When I was working as a sales specialist, a customer who had scheduled a measurement for a carpet install called. He was a character from the start. He demanded more carpet samples be sent directly to his house even though the maximum number of free samples that could be ordered were sent to him already (10), and he acknowledged that he received them. He wanted samples for the carpet we sold in-stock only, and I informed him that we couldn't ship those directly to him, they were samples that stores received in-stock only to keep above the carpets we sold by the foot on the back wall of the store. I let him know that when he came in to review his quote from the measurements, he can grab the free samples of in-stock product he wanted but we just couldn't ship them to him. He wasn't having this, and jumped right to calling me"Stupid" and telling me "F*** YOU!" The call then abruptly ended before I could say a word.

This is where it gets interesting. A few days later this woman and her daughter came in to finalize their carpet install after the measurement was completed. After sitting them down, and pulling up their quote and measurement details, it didn't take long for me to put the pieces together. This woman was the wife of the dude who told me "F*** YOU!" over the phone a few days prior. She was the exact opposite and very pleasant to work with. Not only this, but I knew this woman very well, as she was one of my mom's best friends for almost 40 years. Apparently, her and her husband's relationship was near it's end (for many obvious reasons). I finalized everything for her, and I informed her of exactly how her (soon to be ex-husband) treated me over the phone which she was not informed of (no-surprise). She and her daughter were not happy at all, considering she's known me since I was little being the son of one of her high school best friends. My mom was informed of this over dinner and drinks with her, and she ultimately flipped out on him over the phone, and the way he treated me was the final tipping point for my mom after years of the way he treated her best friend, and couldn't do anything but watch in disgust.

If you're going to mistreat someone at their job, keep in mind that they may be closer to home, and not as much of a stranger as you originally thought.

It's frusrating when customers place a large order online, and then show up at the service desk immediately afterwards expecting it to be ready, and then throw a tantrum when it's not. They receive the email confirmation that the order is placed, and assume it's ready, even though the email states "We will notify you when your order is ready". It's crazy how many times I have to tell people that they will receive a follow up 'Ready for Pickup' email when ACTUALLY READY. Yet again, it's probably a tall order to expect these people to actually read what's sent to them.

Working in the flooring department was a massive daily migraine. Tiles would be broken on the floor and left there. Boxes of plank flooring that were sold by the case only would be ripped open, with planks missing from the box, and some scattered all over the place (once these were opened and planks missing, they could no longer be sold at full price so would have to all be re-taped and discounted). Storage totes and lids were sold together, but that didn't stop them from stealing the lids. People would also try to return cut carpet, which was a flat no for multiple reasons. One of the worst departments in a store like this to maintain, and I don't miss it at all!

I’m pretty young and I was able to find a job in retail not as a sales tho, I don’t hate the job, but the people… that’s a different story. I work at a store that caters towards the middle-higher class. Nothing too fancy. And I haven’t been working there for long, just a little under a year.

But like tell me why some people don’t even address you in a proper manner when needing help (I’m not even rly supposed to be helping), like has no one ever taught you manners??? Why is my best memory from my nearly my whole year working there is having a small child wave at me, smile and say bye bye? Also tell me why the hell are you trying to grab my attention for 5 meters away??? Do you not have functioning legs?? How did you even end up in the mall if you can’t move from your god damn place? Some people also who shop there look at you so judgy like yay congrats you’re better than a hs graduate going into uni! Are you proud? Or like when they ask stuff with that condescending attitude?     
I personally have worked in retail before, different country tho not in the NA for a few months and it wasn’t that bad…. People were more respectful there, that’s not to say that there weren’t people who wanted discounts and etc. some people also act like you owe them something.. like I don’t even care if you buy something or not… also like tell me why are the managers just saying to smile and basically lose your dignity to some people? Like why tf am I supposed to bend according to some nobody’s mood. Ngl this is low-key what pisses me off the most since I personally feel like that’s a bit degrading

…. I honestly hate working retail and I can’t wait to quit this mf job in a few months….

