Someone Asks Cashiers To Share What Items Make Them Silently Judge People Who Buy Them, 50 Respond
It’s human nature to care about what others think of us. From worrying about our physical appearance to choosing the right words to making certain shopping decisions, being concerned about how others perceive us fills every aspect of our ordinary, everyday lives. Even if we’re not aware of it. So no wonder, then, we get so insecure imagining all the things the employee who is ringing up our 10 frozen pizzas (totally for a party) is thinking about us.
Thankfully, there’s a viral Reddit thread that offers insider knowledge of what products pique the interest at the registers and the opinions that follow. User gracoal recently reached out to the cashiers of 'Ask Reddit' with a very fine question: "What items make you silently judge the people who buy them?" Workers jumped at the opportunity to share a mix of hilarious and eyebrow-raising things they’ve ever scanned at checkouts.
We at Bored Panda wrapped up an entertaining compilation of what store clerks actually ponder as we make those questionable purchases. So continue scrolling, upvote your favorite responses, and be sure to share what embarrassing things you've ever bought right below. And if you're a cashier who has ever judged a customer behind closed doors, we'd love to hear all about it in the comments!
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Not me but I was working with him at the time. This kid around 15 years old came in, late, maybe around 11pm. He was trying to buy condoms. The guy who was traing me took the condoms and said get outta here, you shouldn't be doing that! The kid was embarrassed and left. I told the guy, you probably just caused a teenage pregnancy, that boy was doing the right thing and you embarrassed him. I still cant stand that guy.
This was about ten years ago, but the only time I judged someone was also when I lost a little faith in humanity.
Guy in his late twenties comes through the line. Belt is filled with junk food; chips, chocolate, popcorn, candy, etc. The whole time I'm ringing him up he's saying how glad he is to be out of the house, that the baby has a flu or something and hes at his wits end.
Fair enough, I suppose.
I get to the total, tell him, and wouldn't you know, he's short a few dollars. So what does he put back? The only non-juck food item: children's cold and flu medicine.
I still judge that man, and I don't even remember his face.
I remember one that everyone loved to judge and I caught a write up cause I finally told them to stfu. This customer came in 4-5 days a week *right* as the store opened (7am). She always paid cash and more often than not there were tons of singles and the smell of booze and smoke on them. It was plainly apparent she was a stripper, and for many more reasons than her payment method.
I was one of the few "young" cashiers who'd open cause I was stupid and dropped my college courses for work at the time (I did end up graduating eventually). So most of my coworkers that early were the near-retirement-age cashiers who'd basically forced their way into being only on regular daytime hours M-F. Since they were excruciatingly slow and I could run three systems at a time in customer service and still check people out they wanted me there to keep the flow.
Anyway sorry just setting the kind of scene this was. These cashiers would talk SO MUCH S**T every time this poor woman left the store. And thing is she'd be buying formula and diapers, regular stuff for meals and cereal and produce. Like she wasn't even buying booze like half our customers who rolled in that early were wont to do (and either way I *would not care* it's their lives and their money I spent half my check on alcohol too at the time). But because she was a schmex worker she was trash and a horrible mom and all this garbage their judgemental selves kept saying.
Honestly that woman was one of the nicest and respectful customers we had, and eventually she'd learned to always come to my line when I was there in the mornings. I can't remember her name anymore--it's been 20 years and I'm a recovering alcoholic--but I hope she's doing good and her kid grew up happy and healthy. And f**k judgemental a*s cashiers.
Currently working as a cashier and I was reading thru these thinking "what was something I really judged people for?"
Then I remembered this one customer I judged wrongly. Every morning this one guy would bolt into the store, go to the drink aisle, and come out with 5-6 energy drinks. He would come everyday so one day, I made a joke and said: "don't drink them all in one setting."
He then proceeded to tell me that it's to help with his ongoing chemo therapy. Stopped judging people based on their items after that one.
The only time I ever judged someone was when this woman and a kid came up to the register. The woman wanted four cartons of smokes and when her little kid begged for a packet of strawberries, she was told no because they 'couldnt afford it'.
