I’m lower-middle management at a machine shop. I’ve got a welder on shift who works very fast; he produces about ten parts per shift each with a 120-inch weld. I’ve also got a welder who’s a bit slower; he produces five parts on each shift each with a 49-inch weld.

The thing is that my fast worker’s welds all fail ultrasound testing. He does 120 inches of welding per part, and every single part has about an inch that fails ultrasound and needs to be redone. This is part of the time it takes him to do the ten parts per shift.

My guy who does 49 inches on his parts fails a section of weld less than once a pay period.

We have a holiday shift open up doing different parts because a lot of people are going on vacation. There’s a two-times holiday differential pay for the people who stay on.

Both of these guys apply for one of the slots. Obviously, I take the guy whose welds don’t fail very often over the faster guy who fails a weld every part and needs to redo them. He’s not going to be as fast working on unfamiliar parts and is likely to make even more errors.

The faster guy gets b****y about it, complaining about how I didn’t take him for the holiday shift. He complains to me. He complains to his buddies. He complains to my manager.

So, I sit him down and explain that I would be more than happy to take him if he improves his failure rate. He nods along.

The next week, he produces only two parts per shift. This would be… acceptable, but less than ideal… if they didn’t fail ultrasound testing, but he still fails ultrasound testing twice that week.

I approach him about it, and he says, very smugly, that he is working on his accuracy. He practically sneers it at me. It is clear that he is daring me to complain about his reduced speed.

The next shift, I watch him, and he is mostly goofing off. He is making an effort to be more precise… but he is also doing every other task comically slowly.

I confront him about it and threaten to write him up.

Employee: “You need me more than I need you! A guy with my speed and welding experience could find work anywhere. You can’t write me up; I quit!”

Me: “Okay.”

We’re operating a bit slower without him, and his replacement isn’t fully trained up yet, but we certainly didn’t need his attitude.

A customer comes in and orders a strawberry drink that comes with actual strawberry pieces along with the strawberry tea. I make it and give it to him. He picks up the drink and looks weirdly at it.

Customer: “I asked for no strawberry pieces in this.”

I am 100% sure he did not.

Me: “Oh, okay. No worries. I can remake it for you really quickly!”

Customer: *Scoffs* “Good, because I’m allergic to strawberries!”

Me: “…”

Back in the early days of office computer networks, I was put in charge of setting up and maintaining the network for the law firm I worked at. The partner attorney who oversaw all this was really something!

First, the firm’s entire reason for upgrading to networked computers was so that the firm would have an inter-office email system. But Mr. Partner decided that it would cost too much to buy thirty-five individual versions of the software and bought only ONE stand-alone version and had me install that one install disk on all thirty-five computers, using the same code every time. Thus, email wasn’t possible because stand-alone software didn’t include it.

After some investigation, I did find a way to do short “instant messages” from one person to another and set up a short macro for everyone to make that easier. Mr. Partner was heard proudly referring to that as “our email system.”

He followed that up by ordering me to call a friend in a nearby firm to ask if we could “borrow” their install disks for a spreadsheet program. Not surprisingly, that request was denied.

Then, he attended a conference at the local Bar Association on the subject of computer piracy and came to me afterward.

Partner: “Have you heard about computer piracy? It’s really terrible!”

Me: “Yes, I have heard of it. We do it all the time. If we did it any more, I’d have to have a patch on my eye and a parrot on my shoulder!”

The following year, they opted to do an actual legit upgrade to have real email and licensed software on each PC, all while Mr. Partner kept shaking his head saying he really didn’t see why we needed to go to that expense!

I was seeing a client for the first time whose concern was that her dog was itchy. The file had a few visits from about a year ago concerning urinary issues and suspect urinary tract infection, but at a recheck visit, the client had reported it resolved. Otherwise, the dog had a healthy, normal history.

I could see on the exam that it had scratched its skin in several places from being so itchy. Running a flea comb through its coat, I pulled out several fleas that I was able to show to the client, which is always very satisfying. We started him on flea prevention and also gave him an anti-itch injection, as he was so itchy I was suspicious he was either allergic to the fleas (which is a thing) or had some allergies on top of the fleas.

I worked with the client to find options that worked in her budget and gave estimates for everything. At the end of the appointment, as with all appointments, I asked if there were any other questions or concerns for that day. We talked about the skin and allergies a little bit more, but otherwise, there were no other concerns.

The next day, she left a negative review on our page because, “We never resolved her dog’s urinary issues.”

I am a veterinarian. On the day before Thanksgiving, I have an owner bring their older dog in for a mass on her foot that grew very quickly over the past few days and seemed very irritating as the dog was licking at it. Off the bat, this makes me think of something like a local infection and/or trauma. I recommend taking a small sample of it with a needle to view under a microscope, either in-clinic or by sending it out to a lab, for more information. It starts to go downhill here, as the owner informs me that he is a human physician, and he appears to have some opinions on what should be done instead. I don’t think it helps that I am a young recently graduated female veterinarian, and this owner is an older male physician.

Me: “Taking this sample can tell us whether there is an infection or if there is truly something more concerning like a growth or cancer.”

Owner: “I don’t think I want to do all that. She is an older dog, and I just want it removed, whatever it is.”

Me: “While that is a fair goal, surgery may not be the best solution to this. Even if it is cancer, that area can be hard to remove large masses from because there is so little tissue on the limbs.”

He starts to go into medical jargon about healing, and we go back and forth a few times. I support different owners with their goals and their right to make decisions for their pets so long as they are informed, but I don’t think jumping to surgical removal of this mass is in the dog’s best interest. He eventually concedes to us taking a sample, which I do, and I get a pus-like material that makes me even more suspicious of infection. When I go to explain this:

Owner: “Well, if it is an abscess, you can just take her in the back and drain it with a scalpel blade!”

This is also something I would not want to do immediately, especially in animals who do not sit still like humans and without appropriate pain control. Since our in-clinic materials for evaluating the sample were not working, I told him that I would send the sample out to a lab and that we would hear back with results in about three to five business days, possibly longer with a holiday tomorrow.

I sent the dog home with anti-inflammatories for comfort and a cone to keep her from traumatizing the area in the meantime. The owner was so fixated on having the mass “just removed” that on the way out, he scheduled a surgery for two weeks from then. The whole appointment left me exhausted, but the icing on the cake really came over the next two weeks.

I got the results back about three business days later — six calendar days — and called the only number we had on file for this owner. No one answered, so I left a message explaining that the results were consistent with an infection, that no cancer was seen, and that I was sending them an electronic prescription for an antibiotic. I also told them to call back and let us know how [Patient] was doing.

We heard nothing back about this dog until the next week when the owners got an automatic reminder for surgery drop-off the next day. The owner’s WIFE called us, upset, and asked why her dog had a surgery scheduled. When we reviewed the appointment and explained that it had been scheduled by her husband, the wife got irritated and told us to cancel it, because — shocker — the antibiotic got rid of the mass. She also snipped about how it took a week to get the results back.

In summary, he told me how to do my job (incorrectly), didn’t communicate to his spouse about the dog, didn’t update us about how the dog was doing or respond to a phone call, and complained about getting results back within the estimated timeframe during a holiday week. Well, at least the dog is better.