Do grown people in stores really laugh at customers?

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Today me and my boyfriend went to a seaside town, and we went into a small store that sold all sorts of arts and crafts and stuff. There was only about one other customer in there at the time, and we had a look around. As I walked past the till two middle-aged women were behind the till and were having a conversation, then suddenly their voices turned into whispers and then they started snickering. I wasn't sure if they were laughing at me but my social anxiety was telling me they were.

But, trying to look at it from their perspective, I don't think they could be laughing at me, because this was a seaside town where you get loads of tourists and different people come and go, and the women in this store must get many different customers in and out every day, of all different shapes, sizes, races, neurology, etc, and why would two grown adults stand there giggling at their customers?

I was going to make eye contact and smile as I walked past the till but I suddenly felt shy so I just made out I was distracted by the interesting stuff on the shelves. I know my hair didn't look its best today so I tied it up in a bun, but surely that wouldn't make people laugh. Would shop assistants really laugh at their customers? Well it's OK to laugh at or judge people as long as they're well out of earshot, not while they're in the store right in front of you. Surely it's bad for business, and these two women looked in their 50s, they weren't silly teenage students working in McDonald's.

Grown people really do laugh at customers. I've had store clerks laugh at me many times.

It was likely some type of gossip that they didn't want customers to overhear.
It's not professional for them to be talking about their friends / colleagues / boss, so they would whisper.

As someone working in retail they do but it's only if someone really stands out, it's possible they weren't talking about you especially in a place with lots of tourist traffic and you just happened to be there when that happened. It goes both ways though, customers will sometimes act the same way. I mostly just ignore it all and get on with things.

Always keep in mind that - you're not always the center of the Universe. Maybe sometimes you're God, but not always.

So though they were obviously laughing about SOME thing it may not have been about you. It might have been gossip about a fellow employee, or about something or someone else. And even if it was about you it doesnt matter.

I have worked in retail for longer than most folks on WP have been alive, and every retail establishment has its population of weird regular customers- I mean truly odd- like mentally ill odd. But I dont recall us actually laughing at them. Hiding from them maybe. But not laughing.

One time a young lady employee came into get her paycheck in her day off street clothes. And a bunch of us employees young guys and gals, on and off duty, began chit chatting around her in a corner of the store. The girl was sorta gripping about the job. Then a nice middle aged lady walked up to her and asked her "where is the prescription counter?". The young lady responded with "right where you see those four foot tall red neon lighted letters that say "PRESCRIPTION". And the lady just went where she pointed.

And then we all looked at each other. And then we all broke out laughing. No one said anything but I am sure they were laughing for the same reason I was- partially because the lady asked a dumb question, but mainly because we were aghast that the girl 'actually SAID that to a customer'(ie came off as a wise-ass). So it was more the situation than at the customer.

Well, I did ignore them. I pretended I hadn't heard. I wish I had looked at them as they were laughing though, just to check their body language (I can tell if people are laughing at me or at something else by their body language). When people are laughing at you because you look simple or something, it is best to acknowledge it by turning around and making eye contact. That way you look like you're aware. Usually "simple" people are oblivious to people laughing at them and it makes them laugh at you even more. No, people don't always laugh to get a reaction. They laugh because they're only thinking of themselves. This is where NTs can lack empathy for others (I'm assuming they were not Aspies, in actual fact I think Aspies would know better as we seem to have more respect).

I just hate the way women collapse into giggles all of a sudden when I'm nearby. But I don't stand out enough to make people laugh out loud. I was just ambling around the shop, my purse over my shoulder, browsing at the stuff in the store, nothing much to laugh about.

It's not a case of "so what?" for me though. People don't like being laughed at. I've always been taught that laughing at (not with) people is socially unacceptable and most NT adults have the social skills to only laugh when the victim is out of earshot. I do understand retail assistants do gossip about colleagues and customers, I do too, but not where they can hear you.

If i worked in a shop I would just spend my day howling with laughter at people but that's because I'm out of control, extremely immature and a f*****g nutcase.

Seriously though I really don't think they would have been laughing at you Joe. I'd be surprised if they even noticed you were there.