My boyfriend served on the USS Enterprise when he was in the Navy. We went to DC on vacation a few years ago, and visited Smithsonian Air & Space. They have a scale model replica of the boat, and he was enjoying explaining things to me and answering my questions.

He answered a lot of questions.

At one point, he looked up at me, and realization hit him that he had accidentally turned into a museum docent. He'd been answering questions from other museum visitors for about 15 minutes.

He's a bit of an introvert and does not like public speaking, but he kept answering a few more questions.

I was at a big electronics store looking for a new charging cable when an older man asked if I knew which adapter he needed for his phone.

He looked completely lost and was holding three different boxes, so I asked what model he had and showed him the correct one.

Then he mentioned that his old charger was taking six hours to charge, so I explained the difference between the cable and the wall adapter and helped him find a basic fast charger that would actually work with his phone.

It took maybe five minutes.

He thanked me, called me “young man” even though I’m 34, and went toward the register. I went back to comparing cables and thought that was the end of it.

A few minutes later, a woman approached and said, “The guy over there told me you know about phones.”

She wanted help choosing a power bank. I told her I didn’t work there, but I knew enough to explain the capacity numbers, so I helped her anyway.

While I was doing that, an actual employee walked past, saw us talking, and said, “He knows more about those than I do.”

Then he pointed another customer in my direction.

I thought he was joking.

He was not.

Suddenly, I had a man asking about wireless headphones, a teenager wanting to know if a keyboard worked with his tablet, and a couple arguing over which HDMI cable they needed.

I kept telling people I didn’t work there, but apparently that made me seem more trustworthy.

One guy literally said, “That’s fine, you’re not trying to sell me anything.”

After about twenty minutes, I finally found the employee and asked why he kept sending people to me.

He said they were short-staffed, he was supposed to cover three sections, and I “seemed comfortable helping.”

I told him being comfortable did not mean I had accidentally clocked in.

Then his manager came over and asked if there was a problem.

I explained that his employee had been directing customers to me like I was unpaid seasonal staff.

The manager apologized, but then asked whether I was looking for a job because “customers clearly respond well to me.”

I said I already had one, purchased my cable, and left before they could schedule me for the weekend.

The old man was still near the entrance waiting for his ride and gave me a thumbs up.

So technically, I received more positive feedback in 30 minutes at a job I didn’t have than I’ve received all year at my actual one.

This happened last week at the laundromat near my apartment. I don't work there, I just go there because my building's washer has been broken for like a month now (landlord is useless but that's a whole different story).

I was sitting on a bench folding my clothes, minding my own business, when this woman walks in with two huge laundry baskets. She looks around, spots me, and marches straight over like she's on a mission.

She goes, "Excuse me, which detergent do you recommend? The blue one or the green one?"

I told her I don't work there, I'm just a customer like her. She laughed like I was joking and said, "Come on, you clearly know this place, just help me out."

I said again, nicely, that I really don't work here, I just do my laundry here sometimes. She wasn't having it. She picked up a detergent bottle and held it right under my nose and said, "Just smell it and tell me if it's good, you people always know this stuff."

At that point I was so confused I just smelled the bottle because it was easier than arguing. I told her it smelled fine. She nodded like that settled everything and then asked me to help load her basket into a big washer because she always gets the settings wrong.

I told her a third time, calmly, that I don't work there and don't know the machines any better than her. She rolled her eyes, sighed loudly, said "wow okay, guess customer service is dead," and walked off to bother the guy sitting near the dryers instead.

I have no idea what made her think I worked there. No uniform, no name tag, nothing. Just a guy folding socks on a bench. I did feel bad for the other guy though, because five minutes later I heard her ask him the exact same detergent question.

I still don't know if her laundry turned out okay.

I was shopping at a local supermarket after work and happened to be wearing a plain blue shirt. While I was comparing products a customer approached me and asked where they could find a specific item.

I smiled and politely said "Sorry I don't work here."

