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Working in retail is not for the faint of heart. On paper, the job might include folding clothes, greeting customers with a smile and ringing up shoppers once they’ve found everything they need. But in reality, it can feel like working in a war zone. Aggressive customers, ruthless managers and being required to stay on your feet all day can suck the life out of anyone.
And if you’re lucky enough to have never worked in retail, you can learn all about the experience from this list, pandas. Retail workers have recently been sharing some of their wildest stories on Reddit, so we’ve gathered the most shocking ones below. Enjoy scrolling through these tales that might help you learn to appreciate your office job, and be sure to upvote all of your favorites!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
My first job other than babysitting or casual household labor as a teenager was at an antiques store. Mostly I just came in after school to dust and vacuum, help with heavy lifting, etc. But if the owner had an errand, I was fully in charge. It was quite a nice job.
One afternoon, a lady came in to shop. She brought her notebook, and borrowed my measuring tape when she found a dining room table that suited her style.
"I would like to order this table, but 4 inches longer."
Um...
"Ma'am, we aren't sourcing our European antiques from a workshop, you know? I can refer you to someone who could build a reasonable facsimile to your specifications, but there's literally no way for me to order what you want."
An absolute s**t fit was thrown.
Apparently, she called my boss the next day. Boss suffered no fools, didn't need money, and only opened the shop because her husband retired and boss didn't want to stay home with him all day.
I don't know exactly what was said on the call, but I got a $20 slipped into my hand - the way grandmothers do it - when I got to work that afternoon. "Baby, you earned this for putting up with that old b***h."
And $20 was real money circa 1985!
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#2
Worked at a pet store and a dude brought in a dead fish and demanded that I, 17 year old kid, tell him how his fish died. If that wasn’t funny enough, a bystander rescued me by asking “don’t you have a fish autopsy kit?!?” It was funny enough to get the dead fish dude to leave me alone.
LizzieBoredom 18 hours ago
"E's not pinin'! 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a stiff! Bereft of life, 'e rests in peace! If you hadn't nailed 'im to the perch 'e'd be pushing up the daisies! 'Is metabolic processes are now 'istory! 'E's off the twig! 'E's kicked the bucket, 'e's shuffled off 'is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin' choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!"
#3
Best buy. Lady comes in with a 10% off coupon and asks me how much it'll get her off on an $80 antenna. I explain $8 to which she is surprised, and angrily picks the $50 one. While ringing her up she asks why the antenna is $45 and when I explain how 10% off works again, she replies "I thought you said $8".
To find out how this conversation started in the first place, we reached out to Reddit user Professional_Song419, who invited retail workers to share their "you can't make this up" stories.
"I decided to post this question on r/AskReddit after a discussion with some of my friends who worked in retail while in college," the author says. "They shared some crazy stories, often involving misbehaving kids, negligent parents, entitled customers, and those with no understanding of courtesy and hygiene."
#4
A customer once refused to buy granola from me because I’m not vegan. The granola was vegan, but I, a salesperson who had nothing to do with making it, was not. They said it was against their morals.
ElfVibratorGlitter 17 hours ago
Hahah, okay, that's unhinged. I don't care if the person selling me food is vegan...
#5
Target we have a “code yellow” for missing kids. Whole team drops what they are doing and we all help. Usually child is found within minutes.
One case on a slow night the missing boy, 10, could not be found. Parent is frantic and getting more frantic. “Would he have gone to the car on his own?” I offer. Which got me screamed at about he would never and he’s been kidnapped and I’m not taking things seriously.
He had gone out to the car on his own.
#6
Working at a sports bar / restaurant there was a little office party going on and the boss ended up biting an employees earlobe off. We found the earlobe outside the next day, earring still in it, and gave it to the police.
"I also recently heard news about how, in some stores, retail workers are not allowed to take breaks or even sit down during working hours while working long shifts for minimum wage," the OP continued. "I think this has made me more sympathetic to the challenges that retail workers face on the job."
"Plus, who doesn't love a good story? I wanted to create a post where former or current retail workers could not only vent about the weird stuff they have been through, but also laugh about these challenging moments with some strangers like me who are curious about their wild stories," Professional_Song419 shared.
#7
Had a lady come in, disgusted at the state of the store (she was on her hands and knees looking under the racking), she left and came back with plastic bags, gloves, a mask, and cooking tongs. She proceeded to start pulling dust bunnies out from under the permenant racking.
