r/IDontWorkHereLady

I had a long day at the office doing IT support and I was honestly just ready to go home and collapse on my couch. On the way back I realized I really needed a new charging cable because my cat decided to use my last one as a chew toy that morning. I was still wearing my work uniform which is just a plain blue polo shirt and my company lanyard with my ID badge on it. I didnt even think about how much it looked like the employee uniform at the big box electronics store until I walked through the sliding doors.

I was standing in the cable aisle trying to figure out if I wanted the six foot or the ten foot version when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and there was this lady looking at me with that very specific "I want to talk to a manager" expression on her face. She asked me where the universal remotes were located and she sounded pretty annoyed already. I just pointed toward the back of the store and said I think they are over there near the home theater section but I am not totally sure.

She just stared at me for a second and then she huffed and said well arent you going to walk me over there and show me which one works with a Sony TV. I laughed a little bit because I thought she was joking at first but she definitely was not. I told her sorry lady I dont actually work here I am just looking for a phone charger. She looked at my blue shirt and then pointed at my lanyard and said dont lie to me I can see your name tag right there.  I realized then that she probably couldnt read the big logo for a local insurance company on my badge from where she was standing.

I tried to explain again that this was my badge for my actual job but she started raising her voice and saying that customer service is dead and she was going to get me fired for being lazy. It was so awkward because other people started staring at us like I was actually some terrible employee. Luckily a real staff member who was wearing the actual Best Buy logo came over to see what the noise was about. He had to tell her three times that I was just a customer before she finally turned red and walked away without saying another word. I could of just taken my badge off in the car but I was so tired I just didnt even consider it. I think I am going to buy my cables online from now on just to avoid the drama.

What a great sub, have to share this story because my family still jokes about it...

I was attending and giving a talk at a scientific conference in Bar Harbor ME, and the attendees were staying at an Inn in town. I was up late the night before (as you do when at a conference), but always an early riser. Kind of tired, hit the restaurant where the breakfast is, but too early. The staff was making coffee and setting up, so I started chatting and started to help them out a bit. I'm from Vermont, but lived in Maine for a few years, so being down to earth and having an accent came right to the front. Got stuff going, got my coffee, and just made small talk about a late night etc etc and they were great fun, but looked at my coffee strangely.

Breakfast comes out, and I say great meeting you guys, I'm going to grab a bite and go and grab a plate. Gets real quiet, and the gal in charge says, you know, we aren't supposed to eat on the job, and the set up is for guests... I look at my coffee, and she says it looked like I needed it, but now I have to clock in.

Turns out they thought I was the new guy that was supposed to start that day for first shift, and with my making time and joking with them they assumed I was that, or local, or both. We had a good laugh when it all straightened out, and she offered me a job because the new guy was a no show.

Said they were a great bunch, and would be fun to work with, but sadly no, I was a scientist and just in town for the conference. I did offer to help with coffee set up for the week (self serving) and got a good laugh. She said that I was about to be docked for the coffee but as my first day, they would read me up on the rules later...

Sometimes just being helpful will do that, like knowing something at the hardware store...

I worked at this store for a few months, but eventually I left because the job wasn’t working out for me.

Every now and then, I still stop by the store. Because I used to work there, I know where most things are, so sometimes customers see me and assume I’m still an employee.

They’ll walk up and ask me where something is or ask a question about the store.

I usually have to smile and say, “Sorry, I don’t work here anymore.”

The funny part is that I can still answer some of their questions because I remember the place so well.

