I’ve worked for years in the public library system. Last year, I started to have severe pain in one shoulder and a “popping” sensation. It got so bad that I ended up in the ER because I could barely even tolerate having my bra on, and I’m busty so I have to wear a bra. There, I was told I had osteoarthritis and needed to see a specialist.

The first orthopedist refused to write a letter to my work for limits, despite me telling him pushing full carts and shelving books was causing me severe pain. And this was in spite of the fact that he suspected I had a fractured scapula rather than osteoarthritis. He also referred me to a pain management specialist.

So, I went to my general practitioner, who wrote me an open-ended work limit, as I was still being shifted from specialist to specialist as each found something else wrong with me. Cut to December; I was on my day off having a really bad pain day between the arthritis and a migraine, when someone from Human Resources called.

Despite me telling her I was having a bad pain day, she proceeded to harass me about my work limits, asking me when I was “going to get over this.” I kept trying to tell her that I didn’t know as I hadn’t even been given permission to start physical therapy yet, as I had to see yet another specialist first.  

She refused to listen and kept insisting that they needed an end date, and she would say things like, “You can tell me you’re feeling better but I need a note from the doctor!”

“But I’m not feeling better! I’m in severe pain right now!” I’d say over and over again. “I have to see another doctor first!” 

She started insisting I go to the doctor that same day, something that was absolutely impossible short of cutting my arm off. 

Finally, between her constant harassment and not listening to me, topped by my increasingly bad pain, I burst into tears. She finally allowed me to get off the phone. 

The next day at work, I sent an email to HR listing all my doctors’ appointments, explaining what was going on, and saying I’d try to get another doctor’s note soon, but they had to be patient. I reminded them that the day I was called, I was in extreme pain at the time of the phone call. 

They sent me back an email accusing me of not even trying to see a doctor, despite me giving them names and dates of every appointment. 

I contacted my union rep to see if they could even do this but never heard back from her. However, I did get one orthopedist to write a letter to HR detailing all the different doctors I’d had to see just for my shoulder alone and the need for physical therapy.

My GP wrote me another letter, this time with an end date, but really, I’m still not ready to shelve or push heavy carts. Thankfully, my coworkers understand this.

As for my shoulder, yes, it is osteoarthritis along with two bones that are rubbing together because the cartilage is nearly worn away and inflamed tissue is catching between them. The orthopedist suspects it’s a repetitive motion injury from working for years in the library, caused by the very shelving that’s giving me so much pain now. I’ve started physical therapy and it is improving, and I’ll get a shot between the two bones soon. 

But I’ll never forgive HR for accusing me of not trying to see a doctor when I gave them the list of all my doctors’ appointments, and while I could get in trouble for submitting this story if they recognize it, I really needed to vent.

It’s a dismal winter day and I’m working at a busy petrol station with an employee who is unfamiliar with the tills. An older female customer comes in, looking tired and irritable.

Customer: “Just to let you know, my car has broken down, and I just need to wait for the van to arrive.”

Me: “Okay, thank you.”

I notice that the customer seems reluctant to go back to her vehicle, and sure enough, she asks if there’s anywhere she can wait inside. Company policy strictly states that I can’t let her in the back, and she insists she’s okay waiting in her car. My colleague checks on her, and she reports back that the woman is fine.

Near the end of our shift, the woman returns to look at the coffee machine.

Customer: “Does your machine serve tea?”

Me: “I’m sorry, but the coffee machine is out of service right now.”

Since we’re quiet, and it is cold, I figure I should offer her something.

Me: “I can put the kettle on! We have some tea in the back. I don’t mind; it’ll only take a minute.”

Customer: “Only if it’s no trouble; I can always just wait in the car.”

Me: “It’ll be fine; just a moment. Would you like me to bring you out a seat so you don’t have to wait outside?”

Customer: “No, thank you; the tea will be just fine.”

I continued my normal duties as I waited for the kettle to boil, and then I brewed the tea and allowed her to add her own milk. Once our shift was finished, we waited near her car until the recovery vehicle arrived.

I didn’t think much more about it other than hoping she got home okay, and then I got the news through management that the customer was so grateful for our help that she sent a beautiful thank-you card to the store! It turned out she had been going through chemotherapy and was having a rough day, but the fact that we made her tea and made sure she was never unattended cheered her up a bit.

Just over a year later, I saw the woman again and did not recognise her; she was cancer-free and a very healthy and vibrant customer! And she was still thanking me! I was just so happy that she made such a brilliant recovery.

