To break up my streak of slightly negative stories, here's a short and sweet one. I was at work in the sports equipment store from my first post. (A store that sells sport, supplements, outdoor, hunting, skiing and biking stuff).

I was manning the cashier as usual and it was about three out of five hours into my shift. An english speaking guy comes and asks for my help in solving a confusing mess of price posters on protein powders to get the cheapest option. I help him find it, and he proceeds to say: "Thank you so much! I'm gonna buy you a chocolate!" I pause for a moment, look at him and say "Do you mean it?" He says "Yeah, what chocolate do you like?" "Milk chocolate" I respond. And he leaves the store. I didn't expect him to actually do it, but about 7 minutes later, he comes back and hands me a large size milk chocolate bar and a coca cola, before shaking my hand and saying "Here you have a chocolate, coke and a new friend!" and then he left again. For reference, the cost of these two items is almost the amount he saved on the protein powder. This gesture made my whole day better, and the coke was the energy boost i needed for the rest of the day. Thank you kind stranger :-)

 This one is from many years ago, but I was recently reminded of it. Apologies in advance for not having the exact dialogue.

 I used to work at a drug store back before they were open 24/7 (before scrapping that post-plague). We would typically make announcements at 9:45pm, 9:50pm, and 9:55pm advising customers that we would soon be closing and to make their final selections, and then another at 10:00pm stating that we were closed and to bring their purchases to the register for checkout. I tended to be the one to make these announcements. I tended to be the one to make those announcements when I was there because nobody else could be arsed.

 So one night I did the 9:45pm announcement and the district manager, there on a late visit on his way home, stormed up to the front register. I was in photo at the time and the cashier ratted me out as the offending announcer, leading the DM to come up to my register like a thundercloud.

 “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.

 I, at the time, had no idea what he was talking about. “…Closing down Photo…?”

 He didn’t like that answer. “The announcement! Why are you trying to rush paying customers out the door?”

 One good thing about working Photo: It doubled as Customer Service and the Complaint Department. Years of dealing with angry customers and karens (even if they weren’t called that back then) had taught me how to deflect blame — or how to make crap roll uphill, if you will. “Because that’s what I was told to do,” I said.

 “By who?” he demanded.

 “The store manager.”

 He stomped off for the office door, about ten feet away, and on his way back there he said, “Don’t even think about making another announcement like that!” The wall between Photo and the office was thin enough that I could hear the DM yelling, and I recognized my boss’s name, so I’m guessing he called the boss to yell at him.

 The next day, the store manager made sure the assistant managers and lowly peons knew to never make announcements like that again, nor to advise customers that we were closing (or had already closed if it was after 10:00pm). I worked that night, didn’t make the announcement, and then had the next two days off.

 The policy had been rescinded by the time I got back — by the regional manager. Why? Because he really, really doesn’t like paying overtime. The rest of this was told to me after the fact by one of the other Photo guys. Turns out on my first day off, a customer came in at 9:55pm or so and, in accordance with the district manager’s orders, nobody told her about what time we closed. She didn’t leave until 2:00am (and, from what I remember being told, didn’t even wind up buying anything). The following afternoon, the DM came in for a meeting with the store manager to yell about the previous night’s overtime, to which my boss reportedly said, “Which policy do you want us to follow?”

 The two of them were in a shouting match in the office when the regional manager showed up, and once he heard about the no-closing-announcements policy the district manager had implemented, he rescinded it on the spot and yelled at length at the DM. Apparently the only words the guy running Photo at the time could make out from the district manager were, “Yes, sir,” “No, sir,” and “I understand, sir,” and he beat a hasty retreat from the store as soon as the regional manager was finished chewing him out.

 I typically dreaded visits from the regional manager because he tended to be a stuck-up narcissist, but I genuinely regret having missed that one.

So I used to be a manager for a fairly large CD/DVD store back in 2010 or so that was right next to an anchor store. For those who do not work in malls, the anchor stores are the very large stores at the ends, and sometimes the middles of malls, think Racy's, Mordstrom's, Delk, sometimes Barget, etc. Our store took up the same amount of space of about 3 or 4 small stores in the mall, and had an entirely glass front, minus two large open doors that had the slide down grates for closing.

The glass front gave us a perfect view of what was going on in the mall when it was slow, as it was on this particular Sunday evening, about 30 minutes before close. I generally set myself up at the front of the store, sorting new product on a cart, looking outward into the mall, so I could greet anyone who came inside. My employees were finishing up closing duties so we could close registers and get out the door as fast as possible.

Now, this particular mall had the usual security guards who tended to be the guys who fell into two categories. A, the young guys who really wanted to be cops, but probably failed due to psych evals, and were a little bit too excited to catch shoplifters, and B, the older guys who probably used to be cops and just wanted everything to be safe for everyone. And on weekends, we had a few cops that patrolled the mall. As employees, we did occasionally need to call security, and had good relationships with the security teams, as well as the loss prevention team at the anchor store right next to us, which I shall call Delk.

We also used to think that the cops that pulled mall patrol detail were probably bad at their jobs. How silly we were. As I was sorting CDs and hoping for a fast exit that night, all of the sudden, I saw a woman with a stroller *racing* out of Delk just as fast as she could go. Quickly in pursuit was one of the cops, and Bob, one of our favorite LP guys from the Delk team. Before I could even yell back for my employees to see the show, the following occurred:

The cop made a flying tackle on the woman, landed on her back, and slid *with* her almost 10 feet across the nicely waxed tiles, while the stroller went flying, and had both hands behind her back and handcuffed before the two of them slid to a stop. The stroller, before you worry, crashed and spilled its contents, not of a baby, but of probably a few thousand dollars worth of prom dresses and jewelry, also sliding out all over the nicely waxed tiles. Bob skidded to a stop by the stroller and began collecting the items and apparently sorting through the items to determine which ones were owned by Delk, and which were the property of other stores she had been stealing from so they could be returned.

