(I’m at the grocery store and need to get some produce. A couple and an elderly lady have stopped to chat and are nearly blocking the main path into the produce area. I’m in a foul mood, and I silently push my cart between the two parties to get where I need to be, keeping careful not to hit anyone. The elderly lady then turns to me.)

Elderly Lady: “What do you say?”

Me: “Quit blocking a high-traffic area!”

(I think she was expecting an “excuse me”!)

(I work at a big-box electronics store and we’re not allowed to tell people that we’re closing or ask them to leave once we have already closed. This takes place twenty-five minutes after we’ve closed for the day. This woman has been here for almost an hour trying to return something without a receipt and exchanging it for something else.)

Manager: “Hey, [My Name], can you do this return and web order?”

(I have a bad feeling that it might take a while and I am off in five minutes, but I’ve been told off for talking back to managers before, so I have no choice.)

Me: “Okay.”

(I try to get the woman’s phone number to do the return, but she turns to my manager and starts whining about not getting a free gift along with the new thing she is buying. After five minutes of my manager saying that there is no gift but that he will take $15 off the already on-sale item, she finally lets me do the return. It’s now over half an hour after we’ve closed and there are no more cash tills in the store open.)

Me: “Okay, your total is $73.85.”

(The woman tries to give me cash.)

Me: “I’m sorry, but we can’t take cash anymore since we’ve been closed for too long.”

Customer: “I don’t know if I have enough in my bank account for it. Are you sure you can’t take the cash?”

Me: “No, ma’am. All of our tills have been put away. It would take another fifteen minutes to open them up again to take the cash.”

Customer: “Could you just give me a straight exchange, then? Just take more money off so that they’re the same price?” 

Me: *thinking to myself: “No f****** way!”* “I can’t say yes to that; I’ll have to grab my manager.”

(I head over to my manager and tell him what’s going on. He comes over.)

Manager: “I’ve already given you a discount on top of the sale. I can’t do anymore.”

Customer: “Aw, come on, [Manager].”

(She starts giving him puppy dog eyes and flipping her hair, trying to get him to say yes. Thankfully, this manager is better than that.)

Manager: “No, I can’t take anymore off. [My Name], you go clock out, since you were off fifteen minutes ago.”

(I did exactly that and the woman left pretty quickly since she wasn’t getting what she wanted.)

(I was assigned female at birth but am experimenting with gender presentation. I am currently trying to tie a tie as part of a formal business outfit. This is taking a while, as I keep messing it up. My mother sees me.)

Mum: “Don’t wear a tie. The older ladies will think you’re wearing a costume.”

Me: “I never thought of it that way. Should I wear a necklace, instead?”

Mum: “That would be perfect.”

(I ended up going to the meeting wearing a very pretty necklace, a chest binder, and a sock packer.)

(I work in an outdoor clothing retail store that uses a hand-written chalkboard for our sidewalk sign. The sale has just changed this morning and, being in a rush to also change all the interior signs, and all the regular opening duties, I don’t go back to spell-check my sign. I normally have decent spelling so I’m not too worried about it. It gets busy right away and I am already trying to help five to six people when this older lady comes in — probably in her 70s — and just kind of stands near me while I am talking to another customer. I make eye contact and smile to acknowledge her and finish up with the customer I am helping.)

Me: “Do you need a hand with anything or have any questions?”

Older Lady: “Did you know your sign is spelled wrong?”

Me: *pauses* “Oh?”

Older Lady: “Yes, your sign is spelled wrong! The word ‘reduced’ is spelt with a C, not an S!”

Me: *already slightly annoyed because she is wasting my time when I have other customers who actually need my help* “Sorry about that. I will take a look and fix it when I have a moment.”

Older Lady: “You’d better fix it! It’s offensive to those of us who can actually spell!”

Me: *internally rolling my eyes* “Yes, I will fix it. Have a good day!”

(I turned away to help another customer before she could say anything else. She stomped out of the store probably thinking she had done her “good deed” for the day by saving us all from poor spelling. All I could think about while she was being so offended by our sign was how little she must know of what is going on in the world if an incorrectly spelled word is what she finds offensive. And next time? All it would take is a polite “Excuse me? Do you know your sign has a spelling error? Just letting you know,” versus practically throwing a tantrum in my store.)

On my way back to the office after going to grab a tea and some food, I decided to take the underground route as opposed to going the outside route. I was on the escalator going down watching two ladies at the bottom. The up escalator was off for maintenance and blocked off so we were required to take the stairs.

The two women stood at the bottom looking rather confused. Finally, one of them moved forward, walked up a couple steps, stopped and looked around, and turned to the other and asked, “Why is it not moving?” Her friend, looking equally perplexed, shrugged her shoulders in response.

One of the women looked at me for a moment as I turned my gaze to the clearly out of service escalator on the other side. She followed my gaze and it suddenly dawned on her. She looked at the other woman and exclaimed, “Oh, it’s broken; that’s why it’s not moving,” and proceeded to run up the stairs. The other one looked around and said, “Well, it should be more clearly marked!”