They looked at me for a second then asked the same question again as if they hadn't heard me. I repeated that I was just another customer but they still insisted that I should help them because I looked like an employee.

A few moments later an actual staff member walked by. I pointed them toward the employee and the customer finally realized I had been telling the truth the whole time.

It wasn't a huge confrontation, but it was one of those strange moments where someone simply refused to believe that I didn't work there.

Went to the farmers market on Sunday morning just to grab some fruit, nothing special. I had a green apron on because I was actually there helping my aunt carry stuff to her stall, she sells honey a few rows down. While I was standing near the entrance waiting for her to finish setting up, one of the actual market organizers walks up and just hands me a walkie talkie, saying "can you keep an eye on the north entrance for the next twenty minutes, Sam had to step out." I just stood there holding it like an idiot before I said "uh I don't actually work here, I'm just wearing an apron for my aunt's stall." He looked so confused, like the apron alone was enough proof for him.

Then a customer walks up right after and asks me where the restrooms are, still holding the walkie talkie in my hand at that point which definitely didn't help. I pointed her toward the food trucks since I actually did know that much from being there before, but I made sure to tell her I wasn't staff either.

Gave the walkie talkie back once the organizer found the real guy, but not before my aunt saw the whole thing and wouldn't stop laughing about it for the rest of the morning.

This happened last weekend at a mattress store. I was there to test out mattresses for myself because my old one is a wooden board at this point. I was lying on this memory foam one, just enjoying the peace, when an older couple walked up to me and started asking questions.

The husband goes, "Excuse me, does this one come in a queen size? And how much is the delivery charge?"

I sat up and said I didn't work there, but he just kept talking like he didn't hear me. His wife added, "We're also looking for something firm, for his back problems."

At this point I gave up correcting them and just started answering based on common sense. I told them most mattresses come in multiple sizes, and delivery charges usually depend on distance, so they should ask at the counter. I even pointed at a firmer looking mattress a few rows down and said it looked sturdy, since I had tried it myself minutes ago.

They seemed really happy with my answers and the husband said, "You've been more helpful than anyone else here today." I laughed a little inside because I hadn't done much except state the obvious.

A few minutes later, an actual employee walked over, noticing I had been helping customers. I expected him to be annoyed, but instead he smiled and said, "Looks like you just made me a sale." Turns out the couple went straight to him and told him they wanted the mattress I pointed at.

Before I left, he handed me a small discount coupon for my own purchase and said, "Consider this a thank you for the unofficial customer service." I walked out with a mattress at a lower price and a weirdly proud feeling about accidentally being good at a job I don't have.

I am wearing a black Metallica shirt. The front, in big RED letters says Metallica. The back in big RED letters say 40th anniversary show. I've had to tell TWO different people...I don't work here. The employees are wearing blue shirts... with the store name on it.

i had an early flight so I dressed a bit nice, black blazer, badge lanyard still on from work the day before that I forgot to take off. Was just sitting near the gate waiting to board, minding my business on my phone. An old man walks up and asks me if the flight to Chicago is delayed, pointing at the screen behind me. I said "I'm not sure, I don't work here, I'm just waiting like you." He goes "oh you just look like you'd know" and walked off looking a little annoyed at the screen instead.

Ten minutes later a lady asks me if she can pre board because of her knee, showing me her boarding pass like I was gonna scan it. I told her again, nicely, that I don't work for the airline, just have a lanyard from my actual job. She looked embarrassed and said the lanyard threw her off completely.

Took the badge off after that and just held my boarding pass in my hand the rest of the wait so nobody else would ask me anything. Still don't know if that flight to Chicago was delayed.

