Accidents have a way of turning the simplest retail shifts into unforgettable memories.

One employee learned this the hard way when a quick grab for a bottle of fragrance turned into a messy disaster right at a customer’s feet.

Luckily, the customer spared the employee most of his wrath.

Read on to find out how it all played out!

Ruined a mans sneakers

In my 8 years of working in retail, I’ve only had one other incident where I felt so scared and mortified at what I did while helping a customer!

She sets the scene.

I, 27, female, work at a popular fragrance store at my local mall. It was an hour before closing when a couple walked in to shop. I greeted them and told them the sale for the day before heading back to my register.

After about ten or fifteen minutes, they came to my register to check out. I noticed the lady needed three more products to complete the promo we were having, so I informed her of this. She then went to get three more products.

She was in a hurry, so she was less careful than she normally was.

I noticed the lady grabbed a try spray, so I went to grab another spray from the top shelf near where her man was standing before she got back to my register.

This is where it all happened.

Her normal shift soon descended into chaos.

I somehow, in my rush to get back to the register before the lady returned to finish getting the rest of her purchase, basically pushed the spray I was grabbing from the top shelf to the floor.

The top of it snapped cleanly off when it hit the floor right beside this man’s foot, spilling the contents all over his sneakers!

She’s immediately apologetic, and luckily the customer seems to understand.

I immediately froze with a red, embarrassed face and the fear of God in my eyes as I waited for his reaction.

He slowly looked down and made a joke about how at least my shoes will smell good now as I apologized and tried to clean it up. Then he told me it’s okay, they are just shoes.

But he clearly looked annoyed. The rest of the transaction went normal.

I’m so thankful he was calm about it. I’m pretty sure his shoes were ruined though… hopefully he doesn’t complain to corporate.

Moments like these will definitely leave your heart racing.

What did Reddit think?

Perhaps an added discount would have helped cover this employee from any further complaints.

Sometimes embarrassing moments don’t fade with time.

This commenter doesn’t seem to think it’s that big of a deal.

This story definitely turned out a lot better than it could have.

In the end, the customer kept his cool, but the embarrassment lingered just like the spilled scent.

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.