My brother’s girlfriend has always been somewhat chilly toward me. I’ve asked her and my brother why, but she won’t say and my brother says he doesn’t know, so I just keep things civilized when I have to see her and otherwise ignore her.

One year, my brother and his girlfriend offer to host our family’s Thanksgiving get-together, including cooking dinner. I am gluten-intolerant, so during the week before Thanksgiving, I remind my brother’s girlfriend of my dietary restrictions several times. When we sit down to eat, I ask her once more if anything contains gluten. She says no, so I dig in and enjoy everything.

About an hour later, it becomes clear that she lied, and I have to rush to the bathroom. When I finally get out, I confront her.

Me: “Hey, [Girlfriend], did anything have gluten in it?”

Girlfriend: “Yeah, the stuffing did. The gravy might have, too; I didn’t check.”

Me: “I told you about a hundred times that I’m gluten-intolerant! Why did you lie to me?”

Girlfriend: “Oh, please. Everyone knows that gluten intolerance is just a fad. You’ll be fine.”

I had to rush to the bathroom again at that point, which was the only thing that prevented me from attacking her physically. My husband and I decided to get a hotel room for that night instead of staying over with her and my brother. I spent most of the next day in the bathroom of our hotel room, and when I finally felt well enough to handle it, my husband and I made the drive home.

A few days later, I called my brother. I told him that I would still talk to him on the phone or on video calls, but I wanted absolutely nothing to do with his girlfriend. My brother informed me that he was actually in the process of breaking up with her, based on her attitude toward me. He admitted that she had always been spiteful toward several people in their lives, not just to me, but it took her basically knowingly poisoning me with absolutely no regrets to open his eyes to just how bad a person she was capable of being.

I’m a young female manager, and I’m only 5’2″, so I’m basically useless if someone were to physically attack me. I take a call from a guy at the local college campus saying that he hasn’t received the pizza he ordered an hour ago. I only have one record of an order with his unique phone number, and it’s from several months ago. He says that someone must have stolen his pizza, and I am to investigate this to no end to find out who the driver was, where he delivered it, and who it was given to, despite me telling him multiple times that we do not have an order for him, nor will my driver remember one specific delivery like that. I even check in the system and with the drivers, and there haven’t been any orders to campus today. The guy becomes unreasonable and belligerent, so I end the call.

He calls right back.

Customer: “I just saw the person who stole my pizza!”

Me: “Well, I suggest you take it up with them, then.”

I hang up and try to get back to work. He calls a third time, and I immediately hang up on him. Ten minutes later, a normal-looking college-aged guy comes into the store.

Customer: “Hi, I never got my pizza from an hour ago and I think someone stole it.”

Me: “Didn’t I just talk to you on the phone?”

Customer: “Yes! And even though you don’t believe me, it’s true.”

I decide to give him the benefit of the doubt, put on my “I’m listening” face, and hear him out once more while he explains the situation again. Halfway through, he interrupts himself.

Customer: “Get that look off your face!”

I recoil in shock because I was simply quietly paying attention to his story.

Me: “I’m just listening to you, sir. If I have a look, it’s because I’m focused on what you’re saying.”

Customer: “No, you’re not! Get that look off your face! I know what you’re about to do! So stop looking at me like that!”

Me: *Surprised and a bit frightened* “I’m not ‘about to do’ anything. I’m just listening.”

He interrupts me by pointing a finger in my face.

Customer: *Sharply* “Shut up! SHUT UP!”

That’s when I straighten up and point to the door and tell him to leave. He refuses to leave and continues his tale of woe, demanding I show him the order screen of the only record of any order with his phone number. This still doesn’t satisfy him and he loudly proclaims that he doesn’t believe me. I told him I don’t care, and since he is being rude and hostile, he is to leave now.

Again, he refuses and invites me to call the cops. I push the panic button under the counter and continuously tell him to leave, and he refuses every time. He pulls out his phone.

Customer: “Want me to call the cops? I’ll call the cops.”

Me: “I already did.”

Several other customers arrived behind him to pick up their orders, and he started telling them all to watch out because we were going to steal their money and/or their food. Then, our owner called the store, since the panic button had been activated, and the cops showed up shortly after. The owner told me to tell the cops to not only escort the guy from the store but to remove him entirely from the property. The cops left with the guy, and I was left shaken and in disbelief of the whole situation.

Our store has a bit of an unusual layout, as you have to walk clockwise through it — most other grocery stores in Germany are set up counter-clockwise — and when you enter and walk straight ahead, you end up walking through the checkout in the wrong direction. Tricky, I know.

Due to the ongoing health crisis, we have changed this arrangement by building a “barricade” of produce baskets and sticking arrows to the floor to turn the whole store into a one-way street. One of our regulars, who is a bit stroppy to begin with, has chosen to ignore these new rules and still squeezes past the barrier to buy his cigarettes, because the way is shorter. He has been told off several times already.

While working at the checkout, I hear one of my coworkers call out after a customer to please stop and enter the store the correct way. I look up, and there’s that regular, completely ignoring my coworker and squeezing past the waiting customers.

As he’s waiting in line, another coworker approaches him.

Coworker: “Listen, sir, this is definitely the last time we’re putting up with your behaviour. We have told you several times to—”

Customer: “What have I even done, you b****?!”

Coworker: “Okay, that’s it. Out!”