She asked for a broom, to which ai politely obliged. End of the day (store closing), I walked her out and thanked her for bringing this to our attention. Never saw her again. Manager called me an a*****e for letting her go on like that. She wasn't bugging anyone and she seemed calmer the more she did this.
The whole thing went on for about 3 hours.
#8
Worked customer service at well known superstore. A few times I had moments of just complete brain shutting down shock at some of the s**t people tried to pull.
The most memorable was coming back from break I’d go through all the clothing areas to avoid customers. I went around a corner and bumped into a lady in the shoe aisle with an armful of boxes. I helped her pick up the boxes she dropped and went back to the service counter.
About 3 minutes later that same woman walked up, put the boxes on the counter and said she’d like to return them. I kind of stopped and stared at her. I told her I just saw her bring them directly from the floor over to here. She repeated she wanted to return them. I didn’t get paid enough to argue so I keyed in the code for a manager, made the return for her (like $200 on a gift card) and off she went. The manager and loss prevention got her before she made it out the door.
Another time two guys came in to pick up a moneygram. He showed a Cali license so I asked what he was doing all the way in Iowa. He told me he was on the run from the law. I just laughed and dismissed it as a joke.
20 minutes later a guy in a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts cuts to the front of the line puts a badge down and tells me he’s a U.S. Marshall. I told him I thought the guy was joking about being on the run and the Marshall says “he actually told you that!?”
Anyways they pulled me to go speak with the store manager so he can let her know they will be arresting the guy as soon as he leaves the store. I ask if I can watch and the Marshall says sure why not and the store manager tells me to get my a*s back to work lol didn’t get to see it go down.
#9
Had a woman berate me for 5 solid minutes about why I was working on Christmas day. I finally said "because of people like *you* that can't plan ahead. "
She abruptly left. I didn't tell my manager for a year. Never heard about a complaint.
While the author says they've personally never worked in retail, they wouldn't be opposed to the idea. "I just think that those who work in retail are very patient, socially adept, and efficient workers," they noted. "After all, the reason they encounter such strange situations more than people like me (office workers) is that they have to interact with a diverse group of customers every day. These customers can be stressed, angry, very talkative, self-absorbed, drunk or intoxicated, which, of course, can increase the likelihood of strange situations happening."
#10
We had an employee whose daughter died. We sent her flowers, gave her time off, told her to come back when she was ready etc. She then came back a few weeks later working shortened hours with a “support friend” by her side. She soon got fired for letting the “support friend” use the services for free.
A couple months later- she came in as a customer and HER DAUGHTER (that had died) WAS SITTING IN THE CAR PLAYING ON AN IPAD. We called her out immediately- it was awkward.
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism 17 hours ago
Hey now it’s not HER fault her kid is the second coming of Jesus!
#11
Was working retail at a Sam Goodies record store many years ago and training a young girl at the cash register. She was very quiet and shy. It was her first job ever and she was very very nervous.
An older gentleman came up to the counter with a cassette tape that he was very excited about. Apparently he had been looking for it for quite some time and had finally found it at our store.
In his excitement, as he spoke, his dentures popped out of his mouth, bounced across the counter, and hit this young trainee right in the waist.
She let out a screech, threw her hands in the air, and jumped backwards about 5 ft.
The old gentleman yelled "Aww Thit"... reached across the counter, grabbed his dentures and popped them right back in. The whole event took about 3 seconds.
It was hilarious ....but this young girl was just shaking like a leaf and in disbelief of what had just happened to her.
It was hilarious.
UncleJohn3000 18 hours ago
When this happened to me, it was almost exactly as described above, except it was a condom that flew of my wallet and hit the young lady near her belly button. Just like Gramps, I scooped it up so fast that it almost didn't happen. Except for the looks on our faces.
#12
I once accidentally locked a pregnant woman in the store to take my break.
I was working the store in the mall alone and we had just had a rush. Everyone cleared out I locked the gate to take my dinner break.
When I came back 15 minutes later, a security guard was trying to figure out how to get her out. Apparently she was in the fitting rooms and I didn't realize it. She was so mad, naturally, and let me know she was going to complain to corporate. I called my manager after she left to own up to my mistake before she heard from the customer. Later the customer called me after she calmed down and let me know she wasn't going to tell on me and asked me to be more careful next time.
