I was handing out new office badges since we had just moved offices. One girl showed up to pick up her new badge at 2:00 pm, carrying only a small purse. I saw her name on the work-from-office list, so I had to ask since it will affect the payroll.

Me: “So, going back home now?”

Employee: “I am doing the afternoon shift.”

Me: “At home? Quite a trip only to get a badge.”

Employee: “No. I start work at 2:15.”

Me: “Then you’ll be late.”

Employee: “What? No. I’m on time. I’m working here.”

Me: “Where’s your laptop, then?”

Employee: “Don’t we have a computer here?”

Me: “Computer?”

Employee: “To work?”

Me: “We have laptops available, but where is the laptop that we gave you?”

Employee: “I have it.”

Me: “You only have a small purse now.”

Employee: “Yes. The laptop is at home.”

Me: “How are you planning to work now?”

Employee: “Wait… There’s no computer for work upstairs?”

Me: “No. You should use the laptop that we gave you on your first day!”

Employee: “Noooo! Oh, no. Oh, God! Oh, my God!”

Me: “Indeed.”

I had to lend her a spare laptop for the day. We never told anyone that there would be computers prepared at the office. The desk setup at our old office was also always without a desktop PC. I worry for her future.

My company has to move into an unfinished building because our old contract expires before the construction is done. I have to manage the reception with security personnel from an external security company due to the door being nonexistent at the time. There are three guards on alternating days. The two older gents are great. The youngest one looks okay at first glance, but the longer I talk with him, the sketchier he gets.

Young Guard: “I did an ICT (Information and Communications Technology) training and have been helping my brother build a website.”

Me: “Oh, that’s nice. So, this program doesn’t auto-refresh, so please refresh it often, or at least when there’s a visitor. F5 should do it easy.”

Young Guard: “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

He grabs the mouse and wiggles it for three seconds trying to find where it is because we use two screens. Then, he clicks Refresh on the address bar.

Me: “You can also just tap the laptop screen and press F5. It is a touchscreen and it’s just faster like that.”

Young Guard: “Yeah, I know. Like this.”

He clicks Refresh again with the mouse.

Me: “…”

Another day, after the young guard switches shifts with one of the older ones:

Me: “Ewww. Why is this keyboard sticky?”

Older Guard: “Oh. Is it still sticky?”

Me: “Still? When did this happen?”

Older Guard: “[Young Guard] spilled his [Energy Drink] before he left. I was talking with the workers so I saw it late.”

Me: “Did he not clean it properly?”

Older Guard: “Oh, sorry. I was the one who cleaned it. That kid just left after picking up the can. Didn’t even say anything to me.”

Me: “I’ll ask for a new keyboard.”

On another day, around lunchtime:

Young Guard: “They should Saint me.”

Me: “Huh? Why’s that?”

Young Guard: “I have been helping my brother with the website for no pay.”

Me: “Hmm.”

Young Guard: “And I always give the construction workers my lunch.”

Me: “Okay.”

Young Guard: “I don’t feel hungry, and we need to give to others as often as possible, you know.”

Me: “As long as it’s yours to give.”

Young Guard: “I’m going to [Fast Food Joint] real quick. I feel like having some cheeseburgers.”

The last kicker happens one day before lunchtime. [Young Guard] comes out of the lift fifteen minutes before lunchtime with two plates of heaping food.

Young Guard: “I am too nice to those construction workers! I’m going to the workers now!”

Me: *Calmly* “Um… those should go to our employees first. They are paying for the food and we have a fixed number with the caterer. [Manager] already told you about it last week, right? We’re okay with giving the construction workers food, but after the lunch service is done.”

Young Guard: “It’s fine.”

He heads for the construction workers with the plates. I let him because the food has been handled by him anyway. He then comes back five minutes later, fuming.

Young Guard: “I don’t like your tone with me!”

Me: “What tone?”

I’m confused as h*** about the sudden aggression.

Young Guard: “That tone!”

Me: “I’m just reminding you that that food is for our employees first. It’s not your right to decide what to do with them before the paying employees get their food. You can do whatever with what’s left.”

Young Guard: “You are undermining me!”

Me: “Me? When?”

Young Guard: “Since day one! You’re stuck up! I don’t want to work with you anymore!”

Me: “I’m okay with that.”

Young Guard: “[Manager] will hear about this! I will only work nights because I can’t work with you!”

Me: “Good!”

My manager knows how much I avoid confrontation and already knew about that guy’s attitude (to put it lightly), so he didn’t believe it when [Young Guard] told him that I yelled at him for no reason. [Young Guard] never returned after that day.

My daughter and I had an APPALLING experience at a very popular bagel and coffee chain in the Netherlands, which I normally love when I have the rare chance to treat myself to something.

I can NEVER get myself something amazing like a bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon, but yesterday morning, my daughter had a very important meeting about her future, requiring intercity travel. We were out of the house so fast I needed to grab SOMETHING, so I was delighted when we spotted the bagel place.

I have health issues, and my daughter has a post-viral fatigue syndrome so we, unlike seemingly just about everyone else in the city, were wearing masks for our own safety and because we understand asymptomatic transmission — and despite the prevailing opinions, there IS still a health crisis on.

The guy at the counter looked a lot like Hawkeye from “The Avengers,” so our good mood got even better because that’s fun, and he seemed really nice.

Employee: “What would you like?”

Me: “I need to look at the menu first.”

Employee: “Okay.”

Then, he put on a teasing, “you silly person” tone.

Employee: “You know, those masks are no longer needed.”

