I work for an engineer who submits plans for the county to review. A plan has been rejected by the county reviewer due to not having a paper showing the required calculations. We did the calculations a month ago but we may have forgotten to send the PDF scan paper. We send the PDF again. A few days later we get an email.

Reviewer: “File does not contain all of the calculations. Please submit the calculations.”

I review the calculations and sure enough, everything is there. I email him back.

Me: “All of the calculations you asked for are on the sheet. Can you review each page and tell us what is missing?”

He replies to me a few hours later.

Reviewer: “Oh, you are right. They are there. I didn’t know I could change pages in the PDF. Thank you so much for telling me about different pages.”

He had been a reviewer for over a decade and was in his early thirties. I guess they didn’t teach him that PDFs can have more than one page.

One of my tasks is to manage a tracker. It has hundreds of lines of actions, each in turn being managed through its own little individual task tracker. These are split out amongst two dozen people to process. It can be a bit of a juggling act just getting everyone to give me updates, all the more difficult when people refuse to understand the process even after years and years of it being in place.

I get a response to one of several emails I’ve sent asking for updates.

Employee: “I don’t understand why you keep asking about this. I finished the task months ago.”

Me: “Did you tell me I was finished?”

He messages me back, now copying in his boss.

Employee: “Well, no. Don’t you check?”

Me: “I don’t have time to check hundreds of actions each day in case there might be an update. It is fundamentally your task to update it and inform me.”

He messages back, now without his boss on copy.

Employee: “Okay, well, mark it as closed, and these three.”

He gives me the numbers and I take him at his word, as he should know more than I do.

The next month, all three of his tasks are checked. He hasn’t completed the form, hasn’t properly reviewed the issue, and just generally hasn’t done his job on this.

I put this all in an email to him, clearly and professionally explaining the reason why and what is needed to be done. I get nothing back and again have to chase him for months for a response. Finally, he replies, copying in his boss.

Employee: “I already explained that these were finished. Why do you keep emailing me? You need to do your job properly.”

I reply with his boss on copy, too.

Me: “As I explained on [date #1] and again on [date #2] and [date #3]. These actions have been rejected. This is because it was seen that they have not been completed with due care or diligence. Basic areas of the form were not completed or completed incorrectly. Your tasks are now overdue by six months. Please make the corrections in full and respond ASAP.”

He did manage to get the updates in and accepted, but we had the same issues a few months later. Eventually, his boss told him to just come and update me every month — like everyone else already did and I suggested. It seemed to work out after that.

The company I work for is based in a rural part of the country, about an hour out from the nearest big town. Being remote means it’s difficult to employ staff, which means sometimes you take the ones that you can afford, and in this case, the ones that could be afforded were some oddballs.

Luckily, I work alone most of the time, only bothered if there is an issue. I keep getting called to an issue with one of the machines. It keeps tripping the power randomly. It will be fine all week and then trip multiple times a day. It is on a maintenance contract, so I check it, reset it, and place a service call. Their company’s repair guys show up, find nothing, and leave. This happens multiple times.

Then, on one visit, their repair guy calls me down, shows me some frankly scary wiring setup: an overburdened cube extension with all many things plugged in, many with damaged cables, and some where I can see the wire.

I take everything away and let the supervisor know. He thanks me and talks to our employee working in that area.

All sorted? The next day, it trips. I go straight to the socket, not the trip, and find the mess of cables. Our employee is charging his phone, boiling a kettle, and charging his vape.

Me: “Not again.”

Employee: “What?”

Me: “You can’t keep plugging all that mess in. It keep tripping the fuse.”

Employee: “I’ve been doing this for years; I’ve never had one issue! I’ve worked my whole house. It isn’t a problem.”

Me: “The issue is that it’s tripping the fuse! All the machines on the ring will need resetting!”

Employee: “Not my problem.”

Fine. I will make it his problem.

I got his supervisor and told him his whole line would be down until that safety hazard was removed. He called my bluff, but I was prepared to go higher if I needed to. He didn’t seem bothered or think that this was actually an issue.

I saw the employee in passing, and he made sarcastic comments aimed at me being a killjoy, know-it-all, a pansy — I could go on.

I didn’t see him again for a while but thought nothing of it. It turned out that he got burnt pretty badly when there was an electrical fire at his home. He’ll live but will have some scars to show for it.

