I used to be a customer service “manager” for a furniture store. I’ll admit, some of the issues I had there I brought on myself because when I started I was in a pretty bad financial situation so I didn’t say no to extra work. There was also the fact that I’m competent and actually know how to do things like talk on the phone, schedule deliveries, and order furniture.

Anyway, when I started, I was just a front desk person and didn’t really have a title. Fast forward almost a year, and the manager and her husband (he owned the store) were going to be out of town, so he showed up and pulled the rest of the staff — our three salespeople, our two delivery guys, our warehouse manager and me — into a brief meeting.

Owner: “Okay, while [Manager] and I are out of town, I want you guys to do your best to get us sales. And I’ll be giving [My Name] instructions, so if she asks you to do something, it came from me.”

[Sales Guy] was an a** and regularly crossed the line on sexual harassment, but any time I brought it up I was told to ignore him because “he’s old and he had a stroke”.

Sales Guy: “But is [My Name] a manager? Because I only take directions from managers.”

Rather than reiterating that stuff was coming from him, aka THE OWNER, he just said:

Owner: “Okay, fine. [My Name] is now a manager.”

That sent a horrible feeling to the pit of my stomach because I knew I was f***ed. [Sales Guy] grinned for the rest of the meeting. When we were dismissed, [Owner] left and we went about the rest of our day.

As we all did our thing, [Sales Guy] would randomly wander past the front desk and toss various snide comments my way, like, “Hey, manager, whatcha doin’?” and, “Oh, manager, you need to do [thing].” I glared at my computer and did my best to ignore him.

Maybe an hour later, I got a ping from the owner; he’d set up a webcam so he could spy on the store, and any time a customer walked in, if someone didn’t immediately pounce on the unsuspecting victim, he’d message me to get someone to help them.

Owner: “Can you ask [Sales Guy] to go help that customer who just walked in?”

Me: “[Saleswoman] is working with them. That customer came in yesterday and needed to check measurements at their house before buying.”

While we were having this conversation, someone else walked in.

Owner: “That couple that just came in doesn’t look like they’re working with anyone. Tell [Sales Guy] to go talk to them.”

I stood up and got [Sales Guy]’s attention.

Me: “Hey, [Owner] wants you to go see if you can assist the couple who just walked in.”

Sales Guy: “Is that coming from you with your new manager title?” *Smug grin*

I barely restrained myself from jumping over the counter and pummeling him.

Me: “Will you please go see if you can assist those customers?”

He just continued to give me that s***ty grin and finally went to help the customers. And honestly, that was among the nicer things he did as far as possible harassment.

I hated getting that manager title because A, it was only given to appease the sales guy, and B, the owner decided that with the new title, that meant I needed more work without more pay. And don’t even get me started on the raises I was promised and never got despite asking multiple times. I already did practically everything because the manager didn’t want to do anything, so she’d always tell me to do it.

Honestly, it got to a point where I was actively doing the bare minimum (I would spend the day browsing my various social media pages on the work computer because I literally did not give a f***) and stopped just short of actual violence to get myself fired. I haven’t worked there in several years and I’ve moved 800 miles away, and I still have nightmares about being back there.

I work at an independent insurance agency. We are allowed to disconnect abusive calls, and the agents and owner will fire clients if the behavior is repeated. We are asked to give at least one warning before disconnecting; I give two.

We have recently hired a new customer service agent. She has many years of call center experience. She has been doing pretty well on the phone and has started taking calls solo. I follow up with her to make sure the files are noted properly after her calls. I’m reviewing some of her notes and notice she has in the notes that a client yelled and cursed at her.

I pull the call and listen to it. It’s vile. She kept trying to tell the client she was trying to help him, but he was yelling over her and cursing up a storm. He finally hung up on her.

I immediately notify the client’s agent and send him the call recording. I then ask the agent to come to my office.

Me: “Hey, I saw the notes from [Client]. Are you okay?”

Agent: “Yes, I’m okay. I’m sorry, I tried to calm him down and help him but…”

Me: “No, no, no, don’t apologize. You did nothing wrong. I know I mentioned it when you started doing solo calls, but I want to reiterate that you do not have to put up with that kind of behavior.”

Agent: “You were serious?”

Me: “Absolutely. I ask you to give them at least one warning; it’s up to you if you want to give more. If they continue to be abusive, tell them their agent will be in touch and hang up. Let the agent know and they will take care of the issue.”

Agent: “I can seriously hang up on people?”

Me: “Well, not for random reasons. But if they are inappropriate or abusive, absolutely!”

Agent: “That’s amazing. We weren’t allowed to hang up on anyone at the call center. No matter what.”

