There are some crazy people out there! Customer mistook a shopper for an employee and mistreated her for not doing her job, then the manager screamed at her, also thinking she was an employee

Author image for María Cetra
María Cetra • Writer
Aug 16, 2026 10:30 AM EDT

Try not to wear the same shirt color as the employee that work on the store if you want to avoid being mistaken for one.

The encounter when you are shopping at a store and confuse a normal shopper with an employee of the store because they are wearing the same color as the staff can be a little weird and uncomfortable. But I can't imagine how it could be for the person being mistaken. They are probably second-guessing their outfit thanks to that. Not because the uniform the employee wears is ugly, just because the whole situation is really bizarre. I always assumed that kind of mistake only happened to other customers, never to the actual employees. But I guess that wasn't exactly true according to the story in u/IDontWorkHereLady. 

It's funny how some people are so fixated on themselves that they do not pay attention to what's happening right next to them. And I don't mean this directly to the people who confuse customers as employees. That can be just a silly mistake. I mean this about the people who don't even hesitate to hear what other people have to say and just assume. Which, of course, just leads to them mistreating a person who didn't do anything wrong and didn't deserve it. In the story, a woman confused another customer with an employee. Nothing wrong with that, until she didn't let them speak, so this customer couldn't explain that they did, in fact, not work there. This woman just started to demand that she bring her supervisor for the supposed mistreatment.

The story ended with a quite funny ending, but I want to focus on another thing. The attitude the woman had. The entitlement that you have to have to assume something and then get mad at that assumption that didn't even have reason to be true in the first place is insane. This person wasn't a customer, but they didn't even have the space to explain it. This woman talked over them and wanted to scare them by calling for a manager who wasn't even their boss. So, yes, the story is funny, but the fact that some people are so self-absorbed that they wouldn't even notice something like this is crazy. 

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  • 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
    via Agile_Worldliness238
  • A woman working at the front counter of a store. Stock photography for depiction only.
    via Square

    A woman working at the front counter of a store.

    Stock photography for depiction only.

  • 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
    via Agile_Worldliness238
  • 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
    via Agile_Worldliness238
  • 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
    via Agile_Worldliness238
  • looks me up and down in my red shirt and shorts and at this point I'm d_ng 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
    via Agile_Worldliness238
  • 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
    via Agile_Worldliness238
  • 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!
    via Agile_Worldliness238
  • A store seen from the outside.
    via Tem Rysh

    A store seen from the outside.

     

  • Short Gain8302 What kinda manager doesnt even know what their personnel looks like
    via Short Gain8302
  • NYC-WhWmn-ov50 I would be reporting the manager for treating someone she THOUGHT was an employee that way. If she's so nasty she yells before checking her facts, she definitely ahouldnt be running a store.
    via NYC-WhWmn-ov50
  • Warriormuffinhed I feel your pain. I have been accused of working in almost every store I have ever shopped in. Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart, Best Buy, Petsmart, Target, and the most random stores you can think of. I am never wearing the colours. My favourite one was while I was wearing a ripped hockey T shirt for the NHL Team Montreal Canadiens (Canada), and someone asking me where to find items in a New Jersey USA Whole Foods. ummm.......I don't work here?
    via Warriormuffinhed
  • Someone literally grabbed my arm and pulled me while I was in line at the Petsmart, demanding to know where a dog food item was. I looked down at the cat food in my hands, looked at her and said, "I don't know. I own cats". It took her a few seconds, but she was MORTIFIED. Like who grabs people standing inline?! And no, I wasn't wearing a petsmart uniform... I haven't yet been fired at a job I don't work at though. I'm looking forward to this experience.
    via Warriormuffinhed
  • AdMurky1021 Before you ask no I do not try to wear colors that match the store employees in fact I try to do the opposite. "So, anyway, I was in Target wearing a red shirt..."
    via AdMurky1021
  • Special Respond7372 I'd have asked for the DSM's contact information. No manager should be speaking to an employee that way, let alone a customer she didn't take 2 seconds to verify was a customer and not an employee. She needs retraining.
    via Special Respond7372
  • HouseofExmos I have one of those phone straps that you clip on to your phone to wear like a purse and people often think it's a badge or something, so I've been asked if I work there a few times. Its so weird. I've never seen a worker wearing a strap across their body so I don't understand what they're seeing/thinking. I'm never in a uniform looking outfit or anything. People are just dumb.
    via HouseofExmos
  • Heavy MetalPootis Manager would've earned a "You idiot." compliment from my end if I was in your position. Good on you for remaining polite.
    via Heavy MetalPootis

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