Wearing any kind of uniform in public can lead to the wrong assumptions.

Imagine you were shopping at a local grocery store when someone approached you and asked for the location of a specific item. But the problem was that they were rude, and you didn’t work there. Would you help them anyway? Or would you refuse and go on about your business?

In the following story, one woman finds herself in this situation and tries to ignore the other customer. Here’s how it all went down.

Went into a grocery store in my work uniform from completely different place, was yelled at by another customer for not knowing where things were in the store.

I went into a chain grocery store here in the US- not the one with a star logo, but the one with a red and white S logo, while on a mid-day break at the chain restaurant I worked for at the time.

I kept my apron on, but my name tag always went in my pocket when I wasn’t on the clock. So, I was really only halfway in uniform, and my apron clearly stated what restaurant I worked for in black, embroidered lettering.

I’d been in the store for less than a minute when a man in his mid to late 50s came up and very rudely asked me where he could find something in the store.

The guy went and found the store manager.

Now, even though I knew which aisle the item was on since I spent a fair amount of time in that store, I wasn’t about to help a pretentious self who didn’t bother to ask nicely- especially when I, myself, was a customer.

I told him I didn’t know and that he’d have to find an employee who works there to help him.

He decides to kick it up a notch, screaming that he was going to “find my manager” and “let them know what kind of incompetent employees they have working in this store.”

I told him good luck with that and walked off to go do my shopping.

About five minutes passed, I’ve found my items, checked out, and was walking toward the door to leave. He indeed found not just a manager, but the store manager.

Good thing she already knew the manager.

It just so happened that he was the one I happened to converse with regularly when I came in for my shopping, so I decided to inconspicuously wait a moment for him to notice me and point me out to “my” manager.

“That’s her! She didn’t even know where I could find my item! How can you employ idiots like that?”

Bless the store manager, because when he saw me, I saw the grin form on his face. He knew who I was, where I worked, and that I was a regular customer. “Sir, that isn’t one of my employees. She is one of my regular customers, who comes in almost daily.”

This wasn’t the only time it happened.

The horrified look on his face made my whole day, as he stalked out of the store in shame, not having purchased his item. He didn’t utter another word on his way out.

The manager came up to me, made sure I was okay, and asked if I was really sure I didn’t want a job working under him, with a chuckle- knowing I’d also give a laugh, and assured him I enjoyed my at-the-time job far too much to leave.

Funniest part? This happened four more times with different people in that store, and after the last one, the store manager joked that maybe he should post a photo of me at the entrance with a sign reading, “She doesn’t work here.”

Wow! It’s almost like she should work there.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier who gave her phone number to be friendly to a guest, but immediately wished she could take it back.

Let’s check out how the readers over at Reddit feel about this situation.

This reader doesn’t understand why people have to be so rude.

For this person, it’s all about egocentric thinking.

Here’s someone who can see why he made the mistake.

This reader will help anyone who’s nice, but not those who are rude.

Knowing the manager made it better. They must’ve laughed about that for a while.