Some customers will break you, but others know just how to help you put yourself back together.

So, what would you do if you were overwhelmed at the register after a customer’s meltdown left you shaken and holding back tears? Would you ask to step away for a few moments? Or would you power through and try to act as if nothing happened?

In the following story, one retail employee finds herself in this exact situation and gets some unexpected help powering through. Here’s how it all went down.

Old lady uses change-counting ability for good

This happened during my first retail job when I was in high school, maybe circa 2006 or so, and with the holiday retail season coming up.

Home goods store. November. Full Christmas rush. Saturday. The store was shoulder to shoulder with grouchy middle-class white people. I’m running a register, and at no point during my shift could I ever see the end of the line.

So I had just experienced my first customer full-meltdown. He screamed in my face about how I was a lying ***** because his coupon had expired. My manager had to physically remove him from the store. (His wife later apologized and explained he has anger issues, but that’s another story.)

I’m more shaken than anything, and as teenage girls do, I was tearing up, but trying to grin and push through. There was no one to replace me, and the place was mobbed.

Thankfully, the next customer was much nicer.

The next lady in line was a tiny, blue-haired elderly woman. She offered to wait until I had time to catch my breath and calm down, but I could feel the people behind her in line staring me down, so I insisted I was fine.

She grinned at me and loudly declared that old ladies always have to pay in exact change. She was sure no one would mind waiting while she counted it out.

This angel made a 5-minute production out of counting out $5 or so in loose change while I calmed down and cleaned up as best I could. “Oh, I’m so silly, I lost count and I’ll have to start over!”.

God bless that chaotic good old lady. I’ll never forget her.

Wow! What a nice gesture!

Let’s see what the readers over at Reddit have to say about this story.

This girl also had a lady comfort her after being sold.

Here’s someone impressed by the story.

As this person points out, the lady did the right thing.

Yet another person who had a customer stand up for them.

What a sweet lady! Some people would’ve just stayed out of it, but this lady stepped up and made a big difference! Good for her!

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.