I work in a hotel. I arrive at work around 11:00 pm for an audit shift, and as soon as I arrive, my coworkers start giving me the lowdown on the evening, specifically on this one creepy and harassing walk-in guest they had. [Guest] was being inappropriate and creepy to everyone there. He kept asking for things to be specifically “brought into his room” and offering to pay them and “make it worth their while” if you know what I mean. Everyone was like, “Absolutely not,” and he would keep offering them money and whatever.

After they headed out and I was left alone, I was watching the cameras in the back, and I kept seeing [Guest] peeking around on the stairs, trying to find people in the lobby, and then going back up. At one point, I went out to the desk to check someone in, and while I was out there, I saw our little friend poking around in the lobby.

A little while later, I had a food delivery driver come in. He showed me the screen, and it was an order for [Guest].

Driver: “The guy wants his food to be left with you at the desk, but I’ll just take it up to him.”

Me: “Yes, please!”

As soon as the driver got in the elevator, I got a phone call from [Guest].

Guest: “I ordered some food to be left with you so you can bring it up and come into my room.”

He said this in the grossest weird and seductive tone.

Me: “Hi, sir. The delivery driver is actually already on his way to your room with the food.”

His tone switched up real fast, and he just said, “Oh,” and then slammed the phone down.

I spent the rest of the night locked in the back office to avoid any more unwanted interactions with our buddy.

Apparently, he was super creepy while checking out in the morning and wanted to extend, but that was not about to happen! We don’t need any more serial creep incidents.

I work in customer service for a magazine publisher. Every print subscription to our magazines includes access to the digital version of the magazine. You register a free account with the same information you have used to subscribe to the magazine and then log in to the website. Your email address is now your unique username in the system.

Caller: “I just registered an account with my own name, but my wife has the subscription so it’s not letting me log on.”

Me: “You can create a new account for your wife, but you can’t use the email you used to create your account.”

Caller: “That doesn’t make any sense!”

Me: “I’m afraid that’s how the system is set up; there’s nothing I can do to help it.”

Caller: “So, after forty years of marriage and decades of this magazine subscription, I’m not allowed to read the magazine because it’s in my wife’s name?”

Me: “Well, the system sees that you are not the same person as your wife, but if I can try to direct you back to just registering a new account in your wife’s name, then—”

Caller: “I don’t want to do that.”

My tone has probably gotten chillier and more polite as the call has progressed, as I tend to use manners to create a safe distance. It’s hard to describe his tone exactly; he seems to immediately come in with this put-upon energy, and he sounds certain that I’m a corporate minion instead of a regular person there to help him despite my minimum wage.

By the end of our fifteen-minute discussion, he is sounding pretty unhinged.

Caller: “My wife will send an email to cancel immediately after this phone call.”

I guess he thinks it’s some sort of trump card because he seems pretty baffled when I tell him:

Me: “We can handle the cancellation during this same call. Can you confirm your wife’s name?”

At the beginning of the call, I confirmed his information, mainly his name and address. Since the wife presumably lives at the same address, I have already accessed her information to see the subscription, but I don’t need to confirm anything at this point as I only need to know that there s a subscription to the address, and it isn’t in the name of the customer.

Caller: “No. I’m fed up with your nonsense. I won’t tell you.”

Me: “I can’t proceed unless I’m certain that I’m handling the correct subscription.”

Caller: “Fine. I’ll get my wife on the phone.”

This perfectly pleasant woman picks up the phone, and I feel myself thaw immediately.

Me: “Can you please confirm your name and address so I can cancel the subscription?”

Caller’s Wife: “What are you talking about?”

I summarize that her husband unfortunately got frustrated with our digital services. She asks me to hold. I can hear her asking why they’re cancelling and him ranting about how it isn’t easy to access the digital content. She picks the phone back up. I can basically hear her rolling her eyes.

Caller’s Wife: “Apparently, we are indeed cancelling.”

She sounds exasperated but not with me. I confirm her information and that the subscription will now end.

Me: “Now that the subscription will end, you can subscribe again under your husband’s name so he can access the digital content with his account.”

I could tell by her tone that she was picking up what I was putting down and that she had a pretty good idea of what I had to deal with.

Despite feeling slightly better after talking to the wife, I spent the rest of the evening feeling sick and upset. Calls like that always leave me wondering if there was a point somewhere early on where I could have prevented the whole call from derailing. I’ll never know.

My neighbors have three boys, all under the age of seven. In my first encounter with the mom, she promptly told me (not asked) that her kids wander. I naively thought that meant there might be the odd rogue ball episode or something so didn’t protest at the time. Oh, boy, was I wrong.