And one of the young mall security guards strolled up from the other direction, saluted me, and said, it's okay, we've got it taken care of.

I remember this one well, It happened the day after "The thief who got cold feet" story. It was one day before our national day, and I was at work at the grocery store, and this was some years ago.

I was working late/closing shift (4pm to 11pm). The store closes at 11pm. Around 10:50pm, a lady with a typical Karen haircut and purple hair color walks into the store and grabs a shopping cart, and walks into the opposite end of the store with meat fridges and freezers.

I start the closing routines and don't think much of it. The time hits 11, I've finished my routines and the lady is still standing there in the same exact spot. I go to her to tell her the store is closed, but before I get a single word in she says:

"I know, the store is closed, I know you want to go home, I've worked in a store before you know" I kinda just responded with "mhm? Are you loo-" "Listen, I've worked in a store before! You ALWAYS let the customer finish shopping" and then she started rambling incomprehensively.

The time hits 23:05, she FINALLY starts moving, but was swerving between the freezers, not grabbing anything. On the way to the cash registers, she suddenly takes a sharp right turn to look at something. The entire time she is rambling to me about something, I was spacing out and just following her to make sure she leaves.

Finally, at 23:12, she makes it to the register and my colleague scans her items. Then she realizes she forgot something and is about to go grab it, but before she does I say "I'll go grab it for you", which I did.

I return with the item and my colleague scans it through. Then she asks about cigarettes (the store uses an electronic safe that you pay for a ticket you scan and then the item drops like a vending machine). While tapping the screen in front of the register. My colleague explains that whatever cigarettes she wanted we were out of. She scoffs and proceeds to look for her wallet in her purse.

After rummaging for what felt like forever, she finds the wallet, pays and packs her stuff in a bag and heads for the exit. I follow her to lock the door. She notices some national day flower bouquets by the exit and is about to stop to look at them, when she probably noticed me rolling my eyes, and she left.

The time was now around 11:23, and my colleague still needed to finish counting the till. The entire time from when I first walked up to the lady and until she left, she was rambling about stores and how she worked in one and "I know how it is" and stuff. Lady, if you know then please leave so I can go home!

A few years ago at this point, I was working in a grocery store, unlike the sports equipment store I work at now. I remember this story well, because two days in a row, something stupid happened, and this is one of them.

Two days before our national day, I was at work during the evening. Suddenly, while I am having my lunch break, my colleagues come in and asks me for help. I follow them and on the way am briefed about a thief having stolen a bike from the store entrance.

A man who was a regular customer, who always rode his bike, had his bike stolen from the store entrance. He'd parked it inside for whatever reason. Well, lucky for him, there are cameras in the entrance that caught the culprit red handed. The hillarity ensued from here.

I go to check the security tapes to prep for the police to show up (victim had called). This is what I observed:

• About 5 minutes after the bike was left in the entrance, the culprit shows up, looks back and forth a few times, puts on some gloves and walks off with the bike, his face was in clear view.
• Fast forward about 7 minutes, the thief returns to the store, the victim is still there and they start talking together, turns out they know eachother.

No way in hell can we tell the victim that it's the thief, we have no idea if he becomes violent or not.

We keep our eyes on the thief, something he eventually notices. On the camera feed, you can see him walking around and shoving stuff into his shirt and pants all sneaky-beaky like. When he notices us observing him, he panics and starts emptying the stolen goods from his pants and shirt in random locations around the store before leaving.

Cops show up immediately after he left. I show them the tapes and we identify the guy, they already knew him. While I was talking with the police, the bike had magically shown up in the entrance again. The police left to pick him up anyway. Safe to say, the thief got cold feet.

For context, I work in a store that sells sports, camping, outdoor and hunting equipment. This includes hunting rifles and air rifles. I work there as a cashier, said cashier is at the exit of this relatively large store. I have many strange stories from this store and a previous store, this is one of them.

One day I am behind the only open register, and a 50-something man comes stomping into the store, straight up to my register, and without me even being able to say hi, he says:

"I need my receipt NOW!" in a slightly irritated voice. Dumbfounded, I respond "Oookay, when did you come here for the purchase and what was it?" He responds, still slightly irritated "I don't know when" I kinda just stare at him for a second before he continues: "Look, it should be around a year ago-ish?, my insurance company said you have it on record" Trying hard not to roll my eyes at him, I ask "Do you have a more specific timeframe, what month?" He gets slightly louder and more irritated, before he says "Look, I don't have time for this, let me write down my info, I purchased an air rifle last year and I need the receipt" I have him write down his info before I ask one final question that would help me locate his receipt. "Are you a member of our store?" "Yes, I am" I check his number, ofcourse he isn't a member. Before I even get to tell him this, he's already on his way out of the store, even angrier now for whatever reason.

This guy really thinks I would manually look for his receipt from "around last year" with "an air rifle" on it among several hundred thousand receipts?, keeping in mind that receipts aren't even kept in record that far back, at least not that I, a basic cashier would have access to.

Had a customer come in earlier, on a motorcycle, got some gas and some snacks, no issue, started off as friendly guy. As he was paying he looked back out the window at his motorcycle, still parked at the pump, and started telling me “that should be a good enough spot to leave my bike. I’ve got to grab some things from the (grocery store next door)”

Y’all know why that’s just a no-no thing. It’s common sense not to do. Kind of surprised I even had to explain to the guy that no, you can’t leave your motorcycle parked at the gas pumps while you go shopping in another store. You’d think I was trying to explain astrophysics to him for how confused he was by that. I did point out that he’s welcome to bring his bike to park at the side of the building, or in any of the parking spots in the grocery stores parking lot. It’s literally next door, we share parking spaces, it’s not gonna be any more effort for him to take his bike over there than it is walking to the store.

Then he started getting that “how dare you tell me what I can’t do” kind of aggressive as he tried to argue that he was just going to grab a few things so it’ll be quick. It’s just a motorcycle, it’s not taking up much space. Like man, that’s not the issue, you can’t park at the pumps and dip out because then customers who need it can’t use the gas pumps.

