Some customer questions are so baffling that they make your brain short-circuit.

So, what would you do if a grown man stared at you from across the checkout counter and asked, “How am I supposed to pay?”

Would you assume he was joking and laugh? Or would you stumble through trying to explain the obvious?

In the following story, one cashier faces this exact situation and is left stunned.

Here’s what happened.

“How am I supposed to pay?”

I work at a Midwest-based retail supercenter in the capital of the state it was founded in. We have the electric pony rides that are a penny and all that stuff.

It’s usually wonderful, I like most everyone I work with and most of the customers.

On this lovely day, shortly before my shift’s end, a man in his late thirties comes and loads his order onto the belt, and I start scanning. It’s a medium-sized order, so he quickly unloads and positions himself in the optimal range for payment.

Now, my middle school English teacher taught us to avoid the use of “out of nowhere.” Things, generally, do not occur “out of nowhere.” There is a build to most everything, even the most random of events.

Suddenly, he asked the weirdest question she’d ever heard.

So, I ask you to believe me when, out of nowhere, this grown man asks me: “How do I pay?”

I freeze, still placing a jar in a plastic bag with my left hand while preparing to scan a carton of almond milk with my other. My neck snaps upward to look upon this asker of strange questions. “What?”

“How do I pay?” He asks once more, tapping the PIN pad. “This says, “Scan, tap, or swipe. I don’t have a card.”

I blink a few times. “How do you plan to pay then?”

She made it through, but was utterly shocked at the stupidity.

“Cash.”

I feel my brain explode, bouncing around my skull, and reply, “You…you hand me the money.”

I’d lost any semblance of my customer service voice. I was operating on the unexploded, reptilian part of my brain.

The man and I continued to make strong eye contact. I blink a few more times. Then, a sudden realization hits him. He drops his gaze. “Oh…”

Somehow, I make it through. He hands me his money, and I give him his change. Mercifully, Dilbert the Questioner vacates my line. I shut off my light and bestow this tale upon my service coordinator, promptly shattering her brain.

Yikes! It’s hard not to wonder if he was joking or something.

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think about this whole thing.

Probably not.

For this person, paying in cash makes them feel awkward.

Here’s someone who sympathizes with the man.

Ummm…. seriously?

There must’ve been more to this.

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.