Accused of being racist by a customer
Pretty much just using this to rant but it would be nice to best feedback by people who understand how michael’s checkouts work. so today i had a situation with a customer which led to her leaving a nasty review saying i harassed her for her race and that disciplinary action should be taken on me for violating her rights and demanded a formal corporate apology and so on. I was at a self checkout helping a customer while there was no one in line and then 2 customer joined in line while i was still helping the other first (it was only me working front end) and when i had finished with the customer the 2 customers in line had gone to self checkout themsleves and there was no one else left in line . One of the customers on self checkout asked for a bag so i gave her a bag. This other customer i noticed was just standing at the self checkout and not scanning anything so i asked her if she was using cash or card and she said “no i just want a bag” i told her i only had small bags (she had big items) and they’re 10 cents and she said that’s fine so i grabbed her a bad and scanned the paper to charge for the bag and she then started ringing herself up on the self checkout. Another customer comes in line with balloons and i helped her at the register. After i was finished with that customer the lady on the self checkout came up to my register and asked me why i skipped her in line and helped everyone else. I was genuinely confused because by the time i was done helping the first customer she had gone to the self checkout herself along with the lady behind her. I explained that to her but she said that she wants to know why i skipped her and I just kept explaining how she was at a self checkout while i was helping someone who was there before her. She told me to stop going back and forth with her and to just tell her why i skipped her and at this point i didnt kmow what to tell her because she must have thoight the self checkout was a register which is why i asked her cash or card so i could ring her up but she only asked for a bag. After she kept tellikg me to say why i skipped her and me explaining she was at a self checkout while i was still busy i just told her sorry because at this point there was people waiting and she was only arguing with me so i told her i’m sorry she said thank you and left. when she left and i went to blow up the other customers balloons the customer defended me and said she was at a self checkout while i was still helping the customer that was there before she was in line. i also had asked the lady if she wanted to talk to a manager and she just inistsed i instead tel her why i skipped her. honestly i checked the stores reviews after because i was so confused why she would think i skipped her when she went to the self checkout that doesnf makw sense to me. I am white and she was a black woman if this adds to the story but she left a review wirh law codes saying i harassed her because of her race that i discriminated her and serviced people before her even tho she was first in line and said that she forced me to admit guilt (which i only said sorry and i did not say i skipped her because that wasn’t the case) and she demanded a corporate call and disciplinary action against me saying that me “skipping her in line” was me harassing her and treating her differently because of her race. i asked my manager if i could see the footage tomorrow because i KNOW i didn’t do that and i’m not that type of person and it honestly hurt to be accused of that and i’m just so confused how she could’ve taken it that way when she was using the self checkout despite me still asking if she needed help. I’m honestly so tired of the self checkout causing issues to the point i’m being called racist and i don’t know what to do. i would never skip someone or makw anyone feel like they were being ignored and i’m so confused how she came to the conclusion that i’m racist because she went to self checkout. I guess she thought it was a register and that i wasn’t ringing her up but after i offered to help she rang herself up so that makes no sense either ? any advice helps and i’m scated this will turn into a report but the camera footage will show that none of this ever happened but i don’t know if she will report it or how it will be handled