Here in the state of Hawaii, restaurants are required to have annual inspections. Once the inspection is concluded, you are issued one of three cards.

Green Card: Pass

Yellow Card: Conditional Pass (things need to be fixed, but nothing presents a danger to staff or customers, and a reinspection will be conducted at a set date). 

Red Card: Fail (something is a danger to staff, customers, or both, and this is usually issued for food safety issues or infestations; the restaurant is shut down immediately and cannot reopen without another inspection)

Recently, a restaurant in my hometown got the red card, and it reminded me of my first job in 2015 while I was in high school. This just so happened to be the first year of renewals, and our location had a lot of issues going into “inspection season.” I ended up researching all of the laws ahead of time at home just so I could do what I could to lessen the amount of possible violations we had, but I couldn’t do anything about our refrigeration, which would hold at around 63 while the requirement (unknown to me until I researched everything) was 41. 

Our manager was trying to get everything fixed, but so was everyone else. We ended up on the schedule for someone to come out near the middle of the next month. When I asked if we should shut down or arrange other refrigeration in the meantime, I was told to “shut up and let the adults have the conversations.”

Well, the very next day the cards on the restaurants on the opposite side of the mall started to change. Green cards were replaced by yellow cards or had their dates updated, and our manager called an emergency meeting.

Manager: “Okay, so, when the inspector shows up, just refuse him entry; we can c*** block them until the refrigeration is repaired next month.”

Me: “Uh, no, we can’t; denying access to a food inspector is illegal. We would be issued a red card and shut down immediately; they would also probably assess fines against the company, the owner, and the employee who turns them away.”

Manager: “What did I tell you about shutting up? I’ve been doing this for five years; I know what I’m talking about.”

Me: “Cool, hey, guess what? The state has only been doing this for one year, and you have no idea what you are talking about.”

Coworker: “D*** man.”

Manager: “You’d better watch out, kiddo. I don’t know who you think you’re talking to.”

Me: “I’ll tell you who you’re talking to, then. If you aren’t sure, I am a minimum wage employee. I am a minor who is covered under my parents’ insurance, so I am pulling no benefits. I will not deny access to a restaurant inspector and take on fines just because you tell me to.”

Manager: “Then you’ll get fired.”

Me: “As opposed to arrested? Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Three days later, while our manager was at lunch, an inspector arrived. He identified himself and what he was doing; I allowed him access immediately. It didn’t take him long to find multiple food safety issues and shut us down.

The manager was called, and he was livid; he yelled so loudly over the phone that the phone couldn’t handle the input and just turned into static. When he got back, he started yelling at me for disregarding his orders, threatened to fire me again, and blamed me for the restaurant getting shut down. In the middle of his tirade, the door unlocked and opened, causing him to turn around.

Owner: “What the h***, [Manager], shut down? How did you let this happen?”

Manager: “It wasn’t me; it was him! He let the inspector in! I told him not to, but he didn’t listen to me!”

Owner: “…”

Manager: “Yeah, now because of him we’re shut down! Until the appointment next month!”

Owner: “Sorry… I just… are you f****** stupid!?”

Manager: “THAT’S WHAT I SAID!”

Owner: “NOT HIM, YOU!”

Coworker: “D***.”

Manager: “What?”

Owner: “Okay, FIRST, refrigeration? I haven’t been informed of any issues with the refrigeration.”

Manager: “I…”

Owner: “SECOND! Appointment!? You authorized a vendor visit without consulting me? Your charge allowance is $500 with pre-authorization; it’s going to cost that much for them to open the door.”

Manager: “We—”

Owner: “—THIRD!! You ORDERED THE STAFF TO TURN AWAY A HEALTH INSPECTOR!?”

Manager: “I didn’t want to get shut down.”

Owner: “WE WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN IF YOU HAD DONE YOUR JOB! AND IF HE HAD LISTENED TO YOU, WE’D BE EVEN MORE UP S*** CREEK!”

Owner: *To coworker.* “How long has my refrigeration been f****d, [Coworker]?”

Coworker: “D***, owner man, I’d have to say… how cold is that thing supposed to be, smart kid?”

Me: “41.”

Coworker: “Sheeeeeeeeesh, I’d say we haven’t been that at that cold for maybe… eight months?”