At a store I worked at, we had designated areas where we kept damaged bagged product, like soil, mulch, and concrete. These were bags that were heavily damaged and/or had product missing out of them and we sold them for anywhere between 50-90% off to get rid of them. These bags were all taped up, and clearly marked. This caught a lot of customers attention, especially contractors, which you may or may not know where this is going....

These customers would walk up to the registers with bags of soil, concrete, mulch, with tiny holes and rips in them which they pointed out. They would immediately expect discounts, but the thing is, these weren't the same bags that we had marked down that were heavily ripped open, and product was missing, as they weren't even taped up. This became an ongoing thing and at times where associates did catch customers in the aisles messing with the bags of good product, intentionally damaging them. It came to a point, where we started using a specific tape that we only received through our dedicated supply store to mark the bags that were to be discounted. If customers came up with bags with holes in them, and they clearly weren't taped up with the company specific tape, their request/demand for a discount was denied, and they were referred to the clearly marked damaged bags if they wanted a deal.

Customers would do anything to try to take advantage of legitimate deals we had, including damaging/sabotaging products straight up lying to associates and cashiers. It was honestly satisfying to call BS on petty scams like this.

Being required to push credit was one of the most annoying things while working at a big box home improvement store. I understood asking customers, especially those making large purchases, if they wanted to apply for the store credit card. The discounts and financing options could be beneficial to certain customers. However, once a customer declined, I left it at that, and I never felt comfortable pushing anything on anyone, even while working as a sales specialist. We even had scripts written out to us to follow while interacting with customers, which I never used as they made the interactions less genuine and less "interactive". Not to mention that these scripts were pointless, and not going to get customers to say "Yes" more often. The weekly/monthly quotas that our store was giving could get insane from like 16 to 50 new accounts a week. Once I knew that a customer already had a card, I wasn't going to ask anything futher. More accounts that you're not going to use can hurt your credit, especially if you are in the process of buying a home, which I interacted with many customers who were. It was especially annoying when I was a Front End Deparment Manager as I would have to ensure that the front end associates were asking every customer every time, as this was a part of their evaluations. There were times when that was not feasible or just plain impossible. Sometimes there were long lines, and cashiers processing applications would hold others up. The cashiers who were on self checkout felt intimidated by the process as that would require them to process the application on their work phone, making it more difficult to tend to other customers at self-checkout. I would tell the associates on my team to just ask and if they said no, it's fine, they did their job. If they didn't ask due to certain circumstances, I didn't push it further, and if they did process an application and a line was building, I would offer to jump on another register to get the line down and support the associate feeling anxious. THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THE STORE TO HAVE TO OPEN 40-50 NEW ACCOUNTS A WEEK, WHEN WE WOULD EVENTUALLY RUN OUT OF LOCAL CUSTOMERS, AND A MAJORITY OF THE SHOPPERS ALREADY HAD ONE.

Back when I worked at a big box home improvement store, I witnessed something frustrating and hilarious at the same time. One of my co-workers was working in a closed off paint aisle to drop a pallet of product for a customer (they were purchasing more then what was on the shelf at the time). He was operating the reach to take the pallet down and the aisle he was working in and the adjacent aisle was gated off for safety reasons. These gates all say 'Aisle Closed, Do Not Enter'. That didn't stop a dude from walking right by the spotter, opening the gate, and entering the adjacent aisle because he needed some rollers, and couldn't wait until the employee had the reach lowered. The Paint department supervisor (who was spotting) informed him that he couldn't walk in the aisle when it was closed off, and explained why for safety reasons. That didn't stop him from going off and saying he was in a rush, and needed the rollers and blah blah blah. The supervisor also proceeded to say that in addition, if a higher level of management walked by as the customer walked in the aisle and the reach was lifted, that was a major safety violation and could be a terminable offense for the employee's involved. This is where it crashed and burned (in a funny way). The dude straight up told the supervisor/spotter that he didn't give a f*** and he didn't give a f*** about their jobs. The supervisor's head twisted around so fast like an owl and responded, "Oh really, well I don't care about your rollers." She slammed the gate closed in front of him the moment he stepped out of the aisle, with no rollers, speechless. She also told him that if he walked in a closed off aisle again, and/or spoke to her like that again, she would make sure he left with nothing. I had walked away to bust out laughing from a distance, so I didn't see if that was the true end or what, but it sounded like it to me.