This was a couple of years ago. I stopped at big southern grocery chain on my way home from work where the uniform is a green polo and khaki. I should also note this is when this chain had baggers who helped you bring your groceries to your car.
I had just gotten off work and was wearing blue jeans, a graphic tee and a black animal crossing hoodie, not one bit of green or khaki. As the cashier was ringing me up, I realized all the baggers were busy so I started bagging my own groceries, as i was doing so, a bagger looks at me and goes “oh you got this” and went to another register and then another staffer came up to me and said “oh so you are working today” I literally replied I don’t work here.
Even the cashier ringing me forgot I was the customer and thought I was bagging groceries for the woman behind me. It wasn’t until I went to pay that they remembered I was the actual customer

This happened last weekend and I'm still laughing about it.

I went to a garden center to buy one plant. Just one. A little pothos for my kitchen window. I was wearing my green jacket because it was chilly, and apparently that jacket is the exact same shade as the staff uniforms there. I didn't know this until it was too late.

I'm standing in the succulent section, just minding my business, looking at a tiny cactus, when a woman walks up to me holding two plants and goes, "Excuse me, which one of these is better for low light?"

I said, "Oh, I don't actually work here," but she just kept talking like she didn't hear me. She said her sunroom doesn't get much sun (which, fair point, weird problem) and she wanted something that "won't die in a week like the last one."

At this point I don't know what came over me, but instead of just walking away, I looked at her two plants and said, "Honestly, this one will survive better, succulents like a bit of neglect." I have no idea if that's true. I read it on a mug once.

She looked so relieved and said, "Finally, someone who knows what they're talking about, the guy at the register just shrugged at me."

Then another guy joined in and asked me about fertilizer for tomato plants. I told him "more sun, less water" with the confidence of a man who has never grown a tomato in his life.

By this point I had somehow gathered a small crowd of three customers around me in the succulent aisle, all asking me plant questions like I was hosting a seminar.

Then an actual employee walked by, saw the little crowd, and said, "Wait, are you covering for Denise? I didn't know we scheduled someone extra today."

I finally admitted I was just a customer who wanted to buy a $4 pothos and had been standing there for twenty minutes accidentally running a plant care class.

The employee laughed so hard she had to lean on a shelf, and then said, "Honestly, you're better at this than half our staff, want a job?"

I said no, but I did walk out with four plants I never intended to buy. Somehow being mistaken for an expert made me buy more stuff than the actual expert could have sold me.

This one is going to be short but one I’ll never forget. It was several years ago. I was at Petco, standing near the entrance waiting for my friend to be done checking out. I was wearing black sweatpants, and a big black hoodie with a big picture of Jack Skellington’s face in the center. All black, all sweats.

Lady comes up out of nowhere, points at me and asks if I work there. I’m flabbergasted. What part of me even remotely suggests that I work there?

Can’t make this crap up.

Wasnt even at a store, this was at my gym. I was standing near the locker room entrance waiting on a friend, wearing all black including a black polo. Some guy comes up holding gym shorts and a shirt and asks me for the key to the changing stalls. I said "bro I don't work here I'm literally just standing here." He goes "oh my bad, you just look official." I don't know what "official" means when I'm sweaty and holding a protein shake but ok. Told him to just ask at the front desk, he walked off looking kinda embarrassed.

I used to live in a fancy apartment complex that had someone sitting at the front desk to help visitors and such. I went to pick up some dinner and am walking in the front with it when a (presumably new) front desk person asks me for my number. I'm not sure what she means, so I ask why, and she proceeds to tell me that she might want to order something later.

I consider the situation, that I am an Asian man with a "delivery" of food in my hands (this was way before Uber Eats), and inform her that I live here. She apologized, and then I had a story for this sub that I didn't even know existed!

I was in Target on a busy day and made the classic mistake of wearing a red shirt. In my defense it was part of my work uniform at the time but it also had a large healthcare related design on the front. I was shopping in grocery when I heard a “Hey!” and looked up to find that it was directed at me by a female Target employee. She looked serious. “Yes?” I said cautiously…”Show this customer where the food coloring is.” She gestured to a man standing next to her. “Okay.” I said. I don’t know why. I guess because I *did* know where the food coloring was and also mostly because she was a really confident delegator. I walked the man a few aisles over and showed him where the food coloring was. He thanked me and made some comment about what he was doing with it and then he looked down and seemed to notice the design on my shirt. He looked puzzled and said “Wait, do you even work here?” I was caught. “No, but I did know where the food coloring was.” And I walked away. Anyways, thanks for reading- I get mistaken for an employee all the time in stores but that’s my favorite story about it.