The manager let me go the next day due to my own admission.
MindNumbinglyBoringJob 15 hours ago
Worked a bar early 80s. Manager was supposed to check bathrooms, storage etc before locking the doors. Me and another waitress were waiting for out taxis and we hear knocking from inside and a small voice saying " let me out. Let me out " A little old man was in the toilet having a # 2 when we closed. He was locked in. The police had to come . It was after 2 AM. No one had the managers number handy ( days before cell phone) Yes the manager got fired.
Finally, we asked the author what they thought of the replies to their post. "I have to say that I was (sadly) not that surprised by the number of cases involving poop and [pee] in these stories," Professional_Song419 shared. "The story about an elderly customer's dentures popping out of their mouth and hitting an inexperienced trainee made me laugh out loud! I was quite shocked by the comment from a Redditor who shared that a customer once refused to buy a granola bar from her because she was not vegan."
#13
Worked at a liquor store. Had a guy come in, so drunk *when he got there*, that he fell out of his lifted truck and bashed his face open on the curb. A customer came running in and said there's someone bleeding in the parking lot, so my manager and I went out to check. He was absolutely hammered, no clue how he successfully drove there. Anyways, after getting blood all over me and my manager, he told us he wanted to sleep it off in his car. At noon on a Saturday at 95°F.
He got arrested.
Edit: Another story. The gas station next to us got robbed. Not the usual holdup, no, this was an inside job. They came at 3am with a saw and cut out the back wall where the safe was bolted, and hooked it up to a truck and yanked that b***h out and drove off. As far as I know they never solved it.
#14
I worked as a supervisor in a 24 hour convenience store, one night a coworker's mum came in drunk and threatened to slit 2 of our throats because her daughter was a terrible worker who needed to be prompted to do even the most simple of daily tasks, so she had started getting told off frequently.
The daughter quit the following day and her mother was permanently trespassed.
#15
I worked at Walmart in the auto center. Got pulled into the manager's office one day, and was told I was being written up for working on my own car. I didn't. So I obviously argued with them. Turns out I worked on a guy's car who has the exact same name as me.
#16
Worked in a middle class British supermarket chain about 10 years ago.
Saturday morning shift, not overly busy but plenty of footfall.
Our chilled dairy section was more or less opposite the tills, when I started hearing raised voices from the chilled section.
Turns out an elderly lady, roughly 70 years old or so had collapsed face first into the cheese chiller.
Lying there face down in a mix of butters and non dairy spreads.
Fairly serious stuff, CPR being given by bystanders and staff.
I didnt get involved directly (only 17 or 18 at the time) only keeping other customers from rubbernecking and giving thid old dear some dignity, when i hear a large, disapproving huff from this is when a middle aged woman stood behind me.
Think, middle class Karen.
Hair up in bun;
Designer leather jacket;
Designer bag,
Designer boots,
Face butchered by so much filler and botox it was giving Michael Jackson a run for his cash.
With that quintesential, entitled British degrading tone.
In my nicest customer service voice.
Explain that there is an ongoing medical emergency and this aisle is closed.
She huffs again, getting impaitent.
Replies in the most condesending tone of "Well, I don't have all day to wait, go and get me these things" as if I was her servant.
I again, politely inform her I couldnt as the products she wanted were directly where this elderly lady was.
She huffs and snarks, and proceeds...without any hesitation, to push me out the way with her trolley, push her way past another member of staff, parks her trolley next to the woman being given CPR, REACHES OVER HER and the staff giving her CPR, and grabs two blocks of cheese. Puts them in her trolley and trots off like nothing was happening, oblivious to what was happening.
I was in speechless disbelief on how cold people could be.
Retail. Never again.
#17
2 ladies were doing a bold shoplifting spree. City police were at every store exit, waiting for them to leave the premises. Store security was tracking them thru the store. We were told to leave them totally alone if they came into our area.
Sure enough, here they came into my area.
One woman was pushing a stroller with a little boy in it, approximately 2 years old.
The other one was pushing of those old-fashioned baby carriages (like from the 1920s) with a blanket thrown over it. I heard later that someone had asked her about her baby, and she said it had breathing problems and needed privacy, thus the blanket over the entire carriage.