This story happened to me this past Valentine’s Day. My wife and I went to Target. She was doing a return and there was a line so I went ahead and started the shopping. Important note here – I’m low vision and use a white cane to help people understand I am visually impaired. Anyways, I was in the dog food aisle getting some dog food and looking for a specific flavor of dog treats when this older lady walks up and starts yelling at me to get a bag of dog food and put it in her cart. At first, I didn’t realize she was making this demand of me.  I think there is a nicer way to ask someone f or help besides immediately screaming at them. But OK – so I ask her what she needs she seems to point at something and says that one. Now remember, I have my white cane in my hand and pointing at something doesn’t really tell me what you need from me. I ask her to identify which one she wants and she again points at something. I tell her I can’t see what you are pointing at. I can help if you tell me what you need. Then she yells, “I swear, why does this store hire blind people that can’t even see to help people!” I was shocked to say the least!!  I told her I don’t work here and I’m trying to be nice. Then she said why did you wear a red shirt to Target then.  I could see enough of her to see that she was wearing a red shirt. I told her I’ m not wearing a red shirt it is pink for Valentine’s Day and by using her logic that means she works there as well. By this time a manager came over to see what the commotion was and had heard her comment to me about being blind.  The manager apologized to me for the rudeness of the lady., She was then escorting the lady away from the area. My wife by this time was headed to find me. She heard the lady crying please don’t ban me from the store, I won’t have anywhere else that I can shop. The manager said, “You’ve been warned before about screaming at customers.”  When my wife found me, she could tell I was upset. She asked me what was wrong. I told her about the incident. She said, “You’ll be happy to know that she has been banned from the store.” And she filled me in on the conversation that she heard. I doubt the lady learned her lesson, but that Target store gained a loyal customer with me.

I go to the same gas station very frequently after work to get a slushie to treat myself. I’m in there the other night in full uniform (hat, apron, shirt) that is very clearly not affiliated with this store. Logo on the hat, apron has the business name in giant lettering, and the back of the shirt also has the business name written on it. Not to mention the employee “colors” at my store are black and red and this store’s is green.

Older guy approaches me as I’m filling my cup (another clear sign I don’t work here,) and quite literally barks at me, “Where’s the coffee?” I had just had a long shift, and so I simply responded, “I don’t know.” He gets MAD. Like his expression completely shifts. “What do you mean you don’t know!?”

I say, “I mean I don’t work here?” He scoffs at me, mutters “Useless bitch,” and then turns around and marches off. Okay man. Cool. Entirely my fault you assume every person in any uniform works at a location they are currently at regardless of obvious signals to the contrary.

Also, why are we getting coffee at 10:15pm?

I stopped at a home improvement store one afternoon because I needed a few things for my apartment. I was wearing a plain red sweatshirt and carrying a shopping basket, so I guess that was enough for one customer to decide I worked there.

I was looking at storage containers when an older man walked up and asked me where he could find a particular size of plastic bin.

I told him, “Sorry, I don’t work here.”

He looked at me for a second and said, “Well, you’re wearing red.”

I looked down at my sweatshirt and then back at him. “That’s true, but I’m also holding a shopping basket and trying to figure out what I’m buying.”

He didn’t seem convinced. He asked me to show him where the bins were.

I could have just walked away, but I actually knew roughly where they were, so I pointed him toward the next aisle and told him he should probably ask an employee to make sure.

A few minutes later, a woman stopped me and asked if I knew where the light bulbs were.

I laughed and said, “Apparently everyone thinks I work here today.”

She laughed too and apologized.

Then, while I was standing at the checkout, the first man walked past me again and said, “See, I knew you worked here.”

I told him, “Nope. I’m finally leaving.”

He looked at my basket and said, “Oh.”

I still have no idea what made me look like an employee, but apparently that red sweatshirt had more authority than I realized.

I stopped by a clothing store after work because I needed to pick up a jacket. I was wearing completely normal clothes and wasn’t carrying anything that looked like a work uniform.

A woman walked up to me and asked if they had the same jacket in another size. I told her, “Sorry, I don’t work here.”

She apologized and walked away.

About five minutes later, another customer asked me where the fitting rooms were. I pointed toward them and explained again that I was just shopping.

Then, while I was waiting in line, a man asked me if I knew whether they accepted returns without a receipt.

At that point I had to laugh. Three different people had decided I worked there without me doing anything except standing around.

I finally got my jacket and left, but I’m still curious what made me look like an employee that day.

