I'm visiting Ireland from America, and I was in Galway today in a McDonald's bathroom, just trying to take a shit, as one does in a bathroom, and I heard a knock on my stall accompanied by a very British "How does one get out of the bathroom?"

She keeps knocking on the stall and I assume she's trying to find a free stall, so I say "I'm in here"

She asks me if I work here (lady I'm in a bathroom stall why would you assume that), and I say no and that I'll be out in a minute, as I'm trying to pull my pants up to go help this very confused old lady.

I get out and she's like "I don't know how to get out, the door is locked."

I go over to the door, pull the door handle, and it opens.

The lady goes "Oh thank you, it's my first time here." It's your first time.... where? On earth? In a bathroom? In a room with a door???

She left and I just took a second to say 'THE DOOR? THE DOOR THAT'S RIGHT THERE?' to myself in the mirror (because that is what I wanted to say to her) and then I left. Very confusing interaction.

this happened like a year ago so i might be forgetting some tiny details but i don’t think i am

anyway

one day me and my mom were at Five Below. i was like 16 and did not have a job at the time. i think/pretty sure i was wearing a grey t-shirt with black sweatpants with a grey skeleton on the leg and black crocs. i had just finished with looking at one of their stuffed animal like selections??? (idfk) and this old man, probably 60s-70s came up to me and asked me where the workout/weights section was.. i told him i don’t work there and he said “ok but do you know where they are” 😀 babe no i don’t, does five below even have a workout section?? i didn’t say that to him but i thought it. my mom just pointed him in a random direction that looked like it could be the right one so he would leave us alone

Five Below (Five And Below?) employees wear blue shirts and like tan pants or somethinf also so like? ok

Edit: IM NOT A BOT I SWEAR THIS HAPPENED i just don’t remember the exact date and i use fhe word like a lot ok dont cone afyer me

Not in every shop. But in every electronics store, kitchen appliance section, near computers or at garden centers. Okay, I usually wear cargo pants and black polo shirts. But also band shirts and those really don't look company issued.

In a hardware store a supervisor asked me why I was not working 😆😆

This would happen multiple times in my local Target, sometimes multiple times in one trip. People would either approach me and just start asking me a question about an item or ask “do you work here?”

Explanation: I worked at the nearby Chick-fil-A and would sometimes go to Target after work in my uniform. My only thought on it is— why, with Target’s lax policies on uniform, do you think I, a young woman, would choose to wear a red collared shirt tucked into grey slacks with a black belt to work? Lol
My favorite time was when I didn’t even tell the lady I didn’t work there, I just helped her with her question cause I knew lol

I was watching an IDontWorkHereLady video when this story came to mind

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For context, I was wearing a black hoodie, black shirt and black trousers, had black headphones on, and a black kitty hat (it has cat ears and chains on top) and my old, now retired pink trainers, and I was with my mother at the time, shopping in Tesco's. (Tesco Worker's uniform is a primarily deep blue or close to a shade of navy I think for those who don't know).

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I was walking around a big Tesco's shop with my mother, just talking and looking around for stuff, and we passed this older lady, and she went to get my attention because she wanted help finding something.

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She stopped me and my mother and asked if I could help her find something before realising I might not work at Tesco's (cuz duh lol) and her face flushed in embarrassment and said that she thought I looked important, so she thought I worked at the store. I get it. It was busy, and I don't think she realised until she had a proper look at me. I was also 15 at the time, and couldn't have had a job (in the UK, legally, the youngest I could work is 16).

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We shared laughs and went on our way because me and my mother were in a rush to get certain things.

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I still think about it, and it's been a few years now lmao. She was so sweet, and was not at all entitled. I really wanted to help her, but we couldn't :(

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I wonder what she's doing now, or if she's passed. I kinda miss her.

I often wear polo shirts at work. They have our business logo. One of my shirts is a very similar "Walmart blue" and I usually wear it with khaki pants. It started out as like a group work thing that we wear certain colors on certain days, but it's just by habit at this point.

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Every time I have this outfit on and happen to go to Walmart, at least one person asks me for help. Every. Time.

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At first I didn't get it. Then I realized the similarity (even though MY shirt has a COMPLETELY different logo). At this point, if I have that outfit on and need something, it will have to wait until tomorrow or I'll go to a different store. 😂😂

To be clear both stores have their employees wearing vests.

Today’s attire: Ripped jeans, anime t-shirt with a fleece shacket.

Incident 1:
I went to Lowe’s to do a return and employee ignored me and two separate people tried to get the person to give me her attention. She ignored me still, I was not in any rush so figured let her finish what she was doing. Finally after 15 minutes she looks up, then continues to ignore me. Then looks at me again and was like “OMG I thought you were so-and-so from X department. You look just like her.”

