Part of my job is to keep customers’ information up-to-date. We have a system that emails customers their bills, sends notifications to advise of overdue balance, AND gives them a 5% discount off their bill for signing up to see their bill online.

If the email address we are given is incorrect (or we take it down wrong), the system flags it and we have to contact the customer to get the correct information.

This is one of those calls.

Me: “Good morning. My name is [My Name], and I’m calling from [Company]. Can I speak to [Customer], please?”

Customer: “This is [Customer].”

Me: “Hello, [Customer], sorry to bother you. First, I’d like to advise that this call is recorded for quality and training. I am calling about the email address you signed up for online billing; the email we have on file appears to be incorrect.”

Customer: “Well, what email address do you have on file?”

Me: “We have [email address].”

Customer: “This is a scam. I don’t know who you are or how you got this number, but I never want you to call this number again, and I want you to delete the email address you have on file.”

Me: “Sir, I can assure you that I am not a scam. I understand there are scam calls going around, but I am calling from [Company]. I have all your information in front of me and can confirm any information you wish to prove that I’m legitimate.”

At this stage, my colleagues start turning their heads, looking at me, and chuckling to themselves.

Customer: “No, thanks. I know you’re a scam, so you can delete my email and hang up.”

Me: “Okay, sir, I just want to advise you that at the moment, you are getting a 5% discount on your bills for online billing. If I delete your email address, you will lose the discount.”

Customer: “That’s fine. You’re a scam, so I’m not worried.”

Me: “Sir, I am not a scam. You have my name, I gave the name of the company, and you can see the number I’m calling from.”

My colleagues start chuckling more at how much effort I’m having to put it to prove I am who I say I am.

Customer: “YOU’RE A SCAM! NOW DO AS I SAID; DELETE MY EMAIL!”

Me: “Very well, sir. I have deleted your email address. You will no longer get the discount. Can I do anything else for you?”

Customer: “No, thanks. Goodbye, scam!”

I hang up the call and my colleagues roar in laughter as I tell them about the whole all.

Not five minutes later, a colleague gets a call from the same customer. The call lasts a minute or two.

Colleague: “Hey, [My Name], I just had your customer who wanted you to delete his email address. He asked if you were legitimate, I said yes, he asked if he had lost his discount, I said yes, and he asked for it to be put back on and hung up without an apology!”

Some people…

I work at a high-end restaurant. Due to how crazy the world has been over the last few years, getting staff in and staying has been a struggle. Tonight, we have three new staff on the floor, I’m stuck manning the bar (as we can’t find a trained bartender at present), and my boss is running the door and floating. No biggie, things flow great.

We have a table of twelve dining. They’re high-maintenance but well-behaved enough, but they’re being served by one of our more trained “new” staff, being a month “older” than her colleagues.

As the night rolls along, a woman from the large table pulls that particular server aside and asks to speak to the owner. My boss, unfortunately, just had to duck out early due to an emergency. Of course, this leaves me running the floor while still stuck rush-closing the bar to cover his absence.

Server: “Oh, I’m so sorry, he just left! But our manager [My Name, which is very feminine] is in the bar. I can get her if you like?”

Before the server can run and fetch me, who has no knowledge of the interaction, the woman stands from the table and walks INTO the bar. Of course, I am confused about why this woman is in my bar but want to stay professional and friendly.

Me: “Hi, is everything all right? Can I help you with something?”

She completely ignores me and brushes past me to the young male staff member I’ve just pulled off the floor to help polish a few glasses.

Customer: “Hi. You’re the manager, I presume?”

My coworker gawks in confusion and looks at me for help.

Me: “No, ma’am. I’m the manager. Is there something I can help you with?”

She turns around and stares for a moment like she’s just seen me.

Customer: “Oh! Uh, I just wanted to say… Umm, I just wanted to tell you [Server] was… very good.”

Me: “Wonderful, thank you. Yes, [Server] is amazing and absolutely one of our best. I’ll be sure to pass on your compliments to the owner. I really do appreciate the feedback.”

Customer: “Right… Yes… Thank you.”

Do I really have to be a six-foot male to manage a restaurant?

I’m a college student. To save money, I drive to a friend’s house near campus, park, and bike the rest of the way instead of paying for a park-and-ride pass that starts at a ridiculously far away location. 

Due to the traffic, student driving, and general chaos in our town near the university, it’s a given that if you bike, you will eventually get hit by a car. It all boils down to how severe the accident is. After six years of biking at least twice a week, nearly every week, I let my guard down for a moment and got hit. 