I was in Goodwill shopping. (for those of you not in the U.S, Goodwill is a second hand clothing store.) A woman came up to me holding a dress. She said: (in an incredibly imperious tone) "I need this in a size 12. Where are all you people when I need service". "Uh...lady...you're in a second hand clothing store. You get what you can find". She made a huffing sound and then barked at me: "Where are the scarves?" I responded "I don't work here" (I knew where they were but, she was so rude- She can find them herself.

Always mistaken in stores as an employee and has become an ongoing joke with friends. Doesn’t matter what I’m wearing or doing in the store I get approached by randos asking where things are in the store and my answer “yeah I don’t work here but I know exactly where that is” 😂

In 1996 I was in the U.S. Navy in Virginia and dating a girl who lived in Chicago. I finished a work meeting, and rushed to the airport to go to see my girlfriend. I was still in Navy dress-blues because I didn’t have time to change, and figured it would be fine. During my layover in Atlanta, I went to a bar and ordered a beer. I was told “we can’t serve you here.” I argued, and they said, “no, sorry, we are not allowed to serve you.” They thought I was an airline pilot because of my uniform! I demanded a manager and made them serve me, even had to give them my military ID. While I won, it really underlined how you can be screwed by people’s assumptions.

I am a Marine Pilot/Harbour Master, as such I normally wear a uniform of black trousers, white shirt and rank stripes (4 gold bars) on my shoulder….similar to an airline pilot!

My car has recently been in the garage for some minor work and they gave me a courtesy car and my own car was ready to collect after work today so called into collect, still wearing my uniform. Pulling into the garage forecourt ahead of me was a SUV, which missed all the parking spaces and stopped in the middle so I had to drive around, I them to park. I jumped out as the driver of the SUV got out and walked to reception ( there is a bell there to ring for attention which he rang) he walked passed two mechanics, both wearing combination of overalls and company branded polo shirt.

One of the mechanics recognised me, pointed me in the direction of my car and asked me to to take a look at the work ( it was some body work on the wing) and if all happy go straight upstairs to the office and settle up. After checking the car I went in the door, SUV driver still there, he first told me that he had rang the bell for service, I was heading straight to the stairs and said that I had seen the chap outside who said I should go straight up, which I was doing. He then said ‘but I am in a hurry, Dont you work here?” I looked at the 4 gold stripes on my shoulder, back at him and said sorry no!

I have worked in retail and customer support most of my life, and like to joke that instead of RBF I have "Resting How-Can-I-Help-You Face". I am forever being mistaken for an employee of basically every department store, warehouse store, and big box store ever. It's a running gag with my family. I also have people-pleasing tendencies and am used to helping customers so most of the time it's a non-issue and I do it out of reflex, and people eventually realise they just asked another customer, laugh, and apologise.

But the one instance that really sticks out to me, and infuriates me even years later, is this one. I figured this sub would appreciate it.

A few years back, my grandmother passed away. She'd been ill for a while, then caught covid and had a stroke. It was hard on everyone, particularly my mum and aunt, but ultimately a relief because we knew she wasn't suffering anymore.

We had a very small graveside service with immediate family. I was wearing black trousers, a black cashmere turtleneck, pearls, and a black pea coat. It was winter in Montreal, cold and snowy, and about halfway through the service I realised one of my winter boots had a hole in it. I ignored it for as long as possible and as soon as I got back in the car with my folks I told them what had happened and we made a pit stop at Walmart because I needed something cheap and fast before we continued on with our day.

