CONTENT WARNING: Child Neglect/Abuse

As assistant manager, I am running to the customer service desk because a customer is flipping out.

Customer: “Your house brand diapers are super poor quality!”

Me: “Sir, please calm down. What is your complaint about the diapers?”

Customer: “Your diapers start leaking after only five hours on my baby! [Competitor]’s lasts nearly seven!”

Me: “Five… hours?”

Customer: “You’re gonna give me my money back, plus $40 compensation because my time is worth $20 an hour, and I figure I’ve wasted two hours coming to the store to fix this.”

I quickly showed him the door, despite overly loud threats of “never stepping foot in this store again”.

Luckily, we thought fast enough to get his license plate from the parking lot so we could call CPS on his a**.

A friend of ours is cycling to my house to meet my brother and me. [Friend] always makes this huge thing about how quick his journeys on his bicycle are and how he always improves. Every. Single. Time. This friend also never, ever, admits to ever being in the wrong about anything. 

It’s 7:30 at night, the local roads are very quiet, and [Friend] arrives in a real temper muttering about “kids and their bloody phones”. He’s in his fifties.

Me: “What’s the matter?”

Friend: “I was riding along and this bloody kid, staring at his phone, just wandered in front of me. Bloody idiot!”

Me: “Oh, no. Did you hit him?”

Friend: “No. I had to swerve around him. I wasn’t even going that fast.”

My brother and I roll our eyes at each other.

Friend: “But he never even looked up, just randomly walking all over the place.”

Brother: *Horrified* “He was walking on the road?”

Friend: “No, he was on the pavement.”

Me: “And he walked out in front of you?”

Friend: “No. He was on the pavement.”

Brother: “You were riding on the pavement?”

Friend: “Yeah, and he was walking along, head in his phone, and he never looked up! I had to swerve onto the road! I was lucky nothing was coming!”

Brother: “You can’t ride on the pavement.”

Friend: “Yes, you can! Nothing wrong with that.”

Brother: “Yes, there is. It’s illegal.”

Friend: “No, it’s not! Anyone can ride on the pavement! Perfectly legal!”

Brother: “Noooo, it’s definitely not.”

[Friend] responds in a “you-can’t-argue-with-this” manner:

Friend: “YES. IT. IS. PERFECTLY LEGAL!”

As my brother attempts to explain how wrong he is, meeting with flat denials, I Google the Highway Code and present him with the actual legislation: “The Highways Act of 1835 prohibits cycling on a footpath which is by the side of a road and set apart for use by pedestrians only.”

Friend: “No! It’s not illegal! That’s wrong!”

Brother: “That’s the Highway Code. It is the law.”

Friend: “NO, it’s NOT! There are cycle paths!”

Brother: “Yeah, but that’s not a cycle path. It’s a pavement.”

Friend: “Doesn’t matter. It’s legal.”

Me: “So, this lad was walking on the pavement, at night, looking at his phone, and you came hurtling along, out of the darkness, on your bicycle, which he wouldn’t be able to hear, and you could see him but waited until the last second to dramatically swerve onto the road, and he’s in the wrong?”

Friend: “Yes!”

Then, he triumphantly adds:

Friend: “And… I had my flashing lights on!”

Me: “Which he’ll obviously hear…”

Brother: “So, basically, the Highway Code is that everybody has to get out of your way, whether they can see you or not, no matter what you’re doing or where you’re doing it?”

Friend: *Smugly* “It’s legal. I wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

It was insanely illogical, but he was completely serious. I’d love to see him argue this if — or rather when with this kind of attitude — he gets stopped by the police.

Throughout high school and for my first summer back from college, I worked for a retail store that was well-known for coupons. They were in mailers, in emails, in the paper — there was a coupon available pretty much every day. As associates, we were told that we could use coupons with our employee discount. The other part of the policy for associates purchasing items with our employee discount was that a different associate had to check us out, and before we left the store with our purchase, a manager had to look at the receipt and make a note in a folder that they had approved the transaction, with the transaction number noted.

One afternoon, my store manager pulls me off the floor and brings me back to her office where there’s a man I’ve never seen before. He introduces himself as the district Loss Prevention Manager.

Loss Prevention: “Do you know why I’m here?”

Me: “No, I don’t.”

He pulls out a list of transactions associated with my employee discount number.

Loss Prevention: “Did you make these purchases?”

I look over the list.

Me: “Yes, I did.”

Loss Prevention: “Are you aware that you can’t use coupons with your employee discount and that you’re stealing from the company?”

I look at my store manager, who is refusing to look at me. I attempt to explain what I was told, but he keeps cutting me off, threatening to have me fired, and telling me it’s against policy. At no point does my store manager, who not only told me I could use the coupons but has signed off on my purchases, stand up for me or even say a word.

