Retail Workers Share The Most Disturbing Thing They’ve Dealt With At Work

“That’s Just One Of The Many Reasons I Was Thrilled To Leave Retail”

“I worked at a big chain pharmacy for several years and was an overnight shift lead at the time. We had this camper parked in our lot for a few days and my boss was considering having the cops come to tell them to leave since technically there was no overnight parking.

He basically said, ‘If they’re still there in the morning, I’ll make the call,’ and left as I started my shift. Everything was quiet and normal that night until the pharmacy manager came in and informed me and the day shift manager that there was a garden hose in the tailpipe. I immediately panicked and asked him if it was running, and he said yes. The hose was looped into the window.

We called the cops for a suicide attempt and they had a brief ten-minute standoff with the (still alive and screaming) occupant before breaking the door down and dragging him out. He was sent for a psych evaluation and the camper was towed. He called the next day and explained that he, his daughter, and his daughter’s boyfriend were living in the camper after being evicted. His daughter and her boyfriend got into a physical altercation at another store in the parking lot and were arrested and he decided to kill himself. He thanked us for stopping him but was mildly salty that we had the camper towed.

That’s just one of the many reasons why I was thrilled to leave retail.”

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He Was So Concerned With The Mother That He Didn’t See This Happening

“I used to work at a TJ Maxx. It’s not a store where a lot of men work, so naturally, I was a little out of place, but I was in high school and, hey, I needed any money I could get.

One night, a lady came with her maybe 7-year-old son by her side. She was notoriously known for trying to steal things from our store. I was new there, but my coworkers immediately recognized her. They had me take off my name tag and follow her around the store, pretending I was shopping, just to keep an eye on her.

The whole time her son kept whining, ‘I have to go to the bathroom!’ and she was rude, ignoring him. Anyways, about 15 minutes later, I was keeping such a close eye on her that I didn’t notice that her son had disappeared.

To make a long story short, a few minutes later I began to smell something…strange. After a little searching, I tracked the scent down to a circular clothing rack in the middle of our store. After spreading the clothes, I was appalled to see the little boy in there with a fresh log of poop in his hands. Playing with it. And laughing.

Yeah, retail sucks.”

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The Creep Who “Needed Help” With His Dress

“This piece of crap put on a tight dress, asked my girlfriend for help taking it off, had a major hard-on, and started harassing her. He was promptly arrested.

The story is honestly pretty messed up. She was in the dressing room picking up clothing when a guy, about 30, called an associate for help. Apparently, he was wearing a dress and told her it got stuck on him, he said he was wearing it for a bachelor party.

My girlfriend was sweet and because it was only her working at the store at the time, she decided to help this creep. So she helped him unzip it, started tugging it down to get it off, and when she finally did, this guy had nothing underneath besides a stiffy and just stared at her after and asked her if ‘she liked what she saw.’

She was appalled and terrified because she was the only person at the store at the time with him. She bolted out of the store, locked the front doors, and called the police. The police came through, arrested the piece of crap, and took him away. My girlfriend took a paid leave off work because of the scenario. She was traumatized when she came home and I was furious.

Last we heard, he was arrested again for harassment, which serves him right.”

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A Little Unwanted Attention

“I was 19 at the time. A guy probably mid to early 20s got so close to me and didn’t say a word. I asked him if he needed help and he said he wanted to apply. I explained to him that he could do it online, but offered up the kiosks that we had.

I half-jokingly told two coworkers to keep an eye on me. It was snow storming, so it was dead. I was minding my own business and organizing things, and the next thing I know he was directly behind me – this time at the guest service counter. He asked a bunch of weird questions – ‘Where do you usually work?’ ‘Are you always behind this counter? ‘How far away do you live?’ ‘What days are you here? “Do you normally work late?’ I gave vague nonanswers or ignored the question and asked him to leave from behind the counter and told my manager I was uncomfortable and he dealt with him.

I found out a couple days later that he had been seen in the parking lot after we closed at least two times and he was walking our entire store asking every female employee what time we closed and what time employees got to leave.

I already let people know it was startling behavior and weird, but then he friended me on Facebook out of nowhere. And his profile picture was a selfie right outside of my store! Like, purposely taken to get the entrance and our logo in the photo. I made my parents pick me up every time we closed and had them pull right up because I was freaked. I still work there and haven’t seen him in a while, and our security was monitoring him, but like I’m still scared he’ll show up out of the blue.”

