Burner account here. So I work as a cashier/sales associate for a small retail toy shop. Though not written, it is general policy that we greet everyone who comes into the store with a 'hello', 'welcome', 'let me know if you need anything', etc. and I would say I achieve this 90-95% of the time. Of course, there are moments when we're busy, I'm taking care of another task such as inventory, or I just happen to miss someone who walks through the door.

That's exactly what happened earlier this week — I was in the middle of putting out/organizing items we had just gotten in for the 4th of July, and also a coworker stopped by the store to give me an extra pair of keys… All that to say, I don't know exactly what I was doing in the moment, but my attention was diverted and therefore I didn't notice a mother who walked in with her daughter, and consequently did not greet them right away. It is relevant context for the story that this woman appeared to be Asian American, and I am white. While this woman was in the store, another customer walked in – a white man – who immediately walked up to the register and engaged in conversation with me (“How long has this store been in this location”, etc). As soon as my discussion with this man ended, the woman who had entered the store earlier approached me and said “um, excuse me, we've been in the store for several minutes and we were never greeted”, to which I replied “Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I must have missed you. Hello, welcome, let me know if you need anything.” She continued on to point out “You greeted that man as soon as he walked in, I don't know if it's because he's a man, or if you're racist…” which immediately caught me off guard. I literally did not notice that this woman was in the store a moment ago, and suddenly she was accusing me of being racist. But I doubled down with another “I am so sorry, I've been going through inventory all morning and I think I was just distracted…” followed by an admittedly awkward “Hello, welcome.” This woman then exited the store, mumbling something about me being rude. My boss happened to stop by a few minutes after this occurred, and I immediately told her what had just happened. She then opened Yelp to find that this lady left our business a 1-star review, citing “terrible and possibly discriminatory customer service” as a direct result of this interaction.

The boss pointed out to me that it is crucial to greet everyone who comes into the store for reasons like this. I acknowledged that I could work on my awareness of who's in the store and make an improved effort to greet people, but also that the woman's accusations were insane and the review was neither fair nor accurate. She replied to the reviewer with an apology, offered that she would be at the store all day if the reviewer would like to return for a further discussion, and sent me home for the day. Two days later, after my boss evidently did have that further discussion with the reviewer, she told me that I could no longer work on the sales floor at the store. She said that, even taking the racial accusations out of it, it was unacceptable that I missed a guest who walked into the store and let her leave feeling hurt. I pointed out that other employees have shared that they too have missed guests, and that it is simply a human error that comes with working retail. She said it is not acceptable when they do it, either, but that her other employees have never received negative reviews and are better equipped to deal with disgruntled customers. Said “If it's bad enough for someone to leave a review, it's probably happened ten times”. I have never had a customer confront me like this in my three months at the store, or even experienced any degree of negativity with a customer beyond disappointment that something is out of stock. I've also never had someone complain about me in this manner at any job I've worked. I suggested that maybe, just maybe it's possible the woman I encountered was being unreasonable. “I just can't take risks like this, our store is struggling too much” she said. She offered that I could continue to work for her doing social media work, but not interact with customers. All of my in-store shifts have been cut. I'm honestly pretty baffled and hurt by the whole situation. It's one thing to have accusations of racism hurled at you by a random customer, it's another to see your boss fully buy into it, dismiss your emotions and neglect to give you any opportunity to improve.

Also, the boss is my aunt, and I have been living with her, so needless to say this has created some tension at home. I know I need to find a new job and move out as soon as possible. Still, any advice on how to handle this situation or seek peace would be appreciated.

TL;DR – Didn't notice a customer walk into the store, customer accused me of being racist, boss removed me from the sales floor

Burner account here. So I work as a cashier/sales associate for a small retail toy shop. Though not written, it is general policy that we greet everyone who comes into the store with a 'hello', 'welcome', 'let me know if you need anything', etc. and I would say I achieve this 90-95% of the time. Of course, there are moments when we're busy, I'm taking care of another task such as inventory, or I just happen to miss someone who walks through the door.

That's exactly what happened earlier this week — I was in the middle of putting out/organizing items we had just gotten in for the 4th of July, and also a coworker stopped by the store to give me an extra pair of keys… All that to say, I don't know exactly what I was doing in the moment, but my attention was diverted and therefore I didn't notice a mother who walked in with her daughter, and consequently did not greet them right away. It is relevant context for the story that this woman appeared to be Asian American, and I am white. While this woman was in the store, another customer walked in – a white man – who immediately walked up to the register and engaged in conversation with me (“How long has this store been in this location”, etc). As soon as my discussion with this man ended, the woman who had entered the store earlier approached me and said “um, excuse me, we've been in the store for several minutes and we were never greeted”, to which I replied “Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I must have missed you. Hello, welcome, let me know if you need anything.” She continued on to point out “You greeted that man as soon as he walked in, I don't know if it's because he's a man, or if you're racist…” which immediately caught me off guard. I literally did not notice that this woman was in the store a moment ago, and suddenly she was accusing me of being racist. But I doubled down with another “I am so sorry, I've been going through inventory all morning and I think I was just distracted…” followed by an admittedly awkward “Hello, welcome.” This woman then exited the store, mumbling something about me being rude. My boss happened to stop by a few minutes after this occurred, and I immediately told her what had just happened. She then opened Yelp to find that this lady left our business a 1-star review, citing “terrible and possibly discriminatory customer service” as a direct result of this interaction.

The boss pointed out to me that it is crucial to greet everyone who comes into the store for reasons like this. I acknowledged that I could work on my awareness of who's in the store and make an improved effort to greet people, but also that the woman's accusations were insane and the review was neither fair nor accurate. She replied to the reviewer with an apology, offered that she would be at the store all day if the reviewer would like to return for a further discussion, and sent me home for the day. Two days later, after my boss evidently did have that further discussion with the reviewer, she told me that I could no longer work on the sales floor at the store. She said that, even taking the racial accusations out of it, it was unacceptable that I missed a guest who walked into the store and let her leave feeling hurt. I pointed out that other employees have shared that they too have missed guests, and that it is simply a human error that comes with working retail. She said it is not acceptable when they do it, either, but that her other employees have never received negative reviews and are better equipped to deal with disgruntled customers. Said “If it's bad enough for someone to leave a review, it's probably happened ten times”. I have never had a customer confront me like this in my three months at the store, or even experienced any degree of negativity with a customer beyond disappointment that something is out of stock. I've also never had someone complain about me in this manner at any job I've worked. I suggested that maybe, just maybe it's possible the woman I encountered was being unreasonable. “I just can't take risks like this, our store is struggling too much” she said. She offered that I could continue to work for her doing social media work, but not interact with customers. All of my in-store shifts have been cut. I'm honestly pretty baffled and hurt by the whole situation. It's one thing to have accusations of racism hurled at you by a random customer, it's another to see your boss fully buy into it, dismiss your emotions and neglect to give you any opportunity to improve.

Also, the boss is my aunt, and I have been living with her, so needless to say this has created some tension at home. I know I need to find a new job and move out as soon as possible. Still, any advice on how to handle this situation or seek peace would be appreciated.

TL;DR – Didn't notice a customer walk into the store, customer accused me of being racist, boss removed me from the sales floor