I don’t think he ever understood why he can’t just park and bail, because that requires thinking about something other than yourself, but he begrudgingly said he’d just take his bike over to the grocery store like it was the biggest inconvenience in the world.

Update: Customer left a one star review the other day saying that we had refused to give him the package because it had his English name on it. My boss was annoyed at the lies but I found it funny. Even in his own story where he tries to play the victim, he sounds foolish.

I wanted to share a funny (for me) interaction with a customer from a few days ago.

This guy comes in to pick up a package for his friend but I can't find it. I find out that it's still in the process of being delivered and that it's a laptop.

I tell him that it's still on a truck somewhere and also warn him that because of what it is, we will not be able to give it to him. I tell him that this is a hard rule and we will not budge on. I suggest that he gets the person who the package is for to contact the shipper and try to get his name put on the shipping label. I give him a pieces of paper with this information.

A couple days later he's back and holding the piece of paper I had given him. The package is here but his name is not on the label so I refuse to give it to him. My boss can hear him getting mad and comes over to help. My boss tries explaining to him a few times that it doesn't matter what he shows or who he calls. His name isn't on the label so he doesn't get the package.

He gets his friend on the phone and insists my boss speak to them. My boss does and tells them the same thing along with their options: come get the package themselves or we'll send it back and they can make arrangements with the shipper. Friend chooses the second option so back on the truck it goes.

I really don't know what was going through this guy's head when he came back. I warned him that this would happen and lo and behold! It did

Today was my last day in retail. I start a new job in a hospital next Monday. After applying to 100+ jobs since leaving HE, went to 5 interviews, and accepted an offer for a receptionist position. uses all the same fundamental skills but gets me out of the endless cycle of doom. I even worked a full weeks notice, more consideration than management has ever given me regarding my own schedule, but hey ho!

I've worked at my present clothes retailer/cafe combo for almost 2 years. Having had years of retail experience (1 major national chain and 1 local volunteering role.) I started in the bookstore part. In an effort to develop my communication skills, I trained at a local non-profit, helping out with some telephone administrative duties. Lately I've been spending more and more time in the stock room because the main operations manager left and hadn't been replaced and we kept losing workers who are mainly temp students. It's been work up there ever since, and that’s an understatement.

So my last day is a long one in the stock room, as usual… The only difference being the satisfaction of wearing a plain black shirt instead of the usual company uniform, almost symbolising similar essence to that of a funeral setting, which I found quite amusing.

We're running light on bodies so there are just the two of us for much of the day and during the other one's lunch breaks we have to handle things alone. I hate working alone in the back! But we get through it and I say goodbye to the full-time regulars who are awfully nice and are absolute troopers, wishing me well and saying they'll miss me.

Don’t get me wrong, part of me wanted to walk out halfway through the day but if I made it this far I should probably just stick it out, either way, what a relief. Go to see my manager to say goodbye and she's got a card waiting for me where everyone has written a bit to see me off: congratulations, best wishes, nice working with you, know you'll do great etc.

Even during my exit interview, a manager who I barely spoke to, but had a cordial relationship with, seemed genuinely upset at the prospect of me leaving, expressed genuine excitement for my future, being one of the youngest long-term workers in the store. Wished me luck and encouraged me to keep in touch, and all the managers did the same.

I vow to NEVER work a retail job again…

(Just needed to vent! 😜)

I was working as a cashier / salesperson at a now defunct chain that carried electronics, car audio, appliances, computers, CD's, etc. This was back when heavy tube televisions were still a thing.

The store manager gives us a game plan for Black Friday and my station was in the television department first register closest to the front door.

The doors open and immediately I have a line of people.

One rather large man asks "Where are the 32 inch televisions?" and instinctively I said "The next aisle over" and he goes over there. I mean, technically my answer wasn't wrong. They were in that aisle. He meant the ones on sale lol oops. He came back and I had to tell him they were already out of stock.. Boy was he mad.

A few hours later the store manager pulls out a few 32 inch tv's from the back he was hiding so it looked like the store still had a few in stock and people at like 1PM were getting a deal.

I live in an european country, and I work part time at a grocery store, hopefully full time someday (when I am not suffering from 8+ diagnoses anymore).

I was at a shelf, doing the usual stuff.

An elderly male customer walked over to me with a plastic wicker basket and ask me "hun, what color is this"?

It was 100% white, no nuances, no shade, not a slightly warmer or colder white, just WHITE-white.

So I tried to keep a straight face and gave him the answer.

He didn't believe it. He KEPT THINKING it cannot possibly be white. He just wouldn't accept the truth. I had to send him to the manager, I just couldn't deal with it.

He kept insisting thay the basket wasn't white.

He was not blind, I am absolutely certain.

Are there some kind of special colorblindness where you cannot see the color white? I don't know.

Last Friday, it was business as usual at the register when a man strode up with purpose, holding a crinkled receipt in one hand and a store flyer in the other. “I need a refund,” he announced firmly, with the air of someone about to right a great wrong.

I glanced down at the receipt, just two days old. The item in question? A can of soup. The refund he wanted? Eight cents.

Before I could ask why he was so insistent, he pointed to the flyer. Apparently, the soup was supposed to be eight cents cheaper, and he was there to make sure he got the advertised discount. “It’s not the money,” he said, with a serious look in his eye. “It’s the principle.”

I tried explaining that the register couldn’t process refunds this small, hoping he’d laugh it off and move on. But he just stood there, arms crossed, resolute.

So I sighed, reached into my pocket, and pulled out a dime. Placing it in his hand, I kept a straight face and said, “Here you go, sir. Keep the change.”

He blinked for a moment, clearly not expecting that, then pocketed the dime with a satisfied nod. “Thank you,” he said. “That’s all I wanted.” With that, he turned and strode out of the store.

