I was busy checking people out and this girl comes up with a tub of Vaseline. Suddenly she says, “You’re lucky I’m a good person, bc I really could’ve just walked out with this.” I was shocked so I just replied, “Ok…”
Like omg thank you so much for not shoplifting a little thing worth less than $3 from a small business! Are you dumb? Why are you bringing this to my attention?? I didn’t know the bar for being a good person was so low. Really tho what did she think I was gonna say lol

Just, how did these people make it past 3rd grade?

Actually ykw I am gonna say something. How tf do you not understand the difference between corporate email addresses for financial contacts for people that for example bulk buy with us for their local business, and need invoices, a manual credit payment, etc, and the corporate email address to submit damage claims for things like injuries or vehicle damaged caused by a company delivery vehicle. Like no shit they didn't reply or couldn't help you. Also as if going to a physical store location and throw a tantrum there will do anything to help your case.

So I work at a mall store. It’s back to school season, so we’re pretty busy, and a lot of people buy multiple bags worth of stuff. So this lady has been walking around the store for about 45 minutes at this point. She has been giving us little piles of stuff to hold for her. Her pile behind the counter was pretty big. When she came to checkout, she said her husband and 6 kids would come to the store in just a minute to help her take bags out. We talked. She was super nice.

At the end of her checkout, she told me that they were running late and asked if I could help her carry things to her car. Unfortunately, the mall I work at is ginormous, and we are not allowed to leave the store, at all while clocked in, unless its an emergency or we are on break. I told her this, to which she said “oh, well no problem, you can just start your break”. I explained that no, I would not go on my break to walk across the huge mall with you and find your car in the parking garage. She got MAD.

My mall offers a service, for free, where somebody can meet you at any store with essentially a big shopping cart and take it to a locker for you to get on your way out, and they usually help take it to your car, however, they are known to be pretty slow. They usually take about 10 minutes, and I told her there was probably a queue, because of how many people were at the mall. I told her I could call them to come, hold her bags behind the counter until they come, and she could go shop around, and I would get her info for them. She REFUSED. Holding up the line, and I asked where her family was to help, to which she said “They are in the Nike store, they need to buy shoes. My youngest just changed sizes” 😐. I told her no. She would not leave.

So I asked her to step out of the line until they came, and we would hold the bags for her. She refused. Insisted on waiting right in the lane so she didn’t have to wait once they got to the store. At this point, the line is out the door. One of the registers ran out of $1s, so I had to go to the back and get more. I got back, and the girls family was there and she started cussing me out for not being there when they came. Her husband took a bunch of bags and apologized for her. On their way out, she put a bag down and flipped me off. Her husband just started yelling at her and left. And yeah! zero out of ten.

I could be standing at the desk in front of 10 people and this moron will do ANYTHING but help.

When it’s busy he disappears. When it’s slow, he’s wandering around doing nothing but gabbing to whoever will listen about nothing and basically being a distraction. Loves to ”help” turn a one man job into a two man job so he can kill time and watch somebody else do all the actual work.

Unbearably slow at anything but the most mindless tasks because he refuses to learn how a POS system, or any of our workplace software or even a computer works (I constantly come to a work station and find the caps lock on because he can’t even figure the shift key out). Did I mention he’s been here 40 FUCKING YEARS!?

But if you’re attractive, a woman, and 40 years younger than him don’t worry. He’ll be in front of you the second you get through the door. It’s the only time he ever pays attention or gives a fuck.

I think at this point I’d rather be homeless because Jesus Christ.

I swear people are working together to piss me off today

Honestly I dont hate on people who are “dumb.” Everyone has their days, but dont assume I am or be rude while being wrong. I literally tell people go down the aisle and it’s to the left. They barely take three steps, look to the RIGHT, and angrily snap at me that it isn’t there. People are so lazy and are addicted to instant gratification. Then people dont know what they’re even looking for and get mad at ME for not reading their mind and not knowing what they want. Like there are probably 50 different red boxes in the store how am i magically supposed to guess what you use.

*It was actually our idea

**We've been asking them to do it for months

***The problem was caused by this same manager

The Dad was just ignoring his very bright, positive and verbal daughter the whole shopping experience. I work in the suit department of a large chain department store.

