From u/IM_EARTHQUAKE, Tales From Retail:

From u/MuseMania, Tales From Retail:

So I work in a hospital as an administration officer/admissions clerk. I know it's not retail, but sometimes it may as well be with the amount of people we interact with. I have a lot of crazy stories from working at reception, but this one is my favourite out of any job I've ever had.

To preface, it was my 21st birthday last Saturday, and my coworkers organised a surprise set of flowers to be delivered while I was at work on Friday. Overwhelmed with emotion, I went out to the front reception to give my colleague a hug to say thank you. The conversation went like this: (M is me, C is colleague and OG is older gentleman)

M: Thanks so much for the flowers!

OG who was standing at the desk: What's the occasion?

C: Oh it's MuseMania's 21st birthday tomorrow!

OG: Well it's not every day that you turn 21, happy birthday! When I was 21, my grandmother bought me a Rolex watch. I never wore it very often because I knew how special it is. Recently I had it valued and it's worth between $5000-$20000!

C and I expressed our amazement and OG left.

Now this was a lovely interaction but I didn't think much of it afterwards until I came back to work the next week.

I was unwell over the weekend so I didn't return to work until the Wednesday. When I arrived back, my colleague told me that OG had been looking for me on Monday and Tuesday, but was discharged so he didn't catch me before he left. However, she led me out the back and showed me a little envelope with a package inside. She beamed and told me to open it. Inside was a brand new watch and a note that said: "I know it's not a Rolex, but happy 21st birthday! From OG."

I'm not going to lie, I stood out there and cried for a good five minutes. Sometimes all it takes is one good customer to make up for every other bad customer you get. I've never been so grateful :)

Here is a photo of it 😊 http://imgur.com/5k6Qp0o

--u/MuseMania

From /SaulTheBoss Tales From Retail:

I'm at the registers doing my thing when a Mom (M) and her 5-ish daughter (D) come up. The mom has a small basket with some snacks, jars of peanut butter/jelly, and napkins, while the daughter is gently cradling a scrubby holder in the shape of a unicorn.

>S: Hello, ma'am. How are you today?

M: I'm fine. How are you?

S: I'm fine, thank you. *(Looks over counter at D)* Well, hello there!

D: *(Come up to counter, places unicorn in front of me)* I'm buying this!

S: Well, so you are! Do you have any money?

D: *(Looks confused, then at M)* No...

S: Well then, I guess your Mom will have to get it for you then. Ma'am?

M: *(Laughs)* I suppose I'll have to!

S: *(Scans unicorn, hands back to D)* There you are, ma'am.

M: D, what do you say?

D: Thank you!

S: You're very welcome. *(Scans rest of items)* You're total is $10.67.

D: Ten. Sixty. Seven. What does that mean, mamma? Is that ten dollars and...?

S: Oh, I was saying the number very quickly. It's actually One Thousand and Sixty-Seven dollars.

D: (0.0)

D: *(Looks at M)* Is that true?

M: Oh yes, it's very expensive.

D: But why?

S: Well, you DID buy a unicorn, after all.

D: *(Looks down at the unicorn in her hands, then at M)* Really?

M: Oh, yes. Be careful with your unicorn.

D: Okay!

M: *(To me)* Thanks for that.

S: Not a problem, ma'am. You two have a good day.

M: You, too. Come on, D.

D: *(To me)* Bye! *(To M)* I'm gonna tell all my friends I got a thousand dollar unicorn!

:D

--

 From  thegamesthief Tales From Retail:

I work at a friendly local game store, we do tabletop games, ttrpgs, that kind of thing, and we have a really strong community of awesome people who game here regularly. With that out of the way, my story:

It's a really, really slow Sunday, nothing has happened all day, and I've been doing homework most of the day, with nothing else to do until a family of 3 walks in. It's a fairly young couple and their daughter, probably 5 or 6 years old. They look around for a while, I give the usual "let me know if I can help" and that stuff. About 10 minutes into them getting here, with me working on other things, the daughter (DT) and the dad (DA) have this conversation with me (ME)

DT: That man (pointing at me) needs a hug daddy. Hug him.

DA: Well as nice as that is honey, I don't know him very well, he may not want a hug from somebody he doesn't know.

ME: I love hugs, and I normally would say yes, but your dad is right, I don't usually want hugs from people I don't know

DT:(now visibly sadder) oh. Ok. I'm not going to make you hug my daddy if you don't want to... But if you need one, let us know!

And they both just kept on looking around the store for a while, ended up getting some dice, and as they were leaving, the little girl turned to be and said "I hope you find someone to hug you!" And left with her parents.

It was easily the nicest thing that's happened to me working retail ever, even working at an amazing shop like this one.

--thegamesthief

From  amazingkace Tales From Retail:

I work at an American retail store, famously known for its "hassle free/no receipt, no problem" returns.

I usually work at the registers on the far side of the store, but was unexpectedlyoved to the customer service registers due to a malfunction with my printer. I was thrown into a system I didn't entirely understand with a line I wasn't accustomed to.

Eventually I was doing a return for an older woman and her mother. While printing out the receipt, the woman suddenly asked me what my name was.

I wrote it on the receipt, and she leaned forward and said.

"This really is a thankless job and I'd just like you to know that we appreciate you and everything you do."

It really brightened up my day :)

I wanted to share a little nice something.

--amazingkace