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How Does This Guy Still Have A Job?

“I was sitting in my work’s employee room while on my lunch break and this guy who I didn’t really know all too well (I had seen him around but had never talked to him) came and sat beside me. He’s clearly not mentally all there and spends his time re stocking the veggie section of our store.

He started talking to me, making small talk and eventually, he asked if I had a boyfriend. I am a lesbian and was dating a co-worker at the time. I replied, ‘No! Emily and I are dating actually! Do you know her? She works in the bakery department?’ He nodded his head and looked away for a moment. I figured the conversation was done and went back to looking at my phone.

A few minutes later, he piped up ‘Could I watch you two get it on?’

Like… what? I responded with a dumbfounded, ‘No,’ and moved away from him, going back to my phone.

‘Well,’ he screamed as he followed me, ‘My favorite film that I watch has a girl who has piercings but she has this really large one though her wrist and it’s hard to concentrate on whats happening because all I can think about it how much that must have hurt and you don’t have quite as many piercings, and while Emily is black, and this movie has two white girls in it, I think you two should recreate it and let me watch.’

I looked up at him, got up, walked right to HR, and talked to my HR rep about what just happened. Apparently, it wasn’t the first or last time, and Emily told me he went to her while she was dealing with a customer and told her the same thing.

He never lost his job over this.”

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All It Takes Is One Old Creep To Ruin A Good Job

“I work in retail. Receiving shipments for our location is one of the things I do for my job, since I do the paperwork for it I have to interact with the truck drivers who bring the shipment in. Most of them are older men in their 40s and 60s, I’m a woman in her mid-20s; this is relevant.

Most of the drivers are great, helpful, and professional, but there was one who was oddly talkative all the time. Nothing really weird but sometimes irrelevant/mildly inappropriate conversation topics (like weird stuff he did back in college, his ex-girlfriends, etc.) I just figured he was outgoing and a bit quirky, so I was always friendly to him like I am to everyone.

That is until my coworker, a guy who also works in receiving but in a different dept, told me that he ONLY ever heard this driver talking either to or about me. Apparently, when I’m not in the room or in earshot, he’s either silent or talking about me, asking where I am, etc. Then a completely different coworker said he overheard this guy referring to me as his ‘wife’ when I wasn’t there.

So after hearing all this weird stuff, I became less bubbly around him and kept the conversation strictly to business. If he said anything about his personal life, I just ignored it and went about filling out paperwork. I wasn’t rude to him or disrespectful, simply stopped going out of my way to engage him in conversation.

And that was when he turned on me. Everything he said was an attack on my personality: ‘They must be working you too hard, you’re far less fun to be around than you used to be. You used to be a happy person.’ (I love my job and am very happy there, I just don’t like being crept on by old men.)

Eventually, he went as far as telling other people that I was unprofessional and basically a witch, just straight up gossiping about me behind my back. That was when I confided in my boss about how uncomfortable this guy made me. I actually pride myself on my outgoing nature and I am bubbly by default, and the fact that he was causing me to have to change my personality around him, and then telling others that I was cold-hearted simply for keeping my distance, that was the line.

My boss filed a report and I haven’t seen this guy since. Everything is back to normal now, but Jesus.”

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And He Just Kept Coming Back

“I worked in a gas station for about two years and even though I worked close (midnight) on my own, I was always pretty comfortable. I should mention I am female.

One night, I was working my usual shift on my own when a short guy with shoulder length stringy hair and really intense eyes walked in. I could tell something was ‘off’ as his body language was just bizarre. His eyes were darting around the store and he was running his hand through his hair nearly constantly. The first thing he did was walk straight to the magazine rack where he flicked through all the nudie mags while glancing up at me. Finally, he found one that struck his fancy and he brought it up to the counter to pay. Whilst paying, he started talking to me and this was where things went south and I actually became uncomfortable.

Scary guy: ‘Do you go to the library often? I saw you at the library.’

Me: ‘No. I work too much to go very often.’

Scary guy: ‘But I saw you there on Wednesday.’

Me: (Terrified because I was there on Wednesday) ‘Yeah, I had to photocopy something, but I don’t go often.’

Scary guy: ‘I’m really sorry for coming in here. I shouldn’t have. You’re going to get rolled now.’

The guy’s eyes started bugging out of his head and he started screaming ‘YOU’RE GONNA GET ROLLED!’ Over and over as he left the store with his dirty mag. I was confused and kind of freaked out, so I made a note of it in the staff diary to let others know about the guy. Then I forgot about it and got back to work.