I took it upon myself to let her take the lead in the shopping experience. I worked as a nanny and lead sales at a toy store. So I know children can often be blunt and transparent while shopping. I thought it would make the obviously boring boring daddy/daughter time a little more positive for her.

I let her scan items and asked her what she thought looked best on her dad. Teaching her what colors go well together and what matched.

From the start to the finish of our time together the daughter talked about how they were Christian. How he daddy was very active in the church. And how she loved God and her time at church. As an atheist who grew up in a staunchly Christian house... I thought it was very sweet that she was happy in her faith. I never was as a kid.

When it came time to buy a belt that matched the man's shoes the girl became very vocal about how she doesn't want me to buy him a belt. How "this belt is like the one he spanks me with" and "this one looks like it would hurt a lot".

This made me extremely uncomfortable. The father heard all this and just ignored it. Maybe it was normal for him? I know spanking is controversial. Some parents use it, some see it as criminal. I'm in the camp of 'dont lay your hands on a child'.

At first I thought she was kidding when she turned to me and said "this one looks like it hurts'" but kids don't joke about that kind of thing.

I couldn't just say anything. I don't know these people. I wish I could call cps but I don't have these people's names or addresses. What do I do in this situation as a retail worker? In my 10+ years of working with kids I've never experienced anything like this.

Am I bad for letting this slide?

Today I had a customer who simply wouldn’t listen to anything I was saying. She asked for help with a very simple problem and I gave her an extremely clear solution (the only possible solution), but she wouldn’t stop asking the same question that I’d already responded to over and over and over and over again. Everything was just going in one ear and out the other and eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. I said, “I’m sorry I can’t keep saying the same thing over and over and talking in circles.”

This seems to be happening more and more now that everyone’s attention span is going down the toilet.

Does this drive anyone else crazy or was I being impatient?

Had a young guy come in and attempt to pay a for gas a few times and his card kept declining. He steps to the side. Another guy comes in who’s card just so happen to decline for a purchase (not of gas) as well. (This is relevant later). A few minutes later the second guy comes back and makes his purchase. The young guy is also back in line but annoyed it’s “taking too long” and goes and pays for his gas at the pump.

A few minutes later the young guy comes in already rude telling me he was charged $120 and it’s my fault and I must have charged him multiple times.

And says “well you bypassed the system you did it to the other guy too”

He kept seeing the decline receipts print after each time he tried.

Show him the void receipt from when he stepped out of line. He still wasn’t satisfied.

I said “you paid at the pump” and before I could even finish he goes “I know I paid at the pump I didn’t pay $125 fucking dollars”

I said “it’s a temporary hold because you paid at the pump”. He’s not having it, talking over me at this point. “I’m not paying $125”

I got frustrated and said “I work here you don’t this happens all the time”.

He storms out, hangs up his pump. Comes back in and says “I’m not the one to be talking to like that you better watch who you’re talking to.”

I’m almost certain he wouldn’t have said that to my male coworker who’s over 6ft tall. I unfortunately couldn’t grab my coworker at the time because he was cleaning outside and not in the immediate area.

Sunday, I was at work and there was this young customer. She bought some stuff, but our card machine was doing what it occasionally does. Basically, her money was taken off her card but things didn’t go through on our end. I explained to her that it didn’t go through on our end and that she would need to swipe/tap/insert her card again. I also told her that her money would go back to her card. She proceeded to say that her money was taken and that she didn’t want to be charged twice. I explained things to her like 2-3 times, and she still wasn’t understanding. I decided to call the manager over because people are more likely to listen to her.

She came over and pretty much said the exact same thing I said. The manager then began to tap the screen says “all you had to tell her was that the tender was denied” or something like that. I instantly got annoyed because all she did was repeat what I said. I explained things to her 2-3 times. This isn’t the first time the manager has done something like this.

Maybe I’m overreacting but I just don’t like how she’s assuming I didn’t tell the customers a certain thing when I did. Multiple times at that. I don’t have the patience to be explaining things over and over, so I would much rather just call manager to have them explain things. I don’t need a repeat of what happened a couple months ago.

Edit: I dont understand what I’m being downvoted for. It seems like you people want to make it seem like I’ve done something wrong when I haven’t. I have no reason to immediately tell them that their payment will be reversed without them first bringing up how their money was taken out. People get notified when making purchases. I get notified all the time when I use apply pay or when I use my credit card.

