Truckers who make small talk with astounding enthusiasm.
A guy in his 50s, dressed in ridiculous bling.
Teenagers who are laughing so hard, that they can hardly communicate to you what they want to buy.
We do get a lot of truckers now and then asking if we carry GPS units. Naturally my desk contains every GPS unit in the store on the shelf behind it. Once they start talking though, there's no stopping them. Ever.
I've seen a guy who's clearly in his 70s dressed like Flavor Flav. With three girlfriends. Clearly he was a pimp.
The teens who are laughing are usually girls. Nowadays they seem to want these little animal-shaped rubber bands. I assume it's some sort of "collect and swap" craze going on?
A little kid, 4 or 5, sent to the the store alone, and who makes you wonder about their parents.
A person with a broken arm who persistently fishes for someone to ask about their arm. When you do, they don't stop talking.
There's a little kid who has consistently been sent into the store for the last 5 years alone and unattended because his wheelchair-bound mother is so afraid of going out into public that she refuses to leave the safety of her unmarked white Dodge van. He comes in with a bluetooth headset to talk with her, so at least by proxy she can communicate with him but still, it's not quite a good idea to leave the kid alone. Ironically, she's got a state-appointed assistant with her at all times, but he's not supposed to leave her. The only times I've EVER seen the woman is when the kid doesn't have enough money to pay for the shopping cart full of stuff, and we refuse to take a card over the phone.
I've never had a guy with a broken arm talk about it, but I HAVE had them go fishing around in their purse for 10 minutes looking for their credit card. Which is then expired. And the second one they use is declined.
Elderly people who are perfectly comfortable with telling off youth (of no relation) in public places.
Youth who are perfectly comfortable with telling off elderly people (of no relation) in public places.
I've placed bets with the other cashiers when these two groups of people cross paths.
A guy dressed like batman, but doesn't like to talk about it.
A guy who wears two pairs of glasses at the same time.
Someone who forgot their wallet and asks to go get it.
I haven't seen Batman yet. Joker yes.
The two glasses one sounds ridiculous in principle, but I've actually seen it.
And people forget their wallet ALL THE TIME. The chances of this occurring increase proportionally with the length of the line behind them.
Someone who tries to sweet talk you into lowering the price. (despite the fact that you have no choice)
A guy who tries to impress you with how smart he is with his not-so-impressive array of common knowledge facts.
The sweet talkers are always army guys, oil rig workers, and school teachers. The army guys already get a 10% discount and tax emeption just for using their card - I can't do anything else. Oil rig workers get the tax exemption if they have a purchase order with them (they never do). School teachers on the other hand pay out of pocket 99% of the time - so I usually cut 'em a break if they can prove they're a school employee.
To friends long gone, and those I've yet to meet - thank you.
