‘Okay, you can shop wherever you bought that instead’: Cashier gets sassy when a gaslighting Karen tries to return a product they don't sell, sends her packing

Author image for Jesse Kessenheimer
Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
Jan 18, 2025 10:00 AM EST

If you've ever had the misfortune of working in retail, you've likely come across your fair share of Karen customers. Irritable, defiant, and obstinately determined to get their way, Karens bulldoze any semblance of structure in a store, demanding special treatment from each manager like they're the Queen of England. 

Sorry, miss, but I doubt Lizzy would have tried to score $20 bucks by attempting to return a product a store doesn't sell. 

This cashier, luckily, caught a money-grubbing Karen in a lie when she attempted to do just that, summoning a month-old, used Christmas liqueur to the register in the hopes of returning it. "It's gross," isn't usually a viable reason for returning opened food items, but in a Karen's mind, anything is fair game. Keep scrolling to read how this worker put a woman in her place over an egregious misuse of power, telling her to buzz off when nobody else was willing to stand up to her. 

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  • Cheezburger Image 10456040192
    via JackF

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Back in my retail days, I was forced to fend off my fair share of Karens. Working for a company that prided itself on its insane return policy, we'd have ladies coming in trying to return 5-year-old shirts with pit stains and a missing button–and we were forced to comply per company policy! No matter how bonkers a customer request was, we were obligated as employees to fulfill their every wish. 

    So this story really strikes a chord with me because this snarky cashier lives out my rebellious break room dreams. 

  • "Most Satisfying Karen Encounter"

    I was so exhausted at work today, but this really gave me an energy boost for the last few hours. It's the little things in a job like this. So a lady walks up to the register already full of attitude and pulls out a bottle from her bag.
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  • "I bought this at Christmas to put in my Tiramisu, and I was VERY disappointed. It's disgusting and I need a refund." I know by the tone she came in expecting a fight. You know the type, they expect you to
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  • apologise for ruining Christmas like I'm brewing the recipe in the back. I don't recognise the bottle though, and we don't sell that many cream liqueurs.
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  • "Did you buy it at a different location? I've never seen this one before" "No, I bought it here. I have the receipt". Fair enough, I think- maybe it's new.
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  • I look at the receipt and it lists a bunch of other products but not the bottle she's bought to the register. "Did you maybe have another receipt? This isn't on this one."
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  • "It is, here!" She snatches it back and slowly puts on her glasses to read it. While she's doing that I scan it with my RF and nothing comes up but an error message.
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  • Even if we weren't selling it anymore or she bought from our company in another location, it'd still be in the system. I explain this but she keeps insisting she bought it here. It couldn't be from somewhere else because she didn't shop anywhere else!!
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  • She finally gives up trying to find it on the receipt and says "Well I don't know why he didn't put it on the receipt, probably because I bought a lot of things" I say "It's not on the receipt
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  • because it's not a product we sell, I'm sorry, but I can't give you a refund on a product you didn't buy here." She says "That's ridiculous! Well I'm definitely never shopping here again!!"
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  • I can't stop myself from laughing and say, "That's okay, you can shop wherever you bought that instead." She makes a guffaw type noise and I say "HAVE A NICE DAY" and walk off from the register.
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  • Ladies and gents, it felt so good Imao. Worth the incoming complaint I'm sure. After she left I googled it and it's from this cheap grocery/liquor store that sells in house exclusive products. Wish I'd have googled it while she was still there but I guess you can only win so much.
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    via Mikail Nilov
  • West-Atmosphere8936 I have experienced so many of these thru the years. My favorite is when they pull the attitude, that they 'know' it came from here because they wouldn't of got it anywhere else and I just flip the product over and go 'well it stays Hobby Lobby right here' (spoiler alert- we aren't Hobby Lobby).
    via West-Atmosphere8936
  • VoraciousReader59 "He didn't put it on the receipt because I bought so much" Well, in that case you got it for free, so why do you need a refund?
    via VoraciousReader59
  • peachybre Something similar happened to me once and it took everything I had not to say "it doesn't seem like you shop here in the first place" because I'd never seen them, they didn't have a receipt, and it was an item we didn't even sell lol
    via peachybre_
  • JustALizzyLife Love this so much and good for you for standing up for yourself. I used to be the return desk supervisor at a big box hardware store. My favorite attempt at a return was the guy trying to return a tire. We had never, nor
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  • do they still, ever sold tires, but he insisted. Ended up with my manager, the SM, and LP all telling him the same thing. He was big mad. (Second favorite was all the de d Xmas trees in January that "di_d". Uh, yeah, they do that when you cut them down.)
    via JustALizzyLife
  • Hooda Thunkett I wonder if they sit in their cars, working themselves up before coming in to the store
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  • Gribitz37 They sit in their cars afterwards, posting furiously on Next Door about the incredibly rude cashier and the horrible customer service.
    via Gribitz37
  • Mike It Is I once handed the keys to my store to a customer asking for something for free. "Here you go, come back whenever you want and take what you need." Classic face of pure confusion. True story.
    via Mike_It_Is

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customer service cash register employee refund retail karen-customer customers customer cashier employees entitled people karma entitled cashiers return karen entitled people
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