“I Don’t Work Here, Lady”: 7 Satisfying Stories Of Customers Reacting To Being Mistaken For Employees, Shared In This Online Group

I drove a white 1982 Nissan Pulsar. It was ancient but no complaints. (Relevant, I promise). It's 7am, I'm driving to work one morning and pull up at a crosswalk to allow a dog walker to pass me. Without warning, my passenger door opens and a gentleman hops in next to me, nods, says a friendly hello and buckles his seatbelt. He was a sweet faced, white haired senior wearing a sweater and brown pants. Definitely in his 80's. I stared in shock and stumbled my words, totally bewildered by what was happening. He saw my expression and said "Oh! I'm sorry! The train station, please!" That's when I saw the taxi rank near the cross walk. Taxis here are white but definitely not hatchbacks, like my car was. He had a big cheery smile and, still puzzled, I realised that the local train station was two streets away from where I worked. I was heading past there anyway. And he didn't seem like an axe murderer so, why not? I relaxed a little, shrugged and said "Uh, sure thing." We drove off together and he peered out the window, smiling. He said "You taxis are much quicker these days! Ah it's a beautiful day for a train ride, don't you think?" He looked at me, still with this big smile and said: "I'm Jerry, lovely to meet you. I'm meeting my friend for breakfast today! I'm so excited. I haven't been on the train in years. All my friends have passed on and I don't really need to go out of town. Well, not until I made a new friend recently. It's funny how life goes isn't it? An old codger like me with a breakfast date! Can you imagine." "Oh well that sounds lovely, Jerry. Where are you off to?" He cheerily described the town he was visiting (an hour away by train) and described the store he wanted to visit while he was there. We chatted the whole way and I was so taken by how upbeat and cheerful he was. We pulled into the offloading zone outside the train station and he pulled out his wallet. I jumped in, saying "Oh no charge mate, I don't have my meter working yet." (Telling a lie was better than deflating his happy spirit with an embarrassing situation) He was chuffed. It was a chilly morning. I walked him to the ticket office, where there was a heated waiting room he could sit in until his train arrived. He thanked me, smiled and said "It's a beautiful day for a train ride. You take care now." "Take care, Jerry." It's been 11 years and I often find myself smiling when I remember him.

somethingwithatwo2 , seabamirum Report

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SL: "Son, can you help me locate the aluminium foil?" M: "Sure, it's right up this way." walks her to aisle 7b M: "It's pretty high up, let me grab it for you. Do you want the Reynolds, or the store brand?" SL: "The name brand please." hands her a 200 foot roll M: "Do you need help finding anything else? I'm a walking directory of this store." SL: Hands me her shopping list I spent about ten minutes filling her cart with heavy/hard to reach items, and then I got back to my shopping with a smile and a "have a great day". As I'm standing in the checkout, I see the SL arguing with the floor manager (Greg, he goes to my church, we're pretty familiar with each other) over by the express line. I pay for my groceries, and walk over to be nosy, and maybe help out. SL is telling Greg that "The big guy with the red beard" helped her, "I didn't get his name" and she wants to see him get a bonus, promotion, or employee of the month, something. Greg is insistent that no one with that description works there. I get to the counter, and before I can explain that I don't even work there, Greg pipes up. G (to SL): "Oh, you mean Mark? Yeah, he's one of our best employees." G (to me): "Mark, this lady has been over here singing your praises for the past 5 minutes. I didn't even know you were working today." Me (Lying through my teeth): "Well, Sharon (a cashier I know) called me and said we were slammed, so I came in on my day off." G: "Well that's some real initiative, how would you like to be Assistant to the Regional Manager (we're both huge Office fans)?" M: "Oh my God, thank you! Are you sure?" G: "Well, you've definitely earned it." SL: "See, this is why I shop here instead of Walmart, even though you guys charge more. You care about your employees, and your employees care about your customers." So that is how I became assistant to the regional manager at a store I am not even employed by.

