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It’s hard enough starting your first job without having a customer make you feel terrible for still learning.

One cashier saw that happen when her 18-year-old trainee asked for help finding a customer’s rewards account.

The trainee was only on her second day, but the man quickly lost patience and started talking down to her.

Once the employee saw that she was close to tears, she stepped in and reminded him exactly who was still learning.

Even then, he kept pushing until she finally shut the interaction down.

Read on to see how the rest of the team handled it afterward.

The day my cashier trainee cried, and I almost screamed at the customer for it

I have a new coworker. She’s 18, and this is her first job. Second day on registers, hasn’t learned the customer service grin and overly nice voice yet.

So she calls me over for help with a transaction. She always asks for my help because I congratulate her on learning so fast to build her confidence. She’s learning faster than I did. I don’t want to remember my training days!

She’s trying to look up his rewards card. She can’t find it under his phone number, so she is asking him if she can look it up under his name.

He’s being rude, and she asks him twice how to spell his name. His last name is common, but it could be spelled differently from the usual, so she asks.

Every time the cashier said something, the guy had something smart to say.

He snaps, “Don’t you know how to spell Johnson? Why can’t you look it up under my address?! You guys ALWAYS DO!!” We’ll call this guy Grumpy Awful (GA).

Trainee: “I just wanted to make sure I did it right, sir.” Tears well up in her eyes.

GA: throws up his hands and yells, “YOU JUST THINK YOU’RE THE CIC (Cashier in Charge), DON’T YOU? DON’T TAKE IT PERSONAL.”

I interrupt: “No, sir. I’M THE CASHIER IN CHARGE. It’s her second day and first job. Your patience would be appreciated.”

And she had to stand up to him again.

GA’s self-satisfied look at making a teenage girl cry kind of fades.

I quietly instruct her on how to finish the transaction, and he snaps, “What are you two whispering about?!”

Me: “She is my trainee. She is learning. I am instructing her.”

She hands him the receipt, and he opens his mouth to say something I bet is another insult, and I yell to the next person and motion them forward, “I CAN GET WHO’S NEXT,” shutting him down as a new customer shuffles forward and throws her bag of dog food down on the counter, glaring at him.

By this point, the girl is holding back tears.

Trainee is holding back tears.

Afterward, I told her to feel free to use the excuse of being new for, like, two months, so she doesn’t get picked on. To call me if they want someone to yell at. I’m not a manager, but dang, don’t insult my trainee.

The next customer was patient about her figuring out manufacturer’s coupons and thankful.

I thanked him for being nice and helping her learn by being patient when presenting her with something new. I think he saw the tears in her eyes she was holding back. It’s hard to be rude to a crying girl who’s just barely 18.

Though she did nothing wrong, the manager still had a talk with her.

The manager brought her back to the office and coached her on the fact that rude customers are rare, and when she can exit a verbal abuse situation or shut it down by using conflict mediation skills. She didn’t do anything wrong.

After that, I told her she did well and that guy is ALWAYS a jerk.

My manager said next time GA is in, she should call him to ring GA through because he wanted to give him a piece of his mind about picking on teenage girls.

I feel awful because my first completely awful customer was 8 months in, and I did cry and get angry, but I got over it by ranting to coworkers. I told her if she needs any help ever, I’m here! Poor gal. I’m glad we’re all here for her.

Eek! Dealing with a customer like that so soon is enough to make some cashiers run.

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

This reader would like some advice.

Here’s what this person would’ve said.

Thoughts from a former retail worker.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who received a work email from a place she never even applied.

Because some people just have no patience.

That guy should be embarrassed.

There’s absolutely no reason to talk down to an 18-year-old on her second day just because she asked him to spell his name.

What really stands out, though, is how quickly everyone around her stepped in once they saw what was happening.

For a first job, she may have gotten unlucky with the customer, but she clearly got lucky with the people she works with.