So, you’ve just walked into your favorite store. Regardless of what store that is, your shopping journey always ends the same, at the cash register. And unless your favorite store is run entirely by robots, there is most likely a human behind that register.

Now, you’re a humble and reasonable person, but for whatever reason, this cashier has really just pushed your buttons to the point where you feel a loud emotional outburst is in order. A VERY loud emotional outburst. One where, hopefully, the offending cashier will be immediately swept into a storm of scathing scoldings from their superiors and promptly fired, never to disgrace the hallowed halls of your favorite store ever again.

However, such an outburst done wrong can result in the management siding with their own, blatantly ignoring the Golden Rule, The Customer Is Always Right, and removing you from the store. So, how does one go about yelling at a cashier the right way?

Here are some important questions to consider:

1. Take a look at who’s serving you.

Who are they? What do you know about them? Do they have the bright-eyed face of a high school senior, or the shaky smile and spotless uniform of a brand new employee? Maybe even both? Chances are, a young person you see behind the register could be partaking in their very first job. They have little to no experience dealing with the many tasks a register job demands.

Not to mention, they could also have just spent the first eight hours of their day at exhausting high school classes. These kinds of workers do make mistakes, yes; however, we all make mistakes when we are just starting out. Plus, many of the mistakes new and/or young employees make are easily fixed by a more experienced member of the staff or management at no detriment to you.

2. You’ve taken a look at their face, but look closer.

What else can you see? Are there bags under their eyes? Are they hunched over their register? Is their customer service smile jagged with the edges of fakery? That cashier you’re about to yell at has a two to five times higher chance of being diagnosed with a mental illness than you, presumably, someone who works for a livable wage does. Many minimum wage work days begin early in the morning and can end late at night, with meager breaks of a few minutes for rest and lunch.

Even the cashier has probably been there for four to eight hours a day, every day, since they’ve been hired. That leads to exhaustion and sleep deprivation, which leads to more mistakes. Mistakes which, again, are 99% of the time easily fixed by another employee.

3. Look deep into your heart.

Do you have deep-seated anger issues? Do you feel compelled to make other people's lives miserable to make yourself feel superior? Do you hate the monster you see in the mirror every day?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, consider that just because a cashier is in a position where they have to grin and bear your abuse to hold onto their possibly life-sustaining $8.25 check every week, it doesn't mean you have the right or authority to take your bad feelings out on what is essentially a trapped human being who is contractually obligated to not defend themselves. Also, go get some therapy. You need it.

4. Is this about the coupon?

I'm sorry, but it's expired. No, they can't do anything about it and neither can their manager. Take a deep breath, let go of the fifty cents you would have saved, and double check the expiration date next time.

5. Acquire empathy.

Assuming you weren't fathered by a high ranking member of America's aristocracy, I'm sure at some point you have had a menial job where you had to deal with the general public.

How did you feel when you were in that position?

Did you dread customers walking through the door?

Did you dread a stack of old coupons hitting your counter?

Did you dread the very idea of a crazy customer screaming at you for a mistake you made?

Take all those old painful emotions, and wonder how you would feel if you were coming through your own aisle.

Would you sigh with relief and smile at a kind customer? Or would you fill yourself with that old writhing feeling of dread? Treat that cashier like you would treat a younger you.

Now, if your cashier throws your priceless items with graceless abandon into a bag, shattering them all to pieces, cuts your credit card in half, spits in your drink, and calls you a diseased cow, then by all means. Get angry.

There are people who work in customer service who are not good people. Some just genuinely don't care about any aspect of their job and they do deserve to be disciplined.

However, screaming at a stranger who cannot tell you off or they lose their income is never okay, especially when most people working in minimum wage customer service jobs are teenagers, young moms, and impoverished people who have all been pushed to the very limits of human patience and energy.

The vast majority of cashiers are trying their best to serve you well and correctly. So, if you have asked yourself all of these questions, and still you are inhaling all the oxygen you can to yell at your cashier, consider this final and vital tip:

Don't. Just don't.