When you’re dealing with the public, small mistakes can turn into huge problems.

So, what would you do if two customers mixed their groceries together, and one of them blamed you for something going missing? Would you assume the lady was lying? Or would you apologize and tell her to go grab more?

In the following story, one cashier does just that, but the lady tries to walk out without paying. Here’s how it all played out.

“The cashier gave my ice cream away!”

I’m a cashier at a big grocery store. I’m checking out a woman who has a $100+ purchase and making conversation with her.

I’m about halfway through her groceries when an old lady starts putting her stuff on the conveyor belt. Between the two women’s food, there isn’t a single empty spot on my belt.

I’m still swiping things through when the woman I’m currently checking looks down and says, “Oh, those aren’t mine!”

The first lady was very nice and understanding.

We figured out that I’d just scanned like five things from the old lady because, of course, she didn’t put a divider at the start of her purchase, and she didn’t leave any space between her stuff and the other lady’s.

We’re getting confused because, like I said, I scanned quite a few things before anyone realized the mistake.

The old lady is just looking at me and not offering any help on exactly where her groceries start. So I voided everything I wasn’t supposed to scan and then finished the lady’s purchase; she was really nice and understanding.

Suddenly, the second lady started talking about missing ice cream.

Then I start scanning the old lady’s stuff, starting with the items I had to void on the last customer’s order. She didn’t have that many items, so I was able to quickly get her through.

She takes her receipt and thanks me.

But before walking off, she keeps standing at the card swiper (while I’m already working on the next order) to check her receipt. It isn’t long before she rudely announces, “You didn’t charge me for my ice cream!”

I’m looking around and glancing in her cart. No ice cream.

Then, her friend walks up.

So, of course, I realized the ice cream must have ended up with the other lady, and we didn’t see that it had made it into her cart. I explain and apologize to the old lady for what must have happened and tell her she can go grab her ice cream again.

At this point, another old lady comes up who is a friend of the one I’m dealing with, and says, “What’s taking so long?”

The old lady said, “The cashier gave my ice cream away!”

The lady tries to leave without paying.

I ignored her comment as she went back to the freezer section and grabbed her ice cream. She has 3 half-gallons. I’m thinking, “Wow, this old lady didn’t see that her 3 big tubs of ice cream were missing from the belt when I started scanning her items!?”

She comes back to her cart, plops the ice cream into her cart, and starts walking out the door. I (politely) yell to her, “Ma’am, you haven’t had those rung up!”

She huffs, starts backing up, and tries to get back into my line IN FRONT of the person whose stuff I’m currently scanning, like I’m just going to stop scanning my current order and help her…

Yikes! Those types of situations are always kinda stressful.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who was on break when she was physically dragged back to the register by a customer.

Let’s see what the people over at Reddit think about it.

This person is short and can’t reach the dividers.

Here’s a former cashier who would put dividers down for the customers.

Here’s someone who can relate.

This reader dealt with something similar.

People can be so rude! And it’s annoying when they don’t take responsibility for things that are clearly their fault.