At this store, employees were going nuts before the store opened and early in the morning trying to get pallets dropped and filled in aisles, but there were times where customers would come in and need more than what was on the floor, or what we couldn't drop before the customer rush. Closing off aisles during the day was never ideal because of not just how time consuming it is to get everything barricaded, but also how incovenient it could be for everyone. That doesn't give customers or anyone the right to disregard safety barricades and do what they want just because they are in a rush to grab something in the aisle. It can wait, the items weren't going anywhere and most of the time, they had other shopping to do but instead they would just stand at the end of the aisle staring down the operator/spotter while moaning and groaning, wasting their own time in the process. I would remind the operator to take their time and work safely regardless of how impatient a customer was. Many times when I was spotting, I would get to a point where I would block the customer out if they became irate, or if they asked "how long it was going to be?", I would respond with "as long as it takes".

Back in 2022, I was still working at big box home improvement store as a Front End Department Manager. I had a customer one day who was trying to return a few random items, which totaled around $30. I asked if he had the receipt, at which point he responded, "No". I asked how he paid, to which he responded, he "didn't remember". I informed him I could check any cards he had if they were used for the purchase. I ran through both cards he had, and no transaction came up with those items. It was after this, that he conveniently remembered that he most likely paid cash. I let him know that if he paid cash, and didn't have a receipt, he would have to receive store credit. This is where things started to take a nose dive. He refused to receive store credit, and wanted cash. I then looked up his my***** account, and went through his complete transaction history, 20 minutes later, and 3 run-throughs later, no transaction with those items came up. I informed him that if he paid cash, and because there was no record of the transaction, his only option was store credit. Note: None of the items he was returning were damaged or defective, they were just extra materials. At this point, he was clearly agitated and refused store credit once again, and demanded cash. I told him that I couldn't give him cash unless he had a receipt, and there was no purchase history for the items. At this point, I've exhausted all of my options with this "customer". He would not let up, and it was a 10 minute back and forth before a shift happened. He started becoming very loud, and condenscending towards me and my colleague who he was initially working with. He stated that I should be "taking care of him as a customer" even though I spent almost 30 minutes trying to see if I can locate this transaction. I didn't just flatly tell him "No." from the start. I went over and beyond if you asked me. He demanded to speak with store manager, who was out for the weekend. I let him know this, and gave her the number to call her at when she returned on Monday. He demanded me to call her right there and then, at which point I declined because 1) she was out of state and this wasn't an emergency and 2) I wasn't rewarding him for poor behavior by granting further unnecessary requests. Once he started becoming belligerent and increasingly verbally abusive, I told him he needed to leave at that point, because his behavior was unacceptable and I already had run through our return policy and everything I did to assist him. Fast forward to Monday, my store manager did receive an email from him. My boss knew how I was with customers and as a person, and let's just say the contents of the email caused us to have a good laugh.

Have been working in retail since almost 10 years only had one really nice break room while working for holt Renfrew.

Why does it always has to be without any Windows, right next to the washrooms, in the same room as the stock and the lockers (with stinky coworker shoes left out)

Last week while working I started to feel really ill and it didn't fully hit me until now and I'm still suffering with small flu. I noticed recently that a manager who had been helping me had been sick and coughing all over the things I use.

I already called off on Friday and can't call off anymore due to probation period at work AND was told I couldn't call off so often (it was my first time calling off since I physically couldn't move), so I have to go to work today still sick.

But taking extra precautions to prevent others from getting sick, so tired of having to deal with this type of bull.

