I have a few friends that work on a television show, and this woman I know said that she would do anything to get into the audience of said show. My mate rang me and offered me tickets to said show and I jumped at the chance to go.

Me: “There will be two others besides me. Will that be an issue?”

Friend: “Nope, no issue. Can’t wait to see you.”

[Woman] was given two weeks’ notice of this and kept telling me that she couldn’t wait as this happened to be one of her favourite shows.

The day of the taping arrived and we were doing the compulsory [health crisis] check-ins. [Woman] proceeded to go ballistic.

Woman: “Why do I have to check in? This is all bulls***! Why do I have to do this?!”

Me: “You’d do this anywhere else. It’s just precautionary.”

We finally got past that section, with security giving us “Calm down” looks.

Next, we had to be checked to make sure that we had no weapons. [Woman] erupted again, as loud as she possibly could.

Woman: “F****** h***, this is bulls***!”

Finally, we got closer to the studio. We were asked politely for our ID as they were serving alcohol, and [Woman] was asked to leave her bag in a secure locker as it was a hazard in case of a fire, etc.; you don’t want to be tripping over bags and such.

This was the last straw for her. She began screaming at the poor girl.

Woman: “This is completely f***ed! It’s a massive inconvenience and you’ve ruined my day!”

She then stormed off back into the lift and went home.

This, folks, was the last step before entering the studio. Sadly, my mate rang me later to tell me that [Woman] has now been issued with a lifetime ban and is unable to attend any studio tapings of any show at the network.

I am working at home while trying to manage my young children during the health crisis. I hear the doorbell ring and look through the peephole to see a salesman who has ignored the “No Soliciting” sign as well as our local Stay At Home orders. He sees movement and begins to knock as well as ring the doorbell. I sigh and begin to look for a mask when my three-year-old, already masked, opens the door by himself.

Three-Year-Old: “Are you Amazon?”

Salesman: “No.”

My three-year-old slammed the door, and the salesman walked away!

My immune system is busted, but I can’t tell if it’s reacting too much or not enough, so to stay safe, I’m steering clear of people for now. I’m also steering clear of the smoke so thick it looks like fog, which is enveloping half the West Coast as of August 2021 and, apparently, for the rest of our existence.

Part of avoiding people involves getting my groceries by ordering online and coming to pick them up. I do my thing, order my groceries, go to pick them up, present my card for the purchase… and it doesn’t work with the mobile card reader.

The young employee tries again. And again. Still busted. This is annoying, but whatever; clearly their Wi-Fi is kicking a fit, and it’s not like I don’t know how computer problems go.

Employee: “Okay, let me just take down your card number so I can run it in the store.”

I’m thinking, naively, that this means the number on the front of the card.

Me: “Oh, here.”

I hand my card over.

Employee: “Uh… No, the number.”

I suddenly have a horrible suspicion.

Me: “Do you mean my PIN?“

He responds as if this is totally normal.

Employee: “Yes.”

My soul leaves my body at about this point.

Me: “Sir, I am not giving you my PIN.”

Employee: “Uh. Sure.”

Somewhere in our wrestling match with the mobile card unit, the employee explained that some customers had been insisting that he take their PINs to avoid having to get out of the car. When we eventually had to go in, I let the manager know EXACTLY what some jerks were bullying a poor high schooler into, and that the poor kid was going to end up giving his own PIN away and not have any money after that.

Eventually, I was able to pay and leave, and hopefully, that manager has just learned why we say “no” to problem customers.

I work in a large home improvement store. The health crisis is at its peak in my state and lines are bonkers at our store — wrapped around the inside of the store to the back wall. As you may imagine, we have many crazies come in over this time, as well as just impatient and frustrated people, which is understandable.

There is a line at self-checkout and this guy is already huffing and puffing and causing a scene in line about having to use self-checkout and having to wait in line. He gets to the self-checkout and proceeds to reluctantly scan his items. As he gets ready to pay, the card reader declines his card due to a chip error — we still don’t know if it was the card or the reader, as our new readers do this a lot.

So, what is the natural reaction for the customer in this situation? Ask for help? Retry the card again?

No. The man straight-up sucker punches the screen, breaking the screen and damaging the LEDs in the screen, rendering the whole system useless as our registers are all on one computer.

My coworker calls over our store manager to notify her that this man has just damaged about $700 worth of stuff and caused a scene while doing it. The store manager shows up to speak with him, and what do you think she does? Call the police? Have Asset Protection put this man on a trespass notice and force him to pay for damages?

No. She gives him all his stuff for free and makes no effort to punish him for breaking our stuff. This makes our jobs more difficult as we have to wait well over a week for a new computer, and this is one of the only two self-checkout machines that take cash, so it slows our lines even more.

I’m so glad I’m out of retail and only have to deal with people yelling at me over the phone now!

I have been working at a call center for a phone company for a few months, mostly taking calls from very unhappy people who haven’t paid their phone bills in months and have had their lines suspended.

My manager keeps track of various stats we have, including results from customer surveys. One of those survey questions asks about whether or not the individual felt like a valued customer by the end of the call. My manager has told me all my stats are great but I could probably increase the customer value result. They recommend that I throw in a line during every call that’s something along the lines of, “As you’re a valued customer, I’ll be happy to help.”

Personally, I find lines like that can sound really disingenuous and I hate saying them, but I try to throw it in whenever I remember to. This call happens a few days after my manager advised me to say the line more often.

The lady on the line was calling for help making a payment plan as she had been hit hard by the health crisis and was not going to be able to pay her bill on time this month. The call was going smoothly, she was very kind and apologetic for not being able to pay in full right away, and I could tell she was really stressed about finances. 

Caller: “I’m just so embarrassed. I never miss payments. I really hate having to do this.”

Me: “Hey, I get it. The health crisis has hit everyone really hard, so we totally understand.”

I remembered about the valued customer line at this point and thought I might be able to work it into the conversation in a genuine way.

What I tried to say:

Me: “I can tell from your account that you’ve been with us a long time and you’ve always had a great record in the past. You’re a valued customer and I’ll definitely help to get something worked out for you,”

What I actually said:

Me: “I can tell from your account that you’ve been with us a long time and you’ve always had a great record in the past. You’re valuable—”

Then, my brain realized that I had misspoken and just shut down entirely, ending the sentance very short.

When the caller responded, she sounded like she was on the brink of tears.

Caller: “Oh, thank you. It’s really nice to hear someone say that. I really appreciate it. It’s been really hard these past few months, and it’s nice to be reminded that I’m valuable.”

Me: “Uh, no problem. Now let’s take a look to see what we can do to help.”

We got the caller set up with a plan and the call was coming to an end.

Me: “Is there anything else I can help you with today?”

Caller: “Oh, no, dear. You’ve been wonderful. Thank you so much, and just remember, you’re valuable, too!”

The customer hung up at that point. I spent the next few minutes laughing at myself for screwing up my words, but I was glad I could help and that my messed-up words had helped comfort her. It was honestly one of the most heartwarming calls I took the entire time I worked that job.