Retail has a way of exhausting even the most dedicated employee.

So when a brand new cashier was thrown into a chaotic garden sale with no training and no experience, she handled every question with patience and grace — until a grumpy customer decided to ruin her day.

Except he picked the wrong moment, the wrong employee, and the wrong manager to do it in front of.

Keep reading for the full story.

Hello darkness, my old friend

I work at a hardware store, and like many, it has a large garden section that at this time of year is a madhouse.

They have a huge sale once a year that customers apparently travel and plan for, and I started working there mere days before it as a cashier.

Unfortunately, this employee didn’t feel particularly well equipped for the job.

I will preface all this with the fact that I only applied at this place because I’ve been jobless for over a year and I was desperate. I know nothing about hardware of any kind.

Since there was no time to train me on cash, they threw me into garden on the big sale day to just help contain the chaos.

I’d fielded questions all day long, hunted down people with the answers, and slowly started finding answers on my own.

Then in came a pair of notable customers.

In comes Grumpy Old Man (GOM) and his Apologetic Wife (AW) around 3pm — when I have been running back and forth in the hot sun, sweating, moving heavy carts, getting dirt down my shirt, restocking, and rethinking my life choices since 9am.

GOM: “Hey, do you know what I can plant by my tomatoes to keep deer away?” In less than a patient tone.

Me: “I can find someone who does, I’ll —”

But there were more questions.

GOM: waves his hand dismissively. “Where do I find the lemon trees?”

Me: Oh great, he’s gonna be like that. “Not out front, so maybe in the back because I haven’t seen them out here. Let me go find out for you —”

GOM: Clearly annoyed now and just rapid firing questions. “Well, do you know if this petunia is an annual or a perennial?”

Me: “Sir, I don’t know, but —” Please just let me go find out for you.

A very familiar feeling starts to creep in.

GOM: Now raising his voice at me like I’ve insulted him somehow by being clueless. “Well, where’s the grass seed?”

Me: Ah, there’s that old humiliated and defenseless feeling. It’s been a while, retail. “…Sir, I don’t know, but my coworker has a lot of knowledge in this. Please just let me get her —”

AW: “[GOM], will you please stop?”

GOM: While gesturing to the entire outdoor garden section and shouting loud enough for everyone to hear. “Why are you even here if you don’t know anything?!”

Finally, the cashier was done being patient.

Me: And I’m fresh out of care to give, so I’ll raise my voice right back. “Sir, I was hired to be a cashier two days ago. I’m currently helping out in garden during the big sale. Now, I CAN go get you the answers you want, sir, but I CAN’T stand here and be abused by you.”

I admit, my voice was shaking and I was holding back exhausted and frustrated tears, so it wasn’t very impressive.

AW: Tugs on her husband’s arm. “Stop it, we’re leaving.”

GOM finally walks away in a huff, and I turn around to see one of the department managers (thankfully not the store manager) standing behind me.

Luckily, this manager had a heart.

I had no idea what management was really like here yet — if I was going to be in trouble for unfair reasons or if they’d have my back.

I couldn’t tell what her expression was, but she told me to go take a water break.

I was terrified I was going to be jobless again and cried angry tears in the bathroom for a few minutes before cleaning up and getting a water bottle from the break room where she was waiting.

My relief when she patted me on the back and said I was doing great was pretty obvious. She just laughed and told me to come back out when I was ready.

That was pretty much the end of the drama, fortunately.

The rest of the day was cake compared to the morning rush and that old jerk.

Ah, retail. You haven’t changed a bit since I’ve been gone.

What a nightmare.

What did Reddit think?

The wife appeared to be just as annoyed with this guy as the employee.

Just because you work retail doesn’t mean you deserve to get treated as less than human.

Not all employees can hack it in this kind of environment.

Never mess with a retail employee who’s at the end of their rope.

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.