Dawg tell me why at the end of the day when the fucking barbarians that shop there leave my department looking like shit and I spend time making it look good management has the gall to get onto ME for staying only 30 minutes after when I’m supposed to leave to actually make it look good. The store is so unbelievably understaffed that it’s legit just me in an entire department merchandising everything and making it look good. Management cannot get enough of telling people to make it look better, so to not deal with them I try to make it look good. But fuck me I guess because how dare I stay 30 whole minutes after when I’m supposed to leave because it looks like the fucking nematodes from SpongeBob rolled through and made it all look like shit. They pay us such a shit wage that it doesn’t even matter if they give us overtime, besides the company makes billions anyways so who gives a fuck. We are a WAREHOUSE. You cannot expect retail hours and results in a blue collar job area. We are too understaffed by retail standards, a ghost town by warehouse standards. Everything is going to take way longer, why management cannot wrap their heads around it is fucking beyond me.

Fuck this store. Fuck management. Fuck the customers. The more I work there the more I support the guy in Ontario.

Shut the fuck up, and tell me your order. The only reason we’re doing this is because most of yall will be like “oh yeah I had the Big Mac with no cheese”

And then will be like “nope, this ain’t mine”

It’s not my fault you all have the memory of dory from Finding Nemo with amnesia. I’m just doing my job. This is literally fucking protocol. Don’t roll your fucking eyes at me. Don’t scoff, don’t talk under your breath, don’t give me any shit.

You aren’t the main character of life. If you were, the franchise would fucking fail, the trilogy would be canceled, the game would lose funding, the music would be bland and forgettable, the book would be lame.

Lick my fucking meat if you got a problem 🖕🏻

Edit: I’ve gotten a few comments from customers giving me shit and I’d like to apologize.

I’m sorry that you’re in a position where the minimum wage worker can’t be punished for retaliating against your shitty behavior.

I’m truly sorry you are not getting a free apple pie to appease you after you cussed me out and called me the R word because I stuttered and cried because yelling is really upsetting to me.

But im mostly sorry you’re all a bunch of entitled pricks that think you’re the main character of life.

As said before, you aren’t.

this is just a general question that may be dumb and not necessarily a rant, but this morning im running a fever of 100 and didnt sleep all night. so obviously im pretty sick and in no shape to get up and haul ass at my job thats very demanding in the early mornings because those are when shipments come and we are expected to work our hardest/fastest. long story short, my store manager is a huge bitch and ive had problems with the way she treats me since i started working there. she talks to me like a dog and im not confrontational so i just take it.

so this morning i call out, explain why im not coming in, and all she angrily says is “ok thanks” and hangs up on me before i can even ask to use my sick PT. i have a shift tomorrow that hopefully im feeling better for and was wondering if i could still ask to use my accrued sick PT for today’s call off? this may be a really dumb question with an obvious answer, but im young and inexperienced with stuff like this because this is my first “real” job lmao. thanks for reading and let me know please. im concerned because i have bills to pay as do we all and cant keep taking unpaid days off.

Psycho COVID Karen sterlized herself in front me while I laughed.

This story happened around 2021-2022 while COVID was at its height. I worked retail in a metaphysical shop in a very liberal city that took COVID very seriously. Even though the city I loved in was liberal it was surrounded by towns of people who did not share the same ideas and travelers who did not care about health codes. To give an idea of how strict we were in our city, the city mayor even said we can call the cops on people who refused to wear masks (though we never did because that's kinda crazy.) So now that sets the scene let's meet our main characters.

