I worked away from home for a few years as a self-employed business consultant because there wasn’t much work in my field near my hometown. Unfortunately, my wife suddenly became quite ill one year, and whilst her parents were really helpful, I was desperate to find work that would mean I was able to go home to her each night. 

I eventually found work for a consultancy who told me that they were developing a satellite office in my region, which initially sounded really promising, but ended up being one of the worst professional experiences of my life.

In the nine months that I worked there, my boss changed three times. When [Boss #1] left, we lost our main contract. It turned out that nobody had been doing any business development when they were on a full-time secondment, so when they left, there was suddenly no work for me or my team. This led to a lot of nonsense which, in retrospect, was almost certainly them trying to get me to quit, but like I said, I was desperate so I put up with it. This particular story is about a meeting with [Boss #2] a day before [Boss #3] started, in response to my asking if I passed my six-month probation — and hence would be a bit more difficult to fire or let go.

Boss #2: “[My Name], I have reviewed the probation objectives [Boss #1] set you with the Head of the Department (HOD) and we don’t agree that they were appropriate.”

Me: “What do you mean? These were all agreed on at the time and formally submitted. I’m pretty sure the HOD even signed off on them.”

Boss #2: “HOD says he’s never seen them. So, we have set you four new objectives. Here they are: [list]. As I’m sure you’d agree, you haven’t achieved any of these objectives, so we can’t pass your probation. HOD is particularly disappointed that you haven’t done more business development.”

Me: “Wait, what? Out of six objectives, you have changed four, and since my probation is up tomorrow, you’ve pre-emptively failed me by giving me less than a day to complete them? How is that fair?”

Boss #2: “I didn’t say you had failed them.”

Me: “What do you mean? You just told me that I failed them.”

Boss #2: “Oh, no, you haven’t failed. You just need longer to achieve them, so we’re extending your probation by another two months. Don’t worry. Most of the people in the team had their probation extended.”

Me: “And you honestly don’t think that’s a problem? Surely if almost everyone needs their probation extended, that suggests that there is an issue with the whole system?”

Boss #2: *After some silence* “Anyway, Human Resources will be in touch with the papers to confirm your probation extension. Please make sure you agree on the new objectives with [Boss #3] when they start tomorrow.”

Almost as soon as [Boss #3] started, we had a meeting to go over how angry I was about all of this, but they basically talked me into taking it on the chin and promised that they would pass me after the two months. In fairness, they did, but at that point, I pretty much went straight into garden leave because the business initiated processes to make my role redundant.

I am the office manager of a transport company that specialises in moving large and quite often expensive items around the world. I’m grocery shopping on a Sunday afternoon when a client stands in front of my trolley, preventing me from moving.

Client: “Hey, [My Name], I just bought [expensive car] from the states.”

Me: “Umm… okay.”

Client: “So, how much will it cost?”

Me: “I’m sorry?”

Client: “I need to know how much it will cost me to get it brought over here.”

Me: “Oh, you’ll have to call or come into the office tomorrow.”

Client: “Look, b****, do your f****** job and tell me how much it will cost.”

Me: “Look, I can’t tell you right now as there are several factors that determine the cost. I can’t do that unless I’m in the office. You need to call or come in during business hours.”

Client: “What f****** use are you if you can’t do your job? Just tell me how much it will cost or I’ll have you fired.”

I ignore him, turn around, and continue on with my shopping, all while he’s yelling that I need to do my job. A manager tells him that he needs to stop yelling and leave the store. He’s escorted out by security, still yelling that he’ll have us all fired.

The next morning when I arrive at work, he’s already waiting.

Client: “You stupid b****. You embarrassed me yesterday. I’m going to sue you and make sure you’re fired.”

My boss — the owner of the company — has just arrived and walked up behind him.

Boss: “Is there a problem here, Mr. [Client]?”

Client: “Yes, this stupid b**** wouldn’t tell me how much it would be to get my new car brought over. I want her fired right now!”

Boss: “I’m sorry to hear that. Can I ask when this happened? That way I can review the security tapes.”

Client: “Yesterday. I’ve never been treated so poorly in my life. You need to fire her immediately.”

Boss: “Yesterday? The office wasn’t open yesterday. Are you sure it was yesterday?”

Client: *Rolling his eyes* “Of course, it was yesterday. Now, fire this stupid b****.”

Boss: “I’m sorry, but it couldn’t have been yesterday. I think you need to leave.”

Client: *Turning to me* “F*** you, b****. First, you get me kicked out of [Supermarket], and now here. I’m a lawyer, you know. I’m going to sue you.”

Boss: “Wait a minute. This happened yesterday at [Supermarket]?”

Client: “Yes! God, are you stupid like her?”

Boss: “Let me get this straight. You approached my employee during her time off to answer a question that she needs to be in her office to answer, and you want her fired for not answering?”

Client: “Yes. How hard is it to understand?”

Boss: “Okay, let me ask you something. If you’re out for dinner and a client interrupts you and asks you for legal advice, will you give it to them?”

