(I’m cashing out a customer and her total comes to an even number, $14. The following exchange takes place.)

Me: “That will be $14 please.”

Customer: “How much?”

Me: “$14, please.”

Customer: “Ugh, no, how much EXACTLY do I owe?”

Me: “Um, the total is $14 even, ma’am.”

Customer: “No! I want to know the EXACT total, right to the penny! Stop rounding it up or down. I’m on a tight budget and I need to know the exact amount. I’d like to pay in exact change.”

Me: “I’m sorry, you misunderstood. Your exact total IS $14… an even, round $14.”

Customer: “Look, get me your manager, please.”

Me: “Okay, I’ll call her up.”

(I call my manager on the intercom and she comes right up.)

Manager: “Yes? What’s the problem?”

Me: “Well, this lady here—”

Customer: “NO! THIS lady here is trying to scam me out of money. She keeps rounding up my total so she can keep the change!”

Manager: *to me* “Is this true?”

Me: “No, her total is exactly $14. That’s what I told her. Here, look at my screen display…”

(My manager looks, and sure enough the total is $14 even.)

Manager: “Well, ma’am, I know it’s rare but it does happen that sometimes with the right combination of items we get a nice, even total like this one. But you do owe us $14. She isn’t rounding it up. Here, just look at the price display screen.”

Customer: “BULLS***! This is ridiculous! No total is ever an even amount! I demand that you fix this immediately! Re-scan everything yourself! This little b**** rounded up my total!”

Manager: “Okay, first, don’t insult my employees. Second, you are agitating my other customers with your language. There are young children close by. Third, I will gladly re-scan everything for you, and after I do, I expect you to pay the $14 that you owe us or leave my store with nothing.”

Customer: “Just scan my s***. D*** son of a b****, I’ll use whatever language I want in the f***ing store. These kids hear worst language at home when their parents are f***ing!”

(The manager voids the transaction and re-enters each item as he goes. He hands the customer a pen and paper and has her write down each amount as he goes. He then gives her a calculator to figure out the tax and they add it all up. It comes to exactly $14.)

Customer: “Well, I don’t know what you did, but this still can’t be right. No amount at any store anywhere EVER comes to an exact amount. You guys are scammers!”

(The customer pays and leaves. Unbelievably, the next customer in line had a total of $7.77. He saw it as a sign of good luck and tipped me a toonie!)

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(I have a coworker, Coworker #1, who constantly tries to one up illnesses that other coworkers suffer from. It’s really immature and it annoys a lot of us. This takes place after another coworker, Coworker #2, has just returned to us after having a rather severe lupus flare up.)

Me: “How are you feeling?”

Coworker #2: “Oh, much better now. It’s my own fault, I ignored the warning signs.”

Me: “You just work too hard.”

Coworker #1: “Well, I have drug-induced Lupus. I’m sure that’s way worse than what you have!”

Me: “Actually, it’s—”

Coworker #2: “Oh my God, you do?! Have you started making arrangements? I mean that’s the worst one you can possibly have! How much time do you have left?!”

Coworker #1: “What?! When I looked it up online it didn’t say—”

Me: “Oh, so you don’t actually have it. You looked it up.”

Coworker #1: “No what I meant was—”

Me: “You are so pathetic.”

Coworker #2: “Drug-induced lupus usually goes away if you stop taking the drug, you moron. If you’re going to try and one up a disease, which is really offensive of you, you could at least use half that peanut sized brain of yours.”

Coworker #1: “Why did you tell me it was serious, then?!”

Coworker #2: “Why did you fake having it?”

(Coworker #1 looks really baffled for a moment, then gets embarrassed and slinks away.)

Me: “You know, he does that all the time. If someone has the flu, he has the swine flu. If you had your appendix taken out, he had his appendix and spleen taken out. It’s really, really, stupid.”

Coworker #1: “Yup, unfortunately, you can’t fix stupid…”

(Our manager overheard him later bad-mouthing my coworker and accusing her of faking it. He was fired two days later when that got back to the owner!)

(I work as a waitress in a small restaurant where the owner is the cook. We see a van pull in, so the owner/cook goes to the kitchen to get things ready. However, after several minutes, no one comes inside so the owner comes back out.)

Owner: “I guess they’re meeting someone.”

Me: “Yeah… oh, wait. There’s a kid.”

(I watch from behind the register as a young boy, probably 5 years old, walks in front of their van and just stands there, facing the car. I look away for a second to see if another has pulled in and when I look back I see the boy’s bare butt.)

Me: “What is he doing? Changing clothes?”

Owner: “No, I think he’s flashing us.”

Me: “What?!” *I stand on my tippy toes to see more clearly* “Oh no! No!”

Owner: “What? What’s he doing?”

Me: “He’s PEEING on the hood of their car!”

(Sure enough, instead of bring their kid inside to use the bathroom before they ordered food, the parents must have figured their hood was good enough. I’d hate to be their mechanic!)

(It’s late Easter Sunday evening. The pool hall is empty except for one group of four. One member of the group is intoxicated and has been allowed to stay but not to drink.)

Customer: “Eight ball in the corner…”

(He shoots and misses by a wide margin.)

Customer: “G**D*** IT! SON OF A B****!”

(Suddenly, he smashes the house pool cue repeatedly on the table until it is nothing but splinters.)

Me: “HEY! You need to leave here, right now!”

Customer: “Why?! What the h*** is your problem?!”

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(An older customer approaches my counter and pays for a book.)

Me: “Would you like me to wrap it up for you?”

Customer: “Well, yes, if you really want to.”

Me: “I would be glad to do that for you!” *wraps the book for him*

Customer: “Thanks for the gift, dear!” *immediately unwraps the book and leaves the store*