As soon as he was out the door, I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. Sometimes, customer satisfaction really does come down to the smallest of change.

Welcome to /r/TalesFromRetail's Express Lane - your quick stop for short tales, pithy observations and general retail chat about how things are going with your store, your customers and yourselves.

Please follow the rules regarding anonymity and derogatory speech. NO BUSINESS NAMES

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Here is a bit of context: I work at a grocery store that requires us to scan (or enter manually if they cant be scanned) everyone's ID for any age restricted item (Alcohol, tobacco, cold medicine, etc) regardless of age. Annoying I know...

Story Starts Here:

I had a guy come up to the register with some cold medicine which triggered the prompt to scan ID. Me: "Ok sir, I am going to need to see your ID?" Customer: " Why do you need ID for cold medicine? Plus I am in my 30s..." At this point it was no longer about store policy asking for ID but state law which dictates we ID anyone 40 years or younger. Me: "Well there is ingredients in cold medicine that are used in the making of some of the hard drugs, which is why its a age restricted item. Also it is company policy to ID everyone regardless of age." Customer: "I don't do drugs." Me: " Sir, I didn't say you do just explaining why an ID is required." The guy didnt have an ID on him but he had a picture on his phone of the temporary ID you get from the DMV while you wait for the card itself in the mail. Me: "Sir, I'm sorry, but I can't take this as I need the physical ID as a photo can be altered." Customer: "Ok I have it in my car just let me go get it." Customer returns a few minutes later carrying a piece of paper and hands it to me. Me: "Sir, I need the actual temporary ID not a physical picture of the temporary ID. As again a picture can be altered." There was a little more back and forth with him questioning why we couldn't accept it, and I decided to call for the acting manager on duty. Who told him exactly what I said and to come back with the actual documentation.

TL/DR: Customer brought in a printed out picture of his temporary ID when told we can't accept pictures of IDs.

This retail experience was kinda funny. A couple years back, when my coworker was 17, she asked me to help ring up the alcohol she had. She told me ahead of time that the group did not look old enough. It was a group of like 6-8 teenage boys. The excuse they told my coworker was that they were college. (Really bro? I was in college at 18.) For something like this I would have to check ALL of their IDs. I decided to start by asking if I could see ONE ID... They said they ALL left their IDs at home. I smirked at them and took the case of beer away and said "Then you don't get this!" and walked away. 🤣 They all left without buying anything after that. 🤣💀

Apologies this is kinda long cuz there's a lot to tell... I've worked at a grocery store for about 2 years now. My first bad customer experience was a couple weeks after I started working there. Basically a lady refused to show me her ID for the alcohol she was buying. She said she was "3x my age" (which would've made her like 66, so she was probably underestimating how old I was 💀), and told me that she wanted a manager to bypass the ID check. (Btw it's TN, no matter your age we HAVE to check ID.) I was panicked and didn't know what to do so I talked to one of my friends who was a manager, and she told the lady that we needed ID. I had a pretty long line of people behind her, so she paid for her order and my friend said they could help her at customer service when she came back (She went out to her car to get her ID). So I continued with the next customer and a couple minutes later, the lady came back in trying to show me her ID when I was in the middle of helping another customer. My coworker was trying to get her to come to customer service for assistance, but the lady just blew up at us and said "Oh nevermind! I guess they don't want our business! We'll take our business somewhere else!" (She was talking to her husband). My coworker and I were just kinda shocked and went on with our day. I was still pretty shaken up from the whole interaction. The customer I was taking care of during the whole blow up, was very kind to me and told me that lady was over the top and told me to ignore her. Later in my shift I was telling another customer about the interaction cuz I was still shaken up about it, and she opened the fancy chocolate she had just bought and gave me one. 🥹 Always so lovely when you find the compassionate customers 💕

I woke up thinking of this story and I figured this was the perfect place to air it.

Years ago I was managing a certain gag gift store in the mall, yes that one.

I had a couple with a stroller come through and as they were checking I was dealing with the lady of the couple.

She had purchased a few random items, t-shirt, jewelry, and a couple of other small items.

As I rang her up I grabbed a bag and start placing her things in a bag.

She says: “I don’t need them in a bag”

I say: “okay” and put the bag back

She says: “but I want the bag”

We make eye contact and I look confused. I slowly grab the same bag from under the counter and gently place it on top of her stuff without putting anything in it and say “Here’s your bag” still confused..

THE NEXT DAY.

The same couple comes back into the store, approaches my assistant manager, where the lady proceeds to ask to speak to the manager, my assistant comes to get me, I walk over to the couple, who I didn’t know was the same couple at the time.

The lady sees me and says “NEVERMIND!” And leaves

And honestly, to this day I am still just as confused.

What was your complaint? I would have liked to hear it. My only thought is that I didn’t read her mind?

I don’t get it.

For context, this happened about 2 years ago when I worked at a boba shop. It was located in a mall and 1/2 of the only locations in our city. All employees, except managers, were teenagers or college students, ages ranging from 14-19.

Okay, the story:

This day was pretty slow and it was just me (15F) and my coworker (17F) working that day. These two women come up and are starting to order, asking a few questions, but it’s normal.

I was on cashier and one of the ladies asks me if she can get extra sugar in the matcha milk. I tell her that our matcha powder is already a formulated powder with sugar in it, so we really aren’t allowed to put more sugar in it. (You’ll see why, it’s two different sugars. It’s stupid, but it’s our rules.)

She starts getting an attitude, rudely asking why. So I politely explain that our sugar is a thick, syrupy cane sugar and we aren’t really allowed.

She starts throwing a tantrum and makes a big deal out of picking a new drink. Panicked, me and my coworker, trying to people-please, tell her that we can put the sugar in for her and put it in our shakers, but the milk might turn out a little frothy.

She says “No. no. It’s whatever.”, all curt. Her friend is literally laughing at her tantrum at this point and trying to tell her to just compromise but she’s getting a bigger attitude with her friend.