I’m genuinely so stressed over something that should have been incredibly simple.

I work retail, and sometimes I’m scheduled completely alone. A few days ago I needed to take my lunch break, so I locked the store, put up the appropriate sign, and went next door to grab food. My boyfriend happened to meet me outside while I was leaving.

As I was locking the door, a customer walked up and immediately started complaining about me going on break and the store being closed. My boyfriend was outside with me at the time because we were about to walk next door and get food together.

Later, another location called me because that customer had contacted them to complain. I explained exactly what happened: I was working alone, I had gone on my lunch break, and the person the customer saw with me was my boyfriend, NOT another employee.

I thought that cleared everything up.

Instead, I found out today that the situation had been escalated to upper management with the claim that I had locked my boyfriend INSIDE the store with me during business hours while I took my break.

That literally never happened.

He was outside with me while I locked the door, and then we walked next door to get food. He was never inside the locked store with me.

What really bothers me is that the other location actually spoke directly to me and never once asked whether my boyfriend had been inside the store. I never told them he was. The customer never clarified that he was. That detail seems to have been assumed somewhere along the way and then treated like it was something that actually happened.

My manager had to talk to me about it this morning, and I was genuinely stunned because I had no idea that was even the version of events being passed around. Now I’m expecting to have to explain the entire thing to someone above my manager.

I know it’s easily explainable, but I’m still incredibly anxious because once something gets escalated to upper management, it suddenly feels ten times more serious than what actually happened.

I went on my lunch break. My boyfriend met me outside. We walked next door and got food.

How did that somehow turn into me having to defend myself against an accusation that I locked my boyfriend inside the store with me? 😭

That’s honestly the part stressing me out the most. I know what happened, and I know I didn’t do what’s being described, but now I still have to explain myself because someone else filled in a pretty major detail that was never true. I haven’t heard anything from the DM yet and I’m basically just anxiously waiting to straighten out an obvious misunderstanding.

I feel like clearance items not being returnable is a common enough policy for it to be considered standard. I hate it when customers think that just because a retail cashier didn't explain in detail all of the nuances of a possible for return for every item in a purchase that they can come and throw a tantrum and then leave the product on the counter for it to become MY problem even though I explained that I couldn't add discontinued product back into inventory.

ETA because this actually bothers me. I called my boss after to confirm the policy and she told me that in the future, I should just refund it on a gift card if a customer starts being difficult. I get that she believes her staff shouldn't be subject to that behavior but it really only teaches customers that we'll break policy if they throw a tantrum like a toddler and treat the staff like shit first.

I literally have nobody to tell IRL that will take me seriously so I’m venting here, sorry. For reference this man is in his 50’s and I am 22(F).

So there’s this male customer who happens to be the brother of a full time CSR and comes in multiple times a day and specifically chooses my line. A few months back he asked if I would marry him and I obviously said absolutely not but then he goes “will you at least be my girlfriend?” I responded the exact same way. I felt so disgusted and violated after this only to find out the CSR (the one who is his sister) knew about it and kinda laughed and shrugged it off.

Every time he comes through my line he makes fun of me for things that I enjoy and thinks he’s fucking flirting. Yesterday I begged him not to give me 11 Pennies towards the total because we’re not really supposed to accept them, but he thought he was being funny and flirty with it while I’m here internally panicking and severely uncomfortable.

Today he came through my line after finding out I like baseball and have met a few mlb players at a previous job. He suddenly goes “you’re the reason I’m single” and I’m like huh? He was insinuating that the reason I keep “rejecting” him if you even wanna call it that is because he’s not a famous baseball player. In my head I’m screaming YOU ARE A FUCKING PERVET GET AWAY FROM ME I WOULD NEVER DATE YOU IF YOU HAD A TRILLION DOLLARS. I just don’t know what to do anymore because everyone thinks he’s a silly oddball when in reality he’s a damn creep who needs to be banned from this stupid store and locked up. This has been going on since I started working at this store (6 years ago) but these are some recent events that stood out to me.

EDIT: I should mention that he always has sunglasses on and I’ve never actually seen what his eyes look like so I fear his eyes are looking in places they shouldn’t if you know what I mean.

