I was a woman in the military — not only that, but I was a welder, working with mechanics. I picked up a few things I didn’t already know and was qualified to operate the heavy machinery.

Our BN XO [Battalion Executive Officer] drove by while I was operating said machinery, and screamed at us to stop.

BN XO: “Stop! That girl is illegally operating this equipment!”

I was working with the guy who trains everyone in the battalion on operating that equipment. But clearly, I was doing it illegally.

A woman came in and ordered over $100 worth of food for a party she was having. I was the only person to put the orders together and bag them all up.

The head manager came in to start his shift, walked past my register, and noticed my timer saying fifteen minutes. The expected service time is five minutes maximum per customer. He proceeded to rip my head off in front of everyone.

The customer stepped forward and showed the huge receipt.

Customer: *To the manager* “Apologize to him right now, or give me my money back!”

He did apologize, but the woman stared daggers at him for a punishing thirty seconds and then said:

Customer: “You know what? Give me the number to corporate! This is exactly why I ended up going into business for myself! These people who work for you aren’t horses or sled dogs!”

I don’t know if she called corporate, but I do know that my manager became VERY friendly to everyone from then on! If I made a mistake on an order, he would simply show me the error with a disapproving look, and anything positive I did would be met with, “Nicely done! I appreciate your effort!”

I never got the lady’s name but if I hadn’t been so broke at the time, her order would have been on me!

I work with a manager who has alienated everyone we work with because of a medical emergency I had. We got so slammed one morning that we were still trying to catch up at noon when my relief manager came in. My friend was working on breakfast dishes. I was trying to clean the egg grill when I got dizzy all of a sudden and passed out.

From what I was told, [Friend] saw me and ran right over, got on the ground, and held me up so he could check my pulse and make sure that I was breathing and that I wasn’t bleeding from the head. Someone alerted my manager, who had my cashier call 911 while he walked around aimlessly.

[Friend] started giving the cashier my medical history.

Manager: “[Cashier], get off the phone and get back to work!”

My friend took the phone from her so she could do that, and he took over giving dispatch information while still holding on to me. Thirty seconds later:

Manager: “[Friend], leave her and get back to work.”

Friend: “No way! I’m not leaving her until the paramedics get here”

Finally, I woke up and tried to sit up by myself, but [Friend] had one hand on my back in case I fell.

The paramedics came in and checked me over. They told [Friend] it was a good thing he had stayed with me; my heart rate was so high that I could have gone into cardiac arrest.

Manager: “Good thing I told you to stay with her, [Friend]!”

Everyone denied this. Later, [Friend] told our General Manager everything that happened.

Sadly, the idiot still has a job.

I was talking to my boss one day, and I used the word “brackish”.

Boss: “Look, I’m a shorts-wearin’, McDonald’s-eatin’, regular guy. Talk normal. We don’t need them $25 words around here.”

I work the front desk for an office building in Hawaii. Our building uses RFID (radio frequency identification) badges for things like gates, parking, and most doors throughout our six floors. Today, one of the company higher-ups found that her keycard was not working, so I canceled it for her and transferred all of her authorized access to a new card which we handed to her. She came back only twenty seconds later.

Higher-Up: “This still doesn’t work! I need a working badge.”

Me: “Huh, odd, it’s brand new. Can I s—”

Higher-Up: “I need to get to my office so I can clock in! You are going to make me late!”

Me: “So sorry about that, but can I see—”

Higher-Up: “A company executive shouldn’t be having these kinds of issues! We paid good money for these systems and we expect everyone to know how to use them.”

Me: “Understandable, ma’am. Can I please see—”

Higher-Up: “Hurry up! I have to get upstairs.”

Me: “I understand, but I need to see—”

Higher-Up: “Can you issue me a temporary badge, then?”

Me: “No, I need—”

Higher-Up: “What do you mean, no?!”

A vendor had approached the desk and had been standing behind her for a moment at this point. The conversation had grown to where he had taken his headphones off to listen in.

Me: “I can’t issue temporary badges unt—”

Higher-Up: “This is unacc—”

Vendor: “Ho, Auntie, try shut up and listen to what she has for say to you!”

She was stunned into silence.

Me: “May I please see your badge?”

Vendor: “Unreal da attitude, so entitle you.”

While the exec started a conversation with the vendor, I turned the keycard over in my hands. She had placed it in a pink bedazzled sleeve of some sort and as I examined it I saw a marking that verified that my assumption of what the issue was was correct.

Me: “Ma’am this is an RFID-blocking sleeve.”

Higher-Up: “Excuse me?”

Me: “This thing, the case? This is an RFID-blocking sleeve. Your keycard and our readers use RFID to operate. You can’t use this case.”

The vendor rolled his eyes behind her.

Higher-Up: “Oh… I…”

Me: “Yeah, these are good for things like credit cards — they’ll prevent your information from being stolen — but not for your access key.”

I dropped the badge back onto our desk and she took it slowly, pulling it out of the sleeve before scurrying off without another word.

The vendor and I watched as she sheepishly went to the elevator, scanned successfully, swore softly, glanced back at us, and then entered the carriage.

Vendor: “Unreal, that kine.”