They shopped all 3 floors of our store, filling up the carriage, any room in the stroller, and filling girdles under their clothes, getting physically larger the more time they spent in the store.
They finally attempted to return to their car with $5000+ worth of merchandise and we're stopped by police.
Rumor has it they even had 16 pairs of earrings stuffed into their underpants. The baby that has breathing problems was revealed to be a plastic baby doll.
MindNumbinglyBoringJob 15 hours ago (edited)
I remember standing in line at the mall and seeing a couple shopping across the walkway in a store opposite. They had a baby carriage with a folding top ( sun cover) . They kept piling clothes' on top of the carriage. I thought nothing of it as I have done the same when shopping. Then they just folded the top over, hiding all the clothes, and walked out of the store. No one stopped them. I stood there slack jawed.
#18
Not me, but a story from my sister who's not on reddit. She worked at a craft store for her first job out of high school. One day, they had a bird in their store. No one could catch it, it would always fly away and perch on a high place in the store out of reach. It was in there for a couple days when it finally got too weak to fly very high anymore. My sister finally was able to approach it and offered it water and it drank it out of a bottlecap. My sister grabbed it and put it in a small cardboard box so it could rest and regain its strength for release. She put the box in the break room and wrote on it "DO NOT OPEN! BIRD INSIDE!"
Later that day they were in the break room and one of her coworkers walked in and *opened the box*, releasing the bird again. My sister asked her why she opened the box and she replied that she thought it was a prank or something. Thankfully the bird was only confined to the break room and my sister caught it again and immediately released it outside and it flew away.
"DO NOT OPEN! BIRD INSIDE!" became a meme among her friends and coworkers. Emails with "DO NOT OPEN" attachments that was just a goofy bird picture or gif, actual boxes with "Do not open" on them that contained stuffed bird toys or bird figurines. She left that job some months later, but she left an impact!
#19
While scanning groceries, I hear a loud commotion, which included a shopping cart colliding into the service desk and two people rushing out of the store. My manager comes around shaking her head and I couldn’t help but to ask what happened.
Apparently, someone stole a display model of a microwave and tried to return it, saying that “they bought a faulty microwave” but didn’t have a receipt or even the box it came in. My manager had heard about the theft earlier in the day and squinted her eyes at the story about how this microwave had no cord and was extremely light to pick up, leading her to ask straight out if they were the ones who stole the microwave—hence them storming out of the store pretty quick.
MindNumbinglyBoringJob 15 hours ago (edited)
Back in the day had a guy return a new DVD player. Box looked unopened. He had the receipt from a few day before, and had paid cash. Said it was a gift they did not like.. I take out my exacto knife and proceed to cut the seal to open the box. His eyes get wider and wider and he asks what I am doing. I tell him I need to check the product before refund. He says no one has ever done that before. I remove the tape and start to slide the DVD player out. A strong smell of tobacco and stale weed hitting me. The DVD player comes out and it is clearly old . It is covered in weed residue, dust and stains. I look up to confront the guy and he is gone. He had bought a new DVD player , paid cash and put the old exact model in the new box. Hoping to get a free DVD player by returning an old one.
#20
I worked at a Ross clothing store in high school. I smelled something foul at closing time and started tracking it down. Someone had gone in the middle of the very long pants rack and taken a giant dump. I told my boss who asked me to clean it up. I told him that I am a minor and it's against the rules of my work permit. I had no idea if it was against the rules, but he believed me and left a note for the cleaning crew to clean it up.
*Editing to add that I once was out at a bar with some coworkers about 6 years ago and the single guy in the group started chatting up some girls at the bar. I overheard one of them tell him that she worked for Ross HQ. I couldn't wait to tell her my story. Probably ruined my coworkers chances though.
#21
20 years back I was working at Walmart and someone asked me to hold a ladder so they could change the pricing on the sign, this was suspended over the photo center.
Well, as he went to change a number the hook or whatever holding it up let go, the entire sign made out of heavy metal and plastics smashed me right in the face, somehow missed my nose and I was left with an inch gash above my upper lip and a tear on the right side that of my nose where it’s like connected. I have scars now.
The hr person asked me to come in a few days later to sign “paperwork so I could return to work when I was better” and it was a return to work form, they bait and switched me and had me back working several days later with stitches still in my face and my lip swollen like a golf ball.
F**k Walmart.
