Some customers take store policies way too personally.

What would you do if a customer made an unkind comment about your coworker, just because they were asked to follow a simple rule?

Would you defend your teammate?

Or would you quietly let it go and move on?

In the following story, one employee finds themselves in this exact situation and is still shocked about it.

Here’s what happened.

A Retail Warden?

I currently work as a self-checkout cashier in a chain store.

One night, I was helping a middle-aged couple when they were having difficulty using the produce menu.

Their interactions with me were pleasant, but a remark they made about one of my fellow cashiers, let’s call her Shelly, caught me off guard.

They said that she was “mean” and, bizarrely, that she “should be working in a prison.”

Those words verbatim.

Shelly hasn’t been there long, but is always pleasant.

Shelly is a relatively new coworker, but during the time I’ve worked with her, I’ve come to know her as one of the most pleasant and easygoing people in my department.

So to say I was flabbergasted to hear that was an understatement.

I just gave a noncommittal “Oh, I see.” response and finished helping them.

After they left, I went and told Shelly what they said about her, and she was just as surprised as I was.

She had assisted them in purchasing some cigarettes a few minutes before me helping them with the produce menu, and she couldn’t figure out what went down in their interactions that would make them say that about her.

Later on, another coworker explained the problem.

I was about 2 feet away from them for most of that interaction, too, and Shelly was nothing but her usual sweet self.

A little later, she, I, and another coworker whom Shelly had told it to concluded that the customers must have been upset about the fact that they had to show ID for the cigarettes.

We get a lot of complaints about it, but it’s literally store policy, and Shelly was perfectly polite about it.

But apparently, to them, upholding a store policy that inconveniences them makes her the store’s answer to a warden!

Yikes! Talk about some sensitive people!

Let’s check out how the folks over at Reddit relate to this story.

This person has an interesting perspective.

This could help.

According to this reader, the policy is fair.

Great point.

Those people need to grow up.

By this point in their lives, they should know better than to act like that when someone’s just doing their job.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.