A car was pulling up to a stop sign while I was in the bike lane and, a bit annoyed at a previous encounter with a driver parked and idling in the bike lane a block back, I mentally told myself, “This guy is going to stop.” A moment later, as I was perfectly aligned with his oncoming bumper, I thought, “Aw, s***, he’s still coming.”

The next minute saw me extricating myself from my mangled bike, several onlookers running over to check on me, and the panicked driver getting out and yelling about not seeing me at all.

After doing a quick check of myself and only finding a badly gashed hand and a scraped knee, I sat up and, in a moment of shock and anger, spat the first thing that came to mind.

Me: “Dude, don’t you know what a f****** stop sign is?! God d***!”

A police report, a trip to the ER, and an insurance scuffle later, I got a nice card post-insurance claim from the driver. He apologized for running the stop and offered to pay for my bike repairs. He also included, word for word, the definition of a stop sign from Wikipedia.

I am visiting Texas and staying at a nice hotel. I’m brown and I’m an IT executive.

I order takeout from a local BBQ place, and I am going back to my hotel with my food in a large paper bag with the name of the restaurant written in large letters on the side.

There is a group of people outside the hotel, and as I approach the hotel entrance, this woman rushes over and grabs my bag of food. I yank it back.

Woman: “I’ve been waiting for this!”

It hits me that she thinks I’m her food delivery driver here with her food.

Me: *Politely* “I’m not your delivery driver, ma’am.”

Woman: *Looking confused* “Are sure? You look like one.”

At this point, I just want her to let go of my bag. A few of her guy friends come over and tell me to stop giving her a hard time and to hand over her food. I spell it out for them.

Me: “I am not your food delivery driver. This is my food. I’m a guest at this hotel.”

I yank the bag away from her, and as I enter the hotel, I see her pulling out her phone.

Woman: “I’m calling [Delivery Service] and telling them what an a**hole you are… and I want my money back!”

Go right ahead, lady. Go right ahead.

In hindsight, I was actually not upset over the whole thing but simply amused by it. Sometimes, you just have to laugh your way through an uncomfortable situation.

I’m having my lunch break, and I decide to watch a YouTube video. To not bother anyone else, I use the headset that’s connected to my work laptop. (We may use our laptops for personal use, as well.) The laptop is also used to patch through calls, but I’ve put the setting on “lunch break”. If someone wants to call me through the system, they can see that it says “lunch break”. My “public” schedule also says “lunch break”.

Suddenly, I get a call patched through. This has never happened before, and since it’s an automatic system, I get it thrown into my lap and I can’t decline it.

Me: “Eh… hello? This is [My Name]?”

Coworker: “Ah, [My Name], I have a client who wants to change their appointment. It’s [address] and—”

Me: “Whoa, whoa, one moment. You’re going way too fast. I’m sorry, but I’m on my lunch break and I’m not logged in.”

I quickly log in to look for someone who can help my coworker.

Coworker: *A bit grumpily* “Then why did you pick up?”

Me: “I didn’t. I was watching a video and the system connected us automatically. But I was set on ‘lunch break’, so…”

Coworker: “Well, I don’t know anything about that! I was told to call someone from [department].”

You can only see our numbers if you look into our call system. You see the name, a little dot that shows availability (yellow for inactive), and the availability/status: available, do not disturb, lunch, etc.

So, she first looked up our department (which has our public schedule connected to it), found my name (with my schedule), and called me, ignoring both the blocked, clearly labeled “lunch break” status and the yellow dot indicating that I was inactive. 

Me: “Eh, well, I see that [Coworker #2] is still available. You could try her or maybe send a chat message to check if she is available.”

Coworker: “Fine, fine, goodbye.”

She sounds grumpy, but she’s new and maybe the client has been unpleasant. I decide to just let it go. And, just in case, I decide to watch the video on my phone, closing my laptop. 

When I log in after the break, I find this email.

Coworker: “I don’t know who you think you are, but you were very rude to me. I was told I need to call [department] with rescheduling and that’s what I did. I didn’t know you were watching a video. How was I supposed to know you were on your lunch break? You shouldn’t have picked up the phone if you were on break.”

I forwarded the email to my manager. They talked to [Coworker] and told her that “lunch break” in both the schedule and in the call system means someone is having their lunch break.

I heard from other coworkers that [Coworker] complained that she now has to go “on an investigation” to find out if someone is “kind enough” to do their job. Since it was only hearsay, the manager couldn’t do anything about that, but he did promise to keep an eye and an ear open. 

[Coworker] is still working with us, but she hasn’t called me ever again.