Having never been big on fast food, I have never been to a certain chain. My roommate is craving something from there and I have no plans, so I decide, why not try it?

The place is clean, with only one off-duty employee in the place and one car in the drive-thru. My roommate knows what she wants and instantly orders. While she does so, I read the menu and decide on something simple. As she steps to a side, I step forward… and the cashier walks off to start filling ice in the lobby. Okay, maybe he just doesn’t want it to melt all over the counter. Then, he takes the bucket back and starts going through his checklist of cleaning. I am still standing at the counter. No one is in the drive-thru now. The off-duty employee and my roommate are standing at the end of the counter waiting for food.

The manager walks up and the off-duty employee coughs and points toward me. The manager doesn’t take the hint, so he speaks up and says, “Hey, you have someone waiting to order.”

The manager yells for the cashier to come up from the back and starts my order. I ask for a #5 small combo, no mayo. I think this is a fairly simple order. I am wrong.

It takes four tries to get it entered right. I should just walk out, because the cashier does. My roommate has finished eating now. I still don’t even have a soda cup. I get handed a bag with cold fries. Nothing else.

I call the manager over. Thankfully, I have the receipt. He takes the cold fries. A few moments later, I have a burger: bun, burger, extra mayo, no cheese, no bacon — no anything but enough mayo to drown a rat. Those fries? They are even colder now. And the cup is still sitting somewhere under the counter. I look at it, look at the manager, and shake my head. He looks at the receipt and says, “Oh, I’ll fix it,” and takes the bun and starts scraping mayo off it into the trash.

My roommate is now laughing her head off. The off-duty employee is looking embarrassed and disgusted. I tell the manager not to bother, and to just refund it as I have lost my appetite. He says he will have to charge me for the soda, and my roomie, the off-duty employee, and I all ask him, “What soda? I never got a cup!” He assures me the charge has been reversed, no trouble.

The next day, on a whim, I check with the bank. Not only has he not refunded me, he has charged me a second time. I tell the bank to refuse payment as it is fraudulent. I find out the district manager’s name and number and explain what happened. He takes my name and info. I mail him a copy of the information from the bank and a copy of the receipt.

A week later, they have a “now hiring” sign up as we go past. Today, I received a handwritten note of apology and coupons for free meals, but I think I will give them to my roommate.

(I occasionally do office work for my mother’s home business. She is having difficulty with her network printer; for some reason, the connection keeps dropping, so we visit the support website listed on the printer and begin talking to an online support consultant.)

Me: “Hi. My mum recently purchased a [type] network printer from your company; it seems to be having difficulty staying connected to the WiFi. Can you help?

Consultant: “Yes. I will send you a remote access request now. Please go to this website.” *provides link*

Me: *after checking the link* “Okay.”

(Remote access comes up, and I accept it. Mum and I sit there watching as he clicks on My Documents, clicks around for a little while, right clicks on the desktop, and does nothing, never even going near the Devices and Printers area. By now, I’m getting wary.)

Me: “Is everything okay?”

Consultant: “Yes.”

(After a long pause, they then open Internet Explorer, and of all things, they type the URL for Facebook!)

Me: “What are you doing?”

(Luckily, my mum rarely uses it and always logs herself out!)

Consultant: “Please log in to Facebook.”

Me: “Why?”

Consultant: “Please log in to Facebook.”

Me: “Why do you even need it?!”

(The consultant then closed Facebook and went to a website I did not recognise, and they began downloading something onto her computer. At that moment, with Mum panicking behind me, I hard-switched off the computer, and Mum switched off the router. God only knows what they were trying to do! We reported the incident to the company. They agreed that was their support website but denied everything that had happened. Needless to say, when they next sent a bill for their hire services, we refused to pay and returned the printer.)

(I’m at an amusement park with my parents. I am eleven years old. They let me loose for a minute, and I decide to hit the strip of stores outside the park. I spot a chocolate shop. I pick up a candy bar and head to the checkout.)

Me: “One chocolate caramel bar, please!”

Cashier: “Where are your parents?”

Me: “Oh, they aren’t here right now.”

Cashier: *cutting me off* “Oh, my God! It’s people like your parents that ruin this place, letting these heathens loose to run amok around the park! And you should know you need an adult to buy candy! Well, you would if you weren’t raised by idiots.”

(A woman walks over to me from the display next to the register.)

Woman: “Jimmy!” *not my name* “There you are! I’m so sorry we got separated in the crowd. Let me pay for that candy bar!”

(My “mom” paid for the candy bar and took me to the exit. I thanked her a bunch and gave her half of the bar. I had a wonderful rest of the day.)