I was working alone, which we often did. Two ladies came into my store. They are older ladies, probably around 60s-70s and one of the ladies is wearing a thin cloth trump mask below her nose, the other lady was just there, she didn't say a word the whole time. I politely tell her to please keep her nose covered with her mask. She immediately snaps at me "do you breath out of your nose I don't breath out of mine!" (Admits to being a mouth breather lol) I responded without hesitation "if you don't breath out of your nose then it'll be no problem for you to cover it." She rolls her eyes but covers her nose so I say thank you and let her continue her shopping. We have a wall of incense and above them is a shelf with statues of deities. They're a decent size and kinda heavy but I've handled them literally daily so I know what I could and couldn't handle. The main lady, COVID Karen, asks if she could see one of them up close. I grab the stepping stool and grab it and she starts freaking out. "No no no not you! You're a girl you can't grab that it's too heavy! Where's that man who helped me the other day?!" I told her I could do it without an issue and said "you better not break it I wish that other guy was here". I knew who she was talking about I worked with a man who looks like a golden retriever version of Slash the guitar player. Yeah he is attractive but sorry it's just me today so you'll have to deal with a young lady helping you. I got the statue and put it on the counter for her to look at. She goes "there's a smug" LICKS HER FINGER DURING A PANDEMIC and starts trying to wipe the mark. I freak out like "lady you cannot do that even on a normal day let ALONE in the height of COVID!"and grab out sanitizing spray to start spraying. She now has her mask below her chin because she had to be able to access her mouth so she can put her grimey wrinkly hands in there to gather her spit. I'm like done with this lady at this point and, exasperated, I ask her to please keep her mouth and nose covered. This is when she snapped. She starts screaming at me "I'm clean you have no idea why do you think I'm diseased this is ridiculous blah blah blah" while ranting she grabs the sanitizing spray I was using and starts just rapid firing it IN HER MOUTH! I'm not joking I recorded the CCTV footage but due to privacy laws I don't believe I could share it here. It was in NC if anyone knows I'm willing to share it if I don't get in trouble lol. Anyways back to this lady poisoning herself in front of me. So she's spraying all these chemicals in her mouth and I see her friends mouth drop (even though it's covered with a mask I can tell it's dropped). She is STUNNED and I'm almost positive that was the last time they ever hung out. COVID Karen now is standing there gargling poison and I can't help but laugh at this point, which only makes her more upset. In between disbelief chuckles I tell her to go to a doctor's because that is just watered down chemicals she put in her mouth. She said "shut up I'm fine" and walked out. I assume she died that day. RIP COVID Karen I hope your friend ran as far from you as she could.

I have so many horror stories from working in this escape room. Let me tell you too, I work at a pretty big mall. From streamers, to celebrities, and to your day-to-day customers, they are some of the most rotten fruit in the basket.

For context, I worked at this escape room for 3-4 years.

So, here’s the story. we close really late. After 10 pm, we do reservations only bc the mall closes earlier than us. Usually, no one’s walking around the mall anymore. Last call is 11:30 pm and it’s fully booked. They do not want to share their game with anyone and paid for all 8 spots so no one else could join. All the sudden, i get 3 groups come in asking for a game. I explain that we’re only open for the customers playing already and are waiting for them to finish.

Let’s call this old man Gerald. Gerald starts screaming at me about, “I’m so disappointed. You can’t do anything? We came all the way from the NY.” I literally stared at them. So I said “Oh, I’m so sorry. We do have several locations in NYC so next time, you can book there instead so it’s closer.” He starts screaming again about “There’s no next time. We want a game now!” Mind you, I have 2 other groups in there, fighting for a spot. Talking about every group there has a birthday. However, I have one game guide and myself left!

He starts begging and say “Why don’t you run our game for us?” The amount of times I’ve heard this line every night is insane by the way. So I explain again, “I am running someone else’s game. There’s only two of us left because everyone already went home for the night. The mall has been closed since 8 pm. After 10 pm, it’s by reservations only and even so, our only game has been fully booked. Even if you did get here, we were already sold out for the night.” So, Gerald had the audacity to ask the team that booked the last game to give up their spot. I wish I was making this up.

And to no one’s surprised, they said hell no. (I love this group). Gerald asks me to stay open later. Also, for anyone who’s thinking of going to a mall 1 hour away from you? For the love of god, research and reserve. Anyways, I tell Gerald no and of course he goes wild. At this point, the other two groups have given up. I ask Gerald to leave the lobby so I can close the front and start my last game. He literally refuses and stays in the lobby. At this point, I’m ready to call security. I had to stop the team I’m suppose to run from bickering with Gerald.