Customer: “You can’t throw me out. I haven’t done anything wrong. I’m a paying customer.”

Coworker: “Not anymore. Get out.”

Customer: “Are you r******d?! I’m not going.”

Coworker: “And now you’re banned from this store entirely.”

The bickering went on for some time, but my coworker finally managed to get the customer outside.

My coworker wasn’t going to throw out or ban the customer in the first place, just have some stern words with him for repeatedly violating the health requirements. Had the customer relented, he would still be shopping with us. But since he chose to become offensive, he can now try to find a different source of supply, right in the middle of a lockdown.

That’s how you shoot yourself in the foot.

Our comic shop sells a lot of collectable figures. Some are very large and heavy, and to keep them from being knocked over by accident or stolen, we keep them on high shelves where they can clearly be seen before being taken down and purchased.

I am a short teenage girl, so my taller coworkers use the step stool we have to reach them. In comes a customer that I have never seen before.

Me: “Welcome to [Comic Shop]. Is there anything I can help you find?”

The man just walks past me, looking around like he isn’t sure why he came into the store or where he is.

Me: “All right. If you need anything, just let me know.”

He wanders around for about ten minutes, touching a few posters and figures we have like he’s never seen anything like them before in his life. I am starting to get a little nervous and hang by one of my bigger male coworkers.

Finally, the man wanders back toward us and asks to purchase one of the figures that we keep out of reach of customers. I walk to where the figure is, as sometimes I can reach them on the step stool we have, but this one is way out of my reach.

Me: “Oh, I can’t get that one. Let me get [Coworker]; he can get that for you.”

Customer: “But I want you to get it. That’s why I asked you.”

Me: “Sir, I can’t reach that. Even with the step stool, I am too short. See?”

I stand on the stool and reach out as high as I can. My fingers fall several inches short of reaching it.

Me: “So, I’ll go get my coworker, and he’ll get that down for you.”

I turn to leave, and I feel hands gripping my hips before I am lifted a few inches off the ground and turned back towards the shelf. The customer had grabbed me and turned me back around like a child!

Customer: “You’re not trying hard enough! Get up there and get it!”

I start screaming, alerting my coworker, who comes running. His nickname at work is Lurch, because of how tall he is. The customer sees him lumbering over and drops me, screaming about “lazy, short people” before trying to run out of the store. Unfortunately, the doors open in, so he slams into them at full speed and ends up sprawled out in front of them, unconscious.

Me: “Did… What… Oh, my God, is he dead?”

My coworker walks over and checks for a pulse and breathing.

Coworker: “No. Unconscious. Calling the police.”

He walked back to the counter and called for an ambulance and police. I ended up having pictures of my sides taken where he bruised me from gripping me, and the copy of the security camera footage was handed over as he was taken out on a stretcher. The paramedics knew him as a frequent drug user, which explained a lot.

I bought Lurch a dozen of his favorite muffins for coming to my rescue!

I’m a manager at a fast food restaurant. It is Australia Day, which is a public holiday, and because we are located near a river and it’s a really hot day, it is super busy. The front counter is full of people wanting to be served. Every register is opened and another person and I are running the orders. The store manager is helping the drive-thru team and the front as well. People are moving and the wait isn’t that long.

A mother walks in with a young boy, sees the line, and whispers something to him. The boy goes up and starts asking people in line to let him in as he only wants a drink; however, no one budges. Everyone tells him to get to the back of the line.

While he is asking the person at the front of the line, the mother pushes past to the front right as another family gets their meal. Acting like we haven’t noticed her scheme, we politely tell her:

Me: “Please go to the back of the line, as this customer was next.”

Customer: “This is a joke. I’ve been waiting for over an hour. Hurry up and take my order!”

Me: “No, you haven’t. You have been here for five minutes trying to get your son to help push in. Back of the line.”

Customer: “Why I never! This is disgraceful! I demand the manager! This is an outrage!”

Me: “I am a manager. Back. Of. The. Line. Or leave.”

Customer: “No! I want the store manager! I have been waiting for two hours! I’m not waiting no more!”

The store manager, who has been keeping his eye out the whole time, steps in.

Store Manager: “I don’t need customers like you. Get out!”

Customer: “This is no way to treat a customer! You will all go broke; everyone, look at how badly they treat us!”

She starts waving her arms around like she’s talking to the line.

Customer: “We will all leave! Everyone out!”

Meanwhile, no one is moving and there are a few snickers in the crowd. Without getting the required reaction from people, she takes a swing at the store manager!

Store Manager: “[My Name], [code for calling the police].”

I’m on it.

Store Manager: “I suggest you leave right now.”

Customer: “Not without my food!”

The customer then proceeded to snatch a bag of food from another family, run to the door, and kick it. Hard.

It shattered.

The whole place went quiet in shock. The woman ran out with her son chasing behind her. They seemed to run off down the road so I couldn’t get a car plate. Luckily, we have two entry points, so we closed that one, boarded it up with cardboard for now, and cleaned the glass.

The police arrived fifteen minutes later and we explained what had happened, but without anything else besides camera footage, there was not much they could do.

However, a couple of weeks later, at the shopping centre close by, there was an incident involving a lady walking out without paying for her groceries because the shop apparently “owed” them for poor service. The police picked her up and it was the lady we’d dealt with. She was fined a lot of money and had to serve out community service cleaning rubbish on the side of the road.

I know this because I saw her while driving to and from work for a few weeks!