Me: “That’s one of the perks of having an awesome owner. We don’t tolerate abuse.”

I love my job and my boss. Even though it can get stressful, knowing the agents and boss have our backs makes a massive difference.

I had a coworker who showed me her son’s school essay; the assignment was to write about their families. Her son mentioned something about his grandmother making “simon crocketts” for dinner.

Me: “What are simon crocketts?”

Coworker: “They’re fried patties made from canned fish.”

I looked at her for a moment.

Me: “You mean salmon croquettes?”

She stared at me blankly. 

Coworker: “My family has always called them simon crocketts.”

I’m at work. Our office is right across the street from a national chain drugstore. We often run over there for snacks. Usually, one person goes with a list and everyone else reimburses them when they come back.

A couple of days ago, the guy I was in love with dumped me on my birthday, so I am in a horrible mood. I told a couple of female coworkers who asked why I was so quiet. One of my male coworkers was walking by at that moment. He mostly keeps to himself at work, as our department is majority female.

About two hours later, I see him going from desk to desk. He stops at mine.

Coworker: “Hey, I’m doing the snack run today. Want anything?”

Me: “Um… something with caffeine in it. A soda or coffee would work.”

Coworker: “Gotcha.”

He leaves and returns about twenty minutes later with everyone’s food and drinks. He hands me a bottled flavored coffee from an internationally known chain.

Me: “Thanks! This is great. How much do I owe you?”

Coworker: “Oh, don’t worry about it.”

Me: “No, no. These are usually about $4, right?”

I pull out my wallet.

Coworker: “Put that away. It’s on me. Breakups suck.”

It was a small gesture, but it helped my mood a lot that day.

In 2016, I was employed in a manufacturer’s warehouse in England. In 2016, the UK was to decide if it wanted to remain a member of the European Union or not. In the run-up to this vote, [Employee] had so much to say about the benefits of leaving. This story begins about two weeks prior to the vote.

Employee: “All I’m saying is when we leave the EU, we will have them begging us at Dover for a better deal! You know it makes sense!”

Me: “Well, I don’t know. I’d like to be more informed first on how we are actually going to benefit from being outside of the EU.”

Employee: “Yeah, yeah, typical Remainer logic. Where’s your sense of patriotic pride? Where’s your faith?”

Me: “It’s not about faith. Just, if you don’t plan ahead to fuel your car to get to work, faith alone isn’t going to make it move.”

Employee: “Pffft, whatever…”

[Employee] has been doing this to nearly all the staff who have Remain concerns. It’s really, really irritating. A lot of complaints have gone to our managers who asked him to stop but also addressed a lot of concerns about the vote to their employees. I should note that a large majority of our staff comes from Eastern Europe, and since we export to the EU, the managers would prefer us to Remain; otherwise, the plant would most likely shut down. [Employee], however, has “defiantly” expressed that his freedom and sovereignty mean more to him than his job. Bear in mind also that [Employee] is by no means a senior employee and holds no managerial responsibility, and because of his recent behaviour, a lot of the staff avoid him like the plague.

So… along comes the vote and the UK votes to Leave. Understandably, the foreign staff is very concerned about losing their jobs. [Employee] however, for a solid week, comes in with a s***-eating grin, totally oblivious to the plant’s mood. He makes a beeline for me.

Employee: “Remember when you said that we would never Leave?”

Me: “No? Because I never said that.”

Employee: “Well, you said something to that effect. I bet you feel really silly now, don’t you?”

For that entire week, he takes enormous pleasure in gloating about it to everybody. He couldn’t care less that the majority of the staff are upset at the decision. A week later, however, the district manager arrives for a meeting.

District Manager: “Right, so I’m sure you are all aware of the Referendum result. I’m now going to be here for four days in which I will one-to-one with all of you and work out a compromise for the plant. Please come and see me before Friday.”

As it turns out, the one-to-one meetings were to help all the staff adjust to what ultimately was going to be a shutdown of the plant, as the amount of red tape and the myriad of legislation meant that the plant would have operated at a loss from then on. The staff was transferred to other locations in or outside the UK, but the meetings ensured that only four people would be made redundant, and that was only because they didn’t bother to turn up. If you guessed that [Employee] didn’t turn up because — and I quote — he could just find new work that the foreigners didn’t want to do, you would be right. But, who’d have thought that working on an immigrant’s wages for sixteen hours a day suddenly didn’t seem so lucrative after all to [Employee]? Last I heard, he was on Universal Credit payments which had been cut off as he refused a job in a hotel as he deemed the work “beneath him”.