.
Me: That’s cool. Me too! I like the sour ones because I can make this face. sour face
This made the kid laugh
Boy: I love you daddy hugs me
TBH I freaked out a bit and thought this kid couldn’t possibly be mine as I looked over to the young lady she started tearing up.
Me: I love you too, son
The boy ran back to the lady
The lady walks up to me and hugs me
Lady: I’m so sorry for that, my husband just passed away 2 days ago. This is the first time I saw him talk since that day.
Me: I’m sorry for your loss
Lady: Thank you
They proceeded to leave. The boy is waving his gummy worms at me and I do the sour face and he does the same.
whitethundar
I work at BBQ shop here in Australia, I’ve dealt with all kinds of customers in my 3 years of experience until today I had the most memorable experiences yet.
Today I had two Chinese men walk in and they looked to be in their early 20’s or so. They walked around for a bit before I approached them and asked if they needed any help, it suddenly became clear they didn’t know a word of English when one pulled out his phone and started using a translator. Soon fleshed out they were looking at a BBQ we have in stock and some accessories, after about 25 minutes going back and forth with the translator they had all they wanted. Normally this transaction only takes about 5-10 minutes on average but I didn’t mind as we were all being patient with each other.
I rang up all the items and showed them a full break down of the items which total around $500. I had all the products ready to go in a pile next to the register when he finished paying. When it all finalized he leaned in to shake my hand and said in perfect English.
“Oh, just so you know, we speak perfect freaking English mate.”
Both these men erupt into laughter while I’m sitting shaking my head and laughing as well thinking how the heck did I fall for it. After we all slowly regained ourselves one of the men leaned in and said how well I took it. May not seem all that funny in writing, but it’s totally made my week.
I_never_speak_true
I’m not good with children. I’m also bad at small talk. Lastly, I primarily run on sarcasm. Sometimes, these things don’t combine well for certain situations. Children babbling at me at the register is one of them
Child: We’re getting a new litter tray! The kitty broke hers!
Me: Oh, that’s nice.
Child: She’s a bad kitty. She bit me.
Me, in a moment of complete brain-deadness: Did you bite her back?
Silence.
Child’s mother: No. NO! Don’t bite the cat, Johnny!
To make matters worse, a coworker was behind that family in the line. I think she thought I was weird. RIP any work place reputation. I don’t know why I said that, I don’t know, but it haunts me endlessly.
cheeringcharlie
So I used to work at an ice cream chain where we prepared the ice cream with various toppings on a frozen piece of rock.
On this particular day, I was working with one other person and it wasn’t too busy. Two young guys came in, about high school age. They ordered a large bowl of ice cream with a few toppings, I mixed it for them and went to ring them up. I’ll use G for guy, since I really just talked to one of them.
Me: Okay, so that’ll be $x.xx
G: Okay, I have a giftcard.
Me: Great! scans card so it looks like you owe another $0.36 after the giftcard.
At the point, they both look at each other and shrug sadly.
G: Oh…I’m sorry, I don’t have any money with me, never mind….
Me: Oh hey, it’s cool, only $0.36 I take the $0.36 out of the tip jar and put it in the till no big deal!
G: Wow, thanks!
The two guys leave, and I thought that was that. Felt good doing something nice.
So the one guy comes back several hours later. I saw him come in, and went to the register to meet him.
Me: Oh hey! You’re back. Did you need anything el…
Before I finished, and without looking at me once or saying a word, he dropped a $20 bill in the jar and immediately turned and left.
I was so shocked I just stared after him until he walked out the door.
So that was pretty cool 🙂
JaniceTheButcher
I was bagging groceries last night when a lady came through with a baby in a car seat in the basket of her cart. She had a LOT of groceries that I’m assuming she’d had under and around the car seat, so when I bagged them I was putting them back under and around the car seat. I wasn’t sure where else to put them if not there, right? It’s not like I could put them on top of the baby, right?
Well. As I’m placing stuff carefully under Baby, Baby’s mom says “oh hon, you can just put some of this stuff on top of him” and pats the canopy.
The phrase “but ma’am that’s a baby” almost escapes me but I choke it down, nod, and continue putting stuff under the baby, under the cart, in the seat of the cart, etc. At this point the cashier (my favorite cashier) is trying and failing not to laugh at both the absurdity of me being told to put groceries on a baby, and my increasingly desperate attempts at finding places for the bags.