A mother and her two young sons come in. Unfortunately, “Mommy” is more concerned with shopping than with her children’s safety. At most department stores, this one included, there are long metal poles with curves on the ends to take hangers with clothing off of high racks. These two boys have each taken one of the poles and are using them to sword fight.

I approach the boys and take away the “toys.” They are a few feet away from their mother.

Me: “I’m sorry, gentlemen, but you cannot play in this store; it is dangerous and rude. Furthermore, customers and employees here need to use these poles; they are not toys.”

Immediately, their mother starts swearing loudly and screaming at me about how I can’t tell her how to raise her children.

Me: “Ma’am, I don’t really care how you raise your children. I’m merely following store policy and we can’t have anyone using the store or our property like a playground.”

Customer: “I want to see your manager! You’re going to lose your job!”

Me: *Calmly* “My manager asked me to stop your children from using these to hurt themselves and other customers, but if you’d like to speak with her, please follow me; she’s right at the cash stand.”  

The customer follows me to my manager, swearing loudly the whole time. My manager listens to the customer.

Customer: “She grabbed my children and shook them and then called me a bad mother just because my sons were being a little loud! You need to fire this b**** immediately!”

My manager, who had heard and seen the whole incident from only about ten feet away, calmly repeated store policy and told the customer she was mistaken about me touching her children. When the customer threatened to sue, my manager explained again, very calmly, that the incident had been filmed by multiple cameras.

Suddenly, the customer walked off to shop some more.

A few minutes later, in another department, a coworker caught the boys playing with metal bars they had broken off a display rack. She took them away and went back to work because it was busy.

Apparently, the boys either found the same metal bars or broke another display rack to duel each other. I found the one passed/knocked out under a clothing rack in a nearby department with blood coming out of his ears because his brother had hit him too hard over the head with a metal bar and was afraid to tell anyone.

My manager called an ambulance and the police. It was several hours before the police found the mother. She had left the store with her purchases and the one child to do more shopping in the rest of the mall. She didn’t even notice her other son was gone!

My husband has COPD, so we have been very very careful during this health crisis. We’ve been in isolation for fifty-seven days now. He’s been really wanting a particular fast food restaurant’s fish sandwiches, so today, we decided to order through their app and go through the drive-thru, figuring it would be minimal risk.

When he pulled up to the window to receive his bag, the woman was wearing a mask, so he rolled down his window. She then pulled her mask off her face, down around her neck like a necklace, leaned out the window, and started talking to him. I don’t know what she was saying, because at that point I was shouting at her to put her mask back on, that my husband has COPD, and that she could kill him.

She seemed surprised and puzzled at my reaction more than anything else.

After I got home and calmed down, I called and spoke to the manager. When I started with, “I was just there at the drive-thru and I have a major complaint,” he responded, “Was she wearing her mask under her nose again?”

This tells me that this is an ongoing problem. He said he would “sit down and have a very serious talk with her.”

But since she’s obviously not taking mask-wearing seriously, she should not be interacting with the public.

I sent an email detailing all of this through the restaurant’s corporate contact form and received a long email from a do-not-reply address explaining how they value customers’ safety and are doing everything to ensure that, blah, blah, blah.

A few days later, I got a call from another manager at the local restaurant; apparently, the person I spoke with on the day that the incident happened was just a manager of the day. This one sounded older and very, very concerned. He said he checked the camera footage, identified the girl who we dealt with, and had a very long talk with her. He explained to her that if she couldn’t follow the rules, then she wouldn’t be working there anymore.

He sounded very sincere, so I think the issue is being dealt with. I asked him if she said why she’d done it, and he kind of sighed and said with exasperation, “Well, she’s young.” I knew exactly what he meant; when we’re young, we are invulnerable. Until we’re not.

Now, we just have to wait another twelve days to see if she infected my hubby. It doesn’t seem likely — not everybody is transmitting the bug — but “not likely” isn’t much comfort.

As part of the measures to protect employees and shoppers from a certain illness, our supermarket has decided to add to the cleaning; there’s a person that goes round continuously wiping down “touchpoints,” i.e., keypads, basket handles, and freezer door handles. There’s a rota for this for regular staff, and today’s my day.

I’m going down the frozen aisle, cleaning the freezers, when…

Customer: “NO! DON’T!”

I turn to see a very exasperated-looking mother holding her young child who has clearly just licked the freezer divider glass.

Customer: “For God’s sake! You’re gonna get sick by doing that! And make other people sick, too! Honestly! Next time, I’ll… I’ll… I don’t know! But I’ll do something!” 

She dragged her kid off whilst muttering. I liberally sprayed the glass that the child had just licked.