There are certainly some things to love about working in retail. If you’re a people person, you get to have conversations with tens or even hundreds of people every day, all while being paid for the pleasure. If you’re lucky, you might even get an employee discount from your favourite brand too – and there is no end to how much you can take advantage of that.

But the job can leave you feeling penned in on your days off. Because if you want to go shopping – whether it’s to the store you work in or another store – you just know what’s coming, especially if you work retail in a small town. That’s because your face will have become instantly recognisable as a retail employee, and regardless of whether or not you’re on duty, people who recognise you as a helpful employee will likely ask you for help.

It’s not usually a big problem, especially when you point out that you’re not actually working – however if you run into the wrong customer, things could go very differently. This was exactly the case for the employee in this story, who was spotted by a customer they really didn’t want to be seen by on their day off.

Read on to find out why.

I don’t care that you’re not working, you’re still working here!

Previously I worked in an electronics component store – the kind of store you would go when you needed a button, a switch, a board and wires for your project or your kid’s school projects.

I used to be a customer there before I got hired as a part time while I was in school. I liked the job. I was assigned to the computer department (we did not sell or repair computers, but we would sell accessories and a LOT of routers).

One day on my day off, during my first couple of months working there, I went there to buy audio wires and few cables to wire my sound system and plug my computer to the tv sound system. I had the idea in the morning, and genius me decided to go buy them NOW.

So I was there minding my busyness business when enters a regular who came every one or two weeks and bought a lot of computer accessories and other things in the store. I was far from the department I worked in but he still recognised me without my official uniform.

Let’s see what happened when the regular customer approached this off duty employee.

The customer said, “Hey you!” But since it was crowded I did not give a damn. People try to get the attention on the floor staff all the time. But then he yelled “I’M TALKING TO YOU.”

At this point I turned around, as did many people. The guy said, “Are you going to help me or what?!” while pointing at me.

I points at myself and said, “Me??? I am not working today sir, I am actually shopping just like you. You can ask any other employee that has their uniform on and they will gladly help you!” But the customer did not like that at all.

He said, “No, YOU are going to help me or I will fill a complaint. I have no time to find another person and it is too crowded. So tell me where I could find [BRAND AND GAUGE OF SPEAKER WIRE].”

Read on to find out how the employee responded.

I replied, “Sir, even if I was working right now, I do not know anything about this. You would need to ask someone in the wiring department.”

By this point, the customer was staring me down. At this point I knew what was coming next, so I turned around and asked an employee behind a counter to call the manager. It literally went that way.

But as I did, the customer yelled, “GET ME YOUR ******* MANAGER.”

So that basically ruined my morning. I was getting **** from a customer when I was not even working. If I had known where his item was, I would have told him at least… but I didn’t.

Then the manager arrived – and things got even worse.

The manager came and saw me, before asking the customer how he could help. The customer replied, “Your useless employee doesn’t want to help me! I want to file a complaint.”

The manager turned to me and asked if I was working that day, to which I replied that I wasn’t. Then, the. manager asked the customer, “So why are you asking him to help you when he doesn’t have his uniform on? There are employees on the floor that will gladly help you.”

The customer was now firing lasers out of his eyes, and yelled, “I DON’T ******* CARE, HE HAS TO HELP HE WORKS HERE. NOW, WHERE DO I FILE A DAMN COMPLAINT?”

The manager and I were shocked. Still, he took the customer to the service desk to file a complaint. Once the complaint was filed, the manager took the form and shredded it in from of him. I was too far to hear anything, but seeing that just made my day beautiful again.

Some people really do make the world a worse place to be in – and this customer was absolutely one of those people.

Imagine seeing an employee not in their uniform, and still trying to demand they help you.

It’s so entitled.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a hardware store employee who lost his cool with customers wandering around after closing time.

Let’s see what the Reddit community made of this.

This person commended the manager for how they handled the situation.

While others hoped that he escalated the matter.

Meanwhile, this Redditor pointed out how nonsensical the customer’s behaviour was.

It’s true: if a customer is acting polite and kindly, even when they’re in the wrong, they’re more likely to receive the help they’re asking for. In this instance it would’ve likely been the off duty employee handing the customer to an employee from the correct department, but the whole situation would have happened without drama and without anyone getting irate. As it was, the attitude and approach the customer took was the only factor that led to them being inconvenience.

But you really have to feel sorry for the employee who was just purchasing something for a personal project on their day off, and ended up having to face this. Though at least they got to witness just how loyal to the employees their manager really was. Because this wasn’t the off duty employee’s fault. They weren’t even in uniform: it was clear they were off duty. Retail workers are allowed time off too, you know.