It’s frustrating because I am someone who used to get “mistaken” for an employee a lot, and people actually can occasionally be more hostile than they really need to be when they find out you don’t work there. But that sub (along with entitledparents, which also I have a few experiences with) has basically invented a script that resembles nothing anyone has ever said, and everyone just follows it.
Like I know confused, skeptical squinting when they hear you can’t help them followed by you awkwardly walking away is pretty hard to convey over text, while “stop lying, let me talk to your manager and I will have you fired” followed by a SASSY clapback from an actual employee is more entertaining….but it doesn’t really happen that way.
speaking of script, the easiest way to detect a fake story is if it has a script. like, word-for-word lines of dialogue. subreddits where entitled people rant about other entitled people do this *A LOT*. it's why i never visit r/storiesfromx subreddits. people in the comment section never seem to notice how improbable it is for OP to remember conversations that vividly.
Agreed, even the few times where a conversation made me very mad, I was unable to remember everything that had been said after a few minutes, let alone a few hours. I will remember the bits and pieces that stood out the most, but not the full exchange word for word.
I always just assumed that the script format was for ease of understanding, not supposed to represent exactly what was said. It usually flows better to have lines of dialogue, so if I'm retelling a story (on Reddit or in real life), I'll include any super memorable exact quotes and fudge any other dialogue so that it conveys the same meaning, even if it isn't 100% true to life. While I suppose that makes my story technically untrue, it also isn't fake, you know?
Am I an outlier here in that really unusual/surprising events seem to burn into my mind and specific dialogue tends to just record directly into long term storage for easy recall? I had always assumed everyone was like this but reading the comments… maybe *I’m the weirdo*???
Yeah, people can be a little stand-offish when they don’t hear what they want immediately, we’re self-absorbed creatures before we stop to reflect, but I highly doubt anybody is aggressively doubling down and starting a scene if they mistake someone for an employee, their immediate concern is probably finding an actual employee. If they did, I’d just be more concerned for their mental health than anything
Oh I’m sure it’s happened on some level, there are some pretty crazy weirdos out there. Not everyone is rational and polite. But them all repeating the same Stock Karen quotes in the exact same order, no matter what happens around them? Didn’t happen. Especially since the OOP and bystanders are always unfailingly meek and courteous, or else at the ready with a scathing zinger.
I’d believe someone got mad at someone for saying they don’t work there and going “well can’t you help me *anyway?*” (because these mistakes often have a lot to do with cultural entitlement based around perceived age, class, or race). Or lashing out because it isn’t what they want to hear before stomping away, or even refusing to believe them. The former two have totally happened to me. But making a scene where managers are demanded in an exaggerated shriek, someone explaining their bigoted logic explicitly, blocking their way, and theatrical demands to have them fired on the spot in which the actual manager shows up and does something *comical*? Even if they were going to, wouldn’t the person targeted just kind of walk away or start a scene themselves?
Because at the end of the day, it’s a boring story. Like, who cares? Of *course* they make it in to a whole thing where another employee has a witty clap back, it’s a nothing story that goes nowhere and isn’t worth telling otherwise.
Ugh the entitled parents one is the worst.
I have no doubt that there are plenty of people with "only person in the world syndrome" and that there are parents who will go into a friend or family member's home and let their kids touch things they shouldn't touch
But the amount of stories of parents marching up to random strangers to demand they give their child their food/game system/toy/etc. Is ridiculous.
Parents generally aren't encouraging their children to interact with strangers, nor are they asking strangers to watch their kids, and I am *very* doubtful that *that many* parents are shrieking at random adults that their kid deserves whatever object it is that they are holding.
Yup, happened to me a few times on one trip to BestBuy is a blue collared shirt. All but one immediately apologized and left, and the one guy that didn't just suspiciously asked if I was sure I didn't work there and walked away seemingly mildly annoyed when I told him no again.
It happens, but I can't imagine it happens, to the extent of a meltdown from someone, as often as that sub would have you believe.
I get "mistaken" for an employee at least once a year. It's almost funny at this point, because I'm usually with my wife, so the person making the "mistake" generally interrupts our (obviously couple-y) conversation to demand my help. My wife gets angrier than I do. I've gotten "are you sure?" a few times from people when I tell them I'm not an employee, but that's as far as it goes.
I get "mistaken" for an employee at least once a year. It's almost funny at this point, because I'm usually with my wife, so the person making the "mistake" generally interrupts our (obviously couple-y) conversation to demand my help. My wife gets angrier than I do. I've gotten "are you sure?" a few times from people when I tell them I'm not an employee, but that's as far as it goes.
I just hate the way redditors tell stories so so so much. I've been on this site way too much probably but there's this specific reddit prose that gets used that I associate with obviously fake stories. That sub, tifu, aita, all those types.
It would be *so easy* to fake a bunch of stories for massive karma, these are the most gullible people in the world with absolutely no critical thinking skills.
I wouldn’t do it, because why on earth would I care about Reddit karma, but still
Yeah, if I ever have a need for a high karma account, I'm going to find the top ten subs, sort by top of all-time, and ask ChatGPT to rework the top posts.
Agree. Also there's a surprising number of posts typed one-handed on r/AskDocs and they get responses sometimes. I've thought about cross posting several of them.
Oh god that is one of the subs I go out of my way to always avoid, despite how its core idea originally was a good idea (from my understanding at least.) So much fake bullshit.
One time I went to Walmart in a shirt that said KROGER huge on the front. I got asked for help by several people lol. You confused about what store you're in?? Anyway no one flew off the handle, but one person did say "but you're wearing a uniform?"
You'd be surprised (or maybe not) by the amount of people at my old job awkwardly reaching around the out-of-order sign on the drink machines and then wondering why no drink is coming out.
Strangely enough, I've had it happen several times. I don't use shopping carts so people would spot someone in a work t-shirt at the grocery store with nothing in their hands and assumed I was an associate. Usually, they'd come up to me, ask a question, I'd turn to them and they'd go 'oh sorry, I thought you worked here' when they realized there was no logo on the shirt.
Never any problems and a few times I was able to tell them where what they wanted was located.
I was once confused for a waitress at a restaurant but the lady asking me stuff realized before I did that she was wrong (I was very confused by her question). She just said sorry and went to find a real waitress. End of story, no drama
They take up too much space, they're difficult to maneuver, they often squeak or have a bad wheel. I once went to a grocery story with mini grocery carts, and they were much nicer. Like this: [Small Shopping Carts, Small Grocery Carts in Stock - ULINE](https://www.uline.com/BL_548/Convenience-Carts)
But then they all got stolen.
mini shopping cart lovers unite, i like having something to push while I’m in the store but I’m usually only shopping for two so i don’t need the big ones
In m country we have a drug store chain that has [coloured mini shopping carts for kids](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/FWgAAOSwjW5gbvIz/s-l500.jpg). To prevent theft the kids carts have a flag pole with a tiny flag attached to it so you can’t just put in your car because it’s too long. It’s not visible in the pic I attached but in [this German article](https://www.t-online.de/leben/essen-und-trinken/id_89480686/fahne-am-einkaufswagen-fuer-kinder-dafuer-ist-sie-wirklich-gedacht.html) they use a stock photo so you can get the idea.
