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Retail confrontations are not always about entitlement; sometimes two overwhelmed people simply collide during equally terrible evenings.

An understaffed cashier faced a frustrated customer whose delayed pickup order was keeping her sick mother waiting outside.

When the customer demanded faster service, the exhausted employee finally snapped and created an unexpectedly emotional moment at the register.

See how they handled it.

I made a rude customer cry and it made me feel worse

I was the only cashier tonight due to people calling out, and I had a long line that I was getting through as quickly as I could.

But then a customer came in who couldn’t be kept waiting.

This lady came in for a pickup order, but for whatever reason, instead of getting in line, she hovered off to the side. I think she expected someone to come out of the kitchen with her order and make a beeline over to her.

So I’m finishing up the last customer in the line, and she finally comes over and says she’s trying to get her pickup order.

The customer makes their anger quite clear.

I get her name and open the ticket, I’m about to give her the total, and she just starts laying into me about how unacceptable it is that her order isn’t ready, and her sick elderly mother is in the car, and can I please speed this up somehow.

So finally all the stress from the shift came out all at once and the cashier snapped.

It had been a really stressful shift and I pretty rudely snapped back that I was trying to ring her up and angrily told her the total. Then I turned and grabbed her order that was right behind me and made her drink.

But the cashier didn’t expect the customer to break down in tears.

I think that she realized that she was in the wrong then, because when I turned back around she had tears in her eyes and stammered out that she was really sorry.

I immediately felt terrible, because we were both taking out our day on each other, and as much as customers tick me off, I hate upsetting someone like that.

Even after the woman left, she couldn’t shake off what had happened.

I told her I was sorry too, and that I hope her mother feels better soon.

I felt awful about it all night.

Sounds like everyone lost in this story.

What did Reddit think?

All things considered, this interaction could have gone a lot worse.

There’s a lesson to be learned here for both of them.

Everyone makes mistakes, especially on a bad day.

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If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who cleverly shuts down customer arguments about closing time.

This situation may have actually been pretty cathartic for both of them.

The customer tearfully apologized after realizing she had unfairly unloaded her stress onto the only cashier working.

OP apologized too, wished her mother well, and spent the rest of the evening feeling guilty about the encounter.

Two exhausted strangers briefly entered Customer Service Thunderdome, then remembered they were both decent people having an awful night.

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Author

Chris Allen