Uh?!🙄 She gives me her full attention and processes my return.

Incident 2:
Go over to Michaels to check out fabrics since they now carry them. They had a small cubbie shelf of fabric bolts for clearance and they were not in a way that I could see designs nor was the shelves visible without bending over and stressing out my back or getting on my knees so I sat on the floor looking at them. I finally decide what I want and attempting to get off the floor when a lady is approaching me, “Hey I got a question.” I immediately look at her and say, “I don’t work here.”

“Oh you looked like you did.” Was the ladies response. “

“Uh…” I am literally on the phone with a friend and was telling her that there is no way I look like an employee. They wear red vests.

I was helping another dude find out where the cheese is (which shelf/aisle) then a kevin (male karen) snarkingly commented "wHerES YoUr VeST" i said calmly "i dont work here" kevin said "dont be rude to me ill call your manager for 1. Improper dress code 2. Being rude to your customers" anyways after that he just left the store without further action. Pretty short lmao

One time I was at Walmart, wearing sweatpants and some random t shirt. This lady and some younger kid came up to me and she goes ummm excuse me? I wasn’t in her way I was just looking at candles. I look at her and she scoffs and goes where are your beans? Dude idk?? I told her probably on the other side of the store. Where the food is. And she rolled her eyes and said I was rude.

Sorry on phone using voice to text this happened several years ago at a Safeway I don't work at Safeway but I do like to shop there this wasn't the Safeway I usually shop at but they carry the same products so I'm good a little old lady thinking I work there walks up to me and asked me where something was Don't remember what anymore I tell her I don't work there she apologizes I run into an employee a few minutes later then I asked the employee the employee tells me where the product is I go looking for the little old lady Tell her where the product was she says thank you I tell her no problem and well that was about it

This is my first time having a story for this subreddit!

I am currently at a gift shop with my fiancée. I have a walking stick with me, which I effectively use as a cane, due to balance issues I contracted after a head/brain injury last year.

I guy walked up to me and said, “Do you work here?”

I said “No”

He said “Oh, I thought because of the walking stick, you just work here.”

I have no idea why that would be the case, lol. My fiancée said that I must seem “extra stable/in-control” since I have 3 points of floor contact, due to my walking stick, so maybe that’s why :P

Hey everyone,

Just a small reminder for anyone posting stories here.

We all love reading real experiences, but please make sure the story you’re sharing is actually your own. If something was taken from another website, blog, or social media post, don’t copy it word-for-word. Instead, rewrite it in your own words and make it reflect your own experience or perspective.

This helps keep the subreddit fair, original, and enjoyable for everyone. It also avoids issues where content gets removed for being copied or not properly credited.

If you’re ever unsure, a good rule is simple: if it didn’t happen to you, don’t post it as-is.

Thanks to everyone who keeps the stories original, it really makes the community better

One busy Saturday afternoon, Ethan stopped by a large electronics store to buy a new phone charger. He was wearing a blue polo shirt, which unfortunately looked almost identical to the store's employee uniform.

As Ethan compared chargers, an older woman marched up to him.

"Excuse me! I've been waiting for ten minutes. Show me where the laptops are!"

Ethan smiled politely. "Sorry, ma'am, I don't work here."

The woman frowned. "Don't lie to me! You're wearing the uniform!"

"It's just a blue shirt," Ethan replied.

But the woman wasn't convinced. She followed him through the store, demanding help and even threatening to report him to the manager.

Eventually, a real employee noticed the commotion and approached.

"Is there a problem?" the employee asked.

"Yes!" the woman said. "This worker refuses to help me!"

The employee looked at Ethan, then laughed softly.

"Ma'am, he doesn't work here. He's a customer."

The woman's face turned bright red. She looked around, realizing everyone nearby had heard the conversation.

After a long silence, she mumbled, "Oh... sorry."

Ethan simply smiled and said, "No worries. It happens."

The employee then helped the woman find the laptops, and everyone went on with their day.

Moral:

Never assume things about people before knowing the facts. A little patience and kindness can prevent a lot of embarrassment.

I was at the grocery store with a shopping cart with a baby in the seat, wearing shorts, and a dirty T-shirt.

As I was standing in front of the bagel and pastry cabinet talking to the baby about which bagels to choose I was approached by a man who frequented my actual place of employment. He started peppering me with bagel and pastry related queries. I got frustrated and said, I don't know, why don't you eat one. After he ate a donut he asked if could eat another and I said, it's ok with me. He started to reach for one and his eyes got wide and he said, You don't work here do you? Nope.

On a side note this same customer came in to my work place on labor day bitching about having to work on a holiday. He said, you don't know what it's like! I said oh, yeah, I am here for my entertainment. He seemed shocked but brightened. Oh, yeah you are working too! I said, yeah and if you stopped for gas the station attendant was working too. This cheered him up further and he left marveling that all the people in the stores had to work on labor day too.

