My friend and I are visiting a local museum. I am disabled and use a cane when walking, especially important when walking longer distances, such as through museums. Since both legs are affected by my disability, I often alternate the cane between hands, which often gets me accused of faking. I’m also sixteen, which gets me odd looks because most people associate canes with older folks. So, using my cane isn’t an ideal situation, but I have to do it. 

Employee: “Hi, welcome to [Museum]! Can I see your tickets, please?”

Friend: “Here.”

I switch my cane to my other hand because my other leg has started hurting. We start to enter the museum, my cane now in my left hand

Employee: “Ma’am?”

I’m a trans guy, so this already pisses me off a little

Me: “Yeah?”

Employee: “You’re going to need to leave that outside.”

Me: “What, my cane?”

Friend: “But he needs it to walk!”

Employee: “That’s bulls***. I saw her switch it to her other hand.”

I’m already in tears because I have really bad anxiety.

Me: “No, I have a disability that affects both my legs, so I need to use it for both sides.”

Employee: “That’s ridiculous. If you really had a disability on both sides, you’d be in a wheelchair.”

I should be using a wheelchair, actually, but I can’t afford one right now.

Employee: “I bet you stole it from a disabled person, just to get accommodations.”

Friend: “Why the f*** would he do that? That’s ridiculous! Please just let us into the museum.”

Employee: “No way. You’re obviously faking a disability. I have to report you to management.”

Friend: “Go ahead. We’ll wait here.”

The employee calls management over.

Manager: “So you’re… faking a disability, apparently?”

Friend: “The employee claims my friend is faking a disability and refuses to let us in the museum.”

Employee: “She’s obviously faking! She was holding her cane in one hand and then switched it to the other!”

I’m completely sobbing at this point.

Me: “I, I have a disability in, in both legs, and I have to use the cane on both sides.”

Manager: “[Employee], meet me in my office.” *To us* “I’m so sorry about that. Are you all right, sir?”

He puts an emphasis on the “sir”. He likely saw my trans flag button and he/him pronoun button on my bag.

Me: “Yeah, thank you so much.”

He offered us credit to the gift shop. We initially refused but he insisted, and I picked out a very nice stuffed animal. We had an amazing time at the museum, and we made sure to thank the manager again on our way out.

I am sixteen and I have type-one diabetes. I have been diagnosed for a bit more than a year and a half. I’ve kept good control over it and the doctors are always impressed when I have a checkup.

I take insulin ten to fifteen minutes before I eat so it has time to take effect. With the school lunch, there are two options: a chicken salad and a cheeseburger. I decide to go with the cheeseburger. I take my insulin and go up the line. I grab a to-go box, but before I take two steps:

Friend: “Wait, that’s a salad.”

I set the box back down and go to grab a different box, but the lunch lady shouts at me.

Lunch Lady: “Hey, don’t you dare!”

I look at her and she looks at me like I just slapped a puppy in the face.

Me: “What’s wrong?”

Lunch Lady: “You already grabbed the salad, so you have to take the salad.”

Me: “But I haven’t even opened it. I’m a diabetic and I already took insulin.”

She shakes her head.

Lunch Lady: *Sickly sweet* “I’m sorry, that’s not my problem. Take the salad and go sit down now!”

Me: “But I’m a diabetic, and—”

Lunch Lady: “Take the salad or you don’t get anything.”

I’m a little pissed at this point so I take the salad and go off to my table with my friends and tell them the situation. They removed the vending machines in the cafeteria over the summer so there is no way for me to get the correct amount of carbs without stealing another kid’s cheeseburger. One of my friends tells me I should go get the principal quickly before the insulting fully sets in.

I go to the office and tell him and the counselor the situation, a little panicked because it has been well over ten minutes since I took insulin. The principal walks me back up to the cafeteria.

Principal: “[Lunch Lady], give him the cheeseburger. He really needs it.”

Lunch Lady: “But he already took a salad. He can deal with it.”

The principal just sighs, grabs the cheeseburger box, and shoves it into my hands and tells me to go sit down. I sit relatively close to the lunch line so my friends and I can hear the principal.

Principal: “How you acted was truly out of line. I thought you understood to treat students’ health situations with care and understanding.”

He told her off for another minute before heading back to his office, and I got to eat my lunch in peace. Maybe she’ll know better next time.

I have twins who just turned three, a boy and a girl. We are openly relaxed about gender differences and it helps us make ends meet when, for example, he wears pink pyjamas until he outgrows them and they fit her. When he demands to wear a skirt, f*** it; he is three. It’s just that his sister has one that sparkles, so he wants one, too. This gets us the odd look once in a while and even some comments, but this is the rudest we’ve ever encountered.

In celebration of the twins’ third birthday, we are shopping for bike helmets. We usually buy used stuff, but safety gear is nothing we want to buy used.