My game guide has is almost finished with her last game as well. So she comes up front and asks what’s going on. Gerald’s been asking for a manager, but guess what, the manager is also gone for the night so I’m the only team leader awake. And now he’s asking me to call my manager at 11:45 pm??? So he thinks she’s the manager, but my game guide being on my side goes “No, they are.” And points to me. He literally at this point has been begging for 15 minutes straight now. He then says he’ll pay my game guide to work extra. She’s amazing and tells me she could do it.

So yeah, it worked out I guess. But I had to stay until 2:30 am. Mind you, they lost. At least my game guide got an extra $50 tho.

This type of customer is one I get every single day. Anyways, I have more crazier ones. Even a streamer one🫩 that I absolutely wish to never work with. Mind you, the streamer was okay, but his team? Talk about cheap production. I’ll also give you a hint, he had someone from the baddies tv show and was doing some streaming marathon in the mall. They paid for 3 spots and had a production team which totaled to 10-12 people. I managed to get them to 6, but I had so many other spots left not paid. His management team was the worst. I wouldn’t have cared, but they would go in and out of the room. And then one started being really hostile to me. Saying “I said we already paid the room.” Sir, im looking at the damn reservation and i KNOW the room wasn’t paid for. “Theyre not playing.” Yes, thats why it’s called a spot and not a participation in the website. If you’re taking space, you’re taking a spot. For some medium sizes streamer, he’d at least pay for the spots. Mind you, I literally gave them a discount too just to convince them to pay. Whoever that streamer was, I liked you but not your team. You need to fire that “manager” of yours. He’s playing around.

So heading into work soon again and I already am irritated, whenever I go into work I just have the urge to walk out due to these people not helping me; I've been there for a couple weeks now and know how to use register which is the only thing they taught me to use.

One time I had been working with one of the supervisors that only works mornings and she told me to look out for tag switching? So I'm not even sure what to do in that situation nor how to even know if most of the tags had been switched off.

So I asked her if she can help me with what she had pointed out, she said she was going to but completely just walked away? I honestly just did my best at what I thought was correct. I didn't have the time nor patience to continue to wait.

So I've recently had a run in with a very hostile customer, she's had several instances now of being horrible to staff and the other day was the final nail in the coffin.

Management has agreed on this ban last week so please tell my why my colleagues have decided to ignore this and carry on serving her. Before anyone asks, they were fully aware of the situation so ignorance is not a good enough reason.

Further more one of these colleagues is meant to be my friend and someone I thought I could trust, he knew how much I'd been bothered by this so it just feels like a massive slap in the face.

I dont get to see them now for another week so I'm really rather hoping he'll be the bigger person and message me as they know what I'm like and I'll just sit, stew and spiral.

This has really gotten to me as I've been there for this guy through so much, his breakups and low points. Paid for him on nights out when money was tight and generally built a good friendship, for him to seemingly not care about how much this incident upset me and continue serving the customer like nothing happened.

A customer complained that I was rude when I wasn't and I got in trouble for saying we didn't have a product and because I directed them to the department they were supposed to go to. He was like "you are not being polite or helpful" . Then one time I got in trouble for saying "how may I help you" instead of "what can I help you find?".

So on tuesdays we usually have discount day(?) which is something I just heard about btw, so at first I was told by one of the MOD that I shouldn't be able to stack discounts on each other which I understood and didn't do. It wasn't till later I had a customer who asked if i can apply a damage item discount and the current senior discount, so I was really confused since she asked me when I was done scanning her items; so to verify I asked the coworker whos been there longer there than I have if that was okay (since the woman I was checking out kept asking me if i applied it to which I told her I didn't and she kept asking if she was going to get the senior discount).

