(It’s back-to-school season and our small store has a coloring competition for children to win a free backpack filled with school supplies. Because the age range for participants is four to twelve years old, it’s a random draw and we take submissions for about two weeks. On the day of the draw, just after we’ve randomly drawn a winner, a couple that appears to be in their fifties enters the store and the gentleman picks up one of the submission papers and begins to draw with the store-provided crayons.)

Customer: “When will this drawing be held, anyway?”

Me: “Oh, I’m very sorry, sir, but submissions closed a couple of hours ago. We’ve actually already drawn the winner!”

Customer: *suddenly irate* “What?! Well, who won?”

Me: “This is the winning picture!”

(I show him the coloring. It’s obviously not the best drawing and not even inside the lines, but it was a very small child so what do you expect?)

Customer: *snorts* “At least you should limit it to people who actually colored in the whole thing!”

Me: “Well, sir… it was a random drawing.”

Customer’s Wife: “And anyway, we only came here to schedule a [service that we’re known for] for him.”

Customer: *still coloring* “No! I don’t want to do it now!”

Customer’s Wife: “What? Really?” *incredulous look at him* “[Customer], don’t do this. You’ve got to be kidding!”

Customer: “I don’t feel like it. I’m not stubborn! I just don’t want to now.” *folds up his coloring page and storms off*

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Customer In Front Of Me: *to computer guy* “Hi, my computer made a bang noise, stopped working, then there was weird smell… Is that a bad thing?”

(Two teenage couples come into my section to eat. The two guys order full meals, one of the girls orders a glass of water, and the other orders a side salad. I have been joking around with the two guys, but the girls have given me nothing but icy stares and short answers. Another waiter delivers the food and forgets to bring the salad. I come up to the table.)

Me: “How is everything?”

(The girl who ordered the salad looks at me and throws her hands up in the air.)

Me: “Oh, no, it looks like my colleague forgot your salad. I’ll be right back.”

(I retrieve the salad quickly and return it to the girl. As I set it in front of her:)

Girl: “God, what took so long?”

Me: “The cooks weren’t finished spitting in it yet.”

(Her eyes just about popped out of her head and the guys just started laughing. Luckily the guys paid and tipped well.)

(I work in a call center which serves as technical support for a very large cellphone company. In order for agents to verify a customer’s account under their cellphone number, they would need to provide us with the last four digits of their SIN (or ‘PIN’ as we called it), which we are already able to see on their account. If they choose not to verify their account, they only get limited access to it (like making a payment, or asking technical support questions.)

Me: “[Standard agent greeting]. May I have your four digit PIN, please?”

Customer: “How do I find out my PIN?”

Me: “It is the last four digits of your social insurance number.”

Customer: “Well, I don’t feel comfortable giving you that information!”

Me: “If you choose not to verify, I do have to warn you that you that there will be limited access to your account. As well, I can currently see your PIN; all I need is for you to verify it for me.”

Customer: “DIDN’T YOU HEAR ME? I do NOT feel comfortable giving you that kind of information.”

Me: “Okay, ma’am, what can I help you with today?”

Customer: “I want to know what the last four numbers this phone has called.”

Me: “I’m sorry, but because you chose to not verify this account, I can not give you that information. I can help you out with technical questions or make payments.”

Customer: *very irate now* “WHAT?! I NEED to know what numbers this phone has called!”

Me: “If you would like to verify…”

Customer: “I ain’t verifying nothing, you stupid b****!” *slams phone down*

(I was assuming she meant to actually hang up but in her anger the phone didn’t actually disconnect and I had to listen to her throw things around and curse for three minutes before I was able to give a goodbye script and disconnect.)

(I work two jobs, and one of them is at a dollar store near my house. Since I’m there fairly frequently, and because it’s so close to home, I tend to help close versus working the morning, thus seeing lots of people during the afternoon when everyone is getting off work and school. I see many regulars and they recognize me pretty easily since I work there so much. I’m shopping on my day off and standing in line to purchase some things, check my schedule, and then leave. We are busy so the manager-on-duty opens the second line, calling to anyone who wants to switch lines. No one moves, so after hesitating in case someone else moves I move next in line to purchase my items. Then, as I am heading to the door, a regular pipes up:)

Regular: “Hey, I know you work here, but next time things get busy you should just wait in the back of the store until everyone’s done.”

Me: *momentarily speechless* “Uh huh…”

(I chose that moment to leave, thinking that was the end of that. No dice. He apparently felt that my response was incorrect; he tried saying I said it was “beneath me” or what have you, a bunch of he said/she said. The manager-on-duty reiterated that I was A PAYING CUSTOMER on my DAY OFF and was, indeed, next in line. The regular contacted our district manager, who contacted our store manager, who spoke with the manager-on-duty, and she explained the situation. I still don’t understand what it was that offended him so much but, curiously, he’s not been in our store for over a month. Weird.)