Alright I didn’t know there was a subreddit for this but I got a story I just have to share because my friends and I laugh over it so much.

When I go out shopping I commonly get mistaken for a worker there. This has happened to me at Costco, Walmart, Target, and even local franchises like Meijers and Woodmans. Before you ask no I do not try to wear colors that match the store employees in fact I try to do the opposite. I will literally be wearing all black in a store and someone will come up and ask me where something is thinking I work at the store and know.

If I know where the item is, I obviously try to help out and give them general directions and if I don’t I apologize say I don’t work there and that I typically don’t shop there much either.

Well I was at my favorite local Target last month, in the beauty isle stocking up on my favorite body wash and a middle aged woman comes up to me and very rudely ask me where an item was.

In her defense I was moving body wash out of the way because I couldn’t find the scent I liked and wanted to make sure it wasn’t behind another scent so maybe I looked like I was stocking shelves. And I happened to be wearing a red shirt.

I smiled and apologized saying I wasn’t sure where that item was but before I could say I didn’t work here she cut me off and said it was my job and I needed to look it up for her. I dropped my smile and told her ‘that’s not my job’ to which she scoffed and said my manager would hear of this. And I said “look I don’t work here, so I can’t help you” she of course scoffed again and walked away and I went back to picking up my things before heading to the self checkout.

I paid for my stuff and went on my merry way. Before leaving I heard someone very loudly call out “Excuse me!” Right as I was walking out the door. I turned my head and noticed the woman who stopped me earlier was at the returns desk, but I kept walking.

“Where do you think you’re going!?” Someone behind me yelled and I turned around, receipt in hand to show I paid for my stuff.

“You realize you are not in proper uniform! You do know that’s grounds for termination?!” This woman in a target shirt, presumably a manager looks me up and down in my red shirt and shorts and at this point I’m dying laughing inside. How can she not tell that I don’t actually work here?

“I didn’t know I needed a uniform to shop here?” Was my answer. Yes I know it probably would have been better to tell her I didn’t work for her but I found the whole thing so funny and kinda wanted to see how far this manager would go.

“You think you’re so funny don’t you!” The manager said to me in response.

To which I shrugged and said “well I don’t work for you so I don’t know why it matters”

Her angry face fell and she looked me up and down again. My purse in hand car keys out, bag full of stuff and receipt out.

“I am so sorry” she said shocked. “That woman pointed you out and I thought you were someone else”

I shrugged again and said “maybe you should pay more attention to what your actual employees look like so the next time Karen comes and tries to get fired you don’t try to fire someone who doesn’t work here”

She just nodded and turned around. The Karen watched the whole exchange from the doors and a guy around my age walking into target just laughed hysterically as I went to my car triumphantly beating two Karen’s in one day before treating myself to a trip to Micheal’s craft store!

I was at a home improvement store on my lunch break, wearing jeans and a plain jacket, just looking at paint supplies. A woman walked up to me and asked where she could find a particular type of tape.

I assumed she had mistaken me for an employee, so I smiled and told her I didn't work there.

She laughed and said, “Oh, sorry, you just looked like you knew what you were doing.”

A few minutes later, she came back and asked me another question.

I reminded her that I really didn't work there. She looked embarrassed, apologized, and walked away.

The funny part was that about ten minutes later, another customer stopped me and asked where the light bulbs were.

At that point I just started wondering what exactly I was wearing that day that made everyone think I worked there.

I had recently gotten new clothes to wear, and it was a weekend where my family decided to go out to shop so of course I wanted to wear one of the new t-shirts I had gotten, it was yellow and with a cartoon design at the front.

Inside IKEA, I was helping my parents look for things in our list. Almost halfway into the store I felt a presence following me, but I thought nothing of it.

Since it was closing time, I urged my parents to get whatever they wanted and to leave the window shopping for another time. When we got to the final section with all the giant shelves filled with boxes, parents got distracted by the computers there to try and find something they were looking for.

