I was in this crazy parenting group that has a lot of people with kooky opinions; there were loads of anti-vaxxers, tons of pseudoscience, distrust of medical professionals, self-styled essential oil experts dispensing dubious medical advice, etc.

One lady had been nonstop posting all sorts of craziness, trying to convince people that vaccines — all, not just the [global health crisis] vaccine — were dangerous. I snapped and posted one of her messages to Instagram Stories, with her name and the group name removed so there was no way of identifying her, calling it “the very definition of anti-vax”.

She recognised it, and even though Instagram Stories disappear on their own in twenty-four hours, she insisted I remove it (it was already gone by then) and post a public apology, addressed to “The so-called lady that didn’t vaccinate her kid, that u called her anti-vax.”

So, I made this apology post on my Instagram.

My Post: “Dear all, I have been asked by ‘The so-called lady that didn’t vaccinate her kid, that u called her anti-vax’, whose message I posted in my IG stories yesterday, to issue a public apology. (Swipe to see request.) I am so sorry that I incorrectly labeled her as anti-vax and will instead just include screenshots of her messages so she can explain her position in her own words.”

And I posted not just the original message, but two other crazy anti-vax statements from her.

The original IG story post only reached 1,697 people. The “apology” post reached 9,716 people and was full of comments telling her she was an anti-vax [Entitled Jerk].

A TikTok video I made about that crazy mom group jumped from under 10,000 views to over 45,000 views after the “apology”.

I am at work stocking the shelves before we open the store. Because we are in the building, the door has to be unlocked. Thankfully, it usually doesn’t cause an issue.

Not-so-thankfully, a woman has opened our sliding doors and left them wide open. People begin following her in, and soon we have several people in the store while we have pallets of products on the floor.

Manager: *On the loudspeaker* “Hi, everyone, we are not open for another hour. We will gladly serve you after we open, but until then, we do need you to leave your future purchases. We can hold them for you if you would like.”

A customer stomps up to her.

Customer: “Why would you have the doors open if you’re not open?!”

Manager: “We do have to have the doors unlocked if there are people in the store, ma’am.”

Customer: “Well, no one was in here when I pulled the door open!”

Manager: “…the associates were inside, ma’am. We are also people.”

Customer: “That’s just stupid! If you don’t want my business, I’ll take it elsewhere!”

I teach high school. A senior is failing my class and doesn’t give two hoots, since it’s not explicitly required to graduate.

However, a week before school ends, I am pulled into a meeting with his parents and counselor. It turns out that he failed enough courses as a freshman and sophomore that he was credit deficient and actually needed a D- in my class to graduate.

Parent: *Furious* “I thought the online classes didn’t matter! Why did nobody inform me of this sooner?”

Counselor: “I sent this message to you last semester on [Official School Texting App] providing information for credit recovery.”

Parent: “Oh, yeah, I deleted that. Isn’t that just for the stupid kids?”

Guess who was in credit recovery that summer?

I had a meeting with a client. I went to her shop as we had agreed for our meeting, but the front door was locked and nobody was there. I drove back to my home outside of town and called her on the phone.

Me: “Hi, I thought we were meeting today at your shop. Did something change, or…?”

Client: “Oh, no, no. Nothing changed. I just had things to do. This is a cancel.”

Me: “That’s… sort of something you do before the meeting.”

It happened multiple times.

We do metal fabrication, public art pieces, and such. Every now and then, we get a new client who thinks they’re hot s*** but has no idea what goes into these projects.

At the end of last year, we quoted a job, and the client revealed that his entire budget was considerably less than what it would take to order materials alone. He demanded that we take the massive financial hit because “it would be great exposure.”

I guess he didn’t know we have pieces on five continents — including one for the Tokyo Olympics.

Related:
Exposure Doesn’t Spend As Well As Cash