I worked for a sandwich shop chain for a while. At first, it was nice. It was a lot more low-key than jobs I’d had before — less business, so fewer people to deal with.

I was there for a few months when things started getting weird. It started with the air conditioner breaking, and even though the cheese was melting and the lettuce was wilting, the store owner refused to close. Then, we had a visit from corporate and that happened again, but he actually cared about something (maybe not necessarily the workers, but all the product being lost, at least) and made us close until they got the AC fixed.

Then, one day, the store owner burst in at about 2:00 pm. She was drunk, and she started loudly berating [Manager] and [Assistant Manager] about personal matters (something to do with [Assistant Manager]’s boyfriend if I remember right). Customers could hear. A couple of other workers (one of whom was a teenager still in high school) and I were just awkwardly standing out by the line, doing our best to avoid being seen and involved in her wrath.

Then, the AC broke again. The owner absolutely refused to close the store because she’d be “losing money”. I texted my friend who was closing that night, and she called that same corporate representative, who called up the owner and flat-out told her that if she didn’t close until the AC was fixed, she’d lose her franchise license.

The owner freaked out. She made all of us working come out back while she screamed and (probably fake) cried.

Owner: “How could you do this to me?! You’re like my family! I’m just going to shut down the store and open it again in a week with a new crew!”

For some reason, I still stayed.

And then, they apparently found out it was my friend who had called corporate. (I’m not sure how since it was just her and me who knew — or so I thought.) [Assistant Manager] flat-out told me that she “needed to be careful” because they could fire her at any time for “her attitude”.

So, I texted my friend again. She quit. [Assistant Manager] blamed me for telling her. I was just about to start my shift, and what did I do? I grabbed all the pay stubs and stuff left in my cubby while [Assistant Manager] stood outside, and I walked right out the front door and to the gas station across the street to call my sister for a ride home.

Several others quit, as well. The store has had to close early for lack of staff several times. It hasn’t closed down yet, but from what others have said, the place has just been spiraling since, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they do.

CONTENT WARNING: Harassment/Stalking
 

When I was in college in my early twenties, after classes, I went grocery shopping for my mother. As always when I’m outside, I was listening to music full-blast and kept daydreaming, which is why it took me some time to notice the white van that kept driving until it was next to me and stopping when it reached me — rinse and repeat until I noticed the driver.

The guy, once he had my attention, made kissing gestures and started licking his lips while looking me dead in the eyes. Very peeved at the unwanted attention, I crossed the road in front of his truck and dived into the store. Once in the shop, I shrugged the encounter off as another creep that I wished I’d never meet again, and I started browsing, still listening to my favourite tunes.

As I was looking through the store aisle for the Items I needed, something caught my eye. It was the creep.

He. Actually. Followed me. Into the store.

Astonished by the audacity of the guy, I took out an earbud.

Me: “What the h***?!”

Creep: “Hi, miss. I saw you outside, and I tried getting your attention. Didn’t you see me?”

Me: “…”

After an awkward silence, he kept going.

Creep: “Yeah… So… I’d like to get to know you better. You wanna go out for a drink?”

It took a few seconds for me to process what was happening. Creeps were nothing new, but this guy was on another level. Then, I started smiling the sweetest smile I could.

Me: “Oh, so sorry, but I don’t think my wife will agree. She’s the jealous type, you know?”

Creep: *Disgusted* “Your wife?!”

And with a revulsed look, he finally left me alone.

While I was glad to be left alone, I was angry with myself. The a**hole was in his company’s van, and I didn’t think of taking a picture of him or at least writing down the name of the company to complain to them and get the guy fired.

My best friend had a good laugh at the story. I’m not a lesbian (I’m ace), but it worked so well that we decided that if either of us had that kind of trouble again, we’d call one another and play lovebirds. The trick is still very efficient ten years later.

I work as a night auditor, and we see and deal with a lot of crazy s***. I work at a small hotel in a small-ish town where we have a lot of break-ins, drugs, crime, and homelessness, and it’s overall not a safe city to live in.

It is 3:30 am, and some very young woman with a dog tries to come in. We lock the doors at 11:00 pm, and guests use their phones to open the door. It looks like the woman is trying to do this, but she cannot get her phone to work, so she rings the bell over and over again. I go to the office to unlock the door for her, and she rushes in.

Me: “Hi, ma’am, how can I assist you?”

She ignores me and runs to the elevator with her dog. I rush after her.

Me: “Ma’am, I am going to join you in this elevator because I need to verify what room you are going to as you did not check in at the front desk.”

She starts screaming at me.

Woman: “YOU CANNOT BE IN HERE WITH ME!”

Me: “I need to verify your information, ma’am.”

Woman: “I HAVE CANCER AND AM ON CHEMO! GET OUT! I AM IN ROOM [NUMBER]!”

