My mom gets a new job and she notices that a specific coworker seems to disappear every twenty minutes or so. It doesn’t matter if the store is busy or not; every twenty minutes, the coworker is just gone. My mom goes up to her one day.

Mom: “Why do you disappear? Where do you go?”

Coworker #1: “Smokers get additional breaks.”

Mom: “Wait, you get extra breaks because you smoke? I smoke, too. Why don’t I get the same breaks? [Coworker #2] doesn’t smoke. They should get the same breaks as we do.”

Coworker #1: “You’re not listed as a smoker, so you don’t get any breaks.”

Mom goes to the boss to complain.

Boss: “You’re a smoker? So am I. From now on, you’ll get extra breaks. Goodbye.”

Mom: “Hold up. I’m a smoker but [Coworker #2] isn’t; they shouldn’t be punished because they don’t smoke!”

Boss: “You’re right. You shouldn’t get extra time. [Coworker #1] will still get their breaks. But to keep it fair, you and [Coworker #2] will not get any extra breaks.”

Mom: “Okay. I have a note from my doctor saying I need to eat every so often.”

She is hypoglycemic.

Mom: “You’ll respect that and let me take a ten-minute break as often as [Coworker #1]. [Coworker #2] just started smoking, so she needs the same break. We should all be allowed the same breaks… or should I talk to someone higher up? I wouldn’t want either coworker to get preferential treatment based on if they smoke or not, considering that’s illegal.”

The boss did try to keep the breaks unfair, but in the end, the first coworker got fewer breaks and had to specify when they were leaving, while the second coworker got more breaks in general. Sadly, Mom lost that job simply because she knew and used the rules; they forced her out. She still made them treat everyone the same, though.

I work at a big box retail store. A few days before Halloween, a coworker comes up behind me.

Coworker: “Hey, [My Name].”

I turn around. He is wearing a Halloween mask.

Me: “Yes?”

Coworker: “Darn it! I was trying to scare you.”

Me: “If it makes you feel better, I was a little startled, but working here has taught me how to stay calm.”

I am the contact person in my workplace for a system that we license from a third party. This system allows you to build web pages simply by adding boxes with content. I am approached by a colleague who asks for my help.

Me: “What seems to be the problem?”

Colleague: “I was wondering if you could restore a box to my page?”

Me: “I can probably do that, how did it vanish?”

Colleague: “I deleted it.”

Me: “So, when you deleted it did you notice the message on the delete screen that says, ‘I understand this cannot be undone,’ and click the checkbox saying you understood this?”

Colleague: “Yes, but I thought you would have a backup.”

I’m an IT technician in a factory. My female colleague is heavily pregnant at the moment and has been suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum, so she’s doing a mixture of remote working and on-site working with significantly reduced hours. She only comes on-site if she feels well enough to do so.

Today is one of her better days, so she’s on-site. I’ve just come back from a job. My female colleague is nowhere to be seen, but all her stuff is sitting on her desk so she can’t be too far away. We have a placement student in our office at the moment, a lad in his early twenties. He’s a very capable IT technician but not yet very world wise.

Me: “Hey, [Student], where’s [Female Colleague]? Is she okay?”

Student: “She’s in the bathroom throwing up again.”

I flinch at his apparent lack of sensitivity and realise that, as the most senior person in our office, I may have to have words with him about this.

Student: “Hey, [My Name], I’m worried.”

Me: “Oh, about what?”

Student: “[Female Colleague] has been vomiting a lot. Every day she’s in, she keeps running to the bathroom to vomit. I’m worried about her; that’s not normal.”

Me: “No, [Student], you’re right. It’s not normal. But she has Hyperemesis Gravidarum, which means she’ll vomit a lot because of her pregnancy.”

Student: “But I don’t get it. When my sister was pregnant with my niece, she had morning sickness and it was nothing like as bad as this!”

Me: “Yeah, but this isn’t morning sickness, mate. It’s worse. A lot worse. Oh, and try and be a little bit more sensitive about it, yeah? It can’t be easy for her.”

Student: “Yeah, but it’s not normal!”

Me: *Sighing* “Of course, it’s not normal! That’s the point. She has… Look, just never mind, okay? Try and show a bit of sensitivity.”

I sat down at my desk, having given up trying to explain it to him. [Student] sat for a few minutes muttering, “It’s not normal…” until [Female Colleague] came back, red-faced, tearful, and feeling sorry for herself. I sat her down and got her a drink of water.

To [Student]’s credit, he DID later leave the room and come back with an ice lolly (popsicle) for [Female Colleague]! Clearly, in spite of his cluelessness, he’d been paying enough attention to realise that ice lollies were one of the few solids she was actually able to keep down. He later told me that he felt sorry for her and wanted to try to make her feel better. She seemed to really appreciate the gesture.

I work at a pizza place. Our usual register girl was scheduled as a closer instead of during the day, like me. I already don’t like her, as she never lets anyone else touch the register unless they have to, like the drivers for receipts. She also hogs all the tips. We don’t have a dining area, so there are not a lot of tips left at the register, but she makes sure she gets all of them.

I have received like $30 in tips that day (good tip day) and she came in, saw me at the register and the following conversation happened.

Coworker: “I can take over from here.”

Me: “No, I’m good. I’m signed in on register for today.”

Coworker: *Sees my stack of tip receipts* “Why aren’t these in the receipt bin?”

Me: *Not thinking* “Those are my tips.”

Coworker: “No they’re not. No one gets tips but me.”

Me: “No, whoever is on register gets tips. I was on register. They are my tips.”

Coworker: “You need to give these to me. They are mine.”

Me: “No, I earned them. Get on makeline and let me do what I was assigned.”

She stomps off to find our manager, and I have to start profusely apologizing to the four sets of customers that have walked in. She then comes back:

Coworker: “[Shift Manager] says you need to give me those tips, and go get on makeline.”

The shift manager then walks up.

Shift Manager: “No, I said you need to stop being a controlling a**hole and let her do the job I assigned her. You are assigned to make line for the rest of your shift. Touch the register today unless it’s to clock out or clean it, and I’m writing you up.”

She didn’t bother me again, and I earned a good $40 in tips.