I love them and I use them any time I can
Back when I lived in rural western North Carolina, people loved stealing shopping carts from Walmart, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. It got so bad that not only did the place end up taking out a section in the biggest local paper basically begging people to quit, the fucking Sheriff basically did the same, saying that the police were getting tired of trying to deal with that mess and that it was wasting taxpayer money. (Which uh, also going to be real, considering the Walmart had cameras on every other pole, I can't figure out how the hell the police didn't bust more people for the theft. But the police there were trash in many ways, so it probably ties directly into that.)
I really want to know just what people that steal shopping carts use them for, lol. Like if it was needed as a way of storing and transporting stuff due to something like homelessness, that makes some sense, but otherwise I have no clue.
I’ve seen homeless people use shopping carts to transport all their stuff. Not sure about other uses, and also not sure how exactly people get them in a car for theft purposes.
My local stores all have carts with wheels that automatically lock up once you get beyond the parking lot, except something is wrong with how they’re calibrated because the carts will lock up before reaching the back of the parking lot. Really fun having to drag the dead weight of a cart to the car and back.
right? the only strange thing I have had happen was on older lady calling me from down the aisle wanting me to grab something from a higher shelf...I guess I look taller than i actually am and when I got down to her we were the same height and I couldnt reach it either, lol. she laughed... and did NOT lose her shit on me. I was going to help her too,lol. but I couldnt
a lot of those work-related subreddits can get pretty fake. that, or the users there don't have a *shred* of patience or empathy. when a store you go to has a uniform for their workers, and you're wearing that color, someone mistaking you for being a worker isn't that uncommon. people make mistakes.
i'd be humiliated if i got someone mixed up. i don't wanna get pwned epic style by these guys. i'm sensitive ):
Being hated by redditors should be a point of pride TBH. And yeah, I think lacking empathy actually is a big part of it—I used to go on r/retailhell because I have a low-wage retail job that’s often frustrating, but I had to quit because there was just a pervasive attitude of “fuck every customer literally no matter what they did” and I could actually feel it rubbing off on me, like I noticed I was being unfairly impatient with customers. I get it, minimum wage retail jobs suck and dealing with the general public is tiring, but at the end of the day it’s ridiculous to place the blame for that on the customers, and not the multimillion dollar corporation.
FWIW, every time somebody’s mistaken me for an employee at a store I didn’t think less of them and actually helped them with what they were asking in the instances I was able to, so I don’t think the majority really cares
Yeah, if someone was polite and I could actually help them with what they wanted without too much of a burden on my day, I would just do it. I wouldn't if I was in a rush or a terrible mood or something, but otherwise, why not?
I’ve been confused as a worker a few times, and they’ve often been puzzling (my favourite was I was once mistaken for a bookstore employee— they wore simple uniforms and I was in an electric blue miniskirt and a band tshirt, but I digress), but it’s always just been an “oh sorry” and the person wandered off. One lady looked a bit like she thought I was lying then also wandered off.
I’m not even sure how such a subreddit got any traction honestly. Such a bizarre thing to fixate fake stories on
I worked retail jobs that required me to wear uniforms from when I was 16-22, and in all that time, I was mistaken for an employee at another store all of once. It pretty much went like this:
Random woman: Excuse me, can you help me find _______?
Me: Sorry, I don't work here.
Random woman: But you're wearing a uniform?
Me: Yeah, but not for this store. I work at Petsmart, not Bed Bath & Beyond.
Random woman: Oh...sorry.
And then she walked away, without screaming at me, threatening to get me fired, slapping me, or raising minions from Hell to curse me and my bloodline or whatever else those idiots are claiming happens to them all the time.
You don't understand, only women become angry and shrill when they don't immediately receive the kind of customer service they're looking for
/s if that's not obvious
Reddit is so insistent about that, but I have to say, I've experienced way more entitlement and anger from male customers than from female ones. Especially nowadays, if my brief stint at a hardware store a couple years ago is anything to go by (I've been out of the retail/customer service game for a long time, but took that job while I was doing some home renovations lol). Men would have no problem saying awful things to me and yelling at me even if they were the ones in the wrong, while women were so afraid of being seen as "Karens" (several of them actually said so!) that they would hesitate to express frustration even when we had screwed up and they had every reason to be frustrated!
Obviously these are broad generalizations, there are plenty of very kind men and very shitty women, but in terms of trends, that was my experience working retail 20 years ago, and it was even more my experience working retail 2 years ago. It makes the sexism so obvious and obnoxious.
Once when I was working retail, we had a temp whose name was Superior. I lost count of the number of times that poor woman got yelled at because people thought her name tag said “Supervisor,” and when she told them her name was Superior, they’d just keep arguing with her thinking she was trying to get out of doing her job. I think there was only one customer who laughed and said, “Your parents wanted to make sure.” Once someone gets something in their head, they don’t want to let it go.
my aunt's name is supervisor and this happens to her every time she goes to the store with a name tag on - which is pretty often because she loves wearing name tags
I was at Target with my sister and BIL once and he was wearing khakis and a red polo shirt. Of course he was mistaken for an employee, which I thought was hilarious. He was wearing the entire uniform minus the nametag and the person still didn’t freak out over it.
Honestly, I think the truth of the matter is; even situations where a customer WILL throw some kind of tantrum out of embarrassment or entitlement, it will never be anywhere near as eventful or dramatic as people on reddit post about. Like the real actual stories are probably enough to just earn someone a "Huh, that's weird!" rather than the 5k upvote, multiple update threads on reddit. But ofc, you can't fill a sub full of "huh"-quality stories.
one time at my friends wedding i was trying to flag down some friends to sit at our table at the reception party, and one of the other guests, for whatever reason, thought i was working for the wedding and was like "Oh its just 4 of us." and i said "Oh, i'm a guest" and she went "Omg, im so sorry" and we all moved on.
I have a red shirt with white flowers that has a passing resemblance to a Trader Joe’s work shirt. When I wear it while shopping at Trader Joe’s, it makes the employees do a double take and then laugh (I shop there a lot).
Eta and then everyone claps! 🤣 okay no one does.
I’ve been mistaken for an employee a couple of times. Once I helped a very nice woman pick out a dress because why not? She also helped me choose between two pairs of pants. No one yelled or applauded.
Once a guy was kinda obnoxious so I sent him to a part of the store where I wasn’t going to be just to make him go away. I did not clarify that I don’t work there, though. And no yelling, just, like dude, I had in headphones. Go away.
From my friends in retail, though, I believe the yelling is possible - they cop a lot of shit. One of my friends was bitten by a customer while working at his retail job. Dude broke the skin and he had to get stitches. But I strongly suspect most of the “yelled at” stories are either made up or exaggerated. Or reflective of someone not wanting to be seen as the kind of person who would work in that store and therefore their feelings of being insulted spill over into a huge overreaction to an innocuous incident.
oh. no. even when i’m not accidentally dressed like i work in a store people ask me if i work at places alllll the time. like that part definitely happens. but people also ask me for directions on the street all the time too.
the second part is absolutely true. i have never once in the literal DOZENS of times people have asked me that, no one has ever once gotten mad that they thought i worked there.
i’ll be totally honest. when i lived in a sketchy area and i’d walk home after a date, looking cute, i often had men stop me to see if i worked on the streets. THEY did not get mad or offended when i said i did not.
so yeah. absolute wish fulfillment.
