Retail workers get strange questions.

Tourist towns get even stranger ones.

One teenager becomes an accidental grocery expert.

Then Whole Foods enters the chat.

Check out below how far one phone call wandered off the path.

My Favorite Story From Work

When I was 16, I worked in a small gift store in a touristy town in the middle of nowhere in New England.

I, like many other people in my town, consider “in the area” to be in my town and in the neighboring town.

Since it was a touristy area, visitors often had questions.

The family that runs the shop also runs a few other places around town, including boat tours, and people often call our store asking for information on the area.

We usually answer what questions we can, then try to direct them to the tour people or anyone else who might be helpful.

One day, the phone rang, and I was the only one close enough to pick it up.

I said, “[Gift store], how can I help you?” fully expecting it to be the third person today asking if we were open.

But instead a very different kind of interaction ensued.

The following conversation went like this:

Man: Hi, is this the gift store?

Me: Yes, how can I help you?

Man: I’m new to the area, and I have a question. Do you know if there are any supermarkets in the area?

Puzzled, the cashier stops to think.

Me: Short pause as I think. Not… not really in the area, no.

Man: I see here that there’s a [Supermarket 1] and [Supermarket 2] in the area.

Me: Asking myself why he needs to ask me where these things are if he’s already looked them up. …Yes? But they’re about a forty-five minute drive, so I don’t know how far you’re willing to drive for your groceries, but there’s a [local grocery] in the downtown area, just off Main Street.

The customer continues with the inane questioning.

Man: Okay, but can you tell me how [Supermarkets 1 and 2] compare to Whole Foods?

Me: Super long pause as I completely blank on what a Whole Foods is. Uh… um, I’m not sure, but I’m sure you can find some information on their websites.

The conversation continues to branch further out from this cashier’s purview.

Man: Okay, well, what about [local supermarket]? How does that compare to Whole Foods?

Me: Ummm… I’m not sure, but if you call them, I’m sure they’d be happy to answer your questions.

But if you thought that was all of this customer’s questions, you’d be wrong.

Man: What about the catch of the day? Do they have that?

Me: Really confused, I drop my customer service voice but maintain my professionalism. No—uh, I’m—I’m not sure, but I’m sure that they could answer that question for you.

Man: Well, can you give me their number?

The cashier continues to try and direct the customer elsewhere.

Me: I’m sorry, I don’t have that on hand, but you can find it online.

Man: Okay… I guess I’ll go call them.

Me: Good luck, and have a nice day.

Man: You too, bye.

The conversation never went off the rails, but it did get annoying.

No Karen, no yelling, no managers.

I’ve always wondered why customers act like employees at my store magically know everything about the whole state, or why they ask us questions that they could easily look up on their own time.

This employee did their best to help, even when the questions kept getting stranger and stranger.

What did Reddit make of this story?

Customers do know that cashiers aren’t omniscient beings, right?

Customers aren’t always the best at using common sense.

Other customers are just plain unreasonable.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a longtime bank customer who walked away after the teller gave them a hard time.

Employees try to be helpful, but there’s a limit on what they can do.

A caller asked the gift-shop employee about supermarkets, Whole Foods comparisons, and even the local catch of the day.

She kept redirecting him toward actual grocery stores while wondering why any of this had become her department.

Sometimes customer service means accidentally becoming the town concierge.