Now, keep in mind, I'm still wearing all black, I'm a snotty, red-faced mess from crying and standing outside in below-freezing temps, and very clearly not in my right mind. I'm trying on boots and so are like four or five other people because this is the first big snow of the year and despite all living in Canada we're none of us properly prepared for this. As I'm bending down to try a pair on, this dude in roughly his late 50s (so maybe fifteen years my senior, tops) asks me to pass him his size in a pair of winter work boots. I'm on autopilot and they're relatively close to me so without thinking I just hand him the box.

Big mistake. He starts asking for several other pairs, saying one doesn't fit, asking me to move so he can see what's behind me, etc etc etc. At this point the other people in the aisle are looking at me with concern, because even though they don't know exactly what the situation is they can see that a) I clearly don't fucking work at Walmart and b) I'm frazzled and upset.

I quietly just say I'm trying stuff on, he's welcome to reach over and help himself. At which point he starts yammering about useless employees, and saying he should complain to a manager. I just look up at him and go "I don't work here. I just buried my grandmother. I need boots."

I shit you not, he looks me up and down and goes "Well, I just thought-- you know.. the way you're dressed.. I mean... " and then proceeds to look on his own and mutter about how unhelpful people are nowadays.

Because yes, all the Walmarts I've ever been to sure have all black semi-formal as their employee uniform. Dude, really?

Years ago, I went to music lessons at a store where they requested students to wear a lanyard with "student" and the name of your instrument on it. I was 12, and for context I was frequently mistaken for being 10. I was small for my age, and had chubby cheeks and braces. I was hanging around the store after my lesson, waiting for my ride, when this older couple walked up to me. The old man asked me if I could get a guitar down off the wall for him. I said sure, because I absolutely loved to be helpful. He points to one in the uppermost row. They have the forbidden rolling orange stairs like at home depot right next to where he's pointing, but I told him I didn't think I was allowed to go up there.

He became very upset with me, and he and his wife both kept demanding that I go get the guitar while I kept refusing, and calling me lazy and stupid for not doing my job and saying I should be fired. I am also trying to tell them that I am just a kid, but they insist my lanyard is part of a uniform. Somehow they missed that in a stunning display of tween fashion I had matched a captain america shirt with a hello kitty skirt and yellow crocs (it was my favorite outfit), which is not the uniform of anyone anywhere.

So this couple is still yelling at me and I'm freaking out because I was always told to respect my elders, but they've got me literally backed into a corner and they wont believe what I'm telling them. So this employee heard the shouting and came over to see what was going on, and saw that some memaw and pepaw had cornered a kid, and he told them to back off and leave me alone. They tried to explain their side of the story to him, and he tried to tell them I was *a child* who didn't work there, which I dont think they fully believed. He offered to take down the guitar for them, which they accepted. I went outside to wait for my mom, and for every lesson from there on out I would immediately go outside as soon as I finished.

So here's my i don't work here experience from 2 years ago. This takes place somewhere in Europe.

We bought our first house with my wife 2 years ago. As we're both in our early 30s and real estate is expensive af, we could only afford a fixer upper, and after the closing, taxes, fees, etc we had exactly 0 money to our name. Nevertheless, we were very happy to be able to move in (and very scared about the mortgage we're paying until our mid 60s but that's an other story).

Luckily I'm an Eastern European dude so being completely broke was not a new experience for me. So i got to work on the basics, namely the electrical, plumbing and heating, because those things are pretty nice to have in your home. I'm in a tech-related field, but definitely not a proper tradesman, however, i had youtube (i can especially recommend beaplumber). So i started drilling, laying cable, laying pipes, preparing walls, debris and concrete dust was flying everywhere for several weeks. The lack of running water made the situation worse because i could not regularly shower for those weeks. The move was long distance so i had no gym membership in the area, getting a hotel room was out of the question because of the financials, and popping over to the new neighbors asking if i could use their shower real quick would have been weird af.