I got all but a bag of chips squared away, and there was just no more room, so as they walked away I set the bag of chips on top of the car seat, turned back to the cashier and whispered in horror “I put the chips on the baby.” Which I believe is the most absurd thing I’ve said on the job so far.
occipital_spatula
A little old lady came in right before 12. She came right up to the register and since I was by myself I rang her up. She wanted a gift card for $5.
She looks directly at me and says “Want to know why it’s $5?”
Me “Um… Well…”
She “I’m giving my friend a birthday gift, it’s six different giftcards for $5 a piece at different stores. It’s not enough to actually buy anything so it should annoy her.”
Me “Oh ok.. Well have a nice day.”
She “I will. She’s going to be so pissed.” She looks absolutely delighted and walks out.
Well ok then..
Catalystic_mind
I worked as a bagger at a small, family-owned grocery store while I was in high school. One day a man came through the checkout with a full cart of groceries.
Me: “Paper or plastic?”
Customer: Id like double bagged paper and Id like you to make each bag as heavy as you can.
Me: “Sure thing!”
A bit of a strange request, sure, but anything that broke up the monotony of the day was welcomed. I managed to load his entire cart into three fairly heavy bags and bring them out to his car.
Customer: “In case you’re wondering – I just had a fight with the wife and it’s my turn to pick up the groceries.”
Me: “Uh-huh.”
Customer: “It’s also her turn to unload the car.”
optimusprimeminister
I was working a late shift, and it was rather quiet. I had only been working at the store for only 5 months or so. A man came through my line, and he was about 6 foot tall covered in Tattoos, and not the nicely made tattoos you see from a good tattoo shop I mean the kind that looks like he had them done in the cellar of a seedy biker bar type. He was heavy built, and wore a leather biker vest. He did not seem the type to feel guilty about shanking you on the street. He bought a few items, but had beer. I of course ID him, and he shows it to me, and I total everything. He pulls out a check book, and writes a check. The check had a basket of kittens on it, and this seemed like one of those facebook posts of bikers look mean, but have a heart of gold type things. Well I look at the check his name is nowhere on the check. It has a girls name on it, and I tell him that I could not accept it because it is not his check, and does not have his name. He claims the girl is with him, and he would go get her real quick. He leaves, and left the check on the counter.
As soon as he is out of sight I call for a manager, and they take the check, and what I did not know was that about half an hour before an amber alert was released, and being the fact this was about 11 years ago very few people had SMS alerts for things like this, and only because our company is a certified safe place we receive faxes which had amber alerts, and such. The manager recognized the name, and contacted police. Minutes later we had a few cops show up, and they asked me what the guy looked like, and everything said. They even finger printed the stuff the guy was buying. Security gave them the footage of the guy, and were lucky to get the guys plate number. A few minutes later all the cops left, and I mean in a hurry.
Apparently the guy was spotted, and pulled over they found the girl tied up in the back of the SUV he was driving, and luckily she was not hurt. She was kidnapped from where she worked after school, and her co-worker called the cops when he got back from his break to find the place a mess, and her missing. The whole thing occured within an hour, and half time. She was taken to a local hospital where she was kept just in case over night. The man was of course arrested.
unaumbra
This happened a few years ago when I worked in a bead shop. We did jewelry repair too. Mostly simple stuff like reattaching clasps, restringing beads, or pearl knotting. Occasionally, when we weren’t busy we would do repairs on the spot. Our minimum charge for any repair was $4 plus the cost of the materials.
So one day a lady comes in and she needs this necklace repaired ASAP because she wants to wear it that night at a dinner party. I saw that the necklace just needed the clasp reattached, which is something I can do in under a minute. I told her the store policy and said I could fix it for her while she waited. She seemed cool with that, so I grabbed a jump ring and reattached the clasp for her.
I rang her up and she took her necklace, leaving without a word.
The next day we got a call from the lady asking to talk to “the manager”. She told the bead shop owner she was upset about having to pay $4 for the jewelry repair because I fixed it in under a minute. Her words, “Last time I checked only doctors made $4 a minute.”
JennIsFit
Today, a lady came in reeking of alcohol and clearly drunk. So youre aware, we sell a few assorted electronics accessories at the front of the store– chargers, styluses, etc.
Drunk lady shall henceforth be known as DL.
