I got a small office job first thing out of college, and there was this new woman who got hired. She was really bubbly and sweet and would talk to everybody cheerfully. Usually, that kind of thing annoys the s*** out of me, but she was really nice and seemed genuine.

One day, she just kept her mouth shut all day, and another coworker went up to her and asked her to go to lunch. And suddenly, she yelled:

New Hire: “No, because I know what you’ve been up to, you b****!“

And she stormed off.

Later on in the day, we found out that our manager didn’t like that [New Hire] was talking so much during work, so instead of having the guts to tell her to keep quiet, she pulled [New Hire] aside and told her that all the other women in the office were talking s*** about her behind her back and “as a friend”, she probably shouldn’t talk to any of them anymore.

I’m the assistant general manager at a recently-opened hotel in my city. I wear the fancy suit, I have the fancy nametag — it’s magnetic! — and I definitely don’t look like a guest staying there. I’m also the only member of the team who wears a suit over a generic uniform.

A woman in her mid-to-late sixties comes in and starts snooping around, so I approach to ask if I can help her.

Lady: “I just want to see the pool.”

Me: “Our pool is closed and still under construction.”

The door to the pool itself is blocked off with a “coming soon” sign.

Lady: “I saw that online, but I just wanted to see. You know how sometimes things say one thing online and another in person? Hotels really don’t keep up on that stuff.”

Me: “I’m aware that is sometimes the case, but I assure you, madam, the pool is closed and still under construction. We’re excited and hopeful to see it open in early January.”

Lady: “Is there someone I can talk to? I really want to take my granddaughter here over Christmas to use the pool.”

Me: “I’m the assistant general manager here, actually. And unfortunately, as I said, the pool isn’t expected to open until the new year. There literally, physically is no pool right now.”

The lady goes up to the front desk agent and asks about the pool and booking to use it over Christmas.

Front Desk Agent: *Slightly confused* “As my manager—” *gestures to me* “—explained, the pool won’t be open at Christmas.”

The lady looks at me and then back at [Front Desk Agent].

Lady: “Is there a manager I can speak to?”

Again, my nametag literally says “Manager” in fun, bold letters.

Me: “Madam, I am the assistant general manager, and in fact, the current acting general manager.”

The actual general manager is away aiding with another property opening.

The lady looks at [Front Desk Agent] again.

Lady: “I just don’t understand. Why can’t I speak to the manager?”

[Front Desk Agent] and I exchange a confused look.

Me: “Madam, I assure you, I am the only manager on the property.”

Lady: “I can’t believe this. I want to speak to a manager.”

Me: “I am the manager.”

Lady: *Angrily* “I said I want to speak to the manager.”

Me: *More forcefully* “Madam, I am the manager. I’m the one you want to speak to.”

The lady turns to [Front Desk Agent] again.

Lady: “Call the manager, right now. This service is so unacceptable. I just want to bring my granddaughter to use the pool over Christmas!”

Me: “Madam, again, I am the manager, and as I’ve repeatedly told you, we do not have a pool that will available over Christmas. There is no pool.”

Lady: *Angrier* “Why didn’t you just say that? It says you have a pool online. This is not acceptable! I’m going to speak to the manager and get you all fired!”

I am so done with this.

Me: “Sure. Please do. I’ll be more than happy to fire myself and then collect severance for unlawful termination. It will make for a great Christmas bonus. I’ll take my wife and kid to Fiji!”

Lady: *Red in the face* “Your manager will hear from me! How dare you ruin my granddaughter’s Christmas?! I’ll make sure to tell everyone you won’t let anyone use your pool!”

The lady then stormed out.

I recognize that the lady may be in the early stages of something serious mentally, but in the entire interaction, she was very clear-headed. I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone so forcefully deny my existence like this before.

When I was young, I needed a job, so I got one at a grocery store bakery. The start time was 5:00 am. No problem.

I biked to work, but the door was locked. It was 4:50 am. I saw other bakers inside, so I banged on doors and windows until they saw me and let me in. By then, it was 5:07 am.

Bakery Manager: “We’ll need to write you up for being late.”

Me: “I was here on time. Look at the cameras?”

Bakery Manager: “Union policy — I have to write you up. But it’s my fault you didn’t get the door code. I’ll make sure to get it to you today.”

By the end of the day, I still had no door code; [Bakery Manager] left early.

The next day, I showed up at 4:40. Again, other bakers were inside, and I was locked outside. By the time I got inside, I was late by three minutes.

Bakery Manager: “We unfortunately do have to write you up. One more and you’ll be subject to discipline.”

Me: “You do, in fact, know that I was here twenty minutes early.”