This was back in the early 2010's so cartons were around 80 bucks. So she spent 320 dollars on cigarettes but didnt want to spend 3 dollars on a measly pack of strawberries :(. Addiction is a hellova thing, I tell you what.
When I was 20 and moving in to our first apartment with my now ex- wife, we had a pregnancy "scare" (it wasn't really a scare, we were trying at the time, but I don't know the term you'd use.) So I went to Target to buy a pregnancy test. We also, happened to need hangers, and I prefer wire ones over those cheap plastic ones. So I went through that checkout lane with a pregnancy test and a bunch of wire hangers. The cashier was shooting me daggers and I had no clue why. It wasn't until I told my wife, confused, about it and she started dying laughing that I made the realization of what this cashier must have thought.
Not in itself, but I always side eye parents who’ll buy my weight in booze and cigarettes, but then scream at their kid to put the bottle of juice back
Not to be that guy but people with very overweight young children and buying a whole bunch of candy, soda, and make-shift high calorie heat up foods/meals. I am in no way trying to tell people how to live their lives, but it would always make me sad seeing super overweight kids just getting set up like that.
I feel bad that some (NOT ALL) of those families can’t afford to buy healthy food. Or at least its much easier and cheaper to buy junk. It’s a pain healthy food isn’t cheaper than all that bad stuff
I was a cashier at a pet store. The main thing i'd judge for was buying way too small of a habitat. Whether it was a gold fish bowl, or a critter trail, i'd be upset. I'd try to use it as a teaching opprotunity when possible but not everyone would listen because "its just a fish/hamster/rabbit/etc".
I was a cashier 20+ years ago. I hated it when people bought frozen kids dinners with food stamps and spent hundreds of dollars on alcohol and cigarettes.
I never judged, but I did notice that if people were buying something they thought was embarrassing they'd also buy some other item. No one bought just a pregnancy test, only a box of condoms, a single tub of lube. No there was always some other item, like a candy bar or bag of chips, as if they were worried I was judging them for buying only the "embarrassing" item. I wasn't, I just found the pattern amusing. I know you didn't come to the store for a candy bar and then thought hey I should grab Plan B while I'm here. I don't care, and if the polite fiction helps you get through the day go for it. But it is amusing.
I once had a guy in his 50s ask me if it was ok to buy his wife a box of hair dye for Mother's Day. I told him it probably wasn't a good idea but he said "Oh well" and bought it anyway. So, yeah, I judged him.
Yeah, I agree with you OP. Never buy a gift that is meant to change your partner (unless they specifically asked for it). That's a gift FOR YOU, not your partner. Very disrespectful and selfish. It's like a friends ex-husband who got her butt plugs and lube for her birthday because HE wanted to have a**l sex (she absolutely did not but he kept bringing it up).
The only time I got judgy was the teenager who was too nervous to buy condoms, so he sent his equally nervous girlfriend into the store to buy them while he paced around outside.
It's like, dude, if you're going to do this, man up and buy your own.
I was a cashier for 3 years, and I can't think of a single thing that anyone bought that I judged them for.
I certainly judged people for their attitudes, for inappropriately asking for a discount, or for various other petty things, but never for the items they were buying.
When I was a teenager a friend and I decided to try and shoot a movie gunfight and wanted to make our own squibs. We read in a magazine that they used condoms filled with fake blood and blew them up with a small explosive charge. We had firecrackers, so off we went to buy condoms.
Two 14-yr old dudes buying a massive box of unlubed condoms? Yeah, boy, we got judged...
I worked at a grocery store for a couple years. An older man probably in his 60's came in, he was with a girl who was in her mid 20's and pregnant. I was ringing them up and he goes hey babe do you need some more cigarette's. He bought her a pack as well as one for him. I usually dont judge people but I judged them.
Awkward. But maybe they weren't in the kind of relationship or maybe he was younger than he appeared. Were IDs checked? My ex was a heavy smoker and he always looked much older compared to me, and I've always looked a bit younger for my age. We're only 3 years apart. The looks people gave us, especially when I was pregnant, was priceless. He's about 41 now and looks to be in his 60s. I still look much like I did in my early 30s with a few silvery hairs in my bangs. When we were together and apartment hunting, due to his odd work hours, sometimes his dad would come with me to viewings. One landlord thought his dad was my boyfriend... I could've just died right there.