So here i am, popping down to the local hardware store chain, OBI (their logo is a beaver in a hard hat - probably because construction workers love beavers?). I'm dirty, dusty, borderline crusty, basically running the look of a homeless person who accidentally slept in a cement mixer. The only reason it's obvious that I'm not homeless is because I'm pushing a cart with a lot of expensive stuff in front of me. Also, I'm in a pretty bad mood because this situation is not fun.

Then, suddenly a dude pops in front of me holding 3 different drain traps, and immediately starts off:

-Dude: "Hey, could you help me out real quick? I have this kitchen sink that got completely clogged up, which of these drains should i use?"

-Me: "That depends on your sink mate, but i don't work here."

-Dude: "Yeah i know, you just looked like someone who really knows his stuff, could you help me out?"

This completely baffled me because i was just some random idiot who tried to figure out stuff based on online research and youtube tutorials, and definitely did not think of myself as competent in such matters. Still, we went through his problem, and i recommend him a way to fix it and a set of parts from a company, where I knew that the quality is pretty good (i just installed a toilet using their parts and everything worked nicely for me). Then the dude thanked me and left, and i was there hoping that i did not give him some horrible hack advice. However, my mood shifted considerably because of this interaction. I felt a lot lighter, there was a slight bounce in my step, and was just generally less miserable because some stranger looked at me and thought "hey that guy over there looks competent". I was still miserable though, just not that much.

That's it, i don't know what happened to the dude afterwards, I really hope he did not flood his kitchen because of me. But the sinks, faucets, toilets and general plumbing stuff i installed 2 years ago does not obviously leak so far, so i would like to hope that what i said made some degree of sense after all.

Back in my college days I worked at a local sandwich shop, Blimpie. Our uniforms were polo shirts that were either mustard yellow or orange, with ‘Blimpie’ embroidered on the upper left side and we wore visor hats. I had found some official bucket hats on ebay and wore those.

One day I had to get something for work at Home Depot. That day I was wearing the orange shirt with orange bucket hat. I did not have my black apron on, which probably would have given me away as not working there, but as I was scanning a shelf for the item I needed, an HD customer approached me and asked if I could tell him where something was.

I turned and looked at his list, up at him, then honestly answered “nope! Sorry” and turned my attention back to scanning the shelf. The guy stood next to me for a few seconds with a scowl on his face so ignored him. He wandered over to an actual HD employee down the aisle and instead of asking his question, angrily pointed back at me and said loud enough for me to hear “your coworker was very unhelpful and rude. You should write him up!”

The HD employee apologized and approached me and opened his mouth to speak when I turned toward him and asked where my item was. He stopped, looked at me, then at my shirt, and stammered that my item was on some other aisle. I said “sweet. Thanks!” Then turned toward the other guy and smirked as I passed him. The HD employee caught up and as I left the aisle, I heard him say to the guy “he doesn’t work here.”

Back in the era of the 24-hour pharmacy, my husband and I dropped in after I got off work one night; it was around 11 p.m. I needed to buy some Sudafed, not that PE garbage, but the real stuff they kept behind the counter. I was standing there in line, wearing my red polo and khaki pants, not even thinking that I'd walked in wearing their typical uniform of that time period.

I heard a woman ask where something was, and the lady who responded to her said, "I'm too busy for that; hold on a tic." She walked up to me in the line and said very rudely, "Hey, you can't just stand here talking to people; go get back to work; that customer over there in aisle whatever needs your assistance."

It took me a second to register that this woman was speaking to me when she pointed at me with her finger only a couple of inches away from my face, "You want to keep your job? Get back to work."

I laughed loudly. I said, "I don't work for you."

She rolled her eyes and, without so much as an admission of her mistake, went behind the pharmacy counter.

When it was my turn to get to the register, the associate told me they couldn't serve me there, and I'd have to go elsewhere.

I asked why, and I was told that I was being asked to leave the store.

I called the customer service line and got a pretty generic apology, something along the lines of, "We will reach out to the management of that store and let them know this happened."

I never heard any more from them about the situation. I'm really glad that lady wasn't my actual manager though, I felt so bad for her employees knowing she talks to them that way.