(I work at an arcade restaurant, and my job is stamping hands and checking them as guests leave.)

Almost Every Parent That Leaves: “Oh, no, you can keep the kids.” *or* “Help, I’m being stolen!” *or* “Oh, darn, I have to keep them.”

Me: “Haha, you’re so clever.”

(Every year my family goes on a camping trip. The place where we camp is not too far from an arcade, so on days where we don’t have much planned, my brothers and I go over to play some of their games. One year, I bring my friend along for the trip. The arcade uses a prepaid card, which you fill with money to use on the various games. When you win, virtual tickets are loaded onto your card. We both fill a card and choose which game to play. Immediately, [Friend] chooses a two-player, and I agree. We rush over to play.)

Friend: “This one looks fun! Look, if you get the high score you win bonus tickets!”

Me: “Sweet! Let’s try! I’ll sit…”

(Before I sit down, my friend slides his card on both sides, paying for both of us and basically guaranteeing that all winnings go to his card.)

Me: “Oh… Well, I could’ve paid.”

Friend: “Don’t worry about it. Come on! Let’s play!”

(We both sit, and I wind up forgetting about the whole paying deal. After a few minutes of playing, I realize I got the high score, winning the jackpot. Unfortunately, I remember that the tickets go to my friend’s card. I shrug it off.)

Me: “Let’s go to the prize counter and see what we can get!”

Friend: “Why would you go over there? I got the tickets.”

Me: “What? I won them, though. You paid for both of us, but I’m the one who won the jackpot.”

Friend: “Well, it’s on my card… Whatever. Let’s go.”

Me: “Can I at least pick something out? Those tickets are for me. I won them.”

Friend: “I’ll think about it.”

(We get up to the prize counter, where there are many interesting prizes with varying ticket prices. My friend chooses a skateboard that costs 510 tickets. That’s about the amount that we won.)

Friend: “I want the skateboard!”

Me: “But that’ll use all the tickets. I should choose something; I won the jackpot.”

Friend: *groans* “They’re my tickets! I’ll pick something out for you!”

(I sighed, realizing I most likely wouldn’t win the battle. He wound up getting a slightly cheaper skateboard on the wall. He handed me the prize he chose for me: a piece of candy valuing about ten tickets. He smiled at me and walked away, leaving me at the prize counter, stunned.)

(I work in a game room, and one of my main jobs is to help the customers pick out their prizes, show them their options, and be generally friendly. Every once in a while, though, people take offense to what is recommended.)

Me: “All right! Y’all have [amount]. What would you like?”

Customer: “What do you have that my toddler can play with?”

Me: “There’s these cases, and [prize] on the wall. Oh! We also have a small Dora the Explorer basketball!”

Customer: *looking like I just asked her to convert to Satanism* “Dora?! I have a son! What, does he look like a girl to you?” *lifts her child for me to see, who is no more than a year old*

Me: “Well, ma’am, I honestly just assumed Dora was a unisex thing. Plus, infants really don’t seem to have a sense of things like that.”

(The woman had nothing to say to that and turned to her boyfriend and made conversation, ignoring me for the rest of the encounter.)

(My boyfriend and I are walking down the boardwalk when I spot a claw machine outside one of the arcades. There’s a plush inside that I really want, so my boyfriend decides to try for it. After a couple of tries, it becomes apparent that the claw can’t even reach the plush. I decide to go inside to talk to an employee, and happen to find a woman who doesn’t speak English very well.)

Me: “Hi, my boyfriend and I were playing the claw machine, and the claw can’t reach one of the stuffed animals. I was wondering if you could rearrange the machine so we had a chance at it?”

Employee: “No, no, you play to get the toy. I don’t give it to you.”

Me: “Oh, no. I don’t want you to give me the toy. I just want you to move it so the claw can reach it.”

Employee: *looking confused* “You want me to give you the toy?”

Me: “No, I just want you to move it.”

Employee: “You show me.”

(We go outside and my boyfriend plays one more time to show that the claw won’t reach. The employee watches the whole time. She suddenly realizes what we mean and starts laughing.)

Employee: “I thought you wanted to cheat! You just want it moved? I move it for you! No problem!”

(The employee then moves all the plushes, and puts the one I want in a perfect way for us to grab it with the claw. Later on, after we’ve gathered some tickets, I go to the counter and see the employee again.)

Employee: *pointing to my plush* “You got the toy! Good! Here, you have some extra tickets for wasting your time and money by getting it.”

(She gave us so many tickets I was actually able to get a giant version of the plush I wanted, so I gave her the smaller version. I hope she knows how much I appreciated what she did for me. I still love that plush, and the memory associated with it.)

(I work in an arcade.)

Coworker: “Uh, [My Name], we need you for customer service.”

Me: *walks up to customer* “Hi! How can I help you, ma’am?”

Customer: “I just want to say that I am very upset right now. I had to stand in line for 15 minutes to get my tickets. I counted, and you had seven other employees behind the counter doing nothing.”

Me: “Well, ma’am, we only have our one register, and one person working at a time. Also, I don’t have seven employees working. We just had this one girl back here, since I had the other two employees with me.”

Customer: “You should not try to argue with a customer! There were seven people with green shirts back there doing nothing. I wasn’t this mad until I spoke with you!”

Me: “Okay, well, if there’s nothing else—”

Customer: “I just wanted to explain that I was angry about the line, and you’re making excuses. If I hit you in the arm, you wouldn’t care about my excuses!”

Me: *refraining from laughter* “Yes, you are correct. I was just trying to explain how the policies work with who takes tickets.”

Customer: “YOU ARE NOT HELPING ME!”

Me: “My name is [My Name], and here is my general manager’s card. I’m sorry I cannot help you, or help that we have a line.”