Archived Favorite Guests

[TallAPGuy]

We have a plethora of threads dedicated to those all too common despised guests and their traits, but what of those who we have deemed worthy of our respect and favor?
We all (hopefully) have those guests who come in that we like, or at the very least don't mind.
I have a couple. First are a family who come in nearly every day, mom, dad, and brother and sister, who are all very nice and respectful.
Second is this older gentleman, probably in his 60's, that comes in in the last hour every third night to buy a quart of milk and other small stuff (so that he can transfer them on his bicycle). What makes him liked by everyone in the store are his jokes. Every night he stop at all the team members who don't appear busy and tell them at least one joke, ranging from puns so bad they're good to orginal, stand-up comedy worthy stories.
Who are yours?

 

[Ringwraith917]

There are a few, mostly older guests that come in regularly, only want to say "Hi! Great day today huh?" Or something else short and sunny, then get on to their shopping. They don't take up too much time and make my day a little brighter.

 

[redeye58]

I had several favorite morning regulars that could always bring a smile after I'd dealt with some insipid yoga mom.
They were genuine when they asked how you were, always knew what they wanted & didn't waste time fiddling on their phone or the like.
They're the ones I really miss.

 

[ChecklaneChica]

There's a little boy (about 3 or 4) who comes in with his parents every now and then. The last time I saw him we had a full blown conversation about babies (his mom was pregnant) and life. When it was time to go, his mom told him to say goodbye and he refused. I think he thought that if he didn't say goodbye, then they wouldn't actually leave. About halfway to the door he realized that they really were leaving and told his mom to stop, then ran back and gave me a hug. Made my day.

 

[EmptyCart]

I've rung up this mother/daughter at least 30 times at this point, I'm fairly certain that they have no transportation to and from the store, as I always see them walking from pretty far away down the road when I'm arriving sometimes. They are the sweetest and I love when they come in, and despite that situation they are always so upbeat and positive.

There's also a guy who towers over me in height (I'm pretty short for a 21 year old guy, 5'4") and has these borderline-industrial strength Target re-usable bags, and makes it sooooo easy to bag things, like we're talking 3 gallons of waters in one bag, 2 bags in each hand at a time. Super friendly and knows the store layout better than I do at this point most likely >.>

Lastly, a gentleman who often comes in with his daughter and makes all of our days with how positive he is. If you could literally have an aura of positivity coming off of you, he has it. Doesn't even need to be talking much and just being around him will make you feel better, because of how openly friendly he is. He often will make his daughter (couldn't be older than 6 or 7) count the change and teach her basic money management skills, usually to no avail 😀

 

[TallAPGuy]

I've rung up this mother/daughter at least 30 times at this point, I'm fairly certain that they have no transportation to and from the store, as I always see them walking from pretty far away down the road when I'm arriving sometimes. They are the sweetest and I love when they come in, and despite that situation they are always so upbeat and positive.

For the longest time we had a mother and her late teens, early twenties daughter who had some sort of learning/developmental disability come into the store almost every night near closing time to buy basics and wander the store before the store closed. I thought that they must have lived nearby, but then I saw them sleeping in their car in the parking lot.
It turns out that they were homeless, the mom couldn't get a job because she cared for her daughter, and despite having, coming from her, nearly 30 grand saved in the bank, no one would let her rent long-term because she didn't have a source of income, and California housing aid doesn't come close to coving the cost of rent in my county (average of $1800 for a studio apartment).
On Christmas Eve, which happened to be the coldest night this winter at 15°, I handed her $120 I pulled out of my bank account and told her to get a room at a motel or something for the night, and she broke down crying and hugged me, which caused me to tear up.
She came in a day or two after New Years and said that they were moving back to Minnesota since she could afford to buy an apartment outright with the money she had in the bank, and I haven't seen them since. I really hope they're doing better now.

 

[3LetterDevil]

We had a pharmacy guest who used to care for his parents and was in 2-3 times a week. He was always so sweet and never complained. His mom never had a kind word to say and he'd tell us to "just ignore her, he loved us and that was all that mattered!" and his dad was sweet as well. Unfortunately, he passed away last year, so now his parents come in by themselves or with their caregiver. The dad is still just as sweet, but the mom is even worse (and the caregiver is just like her....probably from having to deal with her!)

 

[griezmanns]

There's this guest that usually comes in to my store around midday with her two kids; the first day I met her she was wearing a t-shirt for a certain Spanish soccer team. I was excited and asked her about it and she and I just talked about that, I showed her how my phone background was of a certain player, etc... The next time I saw her she brought up how I must be happy that my team had a new coach and the time after that she mentioned a game we won. It was just really nice to be remembered that way over something like that. I'm always happy when I see guests that remember something about me or something that I remember talking to them about as I ring out their items. Always makes me feel good.

 

[mrknownothing]

We have a PetSmart near my store, and their Banfield vet often comes into my store to shop after work. When I was a cashier, he would always check out at my lane and talk to me. Over the weekend, I ran into him on my way from the backroom to my break, and he remembered me and said hi.

 

[Yetive]

Lots of my sbux gusts are nice. One brings us cookies.

 

[BullseyeBlues]

There's a mother and daughter who come in almost every day who know Target lingo and will make jokes with us when they're in shopping. They poke fun at how often they come in, too. When the Anthem data breach caused my bank accounts to get screwed up, they paid for my dinner one night that I was working, and justified it by saying that someone sweet and hardworking shouldn't have to go hungry through no fault of their own. So, yeah, they're definitely my faves.