The double chocolate chip frappuccino for your 4-year-old at 8:32am. You are giving your very small child a chocolate milkshake for breakfast, Karen, just so you can trash your local Target and get 30 seconds of silence and then leave the cup laying down on a shelf, spilling chocolate milk onto a stack of bath towels.
not a cashier, but rather the customer who was judged 😭😂
I decided to buy candy after valentines day since i kno it would be on discount (it usually is). I got like 3 packages of caramel candy and 2 chocolate bars. The cashier looked at the stuff i bought and was like “Didnt your boyfriend get you something or are you buying these for him?” i just stood there awkwardly like “im just buying candy cuz its on a 50% discount… I like being single?” and then the cashier just laughed at me like being single was a bad thing? I mean i dont see being single as a bad thing?
And this kinda caused me to stop buying candy after valentines day.
The day after the holiday is the best day to buy candy! No shame in a sale on chocolate!
Pity, which is a judgement of a sort. I am overweight myself, but have a job where I still have to do physical labor and I get by, so while I could stand to lose a few dozen pounds, I am not breathing hard from walking down the block, or anything. When I see people who are at the point where their ankles look like they are about to give out, or that barely fit in the mobility scooter, buying a lot of sweets and not much else, I feel genuinely bad for them. I know how exhausted, out of breath, sore, and sweaty I get when I exercise, which is not often enough, and I can't imagine how terrible it must physically feel to be in that poor of shape. I try not to look down on, or scoff at their choices internally, because we all do what we must to cope with a tough and often cruel world, but man do I feel bad for them.
I have an invisible disability. I'm sure I'm judged when I use a motorized cart. But, you know, what other people think of me isn't any of my business.
woman on a scooter with grey skin and on oxygen buying two huge jugs of wine and a carton of cigs.
on one hand, wtf, you trying to die soon?
on the other, if I was a little old lady shut in all day, I'd drink and smoke a lot too.
I work at a pet store. I judge ppl that get a pet and then buy the cheapest and the most trashy per food there is. A pet is a luxury and costs a lot of money, that's what these ppl don't consider beforehand. If you get yourself one you have to take good care of them and good food is a basic.
I'm not talking about ppl where life happened and are short on money, because this can happen to all of us. Usually those are the ones getting at least something a lil cheaper but still good quality.
Nah, I'm talking about the mf getting a big a*s Rottweiler and buying 15kg of Pedigree for 20€, complaining about the dog being expensive and he's wearing pricy clothing brands from head to toe.
I silently judge people for putting clothes and shoes on dogs. They must be so hot and uncomfortable
As a waitress I judged the lady who said she needed her steak well done because she had a bad liver and couldn't process rare meat but then proceeded to order a vodka raspberry with her meal.
It was 11:30am
I worked as a cashier in high school and college. I only remember one combo that a customer brought through my register.
It was a Friday afternoon, and an older gentleman brought up a large, glass jug of red wine, tye biggest tube of KY Jelly we carried, and two potatoes.
I didn't say anything, but I thought to myself "This guy has plans for the weekend."
Not the woman herself or family that may or may not exist, but the system in place that's supposed to take care of her.
She obviously suffers from dementia and it's pretty bad. Throughout the years she has probably spent thousands of dollars on socks because she's "out of socks". She's obviously not but I'm really judging the system that's supposed to take care of people who are this sick. I always try my best to avoid her buying more socks than she initially came for, but other than that there isn't much I can do. So much money down the drain on socks.
Well I don't know about "judgement", as I have my own vices, as most people do, but...
Lottery tickets. I get that gambling addiction is a problem and why, but unlike drinking or other drugs, it seems like so little reward for so much investment. People pissing away in minutes what it would take me all week to earn, right in front of my eyes, not even waiting to leave the store to scratch off a whole stack. Again, not really judgement, I don't know these people or their lives, but certainly the most upsetting on a certain level I feel.