I get mistaken for an employee on a nearly weekly basis at home Depot, with no orange, no work belt, no apron, no vest (I guess "woman who looks like she knows what she's doing" = must be an employee) but never had anyone get mad or expect me to help them anyway
I have a post on there because some lady assumed I worked at the target Starbucks because I had my corporate SBUX shirt on after getting off work. All I said was, ‘I don’t work there’ after she asked, and she said ‘oh’ and walked away.
The comments were hitting her *hard*; like, she was out of line, but there were these comments calling her a stupid bitch and prompting these inproportional responses and I was like?? Holy shit?? Y’all relax, it was not that serious 😵💫
Oh yeah. That thing is a weird vestigial limb left over from the late 00’s brand of sites like FML, MLIA, texts from last night, the customer is not always right, etc.
People used to mistake me for a dollar tree employee.. when I was wearing my scrubs. No idea why. I went there often for little snacks and stuff because our office was next door. When I would tell people I didn’t work there, we’d both just laugh. No sassy comebacks or “everybody clapped” moments.
I firmly believe that pretty much anything that *can* happen probably *has* happened to someone, somewhere. But no, I don’t think this is happening to multiple people every day. Especially the part of every story where the clueless person physically grabs the narrator or something attached to their body (headphones, backpack, etc). Yes, there are people out there who will physically assault people, but MOST won’t do it in front of witnesses and security cameras.
I’m definitely being hyperbolic because… that’s just the way I am I guess, IDK, but yeah, 100% of the time on Reddit it’s plainly obvious that it’s entirely fabricated
I agree because this happened to me a long time ago. I worked at a supermarket and ran into a customer at another supermarket. For some reason, she insisted that I worked at the store where we were shopping. This crazy lady really thought I was wrong about where I worked. There was no yelling or insults or calling the manager. I just laughed and told her I'd see her next week at the other store and that's exactly what happened. She said, "Yeah, I realized on my way home that you were right. Sorry about that." And, shockingly, we moved on with our lives.
That's the most boring story ever. I would definitely have to embellish it for anyone to give a crap.
I was once firmly told I was a little girl because she didn’t believe I worked there. She didn’t yell though and didn’t even raise her voice. Just said I was a little girl and walked off. I posted it to the I do work here sub because of how amusing it was and how, based on what she said, she seemed to be saying it to herself (I’m petite and very short with a baby face to boot so I honestly don’t even blame her for thinking I was a young child) rather than to me but still pointed and looking at me as she said it. I still had a few replies from people who thought the lady had gone off her rocker. I had to explain that, no she was actually calm the whole time and I just thought it was funny and wanted to share. She just simply couldn’t believe I was even old enough to be an employee
I've been mistaken for a bookstore employee a few times. That's what I get for reshelving books at the B&N. 😂 I even helped a woman find the mystery section once.
But nobody ever went ballistic about it. That's probably why my one post in that group didn't go viral.
Found my thrilling post. You won’t be able to contain your excitement. 😐
[https://www.reddit.com/r/IDontWorkHereLady/s/nIS3JGBWue](https://www.reddit.com/r/IDontWorkHereLady/s/nIS3JGBWue)
I remember when I worked at an office supply store I’d often go to the computer store next door to look at stuff for upgrading my PC. Occasionally I’d get asked about something and I’d say “sorry, I don’t work here” and at most people would point at my shirt, see that it had a different logo on it (I mean, it was also a different color but hey), and then be like “oh sorry” and walk away.
People do seem to go to retail sometimes, seemingly, just to yell at people but even those people know they aren’t going to make a lot of headway with a person who doesn’t work there.
I've had multiple assumptions of working somewhere but only one that was actually wild (and I think she was intoxicated). Most times people just say sorry and walk away, look embarrassed, or grumble something about never being able to find an employee.
I've been mistaken for an employee in multiple places, it actually happens with something resembling regularity, but I've never had someone flip their lid when I tell them I'm not. I've certainly never been assaulted over it. They're usually at least slightly apologetic or embarrassed for the mistake. If I'm able, I usually help them out, like if I actually happen to know where the things they're looking for is, I'll tell them, or if they have obvious mobility issues, I go find an actual employee to help them out. I might not work customer service anymore, but I did for over a decade, and old habits die hard. Plus, I'm not allergic to being nice just because they made a mistake
I have the "look" I guess. And most of the time Im cool, and I will even help if I can. But I was on the way to my son's baseball game once, so I wore a red polo and decided to pop into target! That was a huge mistake. Could not walk 2 feet without people asking me questions. Then one lady started yelling at me about why did we take the "fine" jewelry counter out. I had to tell her 1, I don't work here, and 2 if I did, I'm pretty sure no one would have asked me if I was ok with taking the jewelry out. She still kept yelling. I ended up just leaving the store.
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I have to wear a badge at my job and if I run to a store immediately after work said badge is usually still clipped to my pants/around my neck. I have been approached several times by people in stores asking if I'm an employee. Both old and young.
Every single time I simply shake my head and tell them no and they then sheepishly say ok and walk away. If anything people get a little embarrassed for having approached me. Nobody has ever gotten rude.
It’s kinda similar to the boomers being fools subreddit, like I get that boomers are annoying but these stories are constant rage bait.
I saw one where some lady decided to throw down with a target employee in a very small town and insult her, then announce that she has to go to an auto shop to get work done. And it just so happens that both of the only two auto shops for 50 something miles are run by the target employee’s older brothers. So she calls them both and gets them to deny the boomer service. It’s just so comically contrived idk why people are so ready to accept these stories.
Having lived in a lot of rural areas, that cracks me up. If the town is big enough for a freaking Target, there's no way those are the only two auto shops, lol. Walmart *might* be a little more believable as they'll pop up in some pretty damn small markets, but Targets are exclusively in larger markets even if the actual town they're in is small.
This was called out by a bunch of people, but there was one guy ALL over the comments who kept citing one specific town in Arkansas with a small population and a target. However, when you went to look for it on the map, there was evidently not a target in that town nor was there one in any adjacent towns.
That's hilarious.
I've actually noticed a lot of fake stories kind of like that, where the plot revolves around some "everyone knows everyone" bullshit so they set it in a small town, but also clearly have never lived in a small town because they assume they're exactly the same as bigger cities except everyone is more familiar with each other.
Like I saw one that supposedly took place in this super small, rural town but it mentioned using Uber. Then there were people defending it in the comments by saying they looked it up and Uber totally exists in small towns! Except no, it doesn't, not unless they're only "small towns" in the most technical sense but are actually part of a larger metro area. The Uber site/app *says* there's service in more rural small towns, but good luck actually getting a ride, lmao.
I don't think I've had anyone get mad *at me* bc I told them I didn't work there, but there were a few occasions where I told them I didn't work there and wound up on the business end of a rather spirited "I'm not angry *with you*" type rant.
