I’m a nineteen-year-old girl, and I work as a cashier at a small pizza place just up the street from my house. One day, I’m using the restroom during my break when I hear knocking on the door. Our restroom is a single-occupant unisex restroom.

Me: “I’m in here!”

The knocking continues.

Me: “Occupied!”

The knocking gets louder.

Me: “I said I’m in here!”

Voice: “Open up!”

Me: “Give me a moment!”

The knocking suddenly gets very loud and the door handle starts jiggling. I’m done using the restroom at this point, so I get up, flush, and wash my hands. When I open up the door, I see the manager, who is easily in his fifties, standing there.

Manager: “Why didn’t you open the door?”

Me: “I was using the bathroom!”

Manager: “Doesn’t matter. You need to open the door whenever I knock!”

He wrote me up for insubordination. I quit the next day and found a new job at a different restaurant in the next town over a few days later. The pay wasn’t as great, and I had to have my mom or my older brother drive me there since I don’t have my driver’s license and it’s too far to walk to, but at least the staff and management there knew how to respect other people’s privacy!

I am working in the copy center when an older lady approaches me, asking if I can help her with business cards. We keep regular customers’ files in the computer, so I look up her folder and pull up the business card file. Keep in mind that this is the ONLY business card file in her folder.

Me: “Is this the business card you were looking to print?”

Customer: “Yes, but it’s supposed to have [Name] on it. These don’t.”

Me: “I can change it to put that person’s name on it.”

Customer: “No! These aren’t the right ones. It’s supposed to have [Name] on it.”

Me: “Okay. Let me show you the files in your folder. Maybe I didn’t see it.”

I show her the files in her folder, knowing this was the ONLY business card file. Midway through me showing her, she changes her attitude completely and becomes extremely rude.

Customer: “Never mind! I’m just going to wait until [Other Employee] gets back. She’ll find it! You don’t know what you are doing!”

She then shops around the store for a few more minutes with her husband. I am the only person watching the front of the store, so I have to ring up her purchase, as well. Even though she has already made me mad, I stay calm and treat her like I would treat any other customer.

Me: “You total will be [total], ma’am.”

Customer: “Don’t speak to me in that tone. You need a serious attitude adjustment, missy! Where is your manager?!”

She then runs over to my manager and speaks to him about how unhappy she is.

Customer: “That little girl is nasty! She has the worst attitude I’ve ever seen. I will never work with her again! She needs to learn how to respect her elders! She should be fired! What a snotty little girl! FIRE HER NOW!”

My manager loves me and knows what a nice person I am, so I did not get fired. Since this incident, the old lady has come in the store a few times and each time, she looks surprised to see me and gives me death stares. I laugh every time!

(I HATE my job and am only going in order to continue to be able to pay my bills. I’m looking for something else that pays similarly, as I’m actually making above minimum. It’s a sunny afternoon moving into early evening, and there are three of us in the store: me, a coworker who smokes, and the unbalanced kitchen manager, who is technically higher ranked than us but also not our boss. My coworker has just stepped out for a smoke and I have just finished a task that required the step ladder, which is typically kept in the far back corner of the kitchen. As I am moving to the kitchen to put the ladder away, I see the front door open out of the corner of my eye. I call out to the kitchen manager that I’ll be right back to properly put the ladder up and whip around to the registers, a good six feet away on a slightly raised platform. The intrusion was my coworker and as I’m moving back to the kitchen to finish with the step ladder, it comes sailing at me from the kitchen door. I leap back and it clatters harmlessly to the floor, but I am badly shaken.)

Me: “What the f***, [Kitchen Manager]?! I said I’d take care of it.”

(I am so shaken, I actually don’t remember if he responded, or how. He leaves for the night soon after. A few days later, the store’s general manager arrives at my apartment to give me a lift into work, as he insists on scheduling me before the buses start for the day.)

General Manager: “So, [My Name], I heard there was an incident with [Kitchen Manager] the other night.”

(I’m unsure where he’s going with this, and I’m already uncomfortable with him because he’s my boss and I have some fear issues with authority figures and this guy has already proven to be unreliable.)

Me: *cautiously* “Yeah.”

General Manager: “Well, how could you have handled that better?”

(I am stunned enough that I respond in a manner much unlike my normal self with management.)

Me: “Besides call the police because that was attempted assault?!”

