An Entitled Shopper Cut Her Off in Line—Only to Get Shut Down by a Cashier Over a Plant Price and Walk Away Empty-Handed
Pexels/Reddit
Asking to go first doesn’t mean much if you’ve already cut in front of someone else.
Yet that’s exactly what happened to one woman waiting to buy four small plants at a home improvement store.
Although the cashier pointed out who was next, she agreed to let the other woman go ahead because she wasn’t in a hurry.
But rather than pay and leave, the woman started arguing in English and Spanish when her plant cost $4 instead of the $2 she expected.
The cashier stood firm and said she didn’t speak Spanish. However, once the woman stormed off, she told the waiting shopper that she lied and just can’t stand customers who act like that.
Keep reading for her full story.
Cut in front of me? This cashier doesn’t play.
This actually happened today at a home improvement store where red vests are worn.
I was in the garden department, in line to check out with my 4 small plants, when up saunters a Latina lady, heavily made up holding one plant.
It was my turn next, but this woman immediately walks in front of me, cuts me off, turns to me and says in a heavy accent, “Can I go first?” Not a smile. Didn’t look like an emergency. I thought I must be mistaken in what I heard since it was so weird. I barely had anything in my cart.
At first, she was a little confused by the whole thing.
Having lived in Mexico as a kid, I speak fluent Spanish so I said to her in Spanish, “Is there something wrong? Did I misunderstand you? Why would you want to cut ahead of me? I don’t have much.”
She replied in very broken English, “Because I want to go first, and I only have 1.” Then she walks straight up to the Latina cashier (Important later), gives her a knowing look and smugly plops her plant on the counter.
The cashier ignores the woman, leans past her, and says to me, “I’m sorry, weren’t you next?”
She wasn’t in a hurry, so she let the woman go.
Surprised, I told her a bit bemused that, “Yes I was, but that lady seems to be insistent that she goes first.” Continuing I said, “I don’t really care that much, and I’m not in a hurry, so I guess she can go first.”
The lady with the plant just ignores me. Not a “thank you” for letting her cut. Nothing. No grace at all. She just totally ignores me, shoves the plant towards the cashier and tries to hand her $2. The cashier looks at the $2, scans the plant, then deadpans to the woman, “I’m sorry ma’am, that plant is $4.”
The lady starts to argue. First in English, then in Spanish that “the plant is on sale, because it’s wilted” (It was), and that “the plant was $2, she won’t pay $4. Why should she?”
Unfortunately for the customer, the cashier was not budging.
The cashier wasn’t having it. She stared her straight in the eye and said dryly, “Sorry, I don’t speak Spanish. That plant is $4.”
I did not offer to translate, but by this time I’m trying not to laugh out loud. The cashier would not budge. Neither would the woman, who finally stomped off angrily, leaving her one plant on the counter.
As I rolled up, the cashier had stopped being so dry and controlled.
Apparently, the cashier had disdain for customers who acted like that.
She was steamed. She says to me, “You know I did that on purpose. I hate people like her. The plant really was $4, so nothing I could do about that, but I’m Mexican. I speak fluent Spanish. People like her? I flat out refuse to speak Spanish. I’m not her bro. I hate people like her!” The cashier was royally annoyed.
When she finally simmered down, she asked me how I knew Spanish so well, and I told her a bit about my childhood in Mexico.
Her family was from a town not far from where I had lived. When we finally both stopped chuckling and stopped complaining about the rude woman, she scanned my purchases.
As it turned out, 3 of my 4 plants were magically on sale! Score! …..Totally worth the wait.
Wow! Usually, we hear stories of customers standing up for the cashier. It’s nice to see it works the other way too.
Let’s check out if the fine folks over at Reddit have ever had anything similar happen to them.
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
This lady doesn’t play either.
It’s a very valuable skill.
This person loves what the cashier did.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who alerted their manager after seeing a customer sign the wrong name on a credit card slip.
That would’ve been the perfect added touch.
It’s a shame she had to act like this.
For starters, she should’ve waited her turn and not acted so entitled.
But once the other shopper let her go ahead, the least she could’ve done was say thank you and be polite to the cashier.
Instead, she left empty-handed and all that rudeness got her nowhere.
Enjoyed this story?
Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.