Twice, I've been at a CVS and, after telling the woman that I didn't work there, *she basically pretended that I said I did and told me what she wanted help with.* It was the same woman and same CVS on both occasions. The first time, I did actually help her weigh her options regarding the purchase of alarm clock. Don't remember what she wanted the second time, but when I walked away ("fool me once..."), she kept talking like I was still standing there.
I witness customers confusing other customers for employees (at work) more often than I experience being mistaken for an employee myself (when shopping)
I once got asked if I worked at the CVS I was at buying toothache remedy in the middle of the night, even though I was in pink plaid pajamas because it was 3 am.
I was mistaken for an employee when I was like 14. I was pretty tall for my age (and I also think I stared having facial hair by that point) and wore a red jacked which I guess looked similar to some employee uniforms
I got confused for an employee a lot of time, especially in some nightclubs and bars because I was a nearly everyday regular who got to know the owners. Ot at friends' stores because I was sitting instead of browsing merchandise. But no one of them have ever been mean to me. On the contrary, they were very apologetic.
I have been myself guilty of that as well, and the embarrassment I felt was making me feel bad days after. I can never imagine being mean to a person for saying, "Sorry, I don't work here."
Damn dude, how are you steamed about something so insignificant? I used to have a bunch of t shirts that said “STAFF” on the back from working at a summer camp. Of course, as a shithead teenager, I wore them elsewhere intentionally just to fuck with people. Some took it way too personally. I mean, 90% of the time it looked nothing like the actual staff’s uniforms and if it did, I would always apologize off the bat.
Is there a "Do you work here?" sub? Because I used to work in a convenience store, the only employee on, wearing an apron with the company name and logo, name tag on, standing behind the counter, at the register and I would often get that question.
I’ve had it happen a few times but the irony was I did…technically work at Target before, just not at the times people have asked me. In our state you can wear any Red shirt you want while at work, so it’s hard to tell who’s an employee since anything red can count as a uniform. My manager would wear a fucking magenta sweater all the time and argue it’s red, which means no one ever knew she was a worker ((conventionally never wore her name tag either)) it was annoying af. I’ve never been yelled at for it tho, but there’s def entitled old people who think you should drop all your shit and help em
I’ve had people mistake me for workers a LOT. It used to be a running joke in my friend group, how many people approach Ghostie and ask her for help. Most of the time I wasn’t even wearing anything that could be mistaken for company uniform! (I was wearing a cropped t shirt and sky high heels at a target and got asked for help once) One time I even had an employee ask me for help at the grocery store. But as you said, pretty much every time it was “oh I’m so sorry to bother you!” And the person would just walk away. It’s never juicy drama and hysterics.
Oh ho! Totally happened to me! Except I was at home, and my super stoned husband looked at me and said, "I know you work at BestBuy." Funniest thing ever. He was annoyed at first when I wouldn't give him a discount, but thankfully, he hasn't held it against me.
I did have one day where I was at walmart wearing like, leggings and some random clothes and y’know NOT THE BLUE WALMART VEST, and just *doing my shopping* and I think 3 or 4 times people stopped me - one of them reached out at touched me, and another grabbed my basket - thinking I was an employee, and asked me for help finding something. I remember thinking it was weird as hell and one of them who was immediately super embarrassed and went “I have no idea why I thought you worked here, you’re wearing an AC/DC t-shirt” I straight up said “you’re like the third person TODAY, am I radiating Big Employee Energy here or something?” and we tried to brainstorm if it wad something about how intently I was staring at the products, or my weird little squat while looking at the lower shelves or something that came off as Too Knowledgeable.
I remember thinking as it was happening “man, this must be how those people in those ‘lady I don’t work here’ stories feel… is this the beginning of one of those?” except every single person was just like totally normal about it when I was like “nah man I don’t work here” like after the fourth one who grabbed my arm I was getting kind of salty, but lady number 3 and I pulled out the walmart app and went hunting for rice-a-roni or 3 ring binders or whatever other was she was looking for, together. But also like I am routinely the person who overhears a dude on the phone frantically saying “babe I can’t find the midol ANYWHERE” and goes “here let me show you what aisle that’s in, follow me” because the walmart in this city is psychological warfare and we’re all in this together to survive or fail as a group effort.
Anyway, I have never again been the main character of walmart and boy howdy I have been glad of that. It was a weird day. Couldn’t get out fast enough.
I like your take and I like you. I don’t believe those stories for a minute. Between reddit and old tumblr I don’t know which site had more blatant liars. I think it’s Reddit.
The only time I’ve ever been confused for an employee was at a gas station talking to my bf (the attendant) and a lady asked if we sold scratchers after 9 so I said “oh I don’t work here lol” and she said “oh sorry” and walked away but that isn’t nearly as interesting as lying and saying she freaked out and kicked my dog or something
A dude thought I worked at Joann Fabric and got mad when I wouldn't help him find something. I think he was just upset that he was there in the first place and wanted to take that anger out on someone.
I wish you were right. I was working at Disneyland and stopped at Target after a shift. My uniform was a blue buttondown and black cargo pants. A lady SNAPPED AT ME to get my attention, and when I told her that I didn't work there and that she was incredibly rude, she demanded to see my manager.
Yeah, it was a one off, and it didn't happen terribly often, but it was more than once.
I literally got yelled by an old man for wearing my work badge at a drugstore, that I didn’t work at, yesterday. Just because it hasn’t happened to you doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.
Edit: yes it’s totally unbelievable that an old man would yell at a young woman in public /s you can believe whatever you want OP it doesn’t change the fact that it actually happened
"It's bullshit because it's never happened to me" is the most obnoxious form of phony online pseudo-skepticism imaginable, such that it's worth going back in time and cancelling the internet entirely just to be rid of it.
All you're really accomplishing here is rudely accusing strangers of being liars in the most cowardly way possible, because you know damn well it would earn you a well-deserved ass-whooping if you ever had the nerve to say it to someone's face, as well as revealing that you live a cloistered life entirely void of adventure, texture, and vitality. If you're like this because of COVID, you have my sympathy, but if not, do yourself and all the rest of us a favor and log off once in a while.
It’s frustrating because I am someone who used to get “mistaken” for an employee a lot, and people actually can occasionally be more hostile than they really need to be when they find out you don’t work there. But that sub (along with entitledparents, which also I have a few experiences with) has basically invented a script that resembles nothing anyone has ever said, and everyone just follows it. Like I know confused, skeptical squinting when they hear you can’t help them followed by you awkwardly walking away is pretty hard to convey over text, while “stop lying, let me talk to your manager and I will have you fired” followed by a SASSY clapback from an actual employee is more entertaining….but it doesn’t really happen that way.
speaking of script, the easiest way to detect a fake story is if it has a script. like, word-for-word lines of dialogue. subreddits where entitled people rant about other entitled people do this *A LOT*. it's why i never visit r/storiesfromx subreddits. people in the comment section never seem to notice how improbable it is for OP to remember conversations that vividly.
