“Washing Away the Generation Gap”

This was back in my twenties, I’m in a theater’s restroom, going to wash my hands. A movie had just ended, so the restroom was packed and loud with guys talking, water running, toilets flushing, paper towel dispensers whirring, and hand dryers going off. It’s almost chaos with how busy it is.

There’s a man, probably in his seventies, two sinks to my right. He had soap already in his hands, as he side-stepped to the sink next to me.

I start washing my hands, and see the gentleman stick his hands under the water nozzle, but nothing happens. I notice he looks left at the sink I’m using, and seems frustrated seeing the sink to the right (the one he just walked away from) now working.

He shoves his hands under the water nozzle once more, but the water still won’t come out.

I wait a few beats for him to figure it out, as I don’t want to make him feel foolish…

Without a word, I reach my hand over, and turn the large handle for the water on.

The man immediately guffaws, and blushing furiously, “I can’t believe it! I’m so used to those automatic sinks!”

We both had a good laugh, especially when he pointed out that he’ll use the paper towels instead automatic hand dryers!

(I answer the phone)

Me: Thanks for calling (store) my name is (name) how can I help you?

Caller: You guys buy Pokemon cards?

Me: Yes we do. How many were you looking to sell as our Pokemon buyer isn’t here on Mondays.

Caller: Oh for how much?

Me: Well it depends on the card and the condition.

Caller: Will you buy an unopened booster box?

(Pokemon cards come in multiple different packages. A booster box is 36 packs with 10 cards in each pack. The store sells both the booster boxes and the packs themselves but we have our own distributor. I try to explain this.)

Me: Well no sorry we only buy singles we don’t buy booster boxes.

Caller: What do you mean you don’t buy booster boxes it’s sealed!!!

Me: No sorry we have our own distributor of this product.

Caller: What you don’t buy sealed product???

Me: …No we do not as we get it from our own distributor. If you were to open the box and get good cards we would be able to buy them from you but we don’t buy unopened sealed product we get it from our distributor.

(Caller hangs up huffing. Yeah I know I sounded bad but what was I supposed to do the guy sounded really annoyed)

(I answer phones and greet customers at a small business. I go on lunch about 12:45pm on a Tuesday. It’s a pretty slow day, and I let everyone know I’m going on lunch. I unpack all my stuff in the back, begin to eat, and of course the phone rings at 12:50. It rings twice, and I assume someone else has picked it up. I finish my lunch and go back to my desk only to discover I have a voicemail. It’s from an older gentleman, and he’s speaking very slowly; in fact I was about to delete the voicemail because of the dead air in front of the message. He’s kind of hard to make out.)

Caller: Yah, hi, I am (name) and I’m looking to place an order with you guys…our email is acting up and we can’t get an email out to you…if you could call me back at (number)…I’m looking to place a purchase order with you as soon as possible, my name is (name) and if you could call me back at (number) because our email is acting up and we need to place his purchase order…thank you… (hangs up)

(Something’s weird. I Google the number he provided, to discover it’s in a totally different state, as it’s a different area code, but it’s for a legitimate business. So this isn’t a scam or anything. I Google *our* office number with *that* area code – because I figure he hit a 4 instead of a 1 – and I discover that, what do you know, it’s another legitimate business, but it’s in his state. I call the number the gentleman provided, and am connected to another gentle, this one much younger.)

Man: Hello, thank you for calling (business), how may I help you?

Me: Good afternoon, we received a voicemail from you a few minutes ago about placing a purchase order? I believe you dialed the wrong number –

Man: Oh, yes, that was Mr. (name), we apologize but our email isn’t working today, we were looking to order from you as soon as we could –

Me: Yes, I understand, however, I believe you dialed the wrong number, as you’ve reached (business), not whomever you were trying to call. Forgive me, but it was hard to make out.

Man: *puzzled, but still not understanding* Yes, but we called to place a purchase order with you…

Me: Um, unless you’re calling about an order from (city, state) I think you want the (their area code), not (our area code).

Man: Oh…OH! OH!!! *laughing* Okay, I see the problem. I’ll let him know, thank you. Have a good day.

(I hope they got their order…)

(I and my family dined at a popular Australlian stake house. In the car my dad tells us about the interaction between a waitress and a group of costumers in the booth behind us. They were rude and loud and made a lot of comments about the quality of the food. The one he could remeber the most was about the stake )

Costumer: *yells angrily to waitress* Can you come here ma´am!?
Waitress : What do you need ?
Costumer: * Jabs fork into steak and brings it up to her face preceding to bark at her * DOES THIS LOOK LIKE MEDIUM RARE!?
Waitress: ¨…¨
Costumer: This is NOT medium rare! Please bring me a new steak immediately! *sighs*
* Waitress runs off to kitchen *
(She comes back a few minutes later with new stake)
Costumer: Now thats better!
Waitress: I´m sorry about the food!
Costumer #2: There is too much butter on this!
(There were about two or three couples at the table and most of them,if not all, start complaining about something.The waitress is flustered and walks quickly away. On the way out, my dad said he was tempted to apologize to the waitress and tip her,but held back. After hearing this in the car, we all sat there in silence for a few seconds when he tells us this, and we then start commenting about how they shouldn´t complain n because it is a fancy establishment and they would be wasting money on food that they wanted to critize and not eat.Moral: Do not go to a restaurant where you think or know the food won´t be to your liking.Choose somewhere where you can´t complain.

I’m a student worker at my university’s mailroom. Our policy is that a physical ID must be shown before students receive their mail. No exceptions. This is posted, by the way.

Me: *To a student* “May I see your ID?”

Student: “I don’t have it.”

Me: “I’m sorry, I can’t give you your mail without ID.”

I move on to help someone else, and when I turn around my male coworker is handing her her package and she’s looking smug. She leaves.

Me: “Did she show you her ID?”

Coworker: “Yeah.”

Me: “She wouldn’t show it to me.”

Coworker: *Visibly shocked* “What? Why?”

Methinks she just wanted to get her package from the cute foreign guy rather than the dorky girl in Crocs. Whatever, kid.

Related:
Has ID, Still No Idea