Our town has had a curfew set to 10:00 pm due to the health crisis, which expanded until 11:00 pm yesterday.

Every single day, as soon as we close the doors, there are at least five cars passing in our drive-thru lane asking if we’re open, why we’re closed, and why can’t they order anyway since they are already here. I usually greet them via the mic and inform them that we’re closed. Then, it’s this lady’s turn.

Customer: “But I want ice cream.”

Me: “I understand, madam, but we’re closed.”

Customer: “It’s just ice cream, not a whole meal!”

Me: “Again, we’re closed. The cash desk is not active, and the ice cream machine was cleaned twenty minutes ago. I’m sorry.”

Customer: “BUT I’M PREGNANT!”

Me: “Well, congrats… but we’re still closed. Goodbye.”

And then, they almost ran over me with their SUV while I was taking out the trash, cussing at me for being rude to a pregnant woman who was illegally outside twenty minutes after curfew with her husband and a whole bunch of already-born kids in the car.

I work an overnight shift at the gas station. I have a bunch of cleaning tasks that only get done at night, so I don’t stay at the register unless there’s a customer ready to check out.

The register counter is set up as an oblong island in the middle of the sales floor. The lottery display is at the tail end, opposite of where I can easily see it, with a snack cake stand in front of it, so it’s not rare for people to stand there indecisively for a moment.

A guy who’s been browsing is ready, so I come around.

His jacket is open and, flopping about in plain sight is our largest and most expensive scratch-off ticket sticking out of his inside pocket. It wasn’t there earlier.

I ring him up.

Me: “…and the lottery ticket?”

He plays dumb but “honest”.

Me: “Sir, lottery tickets are not self-serve. That’s why the accessible side of the display bins faces the employee side, not the customer side.”

Customer: “Oh, I didn’t know.”

And then, suddenly, he didn’t have enough money on him, but he had a $50 bill outside in the car and he’d be “right back”. He went ahead and paid for the other stuff he’d brought to the register and left.

He never came back. Thankfully, I got the ticket back from him the second I pointed out they weren’t self-serve.

I run a small but growing company. We are a tight-knit team and people really have to fit in, so when the father of one of our newest hires suggests his other son for a vacancy, I’m happy to interview him.

He gets the job and is a little slow to pick it up — nothing like his younger brother. I try putting him in the warehouse more, which seems to work, but he needs constant supervision or he does his own thing.

One afternoon, my warehouse manager needs to run an errand, so I decide to check on our new hire and make sure he is okay. I find him inside the warehouse, sat on a bale of cardboard, smoking a joint. 

I send him home. I’m furious… but not as furious as his dad when he calls me up later.

Lad’s Father: “Why did you send him home? I was at work!”

Me: *Flatly* “He was smoking drugs while at work and causing a fire risk.”

Lad’s Father: “He would never do such a thing! How dare you?! Right now, he isn’t coming back. Both of them quit.”

Me: “Your eldest isn’t welcome back; he’s lazy and clearly a liability. And if [Younger Brother] wants to leave, he will have to resign himself. However, I have already spoken to him and he wants to stay.”

Lad’s Father: “Well, that will change. Send him home!”

Me: “He finishes at four; he will leave then.”

He screamed and shouted down the phone until I hung up on him. I talked to [Younger Brother] again, again reassuring him that I wanted him to stay and that legally, as an adult, it was his choice, not his father’s.

He quit eventually — no doubt his dad’s work. But six months later, I got a phone call from a familiar voice. [Younger Brother] had moved in with his mother and wanted to know if there was any work. I hired him straight away.

I have a coworker who has zero boundaries and is pretty much disliked by everyone. I have caught her several times going into my desk to take personal items or steal food. Unfortunately, we do not have locks on our desks or doors, and she is in human resources, so there isn’t much I can do in the way of complaining.

We have a coworker leaving and I come to find the “Goodbye” card I got for him missing. I know instantly who took it, as she mentioned coming into my office the night before. But I have a spare and decide to just call her out to her boss when she hands over the card to him, gently reminding her that I told her last week that she shouldn’t be removing items from people’s offices.

Our departing coworker’s last day is Monday, so I have everyone — except Ms. HR, as she has her own card — sign the card Friday afternoon and put it on his desk. I seal it up.

Monday morning, I come in to find the card unsealed. Ms. HR has written a note on it for him. And, of course, she still decides to hand in the stolen card with a more “personal” message to make herself look good. Ugh.

I work in a liquor store. We cannot serve anyone who appears overly intoxicated, and we are warned that the local police will occasionally send people in to do spot checks.

Over the course of one shift, [Coworker] and I are visited several times by a woman in her early twenties who is increasingly drunk each time before [Coworker] refuses service and has this conversation.

Customer: *Slurring* “What do you mean, you’re refusing to serve me? You know I’m over eighteen; I showed you my ID!”

Coworker: “I’m sorry but this is the third time you’ve been in, and you appear to be quite drunk, so I don’t feel comfortable serving you.”

Customer: *To me* “What about you? You serve me!”

Me: “Sorry, but [Coworker] is the boss, and you do seem a bit drunk.”

Customer: “I’M PREGNANT!”

Us: *Pauses* “Umm, okay?”

Customer: “I would not be drinking if I were pregnant, would I?! And I am pregnant, so I haven’t been drinking!”

Coworker: “Well, all I can say is that over the last two hours, you’ve started slurring your words and you are literally swaying right now. If you’re not drunk, then I suggest you go to the hospital, but either way, we’re not serving you.”

Customer: “F*** both of you!”

She then stormed out and slammed the shop door so hard I thought she had broken it. So did she, judging by how she ran off.

Related:
Cause For Pregnant Pause, Part 25
Cause For Pregnant Pause, Part 24
Cause For Pregnant Pause, Part 23
Cause For Pregnant Pause, Part 22
Cause For Pregnant Pause, Part 21