I live in a small town and work at our little hospital doing patient registration. I checked in a patient for an appointment toward the end of my shift and answered some questions for him. He thanked me for my help.

After work, I went to the grocery store, where I saw him again in the floral department as I walked past. He recognized me and complained that there was no one there to help him. He looked at me expectantly.

I had to explain that I could not help him everywhere, only where I actually work. He seemed genuinely puzzled. I suggested he ring the bell at the counter and wait for someone to come. I heard him say "FINE" in a pissed off tone as I walked away.

Small town life..........

I'm taking a look at a table that is filled with clothes and it has a 70% off sign. It was already in the afternoon so the clothes were very disorganized and were left in a huge pile. I was digging around the pile and there were 2 other ladies also looking. All of a sudden, one of the ladies turned to me and asked me how much a pair of pants were and if i could check for her. The other person at the table and I immediately locked eyes because wtf. I don't work there. So I calmly said to her, I don't know. What does the original price say? Just ask Google. She then gets an attitude and says well you're not being very helpful. Bad customer service. I say mam, I'm digging thru the same pile of clothes as you are. What makes you think I'm an employee? Her mouth dropped and then walked straight to the check out counter. The other lady just giggled and we continued digging thru the pile.

I often wonder what it was exactly about me that made her believe I worked there. I was wearing a Sunday dress. I had my bag crossed over my body. I also had shopping bags at my feet. I guess I'll never know 😆

So this happened to me twice recently. The first time I was on a cruise back in July, and I was in Canada shopping, and I was looking at something on a table, and this lady stops me and starts asking me all these questions about the products she’s buying, and if her grandkids would like them. I was being nice and helping her though. Then just the other day I was buying some allergy medicine for my daughter, and this lady stops me as I’m walking, and starts asking me the difference between the pain reliever she had and Advil, and I looked at both bottles, and helped her. I can’t tell if I’m just approachable or if I look like I’m working lol.

Hi! I just wanted to say I'm new here and am so surprised to find a community catered to something I experience so often when I go shopping!

People always ask me for help, it has slowed down since I wear large over-the-ear headphones. But even with the headphones it still happens pretty often!

Even after telling ppl that i dont work there, they mostly continue to ask for my assistance

what is this phenomenon? It does not happen to my husband or the people im out with when im shopping lol

I used to wear a lanyard in college… BIG mistake. I got asked for help at least 9/10 times id go places with a lanyard. Even if a worker was near me!

And I worked retail for 6 months in college, and even when I worked there people would come and ask for my help over a fellow employee standing near me. And when we got regulars, they would also ask for my assistance.

Am I destined for a career in retail? 😅

I went to Staples after work on an errand for my husband. Now, I work in healthcare, so I'm in scrubs (don't start with the "omg ew scrubs in public that's unhygienic!!" nonsense. Scrubs are not PPE. I'm a lab tech, I have actual PPE including a lab coat. My scrubs are clean.).

I'm walking up an down the aisles, trying to find this very specific item (spoiler: they don't sell it at Staples) and a lady looks at me, stares, and asks me if I work here. Iook down at my scrubs, back at her.... And tell her, "obviously, I'm in scrubs. So no."

She stares at me for a second longer and declares that she thought I must work here because I'm walking around.

Walking around... In a store.... Looking for something. Like what she's doing. Like what most shoppers in a store are also doing.

???????

I worked at M10 for a while and I guess I have a look that’s easy to remember. I’m “the old guy with a ponytail”. Since I was made redundant I can’t go anywhere locally without being accosted by old customers. A trip to Aldi took waaaaay longer than it should have. Typically people are nice but it amazes me that they ask me stuff about products in a completely unrelated store! How do I monetize this situation or is it time to lop the tail off?

Earlier this week I had to visit the eye clinic at my local hospital. I was dessed in a plain shirt, jeans, and smart brown boots, and was carrying a black shoulder bag. Because I was having eye trouble I had been wearing sunglasses outdoors (it was a sunny day) but I'd taken them off inside and put them in my shirt breast pocket.

