My state has been offering what are called “packets” for students who aren’t doing well in school. It’s a form of credit recovery when they’ve been failing and still want to graduate. It’s important to note that not all classes offer packets. The packets are made by the state, not the teachers.

It’s a terrible system. The students who really need to be in class use them as a way of getting out of doing work in classes, so they treat the teachers terribly as a result. Even worse, several have used packets to get their grades up enough to go to college, only to discover they weren’t prepared with good work skills, and then flunked out. I’ve had students call me every name in the book for “not offering a packet” because neither of the classes I teach has packets. 

But this student takes the cake. 

Student: “Hey, Ms. [My Name], how can I get the packet for this class?”

Me: “[Student], I’m sorry but there isn’t a packet for this class.”

Student: “No, seriously, where’s the packet?”

Me: “There isn’t one.”

Student: “This isn’t funny anymore.”

Me: “You’re right. It isn’t funny. There’s no packet for this class. You need to come in and actually do the work.”

Student: “I’ll ask the counseling office.”

Me: “They’re going to tell you the same thing I’ve told you. There’s no packet, and there’s no summer school for this class.”

Well, the student does, in fact, go to the counseling office and ask for a packet. They tell them the same thing I do: there’s no packet for this class. 

The student emails me.

Student: “Hey, Ms. [My Name], I know there’s no packet for your class yet, but when will you be making one? Because I want it.”

Me: “I don’t make the packets; the state makes the packets. There is no packet for this class.”

Student: “Okay, but can you make one?”

Me: “No. That’s not legal. Only the state can make packets.”

Student: “So, what can I do to get a packet?”

Me: “[Student], this is the last time I will entertain this conversation. There are NO packets for this class. There will not be packets for this class in the near future. The state isn’t offering a packet. I am not offering a packet. If you ask me about the packets again, I will not answer. You have your answer. No packets. I don’t want to hear the word ‘packet’ from you ever again. If you do, I will start making memes about you asking about packets and posting them to the classroom page. They will name you.”

Student: “…are you sure there’s no packet?”

The memes have been hilarious.

I work for a grocery store chain that is mostly run as a franchise system. There are some stores that are owned directly by corporate, but most are owned by individual businesspeople. All of them have the name of the corporation above the door.

One evening, the phone rings and I answer it.

Customer: “I have just been shopping at your store, and somebody has hit my car in the parking lot. Can I see your video surveillance of that?”

Me: “I’m very sorry about that, but we only have cameras inside the store, as we don’t have a— Ah, where exactly did you park?”

Customer: “Right outside in your parking lot.”

Me: “That’s weird because we do not have a parking lot.”

We are located in a pedestrian zone, and while we are at the corner of two crossing streets, there’s no non-commercial traffic allowed there, and there certainly are no public parking spots nearby.

Me: “Could you maybe have us confused with another location?”

Customer: “No, no, no! I’ve just been shopping at your store: [Our Street], [Different House Number], [Different Post Code], [City approximately 500km south of us].”

It seems as if he’s reading it off of a search engine or his receipt.

Me: “Sir, we’re in [Our Town].”

Customer: “It was on [Our Street], and I was in your parking lot.”

Me: “Sir, we’re not in [City]; we’re in [Our Town]. That is not us.”

Customer: “Then give me their phone number!”

No “please”, no “could you”, and no “sorry” — of course.

Me: “I’m sorry, I don’t have that. That’s a completely separate store that’s not affiliated with u—”

Customer: “Well, thanks for nothing!” *Click*

Seriously, have people become so accustomed to cell phone numbers that they don’t recognize area codes anymore? Just from looking at that, he should have known that we were not the location he was looking for. And if he had the receipt or Google, both could have told him the correct number.

It’s getting close to closing time at the visitor center. A family of four walks in. I do my usual cheery greeting.

Me: “Just to let you know, we’re closing in only three minutes.”

