September 1, 2025 at 3:47 am

Employee Helps Older Man At Self Checkout, But He’s Convinced The Employee Is A Thief

by Jayne Elliott

self checkout machine at a store

Shutterstock/Reddit

Self checkout isn’t for everyone.

If I have a lot of items in my cart, I wait in line for someone else to scan my purchases, but with just a few items, self checkout can be the quicker, easier solution.

In today’s story, one man was buying just one item, but he was very confused by self checkout.

An employee offered to help, but it didn’t go well.

Let’s see what happened.

Sir, I Didn’t Take Your Money

More self check shenanigans again.

I only had a few minutes left on my shift when the store got slammed with people.

My supervisor popped over originally to do an observation on me, but seeing how busy it got decided to help out instead.

While she was working with one customer I had an older guy walk up who a bag of dirt in his cart.

I greeted him and offered to help him, since he was looking at the self check machine like it was a bomb.

Here’s how the conversation went.

Guy: Ma’am, I….I don’t know how to use this. I don’t understand how these work.

Me: That’s alright sir, I can grab you right quick.

I scanned his bag of dirt, total came out to $20 roughly.

Guy: How much is it?

Me: $20, cash or card?

Guy: Cash. -takes out his wallet and hands me a $10 bill-

She thought he would get out more money.

At this point I assumed he was getting other bills out so I insert the $10 as we chat about technology. I tell him I can barely figure out my phone (this is very sad but true….) and he tells me about not being totally computer savvy.

He still has his wallet out and is digging around in it before he closes it again.

Guy: Miss, could I have my receipt please?

Me: Sir, you still owe $10.

Guy: I gave you $20, that should’ve paid for it. Do you need change?

Me: No sir, you still owe money because you only gave me a ten.

He’s convinced she’s lying or a thief.

Guy: -starts getting agitated- You entered it in wrong, I only have $20 bills!

Me: -trying to think of how to explain this- Sir, there’s no way for me to “enter” it in wrong. The machine scans the bill as I put it in, see? -indicates the screen that clearly shows $10 has been entered-

Guy: You took it, then! I only have $20 bills.

Me: Sir, I didn’t take your money. You handed me a ten dollar bill and I inserted it for you.

Guy: -starts looking through his wallet again as he repeats that I took his money-

Eventually, the supervisor took over.

Me: -now I’m starting to get annoyed- If you don’t believe me, I can get security to look at the footage and confirm it if you like.

Guy: -starts almost yelling at this point- I didn’t ask for that! Ma’am, I DIDN’T ask for that!!

Me: -at this point I just didn’t want to deal with him anymore- Sir, I’m sorry, but I can’t help you anymore. I didn’t take your money.

At that point I walked away as my supervisor took over to talk to the guy. I helped a few other customers and then went to go clock out.

The supervisor saw what happened.

I could hear the guy still complaining and ranting over the supposed theft.

He eventually left, but I saw him come back in and talking to one of my managers about what had taken place.

I didn’t get in trouble or anything, my supervisor assured me she’d watched the whole thing and wasn’t quite sure why the guy was so insistent I took his cash.

She watched him take the bill out of the wallet, hand it to me, and saw me insert it into the machine.

So….yeah, that’s it. I mean unless the guy was pulling a very poor attempt at a bait and switch at the self checkout.

Wow. It is weird that the guy was so insistent that she stole his money.

It seems like he’s confused by more than self checkout.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This cashier has been in a similar situation.

Screenshot 2025 08 07 at 12.33.54 AM Employee Helps Older Man At Self Checkout, But Hes Convinced The Employee Is A Thief

Here’s what the customer seems to be thinking.

Screenshot 2025 08 07 at 12.34.07 AM Employee Helps Older Man At Self Checkout, But Hes Convinced The Employee Is A Thief

This is good advice.

Screenshot 2025 08 07 at 12.34.21 AM Employee Helps Older Man At Self Checkout, But Hes Convinced The Employee Is A Thief

Another cashier shares a similar story.

Screenshot 2025 08 07 at 12.34.51 AM Employee Helps Older Man At Self Checkout, But Hes Convinced The Employee Is A Thief

It was obvious this customer was lying.

Screenshot 2025 08 07 at 12.35.06 AM Employee Helps Older Man At Self Checkout, But Hes Convinced The Employee Is A Thief

Are these customers lying or stupid?

It can be hard to tell.

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.