AITAH for telling off a lady in a supermarket after she made the teenage cashier cry?

A woman shopping witnessed an older customer berating a teenage cashier for minor mistakes, which reduced the cashier to tears. Unable to stand by, she stepped in, defending the cashier and calling out the older woman for her behavior.

The angry customer stormed off, but a few other shoppers seemed disapproving of her intervention, leaving her to question if she overreacted. read the original story below…

‘ AITAH for telling off a lady in a supermarket after she made the teenage cashier cry?’

So, this happened yesterday, and I’m still wondering if I overreacted. I (35F) was doing my usual weekly grocery shopping at a local supermarket. It was a busy afternoon, and the line at the checkout was pretty long.

I was waiting patiently when I noticed the woman in front of me (probably mid-50s) becoming increasingly agitated as the teenage cashier, who couldn’t have been older than 17 was scanning her items.The cashier seemed a bit flustered.

I could tell she was probably new, making a few mistakes here and there, but nothing serious. The older woman, however, was not having it. She started muttering under her breath, rolling her eyes, and tapping her foot.

Finally, when the cashier accidentally scanned an item twice and needed to call for a supervisor to void it, the woman lost it. She started berating the poor girl, saying things like, “How hard can it be to do this job? You can’t even do basic tasks, You’re wasting people’s time.”

She just kept going on and on, and the more she yelled, the more flustered the cashier got until she started tearing up. I stood there for a second, hoping the lady would cool down, but she didn’t. The poor cashier was clearly trying her best to keep it together. That’s when I stepped in.

I said to her, “You don’t have the right to treat someone like that. She’s doing her best, and it’s just a mistake. If you’re so unhappy, maybe you should try working like her for a day and see how easy it is.” The woman looked stunned and told me to mind my own business.

I replied, “It is my business when you’re making a kid cry over something as stupid as groceries.” The cashier’s supervisor had arrived by then and stepped in to handle the situation, and the woman stormed off still muttering and cursing.

After she left, the cashier thanked me with teary eyes, but a couple of people behind me in line gave me looks like I was the one who had done something wrong. Now I’m second-guessing myself. So reddit, AITAH for telling her off?

See what others had to share with OP:

GrumpyLump91 −  NTA. F**k that miserable b**ch.

SteampunkHarley −  If I were that cashier, I’d have been so grateful for you. I worked retail for way too long and the abuse we get is terrible

BlueGreen_1956 −  NTA Karens keep being Karens because nobody stands up to them.. Good for you. My favorite Karen story of all time goes to my 80-year-old widower neighbor. Back at the tail end of the pandemic lockdown, my neighbor was in the grocery store shopping, wearing his mask and minding his own business.

A Karen (no mask) came up to him and started yelling that his mask was a waste of time and didn’t do him any good. My 80-year-old neighbor calmly said to her, “Sure, it does. With my mask on, I can’t smell your n**ty cunt.” As you might imagine, my 80-year-old neighbor is my hero.

flyingsolo943 −  You did the right thing. Those people looking at you funny are probably ashamed of themselves for not speaking up.. A little kindness goes a long way, and the cashier will remember you for it. Kudos to you for having their back. 👏👏👏👏👏

Admirable_Lecture675 −  NTA. You helped the cashier and will make others think twice about remaining quiet when s**tty people need to sthu good for you. And it is your business. It’s called being a good person.

Herdnerfer −  NTA, people that are dicks to retail workers are the worst people on the planet. You know they never had to work a job like that in their life. Anyone who had would understand that mistakes happen and there’s no need to yell at another human being over it.

Significant_Rule_855 −  People really underestimate how hard it is to do those jobs. They seem simple but dealing with the general public is horrible. And cashiers are blamed for everything. Something is out of stock? Cashier fault. Couldn’t find something? Cashier fault. Price went up on something? Gotta take it out on the cashier. It’s horrible.

kristalcookies −  NTA AT ALL. My karen take down story occurred because of a similar situation but i was distinctly less polite than you! I was going into a train station after a long shift to get my ticket home, and as i entered a karen AND a ken were leaving, and he was shouting at the staff.

From what i gathered, they’d refused them a ticket for being drunk. I will say, they didn’t seem that drunk to me, but on the other hand, there’s 4 train stations in the city centre and they could’ve just gone to another.

I didn’t get involved as they were leaving, but as i was being served they came back to kick off again, shouting at the girl serving me, and i saw her face just drop. Without even turning round i just shouted “oh will you f**k off!”.

The ken asked what i said disbelievingly and i shouted loudly again “you heard! F**k off! I dont have any time for karens, nor for kens!!” – and they left without another word. The staff asked if i could come work there after that 😂

savinathewhite −  NTA. If more people like you stood up and called out people like that <bleeping bleepidy bleeper maybe they would be less inclined to be insufferable <bleeps .

I don’t tolerate horrible people being horrible, and neither should anyone else. Just because they’re miserable, doesn’t mean they get to share it with everybody else so they feel better about it.

Old-Pin3212 −  NTA—she was out of line, and sometimes people need to be reminded that basic decency isn’t optional, especially when they’re making someone cry over groceries.

Was stepping in the right move, or should she have stayed out of it? Share your thoughts below!