What is the strangest thing....

It wasn't at work, but one of the oddest things I've seen in town (rural town) was a woman dressed in lolita dress (look it up, it's ultra femmy with the intention of looking childish) with a blond wig in curly pigtails. That on it's own wasn't the odd part. No, it was her companion and how opposite he was. The guy with her was dressed in worn dirty looking clothes, plus his mullet-ish hair cut. He looked like the stereotype redneck. Completing his image of such was the beer bottle in his hand.
This was in the middle of a store (kmart), btw.

The complete opposites made the sight strange.

While working there were random things like a person bringing a 12wk old kitten in the store with them, kids wearing costumes, drunks and stoned individuals, etc.

I work retail. I was working the cash register at work and a customer bought a soda with $100 bill. I had the manager approve the large bill since that is store policy. I went to give the customer his change and he only took $1.00 of his change and told me to keep the rest for a tip. About 10 minutes later he came back and gave me $2.00 more dollars. We are not allowed to except tips at work per company policy. I had to call the Assistant Manager and ask him what to do with the money. He went and got an envelope from the office to put it in. He had to call the store manager at home and ask her what he should do with it.

I honestly thought that the manager had approved a bogus bill but it was a valid $100.00 bill.

Later that same night another customer called claiming they were short changed. I took her name and number and told her I needed to talk to a manager and would call her back. I talked to the manager and he did a drawer count and the drawer was even. The customer wanted to come in the next day to get their money. Since the drawer was even the manager on duty told me to tell her she could come in and ask to speak to which ever manager was on duty. The next day my manager told me that the store manager reviewed the register report again that morning and the drawer had balanced completely. The store manager was not going to give her the money and the customer never bothered to show up or call again.

When we had a small tattoo shop in Savannah, we were only open Saturday and Sunday, so we drove down early Saturday morning. A friend had come along to help out on what we expected to be a busy weekend. We were getting off the exit on 95-South, and saw a person standing at the end of the ramp, hitchhiking. Long red hair, a black French maid's dress, fishnet stockings and a little pillbox hat. Our friend was fascinated and wanted to stop, until they turned around. There was a long red beard, chest hair, and a big wad of chewing tobacco. We still tease him about that.

During my second clinical rotation, I got used to seeing some odd things, but goodness the tattoos never ceased to amaze me! We had a patient one night that coded in the ICU, so we ripped open his gown to work on him...across his chest was the largest darn tattoo I've ever seen: a marijuana leaf tattoo. He was an elderly gentleman and seemed soo prim and proper prior to that incident. Grandpa had a secret habit I suppose lol(Thankfully, he wound up being just fine )

I currently sell paint at a home improvement store. The other day a person came in wanting to color match a bathroom stall wall. He had the wall with him. Yes, the entire metal wall panel. And yes, it was covered in pee.

I called a couple guys over to hold the wall up to the scanner and I operated the computer to scan it. I told the guy that he really needed to wash the wall before he put fresh paint on it.

In 1998 a drunk disgruntled manager we were about to fire turned up at work with a loaded, cocked pistol. (Work was a securities trading and investment banking firm). Of course the owner ran to get Gary, who told me to lock myself in the office. Gary quickly disarmed the guy and no one was hurt. (He did not give him the gun back). But as soon as Gary came to tell me everything was OK, the CFO (the nicest guy in the world, we were very good friends) came flying in to say that was the BRAVEST thing he'd ever seen, especially "after what happened before."

?????

"Oh - you never heard about this?"

Turns out, two years before we joined the firm, a different disgruntled employee came in shooting up the place! No one was killed, but several people were wounded. And that is why the owner didn't want to call the police if he didn't have to.

The funny part of the story? The owner is the one who hires everyone but the brokers and assistants - and he had a degree in psychology!

Finding a cement Buddha in the sand blaster in the shop.

Where I used to work, there was a fairly regular customer named Eddie. He always wore a long blue tiered peasant skirt. He didn't dress effeminately otherwise--he wore men's shoes and mens shirts and he didn't wear makeup or try to look like a woman at all. In fact, he always had pretty thick 5 o'clock shadow. He just always wore that skirt. He wasn't low-IQ, either, though I think he may have had a mental illness of some kind. He seemed reasonably normal for the few minutes I interacted with him.

CVS
I did nights, mainly head register. I was ringing out a customer and as they were done in walks a guy in slippers a bathrobe and sleep pants.

