(I am working in the greeting card section. The manager is explaining to me where all the different types of cards should go.)

Manager: “…and for the children’s birthday cards, the ones with drawings or cartoons should be here, and the ones with photographs should be on the bottom shelf.”

(I notice a card on the bottom shelf with a picture of a Tyrannosaurus painted in a realistic style, and pick it up.)

Me: “Oh, then this one must be in the wrong place.”

Manager: “Why? Isn’t that a photograph?”

Me: “Well, it does look realistic, but it’s a dinosaur. There are no photographs of them.”

Manager: “Why not?”

(At our call center, our boss is often late, and also has a habit of calling his own phone instead of directly calling whoever he’s trying to reach. It’s a very busy day and our boss finally comes in, albeit two hours late.)

Boss: “Why didn’t any of you take the time to pick up my phone?”

Me: “Because the phones were red hot.”

Boss: “That is no excuse for you to not pick up that phone! When I call, I expect someone to pick it up. I was late, and I needed someone to verify that I was coming in!”

Me: “May I ask why you did not call the floor manager for that? They can make a note and make sure the others have a heads up in time.”

Boss: “Because I am hungover from the party! I was up until six in the morning, and didn’t feel like talking to those idiots! You better pick up next time. Otherwise, you can look for a different job!”

(Twenty minutes later, one of the managers comes in and grills my boss.)

Manager: *to my Boss* “Where were you? Why were you late?”

Boss: “I was still in bed and overslept. Why do you care?!”

Manager: “The head of our company came in this morning and wanted to talk to you about your recent amounts of being late. He isn’t happy at all.”

Boss: “Oh, crap.”

(Never saw him again after that.)

Me: “Hey, [Supervisor], I know it’s two months away, but I wanted to let you know I need my graduation day off.”

Supervisor: “That’s fine, but you need to put the request in the system two weeks before. But I’ll be sure to approve it.”

(A month and a half later…)

Me: “[Supervisor], I just put the request for my graduation day off into the system.”

Supervisor: “Oh, great; I’ll approve it right now.”

(The next day…)

Me: “So, am I all set for graduation?”

Supervisor: “Oh, I completely forgot! Let me do that right now.”

(This continued EVERY work day that week. Lo and behold, the next week’s schedule comes up with me on for my graduation day.)

Me: “I thought you said I was all set to have the day off?”

Supervisor: “Well, now that you’re on the schedule, you’ll need to find someone else to cover it for you. Too many other people were given the day off.”

Me: “But… You said…”

(My supervisor leaves me there with my jaw on the floor. Just then, my store manager walks by.)

Store Manager: “Hey, [My Name], what’s wrong?”

Me: “My supervisor wants me to work my graduation day.”

Store Manager: “Did you request it off in the system?”

Me: “Yes.”

Store Manager: “Oh, I see. I’ll take care of this!”

(When my shift ended that day, I saw that I was no longer scheduled for my graduation day. Even better: she made my supervisor cover for me.)

(I have dyed my hair blue. Despite a lot of positive customer feedback on my looks, my boss hates it. I’m the only employee who speaks English, and it’s tourist season.)

Boss: “The supervisors are having a surprise check-up any minute. You better get into the back right now. Mop the storage room or something. Go!”

(I grab the mop and go to the back, but accidentally walk straight into the supervisors who have decided to take the back entrance.)

Supervisor #1: “You work here? That’s so cool! Your hair is so pretty!”

(My boss runs in to the storage room when he hears the supervisors’ voices but hasn’t heard their compliments.)

Boss: “She is new! She knows nothing! My assistant hired her, not me!”

Supervisor #2: “We just told her how we love her hair. It’s refreshing to see that people don’t judge employees by their looks anymore. ”

Boss: *stunned* “Y-yes, of course. We are very… proud.” *turns to me* “Could you please go to the front? We… uh… have a lot of tourists coming in.”

Me: “Oh, but, sir, I’m new, and according to YOUR regulations I’m not allowed to work the register without proper training. I’ll finish the clean-up so you can get back to your business.”

Boss: *looks terrified and walks away*

(My restaurant has a policy to give out the restroom key to paying customers only. This is to reduce how often we have to clean up blood, drug paraphernalia, and, on occasion, corpses.)

General Manager: *to a customer exiting the bathroom* “WHO GAVE YOU THE KEY?”

New Coworker: “Um, I did. Was I not supposed to?”

(The General Manager continues to shout at the new coworker in front of all the customers—including the one who had just left the bathroom.)

General Manager: “Why would you do that?! He could have been a drug addict shooting up in there, and then we would have to clean up after him! You never give the key to someone who’s not a customer! What is wrong with you?!”

(Later on, I take the new coworker aside.)

Me: “Look, [New Coworker], do you remember what I told you on your first day of training?”

New Coworker: “That [General Manager] is very intense sometimes?”

Me: “As you can see, that was probably the understatement of the century. Don’t let it get you down. It was my mistake for not telling you the policy when I trained you. You’re doing a great job.”

(The next day, I walk in to overhear my general manager yelling at another new coworker, but this time for NOT giving a bathroom key to a customer. It should be noted this other coworker had heard about the previous day’s incident, and, being new, was understandably afraid to give out the bathroom key. Again, my general manager is making no effort to keep the ‘discussion’ away from customers.)

General Manager: *to another coworker* “Why wouldn’t you give him the bathroom key?! He’s obviously NOT a druggie! He’s one of the builders from the construction site across the street who just needed to use the bathroom! That could be considered TORTURE! What is wrong with you?!”

(Later that day, after more damage control with the new coworkers, I see a customer stumble out of the restroom. This customer has been previously banned for leaving behind hypodermic needles, blood, and certain other bodily fluids.)

Me: *to the General Manager* “Isn’t that the guy we banned last week?”

General Manager: “Yes, it is.”

Me: “How did he get the bathroom key?”

General Manager: “He bought something, so I gave it to him! Go clean the bathroom!”