I’m a 32 year old woman and a little overweight but not obeese by any means. Over the weekend I lost my wallet and have to replace everything. I have a doctors appointment the next morning so I go to a government office that houses 2 departments one for medical care, the other social security payments. As the self service is down for both departments the line to check in out the door and 98% of the chairs in the waiting area are taken. I have to squeeze past a lady in her 50’s to get to a vacant chair.

Lady: *huffs loudly as I squeeze past.*

I take a book out and start reading, while listening to music on my phone through one earbud.

Lady: how long does it take to make a claim?

I don’t realise she’s talking to me

Lady: hey I asked you a question. (Grabs my arm)

Me (removing my headphones): I’m sorry, what did you ask?

Lady huffs loudly: god listen when people talk to you. I asked how long it takes to make a claim.

I’m confused as it’s clear I don’t work there and I have no idea what department she’s talking about.

Me: I’m sorry, I have no idea. I’m just here to get a replacement Medicare card.

Lady: but your fat and obviously don’t work, so you’d be here all the time. Surely you have an idea.

Me in shock: ma’am, I do work, I’m currently on annual leave and I’m here because I need to get my card replaced for my first doctors appointment in well over a year. I suggest actually asking someone who works here. (I put my headphones back in both ears this time and go back to my book.)

Lady loud enough to hear over my music: how rude. You have no right to talk to me like that, you fat little b****. You have no idea who I am. I’m the owner of (local upmarket store). I deserve respect.

I continue to ignore her but notice security approach. Another customer sitting on the other side of me pipes up before the guard gets to us.

Customer: no, you don’t. You’ve been very rude and physically assaulted this young woman. You’ve been waiting 10 minutes, I’ve been waiting for nearly an hour. Shut up and be patient like everyone else.

Everyone else waiting and the guard starts laughing. The lady notices the security guard.

Lady: you! You need to deal with this b****. She’s been extremely rude and disrespectful.

Guard: ma’am. May i have your name please.

Lady gives us a smug look: its (name) finally someone that actually shows some respect.

Guard: thank you. Now, you actually assaulted this women and have been verbally abusive. You need to leave unless this young lady would like to press charges.

Lady: what? You (racist slur). You have no idea who I am.

Another guard comes over: police are on the way.

Lady gets up runs out of the building screaming that the guards are all (racist slurs) and I’m nothing but a fat b****. I’m shown to a office to talk with the police where I decline pressing charges and I finally get what I need for the doctors.

When I finished I go to (local upmarket store). I walk in to find the lady behind the counter.

Lady: oh my god. Your following me. Get out of my shop. You s***.

Me: so your the ower are you?

Lady: yes. Now get out before I call the police. Nothing would even fit you here you fat s***.

At this point my mum comes from the back of the shop.

Mum: (lady) what’s going on here?

Lady,: this piece of sh** is the one who disrespecting me earlier. Now she’s followed me here. She needs to leave.

Mum: (my name) what happened?
I tell her exactly what happened and that the cops will probably be wanting to speak with her. All the while she’s screaming that I am disrespectfull and a stalker.

Me: I thought you owned this shop. That’s funny because (my mums name) is co-owner. And I’m (my name) the silent partner. Now get out of my store. Your fired.

She had recently been hired at the store I co-own with my mum. My mum managers the store while I manage my father in-laws business. When she realised who I am and what was happening she proceeded to thow and destroy stock. Before either me or mum can call the police, 2 officers turn up to investigate the previous incident.

In the end she’s charged with assault and criminal damage.

(Our company does plans to show where a house will be built on the property. Naturally, these plans are given to the county for review and approval to help get a building permit. If a house is over 5,000 square feet of disturbance, then the county will treat it as major construction work and cause a host of other plans to be done. If the house is under 5,000 square feet, then the project is exempt from the other plans. Doing a house under 5,000 square feet is easier to get a permit for in both time and cost. A client is trying to build a house under the 5,000 square feet so he can sell it later on. We have worked with him and he hates the ones over 5,000 square feet. We do the plan and have come up with around 4,900 square feet of disturbance. He is happy and we have it submitted to the permit office. About two weeks later, we get an email from a county reviewer about the project. Comments happen all the time so this is not unexpected. A few are minor, but two catch our eye.)

Reviewer: “1. Make the driveway pad at the front into a square and revise the plan. 2. Submit a [document saying the house is a major plan for projects over 5,000 square feet].”

(I print the email off and deliver it to my boss, who worked on the plan.)

Boss: “This doesn’t seem right. Why does she want to make the driveway pad like that? There is no rule I can find saying she can do that. If we do what she wants, we will be over 5,000. You know [Client] is not going to like that.”

(My boss and I go through all the requirements for driveways and can’t find anything saying that we have to do that. My boss writes back a detailed message about why we won’t do that and asking what the requirement is that says we have to do that. A few days later, we get this message.)

Reviewer: “[Department Head] is requiring it. Please update the plans.”

(We have worked with [Department Head] before in the past and know him to be a reasonable person. We try to call the reviewer and all but one time we get an answering machine. The one time we get through, she says:)

Reviewer: “The message I sent you is enough.”

