I was born deaf and have been nonspeaking my whole life. I was diagnosed with severe dyspraxia at four, which has affected my coordination and balance, and with autism at eight.

I have a classroom assistant who helps me communicate with my teacher and the other kids, and because I find writing so tiring and stressful, the school gives me a laptop to use. The laptop doesn’t belong to me and has my name on it along with a label saying, “Property of [School]”.

Sadly, there are some girls who feel it’s unfair that I have been given a laptop and they haven’t.

One afternoon, we’re all going to a hockey match to support our school. I walk to my locker with my classroom assistant and stow my laptop safely. After the match, I open my locker to remove my laptop… and it’s gone! I’m really upset and crying, and my poor classroom assistant can do nothing to cheer me up.

We go to the principal to explain. The next day, during assembly:

Principal: “I will allow the perpetrator to return the laptop to me, without punishment, by the end of school.”

The following day, no laptop. Two days go by, and still no laptop. I am suffering physically and mentally because of the stress. During the next assembly:

Principal: “I will be conducting locker searches if the laptop is not returned by the end of the day.”

Then, one of the teachers comes forward.

Teacher: “I saw a girl from [My Name]’s year giving something rectangular and thin to a boy at the bus stop.”

The girl in question was interviewed but denies it, even though three other girls admitted seeing her do it. I was losing all hope of ever being able to do schoolwork again, as the school wouldn’t replace the laptop until they were certain it wouldn’t be returned.

Then, the principal got a call from the father of a boy who went to one of the other local schools. He turned out to be the boyfriend of the girl the teacher had seen. He’d left the laptop sitting around his home, and his father saw it, didn’t recognise it, and saw my name and the school’s name on the bottom! The laptop was returned to the school and then to me.

The girl who stole it was expelled for theft and disability discrimination. Her boyfriend was suspended from his school and grounded by his father. And me? I NEVER let that laptop out of my sight again!

I’m in a coffee shop with my very attractive female friend. She’s the sort of attractive that if you stare directly at her you get mesmerized. A group of young men has come in to queue, and one guy has completely blocked the walkway with his body. My friend is coming back from the toilet. She gets to the back of the guy, who’s laughing with his mates.

Friend: *Cheerfully* “Excuse me, please.”

She is ignored; they don’t seem to see her.

Friend: *A bit less cheerfully* “Um… excuse me, please?”

She is ignored again.

Friend: *Raising her voice* “Erm, I’m sorry, but could I just get past, please?”

She is once again ignored.

Friend: *Snapping* “MOVE!”

The guy turns, looking all irritated.

Guy: “Listen, you stupid b****, men are talking. You could have asked nice—”

He stops, taking her in. He’s stupefied. I’m sure he’s hearing an angelic choir. His mates are looking between the awed guy and my annoyed friend.

Nearby Old Lady: “She asked nicely three times, you oblivious ignoramus! NOW GET OUT OF THE WALKWAY!”

The guy scurries into the line properly. My friend thanks the lady and rejoins me. We’re chatting and the guy rocks up with his coffee. His mates are watching and one is shaking his head.

Guy: *To my friend* “Hey.” 

There’s a really awkward pause as my friend clearly ignores him.

Guy: “You’re beautiful.”

He’s still ignored.

Guy: “I’m sorry for being in the way”

Still ignored.

Guy: “I’m… wondering if I could get your number?”

Friend: *Not looking at him* “This stupid b**** doesn’t date oblivious ignoramuses.”

Guy: “Er. I’m sorry for—”

Me: “Oh, piss off. Even your friends know you’re making a t**t of yourself. Stop giving them more to roast you with later.”

There was an awkward shuffle of shame as he headed back to his laughing mates.

I am shift lead. We have two doors and we lock the door closest to the street since no one is currently allowed in our lobby. Customers have to stand behind a desk by the door and wait for us to take their payment and give them their food. Only one person in at a time.

A man tries to come in through the locked door, banging it and trying to jiggle the handle.

Me: “Go around.”

I have to tell him multiple times. He finally uses the other door and releases all his aggression on me.

Customer: “You know it’s f****** raining outside!”

Me: “Sir, we have to keep that door locked now because of health protocols. No customers are allowed in the lobby.”

Customer: “You guys are taking this s*** too seriously!”

I try to get his order out of him, and as I walk back with it, he comes behind the desk where he isn’t supposed to be.

Me: “Sir, I need you to stay behind the desk or I can’t give you your order.”

Customer: “I need to pay. I have to use the machine.”

Me: “I know you still need to pay, but I need you to stand behind the desk.”

He refuses to move. Another driver proceeds to direct him behind the desk, too.

Driver: “Sir, you gotta stand behind the desk or we can’t help you.”