I hate getting stuck in line behind these people. They will stand at the counter to scratch off all their tickets and then spend their meager "winnings" on more lotto tickets and repeat the process. That's a separate transaction. Get to the back of the line. Some of us are just trying to pay for gas and coffee so we can get to work.
Literally the *only* thing that ever stood out to me was people late at night buying 6+ bottles of non-mint mouthwash. Absolutely 100% of the time they were drinking it.
Is there alcohol in mouth wash or some type of drug? I don't know if I'm stupid for not knowing but im curious
When I was a cashier on the Express lane, I would silently judge the people that told me to wait while scanning their items to "grab a few more things". Normal lane with a giant cart and only missing one thing is relatively okay, but the express lane? Judgement.
No. Sorry this has always been one of my pet peeves. You have entered the I am done shopping line.... if you would like to recommence shopping because you have not got everything 2 options exist. If you haven't started checking out, leave the line. If you have, complete check out, put groceries in car, try again. Why do I have to stand while you shop and check out at the same time because you'll "just be a minute" you're the same person who parks in the fire lane out front to run in to grocery shop or blocks the exit ramp to the handicap spot because you just need a little more space..... all of the rest of us did this right and you're taking the one resource you cannot replace, my time, and stealing it for your convenience.
Not a cashier, but this is a fun story. Was in a high end liquor store in LA a few years ago. Guy walks in, goes straight to the cashier and asks for help. He said his boss is a famous rock star, and that he was sent to buy a number of bottles of the best whiskey and scotch they had in the store, but he knows nothing about whisky and scotch. The guy helping him suggests a few bottles in the $50 range, and he keeps saying no. Said his boss would be pissed if he bought stuff that cheap. The cashier gets excited, and goes over to the locked rack...The guy says this was the right stuff, simply because it was expensive. He walks out with at least 10 bottles of booze none of which were less than $500 each. I watch him jam every single bottle into a back pack, and jump on a really nice motorcycle, and speed off.
He paid cash.
My judgement of this guy is that he was not likely lying about working for a famous rock star.
Had a customer buy a pack of condoms and 3 cucumbers. Tried not to judge but damn.
There's a convenience store nearby that prominently sells whip-its, i.e. the little nitrous oxide cylinders nominally intended for whipped-cream dispensers ... which people actually just crack into a balloon, inhale, and get high on.
If I saw someone there buying a few boxes of those, I would judge them as having a high risk of vitamin B12 deficiency. Nitrous oxide will oxidize the B12 right out of your bloodstream. Eventually your nerves get all f****d up.
Folks, even convenience-store drugs are actually drugs and can have side effects. Also, don't freeze your face off.
Some people buy a lot of those cylinders so they don't have to buy them for a while. My parents currently have two large boxes and I don't even remember when they last bought any
As a cashier at a clothing department store, I don't have a reason to judge anything they buy. But I do judge the ones who force me to answer stupid questions. I'm amazed of how many people will literally start yelling at workers because we didn't have the exact shorts he wanted. One time, this guy asked me repeatedly if I had his size in the cargo pants he wanted. And loudly too, "no but really, do you have it!?" like over and over and over. His family had to tell him to shut up several times. Like, I'm not holding back from giving you the size, we just don't have it.
I hate when people come up to me and go, "look i really like this but it's like $85, so like... what can you do for me here?" Excuse me, do I work for you now? It's a nike item, I can't just give you discounts because you're bitter about the price.
I used to get some customers haggle over everything - they were usually Middle Eastern in appearance with poor English so I suspect it’s the norm where they’re from. I had to politely explain that the price was the price and I had no discretion on the price. Not judging - more of a cultural misunderstanding
It’s hard for me to judge any item cause most are pretty tame/ fitting for the person however I do have this one regular… this regular lady comes in multiple times a day and always gets a small bottle of alcohol (like Southern Comfort or Fireball) and she ALWAYS tells me, “I’m marinating chicken, I don’t drink” or other times she tells me, “they are for my husband” and then later in the day she tells me, “I’m so lonely without my husband.” I know she might be going through some stuff but I always think to myself, “I honestly don’t care lady, as long as you pay for it”.