DL: “HEY do you have … A uh… Um… Fumbles around a phone charger I can use for a few minutes?
Me: “no, but we do have chargers for sale! Right here.”
DL: “Oh, awesome. I’ll take one.”
Me: “okay, that’ll be eight dollars.”
DL: “it says 5.”
Me (looking at the same display she is): “it.. it says eight dollars on the display. Right there. Next to the picture.”
DL: “Well I… I read five so you HAVE to sell it for five. It’s like.. the law.”
Me: “The price is eight dollars.*
DL: “Well you’ve just lost a customer, and I’ll be calling corporate. You’ll get fired.”
Me: “Actually, corporate doesn’t really exist anymore. You can file a complaint with the store manager on duty, if you want.”
DL: “Ugh, please.”
Me: “So, what’s your complaint?”
She then stormed out. God it felt so good to finally be able to say something like that.
daedric_hooker
I was working express (fifteen items or fewer) at the grocery store I work at today and a woman comes up with one of our small carts packed to the brim.
Me: excuse me ma’am this is an express lane for only fifteen items or fewer
Lady: I have about 17, is that ok?
Me: Are you sure that’s 17 you have quite a bit
Lady: No I counted it’s seventeen its fine
Without a response she unloads all her groceries onto the cart. I am dealing with another customer in front of her at the moment so I have no time to make a fuss.
She has a lot of items on the belt, way over 17. How inconsiderate to the people behind her. There was no use telling her to reload her cart that would take more time. I ring her up with a deadpan angry face as she smuggly watched me bag her copious amount of groceries. I look at the item counter and she bought 34 items. What happened to “17” “I counted”
Me: Ok, your thirty-four items will come to a grand total of 117.90
I said this in my most beautifully cheery sarcastic retail voice. Her face turned bright red. Customers seem to think there isn’t an item counter, my register tells me how many items I’ve scanned.
snert12
I work at a fairly popular paint supply store. I love my job and the people I work with. While I’m there, I’m allowed to have my tattoos showing, as long as they’re not offensive or obnoxious.
During the middle of the day, my usual customers are general contractors and foremen. This particular day, I had a long sleeved shirt on under my work shirt which covered my tattoos. Well, as I was helping on particular contractor, I decided to roll my sleeves up because it was getting warm in the store from all of my running around, trying to get this order done.
He takes one look at my arm tattoos and flips out on me, calling me a hippy and so many other insults. Now, I can take some heat for it because I’m a pretty well-mannered dude. However the best insult came as I was ringing him out. This guy told me “Go get a job” as I was ringing him out.
He told me to go get a job, while I was at my job, taking his money.
bonswansonite
I was working the close shift and one of my cashiers called me over at the request of the customer, an older lady. She asked me to tell her why there were no plastic bags at the register (after the fact I asked the cashier; he had tried to explain it multiple times and she wasn’t buying it.) I explained that town law no longer permitted us to use them. “So what am I supposed to do then?” I pointed to the stacks of paper on the register and told her she’s also welcome to bring in reusable bags.
“Well I don’t like paper, it’s too hard to carry. I certainly didn’t vote for the change.”
“Well, ma’am, we also have reusable bags for sale if you’d like to use those instead.”
“I’m not paying for bags, that’s ridiculous. I want plastic. So what are you going to do for me?”
“Nothing.” Cue shocked look, and the loud gasp of someone who’s never been told no in her life. “If you won’t accept paper, and you won’t buy a bag, what do you expect me to do? Break town law and give you plastic? I mean, we can just put the unbagged groceries in your cart but there’s nothing else we can do.” So she asks to see my manager… Who tells her the same thing.
She did settle on paper, bagged lightly to make it easier to carry, but glared at us the whole time. As she was leaving, she said “I’m shopping at [competitor] next time, they know how to take care of their customers.”
“They won’t be using plastic either!” I replied, as she walked out angrily.
My manager actually told me I handled it well, so I felt pretty good since it was basically the first time I got to use my new position’s authority to essentially tell off a customer instead of caving to their demands.
alexm42
Once upon a time many years ago I work at a big box store. I was a cashier and dealt with all sorts of nonsense but this is my favorite customer interaction. A dad and his son (about 4ish) comes trough my line holding a Woody (toy story) doll.
Me: Hey gentlemen, how are you? That’s an awesome Woody you have there!