(My family and I have ordered pizza online from a local pizza chain down the road. It is normally easier than calling our order in and having to deal with a poor employee trying to hear us over the roar of the rest of the pizza place conducting business, along with dealing with other customers. The online order comes to $24.53 total for two medium pizzas and a cookie, thanks to a deal they are running. Our order ends up being a half-hour later than what is expected, and as we are about to call the store, the driver shows up with our order. However, she has accidentally lost the receipt I was supposed to sign, since we have paid by credit card. With that, she says she guesses the order is on her and we leave it at that. Fast forward two days: I find, instead of a $24.53 transaction that shouldn’t have been claimed without my signature, I am charged $30.00 by the store, so an additional $5.57. It is too late to call the store itself, so I call the customer service hotline.)

Customer Service: “Thank you for contacting [Pizza Chain] customer care. How may I help you today?”

Me: “Hi, my name is [My Name]. I placed an order with one of the local stores two days ago but there is a problem; I was charged more than what I was supposed to be. My order was only supposed to cost $24.53 but an additional $5.57 was added.”

(I proceed to explain that the driver showed up late with the food, and that we were not given a receipt to sign, and how confused I am about the additional fee being added to my order total.)

Customer Service: *in a very serious and nervous tone* “I am very sorry to hear about your experience, Mr. [My Surname]. Normally, we are not able to claim the charge without having your signature on the receipt, so the charge should have dropped off your account after thirty days. However, as you have stated, this is not the case. I am not able to view order details or payment information, but I will escalate this to upper management so they can pull the order and take a review.”

(The representative verifies my account information, email, address, phone number, and the date of the order, and promises me that a manager will be in touch with me ASAP. I get a call the following morning from the district manager.)

Manager: “Hello, I am looking for Mr. [My Name], regarding an order dispute.”

Me: “That is me. As I explained to customer service, I am not disputing that I made the order, just how much I was charged. The driver showed up and told me she had lost the receipt that I was supposed to sign, and to be honest, I thought nothing about it. Then, I saw that I was charged $30, instead of the $24.53 that I was supposed to pay. My understanding was that you wouldn’t be able to claim the charge without my signature, but the only problem is I paid more than what I should have.”

(Up until this point, the manager has had a rude tone, and clearly has not understood what the actual issue was. After I explain that it seems like the driver added a tip to my order and may have signed my name without my permission, the manager becomes very nervous and worried.)

Manager: “I am sorry for my misunderstanding, Mr. [My Surname]. Sometimes our drivers may misplace a receipt and we will just do a reprint, but obviously, it won’t have your signature on it. I will need to take a look at the order and the paperwork when I get to the store in a couple of hours, but it does sound like someone may have added a tip to your order. Can you tell me what the driver looks like? Or what car they were driving?”

(I give the manager my best description of the driver and explain that since we live in an apartment complex and our apartment is in the back of the building, I wasn’t able to see the car.)

Manager: “I see. I am pretty sure I know who you are talking about. We had other problems with her that night and had to let her go. When I get to the store, I will make sure to double-check your order and we can process a refund. Would you like that as a cash refund or does it need to go back to your credit card?”

Me: “It would be better if it could go back to my credit card, but if it is too much hassle the cash refund will be fine. Would somebody be able to drop it by my apartment? I don’t have transportation to the store.”

Manager: “We would be able to do that; I will have a driver drop it by later today. I am very sorry that this has happened to you, and I want to personally thank you for being so kind about the matter.”

(I did not start the call screaming and shouting, nor did I use a rude tone throughout the conversation. I just wanted the issue corrected, and I have been in the manager’s shoes before.)

Me: “I understand; I have had to deal with things like this before. Please have a wonderful day.”

(A driver popped by shortly after that with the refund for our order, and a note from the manager telling us that we had a credit on our account for free food to use the next time we placed an order, as a thank-you for our continued service. We still order from them, but if a driver shows up without a receipt again we call the store while the driver is at the door.)

(I work at a call center. I have just spent an all-nighter studying for two tests, and I haven’t slept — literally — at all for over 24 hours. The customer is talking whilst I am clicking the things that need to be clicked on the screen, but I start falling asleep as I am working; it feels like I have a battery that is dying. I mean to ask if she wants StretchPay, but instead, this is what comes out of my mouth:)

Me: “—and would you like syrup with your pancakes?”

(It took us both a moment before we realized in unison what I’d just said, and thankfully the customer thought it was hilarious and had sympathy for me after I briefly explained what I’d mentioned above. That was the first and only time I ever asked if they wanted syrup, thankfully.)