Getting mistaken for someone else can lead to unexpected and funny results, especially when the mix-up occurs in a busy environment.

Which is exactly what happened to Reddit user Geoliciouswerdsmith. In a post on the platform’s forum ‘I Don’t Work Here Lady,’ the man recounted an amusing visit to the grocery store when a local woman chased him up and down the isles in a desperate attempt to get some help, completely unaware that he was unwilling and, quite possibly, even incapable of providing it.

Image credits: geoliciouswerdsmith / Envato (not the actual photo)

Image credits: voronaman111 / Envato (not the actual photo)

Image credits: geoliciouswerdsmith

Image credits: Victoriano Izquierdo / Unsplash (not the actual photo)

Consumers can be really selfish. “In our culture, we have excessively high expectations,” said Robin Kowalski, a psychology professor at Clemson University who studies complaining. Not just high expectations, but specific ones, about how the economy should run and what we should get out of it. We want things to be cheap, we want things to be fast, we want things to be efficient, and we’ve been told we’re always right. Naturally, it has gotten to our heads.

“We expect everything to work just like clockwork,” Kowalski explained. “Heaven forbid the internet goes out or we get stuck in a traffic jam and can’t go as fast as we want to, and that’s immediately going to trigger dissatisfaction.”

And where can this be more evident than in grocery stores, where people demand personalized attention and immediate assistance, even during peak hours when staff are stretched thin and expected to perform miracles?

Some researchers think mass media also play a significant role in shaping and reinforcing these expectations.

“We don’t filter ourselves as much as we used to,” said Bernard Golden, a psychologist and the author of Overcoming Destructive Anger. “On the internet, people feel like they can say anything. They no longer guard themselves. And I think they transfer that lack of filter into public life.”

People feel almost entitled to be rude to those who are not in a position of power.

As his story went viral, the man joined the discussion in the comments section

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