(I’m an English guy travelling around Canada. At one point I reach Vancouver and decide to stay there for a couple of weeks. During my stay, I come across some Aussie travellers who I run into regularly and have a drink with. One night I run into them at the hostel bar and they invite me to join them. With them is another friend I haven’t met before. From the moment I meet him it appears he has an issue with me being there. During the night, he keeps shooting rude and obnoxious comments at me and seems intent on picking a fight. I’ve spent time in Australia previously so I’m used to their sense of humour and having a bit of banter, but this guy seems to hate me being here. At one point, I’m talking to one of the guys and he interrupts me in the middle of talking.)

Rude Guy: “You Poms f****** suck at cricket.”

(He has a really nasty and arrogant smirk on his face as if he expects me to get upset about it.)

Me: “I don’t follow cricket; sorry, mate!”

Rude Guy: “You’re also s*** at rugby; f****** smashed ya last time we played ya!”

Me: “Sorry, dude, don’t follow rugby either.”

Rude Guy: “Why? Ya f****** gay? Bloody poof!”

Friend #1: “Mate, shut it!”

Rude Guy: “Got a mate who’s Scottish. He f****** hates you c***s!”

(His words are delivered with a lot of venom; I’m really confused how I upset him.)

Me: “Err… I’m sorry about that?”

(The guy is clearly sizing up for another insult, but one of his friends grabs his shoulder — he looks really annoyed about his behaviour.)

Friend #2: “He said SHUT UP! Now have a beer and relax!”

(For the rest of the the night, the rude guy proceeds to get louder and drunker, even getting into arguments with several people over the continued offensive comments he keeps making. He is at the point of getting thrown out and he is acting really threateningly towards others.)

Rude Guy: “OI! POOF!”

(He then proceeds to throw the lime from his glass at me really hard. It hits me between the eyes! While it doesn’t hurt me, it just seems childish and immature.)

Rude Guy: “NOW F******* EAT IT!”

Me: “Seriously?”

Rude Guy: “WANNA TAKE THIS OUTSIDE? I’LL F****** SMASH YA, POOFTER!”

(With that, his friends stand up and grab him.)

Friend #1: “Right! You f*** off! Get out!”

Rude Guy: “You what?”

Friend #2: “Look bro, we just wanted to have a nice few beers with our new friend here and what do you do? Once again you act like a c***! Seriously, get lost; I’m fed up of this!”

Rude Guy: “But he was the one who started it!”

Friend #3: “Like f*** he did! Once again you decide to start a fight with someone for no bloody reason; now get outta here before WE take you outside!”

(The guy just stands there; he looks like he is tempted to take him up on the offer!)

Friend #1: “Go on, GET OUT!”

(Rude guy stormed out the bar; thankfully the rest of the night was uneventful and the guys and I had a good time. When I ran into them a couple days later, they told me their friend had packed up and left to go travelling elsewhere. Apparently, they were glad to be rid of him, because his behaviour had caused them trouble throughout their travels.)

(I work as a night auditor at a hotel near downtown, but my wife and I are also wedding photographers. My assistant manager knows this. This coming weekend we have a wedding to work in a city over three hours away. I had asked for the day of the wedding off over a month in advance, confirmed the day off twice in two separate emails, and met with my assistant manager in person about it as well, as she is known for not following through on requests, especially from the overnight staff. Sure enough, when the schedule comes out, she has scheduled me to work the same night as the wedding, as well as the night before. This means that my wife and I would be leaving right when I got off work at seven in the morning and driving straight to the wedding venue to start taking photos. This would not be a big deal to me if I had the night of the wedding itself off, but seeing as I now don’t, I have a major problem. This happens when I approach my assistant manager about it.)

Me: “So I noticed you scheduled me for Saturday. I thought you approved that day off since I’ll be out of town to shoot a wedding.”

Assistant Manager: “Well, all requests are just that, though: requests. We already had [Other Night Auditor] scheduled off, so we couldn’t schedule anyone else off. Sorry, but you’ll just have to make it by 11. There’s nothing I can do about it.”

Me: “But when we met in person and emailed about it, you said I was approved for the day off. I physically cannot be at work that night. I’ll be more than three hours away, and we’re hired to photograph the whole wedding and reception.”

Assistant Manager: “Hmm, well, I guess you’ll just have to work something out then, because we need you here at 11 that night. Can you, like, leave early or something? Maybe not stay for the reception?”

Me: “No, I can’t leave early. My wife and I are hired for the whole wedding and reception, and they’ve already paid. You knew about this for more than a month. I cannot work that night. I absolutely need it off.”

Assistant Manager: “I just don’t know what you want me to do about it; nobody else is trained for night audit.”

Me: “I wanted the night off so I could do my other job. You told me I was approved for it, multiple times. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to do about it, but don’t count on me showing up Saturday.”

Assistant Manager: “Well, what if [Coworker] stayed until 3 in the morning, and you could just work the rest of your shift?”

Me: “You do realize my wife and I are leaving the second I get off work Saturday morning and driving straight to the wedding right?”

Assistant Manager: “Mm-hmm.”

Me: “And that, if I agree to your plan, that I would immediately drive back once the reception is over and then work another four hours here, after having worked twelve hours at a wedding and driving over six total hours there and back?”

Assistant Manager: “Absolutely!”

Me: “Just so I’m clear, you want me to work a grand total of 24 hours without any sleep, just because you didn’t work the schedule out better?”

Assistant Manager: “Yeah, that’s not so bad is it? I mean, how hard can it be?”

(I ended up going with her “solution,” but as we’re between general managers at the time, and upper management of all non-full service hotels in this brand doubles as the HR, there is no one I can really complain to. I’m currently looking for a new job.)

(I work in a five-star hotel on the riverfront so everyone usually needs to have a ‘riverview room.’ An elder couple proceed to the desk and I start the check-in process.)

Me: “Good afternoon and welcome to the hotel. May I please have your passports and a credit card?”

(The check-in goes on for a bit and then:)

Guest: “May we please have a view to the Danube?”

Me: “I am very sorry, ma’am, but there is no Danube in this state. We have the Moldau here.”

Guest: “I want to see the Danube.”

Me: “As I just said, ma’am, the river by the hotel is called Moldau.”

Guest: “I want to have a view to the Danube.”

Me: “Don’t worry, you will have a nice view to the Moldau.”

Guest: “No, I want the Danube!”

Me: *sighs* “Okay, your room has the view to the Danube river. Enjoy your stay!”

(We have two types of rooms. Two queen sized beds, “two queens” for short, and one king sized bed, “one king.” Two men are checking in.)

Me: “So, two queens. Is that right, sirs?”

Man: “How dare you!”

Man #2: “We’re not two queens; we’re kings!”

(They both walk out, looking haughty.)

Me: “Sorry, we don’t have two kings?”

Guest: *pointing at our rack of postcards* “Do you have any [Operator] prepaid sim cards?”

Me: “No, sorry, we don’t have any sim cards.”

Guest: “Then what are these?”

Me: “Postcards.”

Guest: “What?”

Me: “They’re postcards.”

(Guest walked away, visibly confused.)