Another person walked in in a short sleeve shirt with some iv sticking out(ok my mom was on at home iv so guess that didn't strike me to out of place but I think it weirded out my manager that I didn't say anything/stare.

Toy store...Few days before xmas I go to stock room to get a few thing and store was just closed so last ppl were in line. Guy upstairs looking for some game system he thought we had more(item of the year) Got manager.

Nights are THE best crazy but not completly insane for the most part

Oh, where to start... I guess I'll break them down by workplace, lol.

Coffee Shop -

We had one customer that would come through drive thru with their pet bird, one day the bird decided to fly off their shoulder and into the store... that was fun.

We would be constantly having customers try to bring their pets into the store, even though they aren't allowed by the health board. One day I was collecting someone's change from their hand when I felt whiskers on my fingers. They had their pet rat in the sleeve of their sweater...

I was working the sandwich station one day when a customer walked by and randomly threw a cup of water in my face.

Drug Store -

One day someone stole something, one of the managers confronted him when he was trying to leave. The guy ended up trying to stab the manager with a knife. Now we're not allowed to say anything to them, we're just supposed to follow them around the store if we suspect something and if we actually see them take something we're supposed to call the police and try to keep them in the store.

We also have a regular customer/shop lifter that comes in, he's been banned from the store but he still comes. Anyways, one day I was following him around and he starts yelling at me about how he has 16 PHDs and he's a doctor, etc, and then starts going on about how the manager only has us follow him around when he's in the store because she wants to be with him. ?! This guy definitely does not have that many PHDs, if he even has one, he's just crazy. He also will take things off the shelf (like sugar) and poke holes in them, then put them in his cart so that he's leaking the product all over the store. We've even volunteered to have the thing he wants delivered for free, but he won't have it.

Customers also feel that it's alright to bring their pets into the store, again, health regulations say they can't because we sell food. One day a lady brought in a massive snake that was wrapped around her. We've also had birds, guinea pigs, rabbits and rats, as well as dogs. One of our employees used to bring her dog in when she'd come in shopping, off all people she should know.

The customers that don't bring their pets in tend to tie them up on the railings just outside the front of the store, which is fine, but one day a dog slipped his collar and came running in the store looking for it's owner, lol. We've also had dogs jump out of open car windows and come up the store, waiting for their owners to come out.

I work in the photo lab, mostly. We used to have one customer that would come in and get photos done.... not that weird, but... her pictures would go like this; family pic, family pic, BDSM sex photo, family pic, family pic, family pic, BDSM photo, etc. I didn't really care because it's not illegal, but one of then younger girls that worked in there (20 at the time) actually talked to our lab manager about it and he had to speak to them, lol. They haven't been back since. So just a note to those of you thinking of developing these types of pictures - we look at all the photos (digital and film), we have to because of child porn laws.

One evening we had a lady come in wearing a bag on her head. She went down an aisle where a male manager was working and flashed him, then went about her business. She ended up stealing about $500 worth of fragrances, even though her appearance was so obvious.

That's all that I can think of right now, I'm sure I'll remember more later.

Our window washer wears a kilt. If it's cold outside, he wears jeans under the kilt. Strange!

I like a man in a kilt! Maybe not with jeans under it, though. . .I don't even like the look of girls wearing leggings under skirts.

Entirely different than a long peasant skirt!

where to start....

One Halloween, there was a midget that worked there. He dressed up in drag. fishnet stockings, long blond wig, super high heels and mini skirt. My sup went into the restroom while he was in there putting on his make-up. He almost apologized for being in the wrong restroom before he realized who it was.

This same guy used to dress up as a leprachaun on St. Patrick's day and pass out candy.

Then one time at the company holiday party, one guy came in full drag. Wig, evening gown and all the trimmings. His partner was in a tuxedo!

Elsewhere, when we were in Santa Barbara, we saw a guy with a bright pink tutu, purple body suit with a headband with stars and tassels doing piroetes on a pair of roller skates. This was right in front of the pier.

Then while walking down the street by the hotels in SB, I saw a guy get out of the jacuzzi, completely naked! I stopped to watch and the DH kept walking until he saw that I wasn't with him! I was enjoying the "show"

1 person bought so many things, the bill came to over $1,000. A couple of guys working with me that day, held the receipt from the floor up, that receipt was taller than me!

