(I am 16 and working part-time at a local petrol station. I have been training up a new girl over the past week. A man that I know well comes in to buy petrol and several other things.)

Me: “Hey!”

Customer: “Hi, sweetheart. Pump four, and can I get a 20-pack of [cigarettes], please?”

(I turn around to grab the cigarettes, and hear the new girl scoff.)

New Girl: “‘Sweetheart’? Are you going to take that, [My Name]?

(I ignore her and put the cigarettes and petrol through the register. The man pays and leaves.)

New Girl: “Why didn’t you emasculate him like you did that drunk last night?”

Me: “Look, it’s fine. He’s—”

New Girl: “It is not fine!“

(She heads into the back and comes back with the owner a couple of minutes later.)

Owner: “[My Name], [New Girl] said you were being accosted by a pervert? I thought you knew better than to let them get away with it.”

Me: *losing my patience* “Look, it’s fine. He just called me ‘sweetheart’—”

New Girl: “And that’s sexist. It’s disgusting and misogynistic, and he was looking at you with lust in his eyes!”

Me: “I can assure you he wasn’t doing anything of the sort. He’s—”

New Girl: “Oh, really. How come?”

Me: “Well, if you hadn’t interrupted me for the third time, you would already know that he is my dad.”

(The new girl blushed, and the owner told her to go on her lunch break. She has since been considerably less forthcoming with her opinions.)

(I am sixteen, and I work at one of those seasonal, pop-up Halloween stores. Late in October we aren’t allowed to accept any returns, due to the store closing soon.)

Customer: “Hi, I’m making a return.”

Me: “Sorry, ma’am, but we’re not allowed to do any right now.”

Customer: “Well, I need to return this, so I am.”

Me: “Again, I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to take any returns. The store is closing soon, anyway; it’s our policy.”

Customer: “Well, I AM.”

(We go back and forth like this for several minutes, holding up the line of customers forming behind her. She counters every argument with, “Well, I AM.”)

Me: “Let me get my manager.”

(My manager then comes and tells her the same thing, that since the store is closing in two weeks we’re not allowed to take back any previous purchases unless they are from the past three days, which hers is not.)

Customer: “Well, no one told me!” *she leaves in a huff*

(Did she expect us to call every customer who’d ever made a purchase there to remind them of the giant sign we had in the window that said, “NO RETURNS PAST [DATE]”? I hope her $4 bottle of fake blood was worth all the trouble. She also came in a few days later, since her daughter wanted something. She kept her head down the whole time and wouldn’t make eye contact with me.)

(My teacher momentarily leaves the classroom during a book reading and as expected, the class descends into child-anarchy for five minutes. Just conversations about TV shows and whatnot, but one boy sitting next to me is reenacting a scene, instead. He is yelling all the lines exaggeratedly, and even laughs in the place of the laugh-track used in sitcoms. I am not very social and don’t feel a need to talk to anyone purely because the teacher is absent for a few minutes. I am actually trying to finish the story we have been reading, but the boy next to me is making it impossible. While mustering the courage to ask him to quiet down, I am debating whether to ask politely or try and assert dominance: “Can you be quiet?” or “Just shut up!” What comes out instead is:)

Me: “Can you just quuck up?!”

(The surrounding kids that heard me went silent before bursting out into even louder laughter.)

Loud Boy: *laughs* “Sure, I can quack up! QUACK QUACK QUACK!”

(I groaned in shame and put my head down until the teacher came back. The next month was spent with me feeling humiliated while being taunted with “quack” jokes for my word fumble. Like other moments during that age, it was either quickly forgotten about or turned into a fond memory I learned to laugh at myself for.)

CONTENT WARNING: This story contains content of a medical nature. It is not intended as medical advice.

(I am a female and a teenager. I’m temporarily on a medication that has a lot of side effects, one of the main ones being high cholesterol. I have no prior history of high cholesterol, though. I’m at the doctor’s office with my mom specifically to check that the side effects of the medication are not getting out of hand.)

Nurse: “Okay, so, looking at your results, your cholesterol is higher than it should be.” *addressing my mom* “Mom, no more serving hamburgers, and no more fast food! All that salt, red meat, and fat is really bad for teenagers, even if that’s all they want to eat.”

Mom: “Actually, we never eat fast food, and we’ve been eating pescatarian for the past few months.”

Me: “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve gone to a fast food restaurant in years.”

(The nurse looks a little flustered at this point.)

Nurse: “Well, I know how teenagers are in the summer, so try to do some walking, at least! No more laying around on the couch all day!”

Me: “I’ve actually been swimming a mile every day, and I am working as a lifeguard.”

(The nurse is starting to look annoyed, like she doesn’t believe us.)

Nurse: “Right… Well, you need to fix this, or we’re going to have to put you on medication, and you’re too young to be on cholesterol medication.”

(My mother is getting annoyed and defensive now.)

Mom: “She’s on [Medication]; that’s the whole reason we’re here! Isn’t high cholesterol one of the side effects of the medicine?”

Nurse: *glaring at my mom* “Well… Sometimes.”

Mom: “Don’t you think that might be the reason she has high cholesterol, then?”

(The nurse just walked out at that point, and we didn’t see her the rest of the visit. We mentioned it to the doctor later, but she just said, “Well, your cholesterol is kind of high.” Luckily, once I got off the medication a few months later, my cholesterol dropped back down. But seriously, at least ask questions before making patronizing assumptions about someone’s diet and exercise.)

Customer: “Do you say hello to every customer like that?”

Me: “Yes! Of course.”

Customer: “That’s really nice! I never say hello back, but it is so nice that you say it!”