Working alone in a small store requires occasional brief absences because human bodies stubbornly refuse to follow retail staffing schedules.

After a rush ended, one employee dashed to the restroom while carrying the store phone and listening for arriving customers.

Within ninety seconds, a shopper had called twice, received two answered calls, and developed an extraordinary theory about workplace expectations.

Check out the audacity below.

I’m…not a person?

The store I work at is very small, so unless it’s during weeks where we know it’ll be insanely busy, usually there’s only one employee working at a time.

This time it was yours truly.

So when the employee finally caught a break, she was quick to take advantage of it.

I had a bit of a rush of customers, and the whole time I had to go to the bathroom.

When the last customer left, I waited a couple of minutes, then DASHED to the restroom.

The store is connected to a larger facility, so I have to leave the store to use the restroom, but I always bring the store phone and keep an ear out for the chimes that go off when the door opens.

But then came a series of strange phone calls.

I was just about finished when I heard the chimes down the hall, so I quickly finished up and went to wash my hands when my store phone goes off.

I pick up and wash my hands while I answer.

“Store I work at, this is OP, how can I help you?”

Silence.

I say hello a couple times before hanging up, then put the phone down to dry my hands.

The phone goes off again.

Same greeting, no answer.

The employee passes it off as normal and continues with her day.

Oh well, we’ve been getting telemarketers who mute themselves when they call, so I wasn’t very concerned.

When I’m done, I jog up the hall and enter the store and spot the customer I had heard come in.

Reminder, it’s been a minute, maybe a minute and a half since I heard the chimes.

The employee tries to be friendly, but the customer quickly shuts it down.

“Hi! So sorry about the wait, how can I help you?”

“I know you were here.”

“Uh…yes?”

“I called. TWICE.”

“Oh, I was just in the bathroom, ma’am. And I answered your calls.”

This clearly wasn’t a compelling excuse for the customer.

The customer scoffs and rolls her eyes.

“Of course. I hate when you people do this.”

“…Sorry?”

This is when the customer truly goes off the rails.

“When you’re at work, you DO NOT go to the bathroom. You DO NOT eat or drink. You are not a person when you’re working, you do not get luxuries!”

I’m in absolute shock.

Once again, the employee is forced to save face.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but my boss and manager are both fine with employees using the restroom when they need to. I’m the only one here, and I’m sorry you had to wait.”

The customer looks at me like I just slapped her and whips around to leave the store. She calls me a rude name and then escapes into the night.

I’m left confused because I was just told I’m not a human when I work.

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Retail is strange lol.

This employee should have known all along that her very existence was to serve this customer and their every whim.

What did Reddit think?

Customers truly are some of the most entitled people on earth.

This is, quite simply, not something a sane person says.

Some people truly see retail employees as less than human.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who was passed over for a promotion, so got a job with the competition and quit immediately.

Sometimes customers need to be reminded what little power they actually have.

The customer declared that employees should neither use bathrooms nor eat or drink because they stopped being people while working.

After OP calmly explained that management permitted basic bodily functions, the woman delivered an insult and stormed away without purchasing anything.

Seems like that kinda defeated the purpose of…showing up.

Her ideal business model apparently replaces retail employees with decorative mannequins that scan purchases and never require hydration.