I once again felt the same presence around, except this time I took a quick look around and saw an elderly woman staring straight into my soul.

I look at her with question, she looks at me in question, notices the cartoon design on my shirt and says "Oh my god I've been following the wrong person... Thought you worked here" and she walked back into the store.

On the drive back my brother tells me how he had a hunch someone would mistake me for an employee

A few years ago I shopped for InstaCart for about two weeks before I got fed up with it. One day I was shopping an order at Publix, and the customer had ordered a couple of cases of a specific soda. That soda was on sale so of course the shelf had been completely cleared of it, but luckily there was an employee in the soda aisle so I asked him if he could look up if there was any more. He pulled out his inventory device thing and was looking it up for me when a woman came up and with no "hello" or "excuse me" asked where the juice was.

The employee did absolutely nothing to acknowledge the woman, so after a second of awkward silence and her staring expectantly at me, I said "um I think it's a couple aisles over, I believe on aisle 7?" She wasn't impressed with this answer and went "you think? you don't know?", which made me realize she thought I was also an employee, and clearly not a very good one. I told her I didn't work there, and, pointing at the employee, she went "well he does! and he's not even acknowledging me!" The employee looked up for the first time through this whole interaction and immediately snapped at her, saying "I can only help one person at a time, and I'm clearly helping this person right now!"

The two of them had a back and forth where she told him that he had bad customer service and should have at least acknowledged her when she initially approached, and he defended that he was obviously busy assisting someone else and she needed to wait her turn. I just stood there dumbfounded waiting for him to find my soda, thinking about how they were both kind of right but also so unnecessarily rude to each other.

So my ex wife works for a high end yacht club in Florida. For one of the holidays I was contracted to come in and do custom airbrush on tumblers (I’m an artist). At one point an employee was desperate to find my ex wife (still married back then) so I said I’d go out and find her at the pool area (I was working behind the scenes away from members). Once I was out there some woman came storming up to me with a very stern voice
“There is an air leak in the inflatable water slide!!”
I replied “ummmm dang, good luck with that though” and I kept walking as I was on a mission to find my wife.
“Aren’t YOU going to fix it?!?!” Now she’s yelling at my back as I walk away.
I turned and hollered back “ummm NOPE! But good luck with that!”😁
Mind you, I was wearing nothing resembling an employee of the yacht club or any other company. I can only guess it’s bc I’m a minority, but I was so seriously pissed she’d jump to the conclusion I was “the help” pissing her off in return was my only consolation!

I was shopping in a store one afternoon when a woman came up to me and asked where she could find a particular item. I told her politely that I did not work there but she looked at me like I was making excuses.

She said You’re wearing the same kind of clothes as everyone else here and pointed toward the employees. I laughed and explained again that I was just a customer.

Instead of walking away she asked me to help her find the item anyway. I pointed toward an employee who was standing a few aisles away. She finally walked over to them then looked back at me and said You could have just helped me

I still have no idea what made her think I worked there, but apparently being in the wrong aisle at the wrong time was enough to get mistaken for an employee.

My parents and I were just recently on a Disney Cruise. On the first day, the kid's clubs have open house, so we like to walk around and check them out. This woman came up to me and started asking me where she can buy the wristband. I told her, "They should have some in the shop," and then she asked how to register her child and I said, "I don't know, I don't work here." She said, "Oh! I thought you did. You're wearing stripes!"

I was wearing a red and white striped shirt with blue short shorts. The Youth Counselors wear yellow and white striped shirts with gray knee-length shorts. I guess any stripes and I'm qualified to work there!

So, I've been to a few different types of stores where I was somehow mistaken for an employee. Most retail places, that I know of, don't have people wearing goth clothes (unless it's a place like Hot Topic or something). Or if they do wear goth stuff they're usually wearing a vest with a name tag or something that signals they're an employee there.

Both of these times happened when I was in my late teens/early 20's. Back then I wore almost exclusively black clothes. Like a band t-shirt and tripp pants, and black platform boots. What I wore looked nothing like what employees at the stores wore.

