Not everyone knows how to ask for help without causing a scene.

Imagine working in retail when a customer starts shouting for assistance like it’s an emergency, only to have another shopper step in and deliver a comment so perfect that it leaves the screamer speechless. Would you hold back your laughter, or would you lose it right there?

In today’s story, one hardware store employee finds himself in this exact situation and is barely able to keep it together. Here’s what happened.

“I thought about screaming help”

This happened yesterday, right before closing time.

I work at a hardware store and had just come in from lunch. I walked over towards the paint area and heard this lady screaming like someone was dying.

C: EXCUSE ME, DOES ANYONE WORK IN THE PAINT AREA?!

She’s just screaming that….to no one. Just standing in the middle of the store.

So I walk up and help her.

After being helped, she was actually happy.

Me: Excuse me, ma’am, do you need help?

C: of course I do! I need x amount of paint.

Me: All right, give me about ten minutes for all this.

She ordered quite a bit of paint, and somewhere in the mix, I messed up and gave her a gallon instead of a quart.

My boss tells me to just discount it and let her take the whole thing.

That’s fine with me; she gets out of here quicker, and I don’t have to be yelled at.

However, this customer wasn’t going to let it go.

She comes back, and she’s actually really nice and polite when I explain what happened. So I followed her up to the register, and she actually started telling the cashier what happened and said it was her fault I messed up.

While I’m standing there waiting for her to finish checking out, another gentleman (another guy)comes up.

This is hilarious!

OG: Excuse me, sir. I have a question to ask you. I thought about just screaming help in the middle of the store, but I’m not an idiot.

Then he just dead stares at the First Lady.

It took all I had to not bust out laughing.

I answered his question, and the First Lady tucked her tail and scurried out without saying anything else.

Wow! That’s actually really funny.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about it all.

According to this reader, screaming only works at one store.

This manager was so mad that he kicked a lady out for yelling like that.

It’s a mixed bag for this person.

Here’s someone with the perfect response.

Good for that guy!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.