I work for a screen print shop. People send us their logos, and before we go to print, our designer makes a quick digital mockup to show the clients how their designs will look on a shirt.

A client sent us their company’s logo, and we sent them back the proof. The client called within a minute.

Client: *Sounding a little unhappy* “Hi. Yeah, the proof you sent us? Um, it looks okay, but when I zoom in, it’s really pixelated.”

Me: “Correct. We sent you a jpeg; all jpegs look pixelated when you zoom in.”

Client: “Right, but… Well, I guess what I’m saying is… will the shirts look like that once they’re printed?”

Me: “No.”

Client: “Because this is the proof of how they’ll turn out.”

Me: “No, screen printing requires very precise lines. This is just to give you an idea of how the logo will look once it’s on the shirt. We used the design we were initially sent, but if there’s a different one we should be using…”

Client: *Not convinced in the least* “You know, we had a graphic designer actually do a whole mock-up of it already, exactly the way it should look. I’ll just send you that.”

The designer’s mock-up was, of course, a jpeg of their logo on a shirt. She must not have zoomed in that time.

Years ago, I was working on a movie set. Every Friday, after we finished filming for the week, our Craft Service team would head to the down-on-their-luck part of town and hand out the perishable food that would not make it through the weekend. It wasn’t a lot of food, but it would help twenty to thirty people a week.

One Monday, our production office got a call from a man who’d received food from the truck the week before, complaining that what he got was moldy (I very much doubt that it was) and he “wanted his money back”. When his demand was refused (what he’d gotten was free) he started to threaten to sue the company for endangering his life.

This went all the way up to our parent company through various legal departments to our huge American movie studio and they freaked out about the threat of legal action.

Craft Service was forbidden from handing out food ever again, and they had to throw out the leftovers from then on.

We employees carry a walkie-talkie/smartphone-type device in our work vests so that we can radio employees in other departments and look up in-store products. I have just clocked in for the day and logged into said device. I have just arrived in my department when two men approach me.

Customer: “I want waterproof.”

Now, I am thinking, “Does he want waterproof paint? Waterproof epoxy? Some waterproof lumber? What does he want?”

Me: *Politely* “I just got here; my walkie-talkie is still loading up. I’ll look it up when it loads up.”

Customer: “Why don’t you know where anything is?!” *Turns to his friend* “This stupid f***er doesn’t know where anything is!”

I am a patient guy, but talking down to someone like they are an animal does not fly with me at all.

Me: “Sir, we sell over 25,000 items here. Could you keep up with 25,000 items?”

I do a 180 and walk away. As I am leaving, I hear the other customer say:

Other Customer: “Hey, [Customer], I think you were a little harsh on him. He was just trying to help you!”

I used to work in a restaurant, and our manager was awful. She was rude, intentionally picked out favorites and gave them presents in front of everyone (even when they didn’t like her and tried to avoid it), messed up schedules on purpose for people she didn’t like, etc. She was the worst manager ever.

There was a huge storm coming in, and people were really worried about it. The news was telling people to stay home, other businesses were closing, etc., so it was up to [Manager] to either keep our store open or close it. Of course, she kept it open.

Because schools closed, only half of our scheduled employees showed up. The rest called in, and [Manager] called her favorites and told them they didn’t have to come in. As the five or so of us who showed up were standing there, watching out the front windows — there were zero customers — [Manager] started yelling at us, threatening to write us all up, and so on. We tried telling her that no one was there, all the work was done, and we were watching the wind bend trees over and worrying about whether we were safe and would be able to get home.

Right about this time, we heard a super loud crashing noise: KACHUNK! KACHUNK! KACHUNK! KACHUNK! WHAM!

The industrial air conditioner on top of the building got blown off! It rolled along the roof and then went flying into the parking lot… and right onto [Manager]’s car.

It was so perfect it was surreal; it landed dead center and smashed her car flat. If [Manager] had been in it, she would have died. And it only happened because she parked right up by the building where we had specifically been told not to park. All our cars were out in the farthest corner of the lot.

We later found out that [Manager]’s car wasn’t paid off, it was some stupidly expensive BMW or something, and her insurance didn’t cover the damage because it was an “act of God”.

I am serving at the counter at a burger place. Some parents are arguing with their teenage daughter as they approach to order.

Teenage Girl: “I don’t understand! I’m the one going to college. Why can’t I decide what college I want to go to?”

Father: “Because we’re the ones paying. If you want to go to art school and ruin your life and end up like this poor girl here—” *gestures at ME!* “—then I certainly won’t bankroll it.”

He then orders with me while I recover from his blatant rudeness.

Father: “…and I have a coupon for those three combos.”

Me: “That coupon has expired, sir. That’ll be $24.97.”

Father: “It expired yesterday! C’mon! I know you have a button there that can override coupon expiry dates.”

Me: “We do indeed have the ability to still accept expired coupons at our discretion.”

Father: “So…?”

Me: “So, that will be $24.97… sir.”

Father: “But that’s the same as before!”

Me: “Because I’m the one deciding. If you want to go around insulting fast-food clerks, well… I certainly won’t bankroll it.”

The daughter snort-laughed while the father stared at me with cold dead eyes and paid full price.

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