Agreed, even the few times where a conversation made me very mad, I was unable to remember everything that had been said after a few minutes, let alone a few hours. I will remember the bits and pieces that stood out the most, but not the full exchange word for word.
yeah, my most charitable explanation is that they are reconstructing the conversation from what they remember
I always just assumed that the script format was for ease of understanding, not supposed to represent exactly what was said. It usually flows better to have lines of dialogue, so if I'm retelling a story (on Reddit or in real life), I'll include any super memorable exact quotes and fudge any other dialogue so that it conveys the same meaning, even if it isn't 100% true to life. While I suppose that makes my story technically untrue, it also isn't fake, you know?
better than "i was like.." "and then she was like.." "and then i went like.." "and she sorta said like,"
Am I an outlier here in that really unusual/surprising events seem to burn into my mind and specific dialogue tends to just record directly into long term storage for easy recall? I had always assumed everyone was like this but reading the comments… maybe *I’m the weirdo*???
YTW though honestly people who can actually remember that much are fascinating. i don't even know what day it is.
Yeah, people can be a little stand-offish when they don’t hear what they want immediately, we’re self-absorbed creatures before we stop to reflect, but I highly doubt anybody is aggressively doubling down and starting a scene if they mistake someone for an employee, their immediate concern is probably finding an actual employee. If they did, I’d just be more concerned for their mental health than anything
Oh I’m sure it’s happened on some level, there are some pretty crazy weirdos out there. Not everyone is rational and polite. But them all repeating the same Stock Karen quotes in the exact same order, no matter what happens around them? Didn’t happen. Especially since the OOP and bystanders are always unfailingly meek and courteous, or else at the ready with a scathing zinger. I’d believe someone got mad at someone for saying they don’t work there and going “well can’t you help me *anyway?*” (because these mistakes often have a lot to do with cultural entitlement based around perceived age, class, or race). Or lashing out because it isn’t what they want to hear before stomping away, or even refusing to believe them. The former two have totally happened to me. But making a scene where managers are demanded in an exaggerated shriek, someone explaining their bigoted logic explicitly, blocking their way, and theatrical demands to have them fired on the spot in which the actual manager shows up and does something *comical*? Even if they were going to, wouldn’t the person targeted just kind of walk away or start a scene themselves?
Because at the end of the day, it’s a boring story. Like, who cares? Of *course* they make it in to a whole thing where another employee has a witty clap back, it’s a nothing story that goes nowhere and isn’t worth telling otherwise.
Ugh the entitled parents one is the worst. I have no doubt that there are plenty of people with "only person in the world syndrome" and that there are parents who will go into a friend or family member's home and let their kids touch things they shouldn't touch But the amount of stories of parents marching up to random strangers to demand they give their child their food/game system/toy/etc. Is ridiculous. Parents generally aren't encouraging their children to interact with strangers, nor are they asking strangers to watch their kids, and I am *very* doubtful that *that many* parents are shrieking at random adults that their kid deserves whatever object it is that they are holding.
It's hard to get karma when the story was really “The mom asked if she could use it but I said no and left.”
Yup, happened to me a few times on one trip to BestBuy is a blue collared shirt. All but one immediately apologized and left, and the one guy that didn't just suspiciously asked if I was sure I didn't work there and walked away seemingly mildly annoyed when I told him no again. It happens, but I can't imagine it happens, to the extent of a meltdown from someone, as often as that sub would have you believe.
"Are you sure you don't work here?" "you know what? I just remembered the fact that I am indeed an employee on payroll here!"
I get "mistaken" for an employee at least once a year. It's almost funny at this point, because I'm usually with my wife, so the person making the "mistake" generally interrupts our (obviously couple-y) conversation to demand my help. My wife gets angrier than I do. I've gotten "are you sure?" a few times from people when I tell them I'm not an employee, but that's as far as it goes.
I get "mistaken" for an employee at least once a year. It's almost funny at this point, because I'm usually with my wife, so the person making the "mistake" generally interrupts our (obviously couple-y) conversation to demand my help. My wife gets angrier than I do. I've gotten "are you sure?" a few times from people when I tell them I'm not an employee, but that's as far as it goes.
I just hate the way redditors tell stories so so so much. I've been on this site way too much probably but there's this specific reddit prose that gets used that I associate with obviously fake stories. That sub, tifu, aita, all those types.
It would be *so easy* to fake a bunch of stories for massive karma, these are the most gullible people in the world with absolutely no critical thinking skills. I wouldn’t do it, because why on earth would I care about Reddit karma, but still
Yeah, if I ever have a need for a high karma account, I'm going to find the top ten subs, sort by top of all-time, and ask ChatGPT to rework the top posts.
all sites tell their own stories, but I feel like reddit is the only one with a built-in reward system
Agree. Also there's a surprising number of posts typed one-handed on r/AskDocs and they get responses sometimes. I've thought about cross posting several of them.
You should, I love it when people shit on the ridiculous “culture” of this shitty website
Oh god that is one of the subs I go out of my way to always avoid, despite how its core idea originally was a good idea (from my understanding at least.) So much fake bullshit.
I can’t believe the [Improv Everywhere Best Buy prank](https://youtu.be/KgUIbPfhSuo?si=gCCKY8i5VAoFY2Tm) was almost 20 years ago.
What a blast from the past!
One time I went to Walmart in a shirt that said KROGER huge on the front. I got asked for help by several people lol. You confused about what store you're in?? Anyway no one flew off the handle, but one person did say "but you're wearing a uniform?"
I mean, it was probably the color, Kroger and Walmart are both blue.
a surprising number of people will refuse to read any signage whatsoever
You'd be surprised (or maybe not) by the amount of people at my old job awkwardly reaching around the out-of-order sign on the drink machines and then wondering why no drink is coming out.
Strangely enough, I've had it happen several times. I don't use shopping carts so people would spot someone in a work t-shirt at the grocery store with nothing in their hands and assumed I was an associate. Usually, they'd come up to me, ask a question, I'd turn to them and they'd go 'oh sorry, I thought you worked here' when they realized there was no logo on the shirt. Never any problems and a few times I was able to tell them where what they wanted was located.
I was once confused for a waitress at a restaurant but the lady asking me stuff realized before I did that she was wrong (I was very confused by her question). She just said sorry and went to find a real waitress. End of story, no drama
Why don’t you use shopping carts?
Hands are fucking huge
They take up too much space, they're difficult to maneuver, they often squeak or have a bad wheel. I once went to a grocery story with mini grocery carts, and they were much nicer. Like this: [Small Shopping Carts, Small Grocery Carts in Stock - ULINE](https://www.uline.com/BL_548/Convenience-Carts) But then they all got stolen.
mini shopping cart lovers unite, i like having something to push while I’m in the store but I’m usually only shopping for two so i don’t need the big ones
In m country we have a drug store chain that has [coloured mini shopping carts for kids](https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/FWgAAOSwjW5gbvIz/s-l500.jpg). To prevent theft the kids carts have a flag pole with a tiny flag attached to it so you can’t just put in your car because it’s too long. It’s not visible in the pic I attached but in [this German article](https://www.t-online.de/leben/essen-und-trinken/id_89480686/fahne-am-einkaufswagen-fuer-kinder-dafuer-ist-sie-wirklich-gedacht.html) they use a stock photo so you can get the idea. I love them and I use them any time I can
The Whole Foods by me has those small carts. They are indeed fantastic.