It's a big regional hospital and not the easiest to navigate as there are older buildings merged with newer, and on my way in I passed a quite a few people asking staff for directions. I knew where I was going so I was strolling confidently through the crowds.

Just before I reached my destination I passed a group of three older people asking a hospital porter for directions, but he wasn't sure where they needed to go, which for a porter struck me as a little strange; it mght have been his first day.

As I passed by, one of the women spotted at me and said; 'Look! Stethescope! Grab him and ask him!'

I was a bit surprised by this as I was most definitely not carrying a stethescope, and I can only assume she had mistaken the sunglasses in my breast pocket for medical equipment, which is a bit of a stretch.

I was moving just too smartly for her to actualy grab me, and I was in through the doors to the eye clinic before it could get embarrassing. I wonder if she thought I was just being rude, and refusing to uphold my hippocratic oath.

Just for the record, while I am a first aider, my office job means the worst thing I usually see is paper cuts. Definitely not a doctor.

I have two instances that still confuse me…

First one: I was at Dollar Tree, just minding my own business shopping, when this lady storms over to me.

She says “Excuse me, do you work here?!” I could already tell she was annoyed but I’m not one for confrontation so I just said “sorry,no.” In the nicest possible tone. She looks me dead in the eye and says “WELL, YOU WERE WEARING GREEN!!” And stomps off.

I was in fact, not wearing any green. I just mumbled “well, I’m not, but okay.” As she walked away.

Second one: I’m at Target. Make my way over to the dressing room to try a few things on. There is already one customer standing there waiting so I just get in line behind her. She turns around and asks me if she can get a fitting room.

I just looked at her, then looked down at what I was wearing confused (I was wearing a tie dyed crop top and black leggings), and then looked back up at her and we both started laughing. She was embarrassed and apologized, but we got a good laugh out of it.

I was meeting a friend for lunch today in a local order-at-the-counter cafe. ​There was plenty of room near the door to watch for my friend without being in anyone's way.

I turned from looking out the window to find a woman very much in my personal space. She said, "I'm going to order, but I want to use the bathroom first. I wanted to let you know. Where is the bathroom?"

I told her that *I don't work here* (mostly because it's the 4th time I've had a someone mistake me for an employee in the last few months and I'm tired of it), but I believe the bathroom is around the other side of the ordering line. She got very weird about me trying to direct her to the bathroom after realizing I didn't work there. Super awkward.

​

A couple of months ago I went to see a Broadway show and was only able to get the $49 standing tickets. This means you have an assigned spot along the back railing to stand and watch the performance. This is also the area where the ushers make everyone who is late stand until there is a spot in the show where they can safely be walked to take their seats.

The same thing happens after intermission. I am standing there, watching the play when I see the woman standing there slowly moving towards me. I have no idea what she is going to say to me, I am not used to being in NYC so it could be anything.

"When do we go get our seats?" She asks.

It takes me a moment of being confused and a "huh?" before I realized I wore a black t-shirt that day and, even with the big logo on the front, she had confused me for an usher - apparently one with a purse and snacks from the concession stand didn't clue her in.

"Sorry, I don't work here, I am just trying to watch the show".

This happened a few years ago. Not a remarkable or intense story, but it's stuck in my mind.

I went to my nearest large Tesco late one night. It was Black Friday, which somehow is a thing in the UK despite the day not being a holiday. The store was quiet, with only a few people around. I was wearing a casual shirt, unbuttoned over a T-shirt, and jeans, with my leather man-bag over my shoulder. Tesco's staff uniform generally has a blue top of some kind, and I definitely wasn't wearing a blue shirt.

I walked past a now-empty display advertising large smart TVs, when a man approached me, already shouting at me. I get extremely nervous in situations like that, so tried to just ignore it and keep going, but he made sure to move in front of me so I couldn't ignore him.

"Hey, where are all the TVs?" he said, pointing at the empty display.

I figured maybe he was just a really rude person who wanted to know where the store generally kept their TVs, so he could look there for any more they had on sale. I told him where I thought they were.