Owner: “And you told [Manager]?”

Coworker: “‘Bout five months ago, owner man, I might not be a smart guy, but I know that sh…stuff isn’t supposed to be in the 60s. I didn’t know it was supposed to be in the 40s, though. That’s my bad, owner man; I could have reported that like three months earlier.”

Owner: “No, you did your job.” *Turning to manager.* “Meanwhile, you know the food-safe temperatures, and you didn’t get that fixed!?”

Manager: “I—”

Owner: “—KNOWING that this year is a renewal year!?”

Manager: “We didn’t have the money.”

Owner: “OH! We didn’t have the money!? Sorry, but by WHAT metric did you make that decision!? You don’t have access to ANY financial information aside from the store ledger.”

Me: “No money for refrigeration, but we have money for fines; that makes sense.”

Coworker: “OOoooooooo d***!”

Owner: “THAT TOO!”

Manager: “Look, I under—”

Owner: “—FIRED! GET OUT!”

Manager: “B-b-b-but! You can’t fire me!”

Owner: “I JUST DID!”

The owner grabbed the manager by the shoulders and steered him out of the door, surprisingly gently for how angry he was.

Owner: “Don’t even worry about your keys, I’m going to redo all the locks anyway.”

Manager: “B-b-but—”

Owner: “—Oh, don’t worry, I can AFFORD IT.”

The owner slammed the door shut so hard that the tempered glass popped; the security lamination held it together in the door, but it was now opaque with tiny cracks.

Owner: *Shouting at the manager through the door.* “I CAN AFFORD THAT TOO!” 

He turned to us, and his expression softened dramatically.

Owner: “What I can’t afford is to continue to pay both of you during a one-month closure with no incoming money.”

Coworker: “Ahhhhh, shoot, owner man, I’ll stick around. I got a link at GameStop; they’ll set me up with a temp role, no worries, just let me know when we’re back at it again.”

Owner: “I appreciate that.”

Me: “I could use a month off; this is just extra spending money for me in the end. I’m not in a rush to leave; [Manager] was the worst part.”

Owner: “Well then, I’ll see you both… potentially in a month.”

About a month later, the restaurant reopened, not only with new equipment but with a full renovation and a new manager who was much better than the last. I ended up working there through both high school and college. Sadly, when the owner retired, there was no one with the interest or ability to take over, and the restaurant closed.

I was waiting for my order from a coffee shop (a frappe-type drink). I had ordered a large, which is significantly bigger than the small. It is not a place that puts names on the cups.

Two drinks are ready at the same time. My large and another small one of the same type. A guy reaches over me and grabs the large one and continues to wait with his friend for his friend’s order. I figured mine must not be ready yet.

Another minute passes, and one of the employees asks if the small is my drink. I say no, I ordered a large. The guy who grabbed the large speaks up and says that it must be his, that he ordered a small, and tries to grab it while still sipping on the large.

The employee doesn’t let him take it, calling him out on grabbing the large, which could NOT have been mistaken for a small, knowing he ordered a small. He argues with her, saying he paid for the small and he is going to get what he paid for. She asks him if he paid for the large he was currently drinking. He argues back, saying both drinks should be free for him for “their screw-up,” meaning he thinks the coffee shop was at fault.

The guy gets even more p***ed when the employees give the small drink to a random kid in line and make me a new large and refund me what I had paid.

His friend was standing there the whole time, looking mortified and stunned and begging the guy just to leave (the friend hadn’t gotten his food yet).

The guy ends up storming out, ranting about how he paid for a drink that the shop wouldn’t make for him, saying they stole his money, basically. All while still sipping on that large he grabbed up.

Some people.

Like many drive-throughs, you pay at the first window and collect your food at the second window. A woman comes through and orders a crap ton of food. She seems genuinely shocked when I ask for payment.

Customer: “Don’t you give me the food now, and I pay at the next window?”

Me: “No, we don’t do that. I don’t think anyone does that.”

Customer: “Why?”

Me: “Because people would take all the food and then drive away without paying.”

Customer: *Nervously.* “Oh! People would do that?”

Me: “Yes, but I’m sure you wouldn’t dream of doing something like that.”