MindNumbinglyBoringJob 14 hours ago
Not just Walmart does this. Look at that office worker who was trapped in the elevator for 3 days. They had shut down for the long weekend while he was on his way out. He was asked to go back to work and he did . THEN he came to his senses and tried to sue. He could not because he signed forms agreeing to go back to work. There was a camera in the elevator so we have footage
#22
I work as an optician, and (quite recently!) had a client come in for a “check up” (at the optometrist’s, for sight). His eyesight was about -3.50 and -8.00 (those who wear glasses know that this is bad news). He shrugged and said “ah! Will do. Been working as a truck driver with this vision and I see great!” (he doesn’t wear glasses).
Me and my colleagues thought about asking for his work schedule to know on which days we shouldn’t leave the house….
ArchangelLoki 14 hours ago
I'm a dispensing optician and on one hand it DOES depend heavily on the patient's uncorrected visual acuities, but on the other hand OOF. I woul have had to get them to sign their record accepting that we had warned them otherwise.
#23
Working at a Borders in downtown DC (18th & L). I was at the Info desk during the rollout of the proprietary e-reader and was wearing a "eReader Certified" badge.
An old lady came up to ask a question, saw the badge, stopped mid sentence and said: "oh. How nice. You can read." Turned and left the store. My manager and I were cracking the f**k up.
#24
I started working when my store was very understaffed. So understaffed that the managers were doing cashier work.
I had to use the restroom once in the middle of my shift, and apparently while I was in there some Karen got in a snit with the manager at the register.
So I come out of the restroom to catch the tail end of the argument. Important to note here is that managers and cashier's wore different colored shirts, and it was just me and a bunch of managers that day.
So I come out from the back, in shirt that is colored different from everyone else at the counter, and the lady locks onto me. She starts lecturing me, a cashier, about keeping my employees in line, making sure they respect customers, all that jazz. She's telling me to discipline my managers, in particular my boss, who she was arguing with.
Finally she runs out of air, and leaves in a huff. I look at my boss, he looks at me.
"She thought I was the manager."
We both bust out laughing... and the lady comes back inside, screaming about us thinking she was a joke. We deescalate, I apologized and she leaves, but I never forgot about that.
#25
One time had a woman when I worked at Spencer’s Gifts chalk up a convo with me how she was buying her husband (soon to be ex husband) a tshirt for Xmas, after she went and speculated he was having an affair with a guy, she decides to go onto Craigslist to pretend she was a dude and straight up found her husband seeking men, husband had no idea he was taking to his actual wife and thinking it was some dude, would send videos/photos to him, then by the time she gathered enough evidence she presented all to his family and him on thanksgiving exposing him but yet here she was still buying him a “f**k you” t shirt from Spencer’s …….I was 18, first retail job, maybe 1 month into working there 😭.
#26
I worked in a garden centre for a few years. There was a lady who'd come in once a year to drop hundreds on plants and plant accessories. She always refused the free delivery so it was down to me to somehow fit all of that s**t into her Fiat 500. The boot was loaded with compost and the rest of the car looked like a plant pot on wheels. Took nearly an hour each time, it would have been so much simpler and safer for her to just take advantage of free delivery.
Nathaniel He/Him Cis-Het 13 hours ago
Perhaps after spending all that money she could not afford the free delivery.
#27
I worked for a major cell company for way longer than I should have. The amount of crazies deal with on a daily isn't something the average person could comprehend.
People coming in pissed that we shut Thier phone off even though it hadn't been paid in months. Upset we wouldn't replace the phone they lost or broke for free. A lot of physical violence threatened toward me because I didn't know the password for Thier apps/bank accounts/misc loggins/company servers.
I had one particular guy that swore his phone was hacked. Wouldn't take any answer we gave him that it wasnt happening. I came up with the bright idea of telling him he needed to swap his sim card every 3000 minutes to keep it secure. It got him out of the store but he sure did come back religiously every few months to get it changed.
#28
Worked at Walmart, the first wic order I ever did had 8 cans of tuna, this was when wic was still on check form so you had to fill all of it at one time. The lady with the check had 9 cans of tuna, when I explained to her she had one to many cans but that was perfectly fine it’s just one wasn’t going to go through on her wic check and she would be responsible for the cost she looked me dead in the eyes and said “NO 4+4 is 9 use your damn fingers” ummmm what?
