(My family decides to visit me for the weekend at university. The suburbs in this area are populated primarily by students like me who are away from home, so many of the shops and cafes are targeted at young adults and have “hipster” traits; i.e. the menus are on blackboards, you are required to go up to the counter to order and get a table number, and reservations aren’t taken. One Saturday, my mum, dad, younger sister, and I are in the car together when my mum suggests we do brunch the next day.)

Mum: “[My Name], what’s a good place to eat?”

Me: “Ooh, there’s this really nice cafe called [Cafe]! The food and coffee is amazing. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s definitely worth it, and it’s only walking distance from [Hotel where parents are staying]!”

(My sister looks up the cafe on a popular social media app and shows my family. It is rather homey with indoor plants and wooden tables, while the food is presented artistically for the purpose of photo-taking so, immediately, they’re all sold.)

Sister: “Wow, this place looks amazing! Let’s go!”

Me: “Yes! But it’s really, really popular, especially on Sundays for brunch. We’d have to go a bit early if we want to get a seat, maybe around 9:30 am.”

Mum: “Oh, I was hoping to sleep in a bit tomorrow. Can’t you just make a reservation?”

Me: *laughs* “No, it’s not that kind of a place. They only allow walk-ins, but I promise it’s worth it.”

Mum: “Are you sure? You can’t just call them up and ask?”

Me: “No, Mum. It doesn’t work like that. None of the cafes in this area do reservations, just the restaurants.”

(There’s a few minutes of silence, then:)

Mum: “Can’t you give them a call?”

Me: *knowing fully well that I would get laughed at if I tried* “Mum, even if I wanted to, they closed at three pm. It’s well past four o’clock now.”

Mum: “What about on their website? Surely you can reserve a table on there!”

Me: “It’s a small local cafe; they don’t have a website, just the [Social Media] page.”

Mum: “That’s ridiculous! What kind of business doesn’t have a website?”

Dad: “Some places that are targeted at younger people just work like that, dear. Look at what [Sister] did before; she didn’t even consider searching for a website and went straight to the cafe’s [Social Media]! It’s just how the kids think.”

(About half an hour later:)

Mum: “[Sister]! Can you look up the cafe’s phone number and give them a call? Maybe we can book a table for around ten am.”

(My sister, my dad, and I all groan.)

Sister: “Mum! [My Name] told you, they don’t do reservations, and they’re closed right now!”

Mum: “She doesn’t know that for sure! [My Name], have you even tried?”

Me: “No, I haven’t, but I’ve been there multiple times, Mum! I’ve been to so many of these cafes; all of them only do walk-ins! I guarantee they don’t even have those metal ‘reserved’ placement cards you see at restaurants! It’s just how these places work!”

Mum: “Okay, okay, fine! We’ll see.”

(The next day, my family ends up waking up later than expected and take far too long to get ready, so we don’t end up getting to the cafe until 10:30 am — prime brunch time. As we approach, we can see the place is packed and there is a massive line of people stretching around the corner of the building. I talk to a waitress, who informs me there’s a 45-minute wait to be seated. Too hungry to stand in line for that long, we accept defeat and decide to find another place.)

Sister: “It’s a shame; their food looked so good.”

Mum: *throwing her arms in the air* “Well, this wouldn’t have happened if we had just made a reservation!”

(We did eventually go to another great cafe that I knew of. As we were seated, my mum made a point of asking them — you guessed it — if they allowed for reservations. As expected, they said no.)

I work in a large building with a number of different divisions who share meeting rooms, with bookings made through a shared calendar. One of our meeting rooms has a computer that is quite slow to boot up, so when I have a presentation, I book the room for an additional 15 minutes prior to the meeting to get the AV set up.

About five minutes before everyone was due to arrive at this particular meeting, I had successfully logged in and had the first slide of the presentation up on the screen ready to go. I put my papers on the table and left to get a glass of water from the kitchen next door. When I came back, a different group of people had let themselves in to the room and logged me out of the computer to display their own presentation!

I advised them I had the room booked for the next two hours. They said they didn’t see anyone, so they just decided to log me out of the computer and start their own meeting.

By the time they had left and I had logged back into the computer, my meeting had arrived and I was chastised for not getting ready earlier.

(It’s Easter time and all of our Easter-themed chocolate has a buy-two-get-one-free special on, and, as usual, the cheapest item in each group of three is the one that becomes free. This is also clearly explained on the sign, which states the special.)

Me: “Hi, how can I help you?”

Customer: “Hi, I just bought this chocolate a second ago, and it costs more than what it should.”

(I look at the receipt to see if the special has been accounted for, which it has, and the cheaper eggs are marked down as they should be.)

Me: “Sir, your receipt clearly states that you have gotten every third egg free. It is part of the special that the cheapest is marked down.”

Customer: “But they way that it has been done is wrong! I demand to have my money back!”

Me: “Sir, the only way you can change the way the sale that has been put through is to refund all of your items and repurchase them in separate transactions. You have over $100 worth of chocolate and you would only be getting around two to four dollars back, so I don’t recommend it.”

(Despite my warning, the man demanded I refund all of his items and resell them in separate transactions. The worst thing is, this happened twice more within the hour. I managed to persuade the third customer that it wasn’t worth it.)

(I’ve just started work in a coffee shop. A group of teenagers walk in and order, and I think that’s the end of them, until one of the girls walks up while I’m taking the next customer’s order.)

Me: “I’m sorry. You’ll have to join the line—”

Girl: “Yeah, I know, I’m sorry. But I counted our change and you gave us an extra $20.”

(She holds out a $20 note for me. Stunned, I let it stay there for a second, before finally processing that someone had just complained about being given too much change.)

Me: “Oh! Thank you.”

Girl: “It’s rush hour and you’re the only one in here; I can’t blame you. Have a nice day, all right?” *walks away*

(It was the best day I’d had in a long time!)

(I work in a large retail chain in Australia. As it is currently summer here, my long work pants are really hot. I’m in the store I work in, after my shift — so, still dressed in uniform — looking for a suitable skirt to buy and wear on my shifts and not boil my legs. A lady approaches me.)

Customer: “Could you help me find [pants] in size 12?”

Me: “Of course. Let me check the tag.”

(I find the pants quite quickly and show her we have sizes 6-22 — in Australian sizes this basically means there would be a pair to fit the vast majority of people — while handing her size 12.)

Customer: “And what about the top I asked for?”

(I’m certain she said nothing about a top to me, and she refuses to “repeat” herself. I tell her that in that case, there’s nothing more I can do for her and continue my own shopping. She doesn’t say anything but follows me around for the full ten minutes it takes me to find a suitable skirt. It’s pretty creepy.)

Customer: “Carrying that handbag, you almost look like you’re shopping!” *laughs*

Me: “I am shopping.”

Customer: *laughs*

(I’m apparently hilarious without even knowing it.)

Customer: *whining* “I really need that top!”

(I directed her to speak to my manager at the fitting rooms. She demanded my help. I repeated that my shift was finished, I really was just shopping, and I was helping her out of the goodness of my heart and without being paid. She complained to my very short-tempered manager about my “conduct,” and the manager reaffirmed that I was shopping, not working. This set off the ultimate conundrum in the customer’s mind and she got more and more agitated until she was removed by security for attempting to cut people with disposable razors. It was the craziest thing I’d ever seen. My coworkers and I still lunge at each other with [packaged, completely harmless] disposable razors for a joke.)