(At this point, my general manager started spluttering, shocked that I had reached that very logical conclusion. He began to try to placate me, telling me that it wasn’t [Kitchen Manager]’s fault, that he hadn’t been taking his medication for a while. I let him know that that wasn’t an excuse and then, fortunately, we were at our store and I ended the conversation by walking away to clock in. In the end, the kitchen manager was let go, but unfortunately, that was well after I quit for a job that paid about $1 less per hour.)

This story is part of the Convenience Store roundup!

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I finally got to see my favorite band in March. My fiancé and I drove three hours to do so. We left home late and had to go straight to the concert. We called the hotel to let them know we’d be there after the concert. The receptionist said no problem, even though the website said reservations wouldn’t be held after a certain time. I pointed that out and asked if she needed my information to pass on so I wouldn’t have trouble later. She assured me it would be no trouble. 

Lo and behold! When we arrived, there were “no rooms.” After waiting thirty exhausting minutes in the lobby and watching an obvious hookup walk through the lobby a few times, the front desk manager found us a room. We trudged around to the elevator, which was stained, dimly lit, and damaged. 

We found the room pretty easily. I wish we hadn’t. 

•   The door was loose on its hinges and had obvious fire damage on the inside.
•   There was a vacuum just inside the room, propped up on the wall next to the bathroom.
•   The cord was torn and the dumb thing couldn’t stay upright on its own. We put it in the hall.
•   The tub in the bathroom was stained. The dryer was hanging off the wall and was obviously not functional.
•   The carpet in the room was cigarette burned, as was the duvet on the bed.
•   The bolts holding the TV down were loose and scraped. The nightstand was broken — badly.
•   The brightest lighting was barely more than a streetlamp. 
•   The air conditioning unit was broken.
•   There were dirt and dust everywhere. 

We did not stay for more than five minutes, and the only reason we stayed as long as we did was so I could charge my cell phone, which had been taking pictures all night, naturally. 

We asked the desk to refund our money and were told the manager would have to handle it in the morning. 

Of course, we left immediately.

(I am a 16-year-old that suffers from a bone tumor in my pelvic bone. This has prevented me from walking long distances. When this story takes place, I am just about to have my first surgery out of three. We are in a famous retail store and I am in a scooter as I am under strict doctor orders to not walk. I am looking at some dresses when a lady in her fifties marches up and the following happens:)

Lady: “I didn’t know that being lazy was a handicap. Get up. I need to use that.”

Me: “Ma’am, I’m not lazy. I am three days away from undergoing a–”

Lady: “SHUT UP! YOU ARE JUST A LAZY B**** THAT DOESN’T KNOW WHEN TO SHUT UP! EITHER GET OUT YOURSELF OR I WILL GET YOU OUT MYSELF!”

Me: “I wish you luck with that. If you touch me, I will press charges. My family is close with [Sheriff]. My mom grew up with him and my dad is a deputy. So, either leave me alone or I will press charges for harassment.”

Lady: “You liar! I’ll sue you when I hurt myself!”

Me: “Ma’am, I am a 16-year-old going to high school to become a lawyer; you can’t sue me. Even if you could, my uncle is a lawyer and will be very happy to hear how you are trying to force me out of my chair as well as harassing me. He will have a field day when he hears about this.”

(The lady sputters and walks away. I drive back to my parents and tell them what happened. They are happy to hear that I stood up for myself as I normally am the person that lets people walk all over me. When we go to pay, the lady storms up to us with the manager. The manager is friends with my family and goes to church with us, so he knows us well.)

Lady: “THERE SHE IS! SHE SHOVED ME OFF THE SCOOTER AND CUSSED AT ME WHEN I ASKED FOR IT BACK! I DEMAND SHE BE ARRESTED FOR ASSAULT!”

Manager: “[My Name], what happened?”

Me: “I was looking at dresses when she demanded that I get out of my scooter. When I told her no, she threatened to throw me off herself.”

Lady: “LIAR! LIAR! SHE’S JUST A STUPID CHILD THAT HASN’T GOTTEN A GOOD BEATING!”

Manager: “Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to leave; you have threatened this minor and you won’t stop screaming. Either leave or I will call the police!”

Lady: “I WON’T LEAVE! I’LL GIVE HER THE BEATING THAT SHE DESERVES BUT NEVER GOT!”

(The lady jumped at me and started to slap me. My dad quickly restrained her while the manager called the police. She was thrown in jail for a couple of years. The funny thing was, she tried to press charges on my dad for assault, but when her lawyers saw the video, they laughed her out of the building. I am doing fine now, although I am battling round two of my tumor.)