Have you ever said something that you thought was just a funny comment, but you later realized that you really messed up because you didn’t realize how the person you were talking to might feel about that comment?

In this story, one cashier did just that. He made a comment implying that the middle school math teacher wasn’t very good. I don’t think he really meant it, and I assume he was just joking around.

However, he later realized that he really shouldn’t have said that because his customer was actually the middle school math teacher.

Keep reading to see what led up to this interaction and how he reacted when he realized what he’d done.

Your dad’s the math teacher? Oops.

Short story here, but I thought it was a bit funny and somewhat embarrassing.

Running register one day when This older man comes in with two children. They find their items and bring them up.

This seems like a normal transaction.

Our company uses a loyalty card where nearly everything that is bought adds points to the card which can be redeemed for just about anything and the man had a loyalty card.

I ring up his purchase, scan his card, and cash him out.

After every transaction involving the loyalty card a receipt prints out with the total on it.

I hand the receipt to the customer and his daughter takes it from him.

His daughter read the receipt wrong.

“Look dad, we have nearly five thousand five hundred points.”

I had seen the total on the receipt so was not surprised when her dad says “honey, look again.”

It was actually nearly fifty-five thousand points.

Her younger brother was shaking his head and me, being a smart aleck, say “do you happen to go to ‘local middle school’?”

He said something he’d later regret.

“Yes I do, how did you know?”

“Lucky guess based on your math skills.”

Her brother laughed and her dad gave me a bit of a funny look but then walked out.

Now, he understands the funny look.

After they left my coworker said “dude, do you know who that was?”

“No, should I?”

“He is the middle school math teacher.”

Whoops.

He insulted the customer without even realizing it or meaning to. I hope the customer didn’t think he did that on purpose.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a hotel guest who complained about noise from an event, then reported the employee who agreed with him.

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Yeah, this is pretty much what happened.

This is a good point.

This is true.

Yeah, the joke didn’t land.

Let’s be honest, the joke wasn’t funny, and he definitely said it to the wrong person. Even if the customer hadn’t been the middle school math teacher, it was still a rude thing to say to a middle school student. And, reading numbers isn’t exactly the same as doing math wrong. She just looked at the receipt too quickly and didn’t read it correctly. It’s not that big of a deal.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a barista whose keen eye uncovered a customer scheme for free coffee.