Imagine working as a cashier when you encounter rude customers who make suggestions like skipping your lunch break and working overtime. You can clearly tell they’ve never worked retail, and you find it very frustrating.

Would you keep smiling and be polite, or would you feel the need to correct them?

In this story, one cashier shares not one but two stories that involve customers who don’t know what it’s like to be a retail worker.

Keep reading for all the details.

Some people NEED to work retail

My least favorite customers, the ones I absolutely hate, are the ones who have no idea how retail works/what it’s like to be a retail employee.

A couple of weeks ago, my store was having a huge promotion, as well as a one-day sale. Needless to say, the lines were long and the complaints were plenty.

One of the cashier’s and merchandiser’s breaks overlapped a little, so my manager was forced to jump on front cash. No problem, right?

The customer noticed that they seemed short staffed.

One customer (C) I was ringing through commented how there didn’t seem to be much people on the floor.

I explained how our manager and a merchandiser were acting as cashiers while some people were having their lunch.

C: Oh, well can’t you pull them off and make them work?

Me: Well, they went home from lunch. (Lies: they were actually in the back)

The customer had another question.

C: Where’s your manager? (I point to the counter next to mine)

C: (to my manager) You know – you shouldn’t let your employees leave the store during their break. Instead, make them stay here and then you can make them work when it’s busy. (Me: whhattt????)

Manager: (oh..she’s totally ticked off) A lot of their breaks are an hour long. I’m not going to hold them hostage in our store for an hour.

C: (shrugs and walks off with that, “it’s your loss” look) I’m just telling you what I would do if I was manager.

OP thinks the customer is completely out of line.

Seriously? My break is my time.

Yes, there are times when my manager will ask me if I can cover for a bit, but that’s usually only so she can watch people she thinks might be shop-lifting and, even then, she gives me extra time off for my trouble.

Onto the next story…

This story takes place a couple of months ago. Our store closes at midnight and our manager, although pretty laid back, really doesn’t like it when we punch out later than we have to.

It’s a couple of minutes to midnight and all the tills are pulled except for one at front cash. This means that the pharmacy can’t cash out prescriptions any more. Although they’re closed, we have a 24 hour store literally right down the street.

Peering down the aisles, I don’t see anyone and figure that it’s going to be a good night.

But she was wrong.

All of a sudden, I catch a glimpse of them – a couple at the pharmacy counter.

I know that pharmacy won’t be filling out any prescriptions this close to midnight, but I still do the customary, “Our store will be closing in 5 minutes…” call. I figure this will get my point through.

They leave pharmacy – and start shopping. FML.

1 minute to close – they’re still there. I do the page again, this time forgoing any ‘pleases’ and ‘thank yous.’

Time to start shutting down.

Our lights go off. They’re still here.

My manager approached them and let them know that we’re closing up now, but the man had stuff in his hands and said that he was going to cash out now. Awesome!

12:05. What.the.heck.

Obviously the woman can see our merchandisers standing at front cash, unable to leave until signed out. She starts telling her husband, “Let’s go – they’re closed!”

His response? “What type of chips do you want?”

The husband is clearly not in a rush.

We’re not allowed to make them leave, so all of us just stand there in disbelief.

12:10: Their stuff is loaded on my counter and I start ringing them through. All of a sudden, the husband makes a dash for our seasonal aisle.

I ask the lady how she wants to pay and she sheepishly responds, “He has the money…”

12:15: He comes back with a chocolate lollipop. Apparently, that’s what was so important.

The husband was wrong.

He’s taking his sweet time, trying to make small talk, all the whilst his wife is trying to get him to hurry up. Then he dropped this gem – “It’s ok – they get paid overtime.”

At this point, I was so close to losing it and informing him that none of the people he was holding up were getting paid overtime. But, being the non-confrontational person that I am, I kept my mouth shut and cashed them out with a smile on my face.

My manager and I didn’t leave the store until 12:30 because I still had to count my till and close down the store.

Seeing that I still had a lot to do, my manager took pity on the rest of the staff and let them leave asap. I could tell that she was mad but, luckily, she didn’t say anything.

Both of those stories were clearly about customers who have never worked retail.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

This person wouldn’t have been as polite as the manager in this story.

Another person calls OP a “sweetheart.”

I hope this store paid their cashiers overtime.

Another person shares their experience at local sueprmarkets.

The manager really was too nice.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.