People often underestimate how tough customer service jobs can be, especially when a bad encounter leaves someone shaken.

One customer shared a kind word with a retail worker without even thinking, but they never expected the positivity to make one overworked cashier cry.

Read on for the full story.

I was a customer… and I made the cashier cry.

Really… I had no idea.

I was checking out of the local home supply warehouse and used my store credit card for my purchase, which consisted of a couple of pallets of fencing materials.

The customer described their experience at the store.

The cashier didn’t look like she was new. This particular store has everyone wearing orange vests, and they are encouraged to decorate them.

Hers was starting to look a little shabby, but it had lots of colored drawings of flowers all over it. She’d been here for a while.

And she was wooden. She was doing her job quickly and efficiently, but I might as well have been invisible.

This cashier wasn’t exactly the talkative type.

No eye contact, no talk, no life. Taking my cue from her, after my initial “hello,” I stayed quiet.

When I pulled out my store credit card, she asked me if she could see my ID too.

This customer really appreciated this, so they spoke up and thanked her.

I’ve been the victim of identity theft before. My credit cards have my signature and a “see ID” on the back. Even now, I have a fraud alert on my credit.

So I’m VERY happy when cashiers ask to see my ID, and I ALWAYS tell them “thank you” in a cheerful manner.

“Thank you so much for asking!” I said as I pulled out my ID. “I’m always so glad when a cashier asks! I know people give you crap for it, but it really does mean a lot to me. So thank you.”

But the cashier had quite the unexpected reaction to the customer’s gratitude.

And she started crying! It wasn’t like she was bawling, but her eyes teared up and her voice got that tremulous tone we have all experienced at some point in our lives.

The customer decided to stay and comfort her.

There weren’t any other customers, so we talked for a few minutes about how terrible customers can be, and she regained her composure again.

Apparently, another customer had read her the riot act for something or another (I’m not sure what), and it had really hurt her.

This customer never expected this reaction!

What did Reddit think?

This commenter enjoyed the story for several reasons.

Apparently there’s more that goes on behind the scenes that customers don’t always see.

This user expected the story to go in a different direction.

Perhaps this customer could have taken their act of kindness one step further.

All it took was a little kindness to turn this cashier’s day around in a big way.

That small thank you turned out to mean way more than they even realized.

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