I work IT for a retail company. We have a policy that for personal devices, the only thing we can troubleshoot is [Company] apps and software. I get a call from a user one day, and after various troubleshooting attempts, it looks like it’s an issue with his laptop. He’s a contractor, so he’s not an official [Company] employee.

Me: “Okay, unfortunately, it looks like the issue is related to your laptop. Is this a personal laptop or is it a [Staffing Agency] laptop?”

User: “It’s a company one for [Staffing Agency].”

Me: “I’d suggest checking in with their IT. There’s something going on here, but it’s not related to [Company] apps.”

User: “Are you sure?”

Me: “Yes. Everything on our side is up. We’ve done some basic troubleshooting, but I can’t do anything beyond this because I can’t connect to it, and this is not a [Company] laptop. I confirmed that all your accounts are active, and you’re able to access [App] from the web portal on your phone, so there’s something going on with your device.”

During our earlier troubleshooting, I sent him a message through [Chat system], which has my picture attached.

User: “Fine. Before you hang up, I have one question.”

Me: “How can I help?”

User: “Is that your real photo?”

Me: “Yes.”

User: “Wow. You’re gorgeous. Are you sure you can’t do anything?”

Me: “This is not an issue on [Company]’s side. Please reach out to [Staffing Agency] IT.”

I’m probably getting a little rude with him, but I am done at this point.

User: “Are you sure, gorgeous? Or maybe I should talk to someone else about this?”

Me: “Yes.”

He finally hung up. I did end up sending a message to my manager because it made me uncomfortable and the slightest bit mad. I might be female, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know how to do my job.

I am a student filling in as a receptionist for a law office over the summer. I’ve been there for about two weeks when, one afternoon, I get a phone call.

Caller: “Hi, I’m looking for [Person].”

Me: “I’m sorry, no one by that name works here. May I ask what this is regarding?”

Caller: “What do you mean, [Person] doesn’t work there? I know that jacka** is there. You get him on the line right now!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but I don’t know who that person is.”

Caller: “Oh, you don’t know [Person]? Do you know your own name? Do you know when you were born? Do you even know where you are?”

The caller then proceeds to let out a string of expletives and hang up. One of the clerks alerts the lawyer to what just happened, and he comes down to talk to me. No sooner has he gotten there than the guy calls back. This time, the lawyer answers the phone. This part I can only hear one-sided.

Lawyer: “I’m sorry, [Person] no longer works here.”

Lawyer: “No, he was not fired. He retired from private practice.”

Lawyer: “Sir, that language is inappropriate. “

Lawyer: “Sir, is there something I can actually help you with?”

Lawyer: “No, I am not going to give you his information.”

Lawyer: “Sir, if there is nothing I can help you with, I am going to hang up. I suggest you not call back.”

The lawyer hangs up the phone. Not ten seconds later, the phone rings with the same number. The lawyer lifts the receiver and hangs it up again. The caller tries again every thirty seconds, only for the lawyer to hang up on him immediately.

After five minutes of this, the caller is still not getting the hint, so the lawyer takes the phone call.

Lawyer: “Sir, I know it’s you. I can see your caller ID coming up each time. We have already established that there is nothing we can do for you. If you call us again, I am going to report this number to the police.”

Lawyer: “For harassment, sir.”

Lawyer: “Goodbye, sir. Do not call back.”

He didn’t.

I had a coworker falsely accuse me of harassment. Someone outed me as bisexual to her, and she automatically took that to mean I MUST be hitting on her by merely existing near her. She even stated:

Coworker #1: “I don’t mind gay people because my uncle is gay, but two women being together is disgusting!”

I knew nothing of this until I was pulled into the office by management and asked for my side. [Coworker #1] finally told management it was her or me, and when they declined to fire anyone, she quit. No tears were shed.

Less than a year later, one of the younger, male staff members decided I must be attracted to HIM. I made the comment, “Nice!”, to a customer who got a $60 coupon on their receipt. [Coworker #2] decided I’d said it about his butt because he was bending over at the time.

Did I mention he was fifteen years old to my twenty-six, that I was in a relationship already, and that his mother worked elsewhere in the store?

Management watched the cameras and asked AGAIN for my side, which was AGAIN the first time I was hearing about it. I was told to “watch what [I] said” around younger coworkers.

Our department store is connected to a mall. There is one dude who works in the mall who really wants to date one of our young female coworkers. He doesn’t let the numerous times she has turned him down deter him in the slightest, so he pops by regularly to try and chat with her, ask her out, and be shooed off by her manager.

One day, he comes in to return a sweater. My coworker is working returns and — always mindful of a chance to show how much she does not want to date him — says:

Coworker: “Oh, I’m glad you’re returning that! It is the last one in this area in that size, and my boyfriend’s birthday is next week, and I think he’ll really like it.” 

Suddenly, he decided he just had to keep the sweater despite his numerous complaints about it earlier.

I was doing house cleaning and life organizing for a… man. He tried to have me snuggle him while on the clock. I quoted a rate three times higher for that, and he complained that he could get a massage from one of those “Oriental girls” for that price, so I should at least make out with him.

I could have just called him a dirty old man.

In any case, he has an in-law unit he wanted to rent out to make passive income. He wanted my help finding a tenant because he only wanted to rent to a single woman in her twenties.

I asked why. I regretted asking because he apparently had a fantasy that he would woo the tenant and they would live happily ever after.

I signed him up for a dating website instead and spent quite a while, on the clock, helping him sound worth dating. I even took a nice picture where he looked cute. He is rotund and balding, with less than ideal hygiene. He sort of looked like a frog normally, but frogs can be cute.

When I returned to work next, he complained that no one had responded.

He was only looking at women under thirty. I set his search parameters to between fifty-five and seventy-five since he was at least in his sixties. 

He complained that older women weren’t attractive. I told him he needed to learn to see their beauty or get really comfortable being alone.

I also suggested that he look in the mirror before going on the website, every time, and then aim for a similar level of attractiveness.

I didn’t keep working for him long after that.