Lee Gilliland 12 hours ago
Women, Infant, Children in need, for those not in the US. Supplementary food income.
#29
I used to work in an Apple Store and I get an appointment with someone who has forgotten some passwords and needs help with their account. Simple enough. I meet with them and the guy is some sort of greasy looking anime guy, nothing really out of the ordinary. He hands me a notebook full of smudged red ink and says it’s his notebook of passwords. I’m looking at it and all the writing is smudged and illegible. I ask him casually why it’s all smudged, and he responds with, “oh yeah, I wrote it with my blood.”
“I’m sorry…?”
“All the writing is with my blood.”.
#30
While working at Home Depot one night we had a man come in who was clearly high on something. He wandered around the store for a while and eventually took a 50 pack of Olfa knife blades from the hardware department. He then took those blades to a shower display and closed himself inside the shower. He then proceeded to take out each blade individually and try to put them in his pants pockets in order to steal them. These knife blades being razor sharp, proceeded to cut up his hands and legs very badly. He was dripping blood all inside the shower stall. We called 911 for assistance, but before the ambulance got there, he already had left the store with most of the 50 pack of blades in his pants pockets while leaving a trail of blood from the shower stall to the parking lot. During this whole time, he did not say a word or show any sense that he was experiencing pain. The first responders intercepted him in the parking lot. We had to quarantine off the area and bring professional cleaners in to clean up the biohazard.
Austzn 18 hours ago
No, no no. I've used these type of utility blades before and they are beyond razor sharp, thin so it doesn't take much force to cut stuff, and have sharp points that are designed to break off to reveal more sharp tips! You're supposed to only use 1 section at a time then snap it off to get a fresh part of the blade that's like 5 inches long for this purpose. 😱
#31
My first shift at the grocery store I'm working at: a man wants to buy potatoes, and the sign says like 1kg for $1. This absolute dumbass takes 2-3 kgs and has the nerve to get angry at me when they don't cost $1... The floor manager had to come out and explain (very condescendingly) how prices work to that a*****e old man.
#32
Worked at Walmart for over a decade.
The three memorable stories:
1. I worked nights and was stacking food onto a cart so I could stock. Some guy asks my name. I tell him since it was clearly visible on my name tag (and because I'm dumb lol). He asks if I want him to "be my man". I told him no because I had a man. He told me he had a woman and he'd "take care of both of us". Told him no thanks and took off to do my job.
Three days later, there's an ANGRY woman looking for me BY NAME because apparently I hit on her man.
I didn't wear my name badge for about 3 years after that.
2. The power went out in the section of town the store was in. They had us raid sporting goods for headlamps and flashlights and made us stock anyway. Store manager called someone by the wrong name that night and almost got a box knife in his heart🫣
3. The lawn mowers were stacked too high in garden center and were apparently touching the overhead heaters in garden center and they smoldered til they caught fire. We noticed on our lunch break and had an "extended lunch " while the FD cut the flames.
#33
In college, I worked for a locally owned dollar store. We had no public restroom, but there was a McDonald's across the street we always directed people to.
One night, an elderly lady comes in asking if we have a restroom. I told her no and that McDonald's across the street did. She just says ok and disappeared into one of the aisles. I go back to what I'm doing, and about a minute later, she left like her hair was on fire. Checked that aisle and yep, p**sed right on our carpeted floor.
#34
I worked at a retail store at the mall for a winter break in college. They are known for selling bachelorette party stuff and c**p for your dorm room.
They had recently been bought out by a larger company and change their inventory system. Whenever a product was sold, they would ship four more of the exact product. The problem was that they had a sale on lava lamps just before Thanksgiving. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we had lava lamps stacked floor to ceiling and in the back room. We didn't want them there and we also didn't want to sell more too.
I had to go back to college after the break so I'm not sure if/when the inventory system was fixed and what they ended up doing with hundreds of lava lamps.
#35
I was a big box store cashier in high school. Ringing up stuff at the register closest to the door.
I hear commotion and turn and see a guy, covered in blood, pushing a shopping cart with a tv and a crock pot and he's running toward the door. Our asset protection security guy is giving chase, and he tackles him right by the front door. They fight and the guy's arm is just spewing blood everywhere all over the floor right at the store exit. The TV he was stealing was a display model on the top shelf and he had sliced his arm open on the metal shelves when pulling the TV down.