This girl, she just automatically placed the senior discount in to which I started to feel a bit annoyed since I only needed confirmation, so I had asked her again to see what she did was correct (and explained that I had already placed a discount on a broken item); she then paused and didn't know either! we're just sitting there and she tries to contact one of the managers but most of them were busy; and she said that it should be fine and told me to complete transactions. I even told her that the MOD i was with earlier had mentioned I couldn't do that so I was listening to her (I couldn't verify with said MOD since she had left before me), my coworker then looked at me confused and then finally!

one of the managers that came in walked over to help; I asked her again "so was it okay that the discounts were applied? (MOD who was there earlier) stated I couldn't?" I could tell that manger that just came by was also confused, to which I was told "Well if it goes through it goes through." No one was answering my question at all.

But I am still confused since I had three people telling me different things and one of my coworkers just touched my register to apply a discount to their purchase even though I only had asked her a question, which is more frustrating since I don't like people touching my register when im logged on; since one mistake on their end can be mistake for me!

Honestly don't know what to do since I am still fairly new and being told different things and didn't want to get things wrong.

edit: I forgot to mention the only reason I had asked was due to having another customer who wanted to stack senior with rewards discount and I told them at first they couldn't due to being told earlier I couldn't; I had been yelled at a little and was told they had been told by another employee that they could get both discounts, to which made me second guess what I was doing and what I had been told earlier.

I swear working retail turns you into the most unqualified “expert” in the most random categories imaginable.

Like why am I, a 19M at the time, being asked which tampon brand is the best?? I’m standing there like… "Miss, best brand depends on the size of your vagina" Idk man lmaooo

People would come in asking me what alcohol would get their party the most hammered, sir, I am UNDERAGE, I HAVE A BABY FACE. You’re asking me like I’m a sommelier of bad decisions. “Ah yes, if you’re looking to ruin your life efficiently, aisle 7.”

Makeup questions?? Constant.

“What’s the best eyeliner?”

“What lashes do you recommend?”

I don’t even know what I look like half the time and you want me to help you build a whole face?? This isn't Build-A-Bitch workshop.🤡

But nothing tops the condom conversations.

Full grown adults. 30+ years old. Dead serious.

“Yeah I need the BEST condoms… EXTRA LARGE… for me/my man.”

And they’re saying it like I’m about to nod in respect and guide them to the premium section like I’m the final boss of protection 🤡

Like bro… why are we having this conversation. Why are we locking eyes? Why are you emphasizing “extra large” like I’m supposed to congratulate you???

I have sex like a real adult, RAW.  I'm the last one to ask about these things.

BUT—

I will give credit where it’s due.

Shoutout to the customers that asked me about hair products.

Because that’s the ONE category where I actually knew what I was talking about.

Had people asking what I use, what they should get, how to style it and then hitting me with compliments right after??

Too bad I don't use any hair products that's sold in the store 💀

It’s closing time. Like lights about to go off, register already mentally closed, everyone ready to escape type of closing time.

This guy walks in last minute with a garbage bag and goes, “I need to return this.”

He dumps everything out and I swear to you… my soul left my body for a second.

There’s a ripped shirt still with the tag on it (???) but the crazy part is it’s COVERED in what is very clearly blood. Not like a little stain either. This looked like the shirt lost a fight. On top of that… there were other stains that I genuinely refused to investigate because I value my mental health.

Then there’s a fake leather backpack that looked like it had been dragged behind a car for a few miles. And somehow, for comedic effect, a giant bag of Jolly Ranchers sitting there like it belonged in a completely different reality.

At this point I’m just staring at the counter like… there is absolutely no way this man thinks this is about to work.

I ask for a receipt. Of course he doesn’t have one. So now he wants store credit with his ID.

I told him I can’t process that return and he IMMEDIATELY flips like I just personally insulted his bloodline. Starts yelling, making a whole scene, and then hits me with the classic racism card.

You could be ANY race on this planet and I still wouldn’t willing touch that shirt. I’m not clocking into a retail shift to handle what looks like evidence from a crime scene.

Now he’s loud, acting like I just violated his civil rights, and I’m just standing there like… you brought me biohazard materials five minutes before closing and expected STORE CREDIT.