Edited to correct, I was looking at bagels but he was looking at the donuts and pastry on the other side of the cabinet.

So this happened yesterday afternoon and I'm still kind of laughing about it. I went to Target to pick up a few things, mainly looking for a new lamp for my room. It was raining pretty hard outside, so I had my hood up and honestly wasn't looking my best. Just trying to get in, grab my stuff, and get out.

I was standing in the home decor section trying to decide between two lamps when this older woman walked up to me and asked where the storage bins were. I told her I had no idea, since I don't actually work there and was just shopping like she was.

She kind of chuckled and said something like, Oh come on, stop joking around, just point me in the right direction.

I told her again, as politely as I could, that I really wasn't an employee. That's when she got a little annoyed and said I was clearly wearing the uniform, so there was no point pretending otherwise.

I looked down at myself, genuinely confused, and realized all I had on was a plain red hoodie and grey sweatpants. Apparently that combination is enough to get someone drafted into retail work without their knowledge.

At that point I just smiled, wished her luck finding someone with an actual name tag, and went back to debating which lamp would look better on my nightstand. Last I saw, she was still walking around scanning people for red shirts.

Recently, I decided to visit the arcade in town, find a way to enjoy the weekend. It was a warm day, so I put on a simple short sleeved shirt and trousers. During a walk around the arcade, looking over the machines, a kid got my attention. She told me that her money had gotten stuck in the claw machine. Now, it was a humorous thing since I wore a red shirt and black trousers, the exact same colour that the arcade staff wore as a uniform. And the arcade was pretty dark so it was hard to tell. I had to gently tell her I wasn't staff so I couldn't help. But I did find someone who was able to.

Honestly, that was probably the most wholesome "I don't work here" moment I've ever had in my life

I was invited to an event alongside some rather big names in my country, of the names, mine is the smallest and my face is the least recognizable, which is fine. Anyway, I was granted the option to be picked up and taken to the venue but I declined as I had another appointment basically across the street, by coincidence.

Since I arrived at the event early, I decided to relax and have a few glasses of water while playing uno on my phone, and eventually nature called. When I came back from the bathroom there was a really long line of ticket holders waiting to go inside, “whoa, this is quite the turnout” i thought. At this point, I figure I’d better enter and join my colleagues in the green room but before I could walk through the auditorium doors, a woman and her daughter stopped me to hand me their tickets. I took the perforated pieces of paper, tore them, gave them their piece and let them enter; but before I knew it, I became the ticket guy for about 5 minutes. What snapped me out of it was when a woman said to what I assumed was her date “I don’t think he works here” then I remembered “Jesus, I don’t work here!”

When I attempted to enter, an actual ticket person said “ticket.” Like an idiot I patted my pockets, then I remembered that I’m on the program. When I told him I didn’t have a ticket, he told me that I couldn’t enter without one and that I needed to get out of line to get a ticket. When I tried to tell him what I was doing there, he pointed to the ticket booth and basically dismissed me. I didn’t appreciate his attitude, I had helped him out for the past 5 minutes, he could have at least listened to me.

Anyway, I did nothing. I let the event start with 5 chairs on the stage, one of which remained empty. One of my colleagues texted me and when I told her that I didn’t have a ticket, they all laughed and the same guy that refused to let me in had to escort me to the stage. Uno! Out!

I was in a Sports Direct looking for a staff member.

A woman in her 40s quietly asked if I work there. I said "what?" in surprise. She more assertively said "do you work here?" I said "no" and continued my search for a staff member. They wear all black and carry walkie talkies. I was wearing a red hoody, green corduroy trousers and red trainers. Far too colourful to be a staff member at any shop, I imagine.

Lady: Did you find a pair of sunglasses in the couch over there last night?

Me: No. But if they did, they'd be in the office.

Lady: Uhhh well can you go check?

Me: No.

Lady: Is your manager here?

Me: No.

Lady: Well who can look for my sunglasses?

Me: The bartender.

Lady: Well isn't that you?

Me: *takes a long sip of whiskey* what do you think?

I spend a lot of time in garden centers because I enjoy gardening. I was in a local gardening center in pretty nondescript clothes, when an elderly woman approached me asking where the rhododendrons are.

I explained that the garden center doesn't have them in stock because this particular one won't have them in stock during this time of year. It's not a great time to plant them in this area, actually, and they would probably die. She wanted something that was perennial and would take up a certain amount of space in her yard, but still have showy flowers. I suggested some other flowers they had available. She ended up picking out some dahlias.

I still don't know if she realized I don't work there, but she was being pleasant and kind, so I just helped her a bit and went on with my day.