Dad: we are great thanks. We are just here to do the binky trade in (he winks at me with a “please play along” look)
Me: that’s so exciting! It’s been a while since I’ve done one, can you remind me?
Boy: when you don’t with binkies you trade them for a big boy toy! (As he says this he proudly gestures with a plastic baggie of pacifiers)
Me: Wow! You’re big enough to trade them in already? This is a really great big boy toy to trade for! Can I see both of those so I can do the trade in the computer? (I grab the doll and the baggies scanning both and hand the doll back to the little boy.)
Dad: ok buddy I just have to slide my card so they know I think you’re a big enough boy to do the trade.
Boy: I’m gonna miss my binkie but I have to be a big boy now. (He looks at the baggies but hugs his doll closer. His dad quickly pays and whispers that I can toss the baggie as soon as they’re gone.)
Me: you are a big boy, thank you for doing the switch with me today! Enjoy your new toy!
Boy and Dad: Thank you!
It was a magical experience to watch that little boy “grow up” in such a quick exchange. You could see him walking out with such self importance and pride as they left. I thought it was a sweet moment to be a part of.
Juliethenerd
I work at an ice cream shop, and when children come in with their parents, I sometimes like to playfully ask the kids if they wanted to pay instead of the parents. It gets the kids talking (if they’re not too shy!) and it makes the parents chuckle.
Today, I asked a little girl in a dress if she was going to pay, and she said, “I can’t, because I don’t have any money or a credit card!” Mom laughed, and then part way through the transaction, she decided to buy a $10 gift card. She gave it to her daughter to use as a credit card and told her to keep it safe. 🙂 Next time she comes in, she can definitely pay!
I thought that was the sweetest thing, and the mom is a regular customer. It made me very happy today during a frustrating shift.
Breakability
So I have been working in a fast food chain for about six months now, it’s a pretty low business store and my Co workers are all pretty funny and chill to be around.
I’m in the back making food on the night shift, it’s really dead and there are only two employees, me making the food and another taking the (very few and far in between) orders.
An older man in his mid sixties or so comes in and orders a burger and fries, pretty standard, and since business was slow, I make it fresh off the grill.
He eats the burger and comes back up to the counter pretty awkwardly. I was worried he was going to complain because our manager had left to grab some coffee from the nearby gas station.
“Can I see the person who made this burger?” he demanded, and my Co worker haplessly pointed me out.
So I approach the counter from the back and he reaches out and shakes my hand.
“Son, that’s the best sandwich I’ve had in years, I don’t know what you did to it but it’s amazing.”
I stood there with a stupid grin and said thank you, then he slipped me a 10 dollar bill, tipped his hat, and left.
It’s the small things like this which make me kinda like my job.
bobby41688
At the time I worked in the electronics section of a big box toy store. It was late summer and very slow, so I used my free time to talk with my guests.
A couple and their son walk into my department and I greet them. The kid is wearing a Pokemon shirt. I’ll be me (M) lady (L) and Kid (K)
I exchange usual greetings and the father goes and looks at the games in cases while the mother and son are looking at Nintendo DS accessories.
M – hey there I like your shirt! K – silence but looking at me M- (thinking he must be shy, but noticing he’s paying attention I continue) who’s your favorite Pokemon? K- (looks like he’s really thinking, and fidgeting, he points to his shirt happy) Pikachu! I love pikachu! And he giggles and runs to his dad.
Now I notice a shocked look on his mother’s face and thought oh no, should I not talk about Pokemon? (He was wearing a shirt so I thought it would be okay)
L- (leans close to me and I notice she’s in tears) my son is severely autistic and he barely talks to us, but for him to talk to a stranger is a miracle. Thank you.
It’s the most stand out moment in my retail history thus far, and to think if I had just gone about a usual “script” of “Hi there how are you. That’ll be $X.00 please. Thank you” it would never happen. It pays to talk to people sometimes.
Mysoapthrow16
My small store has one men’s and one women’s washroom available for use by both staff and customers.
I was utilizing said facilities one day when I hear someone try the door. Then knock.
Me: “Someone is in here!”
More knocking.
Me: (louder) “Just a minute! Someone is in here! “
Well some things take a little longer to accomplish than others, so a few moments later, what do you know, more knocking and rattling of the doorknob!
Then silence.
About 30 seconds later I’m washing my hands when I hear a key in the lock and my manager opens the door!
