(I am a student who works in a pub part-time, while helping to run events for a student club which we book out a different pub for. All the club’s events are free and anyone can come along, so it’s different people every time, and all of us organising are volunteers. This week we’re showing a film. Two guys I’ve never seen before arrive and decide to put their drinks down on the edge of a half folded-up ping pong table that’s in the corner. There are many other tables around which they could have used. The owners of the pub have put it in the corner because it has broken and mentioned it in passing to those of us who were there early, but these two seemingly aren’t aware. I walk past the table just as the drinks are collapsing; the two pints fall to the floor and go everywhere.)

Me: “Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry; I didn’t realise anyone had put drinks there!”

Jerk #1: *angrily* “What the h***?! That was a full pint!”

Jerk #2: “What the f***?!”

Me: “Yeah, I think the table was broken. Sorry, I didn’t see you put drinks there. I’m just going to go get something to clear this up.”

(I go to the bar and say what happened, and they give me a bucket and mop and apologise for not talking to the other two about the table being broken. I talk to the other person running the event with me and we decide that once the drinks are cleared up we’ll buy them new ones out of our limited funds, as it wasn’t really anyone’s fault but we want to be nice. I go over and set the mop and bucket up and the two guys come over looking angry. They keep muttering to each other angrily about their drinks still. The bar gives us subsidised prices and these are very cheap drinks; we’re talking £1.90ish a pint.)

Me: *to the jerks* “Yeah, sorry, the bar staff said that the table was broken; that’s why it was in the corner. It must’ve just collapsed when your drinks were put on it.”

(They don’t respond, so I just start mopping up the spilt beer and squeezing it into the bucket.)

Jerk #1: “Oh, my God, she can’t even clean up properly!”

Jerk #2: “F****** h***!”

Me: *looks up at them with an eyebrow raised*

Jerk #2: *condescendingly* “You know that’s not how you mop, right?”

Jerk #1: *also condescendingly* “Yeah, you’re meant to get the water from the bucket with the mop and use that for the mess.”

Me: “Well, it makes sense to remove all the excess liquid first; then I’ll clean it properly afterward.”

Jerk #1: “No, you clean it with the soapy water, not just mix the beer around on the floor.”

Me: “That is not what I’m doing; I’m soaking it up first rather than adding more liquid and then I will clean it with soapy water afterward.”

Jerk #1: “Mopping isn’t that hard to work out; you use the soapy water and the mop to clean, not the beer.”

Me: “I literally work in a bar and do this all the time. If there’s a lot of split liquid, it makes sense to clear that up before cleaning the floor.”

(I finish mopping up the beer into one bucket, and then I start using clean water from another to clean the floor. They keep muttering and laughing to each other about how “stupid” I am while just standing there watching me.)

Me: “Do you want to do it, then? It’s not like this was my fault. I’m just cleaning it to be nice.”

(They continued laughing and walked away. The other organiser and I decided not to buy them replacement drinks after all, but he did get me a much-needed drink. The two guys continued being rude and muttering throughout the film and annoying everyone else there, but thankfully, they never came back.)

(I’m working at a popular chicken restaurant taking orders on an iPad in the drive-thru. It’s been a long day and I’m pretty tired, so I’m not as upbeat as I normally am when talking to the guests. I go up to the next car to take their order and I can tell that she’s not in a good mood. As I’m taking her order and asking questions like I’m supposed to, she keeps giving me looks like I’m so stupid for not knowing this. However, I almost make it through without anything happening, until this:)

Me: “And does that complete your order, ma’am?”

Customer: “Why are you yelling at me? I’m right here.”

Me: *confused* “Uh, I’m sorry, ma’am, this is just my normal speaking voice.”

Customer: “Ugh, so you’re gonna keep doing that, then?”

Me: *totally flabbergasted and I have no idea what to say to this* “Um, again, I’m sorry about that; I’ll try to talk quieter now. Anyway, your total is [total] and you can pay for that at the red umbrella around the corner.”

(She drove off, but I knew it wasn’t over because she was exactly the type that would speak to a manager about something like that. Sure enough, about seven minutes later, my manager walked out to talk to me in between orders! I didn’t get in trouble or anything like that; my manager was also really confused but just figured she should bring it up to me, I guess. My guess is that the customer was having a really bad day, but that’s still such a weird thing to pick on!)

(I am a barista at a coffee chain. It is 7:58 and I close at 8:00. I am alone and it’s been quite slow. A woman runs up to the counter.)

Me: “Hello, ma’am, I’m actually close—”

Customer: “No, you’re not. You’re open for another—” *glances at her phone for the time* “—two minutes.”

(She then proceeded to order eight drinks.)

(I’m working the register when an older woman comes up to order. She immediately slams down a piece of paper on the counter and I assume it’s a big order she has written down.)

Customer: “Can you read this?!”

(I glance at the note and it’s written in cursive. I sigh as not only do I not have my glasses on but it’s even harder to read cursive without them on. I get my coworker to read it and it says, “I want a small cheese steak with marinara sauce. ABSOLUTELY NO ONIONS! I’m very allergic so clean your grill and spatula!” I start to ring her up.)

Customer: “What kind of person can’t read cursive?!”

Me: “Sorry, I don’t have my glasses on.”

(The customer just rolls her eyes and stands to the side staring at us the whole time. We soon finish making her sandwich after cleaning both the grill and spatula, and then we realize our marinara sauce already has onions in it so I explain this to her.)

Me: “Miss, I’m sorry but our marinara sauce already has onions in it; did you want extra cheese or mushrooms, instead?”

Customer: “Oh, no, that’s fine. I’ll be fine. I’ve had it before.”

(We then hand her her sandwich while my coworker and I just kind of shake our heads.)

Coworker: “This is why people don’t take food allergies seriously.”

(I work at a grocery store where you can shop online and come pick up your groceries.)

Customer: *in the drive-thru* “Hi, can I pick up in an hour?”

Coworker: “Did you place an order?”

Customer: “Yes, I just placed it while I was waiting. It’s for 8:30 pm, but can I pick it up in an hour?”

(It is 4:00 pm and she literally placed the order in the drive-thru.)

Coworker: “Sorry, but there are seventeen orders ahead of yours. We won’t be able to get it done in an hour.”

Customer: *losing her cool* “Let me talk to your manager!”

Manager: *tells her the exact same thing*

Customer: *refusing to accept that the world doesn’t revolve around her* “Give me a superior! I don’t want a low-level manager!”

(Not sure what happened after that, but she called later and promptly lost her s*** again over the phone, so…)