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Working retail has a way of turning a routine Tuesday shift into a story you’ll be telling people about for years.

A phone store employee helping a confused customer with her husband’s “broken” phone found the whole interaction going nowhere fast, with vague answers and zero actual information about what was wrong.

Things took an unexpected turn when the woman pulled out a blank notebook, apparently hoping the employee could fill in the details for her, and a cockroach came crawling out of it instead.

What followed involved a notepad, some quick reflexes, and a level of confusion that employee had never before experienced.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

Cockroach crawled off this lady today. She did not react.

I work at a phone store. A woman came in for help with her husband’s phone.

From the start, this wasn’t the most productive conversation.

She couldn’t tell me what was wrong with it or why he sent her in there, just that we needed to fix it. Asking her questions was like trying to swim in a pool of molasses. Maybe it has a virus? She’s not sure.

Things seemed to get weirder and weirder by the minute.

At some point, she produced a notebook. There was nothing written in the notebook. She thought I might be able to tell her what should go in the notebook. I remain unconvinced that she is literate.

But then things went from bad to worse.

She set the notebook on the counter and, lo and behold, what crawls out? A cockroach. Scurrying across the counter, clearly not expecting this woman to ever have need of a pencil and paper.

I *thwack*ed it with a notepad of my own. I look down at it. I look at her. I look down again and I look at her.

This lady doesn’t seem concerned about what just happened at all.

She says nothing. I say, “oh my god.” She says, “so does it have a virus?”

(It did not. It was a perfectly functional iPhone 15 and I have no idea what she wanted from me)

Was this all some kind of test of his professionalism?

Redditors are sure to get a kick out of this one.

Surprisingly, this user has witnessed something very similar.

This fellow customer service worker would have had a much more animated reaction.

Some people act like being covered in bugs is somehow a common occurance for them.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who got the perfect revenge after being told he can’t work from home.

Customers can be completely unreasonable at times.

The most surprising part of this story was the customer’s total lack of reaction to watching a bug get squashed right in front of her.

After all of this, it’s pretty safe to say this nonexistent virus should be the least of this woman’s worries.

This story is proof that customer service can go sideways in ways no training manual could ever prepare you for.