Bakery Manager: “Union policy, sorry, gotta do it. I’ll have a door code ready for you by the time you leave.”

By the end of the day, [Bakery Manager] had left early, again. I went to the store manager.

Store Manager: “Well, if she writes you up, it’s too late for me to do much. However, I’ll make sure she gets you the door code, and I’ll let the other bakers know to get the door at 5:00 exactly.”

For the next half-dozen shifts, I was let in by other bakers — until the weekend, when I was the only one there that early. I was locked out until 6:00 am.

Bakery Manager: “You were late three times in your first two weeks.”

Me: “We both know that it’s your fault.”

Bakery Manager: “Right, right. Sorry for that. I’ll have you a door code by the end of your shift, but you can’t be late again.”

The end of my shift came — still no door code, and again [Bakery Manager] left early.

On the morning of my next shift, I decided, “F*** THAT! I’M SLEEPING IN!”

I got a panicked phone call from [Bakery Manager] at 7:00 am.

Bakery Manager: “Where are you? You realize that you’re subject to discipline now!”

Me: “I quit. I wrote the store manager an email to that effect. Don’t call me again.”

Six weeks later, the union sent me a check for $500 and an invitation to get my job back. Their note said something about how the union found out what had happened, and they decided it was unfair termination or something, despite the fact that I had quit.

I didn’t take my job back, but I did find out that the bakery manager was let go shortly after.

I had dinner with my family at a restaurant near me when I was a teenager. I think this was the third location of a local place. The first location was decent, the second was trying to be a little fancier, and the third was fancier still. The prices at each location were higher than the location before but without too much improvement in quality.

The service was mediocre, and the food was not much better — especially for the price. We got the bill, and my mother tipped about 15%, which is low for her but still a standard/typical amount in the US.

The manager of the place brought the bill back and told my mother she didn’t leave enough of a tip. That’s when my dear sweet mother zeroed out the tip line. I’d never seen her do that before, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she never does it again.

We haven’t been back in over fifteen years, and I honestly don’t understand how the place is still in business.

This is just one of many, MANY stories I can share about a manager I once worked under, who I will call “Trevor”. I worked as an engineer in a broadcast facility. We would often need to do upgrades to one important system or another, and some of these, such as main power, were handled by third-party specialist contractors. They provided a combined Risk Assessment – Method Statement (RAMS) document that any relevant stakeholder in the company (basically any manager whose team could be affected) had to read and give the thumbs up to before the job could proceed.

One such job was scheduled for a Friday night, and muggins here was the late shift that day. The first I heard about it was when the manager of the control room stopped by to ask if I was up to speed with the event, even though I was on a completely different team. I had to matter-of-factly tell him that my own manager hadn’t even mentioned this job to me, let alone asked if I was okay with it.

Normally, I would finish a Friday late shift at 10:00 pm, but this maintenance job wouldn’t even start until 11:00 pm, and it would go on until at least three or four in the morning. So, not only would I lose what was left of my Friday evening, but I would be losing my Saturday morning, as well. Great when you’ve got a young family at home!

I went up to my manager’s desk in the middle of the open-plan office — two floors above the engineering team he was supposed to be running — and asked him about this upcoming overnight work. How come he hadn’t asked me about it? Didn’t he think that he should have at least let me know?

Well, Trevor didn’t like being spoken to like this by a mere mortal such as me, and certainly not in earshot of all the other managers he liked to try and impress. I got dragged into an empty meeting room where he tried to rant at me some more. The only argument he seemed to have, which he repeated over and over again, was that at some point there had been an email, and in that email was an attachment containing the Risk Assessment, and at the bottom of the last page of this Risk Assessment under the heading “Resources” was my name. So, basically, his logic was that I needed to read every line in every document in every email that landed in our shared inbox, just in case my name was in there somewhere. And if my name was there, I had to assume that my work pattern had automatically changed, and he didn’t need to do anything more because it was all my responsibility — so there.

The fact that this was utterly bonkers, the complete opposite of good management, not to mention just plain inconsiderate didn’t seem to occur to him, but at this point in my time working under him, I was not surprised. It also completely contradicted a previous edict he had once issued after we’d adjusted our shift pattern at the last minute to deal with a problem, only to be raked over the coals for not consulting him first!

The one other thing I got out of this incident was that during our argument, I accused him of not dealing with my upcoming leave request, something he was well known for not doing. I wanted a week off for my fortieth birthday and had put this into the system nine months earlier. “I was just dealing with that!” he barked at me, which basically meant that he had utterly forgotten about it until I mentioned it. This was proven the next day, when we found out that he had rung up a colleague at our other site, practically pleading with him to cover my leave later that month.