With some people, no amount of reason will get through to them.

So, what would you do if a stranger mistakenly assumed you worked at a store and kept ranting while accidentally paying for your groceries in the process? Would you stop her? Or would you just wait and see how it plays out?

In the following story, one shopper encounters this exact situation and can’t get a word in edgewise. Here’s the story.

Most useless self-service cashier ever…

About 2 years ago, I (M) was in the supermarket doing some shopping after work, wearing just a white t-shirt and some jeans.

It wasn’t that busy, so there was only one regular cash register open, with 2 or 3 people in line, and a set of like 6 self-scan registers.

After collecting my basket full of groceries, I walked to the self-scan area and was finishing up scanning the last item in my basket when Karen (K) showed up.

K: “Ugh, don’t you have a policy that if the line is longer than 2 people, you open additional registers?”

The woman kept making comments.

I’m wondering why she’s complaining to me in the otherwise empty self-scan area, but I decide to answer anyway.

M: “Uhm, nobody is waiting at these registers (pointing around me), so I guess that doesn’t apply?”

K: “Well, I don’t like to be kept waiting.”

M: “Er, ok?”

Then, she finally said it.

K: “Aren’t you going to scan my groceries? Or do I have to do everything myself?”

I’m completely flabbergasted, and say, “Huh? I don’t…”

She steps up to the register and starts scanning the few items she had, effectively adding them to my tab, interrupting my response with an exaggerated sigh, and says, “The youth nowadays is so lazy and …”

When it was time to pay, she didn’t pay attention at all.

Anyway, she goes off on a long rant about how the youth is useless (I’m in my 30s) and that customer service is worthless, and how she still has the ethics that she was taught as child to work hard and whatnot. I cannot get a single word in.

In the mean time, she finishes scanning her items, and taps her way through the payment process without checking the final list of items on her receipt, nor checking the price and pays the bill.

Finally she takes a breath, and I repeat what I was trying to say all along, “Look, I don’t work here.”

At this point, he wasn’t going to correct her.

K: “No. Indeed, you just stand here, costing the company money. I’ve never seen a more useless cashier.”

At that point my groceries were paid for (by her) and I was tired of her condescension, so I just sarcastically said “Thanks” and let her go on her way.

If she really wants to pay for my groceries, and insults me when I’m trying to warn her, I’m not going to stop her. 🙂

Wow! It sounds like she got some instant karma.

Let’s see how the readers over at Reddit feel about what happened.

Something says this probably isn’t it.

For this person, it was actually good luck.

This person wants to see the video.

According to this comment, that was a good deal.

It definitely wasn’t his fault! But hey, it seems like he was in the right place at the right time.

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.