May 12, 2026 at 1:21 am

A Checkout Interaction Went Wrong When a Customer Kept Requesting Scans Without Being Able to Pay

by Sarrah Murtaza

customer check out

Pexels

There are annoying customers and then there are customers you simply cannot stand!

Imagine helping a customer, scanning all of her items, but then you find out she doesn’t have a payment method with her. Would you hold onto the items for her while she finds a way to pay, or would you send all the items back to be restocked on the shelves?

In this story, a cashier shares how a customer put her in this exact situation, and it just kept getting worse!

Check out the full story.

Losing my mind over a customer

Lady comes in, has about 35 items.

I ring her out and she keeps saying “take that off, put that back on, now take that” over and over for about 6 items.

We FINALLY get the cart where she wants it and SHE DOESNT HAVE A PAYMENT METHOD.

Okay, okay, whatever that’s fine, she walks away, I void the order.

But that wasn’t the last she saw of the customer.

And so my desk is covered in all her items because the return bin can’t hold everything.

So I ring out more people.

She cuts the line 10 minutes later (it’s Sunday it’s super busy) and says “how much was everything”

I say “I don’t remember” it was 30 customers ago.

This is such a waste of time!

She says “go ahead and ring everything up again”

Okay, rude.

I call for back up so customers aren’t waiting on me and her.

I ring up everything again…. she still didn’t have a payment method.

She was being IMPOSSIBLE!

She says “I’m waiting for my boyfriend”… we stand there for 10 minutes. (Someone else is ringing out the customers and I’m dealing with her.

Then she walks away and I think, oh maybe she is grabbing the card.

She doesn’t return.

So I void the order again.

This sounds so frustrating!

She comes back in around 15 minutes later, she says to ring everything again so I assume she has the payment method now.

Fun fact, she didn’t.

And then she just walked away AGAIN…. maybe she will come back who knows. And there are other things that were annoying about this customer as well.

Like 1 item had no tag and the first transaction I told her “this has no tag I can’t sell it” and she kept forgetting through every single transaction attempt “what about that collar?” “…no tag..” she talks a bit more “what about that collar?” (same transaction attempt) “…no tag. it has no tag.”

That’s INSANE!

I had to tell her 5 times there was no tag.

Oh and she dropped her dog so there’s also that.

I have been in customer service for years, I have had plenty of rude customers at different jobs and stuff this is the first time a customer actually made me so mad I was about to cry.

Just every sentence out of her mouth either didn’t make sense or I had already answered 5 times “how many dollars were these 3 items alone?”

“I don’t know” (tax, I’m not gonna just math it in my head like what? I already scanned all 35 items I’m not gonna delete 32 items to find out that takes forever with out slow system and its Sunday we are super busy)… on the 3rd time scanning everything btw

OUCH! That sounds like a horrible customer!

Why would she continue helping her?

Let’s find out what folks on Reddit think about this story.

This user knows normal humans don’t behave like this!

Screenshot 2026 04 05 183845 A Checkout Interaction Went Wrong When a Customer Kept Requesting Scans Without Being Able to Pay

This user thinks this customer might have had an ulterior motive.

Screenshot 2026 04 05 183900 A Checkout Interaction Went Wrong When a Customer Kept Requesting Scans Without Being Able to Pay

This user all believes this customer was trying to steal stuff!

Screenshot 2026 04 05 183917 A Checkout Interaction Went Wrong When a Customer Kept Requesting Scans Without Being Able to Pay

This user feels sorry for this employee!

Screenshot 2026 04 05 183940 A Checkout Interaction Went Wrong When a Customer Kept Requesting Scans Without Being Able to Pay

That’s right! This user believes this customer was crazy!

Screenshot 2026 04 05 183958 A Checkout Interaction Went Wrong When a Customer Kept Requesting Scans Without Being Able to Pay

What an irritating customer!

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.