(I have a service dog for multiple disabilities. I don’t always work with him with any identifying gear because people are more likely to leave us alone if they can’t tell he’s a service dog. In this instance, he is wearing a vest marking him as a service dog. My father and I are running errands after my classes end for the day and I’m entering the store a few minutes after him so that [Service Dog] could relieve himself. As we approach the door, there is a man in his car in the accessible parking spot who sees my service dog and leans out the window of his car.)  

Man: “HEY, PUPPY! Come here, puppy!” *makes kissy noises* 

Me: *to my service dog* “Leave it.”

(He doesn’t need the reminder, but sometimes people get the hint and leave us alone when I say that. We start to enter the store.)

Man: “WHAT THE F***?! WHAT THE H*** IS WRONG WITH YOU, TAKING A F****** DOG IN A F****** STORE?!”

(Thanks, random man who decided I needed to be screamed at for taking my vested service dog into a store. Also, to make things worse, I was wearing my jacket from my alma mater so, for all he knew, I was a high school student. It’s always adults, too; we never have issues with kids.)

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(I work in a rotisserie chicken take-out place in Ontario. One evening, a regular comes in to pick up her meal. I say “ma’am” a lot because I was raised in North Carolina and it’s just how I talk.)

Me: “Good evening, ma’am. How are you doing today?”

Customer: “Fine. I’m here to pick up my meal.”

Me: “Okay, let’s just get your bill paid and then you will be on your way.”

(I pull up her bill on the computer and hand her the credit machine so she can proceed.)

Customer: “It never asked for my PIN.”

Me: “Oh, that is odd. Would you like to try again?”

Customer: “Sure.”

(I set the transaction up again and watch the computer to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Once she has input all her information, I find out that her card has been declined.)

Me: “I’m sorry, ma’am, but it appears that it didn’t go through. We could try again in case it was just a glitch if you like.”

Customer: “It’s not my problem.”

Me: “My apologies. I wasn’t trying to imply that you were at fault in any way; sometimes the machine will say that the card was declined by mistake. If we could just try again I’m sure that it won’t happen again.”

(The customer nods at me and we set about the transaction again. This time my computer informs me that the card was declined again.)

Customer: “It shouldn’t be declining my card; I know what money I have.”

Me: “I really am sorry, ma’am. Would you happen to have another means to pay for your meal?”

Customer: “I have cash but I do not want to pay with it. I want to pay with my card. It is not my problem that your machine isn’t accepting it.”

Me: “Okay. I really am sorry, ma’am. Let me go get the manager; perhaps he can figure out what is wrong.”

(I left her at the counter with a brief smile and returned not even a minute later with my manager who I had explained the situation to on the way.)

Manager: *resets the credit machine* “Let’s see if the card will work now.”

(The customer is now obviously annoyed with how long it is taking. We go through the transaction again, and when it is once again declined, she looks at both of us.)

Customer: “It isn’t my problem that your machine isn’t accepting my card.” *looks over at me* “Is my food ready?”

Me: “Yes, it is. We’re just waiting for the bill to be settled and then you will be on your way.”

Customer: “If my food is ready, then give it to me so I can leave.”

Me: “Ma’am, I am sorry, but I can’t give you the food until we have received payment.”

Customer: “Your machine isn’t accepting my card and I demand that I get my food now and am allowed to leave. If my food is ready before your machine accepts my card then I shouldn’t have to pay.”

Manager: “I am sorry. I will gladly offer you a few free drinks for your delay; however, I cannot give you your meal for free.”

Customer: *looks at my manager and then slams her card into the machine again while screaming* “I don’t want your d*** drinks; I want my food.”

Manager: “I’m sorry but the card doesn’t seem to be working. Is there any chance you have cash or another card you can pay with?”

Customer: “I have cash but I won’t pay with it. How do I even know this machine works with a card? You guys are probably just saying that it’s declined so I will keep running my card so you will get more money out of me.”

Manager: “If I can prove that the machine is working, will we be able to move forward?”

Customer: “How the h*** are you going to prove it?”

