(Today, my mom has stopped by my house and is watching while I tidy the kitchen. I work two jobs — one from home in the evenings — and have two preschool-aged children at home with me. My husband works long hours but his only daily household responsibility is to put the kids to bed and tidy up the kitchen after dinner.)

Me: “Sorry about the mess; [Husband] had an appointment yesterday evening and didn’t get anything done.”

Mom: “Well, why didn’t you do it?”

Me: “I was working like always.”

Mom: “You should still do it, instead.”

Me: “When?”

Mom: “I used to manage when you and your brother were little. Your dad would put you to bed and I would do the washing up and get the kitchen clean.”

Me: “Well, that’s fine for you, but I start work as soon as we finish dinner.”

Mom: “He deserves a break; you have time. I always did!”

(She didn’t work!)

Me: “What about me? Don’t I deserve a break? Should he put the kids to bed and sit and relax at 8:00, while I work until 9:30 and then get up and clean the kitchen?”

Mom: “You could do it during the day; you have time.”

Me: “What time do you think l have? I clean every other part of the house and look after my kids. I’m a mom, not a maid! It’s his only job in the house!”

(The kids distracted her at this point, but for someone who claims she believes in equality she certainly doesn’t think it applies to her own daughter.)

(The company I work for changed its refund policy back in May. We have made a point of informing every customer that purchases sale items that they now only have fourteen days to return and sale items can only be exchanged for another item or store credit. A customer comes to my till and gives me three things to return, along with the receipt.)

Me: “As one of these items is on sale, I can only exchange it or give you refund vouchers.” *item is £4*

Customer: “Why? I have my receipt; I want my money back.”

Me: “It’s company policy, as stated on your receipt.”

Customer: “But I didn’t buy them for me. I bought them for a woman I care for, so I need the money back. I don’t need to buy anything today.”

Me: “I can get you a manager? They will tell you the same thing.”

Customer: “Yes, this is ridiculous.”

(My manager tells her exactly what I tell her and she gets huffier.)

Customer: “I don’t understand why you can’t do it for me. You should be able to change the policy for things like this?”

Manager: “There is no point in having a policy if we don’t stick to it.”

Customer: “Fine.”

(My manager leaves and the customer decides to start again.)

Customer: “I don’t understand why you can’t just do this for me.”

Me: “As my manager said, it is store policy and I have no control over that.”

Customer: “Fine, I’ll take the vouchers even though they are no use to me. I was going to do lots of shopping here today, but I will never shop here again; this will lose you customers.”

Me: *in head* “You have just contradicted yourself completely, saying you have no use for the vouchers today but in the same breath saying you were going to purchase items today, whereupon you could have used them.”

(I finished the transaction with her going on and on — I think she thought if she did this I would give in and just do it for her — and she went off without a goodbye, let alone a thank-you! This is just one of many in the past few months. It can be such a joy working in retail… not!)

(I’m a cashier at a store that is known for saving more money the more you shop. Just yesterday, I had a regular come in with her WIC checks. No big deal. I love doing WIC. It’s simple, and it makes a**holes behind them go to other registers. I’m on her final check before her EBT things, waiting for the printer to finish, when a coworker goes to the register behind mine for a roll of “paid for” stickers.)

Coworker: “Hey, how are you?”

Me: “Oh, same stuff, different day.”

(I laugh and turn back to my printer. I finally finish the transaction and hand my customer the receipt. She takes her three kids and goes to bag their things. As I’m ringing up my next customer, I hear:)

Customer: “When I was a cashier, I knew when to shut the f*** up and do my d*** job.” 

(I’m holding back tears as I serve customer after customer, my retail smile hiding how much that hurt. I take pride in my work, as low as it is, and as it is I had a mild fever and a funeral to go to the day after. As they leave, I hear:)

Customer: “I can’t wait to call the d*** manager.” 

(Yeah. She never called. Screw you. See if you even get my fake smile next time.)