The shop we visit is having a big clearance sale, and [Daughter] picks a violet helmet with a princess on, and [Son] picks a green dinosaur one. Then, we spot a teeny tiny purple bike. It is HEAVILY marked down as it seems to be a floor model that has seen better days, but still, it’s a fully working bike that never saw the outside world before. Our son tries it and loves it. We decide to buy it and approach the worker at the till.

At first, he sees our daughter and smiles as we ask about the purple floor model bike. He then sees my boy on the bike.

Worker: “Oh, it’s for him? Okay.”

My hubby stays with the happy little biker doing rounds on the sales floor. I go with the worker to pay.

Worker: “So that is [price nearly three times what I expected]. We can load the box for you if you pull up your car to the back, or your husband can carry it out. Instructions to assemble are inside.”

Me: “Wait, what? We thought we would get the floor model as it is for [price]?”

Worker: “I’m sorry, but we have no boy bikes of that model on the floor.”

Me: “I thought they were unisex at that stage? And even so, he is getting on and off it fine as it is, so we are totally okay with it anyway.”

Worker: “Let me get my manager.”

I’m confused. The guy goes off and returns with another worker who says he is the manager.

Manager: “My employee told me you asked for a new bike for the floor model sales price? I’m here to clarify, it is that cheap because it is used and we can not sell new ones for that price.”

Me: “But I never asked for a boxed one. We could not pluck him off that one anyway by now, and I thought we could just ride it out of the door.”

Manager: “But he told me you needed a blue one and the floor model is purple.”

Me: “I never said anything about another colour. Why would I? I understand it’s the floor model you are selling. Can I please just pay and get this done?”

Manager: “Of course! I’m sorry. Please come over to the till.”

The worker is standing near the till, and as he notices me paying the low price, he pipes up:

Worker: “But it’s the wrong colour and you can’t return it anytime later for that reason. The sale is final. And if it breaks, then it breaks; it’s your own risk.”

The manager sighs and turns to the worker.

Manager: “[Worker], you know full well that we give a two-year warranty on anything that leaves our doors. And you need to stop making these ridiculous assumptions about what is a boy’s and a girl’s colour.”

Worker: “But it’s not healthy to have him on a purple bike! Everybody will think it’s a gay thing, and he will be embarrassed!”

Me: “Excuse me. He is three. He still has a lot of years in peace before he has to find out what goes on in his heart and pants. He is wearing Hello Kitty underwear right now because it was glittery and he liked it. Just relax, man.”

Worker: “I should call the police on you for abusing your child! You are trying to make him gay, just because you think it’s cool and real men scare you.”

We all fell silent in shock a bit, and the manager grabbed the employee’s shoulder. He started protesting but was wordlessly shoved through a door to the office. The manager closed the door and returned. He started to apologise but I stopped him. I knew it was not his fault and he thanked me a lot. He gave us an even bigger discount on the bike and threw in two novelty bike horns shaped like animals that the kids got to pick. [Daughter] picked a tiger and [Son] took an elephant. The manager told me the worker was his sister’s boyfriend and he only had him there because he wanted to help them out. I never saw him there again, but we still go get most of our bike gear there and are very satisfied.

A bar in my hometown has several floors which are available to hire as venues for special events, but they also run their own from time to time. They’re known for being quirky, and these rooms have a kind of 1920s vintage décor. One night, they had a promotion to watch a classic 1980s sci-fi film and have a two-course meal in one of these rooms, so a few of my friends bought tickets for it.

We got there and were shown to our table, which had two armchairs and a couch instead of normal seats. This would’ve been great except for one chair that didn’t actually have a seat! I tried to find a member of staff, but they had all disappeared into the staff area and it took fifteen minutes for one to reappear.

Our meals came without issue and I asked for an ice cream dessert, too, which would cost extra. Half an hour later, a bowl of ice cream was placed in front of me which, after a moment, I realised was almost completely melted. Again, all members of staff had disappeared, so I ended up standing in the middle of the hall holding a bowl of ice cream soup whilst the movie played until, eventually, a member of staff appeared.

They replaced the bowl with one only slightly better, so I ate it and watched the rest of the movie with my friends. At the end of the film, nobody came to bill me for the ice cream and I was not prepared to go hunting for the staff again, so this remains the only time I have ever walked out without paying.

A telemarketer called me and wanted me to order one of those “free samples” that lead to subscription traps — the kind that triggers when you consent to receive the “free” sample and is almost impossible to cancel. The free samples were women’s underwear and lady shavers.

I was under twenty years old and I was inexperienced. I just told him I didn’t want the sample and wouldn’t order, but he was very insistent. I should have hung up, but I didn’t want to be rude.

In the end, just before hanging up on me, he told me, ”Well, then, just go the whole summer in hairy legs and dirty underwear!”

Ten years later, I’ve learned to just hang up on them.