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Redditor With ‘Severe Allergies’ Insults Store Worker Who Only Let Them Buy 10 Boxes Of Tissues

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It’s easy to be frustrated by certain rules and regulations, particularly when they seem completely unjustified.

But, as the saying goes, rules are rules, and they are meant to be followed.

And getting angry with the people enforcing the rules never helps matters, as they are rarely the ones who set the rules.

Redditor Monsterchic16 was more than a little frustrated on a recent shopping trip, when a store employee refused to let them buy more than the store limit on a certain item.

The original poster (OP) felt they were worthy of being an exception to this rule, owing to a medical condition.

But the store employee remained firm in their stance, resulting in the OP using a few choice words.

Wondering if they were out of line, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where they asked fellow Redditors:

“AITA: For getting angry at an employee when they wouldn’t make an exception to the two packs of tissues per person limit?”

The OP explained how on a recent shopping trip, they felt they were in a position to buy more than the store limit on tissues, as well as they’re reaction when this request was declined.

“I have severe allergies, like I go through a packet of tissues per day if I’m lucky.’

“When I shop I like to make sure I get the important stuff bought all at once so if something comes out of my budget that I hadn’t planned for I wouldn’t be screwed over until my next pay day.”

“Naturally, this includes tissues.”

“I never buy more than I’ll need for the fortnight, but it still looks like I’m stock piling cause of how many I need 14 minimum.”

“Whenever I’ve explained this to the employees in the past, they understand that I’ll be forced to come back another day and that I’ll still be buying these tissues and let me purchase them two at a time to get passed the limit.”

“This lady did not, she wasn’t even nice about it, she was super rude even before I got angry with her.”

“I never get angry with retail workers, but this lady just pissed me off when she said she’d ban me from buying more tissues no matter when I came back and I called her a b8tch and left with the 10 packs I’d already paid for.”

“Was I the a**hole here?”

“She was already treating me as hostile before I’d even explained why and I was pretty polite up until she said she wouldn’t let me come back and buy more later, but I still called her a b*tch so?”

Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation by declaring:

  • NTA: Not the A**hole
  • YTA: You’re the A**hole
  • ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
  • NAH: No A**holes Here

The Reddit community agreed that it was the OP, not the store employee, who was being rude, unanimously finding them to be the a**hole in this situation.

Everyone agreed that the OP’s behavior was completely out of line, and that even with their allergies they were not worthy of special treatment at that, or any, store.

“YTA.”

“That employee has a difficult job with low pay.”

“They don’t make the policy, but they have to enforce it with a-holes like you.”

“Also, You aren’t special and you don’t deserve special treatment.”- jlb183

“YTA.”

“Everyone has a reason to go around the limit.”

“You are not special.”

“If I had to circumvent the register to sell something, I wouldn’t do it.”- kykiwibear

“YTA.”

“ALL major retailers had signs at the DOOR, on the SHELVES and at the CHECKOUT, telling you what items have limits.”

“Every single one of us have a need for tissues and a tight budget mate.”

“You don’t get to hoard all the tissues just because you’re gonna use them.”

“Limits are in place for a reason.”

“Stop justifying your hoarding and just do the right thing and buy according to the limits.”-Fabulous_Analysis_92

“YTA, especially for swearing at her, and also why do you need to buy your tissues from that specific store?”

“Why not go somewhere where there isn’t a limit instead of making employees try to circumvent store policy for you?”

“If my allergies are so severe that I need 14 boxes of tissues a week, I’d just order them online in bulk.”

“Was nearly E S H since she was rude as well, but honestly if you have to make employees break the rules every time you go, you must have been aware you’d get stopped at some point.”- maledicta17

“YTA, if you need 1 box of tissue a day, you need to see an allergist.”- hemlockangelina

“YTA.”

“I get it.”

“We have shortages.”

“It’s a pain in the butt, but she was following policy, regardless of what others have done for you.”

“We are a family of 8 and go through a lot of TP and tissues, and when they had the Meat limit it was very hard, especially because I buy fortnightly too.”

“But I’d just have to go to a few shops or come back another day, even harder when you’re rural.”

“She could’ve been nicer, but honestly, it’s her job on the line, people can be petty if they see one person do it and report it.”

“But it’s not their fault!”

“They don’t make the rules!”

“Buy some hankies.”- amzi95

“YTA.”

“If you’re awake for 18 hours a day, thats 20 tissues an hour, or one every three minutes.”

“That’s a massive amount of tissues.”

“If you need that many tissues, that’s not allergies, that’s compulsive behavior.”

“You might want to get both of those checked out.”

“Or you’re just lying and being TA.”- ravencat20199

‘YTA.’

“You’re not the only one who needs tissues, or the only one with severe allergies.”

“If they give too much to you, people in your position aren’t getting any.’

“The employees who were letting you do that, especially since you weren’t just buying 1 extra, but up to 10-14 at least, weren’t doing so out of kindness.”

“Seems like they might have just been trying to avoid a confrontation, and they were right in their assessment of you, since you swore at the first person who told you no.”- higaroth

Upon seeing the reactions from the Reddit community, a somewhat contrite OP returned to acknowledge that they could have handled the situation better than they did, and made it clear that this was a one-off situation, and not a regular occurrence.

“Okay so clearly I am in the wrong for calling the employee a b*tch.”

“I had a feeling, but I wanted to be sure.”

“A lot of you have suggested hankies and honestly I’ve tried them and I just blow my nose too often for something reusable to work.”

“I’d need hundreds and I’d have to wash them almost daily which I’m not allowed to do because my landlord wants us all to conserve water.”

“Really short showers and 1 load of washing a week, I do it fortnightly so I can have my clothes wash for longer cause our washing machine sucks.”

“I can do multiple trips to the shops if I have to.”

“I’m just used to the other employees being more lenient.”

“I do get that I’m not entitled to that lenience and that I am the a**hole for expecting it from this employee too.”

“Hopefully my excessive need for tissues is cured when I’m finally able to start getting treated for my allergies.”

“In the meantime, I’ll try not to let this happen again.”

“I wasn’t expecting people to be 100% NTA, at best I expected a lot of ESH and at worst I expected majority YTA, but a lot of comments are sayings things that imply or either outright state that this is how I am all the time.”

“I know calling her a b*tch was wrong, but I don’t go around harassing retail workers.”

“I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually made a complaint or spoken back rudely to employees and I can safely say only one of those, bar this incident, was a YTA situation.”

“I immediately apologized for when I realized my mistake.”

“I would never scream at someone and I am so beyond conflict avoid due to my childhood.”

“I posted this because I don’t get angry often and I wanted to see if it was justified or not, it obviously wasn’t, because I don’t want to be the kind of person that takes their anger out on people like my parents.”

“Judge me for my actions in my post by all means, that’s why I posted here, but don’t make assumptions about who I am as a person based on one mistake.”

One imagines that all those who witnessed the OP going off on the store employee also may have assumed this is how they regularly treat retail and service workers.

One reason why you should always treat anyone, regardless of their profession, with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Here’s hoping the OP will be a little more thoughtful next time they notice a store limit on items.

Written by John Curtis

A novelist, picture book writer and native New Yorker, John is a graduate of Syracuse University and the children's media graduate program at Centennial College. When not staring at his computer monitor, you'll most likely find John sipping tea watching British comedies, or in the kitchen, taking a stab at the technical challenge on the most recent episode of 'The Great British Baking Show'.