Manager: “Oh I’m sorry! These ladies told me the lock was stuck!”
I look over and they are muttering
Rude ladies: “It was taking forever! “
Then they see me exiting the restroom. One of them exclaims:
“Can you believe it?! It was an employee !!!”
(Because employees shouldn’t be allowed to use the washroom, apparently!)
CappuccinoBreve
I’m in the confectionery aisle, knelt on the floor and filling the bottom shelves, totally in the zone. Because it was a larger than expected truckload, I had to get it all stocked as fast as possible so I could move to another aisle.
I absently hear a small “hi” as I’m stocking, but I think nothing of it, continuing to stock.
Then the “hi”s get louder. I look up, and come face to face with a toddler, probably not even 3 years old yet. Biggest smile on his face, gorgeous blue eyes, and I see his dad at the end of the aisle, looking our way.
I’m the only one in the aisle at this time of day, and the dad didn’t need anything in this aisle. The kid had spotted me and made an instant beeline straight to me, all to say hi to me.
So I said hi back, and smiled back at him. It was awesome to have a cute little kid come all the way down an aisle just to say hello, and he was so sweet, but then he threw himself on me and hugged me.
I was shocked. I can only rarely get a hug from my near 4 year old nephew, and he pouts because I ask him for one. But here I am at work, tired and sore, and this boy is hugging me with all he has.
I sort of aww’d and gave him a return hug, then he smiled, said bye, and went back to his dad.
Little dude, you made my whole month with that gesture. <3 Thank you.
AshieeRose
My summer job is working at a little ice cream stand.
“Can I get a small sundae?”
“Sure! Whip cream, fudge, a cherry and nuts?”
“No, none of that!”
“….oh, I’m sorry, I thought you said sundae.”
“I did.”
“So what do you want on it?”
“Nothing, I just want the ice cream.”
“So you want vanilla ice cream in a dish?”
“No! I want a sundae with none of that!”
I reluctantly handed her a dish of vanilla ice cream and she was as happy as could be.
In college, I worked for a floral shop that shared a space with a bakery. We had the space for both businesses to operate and it naturally was a good partnership. This story takes place near the end of my senior year. I was six weeks shy of graduating with two degrees. Although I cared about the stores and wanted them to do well, my nonsense-tolerance had dropped significantly. One day, a woman came to me for balloons for her son’s 2nd birthday party. She had already picked up her cake.
Woman (grumpily tossing her balloon choices at me): Ugh, I can’t believe the bakery.
Me: Oh, is there something wrong?
Woman: Yes! LOOK at this cake!
She opens the box. It’s a nice looking cake, decorated with icing and trains. A scrolling script says: “Happy 2nd Birthday Jackson!”
Me: …
Woman: DON’T YOU SEE IT?!
Me: I think it’s a lovely ca-“
Woman: IT’S IN CURSIVE! WHY WOULD THEY PUT IT IN CURSIVE? HE’S TWO!
Me: Oh…well, it’ll take me a couple minutes to fill these balloons. I bet you could take it back, and they could scrape off the old lettering, re-frost the blank space, and rewrite it for you.
Woman (clearly hasn’t heard a word I said): I CAN’T BELIEVE SOMEONE IS SO STUPID TO THINK THIS IS OKAY!
Me (yelling above her): CAN YOUR SON EVEN READ?!
She immediately fell silent, blushed a deep purple, and was silent while I filled her balloons. She paid without a word.
rachelmaryl
I work in a big box retail store. A few months ago, a man came in and wouldn’t speak to me. Wouldn’t answer any questions, wouldn’t look me in the eyes – again, I work in an unusual part of town, and I just assumed he was being a jerk. I know he could hear me – he responded properly to swipe his card and followed through with the pin pad questions.
Again, I just brushed it off, no big thing. Twenty minutes later he came back in and bought a pack of gum, looked me in the eyes, and said, “I’m sorry about my behavior earlier. I have panic attacks, and this was too much for me. I called my wife because I felt so terrible, and she told me to come back in and apologize.” I told him no biggie, I understand, I’ve had them my entire life.
But even sweeter – 2, 3 months go by. I see so many customers that I generally don’t remember faces. This man and his teenage son come through my line yesterday and he says, “You don’t remember me, but I remember you. I had a panic attack and you understood. I try to come through your line every time you’re here.”