Our yards are unfenced, and we share a driveway. My yard, back deck, front garden, and even the inside of my house were seen as an extension of their space. The boys would even have sword fight tournaments on my back deck, off my kitchen. Their parents would literally do nothing. I was put in a position many times to ask for more privacy as it was affecting my work and a general sense of well-being as I am a very private person. It took some pushing, but finally, things got a bit better. But they still “wandered” — however, to a level I was not willing to cause drama over.

This past early winter, I decided to put in security cameras. I live alone in a not-so-great area and I wanted some peace of mind. I also wanted to document encroachment in case it got bad again. In that time, the cameras have picked up a lot of encroachment from kids, but I did not raise the issue, because the relationship with parents is peaceful, and I wanted to keep it that way.

Fast forward to yesterday. My camera picks up a clip of the middle kid peering into my window with a pair of binoculars.

I send the clip to the parents, explaining that one of my cameras picked it up and that I am not comfortable with this behaviour. It is inappropriate and an invasion of my privacy. They send a note back saying he was only trying to see if I was home so he could say hello. Then, they insist on knowing more about my security cameras, what they can see, and if they pick up the kids playing in their yard. I explain that they don’t as they only pick up motion in my yard. But, if the kids are in my yard — which they are… a lot — they are recorded.

The parents are insisting I take the cameras down.

The lesson is: entitled parents raise entitled children. I am frightened to see what kind of adults these kids will turn into. Who knows if I will be here long enough to find out?

I would love a fence, but I live in an area where wood is twice the price, and tradespeople are taking bribes for bookings. It’s not really possible right now, but someday. The neighbors are not only entitled but also deadbeats, so I’d be paying for it on my own. I did the one thing I had control of and that’s installing cameras.

Related:
Some Parents Are Way Too Comfortable Leaving Their Kids With Strangers, Part 2
Some Parents Are Way Too Comfortable Leaving Their Kids With Strangers

I am working a steady day at a cell phone dealership, and a customer comes in looking to get a new phone and switch from a prepaid account to post-paid. For anyone who doesn’t know, prepaid accounts are where you have to come in and get money cards to top up your phone number every month. Post-paid accounts are where you get billed and it goes against your credit score. The customer creates her post-paid account, her credit check comes back good, and she gets her phone and signs a two-year contract.

The customer’s aunt drove her here and is waiting in the car. She even comes in to ask what is taking her niece so long at one point, and she doesn’t argue when she is told what is going on.

Two days later, the customer comes back in with her aunt and mom to return the phone and go back to a prepaid account. The phone itself isn’t in proper condition to be returned, so my manager has to get involved.

Manager: “The problem is that the phone has to be in new condition, meaning it has to look like it just came out of the box.”

He points out multiple deep scratches on the screen.

Mom: “Doesn’t matter. She shouldn’t have been sold that phone in the first place. With her disability, she often has trouble thinking through decisions.”

Me: “She seemed to know exactly what she was doing when she came in the other day.”

Mom: “Well, she didn’t. I have power of attorney.” *Presents the paperwork* “So, I want this phone returned and for my daughter to be taken off the contract. As I said, she should not have been sold this phone in the first place. I wanted her to get a new phone, but we—” *gesturing to herself and the customer’s aunt* “—didn’t want her to sign a new contract.”

In the end, my manager is able to work it out with them; the phone is returned, and the daughter is put back on a prepaid account. The whole time, the daughter clearly isn’t happy her phone is getting returned. After they leave, I look at my manager in disbelief.

Me: “If she has a mental disability, then why the heck was she driven here to get a new phone by herself two days ago?!”

Manager: “Maybe she’s not the one who’s disabled.”

A few years ago, my hubby and I were at the airport waiting for our flight. It was delayed/cancelled due to mechanical problems. The airline counter staff were being screamed at by almost everyone, and we could tell that they were pretty upset. Our turn at the counter arrived

Airline Staff: “We’re incredibly sorry, but the soonest we can get you on a flight is tomorrow.”

While we were not happy to have our vacation delayed and have to pay for a non-day at our resort, we tell her:

Us: “That’s fine; we know you’re trying your best here. We apologize for our fellow passengers; we heard some of them being complete jerks.”

Airline Staff: *Genuinely surprised and relieved* “…thank you.”

We started laughing and joking with her and her coworkers, and they all really seemed to appreciate it.

We stood in a separate group of people that were being sorted for airport hotel accommodations for overnight delayed passengers. We saw the airline staff we’d just spoken to looking at us, talking among themselves, and then looking at something on their computer. One of them came over to us.

Airline Staff: *Quietly* “If you could come with me, please. We just need to iron out some further details.”

We go back over to their desk.

Airline Staff: “We have just been made aware of two available last-minute cancellation seats for a flight in two hours. We can get you booked on to those?”

Obviously, we took those, and when we got our replacement tickets, we could see that they were upper class! She then proceeded to walk us over to the other counter and even personally ensured that our bags were checked with the new airline!

Karma can also be of the good (awesome) kind if you treat people with respect and kindness!