Suddenly, everything actually IS a massive risk. Everyone is banned from bringing anything from home. Sockets have been removed from walls, etc.

This didn’t last very long, as I reported a smashed socket that apparently had been like that for years, and that wasn’t a big deal because “there’s never been an accident before.”

I left before the place killed me.

The company where I work recently purchased new office space in our building. We now occupy two suites of offices downstairs, as well as the main office upstairs where clients and visitors are directed. People who do not work for us should not be coming into the offices downstairs. The business that used to occupy the downstairs office has moved to a different location, which is noted in a large sign on our door which, unfortunately, doesn’t have a lock yet. I should note that I am a young female and I’m totally blind.

One day, I am alone in the new office. All my coworkers are either sick or solving problems upstairs. I hear the door open and figure it’s one of them coming back. All of a sudden, I hear a strange man in the reception area.

Man: *Loudly* “Hello? Hello?”

I don’t recognize the voice, so I ignore him. I figure he must be a customer of [Previous Business] who doesn’t realize they have moved. I wait for him to leave, but instead:

Man: *Now yelling* “Hello! I need a signature! Hello!”

Realizing this guy isn’t going away and starting to get uncomfortable, I call out from my desk:

Me: “Sorry, sir, let me call the receptionist.”

Our receptionist works upstairs.

I try to buzz the receptionist but she is on the phone. Meanwhile, the strange guy starts walking around the office! He knocks on closed doors, including the one to our restroom, repeating:

Man: “Excuse me! Hello! I need a signature!”

I get my mom on the phone; she works across the hall in the other downstairs office. She doesn’t know of any packages being delivered to our company and can tell I am nervous, so she walks over.

As soon as I hang up, this man proceeds to enter my office and drops two boxes onto my desk!

Man: “Excuse me, ma’am. I’m with [Delivery Company] and I just need a signature for these packages.”

Now I’m scared. I have no way of knowing if this guy is who he says he is since I can’t see him. I’m alone in a small space and he is blocking the only exit. If anything happened, I would have no escape and no witnesses.

Luckily, my mom arrives and he goes to the front to talk to her.

Mom: “Sir, who are you?”

He shows her the packages, for [Employee] with [Previous Business].

Mom: “That company has moved. The new address is on the door.”

Man: *With attitude* “So, you’re refusing delivery?”

Mom: “Yes. We did not place this order; that stuff isn’t for us.”

The delivery guy pushes some buttons on his tracking machine.

Man: “Uh, I don’t think I see an option for that. Are you sure you can’t just take it?”

Mom: *Getting angry* “No! We did not order these items! We are not going to take responsibility for something we didn’t request!”

Eventually, the delivery guy left… only to go upstairs and try to give the boxes to the receptionist! 

So, he failed to read the huge sign on the door he walked through, poked around a private office, and invaded the personal space of an employee, and then he tried to make us take the stuff anyway! What an idiot.

Oh, and after receiving an earful from my wonderful mother, the managers are having the lock installed next week!

I am at a popular chain sandwich shop where the sandwiches are highly customized and made while you watch. I am the only customer in the store when this happens. As the worker is pulling the sandwich out of the toaster oven, it slips and falls on the floor. She apologizes and offers to make me another one. I don’t read into her phrasing, figuring she’s just flustered, and I’m not going to give her a hard time for an honest mistake.

The first sandwich goes in the trash and the second is made without incident. As we get to the register and she tells me the price, things go wrong.

Me: “Uh, are you sure that’s correct? The sandwich is usually [half what she quoted me].”

Employee: “Well, I had to make two sandwiches since the first one got tossed.”

Me: “It was tossed because you dropped it.”

Employee: “Yes, but you told me to make you a new one.”

Me: “Would you have expected me to eat the one off the floor?”

Employee: “No, but you asked for a new one. Since I made two, I have to charge you for two.”

Me: “But it was your mistake, not mine. Why should I pay for a sandwich you dropped?”

Employee: “I made you two sandwiches, though.”

I sense that I’m not getting anywhere.

Me: “All right. Well, I’m not paying for a sandwich you dropped.”

Employee: “You have to pay for both of them or I can’t give you this one.”

Me: “Fine.”

I start heading out. I’d rather get zero for the price of zero than get one for the price of two.

Employee: “Hey! If you leave without paying, you’ll be banned from the store!”

Me: “I’m fine with that.”