This is going back a while, but I used to cringe inside when people bought those handwash / bodywash brands with all those little microplastic balls for exfoliating purposes.
I'm so glad that fad died out.
My mom has a thing about buying cucumbers. If she needs only cucumbers for a salad or something, for some reason, she feels incredibly embarrassed buying only a cucumber. She will buy other miscellaneous things that she doesn’t need just so that the cashier doesn’t get any wrong ideas.
I guess technically not a cashier, but I check people out sometimes. I work in a high-end cheese shop.
Prima Donna is garbage, you can get it at Shop Rite, it's mass-produced nonsense that has gotten its talons in the Italian-American community even though it's a "gouda" made in Holland, they buy it bc it's Italian sounding and that's what they grew up eating.
(I put "gouda" in quotes bc it's a sham of a cheese that uses quick-ripening starter to mimic the aging process other goudas go through to crystallize).
This was an esoteric rant.
Vaseline, cigarettes, wine, and stool softeners. Was helping father by going to the store to pick up doctor prescribed items for him after he got out of the hospital. I never read the shopping list clearly before I left and didn't put two and two together until I got to the register with my wife who was with me. The young lady cashier blushed and said "You planning for a good evening?" I smiled and smiled yes we are without thinking. The cashier definitely judged us that evening. She would smirk every time we came to the store after that. The whole thing went over my head until I was sitting in the car getting ready to go. My wife looked at me an said that was embarrassing.
The clerk was out of line. You shouldn't have to explain these things.
I've been a cashier for a year now (but worked in stores for over 2) and honestly I've never really judged someone for the products they're buying. Of course I've been in funny situations.
For example when I still worked in our local drugstore: there was this woman who always came to buy pregnancy tests. Like every week she'd buy at least 4. We made smalltalk for a bit and found out that she wasn't even trying to get pregnant, but she had a lot of pregnancy scares. Fast forward 4 weeks. The lady had been back at least six times since I made smalltalk with her. My coworker also heard why she always came to buy the tests and bluntly said: "ma'am isn't it way cheaper to just buy condoms instead of 4 pregnancy tests per week?" Never saw the lady again
Another story: they sell sex toys at the drug store. You'd be surprised how much people buy em. One day this lady bought this toy and kept making eye contact with the cashier, so it was kinda akward. The the woman proceeded to say to the cashier while awkwardly laughing: "well sometimes your hand isn't enough right? Ha ha ha...." And then she left, only to come back 2 days later to complain abt the toy not being strong enough... Yeah the drugstore was fun
Back in high school I was a cashier at a grocery store. I only remember one purchase.
We had a “hispanic aisle” and one of the top sellers were these tall skinny glass jar candles that had stickers of religious people on them.
An older white guy came in and bought EVERY. SINGLE. LUBE we had in the pharmacy section, and 12 of these candles. Nothing else.
I worked at a music store in the late 90’s. We judged the sh*t out of you.
Are buying the latest bubble gum pop mass media produce c**p? You’ve been Judged!
You buying the latest uninspired gangster rap album from a guy that never held a gun until they made the music video? Judgement!
Are you buying a single for $5 and the LP is $6? Cheap a$$, judgment!
Are you buying the next Jeff Foxworthy album that only 15 minutes long instead of the 60 minute full show? Judged!
Are you buying a stack of a 100 45’s from the back of the store? Mad respect, judged!
Are making me looking up Metallica import from Japan in this giant book? I’ll be ordering 4 of those, thank you sir. Judged!
Are you buying all 14 of the Barney VHS tapes, every baby Mozart/Bach/Beethoven album and the TLC album, hang on mom, let me find you a coupon and another discount, those are not cheap. No Judgement!
I bought toilet paper and laxatives at the same time. Teenage cashier looked at it and got the giggles. This got the bagger laughing. I just stood there stupidly pretending it wasn’t funny.
Should've gotten an air freshener and a few magazines, too.