Security gets a hold of the guy. Some random customer goes over and beats the thief with her purse and yells at him. Police are called, they arrest him. The blood spill meant we had to call professional hazmat cleaners. They came and did all their cleaning while the store stayed open for business (lol). Everyone who got blood on them had to get blood work done to make sure they didn't contract anything.
It was a fun day that day!
#36
Worked Aeropostale at local mall in college. Woman brought in recently purchased panties for return. Pulled them out of retail bag and laid them on register counter - all of them had been period’d on.
I was speechless and completely froze. She broke the silence by triumphantly pulling the receipt from the bag saying “Oh I didn’t even realize this was in here!”
Receipt had been period’d on as well.
I switched to back stock room duty after that.
#37
I was a Manager of a Toys R US Electronics section. So many crazy stories. Off the top of my head;
1. At the end of the night, I'd have to print out the Console Count. How many we had at the start of the day, how many sold, how many left. The list had Video Game Consoles, Tablets, iPads/iPods, and Cameras. I would do my count, call over the Store Front Manager to double check, then the SFM would unlock the Electronic Closet to finish the count. The Closet had at least 2 Security Cameras, and you had to be watched while there as well.
We were HEMORRHAGING Nintendo 3DS and Apple Products. My counts would look like "Day started with 37 Nintendo 3DS. Zero sold today. 22 Remaining" but the only people with the Key to the Electronics Closet were the SFM and Store Manager.
Turns out, the Store Manager would turn off the cameras, sneak into the closet, and stuff his jacket. Watched him get escorted out by the Police and never saw him again.
2. On Black Friday, two new hires worked the front counter together. With every purchase, they would ring a $5 Gift Card with the order, and pocket it. They were both escorted out by the Police around 4am, and my manager said it was over $1k each in gift cards.
3. A group of guys casually walked to the Sports section, ripped a bunch of Basketballs out of their packaging, and ran out at max speed holding as many as they could.
I have more!
#38
Assistant Manager starts hooking up with another female employee. Assistant Manager has a wife that works at another location. Wife finds out what is going on. Assistant manager drives a sports car. The wife drives a large pickup truck. Wife decides to drive her truck over his sports car in our parking lot.
#39
Worked in automotive at Walmart. One day someone calls. The department manager picks up thr phone. She's confused. She passes me the phone. The person on the phone asks how much for a rim job. I laugh and laugh then hang up. The department manager is still perplexed. I explain what a rim job is.
#40
I was working the register at around 11 pm when this cute intoxicated girl in a sundress came through my lane and asked where the restroom was
as i was pointing it out she says “nevermind” and walked away
there was a puddle of p**s on the floor.
#41
A customer came up to me holding women’s stockings and flats and asked me if he could get a second opinion. I assumed he wanted a woman’s opinion on something for his wife, so I said sure. He explained that he had lost a bet and had to dress up as a woman for work. His friends had even bought him a dress. He said that he was starting to get cold feet and asked me if I would go through with it if I was in his shoes. I told him that at this point it was too late to back out, which he seemed disappointed by but still accepted my answer. He then asked if I thought it would be okay if he changed in the restrooms and after I gave him an answer he went on his way.
#42
Worked at Barnes & Noble.
Two real bro-y dudes wearing my old high school lacrosse uniforms came in. They’re talking loud. Laughing loud. They head back to use the bathroom.
I happen to go in about a minute later…
…to the wet, lotiony sounds of these two dudes in one stall aggressively whacking each other off, grunting and s**t.
Five minutes later they leave. Talking loud. Laughing loud.
#43
Was working in a major hifi retailer in tv/stereo sales. I had an older customer come in with her daughter and buy a cheap TV/DVD player combo. She haggled as hard as should could and just to get rid of her I gave her a really sweet deal, probably made about $3 commission off the item.
She then proceeded to harass myself and other staff members for months, claiming that the DVD player inbuilt into the TV was scratching her DVDs. She demanded we replace all her DVDs and give her a brand new TV. She bought a few DVDs in as "proof" and it was clear as day she had scratched them herself (really brutal scratches). After much deliberation we replaced the TV, BUT, only with one condition, I would have to go to her house and install it for her.
It was like something out of a horror movie. She had the worst house on a nice street, it was filled with rubbish and stuffed animals. I felt like, this is it, she's gonna murder me. I got it installed so fast that I'm pretty sure I didn't do it correctly.