its710somewhere , Polycart Report

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I never thought I would experience this in my life time. I'm a hard worker, extremely dependable, and respectful. Not sure how I could lose a job like this. Especially when I only just got it. So I work late and just about every night for the last few weeks at least, I stop by Walmart to get something for dinner. I usually get off around midnight and stop by on my way home. Every time I'm at Walmart, barely anyone is there except for the night crew. Stocking up the store and doing their own thing. Now from what I have noticed, they don't have much of a uniform. Many of them are in hoodies or jackets of different colors. Just to add some context. I showed up last night and I'm wearing a hoodie. I begin to walk up and down the isles trying to figure out what I want for dinner. I'm thinking pasta and walk past a few guys who are loading the shelves. All of a sudden, I start hearing this guy yelling. This voice gets louder. "HEY! HEYYYY! Are you listening?" I turn to look to see what is going on and this guy approaches me. "You're late again. Don't think I haven't noticed you walking in the door after 12." I begin to laugh, thinking this guy is joking around. Before I can even say anything he jumps on me. "You think this is funny? Your job must not be important to you. I want you to follow me to the office." Now I'm completely confused and start looking around like I'm on some hidden camera show. He starts to walk off and I turn around and go back to shopping. He comes back a minute later and starts to yell. "You want to be fired? Because if you don't come with me now, I will fire you!" I start to laugh even harder, then ask him, "What's my name?" He gives me this puzzled look, so I asked him again, "What's my name? Do you even know who I am?" He looks at the other guys in the isle, who have stopped stocking the shelves at this point to watch this event unfold. He then looks back at me, trying to figure out what exactly to say back to me before his head explodes. "Good luck filing the paper work to fire me, when you don't even know my name!" I continue to laugh at this whole stupid charade. I pick up some ingredients for spaghetti, trying to give this guy a clue. He storms off and I look at the other guys in the isle. "I'm sure he will figure out eventually, I don't work here." They start laughing and I go on. Can't believe I lost the job I just found out I had in the same night.

ItsABurnerSN , sittered Report

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I worked at Target and there was a Hobby Lobby across the street. I ran over to Hobby Lobby after a shift to grab something and I was still wearing my red shirt with the target symbols all over it. A 20 something girl comes up to and says "Do you know where I can find a glue gun?" I paused and just kind of looked at my shirt and I said "... you mean at this store or... like... at Target?" And she just stared at my name tag for a long time and sighed a heavy sigh and quietly said "sorry, I don't know where I am."

ibridgham , Thomas Leth-Olsen Report

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My mom and I were in the front yard planting flowers and deweeding, chatting family stuff in our own language while enjoying the nice weather outside. We were in full gardening gear complete with straw hats and rain boots with face masks on. A white truck with a trailer drove up and a mid-aged man jumped out. Guy - (waving me down) Hey! Where is the owner of the house? Me - (pulling down my mask) Oh, you must be the duct-cleaning service, please come in with me. Guy - (annoyed) No, I need to speak with the landlord. Me - (chuckles) I am the landlord. Do you need to come in the house for the esti- Guy - (cuts me off) No, I need to speak to the person who made the call! Me - (pulling out my phone) Ok, hold on. (dialing the company number) Guy - (pulling out his phone) See? The landlord is calling me. Me - Hi, I'm english name. I'm standing right in front of you. I don't think I will be needing your services today. Goodbye. The guy stood there dumbstruck for a moment, then sulkily walk back to his truck and left. My mom looked at me confused and ask in Chinese "what was that?". I shrugged and answered "looks like we need to call another duct-cleaning company".

Eudemon , Ivan Radic Report

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This happened years ago. I’m (M) at Walmart and a lady asks for help with a heavy item. I talked to her for a while then continued to do my shopping. I went through checkout and the lady was talking to the manager (F) by the registers. She pointed at me and the manager smiled. I walked up to them as the manager explained that he (OP) works at Wendy’s. The lady was slightly embarrassed but we walked out together. I loaded the stuff into the back seat and talked to her husband that was waiting for her. She kept saying “you know” just like my great grandmother. The next day my manager asked it I was the one that helped the lady at Walmart. There are a few of us with the same name. So I do a little nice thing and this lady goes out of her way to tell my manager about it and I remember it for the rest of my life.

ABearSniffedMyHead , Mike Mozart Report

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At the after party, I also didn't realize the waiters were dressed exactly like me. White shirt, black tie, shined shoes. I'm walking around and a nice older lady (who would turn out to be the mother of the bride) approached me as I passed her table. She needed an extra seat for her table. Her: "Excuse me...can we move this chair over here?" Me: "Uh...yeah. Go ahead." Her: "Do you think that will inconvenience the other table?" Me: "I mean, that sounds like that's the other table's problem." (yes, I really said this) Her: "...uh...alright. Are there extra chairs in the back?" Me: "...probably? I mean, they know there is a wedding going on so I think it'll be okay." Her: "...o-okay.Well, thank you." Me internally: (that was weird) Later, I had to go to that same table to drop off my portion of the wedding purse. And that nice lady was there with her sister. Me: "Hello again." Her: "Oh hi. Great timing. Do you know when we'll be eating?" Me: "No, but I can't wait. Wedding food is the best, isn't it?" Her: somewhat annoyed"Well, with what we're paying for this, I'd imagine it would be." Me: "And thank you very much for paying for it. Really, I'm so happy to be here." Her: "...." Me: "...um, so is this where we leave the wedding gifts?" Her: "Oh my god, I'm so sorry! Haha. You don't work here!" Me: "I....What?" 2 seconds later, a waiter dressed like me walks by I understand. We all had a good laugh about it.

Wolvenfire86 , ann-dabney Report

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