Sometimes, you encounter a customer who thinks they know your job better than you do.

So, what would you do if a customer started criticizing you from the moment they arrived in the checkout lane? Would you speed through their transaction to get them out faster? Or would you take it slow and make sure you do everything by the book?

In the following story, one cashier finds herself facing this decision and decides to take her time. Here’s what happened next.

Customer demands I follow every single step in my cashier protocol… so I do

So, I work in retail as a temp and regularly work the cash register.

Now, our shop has a loyalty card (which also works with a bunch of other shops) and a sticker-collecting campaign (1 sticker for each 5 € spent, and 20 stickers get you a “discount” on certain items from whatever producer partners with the campaign). This is important for later.

Enter annoyed customer (AC from now on): Things started off difficult. The customer in front of her had an item with a torn barcode, which meant that I had to run back into the store to check the price.

The woman was rude from the start.

AC was mad right away, letting out a huge sigh, asking if I couldn’t go faster, complaining about her ice cream melting, and asking if I couldn’t just let her go before the other customer (which would have required me to call my shift manager to cancel the other customer’s products).

Anyway, I finish with the other customer, and AC gets her turn.

I am slightly irritated, so I didn’t smile as much as I usually do and let out a very gentle sigh, and that’s when AC goes all in on me: “Don’t you know the cashier protocol? You have to be friendly towards your customers, you rude idiot!”

Then, the customer tried to tell her how to do her job.

Now, remember the loyalty card from the beginning? Asking whether a customer had one was part of our cashier protocol (though I do make exceptions, depending on how I read the customer or if I know that they don’t have one).

So, partly to annoy her and partly because it was my job, I was about to ask when AC cut me off: “Also, you have to ask me whether or not I have a loyalty card.”

So I do, and she answers with “No, and stop annoying me with that ****!”

Fed up, the cashier decided to turn it around on her.

At this point, I am truly upset, but I haven’t forgotten what she said about the cashier protocol, and to my luck, she decides to pay with her credit card and is required to sign her bill.

Now, at this point, she seems to be in a hurry. Before I could, she snatches the credit card away as soon as the machine beeps, and starts putting it away.

Cue the malicious compliance: “Excuse me, you still have to sign here. Also, the cashier protocol dictates that I compare the signature on the bill with the signature on your credit card, so if you could please give me the card again.”

The woman finally stormed off.

She throws me a deadly glare, and I just give her the “sorry, it’s part of the protocol” shoulder shrug as she hands me her card and I swear, I only looked at it for 2-3 seconds longer, than I usually would, but I could see in her face, that it must have felt like hours for her.

I give back the card and follow up with “Would you like some loyalty stickers too?” (also part of the protocol), and at that point, she just storms off in anger.

Thankfully, I have never encountered her again.

Yikes! That was very well-played, though.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about it.

This reader thinks elderly people do this the most.

Wiping off Sharpie is pretty impressive.

Now, this is ridiculous.

This would’ve been icing on the cake.

That was beyond rude. It seems like something had rubbed her the wrong way.

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.