A coworker is clearing a table and looks at the check they left behind. She has a puzzled look on her face.

Me: “Everything okay?”

Coworker: “They didn’t tip.”

Me: “Oh, I’m sorry.”

Coworker: “They wrote a note instead.”

She shows me a long-a** note that started on the tip line and continued on the back:

Customer’s Note: “We wanted to tip you, but we saw you take a break and use the restroom. Back in our day, it was understood that the staff really shouldn’t be seen doing that by the customers. It ruined the ambiance of our dinner. Think about that next time and plan your timing around relieving yourself better.”

Me: “Boomers, man. They have this weird generational aversion to service workers having human needs.”

My coworker shrugged it off and added the check to our “board of shame,” which is sadly getting very full.

This story happened a number of years ago, so the actual conversation is an approximation of what was said. 

I went into a pizza place, which was part of a group of businesses, restaurants, etc., owned by the same family. When I went in, there was an adult man standing at the counter ordering, and a girl, maybe twelve years old, standing a little further back. I assumed the girl and the man at the counter were together, so when the staff member (who I later learned was the owner) called me over, I stepped up and started to order.

Girl: *Tentatively.* “Uh, I was next…?”

Me: “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry! I thought you were with him.” *Gesturing at the other customer.* “Please, go ahead.”

I stepped back from the counter and motioned her to go ahead, and the owner got a sneering look on his face.

Owner: “Don’t worry about her, she can wait. What do you want?”

Me: “Um, no. She’s already been waiting; it’s her turn now. I can wait a few minutes.”

Girl: “Can I get a large pepperoni, please?”

Owner: *Sighs like it’s a massive inconvenience to serve a customer.* “Fine. But you should really let adults go first; you don’t need pizza that badly.”

The girl pays as he’s saying this, and he disappears into the back before either of us can say anything in return. While we’re waiting for him to come back, the other customer leaves with his pizza, and the girl’s mother comes in. The girl tells her what happened.

Me: *To the mother.* “I really am sorry. She was standing quietly towards the back, and I genuinely thought she’d already ordered. The staff member was not particularly kind about it, though.”

Mother: “Thank you for standing up for her. I’m going to have a word with him when he gets back.”

The owner returns with the girl’s pizza, still sneering, and kind of shoves it across the counter at her.

Owner: “Here’s your pizza. Next time, you let adults go first and wait until I call you.”

Mother: “There won’t be a next time if this is how you treat my child when I’m not here. She was waiting her turn politely, this guy—” *Gesturing to me.* “—just made a mistake and he apologised for it. You don’t tell my kid to wait longer just because you care more about adults!”

The owner and mother argue for a bit, and I exchange uncomfortable looks with the girl. Eventually, they leave, and the owner tells me my pizza is ready even though I didn’t get as far as paying for it. I hand him the money, and he offers to give me a can of drink for free to “make up for them” with a nasty tone of voice, clearly implying the girl and her mother were the problem.

Me: “No thanks, I don’t want anything free from someone who talks like that to kids. She did nothing wrong, and you were cruel to her for no reason. I’m paying for this pizza now because it’s already ready, but I’m also going to call your boss to ask if it’s store policy to make kids wait longer and argue with their parents over it.”

Owner: “Ha! Good luck, I am the owner, so there’s no one you can complain to.”

Me: “In that case, you just lost three customers, myself, and those two, and I will be letting everyone I know in this area how you treat people.”

I wish there were some satisfying ending to this where the pizza place went out of business because everyone banded together, but there isn’t. A handful of people I know said they don’t go there anymore, and the pizza place certainly looks a bit emptier than it used to, but when your family owns half of the businesses in the area, I guess they can bail you out as much as you need, no matter how rude you are to kids.

One of our coffee brewers got stuck in a cleaning cycle (not actively dispersing the cleaner, but we couldn’t drain it). We couldn’t move it because of how it was installed, so while we waited for the maintenance tech to get there, we covered it with a big bag, used three “out of order” signs, and used the plastic lock thing to stop people from pouring from the pot.

Later that day, a customer walks up to me and says in a monotone:

Customer: “The coffee is blue.”

I look over at the coffee machine and see that she broke the lock and used her keys to cut the bag open to get to the pot.

Me: *Sighs.* “That one is messed up. There are other coffee machines you could have used.”

Customer: *Now getting mad.* “You could have told me!”

Me: “Ma’am. Let’s be real here. You had to cut through a heavy-duty trash bag and break a lock to get to it. How was that not a warning?”

Customer: “Well then, you should have stopped me!”

She throws her blue coffee to the ground and storms out. Man, coffee addiction makes people feral.

I’m outside the back of the restaurant on my break. I’m sitting on a milk crate, smoking a cigarette. A very old woman has pulled into the back lot (even though the front lot is less than half full) and starts walking past me.

Customer: *Snooty tone.* “Does your boss know you’re sitting on the job?”

Me: “Does your minder know you’ve gotten away again?”

Customer: *Clutch pearls.* “You can’t talk to a customer like that!”

Me: “Customer parking is round the front, and I’m off the clock.”

She majorly “harrumphed” and walked around out front. She complained to a manager, who told me about her, but since I worked in the back and never dealt with customers, we never spoke of it again.

I’m folding up some clothes in the clothing store where I work. I’ve finished, so I turn to a coworker and say triumphantly:

Me: “I finished!”

At that moment, a customer standing nearby literally pushes a pile of folded sweaters onto the floor.

Customer: *Pointing at the messy pile on the floor.* “You’re still open for another half hour, so I’ve given you something to do. Can’t have you just sitting around doing nothing!” *Walks away.*

Coworker: “The more people I meet, the more I love my cat.”