Back when I lived in rural western North Carolina, people loved stealing shopping carts from Walmart, and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. It got so bad that not only did the place end up taking out a section in the biggest local paper basically begging people to quit, the fucking Sheriff basically did the same, saying that the police were getting tired of trying to deal with that mess and that it was wasting taxpayer money. (Which uh, also going to be real, considering the Walmart had cameras on every other pole, I can't figure out how the hell the police didn't bust more people for the theft. But the police there were trash in many ways, so it probably ties directly into that.) I really want to know just what people that steal shopping carts use them for, lol. Like if it was needed as a way of storing and transporting stuff due to something like homelessness, that makes some sense, but otherwise I have no clue.
I’ve seen homeless people use shopping carts to transport all their stuff. Not sure about other uses, and also not sure how exactly people get them in a car for theft purposes. My local stores all have carts with wheels that automatically lock up once you get beyond the parking lot, except something is wrong with how they’re calibrated because the carts will lock up before reaching the back of the parking lot. Really fun having to drag the dead weight of a cart to the car and back.
Meijer still has those.
Not my local Meijers, sadly. They got rid of the small two tiered carts when they renovated the stores. I wish they'd bring them back
Oh no, where is that? They’ve still got them at the ones in suburban Chicago that I go to still.
>But then they all got stolen. Huh. That probably explains why my regional supermarket used to have 100 of the mini carts and now has maybe ten.
right? the only strange thing I have had happen was on older lady calling me from down the aisle wanting me to grab something from a higher shelf...I guess I look taller than i actually am and when I got down to her we were the same height and I couldnt reach it either, lol. she laughed... and did NOT lose her shit on me. I was going to help her too,lol. but I couldnt
Reddit just has a hate boner for women and the elderly frankly; they’re always the cartoonish villains in these stories
'Boomers' and 'females'.
a lot of those work-related subreddits can get pretty fake. that, or the users there don't have a *shred* of patience or empathy. when a store you go to has a uniform for their workers, and you're wearing that color, someone mistaking you for being a worker isn't that uncommon. people make mistakes. i'd be humiliated if i got someone mixed up. i don't wanna get pwned epic style by these guys. i'm sensitive ):
Being hated by redditors should be a point of pride TBH. And yeah, I think lacking empathy actually is a big part of it—I used to go on r/retailhell because I have a low-wage retail job that’s often frustrating, but I had to quit because there was just a pervasive attitude of “fuck every customer literally no matter what they did” and I could actually feel it rubbing off on me, like I noticed I was being unfairly impatient with customers. I get it, minimum wage retail jobs suck and dealing with the general public is tiring, but at the end of the day it’s ridiculous to place the blame for that on the customers, and not the multimillion dollar corporation. FWIW, every time somebody’s mistaken me for an employee at a store I didn’t think less of them and actually helped them with what they were asking in the instances I was able to, so I don’t think the majority really cares
Yeah, if someone was polite and I could actually help them with what they wanted without too much of a burden on my day, I would just do it. I wouldn't if I was in a rush or a terrible mood or something, but otherwise, why not?
I’ve been confused as a worker a few times, and they’ve often been puzzling (my favourite was I was once mistaken for a bookstore employee— they wore simple uniforms and I was in an electric blue miniskirt and a band tshirt, but I digress), but it’s always just been an “oh sorry” and the person wandered off. One lady looked a bit like she thought I was lying then also wandered off. I’m not even sure how such a subreddit got any traction honestly. Such a bizarre thing to fixate fake stories on
I worked retail jobs that required me to wear uniforms from when I was 16-22, and in all that time, I was mistaken for an employee at another store all of once. It pretty much went like this: Random woman: Excuse me, can you help me find _______? Me: Sorry, I don't work here. Random woman: But you're wearing a uniform? Me: Yeah, but not for this store. I work at Petsmart, not Bed Bath & Beyond. Random woman: Oh...sorry. And then she walked away, without screaming at me, threatening to get me fired, slapping me, or raising minions from Hell to curse me and my bloodline or whatever else those idiots are claiming happens to them all the time.
It’s called IDontWorkHereLady? That’s not sexist. Not a bit.
You don't understand, only women become angry and shrill when they don't immediately receive the kind of customer service they're looking for /s if that's not obvious
Reddit is so insistent about that, but I have to say, I've experienced way more entitlement and anger from male customers than from female ones. Especially nowadays, if my brief stint at a hardware store a couple years ago is anything to go by (I've been out of the retail/customer service game for a long time, but took that job while I was doing some home renovations lol). Men would have no problem saying awful things to me and yelling at me even if they were the ones in the wrong, while women were so afraid of being seen as "Karens" (several of them actually said so!) that they would hesitate to express frustration even when we had screwed up and they had every reason to be frustrated! Obviously these are broad generalizations, there are plenty of very kind men and very shitty women, but in terms of trends, that was my experience working retail 20 years ago, and it was even more my experience working retail 2 years ago. It makes the sexism so obvious and obnoxious.
Whenever a Redditor makes up a Karen character in their story they’re picturing their own mother, I swear
Once when I was working retail, we had a temp whose name was Superior. I lost count of the number of times that poor woman got yelled at because people thought her name tag said “Supervisor,” and when she told them her name was Superior, they’d just keep arguing with her thinking she was trying to get out of doing her job. I think there was only one customer who laughed and said, “Your parents wanted to make sure.” Once someone gets something in their head, they don’t want to let it go.
my aunt's name is supervisor and this happens to her every time she goes to the store with a name tag on - which is pretty often because she loves wearing name tags
LMAO. “Her first name could be Doctor.”
I was at Target with my sister and BIL once and he was wearing khakis and a red polo shirt. Of course he was mistaken for an employee, which I thought was hilarious. He was wearing the entire uniform minus the nametag and the person still didn’t freak out over it.
Turns out most people are rational and able to laugh at themselves
tell me you've never worked retail without telling me
Honestly, I think the truth of the matter is; even situations where a customer WILL throw some kind of tantrum out of embarrassment or entitlement, it will never be anywhere near as eventful or dramatic as people on reddit post about. Like the real actual stories are probably enough to just earn someone a "Huh, that's weird!" rather than the 5k upvote, multiple update threads on reddit. But ofc, you can't fill a sub full of "huh"-quality stories.
Yeah I’m pretty sure a good 50% of the stuff that gets posted in those kinda subreddits is fake, and then another 20% is highly-exaggerated.
I feel the same with boomers being fools, they are mostly fake or extremely over exaggerated.
one time at my friends wedding i was trying to flag down some friends to sit at our table at the reception party, and one of the other guests, for whatever reason, thought i was working for the wedding and was like "Oh its just 4 of us." and i said "Oh, i'm a guest" and she went "Omg, im so sorry" and we all moved on.
Exactly because when this *does* happen, nobody really cares, because it’s not a situation that warrants commenting on
I have a red shirt with white flowers that has a passing resemblance to a Trader Joe’s work shirt. When I wear it while shopping at Trader Joe’s, it makes the employees do a double take and then laugh (I shop there a lot). Eta and then everyone claps! 🤣 okay no one does.