So she settles for another drink and it’s time to pay. The tip question comes up on our tablet and I really don’t expect her to tip, or care if she does.

But she does this dramatic snort-laugh and goes “Tuh!” before dramatically clicking what I know is the 0% option.

Bet she felt so nice leaving with her drink knowing she made two teenage girls’ jobs harder!!🤗 Probably added more flavor to the drink!

So this happened almost 2 years ago but I remembered it when joining this subreddit.

For context, I worked at a well known boba shop in a busy mall. All the employees were either highschool students or college kids, ages ranging from 14-20 and the 2 managers were married. The owner almost abandoned this location to focus on another one.

Our managers were very cheap and never wanted to waste a single drop of product or give a refund unless really needed.

Now the story, my (at the time, 18F) coworker and I (at the time, 15F) were working on a mildly busy day. This woman comes with her three kids, her oldest daughter, middle son, and youngest daughter. They ordered their 3 drinks like normal and some of them got slushes instead of milk tea, whatever pretty normal.

When we hand them their drinks on the other side of the kiosk, they try it right there. Could have moved for other customers, but okay.

A little bit later she comes back in line and starts asking my coworker for a refund because her youngest daughter didn't like the slush. Not an exchange for something she might've liked, but an entire refund.

So, my coworker tells her that since we didn't make her drink incorrectly we cannot give her a refund, as we have a policy to only give refunds when it is a mistake on our part.

She argues with her for way too long before asking to speak to the manager. My coworker tells her that our manager isn't here at this moment, but we can get her on the phone.

At this point, I can't remember if there were other customers behind her or if we had finished the line.

Anyways, my coworker goes in the back and calls our boss to explain the situation. She comes to the front, puts her phone on speaker, and the woman explains her side of the story. My boss then says the same thing, "Since it was no mistake on our part & they did not mess up your drinks, we will not be able to give you a refund.".

She basically storms off after that, with all her kids, to a sitting area right in front of our shop/kiosk, practically vibrating with anger as her kids look sad or maybe embarrassed.

Eventually after some time, they leave and I see she left all of the drinks in a circle around the edge of the garbage bin where they were sitting.

Like, okay? You wasted your own money, not ours.

So I've been working at my local grocery store for more than a year now, and this happened in the first 3 months after I was hired. We have a store card where you can only receive sales from our store card, which we call the "Bonus Card", and we offer to use a designated "Store Card" For customers who don't yet or don't have one. I had a customer who wanted to get 2 boxes of shaved ice cups that were a 2-for-something sale. when I pressed total he asked me about it, and I asked him if he had a bonus card, and if he didn't have one I could offer him our "Store Card", I also mentioned that the sale wouldn't come off without it. Before I could even push the number for the store card, he ran out of the store, leaving the groceries on the conveyor belt. I haven't seen him since, and I told my coach what happened. She just offered to take the shaved ice back to the freezer section. to this day we still like to laugh about the experience because of how unexpected it was lol

To premise this, I am a Shift Supervisor for a retail drug store chain. Like a lot of retailers we are having a very bad shoplifting problem. Thieves will come and fill bags with hundreds, if not thousands of dollars of merchandise and walk out. (We are well aware that these are apart of much larger crime rings) Most are repeat offenders to the point where we have nicknames for them. We are told by our higher ups to please tally up what was stolen, save the surveillance footage and file a police report along with store security report. Due to the repeat offenders I created a file system in the office where we have the multiple reports filed under each nickname.

For a few months we had a repeat offender who we nicknamed Tall. He was very tall, think 6’4” to 6’6”. He would come in and steal expensive skin and hair care. Usually several thousand dollars in one go.

One day we see a man walk out with a large pillow case full of merchandise. A customer tells us she saw him in the hair care section waiting for her to leave. I check the cameras and immediately recognize Tall. I get on the phone with police. While I’m on the phone my employee gets a call from a customer. It’s a man stating that the thief is at the park near the store. You hear a little girl in the background yelling “Daddy the bad man is in the bathroom.” I relay the message to the dispatcher. I don’t know if the customer had followed Tall or just happened to go to the park as well. Fast forward 30 minutes later I get a call from a police officer asking if I could text him a picture of our thief. They have detained someone matching the general description. I comply. Fast forward another half hour and we have 2 police cars in front of our store and an officer asking who would like to make an eyewitness identification. My employee volunteers. After confirming the officer comes in with a large drawstring bag full of merchandise. We are tallying everything up as the officer keeps removing stuff from the bag. It felt like a bad game show as the total went up. In total nearly $2000 worth of stolen merchandise. I grab Tall’s file and give the officer all the other police reports we have on Tall. But this is only the beginning.

A few days later I receive a call from an investigator with the police department. She has a few questions about Tall, she also mentions his girlfriend. A few days later she sends me an email stating that other retailers also have cases open with a suspect matching Tall’s description and his girlfriend. Some are confirmed, others are in the process of confirming. Everything is slowly piling up.

This week the investigator paid us a visit. She told us that Tall and his girlfriend have been charged with multiple felony counts. I won’t say the exact number but it’s in the double digits. Their bail has also been set at a 7 figure mark.

Two prolific thieves got arrested and multiple cases were solved all thanks to an observant customer who decided to call and let us know. Not all heroes wear capes or have martial art skills. Some are armed with a phone and their superpower is being observant. As for the customer, he has never come forward so we’ve never had the opportunity to thank him.

I work as a supervisor at a small convenience store. In my area, there is a law where if we sell a product that is eligible to be returned for a bottle deposit, we must take it back if asked to. However, we are also directly across the street from a large grocery store that has redemption machines.

The other day, an older woman comes in with her husband to buy some stuff and return some bottles. She is notorious for doing this, usually when we are busy.

When my cashier saw her come in the store, she asked me to stand behind the register with her in case there was any trouble. Of course, I said I would and pretended to be looking over the schedule.