Idk, sometimes there is a silver lining in retail.
pettylittlebombs
I work as a manager at a small chain of C-Stores (30ish locations).
I am putting away my main order of the week when a woman comes in asking for a nutrageous bar, I told her with a smile we had some right in front of the store, as I pointed right to a blank spot on the shelf. Turns out we had sold out over the weekend, and I had just broken this poor woman’s heart and shattered her dreams with false hope. She had been searching relentlessly for weeks and couldn’t find one anywhere. I apologized for the bad fortune and said I would order more straight away, the woman sighed, bowed her head and walked out of the store like a dejected puppy.
I turned back to the order, opened the tub and right on top was a brand new box of nutrageous bars. I tear open the box and vault over the counter like a bcop sliding over a car hood, sprinting out the door like I had just clocked out. I caught up to her just as she starts to pull away from my store and from happiness, hoping to find a nutrageous bar waiting for her in the next life. She turned and saw me lumbering towards her holding the candy bar like a newborn child I had just delivered into this world, I had never seen someone so happy over a candy, she runs to me like she was a veteran returning home from duty and running towards their children for that first swirling embrace. I tell her to have it on the house, and have a good day.
Then just now I get a call from my district manager demanding to know if I was the one who gave away a candy bar to a customer for free.
“Crap.” I think to myself, I do something nice for someone and this woman calls my boss to tell on me.
So I tell my boss yeah it was me. He tells me that she called and was so happy with our company she would be choosing us for the local volunteer fire fighter appreciation gifts this year. $2,000 in gift cards $25 each for the volunteers. My boss says he is giving me a 10% commission for the gift cards. Minus the price of a nutrageous bar.
HAIL_TO_THE_KING_BB
So, way back in college, I worked a summer job flying a register for a grocery store. This chain had a policy with your loyalty card; if there was an X-number on the back, you could cash checks at our stores and cashiers could use that number as an ID on checks for buying groceries. If it had a Y-number, then it was just a card that someone had and had almost no information on file.
It’s my last shift before I go back to school. I’m standing at this register, counting down the last half hour when this woman rolls up with a big cart full of stuff. I get started, beep beep beep, and give her the total. She hands me a check with a Y-number written on it. I ask to see her card, thinking maybe she’s just written it wrong. Nope, it’s a Y-number.
Me: Ma’am, do you have your drivers’ license with you?
Her: No, I don’t have it.
Me: Okay, well, I can’t take this check.
Her: It’s got a Y-number on it.
Me: I know, I can’t take the check if it has a Y-number, only if it has an X-number.
Her: Every other cashier always has.
Me: They shouldn’t have. I’d lose my job if I took this. (that was my go-to answer to someone trying to pull this crap on me.)
Her: (starts screaming) Then YOU can go put ALL THIS BACK YOURSELF or you can TAKE MY DAMN CHECK.
Now, I’m twenty minutes from being done here. The managers love me, they think I’m funny, they’re actually not happy I’m leaving. So, I figure, well, let’s just have some fun with this.
So, I whip off my vest, throw it on the floor and scream back.
Me: DON’T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT, I QUIT!
I storm off to the office, take a seat and one of the managers looks at me, confused. I ask him to go out and talk to the woman at register 2, who’s still standing there with her mouth hanging open.
He came back a few minutes later smiling.
Me: How’d that go?
Manager: Well, I told her you were right, and that she had just cost my best cashier.
ApolloThunder
So I work at a pet store, my family owns it. We do boarding, daycare, training, grooming and retail.
I had a regular come in a few months back he wasn’t doing too well financial since becoming disabled. He brought in his dog for grooming and I noticed he had large amount of fleas, I called and informed him. I let him know that I would give his other dog a flea bath for cheap so he could take care of it. Once he got there he tried to pay with a care credit card that the state had given him. Unfortunately, we don’t take that card. So he gave me his card information so I could charge him when he got paid. I sent him with some flea and tick topical we sell over the counter.
Well the day came for me to run his card, he called me to remind me. I thanked him, got off the phone and didn’t charge him.
Today he called realizing he hadn’t been charged, I told him I didn’t plan on charging him and was happy to be able to help. He couldn’t talk for a bit, trying to compose himself. I got off the phone knowing I had made someone’s day better.
I know how hard it can be living on disability, my mom is on it. Sometimes even the littlest of things can help.
kairaharuon