(My mum is telling off my younger brother — seven or eight years old — for annoying me, which he takes great delight in. He especially enjoys testing me until he finds my breaking point, before pushing past it and seeing how far he can get before I explode. Severe annoyance can end up with him being tussled/wrestled; we rarely hit each other, but sometimes I will give a light bump on his backside with the side of my foot — more of a tap than anything else — that results in him scuttling out of reach, giggling maniacally.)

Mum: “Why are you teasing your brother? Leave him alone!”

Brother: “I get a kick out of it!”

Mum: “[Brother]!”

Brother: “Yeah, I tease him and he gives me a kick!”

(I have made an appointment with my general practitioner, as I have developed a skin condition on my foot that I want checked out. Please note that I am definitely overweight, but not in any way obese, and the doctor himself is visibly much more overweight than I am. When I am called through, he listens to my concern, then pulls out this gem:)

Doctor: “How much do you weigh?”

Me: *confused, but assuming this is part of the normal health assessment* “Um, about [weight].”

Doctor: “Okay, and what birth control are you using?”

Me: *now assuming the problem could be a side effect of some birth control types* “Oh, none. I’m not in a relationship, but if I were, we’d probably use condoms.”

Doctor: “Oh, good. You know, you really are quite overweight. It’s good you’re not sexually active. At your weight, if you fell pregnant, I’d have to force you to have an abortion.”

(This statement shocked me so badly that I froze and just sat, staring at him, as he lectured me about my weight. He advised me to try taking very small bites of my food, telling me that this method worked great for him. I left, still in a state of shock, and then realised that he did not address the problem with my feet. Another doctor later confirmed it was eczema.)

(I am catching a bus to my aunt’s house. This route is a loop, and buses go in both directions around the loop. This means that even though they are the same route, one takes 20 minutes to get to where I’m going and the other takes an hour and a half. I can’t remember which is which, as I don’t use the bus there often.)

Me: “Hello, does this bus go up [Street #1] or [Street #2]?”

Driver: “[Street #1].”

Me: “Okay, thanks.”

(I pay and take my ticket, but before I can sit down:)

Driver: *as if he had never said anything* “I go up [Street #2] and down [Street #1].”

Me: “Oh… Well… I already paid. Can I get a refund?”

Driver: “No.”

Me: “Um… Well, I don’t have any more cash for my fare on the correct bus. Can you radio them and tell them I paid?”

(This is common in my town for minor stuff like this; most bus drivers will happily help.)

Driver: *very angrily* “No! Sit down or get off; you’re holding me up!”

(Stunned at his sudden aggressive attitude, I turn around and go to get off the bus.)

Driver: *shouting after me* “Learn where you’re going!”

Me: *I have had enough at this point and have had a second to gather my thoughts, so I shout back* “Learn your f****** job!”

(I called up to complain. When I did, I told them I swore at him, for the sake of full disclosure. The woman said, “Well, I can see here that this isn’t the first incident with that driver, so that’s probably fair enough!” She apologised sincerely and arranged for the next bus to let me on for free, through the same radio system the rude driver could have used.)

(I’m in PE with a substitute teacher. He’s told us all to sit on the floor near him, and he starts talking loudly and angrily. It is the week of the shooting in Parkland, Florida.)

Teacher: “What I’ve seen here is ridiculous. You are all seriously out of shape. It’s not your fault, but this school is the worst school I’ve ever been to, and I’ve been to a lot. You’re out of breath after jogging for just a few minutes?! I’m going to see what I can do to become your permanent teacher, since your current one might have a job somewhere else. This is awful. It’s because of classes like this that people get the idea to shoot up a school. You get the students that no one likes, no one will talk to… PE teaches collaboration, teamwork, and it gets everyone involved. Exercise is necessary for the brain to work. I bet if they looked at that school shooter’s life, they’d see he rarely exercised. Did you see that picture of him? He looks like a kid who’d shoot up a school. People avoided him and ignored him, and look what happened. People who don’t exercise are the ones who go and shoot up schools. I have to say, this class has disappointed me. You deserve better.”

(To make matters worse, that was the first I’d heard about the shooting. For the rest of class, he acted like nothing had happened, so I decided to let it go. But sure enough, the next time he subbed for our class, he went on a similar rant. The whole thing scared me to death, since I’m not able to exercise much due to several medical conditions. Plus, the way he told it made no logical sense and only served to scare the crap out of us. I don’t know what he hoped to achieve with that rant.)

(I am standing in a rather long line, waiting to mail a package, when I notice a guy wrapping a rather large box in packing tape. It looks like he has already used half a roll, and he doesn’t seem to be slowing down.)

Me: “I think it’s secure.”

Man: “Yeah, but this box is going to Germany to my in-laws, and they hate wasting things. This is my little ‘f*** you’ to make them mad.”

(He used the entire roll.)