I’m an ESL teacher, teaching at a school in China.
We’re doing an activity where my students had to give directions based on a map and situations I had chosen.
Me: “Okay, and the final question. This one is complex. Give someone directions to get from here to here, but explain that the main road is closed.
Student: *Groans.* “Bah! Way too difficult. I’ll tell them to take a cab.”
Points for thinking outside the box, I guess?
While at a class at the gym, I’m saying something self-deprecating about needing to switch to lighter plate weights before my set.
Coach: “Oh, don’t be like that! I remember when you started, you couldn’t even lift the lightest bar with no plates. You’ve improved loads!”
Me: “Yeah, but had I been any weaker, I couldn’t have lifted my arms. That illness last autumn was awful, I got badly medically underweight, and so weak.”
Other Girl In Gym Class: “Oh, that must’ve been great! I wish I could eat anything I want!”
Me: *Incredulously.* “I couldn’t eat anything, whether I wanted it or not. I was sick. I got too weak to stand up. That’s sort of the problem I came here to the gym to solve.”
Girl: “Thin! It must be great!”
Me & Coach: “…”
I have to admit that I wasn’t exactly in the right in this situation, but it was satisfying.
I was behind a group of three women walking into the women’s bathroom, where there was already a line of three people. We approached the line, but to my surprise, the group in front of me disregarded the line entirely. They instead randomly tugged at stall doors. Initially confused, I lined up properly, leaving space ahead for when they returned.
After a while of pulling on locked stalls with no luck to open any, the group eventually lined up… in a new line on the right of the existing one. For some context, this was in a popular tourist area, so there were a lot of stalls, and there were slightly more stalls on the right.
The woman second in line sounded annoyed.
Second In Line: “We already have a line. Please line up.”
The leader said the following like it was the most obvious thing in the world:
Group Leader: “There are two rows of stalls. Everyone knows there should be a line for each row. We are forming a line for the right row; you guys are lining up for the left row.”
Second In Line: “That’s not how lines work. We already have a line; you need to line up in the back.”
[Group Leader] just repeated the “facts”. After several rounds of going nowhere, [Group Leader] just ignored [Second In Line] and started talking to her friends, while [Second In Line] continued to tell them they needed to line up properly.
Then, a stall opened on the left. [Group Leader] and her friends glared but remained silent because, according to them, they had lined up for the “right side” of stalls. The woman first in the original line entered the stall.
Unfortunately, the next opened stall was on the right side. [Second In Line] and [Group Leader] were shoving each other to try to get in that stall. [Second In Line] managed to shove her way into the stall and closed the door in [Group Leader]’s face.
After [Second In Line] entered the stall, the group started bad-mouthing her, calling her needy, entitled, and rude, and saying she had mental problems. They were saying things like, “You have to let the entitled go first because they don’t follow rules,” right in front of [Second In Line]’s stall. This is what got me really annoyed.
The next stall that opened was on the left, and the third woman in line quickly entered. The group was really annoyed at this point.
Then, another stall opened… and just so happened to be on the left again. I guess that they were fed up enough that [Group Leader] started walking toward the open stall without even looking at me. However, I was closer, so I entered, looked at her, said, “One line for one row, right?” and closed the door in her face.
They started bad-mouthing me in front of my stall, saying I didn’t have manners and I was so entitled. I took my sweet time. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
I have recently been accepted to a graduate program overseas, and I am applying for my student visa. Part of the application requires proof that my family and I have enough funds to support me. We go to our bank with printed-off bank statements to get officially stamped.
Employee #1: “Ah, well, I’m afraid that we’re unable to accept most of these bank statements.”
Me: “Why not? The last time I was here, you guys told us that printing them off at home was the cheaper and faster option.”
Employee #1: “That’s true. However, we’ve recently updated our website and implemented some new security protocols. You have to accept them in order for your name and address to be shown on the statements and considered valid.”
We look down and, sure enough, filler has just been placed in the space where it would have our name and address. Since this has never happened before, we didn’t notice.
Mom: “Okay, is it possible for us to print these out here?”
Employee #1: “Well… let’s see. No, it shouldn’t be possible. We’re not able to access customers’ accounts directly, and for security reasons, we do not let customers use any of our computers directly.”
We discuss a bit more, but we realize there really isn’t any way around this. The employee does stamp a few of my bank statements from before the change went into effect, and she reassures us that when either of us comes back with the correct statements, we can ask for her and she will help us.
At home, I go through the new safety protocols for online banking and print off my own bank statements with my name and address. We have to wait a few days for my father to return from a trip before we can print off his, but after five days, my mom returns to the bank.
Mom: “Hello, is [Employee #1] here? She promised to help us in regards to officially certifying some bank statements.”
Employee #2: “She’s not in today, but I’d be happy to help.”
Mom: “Great. Well, we have these bank statements, and we need them officially stamped.”
Employee #2: “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m afraid that we can’t do that with statements printed from personal online banking. We can only officially authenticate statements printed by the bank itself. Now, this should take about four working days to process, and it will cost $45 per statement—”
Mom takes a deep breath and stops her right there.
Mom: “That is the exact opposite of what we were told the last time I was here. Now, I’m not going to argue with you about your protocol, but I want this sorted, and I would like to speak with the manager now.”
The manager came, and yes, it turned out that [Employee #2] had it right. The stamp [Employee #1] had used wasn’t even the right stamp. My mom was understandably frustrated by the fact that we’d lost days on the visa process because of the misinformation, but thankfully, the manager was very understanding and printed, stamped, and signed all the necessary statements in forty-five minutes, even waiving the fees.
It was probably for the best that we had to return with different statements or we would have submitted improperly validated ones and been rejected.
While on vacation in a different city, my family and I decided to buy a biscuit that the city is known for. While I’ve encountered plenty of upselling strategies (who hasn’t?), this was an… interesting new one.
Me: *Holding a gift box to the cashier* “Just this, please.”
Cashier: “Would you like to buy a second one? It’s only MOP70 more.”
Me: “No, thanks.”
Cashier: “But your purchase will come out to MOP500, and two boxes cost MOP570. You’re losing out!”
Other Employee: “It’s true, you know. I can help you get another box, if you like.”
Because the product happened to be the most popular, a stack of them was also on the counter next to the cashier, with a price tag reading “MOP375” that could be clearly seen from where I was standing.
Me: “I’m still going to decline.”
Cashier: “But it’s not worth it to buy just one box!”
This back-and-forth went on for a bit until my father cut in.
Dad: “Actually, forget it. We have a bus to catch, so we’re in a hurry. We’re just not going to buy anything.”
Cashier: “Okay, one box it is, then. Tell you what: we’ll even give you the employee discount.”
Interestingly, the total after the discount was the exact amount on the price tag.