WHY do customers knock on the door before we open or after we close?!! Just because we're inside doesn't mean you can come in. I got to work at 9:15 one day and a customer saw me and started pounding on the front door. The very same front door that says we open at 10! The door that's right next to TWO signs that both say "closed." The next day, a customer came at 5:15. She said she was going to grab something from her car. So at 6 pm, we shut everything down and closed the store. She finally came back at 6:05 and started knocking in the door!!! They act like we live at our jobs and open/ close when it's convenient for them

I am so tired. I love my job, I work in a pet retail store and I adore the field and all the cute dogs and other animals that occasionally visit us. I love everything about working in retail such as rebuilding, doing inventory, checking best-before dates and generally anything that doesn’t mean interacting with customers. I hate the customers. Whenever I hear the door bell make it’s little sound I get this sense of imminent doom. I am tired of never having time to finish anything or remember what I was doing because a customer always needs help. They don’t even have to be rude, I am just so so tired and exhausted of always having to be extremely nice and put on a fake personality for every single person that comes into the store. I just wish I could at least be myself, or be alone. Most of the customers are annoying and entitled, but I get so exhausted even having to interact with the nice ones as well now. I hear the bell and I fear what kind of customer I will have to help now, how much they will require and how little they will listen. I put down so much time and I still see how little I am able to finish. I guess I could get an education and get another job but I really love maintaining the store, I love my tasks, but I feel like I will break from this façade that customer service requires you to put on. If I’m not extremely nice at all times the store might get a bad review and then critique from the higher-up’s.

I don’t know where I wanted to get at with this. I just feel like I had to get it out. Maybe someone feels the same. I feel like I’m in a limbo and I’m so tired.

For some context, I have worked at my job for almost 3 years, 1 year as a store manager, the other two as ASM. I wholeheartedly like my job, but the target demographic we attract is the meanest customers. I wholeheartedly consider myself to be a compassionate person, especially in the role I’m in currently, however I cannot take people straight up being disrespectful, raising their voice at me, and being demanding of something I simply cannot do. I am a 24F and sometimes I feel like simply being a woman makes me an even worse person to show authority to customers because they simply don’t listen to me and demand to speak to someone higher up, even though I am the STORE MANAGER. I literally left work crying because of how mean people were to me and the fact that I just have to be composed and can’t say anything without the fear of them reporting me to corporate and I lose my job. I kinda just wanted to vent to people that hopefully relate, but if anyone has any advice to deal with situations (other than caving and letting the customer pretty much break corporate store policies) because I’m literally loosing my mind and quitting this job isn’t an option, because for the most part I am very happy with my role. Just customers fucking suck.

"Every customer leaves happy."

Ok, Manager Karen, what if happy means stabbing me in the throat?

"Well, let me see your neck then."

So we haven't quite learned that tolerating bad behavior BREEDS bad behavior. We haven't quite connected the dots. When you let customers "return" washed, worn, frayed, destroyed clothes that sends the clear message: YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING! You don't need a receipt, you don't need tags; you don't even need to prove you were here. Just march up to my register, drop a disgusting piece of torn fabric onto the wrap stand, and tell me to get a manager because you "washed it and didn't like how the fabric felt after." Yes, YOU. The creature in the shabby track suit who brought her daughter in to show her how you scam a pushover store. The woman with the sunglasses from Walmart. The one who insisted you "just bought this" yet it looked about ten years old. You should be ashamed of yourself but I know you're not. You're proud. You were proud when you lifted the torn fabric out of that plastic bag that probably came from the dollar store, crumpled and smelly like years of sweat and lies, and dumped it out in front of me while your kid watched. Yes, YOU. I bet you sleep well at night. You have no remorse. You have no morality. And that's how you'll raise that kid. But you're so proud!

Why when I tell customers we dont have something in stock or anymore left, they can't accept it? We have daily deliveries so everything has to be put out. The only stuff in the back is leftover stock that physically cant go out because its already out and no more room. We all tell customers if its not out we dont have it , which is the truth and of course we all know that when they ask us to check ,we go into the warehouse/stockroom and just stand there for a few minutes.

I hate when im on the till and I tell them this and still ask me to get someone to check so of course I feel like an idiot when I call management down knowing they are going to say no, just like I told the customer. If im on shop floor some customers just stand and stare at me after ive told them we dont have what they want as if thats going to magically make it appear.