From u/munchkin123456 Tales From Retail:

So this was about 12 years ago when I was still fairly fresh faced and happy to help every customer with a smile... this may not be as bad as some of the other ones I've seen on here, but 12 years later and I still remember it like it was yesterday. I used to work for a brand that sells everything from Clothes to food to home ware.

One day I was serving a customer who was buying a variety of home wares- pots/ cushions etc. probably amounting to around £200 total, not the biggest sale but by no means minuscule. Transaction is going well, I offered our company CC just in case she was a mystery shopper and hit all the points on my mental checklist of serving on the tills.

We get to the payment part and her card declines, once, twice, three times... it cited auth code on the till - this was before the days of Chip & PIN so she needed to call her bank.... apparently that wasn't satisfactory

Me: Me

CW: Crazy Woman

M: Manager

Me: I'm afraid it's saying you need to call your bank, unfortunately the card has declined.

CW: try it again.

Me: I've tried it three times, unfortunately it's giving me the same message, how about this, I can either hold the items for 24hrs here with your name on and you can get everything sorted with the bank, or alternatively if you have another form of payment I can get that through for you now.

CW: Well it must be your machines.

Me: The machines have been working fine all day, the error message is specifying the card.

CW: Get me your manager.

Manager is within earshot and had been keeping an eye on it so wanders over.

M: Is everything OK here? How can I help?

CW: Your card machines aren't working and SHE is saying it's my fault.

M: Well let's see what we can do *opens up next till and runs everything through* unfortunately the card is not going through I'm afraid, do you have another form of payment with you? Otherwise we'll happily hold your items for 24hrs if you want to call your bank?

CW: WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT GOING THROUGH? HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT? YOU'RE RUINING LIVES WITH THOSE CRAPPY MACHINES.

M: Well madam, I sleep very well at night, I'm not sure how that is relevant though in this case.

CW: *stomping off without the items* You'll be hearing from my Lawyer!!

M: Okay, thank for visiting, enjoy the rest of your day.

I had never seen my manager react to a customer ever... she was actually shaking! We never did hear from her lawyers, Head Office never told us if she complained (we'd have had a meeting about a customer complaint - those were taken seriously) but we did find out from another employee who had seen the whole thing happen that she came in a day later when me and my manager were off to buy the items - apparently her bank had sent out a new card ahead of that one expiring and deactivated the card without telling her.... Ah the joys of being screamed at for something you didn't have any control at.

--u/munchkin123456

From u/KEC112992 Tales From Retail:

I worked retail for 5 years through college. I was mainly a fitting room bitch so I managed to avoid confrontation by doing my best to avoid customers at all. But of course I still have some stories up my sleeve, especially from my times at the register.

This one was my very last customer interaction on my last day of retail, almost two years ago. And for the last almost two years, I still wonder about this guy. I couldn't decide if he was rude and delusional or if there was just a language barrier. I have decided that it was all three.

This man approaches me with two sneakers from the shoe department that are still attached together with the anti-theft device, but no shoe box. We need the shoe box for the barcode in order to sell the shoes. Great. I figure he's grabbed a display pair. (The last time I went to the store, I noticed that they no longer sell the display pair ... haha).

I kindly ask the man if he saw the boxes of non-display shoes underneath, hinting maybe he could go grab one for the sale. He just keeps saying he "found them this way" and doesn't seem to understand what I mean. I have to walkie the poor shoe girl to get me the box.

The shoe department was always understaffed and a wreck (much like the rest of the store), so it took her a good 7-8 minutes to have time to bring me the box. All the while the man is huffing and seeming agitated at the wait.

I get the box and ring him up, and then carefully box up the shoes. The shoe box was slim with the somewhat complicated cardboard tabs that I wasn't used to, so it took me another two minutes probably to box them up properly, all while he watched. When I hand him the shoes he says "I don't want the box."

................ ok. So I (passive aggressively) unbox the shoes, trash the box, and go to clock out on my last shift. I run into the shoe girl who informs me she had seen the man take the shoes out of the box and toss it aside in the shoe department. She told him to please take the box up to the front to have the cashier throw it away. Of course he just didn't do that.

So to wrap that up, he tosses aside the box, lies to me about it, stands there and waits for the shoe girl to bring the box up instead of going back to get it himself, WATCHES me box them back up, THEN informs me he doesn't want the box. All while acting agitated at the wait he could have easily avoided himself.

It was a great way to end the last shift!

