I used to work at a bakery/cafe that had baked goods but also served full meals. Being in a college town, we had a wide variety of eaters, and we did the best would could to accommodate everyone.

It was around 12:00 pm, so we had a fairly busy crowd in the restaurant. When it comes to taking orders, after so long, my responses became almost scripted because I say them so much.

Customer #1: “I’m vegan. Do you have anything on the menu I could have?” 

Me: “We don’t particularly have anything specifically vegan, but we can most definitely alter most orders to accommodate within reason.”

Customer #1: “Like what?”

As I said, I become scripted, and we have vegetarians often, so my response was automatic.

Me: “If you’re okay with eggs or cheese, we have the breakfast veggie burrito.” 

Then, I remembered that she’d said she was vegan.

Me: “But we can make it without—”

Customer #1: “Oh, I can eat eggs and cheese.”

Me: “Uh… okay. Potatoes or fruit on the side?”

Customer #1: “Fruit, and a mocha latte with whipped cream.”

Me: “Sure thing. Just to clarify, you would like our breakfast veggie burrito — with eggs and cheese — with a side of fruit, and a mocha latte with whipped cream?”

Customer #1: “Perfect!” 

Me: “Okay, that’ll be [total]. Here is your number; we’ll bring the food to the table when you’re ready.”

The customer proceeded to wander to a table, and the next customer stepped forward.

Customer #2: “I know I’m not hip to all the things anymore, but I thought vegans don’t eat animal products.”

Me: “They don’t… but working in a restaurant, ‘the customer is always right’, and it’s both easier and quicker not to argue.”

[Customer #1] proceeded to enjoy her meal and mocha, leaving the plates clean, left a tip on the table, and said goodbye.

I drive passenger trains for a living. This story took place very early after I started driving on my own. I drove a train going south. They were switching out a bridge between the third and the fourth station. No trains could pass, so we would empty the train at station three, and we’d all take a bus to station four where we would continue the journey south on a different train. It was a planned job, and everything had been planned and arranged meticulously.

When we left my starting station, we made announcements about the bus. As my coworker told me later, she even told everyone affected in person as she took their tickets.

When we got close, we made another announcement, and to be absolutely certain that no one would be left, we made one more after we had stopped. My colleague helped the passengers find their way to the bus while I switched the driver’s compartment for the next driver. I also walked through the train after the doors were closed to make certain it was empty. 

There, I found an entire family obliviously waiting for the train to continue on its merry way.

Me: “Excuse me, but you have to switch to the bus now. I’ll open the door for you.”

Mother: “What?! No one told us about this!” 

Me: “We made several announcements.”

Mother: “We didn’t hear anything, right?”

There were nods of assent from the family.

Mother: “It is absolutely unacceptable for you to suddenly have us switch to a bus without any warning.”

Me: “It isn’t sudden. We’ve made several announcements, and it’s even on your ticket. This has been planned for at least half a year. Now let me show you where the bus is; I don’t want to be late.”

There was some more arguing before I got them to leave the train. I don’t recall exactly what was said since, at that point, I started to lose my temper and got very snarky. But I still don’t get how an entire group of people could miss all that information; it wasn’t a language barrier, they all seemed to hear me perfectly fine, and the kids were ten or older.

I’m checking out with my items at the grocery store, and my checkout clerk suddenly lets out a snort of laughter. It’s so loud and sudden that it catches me by surprise.

Clerk: “Oh, my God! Sorry! I just saw something on the register, and it made me laugh.”

Suddenly, it clicks, and I know why she’s laughing.

Me: “Are you new?”

Clerk: “Yeah, I started a few weeks ago.”

Me: “The clerks love it when I buy Land O Lakes butter because of what it does to the register.”

We both look at the register and how it’s decided to display my item as it was scanned.

Register: “LOL BUTT.”

Clerk: “Not gonna lie, I found that hilarious.”

Me: “Oh, if you liked that, then you’re gonna love this next one.“

She scans my next item: the Land O Lakes Omega-3 eggs.

Register: “LOL OMG EGGS.”

Clerk: *Squeals*

This is back when I was a little kid. I was in line in a grocery store behind a loudmouthed customer.

Customer: “I don’t want that Black boy bagging my groceries.”

The manager (a family friend) got called over to see what the problem was.

Manager: “Okay, time for you to get out and not come back.”

Customer: “I just want someone else to bag my groceries.”

Manager: “And I just want your racist a** to leave.” 

The customer “humphed” and left without his groceries. The manager had someone follow him to his car and get the license plate, and then he called the only other grocery store in town and told his buddy, the manager there, what had happened. He was denied entry into the other store.

There wasn’t another decent-sized grocery store for more than fifty miles.

There is a rule of thumb that if you do something right, then a person who sees it will tell three others — but if you do something wrong, they will tell ten. After reading so many Not Always Right stories of how nasty people are, I decided to be one of the three.

I get a call from my bank. After going through all the security procedures:

Bank: “Have you been to Argentina in the past month?”

Me: “I haven’t been out of my state in over a year.”

Bank: “We’re sorry, but it appears that someone has used your debit card number to buy about $60 worth of clothes in South America. We see this when they try to use a small amount first to see if it will go through. We’ll cancel the card and credit the amount back to your account.”

Me: “Thank you for keeping an eye on my account!”

Silence.

Me: “Hello. Are you there?”

Bank: “Sorry, I was just surprised. A lot of people swear at us when we tell them news like this.”

So, in deciding to be one of the three, a few weeks later, I call the customer service number of my bank and ask for the fraud department. When the lady answers and inquires as to my problem:

Me: “I simply wanted to thank you all for your diligence in keeping an eye on my account.”

Again, silence.

Fraud Department: “Thank you for the kind words!”

She sounded like she was nearly starting to tear up. Earlier that day, someone verbally ripped into her. Trying to help and protect your bank information, and you rip them apart! I will continue to try to be one of the three going forward!