"No, these ones here. Go and check in the back if you have any more." His tone was condescending and more than a little entitled.

I realised that he was somehow mistaking me for an employee, and my instinctive baffled helpfulness melted away as I realised the depths of his bargain-crazed confusion and general rudenessI just shook my head and walked in the opposite direction. He shouted after me, but thankfully (for me, not them) an actual employee appeared and took the bloke off my hands.

I do wonder if he'd ever been in a supermarket before. Or even left the house.

This just popped up in my fb memories and made me chuckle. Also I was a sommelier, a regular customer at this store and dressed in my usual black tank top and pants. The employees wear bright colored polos with the store logo on the chest.

I’m tasting wine and shopping for a bottle and in walks 1 guy with 3 females, all of them look underage. Guy stops right in front of me and says:
I’m looking for a wine for pizza.
Me: ok
Him: stares at me
Me: oh. ok. Um. Red or white?
Him: white
Me: the pizza is a white sauce or you want a white to pair with it?
Him: the pizza
Me: ok so you want the wine to cook for the sauce?
He nods yes, the person who’s working at the store has come back from helping someone else
Me to Wine Store Lady: they’re going to make a white pizza sauce and want a bottle. I’d recommend an unoaked Chardonnay but I don’t know what you have in your inventory...
The girls are giggling cuz I think they just realized I don’t work there and the guy is oblivious as he walks off to pay.
I continue drinking the wine sample I was holding and walk away.
The wine lady thanks me after the transaction. We laugh. I bought a really yummy sparkling burgundy for $10

I was reminded of this today, while listening to reddit stories on YouTube, and thought I'd share it here, even if it's not as dramatic or crazy as some of the others.

For context, I live in Colombia, and as some of you may know, there was a recent earthquake near the capital, luckily I don't live near the epicenter, and there're a lot of donation campaigns. That night I went to my nearest grocery store, 10 minutes before closing to pick some stuff to donate, I was wearing some grey and black sport shorts and a black tank top with grey lettering and some flip flops, and the store's uniform looked nothing like it, just jeans, a green and purple polo, and for the managers a purple and green polo, as well as an apron.

When I got in line to pay, there was only a guy from a delivery service (like UberEATS) picking up groceries, a single cashier, a manager cleaning the aisles and me, the delivery guy behind me in line, when we heard a smack to the closed doors, 2 guys were there, and seemingly upset with the bold sign on the automatic doors that had started the opening and closing hours, the store closed at 9PM, the time being around 9:12 PM

This is what I remember from the Conversation, and it's translated from Spanish, it happened a couple of days ago

Guy1: Hey, can we go inside?

Guy2: Yeah, we need something quick

Cashier: Sorry, the store closes at 9, and we'll be closing our cash registers in a minute

Guy1: Come on! It'll be just quick! In and out

Cashier: Sorry buddy, no luck

Me: (I was just standing there, waiting for the cashier to finish with my groceries)

Guy2: (turning to me) Hey, buddy, could you help us out? Can you convince him?

Me: Sorry dude, I really have no power to do anything about this

Guy1: Come on! Can't you just threaten him with a reprimand or something? Everything else is closed right now

Me: Reprimand? What am I? His boss or something? (At this point I was confused, and shared a confused look with the cashier and the dude behind me)

Guy1: I mean, you can try, y'know?

Guy2: I've seen you around in this store, you can always just go to your higher ups and tell them that guy doesn't want to take the business from some customers

At this point it hit me...

Me: How can you confuse a guy, with grey and black sport shorts, a black tank top and flip flops as a manager or even a worker in this store? Besides... If you really were in a hurry, you should have come sooner... Or maybe order through an app?