I saw a young-ish child (maybe 10?) licking one of our pianos... surely old enough to know better!

The summer after high school, I got my first job: going door-to-door in low-income neighborhoods, taking surveys. I was 18 and extremely naive, so it was a real shock when I knocked on one apartment door and it swung open to reveal a man who had just stepped out of the shower.

He was toweling his hair dry and didn't see me -- but he must have been alarmed when he found his front door standing open!

Once where I worked a client had checked himself out from the hospital against medical advice. He had stuff hanging off of him, some blood, still in the gown, and was very heavily medicated. Front staff said he had driven up on the curb and parked strangely. Seriously nothing we had going on was as important as him staying at the hospital at that time.

We live in a relatively rural area. I used to work as a zoning officer. One day I had to check out some work that somebody was doing without a zoning or building permit. I drove up the dead-end trail (certainly didn't classify as a road!), parked my car, got out and knocked on the door. The guy answered the door with a gun in his hand. Gulp!

"Whaddya want?"

Showing my ID, "Um, I'm so-and-so from the muncipality to check on your work and to talk to you about getting your zoning and building permits."

"Hey, I seen you before; ain't you a friend of so-and-so?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, c'mon in!"

He filled out the zoning application and we got it straightened out. I was never so glad to get out of there!

That was actually the second time I was shown a gun when going to a place. The first time was right after I started working here and when the guy opened the door with the rifle in his hand, I almost peed my pants. I had asked a co-worker to come with me as the location was quite rural and I didn't want to go alone. I just mumbled, "Sorry, wrong house" and we got out of there.

But hey, at least they weren't naked!!!

I can tell you some other stories, too, but you get the idea.

You have some good ones. I would love to read more

Let's see when I used to work I worked for this Christian Bookstore and the manager tells us in this meeting that he's in love with the district manager and she was getting married to this other guy. He was completely heart broken...or so we thought. Well a few weeks later he came back married to a woman from Mexico. That left us scratching our heads for a while.

I remember one summer I was working at the second hand store my mom worked at. This creepy guy came in and wanted to sell us some jewelry. I was working at the back of the store when he came up to me and got real close. They door to the back room was very close to where I was. I just told the guy I was needed up front and almost ran up there to be with the older ladies up there.

About 5 minutes after he left, we looked out the window and he was up against a police car getting arrested! He was soooo creepy and I thanked God that he didn't have any ideas to harm us.

Meda

I worked as an assistant manager of a 7-11 for 8 years, lots of strange stuff.

My favorite customers were two extremely handsome college guys....who were also professional drag queens.
They were straight as straight can be, but they found out just how much money they could make at it.
They would always come in before they had a gig in drag, they were just as gorgeous as women.

Had a gentleman come in, wander the store talking to himself, picked up a sandwich (we had a deli), and a candy bar.
He wandered some more still talking, then pulled an endcap beer display down on top of himself.
I watched him do it on the office monitor.
My cashiers helped him up, made sure he was ok, and they asked him what happened.

He told them, quite seriously, that the sandwich told him to do it, and said he would never buy a murderous sandwich and threw it back into the deli case and left.
He never did pay for the candy bar.

Well I have worked mostly in nursing homes and have seen alot from a pt coming after me with a wet floor sign to one of the aides running, and screaming down the hall because she walked in on a stranger in the showerroon and he wasn't a pt. And a few months ago I was coming around a corner of the hospital and we had a pt who was very confused and he walked around the other corner and he was a rather large, elderly man and he was naked and he had ripped his IV and blood was everywhere and he was trying to open all of the linen room doors and we had to talk him back into his room and had to clean him up. It just so happened that our house supervisor was on the floor and she jumped in and helped us clean him up and the blood. But the sight of this man all wild eyed and naked and blood everywhere scared me half to death.

I work in an environmental chemistry lab, so we get to see all sorts of interesting stuff...

One day we got a sample of green goo. My TL said it looked like the Hulk got excited .... we'll leave it at that.

Another time there was a sewage sample in a Ziploc bag. There was a goldfish and a 'prophylactic' next to each other in the bag. Lovely.

There was a container labeled "Road Kill" in the sample freezer. Simple, and gross.

We've gotten stuff dated from the 50s, which was pretty cool.

Samples sent to us in soft drink bottles - as if they couldn't go out and get a real sampling container?

I've seen a lot in the 5 years I've been here Those are off the top of my head right now.