Client: “Of course not. That’s just rude.”

Boss: “So, it’s rude for someone to ask you something outside of work, but you can harass her and obviously make a scene when she literally can’t answer you without being in her office?”

Client: *Turning red* “It’s completely different. She needs to do her job. I want her fired. She embarrassed me.”

Boss: “You embarrassed yourself. You need to leave. [Company] will no longer work with you.”

Client: “You can’t do that. I need [expensive car] brought over from America. If you don’t do it, I’ll sue and bankrupt this company.”

Boss: “You need to leave. You are no longer welcome here. If you don’t, I’ll have you removed and we’ll sue for harassment. Now get off my property.”

He finally left after turning several interesting shades of red.

Me: “Thank you for calling [Hotel] in [City]. This is [My Name]; how can I help you?

Guy: “Hey, I’m going through a divorce right now and have been staying there a lot. I want the cheapest room that you can get me for the next two nights, but I will probably end up staying for about a month.”

Me: “Okay. What is the name that you have stayed under in the past?”

He tells me.

Me: “All right. I have your profile pulled up here. With your rewards, membership you should qualify for a discount that will bring the rate down to $88 before tax, about $101 after tax per night.”

Guest: “I’ve always paid $70 when I’ve stayed there in the past. I know you can do lower.”

Me: “All right, give me a second to check on something.”

I search for past reservations under his profile for the past three years and go through the prices on each.

Me: “It looks like the lowest rate we’ve given you in the past three years was when you stayed with us from [date #1] to [date #2], and the rate we gave you then was $85 dollars before tax, $96 after tax.”

Guest: “Well, I’m going through a divorce and I have paid more than I should have to qualify for a bigger discount. Give me the best possible rate you can.”

Me: “The lowest I can go would be the $84.96 rate that we gave you last time.”

Guest: “Okay, fine. I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.”

I get that you’re PROBABLY going through a divorce right now, but don’t just straight-up lie to me about the rate that we have given you in the past when I can literally just take a minute to look it up. I’m less willing to work with people who demand rates and lie to me.

We offered a free complimentary service with the ownership of a product, but the sponsoring provider of this service has cut their contract with our company, resulting in us having to discontinue the free service. Most of our customers understand this and move on, especially since it was free service anyway. And then there is this caller:

Caller: *Irate.* “I demand that you get in touch with the sponsoring company and demand that they reinstate their contract with you!”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but–”

Caller: “And then I want the CEO or an executive to personally call me back!”

Me: “I can’t do that, sir.”

Caller: “Then how do you intend to provide a substitute service? You need to force the sponsoring company back into a contract!”

He then later called back threatened to sue the company for “false advertising” and even left the name of the attorney that we should be expecting to be contacted by.

I work at a tourist attraction that my parents own. It requires booking, and this lady comes up to my entrance booth with a group of around fifteen people. We are almost fully booked; we have seven spaces. I know the woman because she lives close to the tourist attraction and I sometimes see her around the place. 

Me: “Hi, welcome to [Tourist Attraction]! Can I see your booking confirmation email, please?”

Customer: “What booking?”

Me: “Did you book online before coming?”

Customer: “Book? Why would I ever need to book?”

Me: “Because of the health crisis, we need to operate on reduced capacity, so we’re using a booking system to ensure our numbers remain below our 30% capacity.”

Customer: “I run a business and we aren’t doing any of that. Can’t you just let me in?”

Me: “I’m afraid we can’t let anyone in without a booking, and particularly not such a large group.”

Customer: “Don’t you know who I am?”

Me: “I know who you are, [Customer].”

Customer: “Then you will know that I know [Owner] very well. Can’t you get [Owner]? He’ll let me in.”

Me: “He’s actually not here right now, but I can get the manager.”

The customer nods, so I call my manager over. 

Manager: “Oh, hi, [Customer]. How can I help you?”

Customer: “This lady here was just telling me that I couldn’t come in without a booking?”

Manager: “Yes, that’s completely right.”

Customer: “But you know me!”

Manager: “I’m sorry, but I can’t make an exception for you. We’re in the middle of a health crisis.”

Customer: “Don’t you have any spaces?”

Manager: “We have seven spaces.”

Customer: “Aha!” *Turns to me* “See? I told you she’d let us in!”

Me: “We have seven spaces, but there are clearly more than seven of you.”

Customer: “But we have seven adults, and the children don’t count, right?”

Manager: “The children still count as people.”

Customer: “Ugh. So if seven of us come in now, the rest of us can come in this afternoon on the same tickets.”

Manager: “No. You’d need to pay again, but we’re fully booked this afternoon.”

Customer: “I’m not coming in, then.”

Neither my manager nor I react to this.

Customer: “And I’m going to report you to [Owner].”

Manager: “Go ahead. I’m his wife.”

Me: “I’m his daughter.”

She grunted in frustration and stormed off. My mum and I just looked at each other and shrugged.