Retail employees often assume certain things are obvious to customers, but sometimes those assumptions don’t hold up.

So, what would you do if you watched a customer reach into a display case that clearly wasn’t self-serve with his bare hands and then get frustrated when he couldn’t figure out how to pay? Would you just offer to help the customer? Or would you let them know they did it wrong?

In the following story, a deli employee encounters this exact situation and can’t believe his eyes. Here’s how he handled it.

Customer helps himself to a non-self serve display case; is angry when he doesn’t know how to pay

I used to work at a deli where we sold some premade food items (salads, cold cuts, etc.)

They were displayed in a glass case that opened from the back, where an employee would bag and tag items at the customer’s request.

This was pretty common sense to most people.

I was on the other side of the department when I witnessed an elderly man lifting the case from the outside.

The guy couldn’t find the barcode.

Before I could head over to say something, he picked up a loaded baked potato with his bare hands, walked towards me, and dropped it directly on the counter.

He said, “How the heck am I supposed to pay for this? There’s no barcode, no nothing.”

I say in shock, “Sir, you’re not supposed to help yourself…if you had just asked me, I could’ve packaged it and given you the price tag.”

So, he says, “Well, how the heck am I supposed to know that. I dont work here!” Lol

Wow! You would’ve thought it was obvious.

Let’s check out if the people at Reddit have ever encountered anything similar.

This reader wants to know what he did next.

Here’s a deli employee who’s never met someone so stupid.

For this person, everything needs a label.

According to this comment, they constantly had to tell people not to do this.

He definitely should’ve known better.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.