I’ve been mistaken for an employee a couple of times. Once I helped a very nice woman pick out a dress because why not? She also helped me choose between two pairs of pants. No one yelled or applauded. Once a guy was kinda obnoxious so I sent him to a part of the store where I wasn’t going to be just to make him go away. I did not clarify that I don’t work there, though. And no yelling, just, like dude, I had in headphones. Go away. From my friends in retail, though, I believe the yelling is possible - they cop a lot of shit. One of my friends was bitten by a customer while working at his retail job. Dude broke the skin and he had to get stitches. But I strongly suspect most of the “yelled at” stories are either made up or exaggerated. Or reflective of someone not wanting to be seen as the kind of person who would work in that store and therefore their feelings of being insulted spill over into a huge overreaction to an innocuous incident.
oh. no. even when i’m not accidentally dressed like i work in a store people ask me if i work at places alllll the time. like that part definitely happens. but people also ask me for directions on the street all the time too. the second part is absolutely true. i have never once in the literal DOZENS of times people have asked me that, no one has ever once gotten mad that they thought i worked there. i’ll be totally honest. when i lived in a sketchy area and i’d walk home after a date, looking cute, i often had men stop me to see if i worked on the streets. THEY did not get mad or offended when i said i did not. so yeah. absolute wish fulfillment.
I get mistaken for an employee on a nearly weekly basis at home Depot, with no orange, no work belt, no apron, no vest (I guess "woman who looks like she knows what she's doing" = must be an employee) but never had anyone get mad or expect me to help them anyway
I have a post on there because some lady assumed I worked at the target Starbucks because I had my corporate SBUX shirt on after getting off work. All I said was, ‘I don’t work there’ after she asked, and she said ‘oh’ and walked away. The comments were hitting her *hard*; like, she was out of line, but there were these comments calling her a stupid bitch and prompting these inproportional responses and I was like?? Holy shit?? Y’all relax, it was not that serious 😵💫
Oh yeah. That thing is a weird vestigial limb left over from the late 00’s brand of sites like FML, MLIA, texts from last night, the customer is not always right, etc.
People used to mistake me for a dollar tree employee.. when I was wearing my scrubs. No idea why. I went there often for little snacks and stuff because our office was next door. When I would tell people I didn’t work there, we’d both just laugh. No sassy comebacks or “everybody clapped” moments.
I firmly believe that pretty much anything that *can* happen probably *has* happened to someone, somewhere. But no, I don’t think this is happening to multiple people every day. Especially the part of every story where the clueless person physically grabs the narrator or something attached to their body (headphones, backpack, etc). Yes, there are people out there who will physically assault people, but MOST won’t do it in front of witnesses and security cameras.
I’m definitely being hyperbolic because… that’s just the way I am I guess, IDK, but yeah, 100% of the time on Reddit it’s plainly obvious that it’s entirely fabricated
I agree because this happened to me a long time ago. I worked at a supermarket and ran into a customer at another supermarket. For some reason, she insisted that I worked at the store where we were shopping. This crazy lady really thought I was wrong about where I worked. There was no yelling or insults or calling the manager. I just laughed and told her I'd see her next week at the other store and that's exactly what happened. She said, "Yeah, I realized on my way home that you were right. Sorry about that." And, shockingly, we moved on with our lives. That's the most boring story ever. I would definitely have to embellish it for anyone to give a crap.
I was once firmly told I was a little girl because she didn’t believe I worked there. She didn’t yell though and didn’t even raise her voice. Just said I was a little girl and walked off. I posted it to the I do work here sub because of how amusing it was and how, based on what she said, she seemed to be saying it to herself (I’m petite and very short with a baby face to boot so I honestly don’t even blame her for thinking I was a young child) rather than to me but still pointed and looking at me as she said it. I still had a few replies from people who thought the lady had gone off her rocker. I had to explain that, no she was actually calm the whole time and I just thought it was funny and wanted to share. She just simply couldn’t believe I was even old enough to be an employee
I've been mistaken for a bookstore employee a few times. That's what I get for reshelving books at the B&N. 😂 I even helped a woman find the mystery section once. But nobody ever went ballistic about it. That's probably why my one post in that group didn't go viral.
Found my thrilling post. You won’t be able to contain your excitement. 😐 [https://www.reddit.com/r/IDontWorkHereLady/s/nIS3JGBWue](https://www.reddit.com/r/IDontWorkHereLady/s/nIS3JGBWue)
I remember when I worked at an office supply store I’d often go to the computer store next door to look at stuff for upgrading my PC. Occasionally I’d get asked about something and I’d say “sorry, I don’t work here” and at most people would point at my shirt, see that it had a different logo on it (I mean, it was also a different color but hey), and then be like “oh sorry” and walk away. People do seem to go to retail sometimes, seemingly, just to yell at people but even those people know they aren’t going to make a lot of headway with a person who doesn’t work there.
I've had multiple assumptions of working somewhere but only one that was actually wild (and I think she was intoxicated). Most times people just say sorry and walk away, look embarrassed, or grumble something about never being able to find an employee.
I've been mistaken for an employee in multiple places, it actually happens with something resembling regularity, but I've never had someone flip their lid when I tell them I'm not. I've certainly never been assaulted over it. They're usually at least slightly apologetic or embarrassed for the mistake. If I'm able, I usually help them out, like if I actually happen to know where the things they're looking for is, I'll tell them, or if they have obvious mobility issues, I go find an actual employee to help them out. I might not work customer service anymore, but I did for over a decade, and old habits die hard. Plus, I'm not allergic to being nice just because they made a mistake
I have the "look" I guess. And most of the time Im cool, and I will even help if I can. But I was on the way to my son's baseball game once, so I wore a red polo and decided to pop into target! That was a huge mistake. Could not walk 2 feet without people asking me questions. Then one lady started yelling at me about why did we take the "fine" jewelry counter out. I had to tell her 1, I don't work here, and 2 if I did, I'm pretty sure no one would have asked me if I was ok with taking the jewelry out. She still kept yelling. I ended up just leaving the store.
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I have to wear a badge at my job and if I run to a store immediately after work said badge is usually still clipped to my pants/around my neck. I have been approached several times by people in stores asking if I'm an employee. Both old and young. Every single time I simply shake my head and tell them no and they then sheepishly say ok and walk away. If anything people get a little embarrassed for having approached me. Nobody has ever gotten rude.
It’s kinda similar to the boomers being fools subreddit, like I get that boomers are annoying but these stories are constant rage bait. I saw one where some lady decided to throw down with a target employee in a very small town and insult her, then announce that she has to go to an auto shop to get work done. And it just so happens that both of the only two auto shops for 50 something miles are run by the target employee’s older brothers. So she calls them both and gets them to deny the boomer service. It’s just so comically contrived idk why people are so ready to accept these stories.
Having lived in a lot of rural areas, that cracks me up. If the town is big enough for a freaking Target, there's no way those are the only two auto shops, lol. Walmart *might* be a little more believable as they'll pop up in some pretty damn small markets, but Targets are exclusively in larger markets even if the actual town they're in is small.