Customer: “You guys are being overdramatic. Just give me my stuff.”

Me: “You need to listen, or I’ll call the authorities on you.”

He mimics me with his hand like a small child. So I end calling the cops, telling them he isn’t following health protocols, is putting people at risk, and is causing a public disturbance. After some other customers get served, the driver sees the customer is finally behind the desk. The driver takes his card and brings him his food. That’s when the cops arrive and the customer flips out.

Customer: “I hope you didn’t call the cops on me because that would have been stupid. All you people are overreacting with your masks!”

Cop: *Also wearing an N95 mask* “They did call the police on you.”

The customer threw his food onto the ground. The cop quickly cuffed him before anything else could happen and put him in the back of the squad car before getting statements while I sanitized everything this customer touched!

There is a parking lot underneath the building where my family and I live. All of the parking spots are rented and taken except for two spots at the side of the entrance to the lot; all of the building agreed that those two parts are free parking for people who LIVE IN THE BUILDING and don’t have rented spots, like children that get cars and can’t park where their parents park. Basically, it’s a matter of first come, first serve in those two spots.

I am coming back from taking out the trash when I am confronted by my neighbor.

Neighbor: “Is your car parked at the entrance?”

Me: “Yeah. Is something wrong?”

Neighbor: “Yeah, something’s wrong. I have trouble coming in and out of the lot because of you; you’re blocking the path!”

I know that’s not true.

Me: “No, I’m not. It’s an agreed parking spot. If I parked incorrectly, I can go check it.”

Neighbor: “You need to leave that parking spot. My kids are coming over and they need a place to park.”

Me: “Wait, what? You’re telling me to leave that parking spot just so your kids — who don’t even live here — could come over? No, I’m not gonna move.”

Neighbor: “You kids are so disrespectful! You all park like it’s Chicago up in here! I’m gonna call a tow truck on you if you don’t move your car right now!”

I’m not a kid; I’m twenty-one.

Me: “Bye.”

Neighbor: “You have until Sunday!”

I approached the owner of the building. The funny thing is that when I went to the owner, [Neighbor]’s sons had already come to the parking lot and not only parked in a spot that wasn’t legal but blocked both [Neighbor]’s car and the path to the entrance and exit, eventually causing a big traffic jam.

The owner was furious. He kicked the sons out of the lot and gave [Neighbor] some nasty yells. My dad and I just looked out of the window, ate popcorn, and enjoyed the show.

The tow truck the neighbor threatened me with never came.

Part of my job is to take the complaints made by customers and prevent them from reoccurring.  This can be as simple as stopping the packing guys from dumping their breakfast wrappers in the boxes going to the customers or as complex as helping devise a new machining method to improve the accuracy of parts.

A major complaint comes in from the main customer; potentially hundreds of thousands of pounds of stock are affected by an issue that’s almost impossible to detect after it leaves us. We should be catching it, yet they are finding more and more issues. This could be serious.

I quickly find that the root of the issue is the way the guys are checking the parts. It just isn’t good enough and it’s the reason why we kept sending bad parts through. I call the team together.

Me: “Okay, everyone. We have had some major issues reported by the customer. It’s affecting potentially thousands of parts, it’s about the height of this part.”

I can see several of them not listening and rolling their eyes. One is chatting at the back.

Me: “Can we pay attention, please? If this isn’t resolved quickly, we could have a massive issue; if they send all the parts back, it could close us down!”

They begrudgingly start to listen.

Me: “The new way to check these parts is with this new tool and doing it this way.”

I demonstrate.

Worker: “That will take too long! I don’t have time for that!”

Me: “This is the new process. If we don’t do it and we keep sending scrap to our customers, you will have all the time in the world, as we won’t have jobs! Everything is described on this single page, which is laminated and stuck to the machine. I have placed a tool at the machine and with the team lead. Understood?”

They just stare at me in apathy. They don’t care that this is such a huge problem, or they don’t believe me. I decide to check on them in a week’s time.

Me: “How is it working out?”

Worker: “Yeah, okay.”

Me: “This is the old tool. Why are you not following the process?”

Worker: “The new one got lost.”

Me: “So, you didn’t ask or report it?”

He shrugged his shoulders. I found a replacement tool and removed the old one from him. 

I decided to check on him in a few days and found him using the new tool but the old way. After another few days, someone had ripped the instructions down and “lost” the tool again. 

The customer kept finding more and more issues, even on the ones that we said should now be good. The next year, the customer didn’t renew their contract, and the company slowly collapsed as no other new work came in.

I found a new job before it went completely under; some stayed to the end. I later saw a newspaper article about the company closing. The same faces were there saying they were devastated the company closed, blaming the company for not doing more, etc. Some people will find blame anywhere but themselves.