I’m at the garden center registers, and so far, it’s been a good day. Naturally, we are low on stock of our most popular small flowers — just under $2 each. A woman grabs a cart and proceeds to put SIX TWELVE-PACKS on it, and then she meanders over to me.

Customer: *Quite serious* “Where have all your flowers gone?! Have people been taking them?!”

Me: *Resisting the urge to point out her complicity* “They’re very popular, so people do buy them up quickly, yeah.”

She seemed a little miffed at that but thankfully didn’t take it out on me. When she came back to actually cash out, she had a second cart with three more twelve-packs.

I’m shopping at a large retail chain where the employees wear blue shirts. I’m wearing jeans and a blue pullover sweater, and I have a shopping cart. I stop to look at something and a woman approaches me.

Woman: *Demanding* “Take me to find [item]! I can’t find it!”

Me: “I don’t work here, ma’am.”

Woman: “What?! I’m going to tell your manager you’re refusing to help me!”

Me: “Yeah, have fun with that.”

I walk away from her and keep shopping.

A few minutes later, the woman finds me again with a manager in tow. The manager confirms that I’m not an employee.

Woman: “Well, why is she wearing blue?! She shouldn’t be wearing a blue shirt if she doesn’t work here!”

I think for fun I’m gonna wear a red hoodie to Target next.

In the UK, it is the law that if you have a vehicle taxed for road use, then the vehicle must be insured for road use. All vehicle tax and registration are managed by the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency), and there is also the Motor Insurance Database (MID) that has every UK-insured vehicle on it.

This is not a closely-guarded secret; you can literally go to a website and pop your vehicle registration in and it’ll flag if it’s insured or not. There is also something called SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification); if you intend to not have your vehicle insured or use it on the road, you need to go to the DVLA and get it SORN’d

I work in vehicle insurance. The plus side is that whilst we need to have good customer service, we don’t have to be nice to clients due to the nature of what we do. This client has called to cancel his insurance. He has me on speakerphone, so I can hear a lot. He’s also been pretty rude and difficult so far, getting snappy at me regarding DPA and stuff we have to do by law.

Me: “So, why are you looking to cancel the insurance?”

Client: “It’s winter, idiot. I’m not gonna ride it.”

Me: “Have you had it SORN’d?”

Client: “Nah, don’t see the point.”

Me: “I need to make you aware: if your vehicle is taxed for road use and you do not have insurance, the DVLA could fine you up to £1,000, and the vehicle can also be seized and even destroyed by police. I would recommend getting your vehicle SORN’d as soon as you cancel the insurance; you can do it on the government website and it’s free.”

Client: “How would they know it’s not insured?”

Guy In The Background: “It’s called askMID.”

Client: *To the guy* “Shut it, mate.”

Me: “As your friend has advised, there is the Motor Insurance Database run by the Motor Insurance Bureau, which the police and the DVLA use to verify if a vehicle has insurance.”

Client: “Well, how are they gonna know the reg if they can’t see it? It’s gonna be in the garage. Suck on that, sugar t*ts.”

Me: *Dryly* “The DVLA are the ones who gave it the registration plate. They’re the ones that issued you the V5. If it’s UK registered, the DVLA knows the registration, make, model, colour, etc. of the vehicle, who owns the vehicle, and where that person lives. You could take it to Timbuktu if you really wanted to, but if it’s registered and taxed for UK road use, the DVLA is going to be able to find out if it’s insured. You don’t have to SORN the vehicle, but again, it’s free, and if they do decide to check it, you could lose out on up to £1,000.”

There’s a rather awkward silence.

Guy In The Background: “I went on holiday to Timbuktu.”

Client: “Shut up, mate! And… I’ll… uh… get it SORN’d.”

Me: “Lovely. Let’s get that cancellation calculated. I’ll just pop you on hold.”

Guy In The Background: “She ain’t gonna do anything to try and get you a discount on the cancellation after you called her ‘sugar t*ts’.”

Client: “Shut it—”

At that point, I put the client on hold. And yes, I left the cancellation fees at full costs; we can choose to waive them at our discretion, though it does reflect on our scores if we go under a certain amount on average.

I was at the store, buying the weekly groceries for my family. Ahead of me in line to check out was a lady with a toddler in the seat of the cart. The toddler was looking around, and he happened to spot a case of cookies in my cart.

Toddler: “Look! Mama, Mama, look! Cookies!”

The lady turned and looked, then glanced up at me and gave a nasty sneer before turning back to her son.

Lady: *In a sickly sweet baby voice* “Oh, I’m so sorry, baby. I’d love to get cookies, but unlike some people, we can’t afford them. We have to save our money, unlike some people, so we can’t just get whatever we want.”

She continued in that vein as the line crept forward, even after her son had obviously lost interest and tilted his head back to stare up at some stray balloons near the ceiling. She kept going on and on, each time putting special emphasis on “some people” as she went. She finally trailed off when she got to the belt and started unloading her cart, and I hoped that would be the last of her passive-aggressive nastiness.

Unfortunately, once she’d unloaded everything and headed up to the check stand when the cashier started scanning, she immediately launched into it again.

Lady: *To the cashier* “Have you ever had to live on a budget? Some people haven’t, and it shows. They’ll just buy whatever they want without even thinking about it. Don’t you think it’s sad how some people are just so thoughtless?

The cashier didn’t say anything; she just sped up scanning until she could give the lady her total. The lady finally stopped talking once she paid, collected the last of her bags, and started pushing her cart away.

Cashier: *Quietly, once I get to the check stand* “I’m so sorry about that.”

Me: “It’s fine. Some people have just never learned manners.”

The lady, who for whatever reason had chosen to pause a short distance away from the line and just stand there, obviously stiffened, but when she turned to glare back at us, neither I nor the cashier was looking at her, so she eventually just turned and stomped off in a huff.

I have been getting migraines that are affected by some perfumes. One day, my manager walks up to me reeking of perfume. It is so strong that my eyes instantly start watering and I can feel the migraine starting. My sense of smell seems to heighten.

Me: “[Manager], you’re wearing a perfume that gives me migraines. Could you please move away from me?”

Manager: *Stepping closer* “What? You don’t like my perfume?”

Me: *Stepping away* “No, I don’t. It’s giving me a migraine. I need to stay away from you. I need to go and take a [painkiller] before it gets worse.”

Manager: “I can’t understand why you don’t like my perfume; it’s [Expensive Brand]!”

I take a break while I take a painkiller and have some water. Feeling better, I return to my tasks, but I soon notice that [Manager] has started following me; anywhere I go, she’s not far behind me. She has her own tasks elsewhere, so there’s no need to be where I am unless she’s with a customer. I realise she’s being petty as usual, and her perfume really does stink; it’s one of the most horrible that I have ever smelled.

Me: “Why are you following me? I told you that your perfume is giving me migraines and will make me sick.”

Manager: “But it’s [Expensive Brand]!”

Me: “[Expensive Brand] is the worst for me. If you keep it up, I will be going home sick.”

Her eyes widened as she realised that if I left, she would be running the store alone for the rest of the day. She finally left me alone and actually got on with her work.