Me: *Politely* “They’re no longer required by law.”

I thought we could leave it at that or that he might, as has happened before, demand that I list my personal health concerns for him, but no. He rolled his eyes and started laughing.

Employee: “Oh, come on!”

I turned to my daughter.

Me: *Quietly* “Yeah, let’s go somewhere else.”

The employee yelled after us as we walked out.

Employee: “Oh, what? REALLY?! SORRY, OKAY? WHAT THE H***?!”

We just kept walking, so he CHASED US INTO THE STREET, screaming.

Employee: “Hey, you! You… FOOLISH WOMEN! I hope you… I hope you TAKE ANOTHER VACCINE!”

I’m really not sure what that was supposed to mean.

My daughter is painfully shy and autistic, and she has some trauma in her past. This frightened her, so she had to go into her important meeting already far too anxious, so she had a distressing day. (The meeting went great, though.) And I, of course, did not get any breakfast.

I’m trying to figure out how in the world the guy thought mocking, screaming at, and CHASING customers would get them to buy a bagel.

Related:
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 24
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 23
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 22
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 21
An Ugly Side Of Society Has Been Unmasked, Part 20

When the bank I worked at decided to reorganize and downsize, right before the credit crunch, I found myself without a job and very few job openings. Here in the Netherlands, you have to sign up with the unemployment agency to receive your allotted months of unemployment, and every month, you have to fill in a little sheet stating at least four jobs you have applied for.

Of course, anyone really wanting a job doesn’t stop at four applications per month. I soon had a binder with dozens and dozens but very little success. With so many young people straight out of high school and college who could be paid minimum wage, nobody was looking for someone in their forties they’d have to pay considerably more, especially not in the banking industry.

In addition to that application sheet, the agency would “request” your presence every now and then to go over your job hunting efforts. A request that always would — and still does — come with the admonishment that they would dock you for not showing up. So, dutifully, off you’d trot to be berated by some eager young bean counter for not looking hard enough.

My case “manager” was an overenthusiastic young man who clearly thought that finding a job was easy-peasy, despite the hundreds of job seekers that trudged through their halls every day. He had blithely told me on occasion that I should apply for a two-hour-per-day job that had a two-hour commute by train, one way.

I recently went to my final talk with him. He didn’t know it was our final talk; I finally had a second interview set up to discuss the terms for my soon-to-be new job. I saw this little flyer on his desk from a firm looking for drivers. He saw me look and said that if I had a driver’s license, I had to apply.

Feigning interest, I asked for more information than the flyer provided. It turned out they wanted drivers, preferably female as they were known to have fewer accidents, to unload new cars from ships. It was shiftwork, 8:00 am to 3:00 pm and 3:00 pm to midnight, somewhere way out in the western dockyards.

I asked how the late shift was supposed to get back into town and was told that the company would drop us off at the nearest stop for the night bus. I told him that was a good reason not to apply.

Case Manager: “Why not?”

Me: “Do you know where that bus stop is?”

Case Manager: “No, I don’t.”

Me: “I do. It’s right around the corner from a streetwalking zone, so I’m not going to stand around there in the middle of the night and wait for a night bus that comes only once an hour.”

Case Manager: “Why not?”

Me: “I’m not going to stand there with a group of other women, tired from an almost nine-hour shift, while there are cars with johns circling around looking for a sex worker to pick up.”

Case Manager: “I don’t see the problem; you’re at a bus stop.”

He literally did not see the problem!

Case Manager: “If you don’t apply, that could have consequences for your benefits.”

Luckily, four days later, I was able to inform the agency that my new job would soon start.

Years ago, when I lived in a big city and didn’t have a car myself, I once rented a car to drive myself and some elderly friends to a meeting outside of town. I’d already noticed that the clutch wasn’t working really well, but I hadn’t expected the car to stall completely. And of course, that happened at the busiest intersection of the city during rush hour.

Amidst catcalls that I’d gotten my driver’s license in [Another Country], two friendly passersby helped to push the car off the intersection, as my passengers weren’t physically capable of doing that. One of them lent me their phone to contact the rental company — pre-ubiquitous cellphone days. That company threw me on hold as soon as they picked up the phone and left us hanging for twenty minutes.

In the meantime, the car was on the curb of the ramp leading up to a bridge. Dozens of people informed us that we were in an “inconvenient” place. We knew, of course!

Then, this police van drove up and stopped in front of us. It was filled with eight rookies and an instructor. The police instructor got out and approached me.

Instructor: “Miss, this is a very inconvenient place to stop.”

Me: “Yes, Officer, I know, but the car broke down and I’m on hold with the rental company.”

The officer looked at me and at the situation and then said:

Instructor: “They’ll be with you shortly, then.”

And he and his van full of policemen in training drove off without offering any further help.

I finally got to speak with someone from the rental company and they said they’d be there in another fifteen or twenty minutes. Ten minutes later, another police officer on a motorbike stopped next to me.

Officer: “Miss, you’re standing at an inconvenient and dangerous spot.”

Me: “Yes, I know, Officer, but the car broke down and the rental company will take another fifteen minutes to get here.”

Officer: “You can get the car into neutral, can’t you?”

Me: “Yes, sir.”

Officer: “You’re on an incline, so if you put the car into neutral, you can roll back across this part of the road and onto the median.”

Me: “I’d like to, but there’s too much traffic.”

Officer: “True, but I am a police officer.”

He proceeded to stop all traffic, and I managed to get the car on the median in one fluid roll-back. 

Now, why couldn’t those nine policemen have done something like that? I still wonder.