The store I work for was being renovated, and for various reasons, they decided to close us down until it is complete. All of us employees were shipped off to other stores until the reopen.

I’m working at a store one day that is notorious for being extremely slow, so I am shocked to see that there are six people scheduled on a day that would normally require four. When I arrive, [Manager] is already there and I’m followed in by [Shift Lead]. Before we can get settled, the phone rings. It’s [Coworker].

Coworker: “I’m going to be late. I don’t know when exactly, but I’ll be there eventually.”

We check the overnight call logs and discover that [Trainee] has called off for the day.

Shift Lead: “[Trainee] went home after working forty-five minutes yesterday. Today’s only their fourth day. The only reason I’m here is for training. I’m not feeling well; if I’d known my trainee wasn’t going to be here, I would have stayed home. But I guess since [Coworker] is late, I’ll tough it out.”

[Coworker] comes in almost two hours later and immediately starts complaining to everyone (including customers) about their morning. [Shift lead] is not looking well, but she refuses to leave and tries to keep herself busy stocking so she doesn’t have to deal with customers.

[Manager] gets tired of listening to [Coworker] complain and sends them to clean the parking lot. This is a heavy delivery day and [Manager] must check in all the trucks, so I’m left alone at the registers for most of the shift.

Around halfway through the day, when the sixth employee, [Cook], comes in, we finally manage to convince [Shift Lead] to go home because she looks like death. She doesn’t put up much of a fight.

[Coworker] finishes their outside work and comes in and is non-stop complaining. [Manager] finally has enough.

Manager: “[Coworker], if you feel that way, just go home. I’m tired of listening to this.”

Together, [Manager] and I got through the next couple of hours with little to no issue… until the phone rang. It was [Second-Shift Lead]; they were sick and couldn’t come in. So now, [Manager] was scrambling to find someone to cover while three delivery trucks pulled in, one right after the other. We managed to check them in as second shift arrived, but we had no time to put any of it away.

[Manager] had an appointment after work and could not stay, so I offered to do his paperwork as well as [Shift Lead]’s so that he could take off. However, I was unable to stay to put away truck because I’m an hourly employee who was technically not employed at that store. Second shift was unhappy.

I worked there many times in the months until my store reopened. [Coworker] became known for being late and leaving early. They quit because they weren’t getting enough hours. [Trainee] was let go because they were unreliable. It turned out that [Shift Lead] had picked up a really nasty bug and it spread through everyone in the store. It wasn’t pretty.

When my store eventually reopened, I wasn’t surprised when [Manager] asked me if I would be willing to stay.

My supervisor, who was the most nitpicky person ever, was about to start her maternity leave. This took place when Canada offered six months of maternity leave.

Me: “Well, good luck! I can’t believe I won’t see you for six months.”

Supervisor: “For God’s sake, it’s twenty-six weeks, not six months! I’m so tired of correcting you people!”

Me: “…”

I would’ve put it down to “pregnancy brain,” but she was always like that.

Sadly, a close friend passes away. I continue with work the next day and those after, trying my best to make it through and support my friend’s widow with what little time I have. I tell my boss four days ahead of time that I will be taking a day for the funeral and will be unavailable. I am hoping they’ll be supportive, but…

Boss: “Will you need the whole day?! I don’t know how we’ll manage. Sorry anyway.”

My coworker and I were legal secretaries and she, unfortunately, was assigned to work for a very insecure young woman associate. This associate was the daughter of a senior partner and was determined that everyone knew how powerful this made her. She never let an opportunity go by to berate or talk down to anyone she deemed less important than her.

[Coworker] was scared to death of her because she yelled at her pretty much daily. As a result, [Coworker] would sometimes stumble and make more errors, and so things went. The day in question, [Associate] had a document she needed filed in the courthouse in a hurry. She wanted to know what time the clerk’s office closed for filings. [Coworker] knew the answer but made the mistake of saying, “I think it’s [time],” instead of, “It IS [time].” As a result, [Associate] barked at her that since she didn’t actually know, she had better get on the phone and confirm that right away. Of course, either of them could’ve looked online and learned the answer, but that wasn’t good enough for [Associate]. She demanded it come straight away from a phone call.

So, poor [Coworker] started shakily dialing and getting a busy signal every time. Five minutes later, [Associate] swooped back in and barked at her again.

Associate: “Have you reached them yet?”  

Coworker: “No, it’s still busy.”

Associate: “Well, DIAL HARDER!”

I worked for a gym years ago. Some of our “regulars” were homeless people from a nearby camp who used the gym to shower. They were all pretty nice, but one guy told me he watched to see if my car was there and made sure to come in when he knew I was working.

Then, we got a kiosk in the mall, and he found me there and followed me around. An employee at a nearby store showed me this dude’s mugshot with a charge for something inappropriate with a minor. I was twenty at the time, but I was often mistaken for a teenager. Naturally, I got even more uncomfortable.

My coworker went to our manager because she and a few members were concerned about this guy. My manager told me to stop “spreading rumors” about members and did nothing.

I usually closed the gym. We closed at 11:00 pm, and I was alone. One of the guys from the camp was very large and intimidating. He told me about all these fights he was getting into on the street. I got in trouble with that same manager for not closing on time. I didn’t close on time because the big scary dude would work out until exactly 11:00 pm and then spend at least thirty to forty-five minutes in the shower.

I told my manager he could come tell the dude to leave.