The one time it was at Michael's and some lady asked me where the shirts were. I just told her where they were cause I just happened to pass by them a moment prior but I really wish I had told her I don't work there, just because.

The second time, I was at Menards. Some lady almost stopped me to ask about something but as she looked at me she realized I wasn't an employee. She was like, "Excuse me, do... Oh, you're not... No.". Not sure what made her think that I was an employee when she first saw me. She was with a friend or whoever the other lady was. Later, I was slightly somewhere else and they walked past me again and the other lady shouted a question, "Do you have (I couldn't hear it)?" I was far down the aisle from where they were. I tried shouting to them, "*I don't work here.*" but they kept looking at me like they were waiting for an answer. I'm guessing they couldn't hear me. And I'm also guessing the lady that first tried asking me a question didn't see that I was the same person, or the other lady if she was even paying any attention the first time. So I just shook my head and they walked away.

I just can't understand why people would mistake me for an employee at places like Michael's and Menards, cause as I mentioned my goth clothing looks nothing like what the employees at those places wear.

One day my husband and I were in Walmart buying laptops for work. This younger girl tapped me on my shoulder asking me where the phone chargers were. I told her I didn't know because I didn't work there. She looked confused.

I opened my leather jacket and said "Look at me." I was wearing that jacket, a Misfits shirt, combat boots, a cat ear headband, and stripey tights under black shorts. I also have sunset colored hair (red, pink, orange and yellow). I'm a 55 year old goth/punk kid. I definitely wasn't wearing a Walmart vest or anything like it.

She looked very embarrassed and walked away. I actually felt bad for her for a minute and didn't wanna laugh until she walked away. I didn't wanna make her feel worse. When she was gone, both my husband and I did laugh. I mean, how? There's no way I looked like I worked there. I had a similar thing happen in a grocery store once. Unlike this younger girl, the older lady was mad at me for not working there. I may look weird, but some people are genuinely weird.

I was shopping at a store after work when a woman came up to me and asked where she could find a particular item. I politely told her that I did not work there but she seemed convinced that I was just refusing to help her.

She started getting frustrated and asked me to show her the item myself. I pointed toward an employee nearby and explained again that I was only a customer.

The employee walked over and helped her. Before leaving the woman looked at me and simply said You really should wear something else if you don’t work here.

I was wearing a completely ordinary black shirt.

I was staying at a hotel for a work conference and still had the conference badge hanging around my neck when I came back downstairs to grab coffee.

While I was waiting near the elevators, a guy walked up, handed me his room key card, and asked if I could “fix whatever was wrong with it.” I told him I didn’t work for the hotel, I was just another guest.

He looked at my badge, looked back at me, and said, “Then why are you wearing that?” I explained it was for the conference happening in the building.

Somehow that did not help. He started asking whether I could at least call someone from the front desk for him, even though the actual front desk was maybe twenty feet away and clearly visible.

I handed the key card back and pointed toward reception. He seemed genuinely irritated, like I had suddenly decided to stop doing my job halfway through helping him.

The funniest part was that my badge literally had the name of my company in huge letters across it. Apparently wearing anything on a lanyard is enough to become hotel staff.

I was shopping at a store I had never visited before when a woman suddenly walked up to me and asked if I could help her find something.

I told her I did not work there but she looked a little embarrassed and apologized. I smiled and told her it was completely fine.

A few minutes later I saw her talking to an actual employee and realized she had probably mistaken me for one because I was standing near the same section for a while.

Nothing dramatic happened but it was still funny. Has anyone else ever been mistaken for an employee in a place where they were just shopping?

I was waiting inside a store for my friend when a woman walked up to me and asked where she could find a certain item.

I told her I didn’t work there, but she apologized and walked away. A few minutes later she came back and asked if I could check the back for her.

I had to explain again that I was just a customer. She looked at my shirt, then at the actual employees, and finally realized her mistake.

We both laughed about it and she apologized before walking away.