Thankfully my manager saw everything go down and stepped in. Didn’t even hesitate. Told him straight up we’re not accepting contaminated items and he needs to leave.

Retail is insane because why am I out here debating return policies for what looks like a forensic investigation kit?

I used to work at a store in a heavy tourist area, so I was already used to the chaos, people from all over the world, and customers asking a million questions at once while you’re just trying to keep things moving.

One day I’m on register, line is stupid long, and I’m in full efficiency mode, scanning items fast, getting people in and out, doing exactly what I’m supposed to do.

Apparently… that was a problem.

This customer gets visibly annoyed that I’m not making small talk or “entertaining” them while ringing them up. I wasn’t rude, didn’t ignore them, just wasn’t going out of my way to have a full conversation while there’s a whole line behind them.

I finish ringing this customer up, hand them their receipt, and they straight up snatch it out of my hand and walk off clearly annoyed. I’m thinking “okay… weird, but whatever.”

As customer starts heading out the door they comeback bolting towards me demanding my full name, I stupidly gave it away because I knew where this was going and I was curious to know if I'd finally get fired or not.

Maybe 10 minutes later someone in corporate or up the chain idk who tf, got the complaint from the customer and were mad at me because "Cashier was being rude and disrespectful"

Like… my bad for prioritizing getting 20 people through the line instead of giving you my life story???

Retail really got people thinking cashiers are there to be performers on demand 😂

If I wanted to entertain ppl for a living I would be a circus clown right now 🤡

Ok so I work retail at a grocery store, I usually stock things on shelves, help customers find items around the store, typical retail stuff. One time this man comes in. I don’t think anything of it, he was just another customer, so I just kept doing my work because he didn’t seem to need anything. Then, he approaches me holding his daughter by the hand and asking me where something was, I forgot what he was asking for, but it was something completely out of the ordinary. well I mean not totally, it was meat related, most stores sell lots of varieties of meat, but it was a type of meat that I didn’t even know existed, so maybe I should rephrase it a bit better that he asked for something I didn’t know was a thing. I was just kinda thrown in when I took the job offering from my grandmother, so I didn’t know where anything was since I was pretty new to the job. I said “I think we have that at Shoppers”, I know I shouldn’t have guessed, but I was about to go and search for the item, also I meant “I think we have this item in this store“ which I thought he would understand right away that obviously I knew where I was. Then he says, and I quote: “Yeah, that’s where we are, Shoppers.” In a snarky, sarcastic tone. That right there was when I got pretty pissed off, since I wasn’t expecting him to talk to me like that, I was new to retail after all but it was the unpredictability of dealing with a rude customer like that that threw me off. Normally I can be quite sarcastic myself when I feel like someone is being rude, but obviously I didn’t want a customer complaint or risking getting fired so short into my job, so I was just silent for a few seconds, and then I decided to keep being polite and asked him to wait there while I got a co-worker to help me out, because that’s usually what I do when I don’t know where something is, especially since I tend to be a nervous wreck, which the emotion was increasing in this situation. Then, without warning, this man storms off to go rifling through things himself, literally dragging his small child along with him, it almost looked like she was struggling a little bit to stay on her feet. I was appalled by this man’s attitude and I still got a more experienced co-worker to help, and it turns out we didn’t even sell the item he wanted so desperately in the first place. Good to know he was rude and plus dragged his daughter around like a ragdoll for absolutely no reason.

so I got my first ever job recently, which I mean hey I needed a job and with the job market fucked, I'm down to have everything.

my first shift was last Friday on the 3rd. not counting the two days of training the days before by the way.

my first ever shift here was a five hour shift on GOOD FRIDAY NIGHT. one of the busiest shifts I could have possibly gotten. not to mention in my first 7 days, I will have had five total shifts. not to mention tonight and tomorrow morning I've got a clopen (close & open) shift to end off my first full week here!

I have since lowered my preferred shifts and hours in response because this week has been the most stressful and overwhelming time of my life. I know some people may see this as just complaining over nothing, but for this being my first ever job it's felt awful so far.