Me: “Ma’am, I just needed you to verify. You don’t need to scream at me.”

Woman: “YOU ARE RUDE! I AM GOING TO TALK TO YOUR MANAGER IN THE MORNING, RUDE B****! WHAT ARE YOU, A F****** MORON?!”

Me: “Okay, let me just step out.”

She is acting erratically, and I do not want to be in the elevator with her and her dog, so I step out and push the button again so that I can go to the floor she is claiming she is on.

I get up there and notice that she has no idea where she is going.

Woman: “OH, MY GOD, STOP FOLLOWING ME! YOU’RE HARRASSING ME! ARE YOU STUPID? YOU IDIOT, I ALREADY TOLD YOU WHAT ROOM I AM IN!”

Me: *As calm as I can be* “Ma’am, we have sleeping guests, and you are going to need to calm down. Also, room [number] does not exist here. I am going to need you to come to the front desk and verify the reservation information; otherwise, I am calling the police to have you removed.”

The woman tries to get her phone to show me what room she is supposed to be in. It doesn’t work. She says she is a super-platinum god-like member, and she is calling the company because she is NOT going to the front desk and won’t put up with this treatment from me.

She apparently cannot access her Internet, or it is slow, or something. She asks me for the Wi-Fi information, but I just look at her and say nothing.

She then calls her boyfriend or whoever she is going to see. She tells him this crazy story about how I left her outside in the cold at 3:00 am, and now I am harassing her and won’t stop following her because I am crazy or something, and how I am a rude idiot and she feels unsafe.

She puts her phone on speaker.

Woman: *To me* “He wants to speak to you.”

Me: “Hello, my name is [My Name]. What actually happened is that our doors lock at 11:00 pm for guest and employee safety. When I asked her about what room she was in or for any information about her reservation, she immediately got an attitude with me and called me names, and she refuses to cooperate. We have a right to know who is in our hotel. If she does not come to the front desk, or if you can’t come the desk to verify, I am ready to call the police. Either way, she cannot be up on the floor where we have guests sleeping, acting the way she is.

Then, the man on the phone says something to her that makes the logic start brewing in her noggin.

Woman: *Looking incredibly embarrassed* “This isn’t the [Hotel] on [Street]?”

Me: “No. If you had cooperated with me, ma’am, to give me the information I needed, I could have told you long ago that you were at the wrong hotel, and we could have avoided all of this.”

She apologized profusely.

I went down the elevator with her and her nice little dog. The whole time, she kept saying that she was so sorry that she had been so mean and rude to me. I let her know that I was not singling her out and that I was just doing my job; if she were in a hotel sleeping, I am sure she would appreciate the employees not letting random people in that could be dangerous. She understood and was very apologetic.

She said she needed to use the restroom, so I allowed her to use our lobby bathroom and offered to let her stay in the lobby while she waited for a ride, which she didn’t need because she had driven herself.

She had been in such a hurry to get into the hotel that she had left her purse and her luggage at the entryway. To be honest, I am shocked that no one came up and stole her stuff — which would have been Karma at its finest, but I am glad it was resolved.

A non-profit client offers social services for individuals seeking help with addiction, homelessness, HIV/AIDS, etc. There is an image bar on the website with stock photos of people related to each issue that the non-profit assists with.

The client emails me photos of real-life clients to replace the stock images.

Me: “Um… are we sure we want to put your actual clients in these spaces?”

Client: “Don’t worry; I wasn’t going to match anyone’s picture to their actual problem. See that guy? He has AIDS, not an addiction to alcohol.”

CONTENT WARNING: Domestic Violence (mentioned), Stalking, Threats Of Violence

One of my coworkers left a bad relationship, moving far away. A man calls the store.

Me: “Thank you for calling [Store]. This is [My Name], how can I help you today?”

Caller: “[Former Coworker].”

Me: “Sorry?”

Caller: “Get me [Former Coworker].”

Me: “We don’t have anyone by that name, sir. Could you be mistaken?”

Caller: “No. I know she works there. Get her on the phone.”

Me: “Sorry, we don’t have any employees named [Former Coworker].”

Caller: “Look, I’m just trying to find my friend, okay? I’m friends with her husband. Just get her on the phone.”

Me: “Perhaps you should call her husband, then.”

Caller: “Get [Former Coworker] on the f****** phone right f****** now, or I will come down there and beat the f*** out of you!”

Me: “I can’t get someone who isn’t here. If there’s nothing else, sir, have the day you deserve.”

I hung up the phone and documented the number. I called [Former Coworker] to tell her what had happened. It was her ex-husband on the phone, trying to track her down. She thanked me for not giving up her information and apologized for his behavior. He never came to the store to beat the f*** out of me, though.

Related:
Call… The… Police, Part 4
Call… The… Police, Part 3
Call… The… Police, Part 2
Call… The… Police!