# So I was serving customers on a cash register today.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 28, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262 "2009-06-28T17:21:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/41 "2009-06-30T04:25:28Z")
I have a habit of playing with my hair, not even being aware of it. Well, when I was working at Kmart, this one old guy came up to me the one time and said, “Why do you play with your hair?” And I just looked at hime and said, “Oh, I don’t know, just a habit I guess.” And he said, “Well I don’t LIKE it!” Oooohkay. And do NOT get me started on the old people who would ask me to rifle through my drawer for state quarters. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/42 "2009-06-30T04:50:31Z")
When I worked at McDonald’s as a teenager, I would routinely get parents that would go completely postal if we didn’t have the correct Happy Meal toy that their child wanted. (Sometimes, even better, there was no child involved and I was dealing with an adult that just really wanted to complete his collection of Happy Meal Power Rangers or whatever.) However, the best was one day when a mild-mannered parent came up – not in the middle of lunch rush, bless him – and politely inquired whether I could try to find him a different plush Babe: Pig in the City toy, because his daughter already had the sheep. He was polite and we weren’t rushed, so I said, sure, and went rummaging through our box o’ Happy Meal toys. Unfortunately, the Babe promotion was ending that week, so all we had was the sheep and the toys for the next week’s promotion, which was some kind of monster movie. So I stood up and showed the guy what we had: “Well, we don’t have a plush sheep toy, but we do have this… um… cockroach. That transforms into… I think a rat.” After a beat of silence, we both cracked up. He was like, “Yeah, no, I’ll stick with the sheep. Thanks anyway, though.” ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/43 "2009-06-30T05:03:28Z")
I’m a co-manager in a little home decor store, and I got snippy with some folks a while back. We were having nasty weather and I had just watched a tornado rip through Murfreesboro on live TV. I came out of the breakroom and discovered half my employees and half my customers standing outside, in front of our large glass facade, watching the sky. “Let’s all get away from the large wall of glass, please,” says I. I took a tone with them so there wouldn’t be any argument. Everybody shuffles back in and a couple of the kids actually thank me. They had gotten a little nervous. One lady, of course, decides to complain. “We’re just seeing what’s happening,” she says, “It looked like there were swirling clouds.” “Well, it’s a lot safer inside then,” I replied, exasperated. “We would have come back inside if it turned in to a funnel cloud!” “That’s common sense for you.” I said, and walked away. Snippy and rude? Yeah. Would anyone have been hit by falling glass if the worst happened? Nope. She was a twit. A couple of weeks later my boss calls me in to his office and says there’s been a customer complaint about me. Apparently, back when the weather was bad, I had been “irate and ironic.” All I could do was laugh. Twit. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/44 "2009-06-30T07:25:34Z")
From NotAlwaysRight: Me: “Sir, your computer is all ready to go. We got all the viruses off of it.” Customer: “Question: do you get viruses from looking at porno sites?” Me: “Yes sir, the majority of those sites contain viruses.” Customer: “….hmm…well then, I’ll probably be back here soon.” ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/45 "2009-06-30T13:49:15Z")
> [@Hung\_Mung](#): > > Apparently, back when the weather was bad, I had been “irate and ironic.” All I could do was laugh. Twit. How dare you, sir! Being all ironic with simple minded customers. You’re confusing them! ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/46 "2009-06-30T14:03:14Z")
> [@straggler](#): > > She said.. “That’s because most arrogant people aren’t aware of how they come across”. Spoken like a true expert. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/47 "2009-06-30T19:01:59Z")
> [@Myrrajh](#): > > This was about my 7th or 8th call to the cable company and the first thing I said to the CSR was “I want you to know that I am very, very frustrated right now. And I know it’s not your fault, and I’m not taking it out on you. I just want a solution to this problem.” Any time I talk to any kind of CSR, this is pretty much the first thing out of my mouth. It makes things go much more smoothly if they know that (a) you’re not mad at them, you’re mad at the company and (b) they’re not responsible for whatever stupid thing got messed up or whatever stupid policy the company enacted. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/48 "2009-07-01T07:02:39Z")
> [@Telperien](#): > > I pity your wife. It must be terrible to be married to a man who thinks women are mindless automatons and any expression of emotion from them must be because they are bleeding from their crotches. (Apologies for further distracting from the OP.) Apparently you have never met my ex, who would go batshit crazy/mean for a few days each month.\* That is exactly what my first impression would be. \*Need I mention that there was no attempt at amelioration and never even a hint of an apology? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/49 "2009-07-01T09:36:10Z")
> [@Claire\_Beauchamp](#): > > Sure. But some asshole men belittle any assertiveness or negative emotion from a woman as being the product of her being on her period. There is no consideration that the woman might be (a) justified in being upset or (b) just mean 365 days a year. It’s just another way to say that if a woman isn’t being people-pleasing sweetness and light she is either not properly socialized (i.e., probably a dyke) or hormonal. My Thesis Director thought the reason I gave him an ultimatum (which I acted upon, thus getting a MS without thesis rather than a PhD) was 'cos I was PMSing. After he’d stolen my research. Yes, some women are total bitches when PMSing. Yes, some guys are total dicks while the traffic light is red. But the problem is when the joke becomes the default thought. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/50 "2009-07-01T10:32:01Z")
> [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](#): > > (Apologies for further distracting from the OP.) > > Apparently you have never met my ex, who would go batshit crazy/mean for a few days each month.\* That is exactly what my first impression would be. > \*Need I mention that there was no attempt at amelioration and never even a hint of an apology? Mrs M has been known to blame not only being on the rag and being pre-menstrual, but being mid-cycle. All she needs now is to advance “post-menstrual” as an excuse and she’s covered four weeks out of four, I figure. When my Cheatin’ Ex broke off our engagement, I kid you not that my _sister_ enquired politely as to the state of her hormones. And a lady friend once made the same enquiry as to another woman who’d been giving me shit. So I guess both of the above must have been shallow sexist thugs prone to whining about how women wouldn’t go out with them. (Actually there was someone up-thread who went for years complaining about their lack of opposite-sex action, but it wasn’t **SSG Schwartz** …) ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262/51 "2009-07-01T13:52:19Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > You’ve never worked a cash register, have you? Try working one. Especially in a convenience store. > > I used to work in a combo convenience/deli/liquor store in Las Vegas. We sold hard liquor 24 hours a day, that being Las Vegas and all. Let me tell you, we had some customers who did not live in the same universe as the rest of us. Only some? I used to be a night clerk for 7-Eleven. I swear, I was convinced the flying saucer had landed right across the street and they headed for the nearest lights… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-was-serving-customers-on-a-cash-register-today/501262.md?page=2)