I am in a very dark mood one day when someone knocks at my front door. When I open it, two young women are standing there, one holding a Bible and the other various pamphlets.

I’m not religious but I don’t object to other people having or professing religious beliefs, and ordinarily, I wouldn’t mind having a chat with two very pretty ladies, but today is the exception. They start their spiel.

Visitors: “Could I ask you what you think of the state the world is in today?”

Me: “Frankly, I think the sooner the human race wipes itself out, the better.”

Visitors: “…”

They tried to continue but, somehow, their hearts just didn’t seem to be in it anymore.

I was a farmers’ market vendor for a few years. Our market made a point of selling local, home-grown produce. 

One customer came in asking for avocados, which are, of course, tropical and not grown here in western Idaho. I don’t know if he didn’t understand “local produce” or “climate zones,” but he was miffed that none of us sold avocados!

I am not social in school. One boy, in particular, seems to take great pleasure in pushing me to the point of tears before leaving me alone with my anger. I tell my parents about this boy, they ask the school to intervene, and the school sends us to a group called “peer counselors.” Each counsel session has two school-aged counselors and one teacher. I’m nine, [Boy] is eleven, and we’re both in fourth grade.

Peer Counselor #1: “We are here today to find out why [My Name] feels targeted by [Boy].”

Boy: “She likes it.”

Me: “I don’t.”

Boy: *Poking me* “It’s just for fun!”

I duck out of his reach, batting his hand away.

Me: “Stop!”

Boy: “She hit me! See?”

Peer Counselor #1: “[Boy], please keep your hands to yourself. [My Name], don’t hit.”

Peer Counselor #2: “[My Name], why do you think [Boy] is picking on you?”

Me: “I don’t know. He’s mean.”

Peer Counselor #2: “Let’s try to not use words like that. Let’s try being more constructive and less destructive.”

Boy: “[My Name] doesn’t have friends. I’m just trying to give her the attention she wants.”

Me: “I don’t want attention.”

Boy: “Then why did you go tattling to your mommy and daddy like a widdle baby?”

He makes mocking crying motions by his eyes. I feel the tears coming and shake my head.

Boy: “See? She’s a baby!”

Peer Counselor #2: “[Boy], we don’t call people babies.”

Peer Counselor #1: “Clearly, [My Name] does not like the attention you’re giving her. Don’t you think you should stop?”

Boy: “No. No one else even talks to her.”

He reaches over and pulls my hair so hard my head jerks sideways.

Me: “Stop!”

I start crying.

Teacher: “Okay, [Boy]. That’s enough. Get up.”

Boy: “What?”

Teacher: “Get up. Now.”

She stands beside him, not touching him.

Boy: “You can’t make me.”

Teacher: “Get. Up.”

[Boy] smiles smugly, crossing his arms.

Boy: “No.”

Teacher: “Okay.”

She grabs him by the arm and drags him out of the room. He protests as they go down the hall toward the principal’s office.

Boy: “Hey! Let go! You can’t touch me!”

My mom came and picked me up from school that day. A few days later, when I returned to school, I heard that [Boy] had been expelled. My “tattling” had given other kids the courage to come forward, sharing experiences from stealing lunch money to physical intimidation. The principal and other staff members felt that expulsion was the best move for everyone. I don’t know what happened to [Boy] or where he went after he was expelled.

I work as a barista at a local coffee shop. We have a regular who is the WORST. She is the type of lady who complains about food/drinks just to try to con us out of free stuff. For example, she’ll order a sandwich with four extra pickle spears and get irate when we try to charge her extra for them. She always has an issue with EVERYTHING she orders.

[Regular] comes in every day and orders the same drink: a large mocha latte. I take her order every day and make her drink every day.

One fateful — incredibly busy — morning, she comes in, orders her usual, and sits down. There is a line of maybe fifteen people and I have one other coworker behind the bar with me. I make [Regular]’s drink as quickly as possible, take it to her, and go back in the weeds.

A few minutes later, I see [Regular] hovering toward the front of the line and I know today is gonna be the day.

Me: “[Regular], everything okay?”

Regular: “No, this tastes too strong today. How many espresso shots are in it?”

Me: “Sorry about that, large lattes always have three shots.”

Regular: *Looking mortified* “OH, NO! I ordered this with only two shots. I’m going to need you to remake this.”

Me: “[Regular], I’ve been taking your order every day for six months. You’ve never once asked for only two shots. I can remake it for you, but you’ll have to pay for it.”

Regular: “Well, my doctor said I can’t have this much caffeine. I only wanted two shots and I demand you make this right! And I will not be paying for it.”

I am super sympathetic to people with special health concerns and requests. Of course, I would never want to serve anyone anything that would make them sick. But I know [Regular], and I know she’s full of s***.

Me: “So, your doctor said two shots of espresso is fine?”

Regular: “Exactly.”

I grab her cup from her, take it over to the sink — in plain view of her and the growing line of customers — and proceed to dump exactly one-third of her latte down the drain. Then, I put the lid back on and hand it back.

Me: “Should be safe to drink now. Have a good one!”

I work internal IT for a big retail company. With everything going on lately, we’ve transitioned to mostly work-from-home for all our corporate users.

User: “I have a laptop, but I need to learn a new software, so I got another laptop and I can’t sign in.”

Me: “Is it a [Company] laptop or a personal one? And is this a Windows or a Mac?”

User: “It’s the laptop; I think it’s Windows.”

Me: “How did you get this laptop? Did it come from asset management?”

User: “Um, no. It came from a coworker.”

Me: “Okay, unfortunately, you won’t be able to sign on from home the first time. You’ll need to get it on the network so it can talk to your account. I know some of the corporate offices are closed, so if you can get to one of the stores, that’ll work, too.”

User: “I have my manager’s approval to use this.”

Me: “I understand that, but if the computer isn’t on the network then it can’t grab your account information.”

User: “Would it change if my manager talked to that asset whatever team?”

Me: “Unfortunately, not really. Even if they said this situation was one where they could make the change to allow the first-time login from home, they’d still need to get it on the network in order to update the account.”

User: “Are you sure? My manager said I could use it.”

Me: “I understand that; however, it still needs to talk to the network to verify your account.”

User: “But the coworker who gave this to me should still be able to sign in, right?”

Me: “As long as they know the most recent password that this workstation cached. However, they shouldn’t be sharing their credentials with you.”

User: “Are you sure I have to get it to the store?”

Me: “Yes.”

User: *Sighs* “Fine, thanks. Bye.”