Customer: “Ha ha, noooo. That’s crazy. Oh, by the way, the darndest thing: I forgot my wallet. I’ll just… uh… drive back home to get it.”

Me: “Sure thing, ma’am. See you soon.”

Plot twist: I did not see her soon.

I worked at a store in the mall, and our usual card reader (the one that customers can use on their own) was broken one day, so I had to physically take cards and run them through myself.

One customer gave me a card that still had the ‘call to activate’ sticker on it and was declined when I ran it.

Me: “I’m sorry the card isn’t working. Have you activated it yet?”

Customer: “Huh?”

Me: “The card didn’t go through, but I see it still has the activation sticker on it. I’m guessing you didn’t activate it yet?”

Customer: “How do I do that?”

Me: “Just call the number on the card here.”

Customer: “Okay I’ll—”

A young girl runs up next to us while I am speaking to [Customer], and she now interrupts him:

Girl: “Can I see the card, please?”

Me: “I’m sorry, who are you?”

The man looks at her, does a double take, then looks afraid.

Customer: “Don’t show it to her! It’s my card!”

Girl: “It’s red! That’s it!”

At the same time, I saw another man, who turned out to be the girl’s father, saying excuse me to some people in line as he squeezed past to get next to the girl.

Dad: “You were supposed to be subtle. That wasn’t subtle.”

[Customer] looks at [Dad] and gets more afraid.

Dad: “Sorry to bother you, but what is the name on that card?”

Customer: “It’s mine. You can’t tell him about it. I’ll take it back!”

Dad: “Is the name [Name]?”

The man snatches the card out of my hand and stuffs it in his pocket.

Customer: “I have a different card I can—no, I have cash! What did you say it cost?”

Dad: “You know they still have the card number and information on file even if you keep the card. I can call my bank and ask where it was used.”

The increasingly agitated man suddenly got pale and bolted out of the line. [Dad] followed behind at a slower jog, calling after the man.

Dad: “Stealing from a kid. You’re pathetic. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

[Dad] then stops and turns around back towards us.

Me: “I’ll call security.”

Dad: “Okay, but no one should do anything dangerous; I don’t need the card back.”

Eventually [Dad] shared the rest of the story with security. The card in question had been [Dad]’s, but he had closed the account a while ago. Still having the card and nothing to do with it, he had given it to [Daughter] to play with. [Daughter] carried it around in her own wallet and liked to pretend to buy stuff with it.

The card still had the activation sticker on it since [Dad] intentionally left it on his credit card after activation as an easy way to tell his debit and credit cards apart since they were issued by the same bank and otherwise looked similar.

[Daughter] had noticed the card missing after she left the wallet unattended while playing at the mall play area, and [Dad] had remembered seeing [Customer] standing next to the area and acting suspiciously. [Dad] figured [Customer] had seen a credit card lying unattended in a wallet and decided to steal it.

It was pure chance that [Dad] and [Girl] happened to be nearby when [Customer] tried to use the card, but hearing the man who he suspected of the theft had just used a card that was declined and still had the activation sticker on it, [Dad] figured it was his card and set his daughter ahead to see if she recognized it. [Dad] wasn’t too worried about getting a deactivated card back; he just wanted to call out a thief for what he did.

We had camera footage of the thief, and it was reported to the police. All I know other than that was that the man was banned from the mall, which I suppose meant they must have figured out his identity somehow.

As for [Girl], they got her a little kit with fake money and credit cards for her wallet to replace the lost card, so hopefully she is still enjoying all her play shopping needs after the theft.

A customer hands over a package that usually contains four croissants.

Customer: “Hi, these are damaged. Can I get them marked down?”

The package has been ripped open and only has three in the container.

Me: “That might usually be fine, ma’am, if you didn’t have the crumbs from the recently consumed fourth croissant all over your shirt… and your mouth.”

Customer: *Suddenly aware she’s covered in guilt.* “Uh, those… were… from breakfast!”

Me: “Hmm, sure. Anyway, I can’t mark this down. You can either get a new pack and pay full price, or next time try to see if you can get away with stuffing down all four in your mouth before leaving the store.”

The customer looked at me indignantly and walked away, leaving the croissants behind. For those worried I might be giving her advice on how to get away with stealing in the future, I was already in the process of getting Loss Prevention to ban her.