Fifteen minutes later, the door buzzer went off and the scary guy strolled through the door. He said nothing. He walked to the magazine rack and bought the exact same magazine. Same issue. The only thing he said was, ‘Goodbye,’ as he paid and left.

I was legit scared so I called my manager and let him know everything that has happened. He told me to call the cops if the guy came back. Sure enough, about half an hour later, I saw my new ‘friend’ walking across the parking lot. I quickly locked myself in the office and quietly called the cops.

The guy was gone by the time they finally got there. He waited at the counter with the same magazine for about five minutes before leaving again. The female police officer thought she knew who the guy was and told me to call as soon as possible if he came back again, but he never did. Not that night anyway.

He rocked up on a few other staff members shifts and the stories range from terrifying to hilarious.”

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The Crazies Seem To Follow Her Wherever She Goes

“I’ve worked in retail for over a decade now: eight years at Kohl’s department store and about three years at Aldi, so I have many disturbing and creepy stories.

While at Kohl’s, I’ve had people poop in fitting rooms and the walk through it so that it tracked all the way through the store. There were also the men that would grab jeans off the sales floor pile them in the fitting room and pee on them and just leave them. We have also had teens clean up their period blood with clothing off the sales floor and just left them in the fitting room. And then, of course, the soiled clothing and mirrors in fitting rooms. I’ve also found handcuffs still attached to the bar in the handicap fitting room after complaints about hearing people getting it on in there.

Then there are the returns. Kohl’s has a very lax return policy. So we had people return used undergarments, things that had been used for years but they had the receipt, so we had to take it back.

And last but not least, while still at Kohl’s, we had the disturbing and creepy customers. I had many old ladies in the intimates department flashing their bra or panties in the middle of the sales floor so you could help them find the same one.

Then there are the creepy men that would always try to get my number or try to get me to go out with them. Of those, the one that creeped me out the most was the guy with his 10-year-old son.

Then there was the group of guys in their 20s asking me if I had a boyfriend, and when I said yes, they decided to follow me as I headed to the breakroom reciting their phone numbers even though I made it clear I wasn’t interested. Everyone that was just sitting in the break room just stared at me wondering what was going on.

Then there was also the customer that thought it was ok to throw pillows at my face for him to check out.

Now for my time at Aldi.

We have a couple creepy men that harass all of the women that work there. Our store manager won’t do anything, so we have code names to warn when we see one of them come in so we can prepare. They say very risque things to us as well as touching us without consent. I’ve also had them follow me around the store and get in the way of me doing my job.

With how our registers are set up, we don’t have the cart next to us. People take that to mean they can stand right there in our personal space, even when I’m leaning as far away as I can, it just doesn’t get through to them. People just have no respect for your comfort at all.

Just a few days ago, I had an old man grab my hand to shake it then he proceeded to caress my arm. I lathered my hands and arms in hand sanitizer as soon as he let go.”

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What Is Up With Men Who Think They Can Do Whatever They Want?

“When I was maybe 19 years old, one of my good friends worked with me and she was just barely out of high school. This obese, extremely sweaty, middle-aged guy who worked in the same shopping mall became obsessed with her and started stalking her. He’d flirt with her and when she didn’t respond, he’d call her a harlot.

He started asking around to find out which car was hers and I noticed him hanging around close to closing. Since this was my friend, we always left together, but management was definitely informed both at our job and his. After some time, I stopped seeing him, so either he got fired or found a job somewhere else. It was pretty scary for a while.

Less disturbing, but something that happened to me more directly was this random old fat dude who verbally abused me because I told him to have a nice night. Evidently, that was enough for him to lecture me about how I was ‘advertising my lifestyle’ and how I should be fired (jokes on him, best friend since elementary school was the manager). He got right up in my face over the counter, then he’d start walking towards the door and then come back to harass me some more so I called the cops. I was screaming at him too while the dispatch lady was asking me to describe the guy. She told me, ‘Sir, I’m going to need you to stop engaging the suspect.’

I was like, ‘Oh, I’m not done yet, hold on,’ set the phone down, and just unloaded on this loser.

Then the cops arrived. It was a family member.

It was scary, but I was not necessarily afraid for my physical safety because I kept a box cutter on my belt because I primarily stocked and was only covering a cashier’s lunch and I had a mallet under the register because I was in the middle of doing a reset and I didn’t want a coworker to walk off with it.