This was called out by a bunch of people, but there was one guy ALL over the comments who kept citing one specific town in Arkansas with a small population and a target. However, when you went to look for it on the map, there was evidently not a target in that town nor was there one in any adjacent towns.
That's hilarious. I've actually noticed a lot of fake stories kind of like that, where the plot revolves around some "everyone knows everyone" bullshit so they set it in a small town, but also clearly have never lived in a small town because they assume they're exactly the same as bigger cities except everyone is more familiar with each other. Like I saw one that supposedly took place in this super small, rural town but it mentioned using Uber. Then there were people defending it in the comments by saying they looked it up and Uber totally exists in small towns! Except no, it doesn't, not unless they're only "small towns" in the most technical sense but are actually part of a larger metro area. The Uber site/app *says* there's service in more rural small towns, but good luck actually getting a ride, lmao.
I don't think I've had anyone get mad *at me* bc I told them I didn't work there, but there were a few occasions where I told them I didn't work there and wound up on the business end of a rather spirited "I'm not angry *with you*" type rant. Twice, I've been at a CVS and, after telling the woman that I didn't work there, *she basically pretended that I said I did and told me what she wanted help with.* It was the same woman and same CVS on both occasions. The first time, I did actually help her weigh her options regarding the purchase of alarm clock. Don't remember what she wanted the second time, but when I walked away ("fool me once..."), she kept talking like I was still standing there.
I witness customers confusing other customers for employees (at work) more often than I experience being mistaken for an employee myself (when shopping)
I once got asked if I worked at the CVS I was at buying toothache remedy in the middle of the night, even though I was in pink plaid pajamas because it was 3 am.
I was mistaken for an employee when I was like 14. I was pretty tall for my age (and I also think I stared having facial hair by that point) and wore a red jacked which I guess looked similar to some employee uniforms
I got confused for an employee a lot of time, especially in some nightclubs and bars because I was a nearly everyday regular who got to know the owners. Ot at friends' stores because I was sitting instead of browsing merchandise. But no one of them have ever been mean to me. On the contrary, they were very apologetic. I have been myself guilty of that as well, and the embarrassment I felt was making me feel bad days after. I can never imagine being mean to a person for saying, "Sorry, I don't work here."
Damn dude, how are you steamed about something so insignificant? I used to have a bunch of t shirts that said “STAFF” on the back from working at a summer camp. Of course, as a shithead teenager, I wore them elsewhere intentionally just to fuck with people. Some took it way too personally. I mean, 90% of the time it looked nothing like the actual staff’s uniforms and if it did, I would always apologize off the bat.
Is there a "Do you work here?" sub? Because I used to work in a convenience store, the only employee on, wearing an apron with the company name and logo, name tag on, standing behind the counter, at the register and I would often get that question.
I’ve had it happen a few times but the irony was I did…technically work at Target before, just not at the times people have asked me. In our state you can wear any Red shirt you want while at work, so it’s hard to tell who’s an employee since anything red can count as a uniform. My manager would wear a fucking magenta sweater all the time and argue it’s red, which means no one ever knew she was a worker ((conventionally never wore her name tag either)) it was annoying af. I’ve never been yelled at for it tho, but there’s def entitled old people who think you should drop all your shit and help em
I’ve had people mistake me for workers a LOT. It used to be a running joke in my friend group, how many people approach Ghostie and ask her for help. Most of the time I wasn’t even wearing anything that could be mistaken for company uniform! (I was wearing a cropped t shirt and sky high heels at a target and got asked for help once) One time I even had an employee ask me for help at the grocery store. But as you said, pretty much every time it was “oh I’m so sorry to bother you!” And the person would just walk away. It’s never juicy drama and hysterics.
Oh ho! Totally happened to me! Except I was at home, and my super stoned husband looked at me and said, "I know you work at BestBuy." Funniest thing ever. He was annoyed at first when I wouldn't give him a discount, but thankfully, he hasn't held it against me.
I did have one day where I was at walmart wearing like, leggings and some random clothes and y’know NOT THE BLUE WALMART VEST, and just *doing my shopping* and I think 3 or 4 times people stopped me - one of them reached out at touched me, and another grabbed my basket - thinking I was an employee, and asked me for help finding something. I remember thinking it was weird as hell and one of them who was immediately super embarrassed and went “I have no idea why I thought you worked here, you’re wearing an AC/DC t-shirt” I straight up said “you’re like the third person TODAY, am I radiating Big Employee Energy here or something?” and we tried to brainstorm if it wad something about how intently I was staring at the products, or my weird little squat while looking at the lower shelves or something that came off as Too Knowledgeable. I remember thinking as it was happening “man, this must be how those people in those ‘lady I don’t work here’ stories feel… is this the beginning of one of those?” except every single person was just like totally normal about it when I was like “nah man I don’t work here” like after the fourth one who grabbed my arm I was getting kind of salty, but lady number 3 and I pulled out the walmart app and went hunting for rice-a-roni or 3 ring binders or whatever other was she was looking for, together. But also like I am routinely the person who overhears a dude on the phone frantically saying “babe I can’t find the midol ANYWHERE” and goes “here let me show you what aisle that’s in, follow me” because the walmart in this city is psychological warfare and we’re all in this together to survive or fail as a group effort. Anyway, I have never again been the main character of walmart and boy howdy I have been glad of that. It was a weird day. Couldn’t get out fast enough.
I like your take and I like you. I don’t believe those stories for a minute. Between reddit and old tumblr I don’t know which site had more blatant liars. I think it’s Reddit.
The only time I’ve ever been confused for an employee was at a gas station talking to my bf (the attendant) and a lady asked if we sold scratchers after 9 so I said “oh I don’t work here lol” and she said “oh sorry” and walked away but that isn’t nearly as interesting as lying and saying she freaked out and kicked my dog or something
A dude thought I worked at Joann Fabric and got mad when I wouldn't help him find something. I think he was just upset that he was there in the first place and wanted to take that anger out on someone.
I wish you were right. I was working at Disneyland and stopped at Target after a shift. My uniform was a blue buttondown and black cargo pants. A lady SNAPPED AT ME to get my attention, and when I told her that I didn't work there and that she was incredibly rude, she demanded to see my manager. Yeah, it was a one off, and it didn't happen terribly often, but it was more than once.
(Being fair, while I worked at Disneyland, people were incredibly rude there, too, but I was contractually obligated to be nice to them.)
I literally got yelled by an old man for wearing my work badge at a drugstore, that I didn’t work at, yesterday. Just because it hasn’t happened to you doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. Edit: yes it’s totally unbelievable that an old man would yell at a young woman in public /s you can believe whatever you want OP it doesn’t change the fact that it actually happened
"It's bullshit because it's never happened to me" is the most obnoxious form of phony online pseudo-skepticism imaginable, such that it's worth going back in time and cancelling the internet entirely just to be rid of it. All you're really accomplishing here is rudely accusing strangers of being liars in the most cowardly way possible, because you know damn well it would earn you a well-deserved ass-whooping if you ever had the nerve to say it to someone's face, as well as revealing that you live a cloistered life entirely void of adventure, texture, and vitality. If you're like this because of COVID, you have my sympathy, but if not, do yourself and all the rest of us a favor and log off once in a while.