'You can't use a shopping cart': Customer complies with disgruntled cashier's demands, leading to overfilled checkout counter hassle

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Sep 27, 2023 7:00 PM EDT

This story includes one overworked, tired cashier who despised the fact that he had to keep pointing out a strikingly obvious sign that read, 'Leave your shopping cart outside' to customers who did not go out of their way to read it. This story also involves a customer who worked at a liquor store and had to get a bunch of bottles for the upcoming holiday. So in simple terms, it included two minimum-wage workers who were not getting enough money for dealing with other people's messes on a daily basis.

And they clashed. OP, the liquor store worker, waltzed in with a shopping cart, which he was told he was not allowed to use by the cashier who pointed at the sign. OP needed a lot of bottles, so this was less than ideal. To find out how he dealt with this frustrating situation, scroll below. Next up, a veteran employee who was more than willing to tank a company's profits over one micromanager who furiously threatened to fire him for working 3 minutes less than he was supposed to.

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  • 01
    Font - Posted by u/manbirdplane69420 13 hours ago I can't use a shopping cart, but I can put some items on the checkout counter? As you wish... M OC TLDR at the end.
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 02
    Font - Some background: About a year or two ago I did a lot of shopping at a grocery store for work. Sometimes I would need to grab items from the liquor store attached inside the grocery store. The liquor store operated as its own separate little store with its own checkout, but
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 03
    Font - it was still owned by the grocery store, and you had to enter from inside the grocery store. When you enter the liquor store, there is a sign that you must leave your shopping cart outside. This normally makes sense as the liquor store is small and having people and carts all
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 04
    Font - around would cause quite the traffic jam. On to the day in question: On my list for this shopping trip, I had a full load of liquor to get for the bar at work and for a holiday party - I probably needed around 15 handles of assorted b e.
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 05
    Font - As I walked into the liquor store for this shopping trip, there was no one else around except for the cashier. Knowing I had a large number of items to purchase, I asked if I could bring my empty cart in and park it next to the checkout spot so I could load it with all the liquor bottles I needed to purchase.
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 06
    Font - I was met with a very nasty "no, don't you see the sign!" I tried to explain the situation and how I needed many more bottles than I could possibly carry, plus there were no handheld baskets around for me to try and manage. The cashier wasn't having it and told me if I really couldn't carry
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 07
    Font - everything at once, I could place some items on the checkout counter while I went to get more. This is where the malicious compliance comes in. I only needed about 15 bottles to cover the month's supply of b e, but I figured why not go ahead and
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 08
    Font - get stocked up for next month! I spent about 15 minutes running back and forth from the shelves to the counter placing more and more items down, taking up the whole counter. As I was doing this, a few customers came in and I watched the cashier struggle to work around my items in order to scan and
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 09
    Font - checkout the other customers. The look on the cashier's face was glorious as he had to work around a problem he created for himself. When I finally did checkout, the cashier didn't have enough room on the checkout counter to scan and bag my items. So get this, the
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 10
    Font - cashier then told me I could bring my cart in to put the bottles in to make room on the counter! I jokingly asked if he knew that carts were prohibited in the liquor store, but he didn't laugh at that one. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I went and got my cart anyways because it would've been a
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 11
    Font - huge inconvenience to me to run back and forth from the counter to my cart. I genuinely understand the store's policy on this, but sometimes there needs to be exceptions to the rule.
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 12
    Font - TLDR: I was told I couldn't use a cart to hold a large number of items in the liquor store but was told I could put items on the checkout counter if I couldn't hold everything. I filled the entire checkout counter with bottles to the point the cashier wasn't able to ring other customer up.
    via u/manbirdplane69420
  • 13
    Font - LibraryMouse4321. 13 hr. ago You did tell him that you were purchasing more than you could handle. ✩ Vote Reply Share
    via u/LibraryMouse4321
  • 14
    Font - baronessindecisive. 13 hr. ago It's unfortunate that the clerk bottled up so much resentment. Maybe OP was the fifth to try it that day. Reply ✩ Vote Vote ↓
    via u/baronessindecisive
  • 15
    Font - wolfgang784 13 hr. ago Exceptions totally make sense, but my first thought for the ban isn't the carts taking up space so much as people bumping them into shelves and breaking bottles. People aren't always very careful with carts.
    via u/wolfgang784
  • 16
    Font - CoderJoe1 12 hr. ago You handled that well 4 Vote ↓ Reply Share VictorMortimer. 12 hr. ago We don't know that. OP could have been buying top shelf.
    via u/CoderJoe1, u/VictorMortimer
  • 17
    Font - stromm 9 hr. ago Having worked retail with stringent requirements, I hate to admit I would have let the guy total everything up, then when he told me to go get the cart, I would have said, "wait, NOW you think I should get a cart because it's hard on you? No. I'm done." And then left.
    via u/stromm
  • 18
    Font - OccamsBeard 10 hr. ago Don't you guys use wholesalers? If you're spending retail store prices then I have a suggestion. ✩ Vote ↓ Reply Share
    via u/OccamsBeard
  • 19
    Font - Shinhan 3 hr. ago Yea, my company has all of that stuff delivered. I don't understand how can they be big enough to need 15 bottles of >l but too small for a delivery.
    via u/Shinhan

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worker shopping cart coworkers store grocery store customer service scan items malicious compliance customers Holiday party malicious compliance reddit holidays
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