‘This lady is yelling at me at the top of her lungs.’ Gas Station Employee Teaches Customer A Lesson About Cutting In Line
by Matthew Gilligan
Customer service jobs can be…aggravating, to say the least.
And if you work in a place like a gas station, you know that you’re going to encounter all kinds of whacky folks day in and day out.
The young man who wrote this story on Reddit told readers they were working at a gas station when an unruly customer decided to test their patience.
Lady DEMANDS that I stop what I’m doing and open my register. Okay, no problem!
“I (M19) work as a cashier in a gas station in Miami Gardens, Florida. Naturally, the people that come into the store tend to be on the crazier side.
The store had a line of maybe 7 people. Now, at this point, i had the “register closed” sign up and i was stocking the vaporizers and accessories on the shelves behind the counter.
They asked a customer to put a mask on because this was during the height of Covid.
My coworker was handling the customers in line. I turn when i hear the door opening. Another lady walks in without a mask on. I politely ask, “Excuse me, miss, do you have a mask that you could put on?”
She scoffed at me and rolled her eyes as she dug in her purse for a minute or two. Finally she pulls out a ratty little mask with only one functional strap and holds it to her face while she’s waiting in the line.
And this woman had more issues than just not wanting to wear a mask.
Well, apparently she couldn’t do that for very long. She comes to the front of the line ranting and raving about how the line is too long and that we shouldn’t be keeping a valued regular customer waiting.
I’ve been working here for 4 months and i’ve never seen her, i’m fairly confident i know all the regulars. I tell her that there are other things that my manager left for me to do before the end of closing and that i have to get them done.
She didn’t seem to like that all. “I DEMAND that you open your register RIGHT NOW” Okay, you got it, lady. I moved the sign and then i turned back to her. “Do me a favor and stand a little bit to your right” Surprisingly, she complied, albeit with her arms crossed and what i can only assume was an angry gaze firing through her mask.
And this guy had a plan for how to deal with this customer.
Cue the malicious compliance.
“Next customer” i yell out into the store. It dawns on her what i’m doing but the next customer shoots up in front of the counter before she can even fully process it. I go about this transaction as normal, despite the fact that this lady is yelling at me at the top of her lungs (no longer holding the mask to her face, mind you).
I finish up with the other customer and I turn to her. She tries to yell over me so i raise my voice a bit and try to be as stern as possible. I tell her “Just because my register is open now, doesn’t entitle you to skip all the other people in this line who also have lives, and jobs and other responsibilities.”
And then he really let her have it!
“Get to the back of the line, and be respectful or i have no choice but to have you removed from the store.” (We don’t have security but we’re 2 blocks away from a police station and one of the cool officers who comes into the store gave me their personal number to use just in case we have any issues.)
The lady harrumphs loudly and walks dejectedly to the spot in the line she had before she left.
In the amount of time it took for the rest of the story to occur, more people had gotten in the line.
“I said the back of the line” I told her pointedly.
She dropped her shoulders and walked to the back like a toddler.”
Check out what folks had to say about this.
This person hit the nail on the head!
Another Reddit user was impressed by one particular section of the story.
This individual questioned what this person was doing on the job…
A reader said they’d chew this person out for stocking shelves while there was a line in the store.
Well, that was definitely a roller coaster!
What are the odds?!?!
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