I am a photographer who happens to be female. I am contracted out by a company to different dealerships to take pictures of vehicles for sale for their online inventory. I’ve gotten my fair share of comments from various men out in the lots — most commonly, “Need a model?” Gag!

At one dealership, I notice I am sometimes approached by one salesman in particular. 

One day, I am working on photographing the exterior of a vehicle, and I see that salesman driving a car, which he eventually drives past me. When he sees me, he excitedly takes out his iPhone and holds it up, pretending to take a picture. Hilarious.

Later on, I am taking pictures of the interior of a vehicle when I am startled by a knock on the window. When I look up, surprise, surprise, it’s him. He’s holding up his iPhone again, and it’s pressed against the car window. I roll my window down a little and he says something along the lines of, “Thanks for the lesson!” Again, incredibly funny. I make a sort of forced chuckle that sounds so fake I can hardly convince myself.

A couple of weeks later, I am back working at the dealership. I am shooting the outside of a vehicle when the same salesman shows up. I barely see him out of the corner of my eye, and my back is toward him since I am walking toward the vehicle to open the door to access a control inside. He continues walking toward me, and the vehicle, saying, “Oh, wait a minute!” in a “funny” way, with his iPhone out again.

I mostly ignore him and open the door. When he passes by me, he sees that I’m not amused, and says, “I can tell you’re sick of me. I’ll leave you alone.”

Riiight. Dude, you don’t get to try and guilt me into not being amused by your stupid comments. I’m just trying to work in peace, and it’s honestly so annoying — and frankly disrespectful — to be distracted. Plus, how’d he feel if I walked by if he was with customers and made comments? My time is no less valuable than his!

I work at one of the main hospitals in the city, and I rotate between different entrances. Hospitals have been very strict with who they allow into the hospital since the health crisis, with only patients and select visitors being permitted. There are many people who try to come into the hospital despite not being a patient or knowing a patient who has been admitted, and a lot of my job involves calling the main switchboard and various units to ensure random people aren’t just wandering around and that people actually have someone they are going to visit.

One day, a visitor comes in.

Visitor: “I’m here to visit my grandmother.”

Me: “Can I have the spelling of her name, please?”

Visitor: “[Male First Name], uhh… [Last Name]?”

I call the main switchboard to see if they can locate the patient, and sure enough, they can’t find anyone under that name.

I report back to the visitor.

Visitor: “Oh, I have this friend here, [Male Name], and he’s in a wheelchair. You know him?” 

This hospital has almost 1,000 beds, and I’m not exactly on a first-name basis with patients!

I asked for the spelling of their name, and… they couldn’t tell me. I informed the visitor that they needed the correct spelling of any patient’s first and last name in order to visit. The patient wandered out the door. This happens at least once a shift.

I place an order online for a salad and wrap place. The earliest option is for twenty minutes later, but I go in early anyway in case they are also early. I walk straight into the “online pickup” area. An employee barely glances up since they are clearly busy making and boxing up orders.

The people who come in around the same time as me, but who order normally at the counter, start picking up their food as the employees call out that orders are ready. I figure they will call mine when it’s ready, so I continue to wait patiently. The rush finishes fifteen minutes after I came in, and I am the only one left in the restaurant. Finally, a different employee from the one I saw making food calls out to me.

Employee: “Are you picking something up?”

Me: “Yeah, an online order for [My Name].”

The employee reaches for an already wrapped-up box.

Employee: “Oh!”

Me: “Was it ready that whole time?!”

Employee: “Yes, just say something next time!”

I almost replied that no one had even acknowledged me when I came right to the pickup area, and that I didn’t want to bother the busy employee, so maybe this is a NAR!

I work in a shop that sells glasses. We have a policy of not adjusting frames that were bought elsewhere due to liability reasons. If it breaks, I am liable to replace it and I cannot warranty products I don’t even sell.

A lady walks into my store and says she needs me to adjust her glasses. I immediately recognize that it’s not our product, so I ask her if it’s purchased with us in case she just got the lenses from us and not the frames.

Customer: “No, it’s not from here, but you’re going to adjust it for me since I bought my other glasses from here.”

I ask for her information to pull her file, but I cannot even find her in our system because she never bought anything from us.

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it’s our policy that I cannot adjust stuff that wasn’t purchased here, and I know we have never sold that brand of frames here.”

Customer: “I cannot believe this! How am I supposed to see out of these comfortably?!”

Me: “I would suggest taking them back to where they were purchased and have them take a look at the glasses to determine this.”

Customer: “I need this adjusted!”

Me: “Yes, and I explained that our policy is to not touch products we didn’t sell, for liability reasons.”

Customer: “I cannot believe you’re doing this to me! Isn’t there a fee I can pay?”

Me: “I have stated three times politely that it’s our policy and I need to follow company policy, so no, there is no fee I can charge you, nor would I want to, as it’s not even about money. There are places that don’t have this policy, and you’re more than welcome to try there!”

I name two places for her.

Customer: “What kind of operation are you running here?! This is unbelievable!“

She stormed off after a few dramatic exhales and slamming her belongings around on the counter.

I’m going to try that with my Ford. I’m going to go to Honda and demand they fix it, because that’s so logical. I love how opticians are complained about as being “too expensive,” so people buy their stuff online and then are mad at the same opticians for not looking after products they bought at the competition. Total entitlement.

Back before the sickness overtook the land, I ended up with a job doing tech support for phones, tablets, and computers from home. They supplied a computer; I had to provide the Internet connection. The computer constantly failed to connect to the Internet — my personal devices never had any issues — and no troubleshooting or replacement computers could fix the issue for longer than maybe a day. Since tech support took two to four days to get back to me each time I called, and I wasn’t being paid when I wasn’t in the phone queue, AND I had to remain home for tech support, I quit and sent the computer back with their pre-paid label.

A month later, I am told to send the computer back or they will bill me $4,000 for it. I reply to the email with a screenshot of the courier’s tracking page showing it was delivered and signed for by [Person].

A week later, I get another email.

Company: “According to our records, the equipment that was loaned to you by [Company] in support of the contract is still in your possession. As per the loan agreement, the equipment was due in transit within forty-eight hours of end of employment.”

Me: “Your records are incorrect. As I reported in an earlier request for this computer, the computer was returned shortly after I resigned. [Courier] tracking confirms the system was shipped on [date], arrived [five days later] at 11:08 am, and was signed for by [Person]. If you are unable to locate the computer, that is your issue, not mine. I have done everything I need to return all equipment.”

The next day, I get a call from their “asset recovery department.”

Asset Recovery: “If you don’t send the computer back or pay $4,000 within twenty-four hours, we will put it on your credit report and report you for theft.”

I’m already irritated.

Me: “Look, your company is populated with idiots. I sent the computer, I’ve sent the tracking information three different times, and I’ll send it to you again.”

I get the email address for this person and send it again.

Me: “It was shipped, tracked to your warehouse, and signed for by [Person]. What happened after [Person] signed for it is your problem, not mine, and if I hear any more from you other than, ‘Have a nice day,’ I’m sending all my documentation from my experience in this job to my lawyer.”

Asset Recovery: “Can you hold, please?”

Me: “Yes.”

Asset Recovery: “I’ve closed the issue and marked the computer as returned. You won’t hear from us again.”

I actually won my unemployment case against this company based on unconscionable behaviour and constructive dismissal. Because of those issues, in my final three weeks, I maybe worked and got paid for about four hours of work; the rest was spent twiddling my thumbs.