Working in retail requires a blend of patience, anticipation, and resolve that very few can channel, especially when you have to think on your feet in a situation that might be a little…well, unorthodox.

One Reddit user recently shared the epitome of this exact example, taking the cake of internet customer service tales.

Check it out.

The Most Bizarre Customer Encounter I’ve Had Working in Retail

Hey everyone! I’ve been working in retail for a few years now, and I’ve seen some pretty strange things. But this one particular encounter still sticks with me to this day.

This is going to be good…

It was a slow afternoon, and I was manning the register when this elderly woman approached me.

She seemed nice enough, but as she got closer, I could tell she was wearing a lot of heavy perfume.

Not necessarily the worst red flag, but certainly at least a pink one.

“Do you have any moth balls?” she asked.

Would be easier to tell if this was a weird question or not if we knew what store it was, but context would lead one to believe, it was probably weird.

I was taken aback, but I told her we did, and I showed her where they were in the store.

As she was looking through the options, she turned to me and said, “I need to get rid of the moths in my kitchen, but I don’t want to use them around my food.”

I mean, understandable motivation here so far.

I was about to suggest she try using a different type of pest control when she suddenly reached into her bag and pulled out a live moth.

“Here, hold this,” she said, as she handed it to me.

Uh…she did WHAT now?

I stood there, completely bewildered, holding this live moth in my hand.

She then proceeded to sprinkle moth balls all over the floor of the store, talking about how it would get rid of the moths in her kitchen.

This sounds far too specific and far too bizarre to be made up.

Needless to say, I was stunned.

I didn’t know what to do, but I politely told her that was not a good idea and asked her to leave the store.

Sounds like this person handled it like a tried and true professional. Which, in this case, one would imagine that would be hard to do.

I still can’t believe that actually happened.

But that’s retail for you, I guess!

Well that one certainly puts the usual Reddit content to shame.

Let’s see if the comments agreed!

All in all, despite being a post that received a relatively large amount of engagement, the post only had two somewhat somber comments. The first being a shared story in a similar vein.

And the other expressed empathy for the customer, and others like her in that scenario.

It sounds like they were exactly the right employee to handle this situation.

If you liked that story, check out this video about a Dollar Store cashier who has had it with customers who argue over $4 products.