She rings the lady up for her purchases and then starts counting the bottles and cans. It comes out to be worth $2.40. My cashier tells the customer that she will process the bottle return today, but that if she comes back next time with over $1 worth we will refuse to do it and send her across the street because they are better equipped.

As expected, this woman starts throwing a hissy fit. She brings up the fact that it is illegal to refuse her and that, if we do, she’s going to call the state police to report us and we’ll all be fired. My cashier apologizes and mentions that the only reason she suggests for her to go across the street is that it will be quicker for the customer. She hates this idea too. She says that, obviously, we hate her and don’t want her business.

My cashier tries to explain but the customer keeps cutting her off, talking about how nobody cares about her anymore. Eventually, she starts yelling about how everybody she ever loved is dead now because she’s so old.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I felt a little bad about that. However, I also felt it was unnecessary for her to try and use that against us. After a few minutes of this, the transaction is over and she eventually leaves. I still don’t understand why she doesn’t just go across the street but I guess we’ll never know.

I am a shift supervisor at a thrift store in the US.

The other day at the registers there was a woman who was waiting in line while on her phone and didn't notice when my cashier called her turn so he called her again.

Apparently she took great offense to this and started doing the whole Karen routine while my cashier was trying to explain that he didn't mean any offense and I ended up stepping in after about 10-15 seconds of her increasingly rude nonsense.

She decided to wait and use a different line instead, me and the first cashier just looked at each other confused.

I’m a Shift Supervisor for a retail drug store chain. One if the services we provide is photo. Like a lot of places our main type of photo is digital. We do offer film development however it is a send out service and could take 2 to 3 weeks. Usually when people call asking if we provide film service I tell them of the wait time. If they sound upset or ask where has faster service, I let them know that it is illegal to process film in our state. That way the customer doesn’t waste their time calling other retailers. It’s illegal due to EPA violations and corrosion to pipes. Usually a customer is still upset but thanks me for saving them a lot of time. Depending on how the conversation goes I do inform customers that if a hobbyist has a closet darkroom one could technically get away with it. However I do not know where to find them.

So one day I’m in the photo department when I receive this Karen phone call:

Me: Photo department! OP speaking. How can I help you?

Karen: do you do disposable cameras?

Me: Yes! However it is a send out order and it takes 2 to 3 weeks.

Karen: 2 TO 3 WEEKS!!!! My son needs these pictures next week. Know anywhere that has one hour photo?

Me: It is illegal to process film in this state so all places will be send outs and have a significant wait time.

Karen: ILLEGAL TO PRINT PHOTOS!?!?! My son needs these photos for his project next week or he will fail. Can’t you just print his photos?

Me: in order to print film, first the film needs to be processed in a bunch of chemicals. Then the film is run thru a light machine. We no longer have any of that stuff. The chemicals harm the environment and cause pipe damage, which is why film processing is illegal in this state.

Karen: if it’s illegal where do you send them.

Me: to a state where it’s still legal.

Karen: which state?

Me: (mentions state)

The state I live in is on one coast of the USA, the state where we send them is on the other coast.

Karen: (STATE)!!!! No wonder it takes so long. Don’t you have anywhere closer?

Me: the company that we have a contract with is in that state.

Karen: my son needs these photos next week. Can’t you just do them.

By now I’m juggling whether I should tell her about closet dark rooms but I decide not to.

This goes for several rounds of it’s illegal and we don’t have the equipment.

Me: I don’t know what to tell you.

Karen: thanks a lot for failing my son. (Hangs up)

Hate the law, not the messenger.

Edit: just a clear up. There’s no specific wording in my state that says film processing is illegal. However disposal of the chemicals used to process film are an EPA violation in my state and the chemicals are known to harm the pipes. If one were to come up with a more eco friendly way to process film then one could legally process film in my state. However given that the current chemicals are illegal in my state. One can say it’s illegal to process film in my state.

Some background. I’m a Shift Supervisor for a retail drug store chain. One service our store offers is pick up and drop off for one of those package delivery companies, DC. If a package has an age restricted item it’s usually dropped at our store. So are packages where the recipient wasn’t home for a few days. Sometimes customers ask for their package to be rerouted to our store so porch pirates can’t get to them. We strongly emphasize that we are only associated with DC, not any of its competitors and due to us being third party we have a very limited service and a lot of restrictions. Whenever a package is picked up or dropped off we must scan into DC’s system.

A few weeks ago we received 2 packages addressed to our DC service however they weren’t scanning. We first brushed it off as a glitch. We noted it had the same name, Karen. Karen came and got her packages. I got suspicious when a third package came but it was delivered by Amazon. Due to it being the rush hour I just took the package.

Two weeks ago an employee received the mail from the post office and along with the store’s mail there was a package for Karen addressed to our DC service. Employee showed me the package an hour later. I attempted to scan it in to no avail. I showed it to my store manager. Store manager said if a package does not scan to give it back to the delivery person and to let employees know that only management will take mail and deliveries from now on.

Well last week we got our answer to the mysterious Karen packages. I’m working a late shift when I get a call.

Customer: Hi I had a package delivered two days ago to your store. I have another package being delivered tomorrow. However I won’t be able to come get it for another few days. Will you hold it until then.

Me: (thinking she’s talking about DC) DC has us hold packages on site for at least a week. Longer if we ask.

Customer: it’s not from DC.

Me: we’re a third party pick up and drop off site for DC. We only accept packages from DC.

Customer: can you check if my package it there? My name is Karen.

Everything clicked.

Me: actually we are no longer accepting your packages. They do not scan. If they do not they will be given back to the delivery person.

Karen: I was told I could store my packages at your place.

Me: we’re are a third party DC location. We only accept and store packages for DC.

This went back and forth for a while. I told her at least 3 times we’re a third party pick up and drop off site for DC. I did check for her packages, none were here. I informed Karen of that.

Karen: so how do I get my packages?

Me: You’ll have to contact the delivery company.

