Not So Sweet When Realization Sinks In

(I am 16 and working part-time at a local petrol station. I have been training up a new girl over the past week. A man that I know well comes in to buy petrol and several other things.)

Me: “Hey!”

Customer: “Hi, sweetheart. Pump four, and can I get a 20-pack of [cigarettes], please?”

(I turn around to grab the cigarettes, and hear the new girl scoff.)

New Girl: “‘Sweetheart’? Are you going to take that, [My Name]?

(I ignore her and put the cigarettes and petrol through the register. The man pays and leaves.)

New Girl: “Why didn’t you emasculate him like you did that drunk last night?”

Me: “Look, it’s fine. He’s—”

New Girl: “It is not fine!“

(She heads into the back and comes back with the owner a couple of minutes later.)

Owner: “[My Name], [New Girl] said you were being accosted by a pervert? I thought you knew better than to let them get away with it.”

Me: *losing my patience* “Look, it’s fine. He just called me ‘sweetheart’—”

New Girl: “And that’s sexist. It’s disgusting and misogynistic, and he was looking at you with lust in his eyes!”

Me: “I can assure you he wasn’t doing anything of the sort. He’s—”

New Girl: “Oh, really. How come?”

Me: “Well, if you hadn’t interrupted me for the third time, you would already know that he is my dad.”

(The new girl blushed, and the owner told her to go on her lunch break. She has since been considerably less forthcoming with her opinions.)