(I volunteer at a miniature science museum during summer break, which is characterized by its “Mess Kits,” little boxes with science experiments for children in them. Volunteers work at the Mess Kit Desk and provide information or kits to anyone who comes up to it. The owner is rather lenient when it comes to phone usage during lulls in activity. I’m 16 and quite obviously autistic, as I tend to stim in public. One of the paid workers has been on my back for several months, constantly berating my work, speaking to me in an extremely condescending tone, and telling me that the way I speak and treat people is very rude. She screeches at me for drawing, reading, or checking my phone no matter the situation and has nearly brought me to tears several times. My brother and another volunteer are working at the desk with me in this story. My brother notices the painful lull, takes out his phone, and sits in front of the desk. The other volunteer glances up and looks back down at her phone. I finish sweeping, which was the only other job available, and sit on the floor behind the two since there’s no other chairs up front. I’m there for not even a minute when the paid employee walks up to the front of the desk.)

Paid Employee: “[My Name]! You need to stay off your phone! We’ve discussed this. Do I need to take it away?”

(I gape, as my brother and the other volunteer are in her direct line of sight on their phones and she has to strain to see me specifically, clearly singling me out.)

Me: “B-but…”

Paid Employee: “You need to learn to follow directions!”

(My brother’s phone is a foot away from her face.)

Me: “I j-just swept…”

Paid Employee: “Then find something else to do!” *leaves without saying a word to the two volunteers directly in front of her*

(I barely make it to the bathroom before I start crying, inconsolable, and my mother picks me up. My brother backs up my story, so she urges me to draft an email to the owner explaining the rude and condescending treatment I’ve suffered thanks to [Paid Employee]. The owner apologizes, saying she will speak to the employee about her behavior, but also suggests I just work shifts the employee doesn’t take. I work up the nerve to return as a volunteer, and to my luck, I see the rude employee about halfway into my shift.)

Brother: “Look out!”

Paid Employee: *blanches as soon as she sees me, quickly looks away, and rushes to finish her task!*

(She avoids me as much as I avoid her, now. I guess she really didn’t expect anyone to report her discrimination!)

(The registers at the store where I work are set up so that customers unload onto the belt and then bring their cart forward so that the cashier can place the items back in it as they’re scanned. This customer, however, has brought up twice as much stuff as she can afford and is loading it onto the belt one item at a time to keep track of her spending, so I just scan it and leave it all on the belt while she decides what she wants. There is quite a high pile when the customer holds up a large bag of sugar with a hole in it. She flips it so that the hole is facing down and a steady stream of sugar is pouring out.)

Customer: “There’s a hole in this sugar.”

Me: “Okay, did you want to give it to me to ring up and grab another one?”

Customer: *still holding it upside down so sugar pours out* “No, I don’t want it.”

Me: “If you flip it over, it’ll stop.”

Customer: *looks at me blankly, still pouring the sugar*

(I reach up over the pile of stuff and across the belt to grab the sugar. By this point, the bag is half empty and sugar is all over her cart and all over the floor. The customer rolls her cart past the register and up another seven feet or so, so that I have to carry her large items over to it one by one. She glares at me the whole time that I’m doing this.)

Me: “Have a nice day.”

Customer: *glares, takes receipt, rolls through the sugar again, and leaves without another word*

(Many moons ago, working tech support, someone calls in with a problem with their printer. After working on it for over an hour, because he questions and argues every step of the way, I finally get him to tell me step by step what exactly he is doing.)

Customer: “I open a document, file, print, wait for it to finish loading, then unplug the printer cable and carry it across the room to the printer while holding the ends up so the data doesn’t spill out, and I plug it into the printer and it prints. And it worked like that yesterday.”

Me: *stunned pause for several seconds* “No, it didn’t.”

(Sitting next to a coworker, I hear him take this call.)

Coworker: “It’s doing what? Okay, turn it off and unplug it. No, you need to turn it off. Yes, turn it off. No, turn it off now. Yes, right now. No, you really need to turn it off right now.”

(I get a call and miss the rest, but I ask him about it afterward.)

Coworker: “His laser printer had six-inch flames coming out of the output slot. He didn’t want to turn it off because it was still printing. And once he’d turned it off and the fire was out, he wanted to know if he could turn it back on and use it.”

(I am at a theme park celebrating my high school graduation. I am wearing a celebration pin on my shirt. I go to a kiosk to grab a drink.)

Attendant: “What are you celebrating?”

Me: “Diet Coke.”