(We try to talk with [Department Head] directly, but he is extremely busy and typically out of the office. After sending messages and phone calls, we call his office to set up a meeting with him in person. Two weeks later, [Department Head], [Reviewer], my boss, and I meet at the department head’s office.)

Boss: “So, this is about [Project] that you reviewed.”

Department Head: “What project? I don’t recall any project like this.”

(This isn’t unusual; he is only second to the head of the whole agency, who is appointed by the county counsel, and has hundreds of jobs. My boss gives him the email with the original comments from the reviewer and shows him the plan.)

Department Head: “I don’t understand. This doesn’t appear to be any comment I made. These comments make no sense to me.”

(This is the first time my boss or I have heard of this.)

Me: *turning to reviewer* “So whose comments are these?”

Reviewer: “[Supervisor]. She is the one who requested it. I don’t know why we are in this meeting with [Department Head].”

(The supervisor and the department head are not even close to being mixed up. The supervisor is a blonde, 30-year-old woman who has a common name, while the department head is a black, 60-year-old man with a very uncommon name that is hard to pronounce.)

Me: “You said yourself for weeks that [Department Head] was the one asking for these comments.”

Reviewer: “I never said that.”

Me: “I have your email right here.” *passes it over to [Department Head]*

Reviewer: “That isn’t my email. You must have changed it.”

(The department head facepalms.)

Department Head: “Let me look at the comments.”

(He took a quick look at the comments and removed the comments about the driveway and forcing us to go over 5,000 square feet. The reviewer is still there, but every time we get her, she delays our jobs almost as a revenge for catching her in a lie.)

(This one is on me. The city hall in my town recently reinvaded and added a wall with a window in front of the desk to the once completely open space. I walk in to pay my water bill, stand there very confused & wide eyed; then turn around to leave after assuming I walked into the wrong building some how.)

Receptionist: “Wait, WAIT!”

Me: *turns around*

Receptionist: “This is City Hall, you didn’t walk into the wrong building; we reinvaded and added this wall.”

Me: “…OH! Okay. Thank you… This has been happening all day, hasn’t it?”

Receptionist: *sighs*

I was filling in at a reception desk in a municipal government building when a gentleman stepped off the elevator and approached me.

Me: Hi, can I help you find something?
Him: Yeah, I have a meeting.
Me: Ok, with who?
Him: I don’t know.
Me: Ok, do you know what office?
Him: No.
Me: Do you know what department?
Him: No.
Me: Do you have any contact information from whoever you set up the appointment with?
Him: Uh… no.

At this point I was at a bit of a loss but decided to keep trying to get some kind of information.

Me: Well when did you make the appointment?
Him: I think it was about two weeks ago… maybe three.
Me: Did you make the appointment over the phone or via e-mail?
Him: It was in person.
Me: Ok, where?
Him: It was in a park.
Me: In a park?
Him: There was an event for [member of provincial parliament].
Me: Ok, well this building is for your municipal government so if your appointment was with your MPP then it’s not here.
Him: No, the appointment wasn’t for provincial, that’s just where I met the person I made the appointment with.
Me: Well… I’m sorry, but I’m really not sure how to help you. Without a name, department or anything else to go on I can’t get you in touch with the right person.
Him: Well I have her name and number in my phone, should I just call her?
Me: I think that would be best….

(In Brazil, voting is mandatory by law. We may annul our votes, but we need to be physically present at our designated voting center or have a good reason not to be. Otherwise, we pay a fee and there might be some legal repercussions. In the last election weekend, I was in Canada for work, and only took the plane back Sunday. I go to justify missing the election.)

Me: “Hi. I need to justify missing the last election, as I was traveling. Here’s my documentation.”

Clerk: “This says you left your trip at 10:00 am. You still had plenty of time to come and vote. This justifies nothing.”

Me: “Perhaps you’re not aware, but it’s a twelve-hour flight from where I was, so I arrived in Brazil after the voting was already over.”

Clerk: *condescendingly* “Then you should have planned your little trip better, shouldn’t you?”

Me: “Can you just please put the documents through? I’m sure if…”

Clerk: “That’s not my problem! I’m not submitting a justification that doesn’t even cover the election times, just because you think you’re special and can break the law.”

Me: “Can I speak to a supervisor?”

(She calls one, mumbling about stupid, entitled people. I explain to the supervisor.)

Supervisor: “She’s very right. It’s not our job to fudge a justification so you can get off easy.”

Me: *now totally perplexed* “But it’s not fudging! I wasn’t in the country!”

Supervisor: “We’re not doing this. You’d better go now before I call security.”

(I left, very irritated and confused, and tried again at a different center a couple of days later. Believe it or not, I had almost the exact same conversation at the other center! My company decided to pay the fee for me, figuring it was better than to keep having me miss work to deal with it, or have any legal hassle later. I tried complaining up the government chain, but the sad thing is that these are all public servants, and for them to get even a write-up it needs to be an offense you could pretty much get arrested over, so nothing came of it.)