(I’ve just gotten out of the hospital after an unexpected heart issue and all I want in life is a salad from a famous fast food place. I know how that sounds, but priorities… I am in line behind a white SUV with my preteen daughter in the passenger seat. As we watch, the man in the SUV is leaning out his window, screaming at the worker. We hear something about not wanting cheese on his burger. He throws the burger and bag back through the window at her, and she spends the next several minutes with the window closed, presumably processing a refund for him.)

Me: “I want you to remember something, [Daughter].”

Daughter: “Don’t be that guy?” *points to the SUV*

Me: “Exactly.” *as recent hospital stay is making me emotional and profound* “There are plenty of real problems going on in the world. Save your energy for being upset at those things. No matter what happens in life, it’s never okay to be rude to anyone who is responsible for giving you food. It doesn’t matter if you’re right or they’re wrong. If you wouldn’t say it to your Grandma as you’re sitting at her table to eat dinner, don’t say it to anyone providing you any goods or services… especially food.”  

(While we are talking, the worker hands Mr. SUV back his money. This doesn’t seem to satisfy him, as he’s still screaming at her about how stupid she has to be to not be able to get him a simple burger. He throws the money back in the window at her.) 

Me: *loudly and with the window open* “And just because his grandma isn’t around right now to turn him over her knee doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t.”

(Mr. SUV swivels his head around to glare at me. I smile sweetly back at him. The worker shoves a bag at him and slams the window closed. He leaves without another word. I can see the worker is fuming red and near tears when I pull up.) 

Me: “Ma’am, I’d just like to apologize to you on behalf of the people in the world like that guy.”  

(She was clearly too upset to talk right then, so she closed the window and walked away. A few minutes later, someone else brought me a bag with my salad… and a free large fry. Case in point.)

(I work on a sales desk for a large construction stockholder; we stock basically everything you would find on a construction site from screws to forklifts, as well as some more unique items. As a lot of our work deals in bulk, we are able to give discounts for bulk purchases or customers who buy from us regularly. However, this leads to customers trying to haggle the price of everything. One day, I answer the phone to the worst customer I’ve yet dealt with.)

Me: “Good morning. [Company], this is [My Name]; how can I help?”

Customer: “Yeah, you can start by giving me some good prices.” *quickly lists five items, barely stopping between words* “So, what deal do I get with that?”

Me: “Okay, I can get you some prices. I just need to bring up your account; who am I speaking to?”

Customer: “God, talk about making this hard work! This is [Customer]. I don’t have an account with you. Is it that hard to give me a price that you need to stall?”

Me: *ignoring the rudeness* “No, I just need a company to attach the quote to, but no worries. I can put the quote on a blank account for the time being.”

(I start to go through the list, repeating back the item, the quantity, and the price.)

Customer: *interrupts* “It’s like talking to a f****** parrot! Just give me the prices!”

Me: “We repeat back the information so there is no confusion and nothing is missed. So, your last two items will be [price #1] and [price #2].”

Customer: “With my company discount? It’s [Company].”

Me: “Sorry, I thought you said you didn’t have an account with us.”

(I bring up the account; they have bought from us twice since we moved to an electronic system… nearly ten years ago.)

Me: “Right. Looking at your account, that is the best price I can do for those items.”

Customer: “That’s much too high! I will only pay [lower price], and I will not pay delivery!”

Me: “Those are the best prices I can do; however, as you are not far away, you don’t actually pay for delivery anyway.”

Customer: “Well, [Competitor] is cheaper than you, but I won’t use them because they charge for delivery.”

Me: *fed up of his rudeness but being polite* “Those are the best prices I can do. Perhaps you would like me to email you the quote and you can take some time to consider the options?”

Customer: “Well, [Competitor] is cheaper, but they don’t have any stock and no one else has, either.”

Me: “These are the best prices I can do. It seems you have a choice between waiting for stock or paying slightly more.” *literally pennies per item difference*

Customer: “Well, I will think about it.” *muttering as he hangs up* “Price gouging b****.”

(He came back to order his parts two weeks later. Most of the items he wanted had been sold out or back-ordered for months. Based on the sounds he made after I told him the happy news, he had either suffered a sudden onset case of Tourette’s syndrome or sat on a large cactus. I’m hoping for the cactus.)

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