(I work at a famous pizza place that is designed for kids, complete with play tunnels, birthday parties, walk-around characters, and shows of singing animatronic characters every half hour. This takes place on a weekend, which are our busiest days.)

Me: *to a customer* “Hi, welcome to [Pizza Place]. What can I get for you today?”

(Suddenly, my coworker pushes me out of the way and proceeds to use my register to clock out for a break.)

Coworker: *to me* “Hey, ring me up a—”

Me: “Sorry, [Coworker] but, as you can see, I have a line here, and I’m the only one ringing up orders. Let me get this line down first, and then I’ll—”

Coworker: “Look, I just worked my first hour, so I’m getting a break. Ring me up my food before I tell the manager that you’re slacking off!”

Customer: “Hey, she’s doing her job here, and she’s doing a great job at it. You can wait your turn like everyone else! And I really doubt that your manager told you it’s okay to take your break now when there’s a rush like this.”

(To illustrate her point, the customer gestures to a line full of customers that is growing larger by the minute.)

Coworker: *turns beet red and rushes off*

Me: *to customer* “I’m sorry about that. Now, what can I get you?”

Customer: *shakes head* “There’s always at least one lazy person, no matter where you work!”

(I have been telling my coworkers that I’m going to visit my friend who is working at a steampunk festival the upcoming weekend. None of them know what steampunk is, so I explain it to them and show them pictures on my phone, citing a few of my favourite examples.)

Me: “My favourite was Steampunk X-Men. The guy playing Cyclops had a huge backpack covered in hand-wheels and steam tubes because in steampunk, it would need all that to contain his laser eyes.”

Coworker: “Oh, really? How did it work?”

Me: “Um, it was a costume.”

Coworker: “It was fake?!”

(This happens as I am coming back from break. I am a young lady, and the coworker I am speaking to is a young man.)

Coworker: “Hey, are you still on the clock?”

Me: “Yeah, I just got back from my break. What’s up?”

Coworker: *holds up a fistful of women’s panties* “Could you put these up for me?”

Me: *laughing* “No! Man up and do it yourself. They told you to do it.”

Coworker: “But… I’m lazy!”

(A customer is getting a set of dishes for her sister. She wants a set for herself, but there are no more on the shelf. I’m not supposed to leave the register area, so I’ve called into the back room to have a coworker check. Unfortunately, after calling a couple of times, nobody has answered.)

Me: “Ma’am, I can’t get a hold of anyone in the back, so would you like me to check on the item for you? It’ll only take a minute. Or, I can take down your information and call you when we have more in stock.”

Customer: “Can you please check? I’d really like to get it today if I can.”

Me: “No problem, I’ll be back in just a minute.”

(As I’m walking through the back room trying to find the item, I spot the two backroom associates sitting at a table. They are playing Uno and laughing when I walk up to them.)

Me: “Hey, did you guys hear the phone ringing? I tried calling to get a stock check on some dishes, but nobody answered.”

Coworker #1: “Yeah, we heard it. Why?”

Me: “Well, why didn’t you answer? I had to leave the register unattended so I could come back here when you guys should be doing the stock check.”

Coworker #2: “Can’t you see we’re playing a game?”

Me: “Yeah, but are you both on break or something?”

Coworker #2: “No. We’re just playing a game.”

Me: “On the clock?”

Coworker #1: “Yeah, what’s your point?”

Me: “My point is that I’ve had to pause my job to come do your job, which I can’t really do since I’ve never been back here before so I don’t know where anything is. Can you just tell me if there are any more sets of dishes back here?”

Coworker #1: *points vaguely* “Yeah, they’re over there somewhere.”

(I go over to where he points. I find another set of dishes for my customer and bring them out to her.)

Me: “Sorry that took so long. Here are your dishes.”

Customer: “Oh, don’t worry. I followed you to the door and heard the whole thing. I just came back over here when you stopped talking to them. Can you give me the name of your supervisor? I’d like to tell him what happened.”

Me: “Sure. It’s [Supervisor’s Name], but he’s not in today. He’ll be back tomorrow if you’d like to come in. Or, I could give you his contact info and you can leave him a message.”

Customer: “Thank you, dear. His contact info would be great. I hope your day gets better!”

(A couple of days later, my supervisor called me into his office. He told me that he fired the backroom associates working that day and, because of that customer, he gave me a bonus!)

(We hire temporary staff over the Christmas period to meet the demand of extra customers. This particular new hire has been a nightmare. She easily gets stressed about the amount of customers and work we have, shouts at customers and other staff, and doesn’t pull her weight.)

Me: “[New Hire], could you come to the changing room and help me put the returned clothes out, please?”

New Hire: *rudely* “Why me?! You always pick on me to do things. I’m sick of it!”

Me: “Because everyone else is serving customers or already putting clothing out. You’re the only person just stood around.”

New Hire: “You’re not a manager. You can’t tell me what to do!”

Me: “But I am a senior staff member to you, and have the right to ask you for help.”

(She continues to argue, ranting at me as we pick items up from the changing room, and being rude while we’re putting the items out. Customers and staff have been staring at her, stunned by her rudeness.)

New Hire: “Just because you’re so d*** ugly, you think you can be nasty to me?!”

(Note: this has always been a sore topic for me, as I have scarring from burns and abuse. I feel tears coming on when a customer who sees I’m crying comes over.)

Customer: “Oh honey, are you okay?” *gives me a hug, then glares at the new hire* “What gives you the right to be rude to her over her looks? That’s nothing to do with work.”

New Hire: *with obvious pride* “Because I’M PRETTY and SHE’S NOT!”

Customer: “Let’s see if you being ‘pretty’ will matter to your manager, shall we?”

(Not surprisingly, it didn’t matter. She was sent packing the next day. The manager later told me she tried to claim that she didn’t work as hard as the rest of us because ‘I’m not this beautiful through working hard!’)