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Being mistaken for an employee is usually pretty harmless. A customer asks where something is, you point them in the right direction, and everyone goes on with their day.

But what happens when the customer is so convinced you work there that somehow even the manager gets involved?

That’s exactly the crazy situation one shopper found herself in at her local Target.

She’s apparently been mistaken for store employees multiple times despite actively trying not to look like one.

How would you react in this situation?

Read the full story below.

You can’t fire me, I don’t work here.

Alright I didn’t know there was a subreddit for this but I got a story I just have to share because my friends and I laugh over it so much.

When I go out shopping I commonly get mistaken for a worker there.

This has happened to me at Costco, Walmart, Target, and even local franchises like Meijers and Woodmans.

Before you ask, no I do not try to wear colors that match the store employees, in fact I try to do the opposite.

She just looks like an employee, I guess.

I will literally be wearing all black in a store and someone will come up and ask me where something is, thinking I work at the store and know.

If I know where the item is, I obviously try to help out and give them general directions and if I don’t, I apologize and say, I don’t work there and that I typically don’t shop there much either.

Well, I was at my favorite local Target last month, in the beauty aisle, stocking up on my favorite body wash and a middle-aged woman comes up to me and very rudely ask me where an item was.

In her defense I was moving body wash out of the way because I couldn’t find the scent I liked and wanted to make sure it wasn’t behind another scent so maybe I looked like I was stocking shelves.

She left the most important detail for last.

And I happened to be wearing a red shirt.

I smiled and apologized saying I wasn’t sure where that item was but before I could say I didn’t work here she cut me off and said it was my job and I needed to look it up for her.

I dropped my smile and told her ‘that’s not my job’ to which she scoffed and said my manager would hear of this.

And I said “look I don’t work here, so I can’t help you” she of course scoffed again and walked away and I went back to picking up my things before heading to the self-checkout.

I paid for my stuff and went on my merry way.

But it was just the beginning of the story, really.

Before leaving I heard someone very loudly call out “Excuse me!” Right as I was walking out the door.

I turned my head and noticed the woman who stopped me earlier was at the returns desk, but I kept walking.

“Where do you think you’re going!?” Someone behind me yelled and I turned around, receipt in hand to show I paid for my stuff.

“You realize you are not in proper uniform! You do know that’s grounds for termination?!”

This woman in a target shirt, presumably a manager, looks me up and down in my red shirt and shorts and at this point I’m dying laughing inside.

She decided to have some fun with the situation.

How can she not tell that I don’t actually work here?

“I didn’t know I needed a uniform to shop here?” Was my answer.

Yes I know it probably would have been better to tell her I didn’t work for her, but I found the whole thing so funny and kinda wanted to see how far this manager would go.

“You think you’re so funny don’t you!” The manager said to me in response.

To which I shrugged and said “well, I don’t work for you so I don’t know why it matters”.

Then the whole vibe shifted.

Her angry face fell and she looked me up and down again. My purse in hand, car keys out, bag full of stuff and receipt out.

“I am so sorry” she said, shocked. “That woman pointed you out and I thought you were someone else”.

I shrugged again and said “maybe you should pay more attention to what your actual employees look like so the next time Karen comes and tries to get fired you don’t try to fire someone who doesn’t work here”.

She just nodded and turned around.

The Karen watched the whole exchange from the doors and a guy around my age walking into Target just laughed hysterically as I went to my car triumphantly beating two Karens in one day before treating myself to a trip to Micheal’s craft store!

This was like a comedy scene. What did Reddit think?

A reader shares their thoughts.

This reader shares their opinion.

Whoa.

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

Another reader chimes in.

Wow.

It’s crazy that even the manager felt the right to halt her on her way out and scold her.

But it’s good that she had some fun with this absurd situation.

She aggressively looks like an employee, apparently?

This manager really missed the target.