There’s not a single acknowledgment from the family. Our visitor center isn’t very large, and I am only about ten feet from them, so I know they’ve heard me. I watch them for those three minutes and notice they are speaking English, so it doesn’t seem to be a language barrier.

At closing time, I announce to everyone that we are now closed but will reopen at 8:00 am. Everyone thanks me and leaves except for the family of four. Once again, they do not acknowledge me at all. I just go about my closing procedures: closing the blinds, locking doors, turning off the park film, and partially shutting the gate for the gift shop.

I then remind them again that we’re closed.

Again, no acknowledgment.

Finally, ten minutes past close, the kids come up with cash to buy things.

Me: “I’ve already closed down the register and I can no longer accept cash, but I can do a credit card transaction.”

They put the stuff down and went to tell their parents what I said. The family finally left, the mother yelling at me the entire way out telling me how rude I was. I just laughed and shook my head in disbelief.

Related:
Not So Closed Minded, Part 33
Not So Closed Minded, Part 32
Not So Closed Minded, Part 31
Not So Closed Minded, Part 30
Not So Closed Minded, Part 29

When my wife was the county clerk, our school district was having a vote on a bond issue. The school board wanted to do a mail ballot.

My wife had the ballots printed and the envelopes printed to mail out the ballots to district-registered voters. The envelope included a stamped message that the mailed envelope was not to be forwarded. She began to mail the ballots by placing them in trays provided by our post office. She would take each tray, five in total, throughout the day and hand it to the postal clerk.

After the first tray was taken and they brought [Wife] the second tray, she was approached by the postmaster and told that, by regulations, the stamped message was in the wrong place and the wording was incorrect.

Postmaster: “We’ll go ahead and send out those in these two trays, but any more will have to be correct according to regulations.”

[Wife] had all the rest of the envelopes reprinted and brought to the post office.

About a week later, she started getting ballot envelopes she had mailed out the week before returned, stamped by the post office as unable to forward.

[Wife] took these to the postmaster and asked why they were stamped “unable to forward” after he’d made such an issue out of the placement and wording.

Postmaster: “I thought the vote was important and wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to vote.”

Wife: “If the voter no longer lives at the address on the envelope, then that person is not a properly registered voter and should not be given a ballot. That is why the stamp was put on in the first place. It is a federal voting law. Now, because you ignored the stamp, we have no idea how many people should not have been given a ballot and voted with it. I will file a formal complaint against you for what you have done and notify the school board of your actions.”

Another case of people ignoring signs.

A customer comes in one night.

Customer: “I want $20 on pump ten.”

I make a quick glance outside and see there was a car there, before ringing him up and moving on to the next customer. A moment later I hear the call alarm. This happens when anyone lifts the pump handle, mostly when someone can’t follow instructions and attempts to lift the pump handle before using their card, but also if you lift the pump handle on a pump that you haven’t prepaid on.

Because I don’t feel like making my drawer short, I never assume. It’s one thing if a customer tells me the wrong pump number, and someone else gets their gas, and quite another if I assume the customer gave me the wrong pump number, change the pump, and it turns out I guessed wrong. I just wait for the person to come back in – usually realizing their mistake, and then transfer it over to the pump they tell me.

Oh, but not this guy… no. He storms back in exclaiming angrily:

Customer: “Why can’t I get gas?!”

Me: “Well, are you at pump ten like you told me you were?”

Customer: “I don’t know! I saw the number ten and I thought that’s where I was!”

Me: “Sir, please look outside, and tell me the number on the pole, on the side your vehicle is on.”

There’s a pole behind each pump unit, that has a pair of red metal signs with numbers attached to them. The number to the left corresponds to the side of the pump to the left, and so on.

Customer: *Finally looking.* “Uh… eleven.”

Me: “Okay, are you sure?”

Customer: “Yes!”

Me: *Transfers prepay.* “Okay, you’re all set; have a good one!”

Was I being condescending as his complaint to corporate claimed? Sure, I was. But if you’re going to come back in, acting like your f***-up is my fault, and need that much hand-holding to let me fix it, you kinda deserve it.