(The manager pulls out his wallet and rings up an order for a simple meal, and then he proceeds to pay for it with his card without any problem.)

Customer: “That doesn’t prove a d*** thing. Now give me my food!”

(The manager looks at me and tells me to go ahead and go back to work and that he will hand the customer her food once the issue is solved.)

Customer: “Don’t walk away from me without giving me my food, you little b****.”

(My manager shook his head when I went to grab her food and told me to go back to work so I didn’t hear how he managed to get her to pay. However, my coworkers and I could hear her swearing and screaming at my manager the entire time. Once the customer left, my manager came to talk to me and told me that I handled myself well and that the customer did pay full price for the meal. He also told me that the next time she came in to go and get him immediately so that he could deal with her.)

My sister calls me panicking over the fact her heat is about to be shut off due to the fact she never paid her bill. She has just moved into her first apartment and doesn’t have the money at the moment, so I tell her she can use one of my credit cards to make the payment, and then just pay me back. She calls the heating company and they tell her that the credit card company stated it was a fraudulent charge.

I call my credit card company and they are just as confused, as they have no record of a fraudulent charge and haven’t spoken to anyone about it, either. I then call my sister again and relay the information that the payment went through on my end, so something is wrong with the heating company.

It turns out, they accidentally placed a credit on her account, realized the mistake, and withdrew the credit in addition to her payment so it looked like she still owed money. It was completely their fault, and instead of owning up to it, they made a false story about a fraudulent credit card charge to get another payment from her. My sister had a long talk with the supervisor afterward.

(I am in line at a coffee shop. Behind me, there is a woman with a dog on a leash and behind her, there is a man using some type of walker. The man starts waving the walker at the dog, and the small dog backs away closer towards the woman.)

Man: “Look, your dog is afraid of it!” 

(He waves the walker at the dog a second time and again the dog backs up and hides behind the woman. The man laughs.)

Man: “Look, your dog is afraid of it!”

Woman: “Can you please stop doing that, then?”

Man: *explodes* “I am disabled! How dare you tell me what to do?”

(He goes into a screaming rant about all the medical issues he is experiencing.)

Woman: “I think you misunderstood; I just didn’t want you waving your walker at my dog.”

(Eventually, the man had to be escorted out by police because he was screaming at the top of his lungs about how the woman was discriminating against him and he hoped she ended up in a wheelchair one day.)

(I work in a self-serve ice cream store. The machines and toppings are all out front so customers can help themselves without our assistance. Your price is determined by the weight of what is in your bowl, not by separate ingredients. One of our most popular toppings are huge hazelnut pirouline sticks. This is a story told to me by my manager and my assistant manager. My assistant manager has just finished serving a mother and her two daughters, who look to be about seven and ten. She waits to see that they are seated and do not need anything else and then goes to the back to cut up strawberries. No sooner than five seconds after she gets back there, my manager comes bolting out of the office, yelling:)

Manager: “They’re stealing toppings! They’re stealing toppings!”

(My assistant manager follows her out to the front, where they are greeted by the girls standing right near the jar of hazelnut sticks. They are each clutching one. Their mom is busy texting.)

Manager: “Girls, stealing is very wrong.”

(The girls say nothing but move to put the sticks back.)

Manager: “No, you can’t put them back now because you touched them, but don’t let me catch you stealing again, okay?”

(The girls stay silent, but the mother comes over.)

Mom: “What’s going on?”

Manager: “Well, we just caught your daughters stealing toppings from us.”

Mom: “Oh? Well, I can pay you back for the toppings. How much?”

Manager: “Oh, you don’t need to; they literally would’ve only added a penny or two to your purchase. Please don’t let it happen again, though.”

Mom: “No. I insist.”

(She took two dollar bills out of her purse and literally threw them into the now-stunned face of my manager, and then she stormed back to her table. My manager stood still for a moment and then put both dollars into the tip jar and headed back to their office. Later, as the family was leaving, my assistant manager heard the mom say, “We are NEVER coming back here again!” At first, she thought she was saying this to the children as a punishment, but then she realized that the lady was saying it to her, angry because we reprimanded her children for doing something wrong!)