I’m at work at a ski and snowboard park on a busy Friday. We have a ladies’ clinic going on as well as the usual rush of people. Due to some poor planning from the event coordinator as well as my boss, we are slammed. I’m the only cashier and I have a line out the door.

At one point during this madness, my boss is up front helping to run out orders when a customer comes up to ask a question.

Customer: “So, when is the men’s clinic?“

My boss just gives him a blank stare.

If this guy was genuinely asking I would have been nice, but he is trying to be a d**k on purpose.

Me: “It’s on February thirtieth!“

Customer: “When?“

Me: “February thirtieth! That’s when we have our men’s clinic this year!“

Customer: “Oh! Okay, thanks!” *Strolls off, happily.*

Related:
Now With Smarch And Gebruary!

We sell industrial supplies. I’m female, which makes you really unknowledgeable in some customers’ eyes.

Caller: “I was looking for a 1/2″ reamer… Oh, shoot! I forgot to write down your part number. I only have that description.”

Me: “That’s all right. I can look it up from your description. Spiral or straight flute?”

Caller: *Talking over me* “Hold on, let me see if I can find it.”

Me: “Not to worry. I have our reamers pulled up. Did you need a spiral or straight flute?”

Caller: “Sorry, darling, don’t you worry. It’ll be just a minute.”

I speak a little louder, as I think maybe he didn’t hear me.

Me: “Did you need a spiral or straight flute?”

Caller: *Irritated* “Listen here, little missy. I said what I needed was a—” *drags it out slowly* “—reeaaamerrrrr.”

Me: *In my sweetest, iciest voice* “Yes, and I was asking if you needed a spiral or straight flute for that 1/2″ reamer.”

The caller is silent for a moment and then says, meekly:

Caller: “Spiral flute.”

Me: “High-speed steel okay?”

Caller: *Still meekly* “Yes.”

Me: “That’ll be [price].”

I work for a travel agency. A guest booked a hotel room for six days. She hasn’t checked in yet when she gives us a call.

Guest: “Can you help me, please? There’s an Asian boy in the lobby playing like a ninja, but he’s holding a real kitchen knife, and I guess those are his parents at the front desk checking in.”

The guest’s friend cuts in.

Friend: “And when we try to approach the front desk, he blocks our way and yells in a satanic language. I guess it’s Chinese. Please help!”

A normal rational person, if they were being harassed, would, of course, call for security, not the travel agency because… what are we supposed to do? Shoo them with brochures?!

Me: “You could try approaching security, or at least call the front desk agent.”

Guest: “No! That won’t do! There’s no one here! It’s just the Asian boy.”

So, yeah, she’s caught in a lie. What makes this fun, though, is that I already know they are trying to take advantage of compensation coupons. The original reservation cost $3,500. For this kind of inconvenience, we can issue up to 15% of the booking value to compensate, BUT it is a pay-later reservation. When it’s a pay-later reservation, we are not really obligated to issue a coupon.

Me: “I’ll have to put you on hold while I call the hotel.”

I press my mute button to find the property’s number. While I am on mute for about a minute, I hear the girls giggling and saying they’re getting free beds today. Nahhhh, bruhhh.

I ring the hotel and ask about the boy.

Employee: “No, there is no Asian boy. The only people in the lobby right now are me and two girls standing by the exit.”

Me: “Were they on the phone for the past few minutes?”

Employee: “Yes, and they’re laughing right now.”

I relayed the “situation” to her, and then she opened the girls’ reservation from her system. I heard her call the girls over to confirm their names and heard them confirm their identities. The agent advised me that they would not tolerate such mentality in the hotel, and if the girls were trying to check in and then cancel the reservation, they would be charged the whole booking amount, and if they didn’t use the reservation, they’d be tagged as no-shows and would be penalized the full amount.

The employee shared that her boss was Asian and would not tolerate such behavior. She told me that I could end the call with the girls and advise them that they’d be taken care of by the front desk agent immediately, and she made me put on the documentation that if they called us back, we needed to refer them immediately to the front desk so they could settle things.

I documented it, of course, but I never got to see how it ended. I’m guessing the girls were charged for the amount either way.

Customer: “I have a technical question about this product. Can you find someone to help me?”

Me: “I can help you. What’s your question?”

Customer: *Unsure* “Are you sure? I said this was a technical question.”

Me: “If I can’t answer it right away, I can find out. What’s your question?”

Customer: “How much does this cost?”

It might flavor the story to note that I’m female. I’m not 100% sure if that’s why the customer couldn’t believe I could tell him how much the item cost; I have many, many more examples where the sexism was much more blatant. In any case, dude, price is not a very technical question at all.

We’re hiring for an entry-level position with good wages and low entry requirements. The company is a pretty good place to work. We get loads of applicants and eventually create a shortlist. Then, we have a whole load of interviews and narrow it down to two great guys. They have similar education and experience, and they both interview really well. We are struggling to make an offer, so we invite them both back for another interview.

During the interview, we go into the details a bit more, and before the second interview has even finished, it is clear that [Applicant] just has that little bit more about him. In my mind, he is the one I would recommend. 

Me: “Thank you again for coming to this interview. We have had just so much interest. It has been hard to choose.”

Applicant: “Oh, I bet. I’m really interested in working here myself. It looks like a great job.”

Coworker: “We expect to place an offer in the next day or two.”

Me: “Were there any final questions you wanted to ask us?”

Applicant: “Oh, yeah. There aren’t any religious nutjobs working here, are there?”

Coworker: “No, we don’t employ nutjobs as a rule.” *Laughs*

Applicant: “Oh, I, err… Well, maybe not nutjobs, but you know what I mean.”

Me: “Sure, I do. No, everyone here is really friendly and we have a great atmosphere. In fact, [Owner] puts a lot of emphasis on it.”

Applicant: “Great, so I will hear in a couple of days.”

I showed him out, and my coworker and I had a chat. We both agreed that [Applicant] was the better choice. But the “nutjob” comment was worrying, especially in a multicultural, multifaith office. I decided to check social media on a hunch. Checking his full name showed me his profile which was full of ignorant and hate-filled comments. He was instantly removed from the application process and banned from future vacancies.

The lesson here is that if you’re going to hate others for believing in something, keep it to yourself.