DeliveryGuy: It's obvious he doesn't work here, or maybe I also work here, and I hadn't noticed

Cashier: I have to agree with them both, this guy (pointing at me) doesn't work here, he's a customer, and the opening and closing times are stated at the door, if you prefer, you can come back tomorrow, we open at 7AM and close at 9PM every day

At this point, I wasn't sure if it was embarrassment, if they didn't think about it or simply talked without thinking, but the next we knew, those guys got back on their bike, and rode away, after that I simply paid for my stuff, and even while paying, another person approached the store and asked me to let him in, while I stood there, and I simply let him know the time and the fact that I didn't work there... So, yeah, that's my story

So I work at Goodwill and get off my first shift for a split shift. I’m outside a grocery outlet waiting for my ride when these two ladies push their carts to the lock boundary. I suddenly get asked if I can unlock it for them, I just shake my head with a polite smile. I’m standing there with my Badge that CLEARY says GOODWILL. I then get asked “Do you work here or not?” I say “Wrong store, goodwill!!”

Even when I’m on break I will be asked help to their cars, when I’m just getting a drink

Hi there! Just found the subreddit, but I worked in retail for years and have tons of related stories. This one fits in here perfectly as I was a customer shopping this time and not an employee.

Ok, so I am a giant gaming nerd, 2nd generation as my Mom was once locked in a struggle at her local arcade over the top score at a Centepede machine. I never let her live that down when she complains about my games! lol

Anyway, I was at a Walmart at the time just wearing normal street clothes and looking at. . . I think a Webcam or something small for my PC? I dont remember.

This lady storms up behind me and says something I dont catch. My father was an abusive prick and boxed in my right hand side ear, so I can no longer hear out of it, and thst makes it difficult to pick out and hear one person talking, especially in noisy environments like a Walmart with a wall full of tvs screaming out ads.

I decide on which device I wanted to get and turned to find the person to unlock the hanger.

I nearly bump into this boomer lady as she walked right up behind me with her hands on her hips to let me k ow she was angry with me.

Now, mind you, I'm just a random girl wearing normal clothes, not a blue shirt and khakis, and carrying my purse! I don't know what else I could have done to look any less like I worked there other than wearing maybe a glowing sandwich board that flashed the words 'I don't work here!'

Well, that wasn't good enough for her so the moment I said, oh, sorry I didn't know you were there! She starts yelling at me as she gets red in the face with anger. "I've been waiting here for HALF AN HOUR looking for HELP!"

Before I could say anything she cuts me off and keeps yelling

"I called out to you 3 TIMES and you IGNORED MEEE!!

ARE YOU DEAF!!?"

I, didn't work there, and have built up a whole well of disdain and bile thanks to customers like her, so I went off!

"YES, ACTUALLY I AM! My abusive father beat me so badly i've lost the ability to hear normally! Thanks for trying to make me feel like shit for surviving child abuse!

Oh, also, look at me! Do I look like I f-in work here!? I would refuse your rude ass service if I did! Now get out of my way so I can keep shopping in peace!"

Naturally, because I was rude she made a nasty comment and stormed off to go ruin someone else's day, but part of me hopes her cold dead heart felt some kind of shame. . . Who am I kidding. I've worked retail. I know she didn't and just found a new person to victimize. . .

So glad I don't do customer service anymore. People freaking suck.

Just remembered this incident as i booked a show for tomorrow. My trips to the cinema are very few and far in between. So i wouldn't know about any new upgrades.

My best friend and i went to the cinema with our kids. She's in the line buying tickets while i'm standing off to the side with my kids looking around at the posters.

This lady comes up to me and shows me an order for the concession stand on her phone. She asks if the collection point is here, as in the general waiting area. I look at her phone and it says "Hall 4". I have no idea about any ordering so i point at the concession stand and say to collect there. She thanks me and walks off.

My best friend joins me, we go into our theatre hall. We take our seats and i see qr codes on each seat. It has the concession stand logo. Curious, i scan it. It's an order form for the concession stand. You can either get your order sent to your seat, meet them outside your hall or collect it yourself at the concession stand.

I tell my friend this and we're like damn, i gave her wrong info. All that lady had to do was meet the staff outside her movie hall but she came all the way out to the concession stand. I just hope she got it sorted out.

How about people stop approaching random people at businesses and approach actual staff for help.

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...

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 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

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!

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.

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!