Karen hung up and I sent a bulk text out to all of management stating the mystery of the Karen packages has been solved. She is using our DC service for her personal package storage and to not receive any and to make sure employees don’t receive any.

I had the next 2 days off, however when I returned my colleagues had a crazy story to tell.

Karen had come in looking for her packages claiming that I, specifically mentioning my name, stated she could and that I could print out a DC label for her. She even described me as a white woman which almost caused one employee to burst out laughing. For the record I’m an oriental Asian woman. One look at me and it’s unmistakable. I was born and raised in the USA so I speak perfect English with no accents. I do have an American first name which is used at work. My last name is also American sounding due to marriage however it’s seldomly used with customers. My colleagues also know I don’t take s*** from anybody and I’m a pretty strict follower of the rules and can be quite tough when others don’t follow them. Pretty much I would have never made a promise that to Karen. It got so bad that my store manger had to get involved. He tells Karen the same thing I told her. Somewhere in the conversation Karen mentions a friend or something online telling her to do this so her packages won’t get stolen.

We reported Karen to our District Manager and to all the other stores in the area. It’s been a week and so far no more packages addressed to Karen have come in. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Welcome to /r/TalesFromRetail's Express Lane - your quick stop for short tales, pithy observations and general retail chat about how things are going with your store, your customers and yourselves.

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Happened two days ago:

Customer: "Hey! Can you help me? I'm looking for [famous brand] spicy tomato ketchup! The shelf label says there should be some but it's not where it's supposed to be!"

Me: "Yes of course, let me check with you."

It's a bit strange because that aisle was being restocked two hours ago, but what do I know. I walk up to the aisle with the customer and she starts gesticulating towards the shelf.

Customer: "See, it's not where it should be and I can't find it."

I look and see a dozen bottles of [famous brand] spicy tomato ketchup, exactly where they're supposed to be. The first one in the row, though, is turned backwards and the label faces the back of the shelf. Probably someone took it and put it back the wrong way. I turn it the right way and show her the label, but instead of thanking me she goes on a rant.

Customer: "How was I supposed to know what it was? I KNOW you people turn the bottles the wrong way ON PURPOSE to confuse people!"

Me: "Ma'am, no we would never do that, we try and limit interactions with angry customers like you!"

Well... that's what I wanted to say.

What I said for real was more like "Sorry for the inconvenience, can I help you with anything else?

With Halloween coming up, I thought I'd share this cautionary tale for anyone planning on carving pumpkins.

Last year, I was working at a place that sold pumpkins at Halloween. By October 20th, our pumpkins weren't really in good shape. We would get all of our pumpkins in early to mid-September and they were kept outside in our garden section. Some of them were kept in places where they were covered, but some of them were not. Which in hindsight was probably a poor idea. The place I live has very erratic weather. It can snow one day and be very warm the next day. It also tends to start snowing here around October. This means the pumpkins would get snowed on, maybe even get frozen, but the snow or ice would melt pretty either that day or the next day and they'd be wet while in the sun all day. A lot of the pumpkins we had at the very end of October were pretty rotten and mushy.

This story happened the day before Halloween. By that point, we didn't have a lot of pumpkins left because most people get their pumpkins weeks before Halloween. The pumpkins we still did have could be squished. On that day, it was really cold and it had snowed fairly recently and some of the pumpkins were actually frozen solid. Quite a few people were buying last-minute pumpkins that day and a lot of them were pretty unhappy we had no good ones left. There was this one woman who came in with a few kids to get pumpkins. They were outside looking at the ones we had left for a while before they came in. Each kid had their own small pumpkin.

The woman seemed a bit frazzled. While I was checking her out, I asked the woman how her day had been and she looked at me, looking really upset and mad, and said "I've been going on a wild goose chase for moldy pumpkins since I got off work". She told me she and her kids went to a local pumpkin patch to get pumpkins earlier that evening, but there were none there and they'd gone to another store before us where there also were none. She started ranting to me about how her even had been and about how she expected it'd be easy to go grab pumpkins and I just let her because this woman really did look she'd had a tough night. I can't quite remember, but I'm pretty sure I did give her and everyone else getting pumpkins a discount because they were so past their prime.

I felt bad for her, but at the same time, you really cannot expect it to be easy to find good pumpkins the day before Halloween.

I don't know how I haven't posted here sooner. I've been working at my local liquor store for a year and some change now, and in my time there I have had to deal with some really stupid people. No one is more stupid or infuriating than this one man.

When I started, our store did price matching to other liquor store chain and a local, state specific grocery store, amongst a couple other places. "Josh" would come in every couple of months to get 2-4 bottles of a specific wine and price match it to Local Grocery Chain. I have dealt with this man at least 10 times in the last year (and he was somehow always my problem) and it was the most infuriating experience each time.

First Encounter: I was still new, so I was watching my coworker, whom I'll call "Alex" deal with him. Josh gives Alex a receipt from LGC showing the price of the wines. Alex tells him that we're no longer allowed to accept receipts (I assume because people were bringing in sales prices from months ago) but he'll do it this time. In the future, he needs to just show us the price online. Josh isn't happy about this, but accepts it and moves on. I get to learn how to do price matching.

Second Encounter: Josh remembers that we can't take receipts anymore and shows us the price online. I watch as my coworkers Alex and "Blake" explain to him that he's not on LGC's website but on Google, and he needs to click on what he's pointing to to actually get in the website. Josh doesn't like this and insists that he's correct. The item he had looked up wasn't even the same item he was trying to buy. While Alex argues with Josh, just trying to get him to click onto LGC's website, Blake just pulls up the website on our register (which is just a normal computer with our POS program on it) and is like "I got it. In the future, you should consider downloading the LGC app to make it easier." This man refuses to believe he's incorrect and that Google IS LGC's website. He gets his price matched wine and leaves. I'm pretty sure Alex did finally get him to click on it. I watched the whole thing happen and just bit my tongue cuz after 5 years in a different, toxic retail environment I didn't think it was my place/appropriate to step in.