I don't judge you for your items: I judge you for how much of a pain in the a*s you make my life. Sometimes not at all, sometimes it's the worst part of my day. The latter camp is always being judged, and always being s**t talked in the break room afterwards.
I always say please and thank you to every cashier, and calculate my cash total beforehand with a pocket calculator (tax included). They have enough c**p to deal with, even if I'm not there.
I was a Target cashier, and never really paid attention to what people bought, with the exception of a guy I went to high school with who came in regularly, and no matter what he bought, he would always buy a bottle of Target's generic caffeine pills. I know he was selling them as "white crosses", i.e. speed.
It's the returns that make me suspect. I don't mean things like half eaten food, I mean stuff that's likely just taken off the walls and "returned" for credit. The store has a very generous return policy and we can't say no to someone unless a manager intervenes, so local homeless and addicts take advantage of this by pocketing small expensive items like shampoos and Sonicare brush heads, walking out one of the entrance doors, sticking the stolen items in a shopping bag and walking up to customer service for a big store credit card. I once had to give someone who did this almost $80 on a card and they immediately used it to buy several cartons of Marlboros.
Other than that I can't stand people who will abandon their entire order if just one of their coupons won't work/is expired. Buy $50 worth of two items, and me 20 coupons, one doesn't work and they say "nevermind" and walk away even though they'll only have to pay $3 at this point.
Where and when can one get "several cartons on Marlboros" for $80? OP must mean packs, not cartons
i used to work at a sex toy store. i feel like people may think we judge everything they buy, but no.
for vagina-havers, i’d judge the tightening creams and not for the reason you think. i wouldn’t be like hahahahahahahha loose pussyyyyyy! i’d tell them that what those creams do is actually cause a severe allergic reaction so your vaginal walls swell so it just temporarily feels tighter. and if they were still down i’d judge. like you’re willing to put your coochie through that for a man!?!? nope nope
for penis-havers, if they bought a sound…… i was just like………… oh he a *freak* freak. he can get down with the get down. i’d be very impressed.
I didn't judge people on what they bought, but I definitely judged them on what they returned. A woman once returned a bag of dirt as "defective" because when she opened it a fly flew out. Like, lady, it's DIRT, just put it in your yard and bugs will go in and out of it all day long. Still one of the stupidest things I ever saw.
I can see if it was infested. Potting soil really shouldn't have clouds of bugs shooting out (this has happened to me a few times). If it's for pots in your home that's going to cause problems.
I once bought a paper towel holder from Walmart, the kind that sits on your counter with a base and a long slender tube on the centre of the base. The kid at the register was smirking and giving me side eye. I tried explaining what it was but he didn’t believe me.
Not judged as much as hated when people bought dozens of those individually wrapped snack sized cheese slices. At my store we had to scan each one of them.
🧀 Beep 🧀 beep 🧀 beep 🧀 beep
Not so much the items specifically but back in the day working at a Walmart it was very obvious when the welfare checks came in and watching people waste it on video games instead of essentials was quite eye opening.
The pH-balanced bottled water. Not even the fact that it was single bottled water, but that these ones typically have super thick plastic and even massive caps to have a "premium" feel, which makes me feel like the customer is a bit of a dips**t.
[these](https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=core+hydration&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fi5.walmartimages.com%2Fasr%2Ffad92161-0a66-464c-887f-a84deae92481_1.d77f6cf066d7b60b71649fd3fee75a10.jpeg)
Posts about social anxiety: Don't worry about going to the shop, I promise the cashiers don’t give a sh*t about what you buy. ❤ --- This post: Lol, We judge everyone and everything and will remember you ever after!
Upvote from me because I agree. (That rhymed, and I wasn't even trying!)
Load More Replies...Have you ever bought beer, condoms and duct tape at the same time? You feel judged then.
Posts about social anxiety: Don't worry about going to the shop, I promise the cashiers don’t give a sh*t about what you buy. ❤ --- This post: Lol, We judge everyone and everything and will remember you ever after!
Upvote from me because I agree. (That rhymed, and I wasn't even trying!)
Load More Replies...Have you ever bought beer, condoms and duct tape at the same time? You feel judged then.