Had he laid his hands on me, he would have been worse off.”

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She Must Have Confused Him With Somebody Else

“Once, while running a register, there was a woman who said she had seen me on the news.

She said that the news was talking about gang activity in the area and I was on video talking to a group of people who were supposed to be involved (I’m a pretty distinct guy being a tall, white heavyset guy with an afro, so it’s hard to mistake me for someone else). She said that there were two groups, some looting, stealing, and pillaging to their hearts’ content, and others becoming a group of Robin Hoods.

Apparently, she saw me during the segment about the Robin Hoods, because she said what we were doing was kind of good.

All this time, I was just nodding, smiling, and scanning items as fast as I could. I finished ringing her up, she paid, we exchanged pleasantries as if she hadn’t thought I was a fat Robin Hood, and she went on her way.

There’s been no increase in gang activity here lately, and especially no group of modern Robin Hoods.”

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What’s Going On In The Bathroom?

“I used to work retail. This was about 15 years ago.

We heard this commotion from the men’s bathroom and rushed in there after reports of someone being injured. Dude was laid out on the floor, moaning, broken clavicle and concussion, with broken ceiling tile all around. He had been climbing around in the ceiling and fell through.

Here’s the creepy part: After the EMTs came and got him and everything, we discovered why he had been up there.

About 10 feet away, directly above the WOMEN’s bathroom, we found a cache of hideout supplies. Like, a flashlight, some toilet paper rolls, and lots of used tissue. Tons of candy bar and potato chip bag wrappers and drained Capri Sun pouches and water bottles.

It looked like someone had been up there for days and days, just hanging out for hours, jacking it. There were carefully and subtly bored holes in the corners of the ceiling tiles above each stall in the women’s bathroom. He would just go in the men’s bathroom, wait until it was empty, climb up into the ceiling, and then crawl a bit to his little voyeur nest above the women’s next door.”

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The Robberies Were Bad Enough, But The Regular Customers Weren’t Much Better

“I worked at GameStop for about 4.5 years. There was a period of time where a lot of GameStops in the country had the registers turned around 180 degrees so they faced the customers. This meant, as a customer, you stood next to the cashier as they rung you out.

The idea was that, by putting the associate on the floor with the customer, you are eliminating the barrier between them. This creates a better customer-company relationship, cue sunshine and rainbows.

Turns out, like most idiotic corporate ideas, this didn’t go as planned. The first (and most obvious thing to happen) is that a LOT of GameStops got robbed.

The creepy thing, though, was how some of the more intense customers treated female employees. There were a number of butt-grabbing incidents. In one specific situation, while she was the only one working, a female associate was checking out a guy and he started whispering in her ear that he wanted to sleep her and describing the things he’d do to her. She was so awe-struck at his behavior that she didn’t know what to say, she just finished out the transaction and told him to leave.

After the store manager arrived and clocked in, he told her that she should have kicked him out and called mall security. It would have been up to her but he said that she should have pressed for harassment as well.

The creepiest customer interactions I saw at GameStop were always desperate neck-beards dripping of self-loathing trying to hit on female employees because, in their eyes, since they shared the common ground of video games, they were all but meant to be. Sometimes they handled the rejection with awkwardness, sometimes they handled it with hostility. Almost never with grace, though. This probably happened once a week.”

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What A Big Misunderstanding

“Back when my mom was in college, she was working at a pharmacy which sold general necessities. She worked the night shift, so she’d had her share of creepy customers. One night, she was in the store as a cashier and this guy was walking around and he was just staring at her.

She wouldn’t have thought much of it if he hadn’t been there long, but the guy lingered for well over thirty minutes. After a while, she was getting rather uncomfortable and worried that the guy was going to rob the store or be thinking of doing something to her. Finally, once all the customers were gone, the guy nervously approached my mom and asked, ‘Do you know where the pads and tampons are?’

Turns out, he was there because his wife had started her period and didn’t have any supplies. Since most of the general stores were closed at that time, he went to the pharmacy since it was open later. The guy just felt too uncomfortable to ask when people were around. In the end, it was harmless enough. My mom understood and helped him out. But even though it ended on a good note, my mom said that she was lucky that it was innocent enough. If he was there for a more malicious reason, then there was nobody around to help her in her part of the store. That’s what made it so scary for her.”

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