I’m under so much emotional distress at this point that I don’t remember much from the conversation besides [Loss Prevention] pushing a piece of paper at me and telling me that if I admit that I used coupons incorrectly, “we can put this whole thing behind us”. Like a stupid nineteen-year-old, I sign, thinking that it means I get to keep my job.

No surprise, the second I sign it, I’m told I’m fired. My manager escorts me to the parking lot and gives me a hug.

Manager: “You’re like a daughter to me, [My Name]. But I’m afraid you’re banned from [Store]. Never contact us again.”

I went home crying and obviously upset, but as I’d be leaving for college (four hours away) in two weeks, I attempted to move past it and thought that was it.

Nope.

Three months later, I got a call from an unknown number. It was the police department from my hometown letting me know that my former employer was charging me with theft from using the coupons and that I would be hearing from a detective soon. As soon as I hung up, my mom called me to let me know that a police officer had shown up at their house to inform me of the charges.

The next four months were an absolute blur as I tried to manage this from four hours away. As my parents are not at all wealthy, my uncle hired a lawyer for me. Thankfully, the lawyer got them to settle and drop the charges. His main argument was that all of the transactions that the company was calling “theft by deception” had been signed off on by my store manager and assistant manager. Why were these “against policy” purchases not addressed by management when they saw them? There were also other employees and managers who had management approve their purchases that used coupons with their employee discount, so why weren’t they fired? And he had proof of this from when I told him about the transaction book that the managers kept.

After that, the company agreed to drop the charges if I paid them back the total amount of discounts I received by using the coupons from the three years I worked there. The total? $100. A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR COMPANY wanted their $100 back.

My parents wrote them the check to be done with everything. They thought about countersuing, but my state is an at-will state, so nothing could be done. I have a lot of PTSD from the whole situation that I’m still working through, but I have taken a LOT of pleasure in seeing the company file bankruptcy several times and close a lot of stores — including the one I was fired from.

I do still wish I know what I did wrong that led to them going after me like that.

CONTENT WARNING: Baby Abandonment

I worked in a big box store about twelve years ago. One day, some police officers came in.

Officer: “A baby was found in a dumpster in an apartment complex nearby. The baby is okay, but we’re looking for any information about this.”

Coworker #1: “Well… [Coworker #2] was pregnant yesterday, and today she’s not.”

[Coworker #1] answered the officers’ questions, and [Coworker #2] was arrested.

I don’t think it’s still talked about so much anymore, but this was our store’s “Incident”.

I am a community pharmacist in the UK for a chain. As most people will be aware, the UK has certain rules and regulations, especially when it comes to controlled drugs.

An American tourist comes into my shop one day, goes up to the cashier, and asks to speak with the pharmacist. He’s directed to me.

Tourist: “Do you have [controlled drug] in stock?”

Me: *Politely* “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you that without a valid prescription.”

Tourist: “Why not? It’s not a controlled drug.”

Me: “Well, it is over here.”

Tourist: “Listen, I’m a practicing doctor. I’ve been in this job for thirty years. So, would you please go into the back and get me what I came for?”

Me: “Look, I understand you may be a doctor in your own country, but I still can’t give you [drug] without a valid prescription.”

The guy stamps his foot and grunts. He then proceeds to pull out a prescription pad from his backpack and starts writing. Yes, this is no joke. This guy actually brings his prescription pad from his surgery on holiday with him. I honestly find it hard not to laugh. He slaps the prescription down on the counter.

Tourist: “There. That’s the prescription, I’m the prescribing doctor.”

He then proceeds to pull out his licence. I take one look at it and tell him:

Me: “This has no standing here. That is a prescription from a clinic in America. You will need a valid one from a general practitioner in the UK.”

Tourist: “Oh, for God’s sake, this is ridiculous. I’m a doctor. You can see that.”

Me: “You may be a doctor. I’m not denying that. I’m just telling you that I cannot accept this prescription legally.”

Tourist: “Why are you doing this?”

Me: “Because I could lose my job for prescribing a controlled drug without a valid prescription. If you can get a valid prescription from a GP over here, I’d be—”

Tourist: “What’s your name?”

I give him my name.

Tourist: “Right. You listen to me. You prescribe me the medication, or I will ensure that you lose your job.”

Again, I try not to laugh.

Me: “Sir, you can complain to the GPC [General Pharmaceutical Council] about me all you like. I’ll even give you the number of my company’s head office. But they will tell you the exact same thing I have repeatedly told you. You need a valid prescription from a UK GP. I am not prepared to break the law.”

He took a business card for our head office and storms out. Later that week, the other pharmacy in town told me that the man also went into their shop that same day and handed over his prescription, and he was also refused, making similar threats.