(It is daytime during New Year’s Eve, and I go to buy some supplies for my brother. When I walk through the door, I see a balloon stand with lovely New Year’s Eve-themed balloons, so I pick one out. Soon I notice a middle-aged customer, an angry-looking woman, who is intentionally following me when I walk around. Suddenly, she grabs me violently by the shoulder, forcing me to stop.)

Me: “Uh, excuse me, what are you doing?”

Customer: “You can’t do that!”

Me: “Do what exactly?”

Customer: “Walk around in the store with a balloon with you like that!”

Me: “I took this from the balloon stand by the door, and I intend to pay for it before leaving, if that is what you mean.”

Customer: “NOOO! I mean, you can’t just strut around looking all snobby and important with that balloon, showing it off like, ‘Look what I’m getting for my kids’! It makes me look like an a**hole!”

(I’m only 22 and have no kids, so I tell her that I’m getting it for my grandma since she’s hosting a dinner for my family tonight.)

Customer: “See! That’s even worse! Why can’t ordinary people just walk around the store without feeling obligated to buy stuff like that for others who certainly don’t need it?”

(At this point, I’m so confused that I go completely silent, but the woman just keeps repeating herself, with her voice going higher and louder each time. I just stand there dumbfounded, when mall security suddenly appears.)

Security: “What’s going on here?”

Customer: “This woman is basically forcing me to buy a balloon for my kids even though I don’t want to!”

Security: *to me* “Did you do this?”

Me: “No, there has to be some mistake here. I never spoke to her or even looked at her before she came up to me and grabbed me by the shoulder. I was just walking around with this balloon that I picked up by the balloon stand while collecting other items.”

(The woman goes totally crazy and starts grabbing me by my hair. The mall security officer steps in and firmly holds her away from me.)

Security: “Finish up your shopping and meet me by the cashiers, and we’ll go have a look at the tapes. I’ll keep an eye on this woman in the meantime.”

(I went to pay for my items, including the balloon, and then I followed him to the room with all the security tape screens. He saw exactly what happened on the tape, and he let me go. While I was walking to my car, I could still hear the woman screaming in protest. I guess her problem was having a bad conscience!)

This story is part of the New Year’s Eve roundup!

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(I am putting my groceries on the belt at the grocery store on New Year’s Eve. I only have about six items but have three more items to put on the belt. A woman steps into line behind me and starts unloading her cart. I move her items back on the belt to finish placing my order on the belt. She apologizes and I nod, turning back to the cashier as she checks me out.)

Customer: *clearly agitated* “Hey! I’m talking to you!”

(I turn to look at her, unaware that she’d been talking to me prior to this.)

Customer: “You can’t be mad that people make mistakes. You’re crazy. What the h*** is your problem?”

Me: *genuinely confused* “I don’t think I said anything to you.”

Customer: “You gave me a dirty look! What is your problem? People can’t make a mistake?!”

(She continues to rant as the cashier nervously gives me my total which I need to ask her to repeat. As I’m ignoring the woman behind me, she’s becoming more agitated and her volume is increasing. Once I pay, I turn back to her and smile as brightly as I can.)

Me: “You have a very happy new year.”

Customer: “You need to calm the F*** DOWN! WHAT THE F*** IS YOUR PROBLEM?!”

(I mouthed “good luck” to the bagger and the customer continued to yell at me as I walked away.)

This story is part of the New Year’s Eve roundup!

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I’m happy to help customers, and thrilled when one remembers my name and wants my assistance each time they visit the store, but there needs to be a line drawn somewhere! The other day, an older gentleman comes in and asks for help finding something in our sales flyer. I show him where it was, he thanks me, and he is on his way.

Later he asks me to show him where something else is. I do, he thanks me, and walks away again. This happens two or three more times. The whole time there are four or five other team members on the floor with nothing in specific to do, yet he is convinced I am his guy. At one point I go in the back room, clearly marked EMPLOYEES ONLY, and he pushes his cart right through and wants me to look something up for him.

A few minutes after that I am helping two customers at once when he comes up and interrupts them to say he wants me to take him to another part of the store and answer some questions. After a while I don’t hear from him and assume he has checked out and left. I have to go to the bathroom.

While I am standing at the urinal I hear the door bang open. I look in the mirror and there he is, propping the bathroom door open so everyone who walks past, in our clothing department, can see me standing there with a look of shock on my face as I pee. He walks over right next to me.

“Are you almost done? I’ve got some questions over in the car batteries!”

I am autistic and because of this have always come off as… odd. Odd enough most people don’t want to hire me.

I am in the job centre to look at the jobs available so I can apply when a man walks over and starts talking to me. I try to be polite as he insists on continuing to talk until finally he says “I’m from [Local Church] group.c

I smile and say that I’m not interested, leafing through the information pages of the jobs. Finally, he comments on my accent.

I am English born and raised, but my autism has given me a strong northern American accent. I explain that to him, making a joke about it making me unique like I always do even as I feel myself wilting inside. I find social interaction exhausting.

The next thing I know, the man puts his hand on my shoulder and says “I am so sorry to hear that!” Like I have a terminal disease and I only have three days to live. And I am panicking because I hate being touched and he’s looking me straight in the eyes as he says this. “But one day the lord will help you.”

And that’s when I grabbed my stuff and ran out of the building still carrying the paper. Never went back and ended up being signed off work from stress.

This story is part of our Autism roundup!

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(I am reading emails on my iPad while my four-year-old daughter plays in front of me. She suddenly stops and stares at me quizzically for a moment, before saying:)

Daughter: “Mommy, when you die, can I have your skin?”

Me: “Uh…”

(Thankfully, it turned out she was referring to my iPad cover, which was a bright shade of purple, her favorite! Still worried that she’s thinking of my death, though!)

This story is part of our Creepy Kids roundup!

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