Several encounters ensue in which he shows us the app and every time he feels the need to mention that he "Can't use receipts anymore" and that "we told him to download the app." Cut to a shift in management and now we cannot accept people showing us apps to get price matches (presumably because people were screenshoting sale prices or because of in-app user coupons) and now we need to look up the prices ourselves via the registers. I'm sure that'll go over well.

Third Encounter and every subsequent one: I've been there for about a half a year now and Blake no longer works the registers, working a wholesale position in the back of the store. I have the displeasure to inform Josh as he shoves his phone in my face that we no longer accept the app and that we have to look it up ourselves. He's flabbergasted. I explain what I think the reasoning is behind it (screenshots) and he's confused. "What's a screenshot? You can do that?" For the record, this man is at most in his 50s. He is not that old. He then proceeds to go on and on about how we "told him he had to get the LGC app" and now we're not honoring that??? To add insult to injury, for some strange reason no one understands, the LGC website says the wine is a dollar more than it is in the app and in store (I checked).

I get to argue with Josh every couple of months for the next year about how our policy has changed and how I don't know why the app and the website have different prices but I have to go by what the website on my own computer says. He's talked to every associate in the store, including the manager who's told him at least twice herself, and he gets the same answer. And he continues to insist that this is messed up cuz "we told him to download the app" and "he tells all his friends and family" to come to us.

At this point, I don't even put on a customer service act with him because I'm so fed up with repeating myself. One time, Alex saw him pull into the parking lot and proclaimed "not it" before hiding in an aisle so he didn't have to deal with him (tbf, I don't blame him...). It was always, "As I told you last time, sir..." And this man baffled the hell out of me. "Why doesn't he just GO to the LGC if we're robbing him or whatever he thinks?" No one had any clue. In fact, one of my coworkers told me that there was an LGC closer to his house that we were to him, and he still made the drive to our store to argue about price matching. It got to the point where he once said "Well, I'll remember that for next time" and I almost looked him dead in the face and replied, "I look forward to having this conversation a seventh time."

UNTIL JULY OF THIS YEAR. We received the BEST news. WE WERE NO LONGER DOING PRICE MATCHING.
I was ecstatic and prayed that I'd be the one to tell him. And I was.

Josh comes in to get his wine. I ring him up. "Oh, and let me just pull up the LGC app that you guys told me to download..."

"I'm sorry, sir, but unfortunately we no longer price match as of two days ago."

He was so upset. He experienced the entire spectrum of human emotion. He went from happy to confused to sad to angry. Pretty sure he went through the stages of grief. But finally he relented, accepting that shit changes and at least he was getting 10% off for an in-store promotion we have. The other day, I passed by that wine was stocking and thought, "Huh. I haven't seen that guy in a while... Maybe he finally stopped shopping here."

NOPE! He came in the store today and asked me about price matching. My manager was on the register next to me, just watching me like she couldn't believe this was happening. I politely and happily told him again that we stopped price matching a few months ago. He looked so shocked, as if he hadn't heard this before. But at this point, I was just so glad I was never going to have to argue with this man again that my petty ass just enjoyed the look of disappointment, of utter betrayal on this man's face. He once again tried to say something about us telling him to download LGC's app and I politely reminded him that the last time I saw him, I informed him that if he wasn't using the app for LGC products, he was free to delete it off his phone because we weren't taking it anymore, ever, at all. I had to tell him twice. "But I told all my friends and family... I just told my two neighbors! Aww, well I guess I'll have to tell them the prices went up at The Liquor Store." ... They didn't, but okay. Here's your wine. He left in a good mood, if not a little heartbroken maybe, but whatever. My manager praised me for handling that well and then we joked about having to have this conversation again in a couple months and that I summoned him.

To be fair, in my 6+ years of retail experience, Josh is by FAR not the worst customer I've had, and he's never left the store in a huff. By the end of 99% of the interactions I had with him, he was chipper, and only once did he get angry enough to yell. I still dislike him tho...

There was even one time we were out of his wine but he insisted I check the magical realm that is "The Back" and he realized after a year of interactions that I had the same name as his mother. I said I'd "go check the back" and he laughed and said "Okay. Thanks MOM." I texted our work group chat immediately and said I would never help him again.

UPDATE: "Josh" came back in today. He didn't say a WORD about price matching or LGC or anything. We talked about the porkchops he was cooking and how some people use wine in cooking (a concept that seems to escape him). It was refreshing and I feel like a cycle has been broken lol

This was a couple years ago, but is still one of my favorite stories to tell about working in retail for a grocery store. I(21m) as an assistant manager was moving around the store putting out fires as we were just getting out of lunch rush and were still pretty busy. As some background knowledge, we often have vendors set up their stations in our store to offer samples and sell product which can include alcohol. One such vendor was setting up his station for whiskey towards the back of the store and happened to leave some of the product out as he was talking with some customers. Now normally this isn’t an issue and most alcohol products come with sensors or locks to help prevent theft/unlawful use, but since this vendor intended to use them for sampling they were unlocked. This Vendor also happened to choose to set up their sampling spot up next to one of the blind spots for the cameras. Now as I’m going from different points of the store trying to bring about an order to the chaos I get a call on my radio from a fellow assistant manger to meet him at the self checkout. I make my way over to find them with a customer who is buying a few items and a slightly less than full treetops apple juice gallon jug with the cap off. Now I know this fellow manager very well as he wouldn’t call me over for anything he couldn’t handle or on the off chance he found a situation incredibly funny. Now for those not paying attention this customer had decided he was gonna come in, empty the apple juice in the bathrooms, take the sample bottles of whisky while the vendor wasn’t looking, empty them into the container in the blind spot next to the vendor, and try to buy the gallon jug of “apple juice” at self checkout. We had a quick laugh about it and had the customer escorted out and went about our day.