(My daughter was born with a large red birthmark on her face. As a result, rather than telling her she is pretty, a lot of people tell her she is clever, instead. When she is three, we are waiting in line at the grocery checkout. My daughter decides to sing a little song she’s made up about being a “clever girl.”)

Daughter: *singing* “I’m clever, clever, clever. I’m such a clever girl…”

(The man ahead of us in line, waiting with a boy of about seven years old, starts speaking in a mocking tone, which confuses me.)

Man: “Oooh, there’s a clever girl! Everyone, this one’s actually clever!”

(His son looks uncomfortable, which seems to inspire the dad to try harder.)

Man: “Come on, it’s a clever girl! Bet you’ve never met one of those before! So much cleverer than all the rest of us!”

(As I am trying to figure out if this guy is seriously trying to bully a preschooler, he turns around with a sneer.)

Man: “Oh, we should all be so impressed by the clever girl…”

(Then he sees my daughter, his face goes pale, and, grabbing his own kid, he leaves the line without another word to us. I guess because, apparently, he thinks it’s okay to mock most small children… but not the ones with visible birthmarks?)

Daughter: *happily oblivious* “I’m clever!”

Cashier: *smiling* “Yes, you are! Would you like a cookie?”

(I work in a cell phone kiosk. A customer comes in to reset his email password. He is an older gentleman and has mentioned in passing that he is married.)

Customer: *almost whispering* “So, those pop up ads with the cute girls… Those aren’t good, right?”

Me: “No, sir, they’re a scam.”

Customer: “Well, my friend said they were trying to steal from me.”

Me: “Yes, that’s correct.”

Customer: “Well, I just wanted to be sure. Are you sure I shouldn’t click on those pop-ups?”

Me: “Yes, I’m sure.”

Customer: “How do I see the p*rn in my email?”

Me: “…”

My mom is known for being absent minded at times, especially when tired. It is after work during Christmas time, and she rightfully is a bit more stressed and tired than usual. On her way home this evening, she stops to buy groceries at the local market. When she emerges from the store, everything is covered by a light snow. She gets to her car, fumbles a bit with the key and opens the trunk. She is in the process of emptying her shopping cart in the back of the car when she hears a faint cough.

She freezes. Silence. Ever so slowly, she raises her eyes up to see four people, all seated and buckled up, looking at her in shock. She looks at them, they look at her. She checks the car and it looks the same. She then checks the number plate and notices it is not her car. She turns her head and sees that her car is the one right next to it.

Without a word and without breaking eye contact with the family, she gets all of her groceries out of their car, slowly closes the trunk ,and walks a few meters to hers. They leave while she is still filling her trunk with the bags, and they still look shocked. From now on, she always checks the license plate before touching any car!

(I work in a theater. It’s 11 pm, and since the last movie of the night went in thirty minutes ago, all the staff are working on closing up for the night. As we’re throwing away the last of the day’s popcorn, a man walks up to the concessions counter. Keep in mind, all theaters typically close thirty minutes after the last movie goes in.)

Customer: “Can I buy a ticket from you?”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but the registers are actually all closed now. We do have kiosks, however, and you still have a few minutes to purchase a ticket for [Movie] before it expires for the night.”

Customer: “But I don’t want to see [Movie];I came here to see [Other Movie]!”

Me: “Oh… I’m sorry, sir, but that movie went in over an hour ago and is almost finished, so it won’t be available on the kiosks.”

Customer: “So, are you going to sell me a ticket, then?”

Me: “I’m sorry, but as I said, we’re closed for the night, and all of the registers have been put away. There are more showings tomorrow night for it, though, and tomorrow is cheap night.”

Customer: “Are you serious? What am I supposed to do now? Can’t you just let me in?”

Me: “I really can’t help you. Again, I’m very sorry.”

Customer: “I’ve never heard of a movie theater turning someone away before! I’m a paying customer!” *storms off*

(I’m still trying to figure out if he REALLY intend on paying $12.50 to watch the last twenty minutes of a movie.)

(I work at a popular cosmetics store. Our company is known for its generous return policy, where clients can return products for a full refund within 30 days with their receipts, and after 30 days they can still come in for an exchange or store credit. We can also look up their receipt from their membership card. This happens when a newer cashier calls me over to the register.)

Cashier: “This client wants to exchange this product, but since we don’t have it in stock, she’s wondering if we can give them a refund.”

Me: “That should be fine.” *to the client* “Hi. What was the reason for exchanging this product?”

Client: “I bought this powder compact last week, but I dropped it and it shattered into pieces. I wanted a new one, but you don’t have it in stock, so I want a refund.”

(The compact is indeed broken, but most people that use makeup know that powder will shatter if you drop it, especially softer ones.)

Me: “Unfortunately, since you dropped the product and it broke, we can’t give you a refund. Refunds are only given to used products if you’re sensitive to it or if you’re not satisfied with the performance of the product.”

Client: “So, you can’t replace broken products?”

Me: “The only time where we will replace broken products is if they came broken during shipment and it wasn’t your fault.”

Client: “Well, what if I tell you it came broken?”

Me: “Ma’am, you just told me otherwise, so unfortunately, that’s not possible.”

Cashier: *showing me the other two powder compacts on the counter* “The client would also like to get store credit for these two products.”

(Seeing that the outside of the compacts look very dirty and used, I proceed to open one of them. The powder is used to the point that you can see the bottom of the metal pan.)

Me: “I’m sorry but this product is extremely used, and I cannot return it.”

Client: “Why? But your store accepts used products for returns!”

Me: “As it says on our return policy, we can accept gently used products. This product has been used for many times, and I cannot return it.”

Client: *clearly frustrated* “Okay, how about the other one?”

(I open the other one, and it’s been used quite a bit, as well, but not as bad as the first one. Since the client doesn’t have her receipt, I ask the cashier to look up her receipt from her membership card.)

Cashier: “I can’t seem to find her receipt for this product.”

Me: “How long ago did you purchase this?”

Client: “About a year ago.”

Me: *cannot believe she’s returning a one-year-old product* “Unfortunately, our system can only track the last 25 transactions you had in the last year. This product was purchased over a year ago, so we wouldn’t have record of the receipt, and I cannot return a product if we don’t have proof of purchase.”

Client: “But that’s not how it was! Your store should be able to return the product even if I don’t have the receipt!”

Me: “That would be true if it were before we changed our return policy, but we’ve since then modified it, and we do need proof of purchase now.”

Client: “When did that happen?! Why did you guys change it?!”

Me: “It was changed a year and half ago, and we changed it because people were abusing the system.”

Client: *appearing flustered* “Well, whatever. Are you sure you can’t replace my broken compact, then?”

Me: “Yes, I’m sure. We can only refund products if you’re not satisfied with it or it caused sensitivity.”

Client: “Okay, well, I’m not satisfied with this product! I dropped it and it just broke!”

Me: “Ma’am, if you drop something, there’s a chance that it will break! It happens to all kinds of products! That is not a valid reason to be dissatisfied with the product!”