A month later I got transferred stores, and thankfully a mate of mine took my place, so when she came back in looking for me, he told her I'd quit and didn't work for the company anymore. She then demanded my phone number.
That was 12 years ago, and I still get the ick thinking about it.
#44
OMG, some of these are so terrible. Mine is not as bad, but it was gross to me, and completely baffling.
I worked in a store with display beds. I think there were five. People would let their kids play on them, so I had to remake them every night after closing. At least once a week I would find a pair of women's panties, which had clearly been worn.
The beds were out in the middle of everything, clearly visible in the crowded, brightly lit store. I have never been able to figure out how or why anyone would leave panties there. I guess it would only take a minute to stuff them under the covers, but why? I was supposed to put them in lost and found, but I always put them in the garbage instead.
#45
Barnes & Noble. Early morning. I’m restocking magazines.
Keep in mind. Super blue state. Super blue county.
A kindly older woman sidles up to me in magazines, smiling.
“I like coming this early. No ni**ers!”
as if I was gonna respond with a beaming smile and vigorous nod. Insane.
#46
Back in late 90's I was a cashier at a big box store. Had an elderly regular who was a menace. I rang up all her stuff and she refused to write me a check until I balanced her checkbook. I quickly balanced it and got her out of my line. Fifteen or so years later I am shopping and hear a customer screaming at a cashier because she forgot her debit card pin number and it was cashier's fault. As I passed i realized it was same lady still being a pain in everyone's a*s.
#47
Worked for niche grocery store across the street from a retirement community.
Old dude cuts a turd while walking, shakes it out of his pants leg and keeps right on walking...
Old lady in a mobility scooter intentionally ran over my manager's foot and stopped to gloat about it. She actually shouted "GOTCHA!"...
Someone blast-painted the entire lower half of the wall behind the toilet with s**t. Manager had to clean it herself because everyone she tried to assign it to noped out...
Good times, good times. Part of me misses that job.
#48
I once had a customer demand that Apple cover the repair of her cat pee laptop. I tried explaining that this was considered a biohazard and wouldn’t be able to be repaired. She would have to buy a new one. She just wouldn’t take no for an answer and demanded that we replace it for free, after all it wasn’t her fault, right? It was the cat.
My manager jumped in and is trying to explain the same thing and at some point after we’re going no where with this customer my manager asks her why she feels that this is something that Apple should cover and she acted so offended at this question. That up to that point we had been providing good customer care, but somehow we crossed a line. So bizarre.
A day later we get her written feedback about how rude the manager was and how we crossed a line when we asked her that. No idea.
Also, in positive intent I opened the bottom of her MBP and the pee had crystallised and fully stunk up the repair room. .
#49
Was working the cash register at a card shop. 3 kids each about 15ish years old walk in and buy a booster pack each. The last one pays with cash but is about 25 cents short. He lets out the disgusted-teenager sigh and asks, "can I have a quarter?" I was confused and told him no. We then have a long conversation about how he needs the quarter to pay for the booster pack, I tell him that's not how a store works. He finally sighs and says, "fine I'll just use my store credit." THIS KID FIGHTS WITH ME OVER A QUARTER FOR 3 MINUTES WHEN HE HAD $20 IN STORE CREDIT THE WHOLE TIME. He bought his booster pack, opened it, and dropped the wrapper on the floor in front of me...
#50
Worked in receiving for Sears in 2008. This woman comes in one night to pick up a grill that she had bought and had assembled at the store. It was a liability for us to tie a purchase down for a customer, but we could offer them twine to do so themselves. She backs up to the loading dock, I load her grill onto her truck bed, and insist on giving her some twine to tie it down. She says that it’ll be fine, she doesn’t live that far away. Alright, cool, I did my job.
I show up the next morning and one of the managers comes running through the back looking for me, shouting “Where the f**k is he?! Is he here yet?!” She finally finds me and starts yelling “Did you load a grill last night?! Why didn’t you tie it down?!” I told her that yes, I did load a grill and no, I did not tie it down because we’re not allowed to, but I kept offering the customer something to tie it down on their own and they refused.
She’s so mad that I did what I was supposed to and didn’t do anything wrong, yells at me that their grill fell of the back of the truck on the highway and shattered.
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