One of the most frustrating thing about working a customer-facing job can be not being able to take breaks as and when you need to. Because in a slower-paced job, or one with less immediate demands, you’re able to go to the bathroom, grab a coffee or eat your lunch whenever you want. In a customer-focused job however, your bathroom needs – as well as eating and drinking – are dictated either by a schedule (which is planned by someone else, and can often be inconsistent) or by the demands of customers. In some workplaces, a sudden rush of customers mean delayed breaks, no matter what you might personally need.

All this disregards the fundamental needs that come with being a human. We need to eat. We need to drink. We need to go to the bathroom. And sometimes we just need a couple of minutes’ peace in order to re-ground ourselves and be the good employees that we want to be. So workplaces who understand and accommodate this really are fantastic.

The employee in this story works for a store that is so keen to ensure that employees take their full breaks, that they are legally not permitted to do any work at all while they’re off the clock. Not that all customers understand that.

Read on to find out why.

“If you’re in the building, you’re working.”

So, I used to work at a very big very high profile retail store. I was a cashier, and most often was supervising the self check. My town isn’t huge, so most of the customers would at least recognize me.

If you worked a certain amount of time, you were required to take an hour lunch break. When we had our lunch break, we fully clocked out, and had no access to anything in the system.

We were also told that we were expressly not allowed to do any work tasks or help any customers while on our break. If we did the store could get in huge trouble, and we ourselves could even get fired.

I did different things on my break, but this particular day I had decided to buy a few things for lunch in the store, and then head home to hang out with my mom while I ate, since I lived really close.

But those plans were scuppered by a rude customer.

I happily procured my miscellaneous goodies, including a treat for my mom, and happily stood in the line at the self check, waiting for a register. I had my work vest with me, but it was off and slung over my shoulder.

When I was next in line and a register opened, this lady shoved past me, literally knocking a precious pack of beef jerky out of my hands, and beelined over to the open register.

I was annoyed, but I didn’t want to waste my lunch break and she wasn’t worth a confrontation. So I just quietly picked up my jerky, and made my way over to another register, which had opened up literally about ten seconds later.

I was just happily and quietly scanning my goodies, when I heard snapping and a loud “Hey!” I turn around and find the same woman glaring at me.

Let’s see how the employee responded to the woman’s demands.

I blinked at her bewildered, before she said, “Hey, I need help over here. I scanned this twice, I need you to take it off.”

I looked over and saw that my coworker, who was actually over the self check, was helping someone else. I look back at Karen and smile and politely say “Oh, sorry. I’m on lunch break right now, so I can’t help you. But coworker should be free to help in just a second.”

Karen did not like that. She glared at me, before asking. “Why can’t you help me? You’re right here?”

I blinked at her and explained that I wasn’t clocked in, because I was on my lunch break. I could get in trouble for helping her, and I couldn’t really even if I wanted to, because my ID wouldn’t work in the system while I was clocked out.

But that explanation wasn’t good enough for the woman.

Karen stomped her foot and insisted, “That’s ******* stupid! You work here! If you’re in the building, you’re working. You have to come help me.”

At this point my coworker was done, and had walked over to help, but Karen wasn’t having it. “No! I asked them to help, they should do their ******* job! They’re just being lazy!”

I just started ignoring the lady and went back to checking out while my coworker tried to explain to her that I wasn’t on the clock and couldn’t help. But she was not having it. This adult woman threw the stuff she was buying on the ground, leaving her cart and everything there, and marched over to the customer service desk when my manager was standing.

Karen then brought my manager over to the self check and loudly exclaimed, “Your employee was refusing to help me and being extremely rude!” As this point I’d finished checking out, and was standing by the self check exit.

Read on to find out what happened when the manager came over.

My manager just looks at me and said “Are you on the clock?” I told her nope, and that I was just trying to get my lunch and go home. So the third person sternly explained to this woman that I was not on the clock and I was not allowed to or able to help her.

Instead of going back and getting help from my coworker, she stormed out screaming about she was never going to shop there again. Lol okay cool, lady. I won’t miss you.

It didn’t even stop there. As I was talking to my manager and a few coworkers and explaining what happened, Karen’s husband came in. He went to Karen’s register, finished checking out and paid, then came over to us. He then told me that his wife was in the car sobbing and in severe emotional distress because of how I treated her and embarrassed her, and said, “I hope you’re real proud of yourself.”

I just grinned at him and gave him a thumbs up. As he was walking out, my managed told me I should feel free to take an extra thirty if I wanted. I then happily skipped home, to enjoy my jerky in peace. Believe it or not Karen, retail workers do in fact have basic human needs and rights.

Some people are so entitled.

Imagine hearing the store policy and, instead of saying ‘okay’ and moving on, demanding special treatment.

These kind of people are a special type of rude.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a hardware store employee who lost his cool with customers wandering around after closing time.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit made of this.

This person called out the husband for enabling his wife.

While others were used to this kind of behaviour.

And this Redditor commended the employee’s response.

Seriously, a store policy is a store policy, and no customer is special enough to change that. It’s not just the fact that the woman demanded help from an employee who was off the clock – it’s the fact that she started off by barging them and then was verbally abusive to a total of three members of staff, all because she wasn’t getting her own way. It’s like she thinks she’s superior to the employees, all of whom are entitled to time off, lunch breaks, and all the other things that human beings need.

But the truly awful thing is the way that her husband turned up to finish the transaction, picking up all the groceries that she’d left strewn around in her tantrum, before berating the employees himself too. She wasn’t crying in the car because she was embarrassed – if she even was crying at all, it was because she wasn’t allowed to get her own way in the situation. And by coming in to get his own jab at the employees, he’s enabling her whilst taking his own opportunity to be abusive too.