I’m heading to a strip mall. Due to a lot of construction around the main exits of the shopping area, the traffic is really backed up, with three rows of traffic trying to merge into a single lane to reach the nearest exit. It’s slow and annoying but nothing too serious.

As I drive from my lane into the one exit lane, I am suddenly bombarded by a symphony of obnoxious horn-blaring to my left. To this day, I do not believe I cut this lady off or butt in front of her by accident, but the woman clearly thinks I did and is letting her displeasure at being slighted be more than apparent. She starts flipping me off, really laying into the horn while shouting what I imagine is a very foul string of insults and acting like everything wrong in her life is somehow my fault.

It only gets worse when I choose to ignore her tantrum-throwing. She somehow manages to throw her coffee out her window and hit the back of my car, which only succeeds in making me laugh at this woman’s road-raging antics.

After several more minutes of honking, bird-flipping, and swearing that I can’t hear — she’s got some strong lungs, that’s for sure — we finally get through the one-lane area of the construction zone. Almost immediately, once free to do so, the woman floors it, racing out and around me and cutting in front of me. Apparently still not done with her onslaught of rage, the woman actually leans out of her open window to give me one more flip of the bird.

As she does so, her car veers a bit too far to the right of her lane, running over several construction cones and nearly crashing before she is able to get back in and control her vehicle.

Seconds later, with almost perfect timing, a police car passes me with lights blaring and pulls this road-raging woman over.

I have a good laugh on my way home. Instant Karma at its finest.

A customer comes in very angry.

Customer: “You messed up my coffee when I came through the drive-thru!”

Me: “What was the issue with your drink, sir?”

Customer: “Instead of sweetener, you added sugar! I’m a diabetic! That spoonful of sugar would have killed me! I can taste the difference, you know!”

Since this is a potentially serious mistake, my manager steps in and offers him any other item on the menu for free, because he won’t accept just a redo of the coffee.

Customer: “I want a dozen donuts!”

No problem. I pack up the dozen and hand them to him. He then proceeds to eat not one, not two… but THREE sugar-glazed donuts in front of my eyeballs even though he just claimed he was severely diabetic. He then storms out and my manager turns to me.

Manager: “At least he ate and left. The worst ones don’t leave; they just keep going.”

This was around fifteen years ago when I was working part-time as a courtesy clerk at a local grocery store.

We had a customer come in after I had retrieved a children’s car-shaped cart from the far end of the parking lot, near a path leading to a residential area, demanding to speak with me directly. Apparently, this customer had been wearing a gold bracelet that had gotten stuck on the cart, and instead of bringing the cart back into the store and asking for assistance, she decided to abandon the cart, grab her groceries, and walk home to get a screwdriver.

By the time she returned, approximately two hours had passed. She was very aggressive and accusatory toward me until I pointed out that the business down at the end of the parking lot had security cameras, and she might be better served asking them if they had seen anything. She accepted this alternative and left.

I was walking back to the office with the manager on duty and the keyholder, when our keyholder mentioned something to me.

Keyholder: “You do realize she was accusing you of stealing her bracelet, right?”

Me: “Wait, what? That never even occurred to me!”

Manager: “I don’t think it would’ve even crossed your mind if you saw it, anyway. How many phones and tablets have you turned in by now?”

I don’t recall the conversation clearly, but it was remarkable having management immediately dismiss the accusations against me on the basis of my established character. I didn’t think I had made that much of an impact, but given that when I left that job they actually had a cake made in the bakery for me and threw me a little surprise celebration, I guess I did.

I still wonder, though… if that bracelet was so important to that woman, why did she do something so stupid?!

I was driving home, talking to my dad on the phone hands-free, as I pulled into a gas station. I popped my wireless earphones in and hopped out of the car, continuing my call.

Having prepaid at the pump, I was standing there pumping my fuel when the woman inside the kiosk got on the intercom of the pump.

Attendant: “Ma’am, do you need some help?”

Me: “Umm… Hold on a sec, Dad. No, I’m okay, thanks.”

Attendant: “Okay… you just seemed… mad.”

Me: “What? No. I’m not mad… Oh. No. I’m on the phone. I guess I’m just kind of excited.”

I guess I was waving my arms around while telling my stories and came off as unhinged.

I was working in the shoe section of a large thrift store, right next to the toy section, putting out shoes. Over in the toy section was a stroller with a baby who was maybe just over a year old, and further down the aisle sat a toddler, maybe three, with his back to the stroller, playing with an assortment of toys that he had pulled onto the floor.

I began to look around, as there was no adult anywhere near, and I was about to flag down a manager to get them to do something about it when a woman came along with a cart full of clothing.

She proceeded to bawl out the three-year-old, using rather inappropriate language, because he was not watching his baby brother, but playing with toys instead!

What causes a parent to think that a three-year-old is anywhere near old enough or responsible enough to babysit a baby?