I worked in a vitamin store while I was in college. This was a pretty boring store for kids; they never came in without their parents.

Kids wandering a mall only really go to fun stores at that age, right? But two girls came into our vitamin store, no adult with them. They were the age where kids are just old enough to be walking around a mall without their parents — maybe eleven or twelve at the absolute oldest.

Girl: “Excuse me, where are the chewable vitamins? It’s usually [Brand].”

I was surprised she knew the name of it. My colleague handed her the bottle, and the girls said thank you. The first girl showed the vitamins to her friend. They handed the bottle back to my colleague, said thank you again, and left.

They came back probably fifteen minutes later with their moms, went right to the spot, and showed it to one of the moms. They then picked out the same brand bottle but for older people. Then, I saw that they had come in with an older lady who was walking very slowly, probably a grandma or even a great-grandma. The girls had run ahead to minimize the time it took for her to be standing or walking around the store looking for vitamins.

I told the other mom how the girls were the politest kids we had ever met, and her eyes got kind of big, but she looked pleased and said thank you. The mom bought the vitamins. The girls said thank you to us (my coworker and me), and that was it.

A simple and not a crazy story, but when you work in retail, having customers so well-behaved is actually kinda crazy.

Our store is across the street from a nursing home. Almost every day, we see an older couple come into the store to just look around. They go through the same routine every day, and they don’t really buy anything, but we don’t mind. 

The husband comes over to me one day after we make eye contact and I smile at him a little.

Husband: “I wanted to say thanks for letting us come in every day. It really means the world to us.”

Me: “Oh, it’s no bother at all. I’m sure there are nicer places to visit than this little old store, though!” 

Husband: “Well, it’s for my wife. She has trouble remembering these days, but we always used to come to this store together every Tuesday, and she’d work through her list, thinking up all the dinners she’d feed us all week until the next Tuesday. She doesn’t remember who I am most days, but every time we come in here, it’s suddenly Tuesday, and she gets all excited about the dinners she wants to make.”

Me: “Oh… I… I don’t know what to say.” 

Husband: “Nothing to say. I just wanted to say thank you.”

His wife walked past with a list in her hand, smiling and calling her husband over to help her choose a cereal.

Every day for the next year, we’d see them reliving her Tuesdays, happy with her list, until one day we didn’t see them for a while. He came back a few weeks later to tell us that his wife was grocery shopping in Heaven now, and he couldn’t wait to try some of the meals she was cooking up for him one day.

We all loved him for how much he loved her.

Customer: “I’m so happy you had this sauce! I was looking everywhere for it!”

Me: “Oh, I’m usually pretty good at knowing what we have in stock, but I’ve never seen this one. What’s it for?” 

Customer: “It’s used for Puerto Rican food. It’s a very special and unique flavor that you can’t really get from anything else. I love that your store sells it.”

Me: “I’m really happy we had it for you! I’ve never had Puerto Rican food, but I’ll look up this sauce later and see what it goes well with.” 

They check out, and I continue with my shift as normal. About three hours later, I see the customer back at my checkout lane.

Customer: “Oh, good! You’re still here! I was worried your shift might have ended!”

Me: “Is everything okay?”

They hand over some Tupperware containing what looks like many different types of food.

Customer: “I was telling my mom about the cashier who’d never had Puerto Rican food, and I swear you could’ve heard her gasp from here. She cooked up a little bit of everything and made me run back over here for you to try some.”

Me: “Oh, my! That’s so nice of you! And her! Thank you so much!”

Customer: “I’ll be back next week for your opinion!” 

Me: “And the Tupperware!” 

Customer: “Nah, it’s okay. Mom never expects to get those back.”

Not only was the food delicious, but I tried it with the sauce from my store, and it really enhanced it! I still returned the Tupperware the next week (I had it on me for every shift just in case), and it’s a good thing I did because even more food came my way from that crazy Puerto Rican mother the following week.

I became an expert on Puerto Rican food just from sitting at my checkout lane!

This is during the early stages of the world going crazy in 2020. Everyone is wearing masks, and we’ve just started using clear plastic dividers at the checkouts.

Customer: “You poor things; you look like you’re stuck in some weird little boxes.”

Me: “Yeah, it’s kinda weird.”

Customer: “I really appreciate you being open, especially with how crazy it is out there. I don’t know how I’d cope without my supplies.” 

Me: “Gotta keep the world turning somehow!”

The customer makes a big show of rubbing cleaning alcohol all over her hands and then passes me a $50 bill contained inside a Ziploc bag.

Customer: “To show how much I appreciate it!”

Me: “Oh, ma’am! That’s very kind, but I can’t accept that.” 

Customer: “If you’re worried about germs, keep it sealed for a few days so anything nasty inside can die, and then—”

Me: “No, it’s not that. Thank you for thinking about the germs, but it’s just that we can’t accept tips.”

Customer: “What are they gonna do, fire you when the world needs you the most right now? Let ’em try! Besides, it’s not a tip, it’s hazard pay!”

And with that, she walked away with her groceries, refusing to take no for an answer. Those were my hardest years in retail ever, but customers like her, who appreciated us for being there instead of shouting at us for having the audacity to ask customers to wear masks for our own safety, kept me going.

Related:
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 32
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 31
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 30
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 29
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 28

I work in a dog-friendly café. One of our long-term coworkers is working her last shift, and the mood of the entire day has been bittersweet. My manager, the leaving coworker, a few other coworkers, and I are talking at the end of her shift.

Leaving Coworker: “Oh, look, my husband is here to pick me up.”

All Of Us: “Does that mean he brought Stitch?!”

Stitch is their huge and derpy German Shepherd. He’s a big, beautiful idiot who was named after the cute but destructive little blue alien from “Lilo & Stitch” for obvious reasons. 

Leaving Coworker: “Yeah, I just saw him jump out of the pickup.”

Her husband comes in, and Stitch goes wild at the attention given to him by all of his friends. We chat a little with our coworker’s husband while she goes to the back to change. She comes out with her uniform shirt in her hands.

Leaving Coworker: *To our manager* “I’ll take this home, wash it, and bring it back at the weekend.”

Manager: “Nah, keep it. We have plenty. Keep it as a souvenir.”

Leaving Coworker: “Thanks. I will.”

She then places the shirt over Stitch’s head, and he looks extra cute wearing one of our uniforms. To complete the look, we put one of our work caps on his head and take a few pictures.

After this, most of us go back to our regular duties, and a customer walks in, looking at their phone. The customer then looks up, takes a look at Stitch in the café uniform, then looks at me, and then looks at Stitch again.

Customer: “I know the news is telling me that nobody wants to work, but this is getting ridiculous.”