(I am driving home from work when my wife calls me, tells me we are out of feminine products, and asks for me to get some for her. I am almost home and there aren’t that many options, but I see that a store I haven’t been to before is right up ahead, and in a convenient location. I enter the store and find the products, as well as a few other things we need, then go to the checkout. The cashier is an older gentleman, and he seems rather nice as he rings up my items. That is, until he gets to the feminine products at the back. Note that I’m relatively young and look younger.)

Cashier: “I can’t sell you these.”

Me: “Why not?”

Cashier: “You’re male. I can’t sell these to you; you might be trying to steal something.”

Me: “Okay, first of all, how would that even work? Second of all, these—”

Cashier: “I don’t know. For all I know, you’re trying to steal something. Besides, why would you even want these?”

Me: “They’re not—”

Cashier: “Unless you’re one of them [transphobic slur]s.” *squints at me suspiciously*

Me: “No, I’m just—”

Cashier: “Then why do you need them?”

Me: “Because—”

Cashier: “No. You don’t need them. Now put them back.”

Me: “THEY’RE NOT FOR ME! They’re for my wife!”

Cashier: *grunts* “Well, why didn’t you say that?”

(He begrudgingly rang me up, then proceeded to take as long as possible to bag my things. I ended up getting home well after the time my wife was expecting me. I never went to that store again.)

(As I — female — and two guys lock up the room after the event we all attended is over, we chat a little, and the subject turns to university lecturers.)

Me: “I only had three female philosophy lecturers and I have been studying for seven terms.”

Guy: “Yeah, I couldn’t tell you if there’s a single female physics lecturer.”

Me: “Gee. I really hope one day it’ll be close to fifty-fifty.”

Guy: “Why?”

Me: *taken aback* “Uh… basic feminism?”

Guy: “What do you mean?”

Me: “Men and women are equal?”

Guy: “No, they’re not.”

Me: “Right. I’ll be off, then.”

(I work as an associate in the copy department of a multi-department store. In my town, customers think that they are better than anyone because they have money, and they frequently like to cause scenes.)

Customer: “I want you to print something off of my flash drive. The file is called [file].”

Me: “Sure thing. It will just be a minute.”

(I go to my computer and plug in the drive. After searching for the file, I can’t locate it anywhere on the flash drive.)

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t seem to find it.”

Customer: “What do you mean, you can’t find it? Let me see.”

(I plug the flash drive into a computer closer to him so he can see that the file is not on his flash drive.)

Customer: “It was on here! You deleted it! Why did you delete my file?”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, you could have unplugged your flash drive too quickly and not have allowed it to finish saving. But I assure you, I did not delete your file.”

Customer: “Yes, you did! Every time I come here, I get treated like s***! This is ridiculous! What are you, [ableist slur]?”

(The customer is now being very loud and screaming in front of other employees and customers. I am near tears; I have a mentally-challenged uncle and so find this customer to be very offensive.)

Me:  “I’m sorry—”

Manager: *comes running over* “What seems to be the problem here?”

Customer: “You clearly have a [ableist slur] working here! She can’t do anything right, she always treats me like s***, and she deleted an important file off of my flash drive!”

Manager: “Are you okay?”

Customer: “No! I am not! I am very upset!”

Manager: “Actually, sir, I was talking to my associate. I want you out of my store!”

Customer: “You can’t throw me out!”

Manager: “I beg to differ! I have it on security cameras showing you verbally harassing her. Leave before I call the police and have charges pressed against you!”

(The customer storms out.)

Me: “[Manager], we don’t have security cameras.”

Manager: “What that b*****d doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

(That customer never came back into our store again. I don’t think he ever realized that we don’t have security cameras, or anything that even resembles a security camera. I never respected my manager more than I did that day.)

(I work in a photo lab at a photo store. A woman comes up to me and asks me for a USB cord for her laptop. As I’m busy at the moment and there is a free — female — coworker, I ask the customer to turn to her.)

Customer: *looks at me with big eyes and gasps* “How does she know? She’s a woman!”

Me: *calmly* “So am I!”

(She looked at me for a moment and left quickly.)

(I am working at a bike shop in a college town. I have been working as a mechanic in some capacity for the past seven years; I know my s***. I also happen to be female and quite young-looking. Today, I am working with a guy about my age, explaining the difference between CO2 inflators and mini pumps. He’s been alternating between hitting on me and questioning my knowledge, which I am, unfortunately, used to dealing with.)

Me: “Mini pumps can take quite a while to fully inflate your tire. If your tire goes flat and you want to get going quickly, I would recommend going with a CO2 system. I do have to caution you that tires inflated with CO2 don’t hold pressure forever. When you get home, you’ll have to reinflate the tire with a floor pump. I’m not sure why it does that; I think it has to do with CO2 being more easily compressible than the regular gas composition in air.”

Customer: *scoffs* “No, it’s because CO2 is a linear molecule. If you were in my chemistry classes, you would know that. You should take classes at [University] instead of wasting your life here.”

Me: “You’re right, my chemistry is a little rusty. I didn’t realize that you were a student at the university; I’m actually about to graduate with my PhD in Political Science.”

Customer: “Oh…”

(He had no comeback for that. The transaction finished in embarrassment — from him — and tense — from me — silence. The guy ended up purchasing a mini pump which, by the way, kids, is the wrong decision if you are running your mountain bike tires tubeless.)