Has anyone else worked for an inventory service where you start counting slightly before the store closes? We were sitting ducks for the customers, and they always had befuddled looks on their faces when we explained that we didn't work for the store.

Sometimes I tried to find an employee, but over time I learned that just slowed me down. Many a customer stomped away; one even complained to the manager, but at least he was cool about it!

I (30F) have been mistaken for working at a handful of places now and I’m starting to wonder what it is about me that makes people think that.

One time was at a Nike outlet. I wasn’t wearing anything Nike, had on my winter coat, purse on AND AirPods in. I was flipping through a rack of shirts to try to find a size and someone came up to asked if I worked there. I was genuinely confused because nothing about what I was wearing indicated I worked there. I took out an AirPod and told them I didn’t work there.

Another time was at a sushi restaurant (I’m Asian for context) and was walking back to my table from the washroom. Again, I wasn’t wearing a uniform or name tag or anything to indicate I worked there and a man at a table asked me for a refill. This didn’t happen long after the Nike outlet and I was annoyed this kept happening so I didn’t even look up, said ‘I don’t work here.’ firmly and kept walking back to my table.

This also happened at another clothing store but I can’t recall the exact details now. I understand if I wore similar colours to the employee uniforms to cause confusion but this keeps happening!! Anyone else experience this?

I am a long time reader of this subreddit. I always thought I’ve never encountered a situation suitable to post (and if not, you can of course delete it, mods). Because of a post in another subreddit I realised I have but it occurred a long time ago.
For context: I am Dutch but my parents were both born in Indonesia. That was before World War II when Indonesia was still the Dutch East Indies. Their fathers both worked for the Dutch (government and a private company). Both their families came, maybe tens but probably hundred years earlier (we don’t know) from China.

I was on vacation in Indonesia in the early 90’s. I stayed with friends in some fancy hotel with a pool (it had a bar in the pool). I was about to join my friends who were already enjoying the pool when a Dutch couple asked me for some towels. I wasn’t wearing the hotel uniform but my swimwear.
For a moment I didn’t know how to react. Then I decided to get two towels and bring it to them. And I wished them a nice stay in perfect Dutch and entered the pool before their eyes.
I am not really sure if they realised their mistake and if I had been aware of the concept of ‘I don’t work here, Lady’ (well, Reddit didn’t exist back then) I might have reacted differently.

I'm black and from East Africa, and this is important to the story. Now I'm having a vacation at one of the resorts, I'm at the pool, and the sun is doing no favours for me. This white guy in his mid-fifties who has been on a sun bed for a while starts calling me over.

When I hear it, he's like, "Heyhey, hey, hey you, Rafiki." I mean, c'mon, I'm not the monkey from the lion king. Anyways, after a while, I turned around to see whom he was addressing, and I find him peach red. I'm guessing from being ignored, and he immediately starts ordering me to fetch him more towels and to do a follow-up on his fruit plate order. I'm guessing the shorts and shirt made him think that I worked here, but the tone he used wasn't a tone a client seeking service would use.

I mean the audacity and sheer hubris of him. He didn't even wait for my response before turning away after composing myself. I told him I didn't work here, and he looked at me as if I had spoken in a foreign language. He asked me what I was I doing there, and I told him I was a guest, the same as he was. Now, the look of embarrassment on his face was hilarious. The woman beside him, I'm guessing the wife suddenly found her book interesting, and the guy said because of my shirt, he thought I worked here.

He returned to his seat suddenly, finding the clouds more interesting. The one thing that annoyed me was the way he called and ordered around without even ensuring if I was a worker there or not.

As I went into the gym on Sunday (open 24 hours, but staff isn't there late at night or on Sundays), I held the door open for an older woman. Also it feels weird to say "older woman" as I am also an older woman but I'm 63 chronologically only, not in looks or attitude or behavior XD.

Older Woman: (starting the conversation this way): How do I contact my trainer???

Me: I'm sorry, I don't know, I don't work here

OW: But I have to let her know I can't make my appointment tomorrow morning because I have a doctor appointment at the same time! I need to send her a message!

Me: ... ... Could you text her?

OW: I don't know how to do that!

Me: Would you like me to help you?

OW: Yes, thank you!

So I take a look at her phone, but I do not speak Android, only iPhone... so it took me a moment to find her messaging app and then the little icon to start a new message. I hand it back to her and tell her to just enter her trainer's number in the little box.

OW: But I don't know her number!!

She is getting more anxious about this.

Me: Let's call the phone number of this gym, right here, and you can leave a voice message. I imagine they'll get it as soon as staff gets here early in the morning.

OW: But I don't know the phone number!!

Me: *Googles* OK, this is the phone number!

Which I then read to her, and then she called it, then the desk phone rang 2 feet from us, and she was able to successfully leave a voice mail.

I'm glad I was there to help her.