 

[StockerAce]

We have this older gentleman that comes in a couple times a week never earlier than an hour before close. He methodically goes through the aisles with his calculator, pen and zipped up notebook. If you say hello to him he says hello, otherwise never wants to interact, but always very polite. He's the only one I see regularly since my shift starts at 10pm and I'm usually in the back.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Target, are you listening?? These statements would make great commercials.

 

[HRZone]

We have this older gentleman that comes in a couple times a week never earlier than an hour before close. He methodically goes through the aisles with his calculator, pen and zipped up notebook. If you say hello to him he says hello, otherwise never wants to interact, but always very polite. He's the only one I see regularly since my shift starts at 10pm and I'm usually in the back.

What is he writing down?

 

[Tessa120]

There was one woman that I ran into a few times, she was always nice. A little indecisive, but nice. She can recognize me when my back is turned, which scared me at first, but she's just a really nice woman with a really good memory.

The rest have been one-shots. Thanksgiving weekend, a bunch of guests were waiting for family/friends to try on clothes and the phone was ringing off the hook, people calling in were asking about the same item and the guests were jokingly placing bets on the odds of the next call being about that item. The guy who literally was carrying his wife's purse, he and I and another guest who didn't know him were joking about how it looked so good on him. The woman with the autistic daughter, I don't think the daughter is going to get much better but I instead lied and (truthfully) talked of other autistic children that went from her level of functioning to doing pretty well so I could give the mother hope. The woman on the phone asking about heartburn medicine who told me her daughter who had recently died and I shared the same name; when I offered my condolences she told me to be proud of my name because it's beautiful. The three guests, probably all around 20, who were loud but they were loud because they were happy and having fun, and their sense of fun brought my spirits up and drew me right on in. The guy who told me he brought his wife flowers every day just because, and his wife who was needing to relearn how to walk and refused his physical help, and their happy rambunctious daughters whose spirits seemed thankfully unaffected by whatever tragedy they had clearly endured.

Yeah, there's nice people that come in. There's a lot of calm people that are polite about needing help, there's a lot of people who you can crack a couple of jokes with or talk of a similar life circumstance and then move on, it's just that the really good ones (and the really bad ones) are the ones that stick in your memory.

 

[StockerAce]

What is he writing down?

No idea...I don't know if he tracks each of his purchases as he puts them in his cart or what. He's very methodical on how he shops. I noticed he looks carefully at each item before he places it in his cart (not all that odd...but most people might glance at the expiration date or at the label, his method is more 'intense' it seems).

 

[smashandthrash]

The ones that never bothered me

 

[WestLoggy]

Suzie Q. Smilzalot: she's always in, bright and early right at 7am as the doors open with her bouncy blonde pony-tail hair and her TripleVentiNonFatSoyDoublePunchedInTheFaceExtraHot whatever with a most enormous smile. Always makes eye contact with everyone and says, 'Hey you! So good to see ya again! Have an awesome day, sweetie!!!" then bounces along the aisles to pick up a few items. On her departure, she makes sure to swing by everyone with a light touch to the shoulder saying, "Bye for now! Have a SSSuper day!". Bat sh*t crazy stuff but at the same time always makes me smile.

 

[Frontlanegirl]

Suzie Q. Smilzalot: she's always in, bright and early right at 7am as the doors open with her bouncy blonde pony-tail hair and her TripleVentiNonFatSoyDoublePunchedInTheFaceExtraHot whatever with a most enormous smile. Always makes eye contact with everyone and says, 'Hey you! So good to see ya again! Have an awesome day, sweetie!!!" then bounces along the aisles to pick up a few items. On her departure, she makes sure to swing by everyone with a light touch to the shoulder saying, "Bye for now! Have a SSSuper day!". Bat sh*t crazy stuff but at the same time always makes me smile.

OMG, I thought you were talking about one of our ETL's..lol

 

[NPC]

Best guests are the ones that fuck off.

 

[DoWork]

I'm more fond of the ones that fuck on.

 

[3LetterDevil]

The ones who refuse to let me ring out their store items because they "know we have other things to do" or those who simply don't INSIST we ring out their store items because "it's our job!"

 

[Blackhawks54]

This actually just happened to me yesterday, but I met one lady who is very sweet. She's older, maybe in her 50s/60s. I can't quite tell if she's deaf or has a speech impediment, but she doesn't use sign language. Yesterday I helped her find some Knox Rose clothing for her vacation and she loved it. She also has a torn tendon, so I helped her get out of one of the dresses. But she was so sweet and patient about everything. I saw her again today, this time with her daughter I think, and we both recognized each other right away! It was so cool! But I guess she was trying to find one of the items in a different size, which someone had already bought. I felt bad for her, but still she was very sweet.

 

[JazzyPacks]

I remember this one couple that I met while out picking the other day. I was in the kitchen aisles to grab a few items, and while I was doing so, the guy started up a casual conversation with me; asking how I was doing, how long I had been working there, and what I did for Thanksgiving. (I didn't go into any specifics; just kept it basic, really). It was nice to just talk with a customer, instead of being asked about where X was, or if we still carried Y item.

 

[pinktea]

I'm always very grateful for guests who stay pleasant and patient when they get worse-than-acceptable service due to a combination of 4th quarter/seasonal hires. I can't tell you how many people have had to play phone hot potato because our walkie communication is AWFUL at my store at the moment and alls keep getting ignored/dropped/whatever. Whenever I get a guest who has been waiting forever just to ask their question, I'm always super apologetic but they're usually pretty nice about it. I really appreciate that.