--u/KEC112992

From  _Magnolia_, Tales From Retail:

I used to be a cashier for a typical big retail store, not known for its organizational prowess. And for about a month, it seemed that every couple shifts I can in, the managers would be taking down a display, putting up another one, then they'd take down the new one, put up another... Just lots of rearranging. Apparently corporate was testing what should go where to sell fastest?

Anyway. One day, these adorable coloring books get set up. My manager says something along the lines of, "these will never sell up here...". They were for adults, had three themes (animals, flowers, arabia/geometric). The paper was nice and thick, and the backs were cardboard.

I've wanted one for a while (they help calm me down! I like coloring things!), but was disappointed they were priced at $9.99. I then remembered I had about 3 dollars in store credit so decided to buy one at the end of my shift.

I got off at 10 pm, which is closing time. A couple minutes before close and after not having seen customers for 15 minutes, I asked a friend to ring me up (can't ring yourself up, for obvious reasons). She told me my total was about 60 cents. I was surprised and asked how much does credit I had had. "Oh, I didn't use any! Those are fifty cents!".

What.

What.

I ran back to double check all the other variations. Yup. They ring up as 50 cents each! So I bought one of course. The screen at the end of the transaction said, proudly, "Congratulations! You saved $9.49!".

So obviously they were in the system correctly...

I told my managers, and they were both like, "Ahh. Okay. Nice... We can't fix this right now. Oh well." They said they'd let someone know. But they bought a couple too! So did some other cashiers.

I told my mom when I got off work, and she requested that I go in tomorrow and buy her a dozen for her work (she works with kids). Usually that would be $120 before tax... It was only about $8 after tax. And I used my store credit too. The cashier who rang me out wasn't one who had been working last night, and did not care that I was getting a dozen books for about 5 bucks.

I think other customers figured it out. Two shifts later, the shelf was totally empty. So I think corporate decided our location really likes coloring books up front.

-- _Magnolia_

From  im-you-not-me, Tales From Retail:

I work in a big name clothing store.

So we have this big sign hanging right in front of the window advertising:

Up to

70% off

entire store^*

^{*some exclusions apply}

I cannot tell you how many people asked why some signs had 50% or whatever else rather than the 70%. I've had to repeat that the sign doesn't say 70% off the entire store, but up to 70%.

Most people have taken this correction well, but this wouldn't be here if not for the remaining customers.

I had one older lady accuse me of falsely advertising because of what they chose to read from the sign, while others demand to see the 70% off section of a particular department, and get mad when we don't have items that qualify.

On a lighter note, one Saturday morning our registers were down so we had to delay our opening. We put big signs right on the door, at eye level apologising that we'd be delayed opening, and I cannot tell you how many people still tried to pull the locked door open despite the sign and knocking when that failed.

-- im-you-not-me

From  nreppep, Tales From Retail:

I use to work at a low-end department store in the men’s section. My job was basically folding clothes, checking out customers, and clearing the dressing rooms.

So one night I’m clearing out the dressing room by the casual men’s section, and I spot a pair of balled up jean shorts in the corner. We don’t sell jean shorts. When I got closer, I realized they were damp. I picked them up by the belt loop - the only dry piece - and brought them to the cash wrap because I had no idea what to do with them. There’s a couple of guys checking out up there when I arrive, and they asked why I’m carrying the shorts the way I am.

Me: “They’re damp and I’m not sure why.”

Coworker: “I’ll give y’all 20% off if someone can tell me if it’s water or pee.”

Guy 1: “DEAL!”

This customer literally just started sniffing the damp shorts.

Guy 1: “Yep, it’s pee.”

-- nreppep

From leonis_ Tales From Retail:

This just happened to me and I want to burn my hands off.

I am working in the lingerie department in a large store and saw a woman‘s shoes in the same changing room for quiet a while (I didn‘t think anything of it). I had to go to the front of the store for 5 minutes and when I came back the woman was gone.

So I enter the changing room and I see there is a fluid on the floor which I’m hoping is water. We have also little chairs in the changing rooms and there were some items on it which I thought would be safe.

I. Was. Wrong. I grabbed the clothes, notice they are dripping wet and I drop them immediately. I smell my hand and, yes, of COURSE, it is urine.

WE HAVE TOILETS PEOPLE. USE. THEM.

Now I‘ve scrubbed my hands raw and all I can smell is urine.

T-Minus 4 hours till I can cry at home.

--leonis_