u/Beep_boop_human

This one just popped into my mind today.

I work at a chain liquor store. There was a guy who would go into stores at 5 minutes to close and try to get a refund without a receipt. Because of liquor licensing we are under the pump to get all sales finalised before the clock ticks over. Basically a great time to scam us honestly if you find the right sales person who just wants to get you out as quickly as possible.

Now, this guy would come in with a sob story and a bag full of champagne. The first time I met him he said "I just got out of rehab, I'm scared if I have these in the house I will drink them". He says he doesn't have a receipt but pleads with me to help him because he doesn't want to disappoint his kids.

Now, a few things: this guy looks sketchy AF, not the kind of customer buying multiple $100 bottles of champagne.

Second, as someone who works in alcohol and has been around many alcoholics in my personal life, the concept of an alcoholic who's drink of choice is Moet or Bollinger is pretty hilarious to me. I'm not saying it isn't possible but it definitely isn't probable.

Third, they're one of the easiest high value things to steal. That's because nobody else really does, so we don't pay attention. Ie if we see a guy with a backpack walk down the whiskey aisle everyone is all over it, but sparkling wines not so much.

Anyway, I know immediately this is bullshit but I offer to look up the transaction on my system to dig up the receipt, he has a million excuses and keeps pushing for a refund without one. I say I can't, and he tried to put pressure on me by more or less saying he'll return to his old ways if I don't refund him tonight.

So I kindly say if he really feels like he can't be around them, I'd be happy to take them off his hands and pour them out, but I can't do the refund.

This pisses him off (as I knew it would) and he realises it's not going to go anywhere. He leaves and says I'm destroying his life (lol).

I let my bosses know, but my management team at the time was dog shit, so this guy managed to get a refund at our store using the same sob story twice before my bosses actually paid attention. When they did, they realised he was doing it all over the state at our other locations.

So gang, what's the best scam someone's tried to pull on you?

So I went to a theme park yesterday and remembered something from when I was about 8 or 9.

We didn't have money so we didn't really do the holiday thing. However my sister (half sister, significantly older) lived interstate and every few years my mum and I would visit. This was about the most exciting thing that happened as a kid.

One of the things that excited me most was visiting a specific theme park. We didn't have anything like that were I grew up. I think I had been taken there once by my sister and her boyfriend as a kid and I was completely in love with it. I spent years dreaming about going back, and my mother promised to take me when we went next.

I remember the day we were supposed to go I was buzzing with excitement, but my mum looked sad and said she needed to talk to me about it. She told me that there had been a horrible accident- the roller coaster had come off the tracks and all the riders had crashed to their deaths. The park was closed and probably would be for weeks. I was devastated, but even at my young age I knew it would be selfish of me to be angry about not getting to go given the circumstances

I'm not sure when exactly it clicked for me, but I looked it up when I was older. Guys, she made the whole thing up lol. And she gave such a convincing performance... so much so that I didn't ever ask to go back because I was terrified of dying in a freak accident.

Even though I figured it out a long time ago, I don't remember ever thinking 'why' because I was so used to weird shit like that. I've been thinking of the why a lot today.

As fucked up as it is, I don't think she did it to be intentionally cruel. She is just a selfish person. I think she couldn't afford to take me (as was the case with most things) and instead of dealing with that she took what was (in her mind) the easier route. Her explanation ensured I couldn't blame her, who cares if it traumatised me.

So where I work we need to wear safety vests when doing certain tasks. I've worked here for 5 years no issues, our old safety vests didn't have zips.

All of a sudden our company has decided we need to have new ones with zips and if the zip isn't done up properly it's not safety compliant.

They ordered in a bunch with S, M, L and XL. I can 'technically' zip up the XL if I suck everything in but it looks ridiculous, like a crop top. Probably not 'compliant' in the way they want.

We're also at a time where the company is taking people to team services over small safety infractions and really cracking down on us, so just leaving it open isn't really an option. That's what I've been doing so far and only lucking out because nobody has seen me.

I know there's someone else who works here who wouldn't be able to zip it either, maybe two people, and plenty at our other stores.

I have this fear that if I bring it up they'll order one super-sized vest and nobody will be allowed to wear it because it's my own special fat person vest with my name on it lol. I wish I was more confident and beyond that, but I'm not.

Ideally they'd just order some bigger sizes and throw them into the rotation without comment but I am dreading having to bring it up to a boss.

They're also very specific high vis vests with our company logo on it so I wouldn't get away with just buying something bigger online.

Anyone dealt with anything like this before?

Who's got one? Not just talking about rude entitled dickheads but customers that have the most heinous vibes imaginable.

There's this customer who must be in his 80s. He used to come in a lot more but thankfully not much anymore. I saw him today and I just had a horrible sinking feeling.

I feel like I've been in retail so long (rip) that I have no qualms about annoying, difficult customers- every fuckhead is a funny story in the end, and I'm good at shutting down stupid shit.

But when I see this man I start to feel ill.

I did not see it first hand but when I started a lot of the younger guys (adults but I'm talking 18-24ish) all had horror stories about him. Telling them they're beautiful, 'jokingly' saying he was going to take them home with him, using any excuse to touch their shoulders and hands etc

While it was never so blatant when I was around (ie witnesses) I did see him creepily trying to flirt with them. One time specifically I was hovering in case he did cross the line, and he snapped at me and said 'what are you looking at? I'm not talking to you'. He went from giggling to irate in a split second.

Another time he told me a story about how he is banned from visiting his wife in her nursing home. He said a young guy that worked there had the same hair colour as me (green at the time). I can't remember the specifics but it was basically a long drawn out 'does the carpet match the drapes' anecdote which he thought was hilarious. I should have told him that wasn't appropriate but honestly I was so taken aback, he said this to me so casually at register while like 5 dudes were waiting behind him to be served. When I gave him nothing he told me I must be too young to understand the joke (I'm in my 30s).

He has tried to tell me that story again 3 or 4 times, I always shut it down and walk off before he gets to his hilarious punchline. Every time he begins, he starts with a big smirk on his face like he's about to let me in on an incredible secret.

He also sometimes mentions to me about the 'beautiful brown boy' with 'lovely skin' who works next door (again, an adult, but yeesh).

This guy rings every alarm bell for me. I'm not a woo woo person but his whole being is just dark. I don't mean to sound like a crazy person, but I just get the feeling this man has done some really fucking horrible shit in his life and when I see him I just want to run as far as possible.