I have submitted a few stories about my father-in-law, including this one. The company he has worked with for several decades trusts him with purchasing equipment.

My father-in-law was working on a piece of equipment when the owner of the company came into the garage. He told my father-in-law that the company needed some more pickup trucks and to go down to the dealership they dealt with and get a couple ordered. My father-in-law finished up what he was doing and drove over without changing his oil- and grease-covered mechanic’s overalls.

When he walked in, he saw a few salesmen sitting in a waiting area talking and laughing. One of them had his picture on the wall behind him as a top salesman for the dealership. My father-in-law walked over and began to introduce himself.

Father-In-Law: “Hi, I’m [Father-In-Law], and I am from—”

Salesman: “Yeah, yeah. Look, we don’t have time right now for lookers. We are pretty busy.”

Father-In-Law: “I’m here to buy.”

The salesman looked him up and down.

Salesman: *With a smirk* “Yeah, okay. Go over to that office and the new guy can deal with you.”

[Father-In-Law] went over to the office and saw a young man at a desk eating a sandwich. When he saw my father-in-law, the young man put his food down, stood up, walked over, and offered his hand to shake.

Young Man: “Hello, sir. Welcome to [Dealership]. How can I help you today?”

Father-In-Law: “My name is [Father-In-Law]. Are you new?”

Young Man: “Yes, sir. It’s my first week, but I promise you I will do my best to help you find the vehicle you want, and I have a great manager here that can help me with what I don’t know.”

[Young Man] took over three hours going around the lot, showing my father-in-law trucks, doing test drives, discussing what each truck came with, and offering financing options. The whole time, my father-in-law saw the other salesman laughing and smirking, doing pretty much nothing.

As they were sitting back at [Young Man]’s desk, [Father-In-Law] told him which truck he would be getting, but he wanted it in a specific color.

Young Man: “Oh, that is no problem. We can order it. And we need to set up the financing. “

Father-In-Law: “Great. I need seven of them. And this will be a cash sale.”

Young Man: “W… What did you say? 

Father-In-Law: “I said seven, cash, and it will be for [Construction Company].”

Young Man: “Will you please excuse me for a minute?”

At this point, the young man about ran out of the office and came back with the manager.  

Manager: “Well, hello, [Father-In-Law]! How are you? [Construction Company’s Owner] called me earlier and said you were coming in. How has my new salesman been treating you?”

Father-In-Law: “Beyond incredibly well, while your other salesman — who I think is one of your top producers — was pretty rude to me.”

Manager: *Angrily* “Is that so?”

Father-In-Law: “You have a real gem with this one. He didn’t judge me based on my appearance. He treated me like I was the only customer in the county. He took an incredible amount of time helping me find the best truck for our situation. He was respectful, friendly, and honest when he didn’t know the answer to a question. As long as he is here, this is the salesman [Construction Company] will be dealing with. And he’d better get the entire commission from this sale.”

The manager assured [Father-In-Law] that [Young Man] would. For a span of fifteen years, my father-in-law would not only order company vehicles from this salesman but also personal vehicles, and he recommended him to all his family and friends. He had great respect for the young man, who did very well for himself with his career. [Young Man] eventually was able to open his own dealership in the town and became the one the construction company always bought from.

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My mom has to go to [Chain Store] to pick up a prescription and grab a few groceries. She hates that store, so we always try to hurry. While she waits in line for the prescription, my brother and I go to look for the few groceries we need.

We reach the grocery part of the store and start shopping. We finally go down to the drinks. We see that there are two gallons of apple juice left. I go to grab them, and a woman comes up. She sees me take them.

Me: “Were you also coming to get apple juice?”

Woman: “Yes.”

Me: “Okay. Take one of these and we can take the other.”

I don’t know how or why she escalates this so fast.

Woman: “No, give me both. I want them both.”

Me: “You can have one, but we’ll take the other.”

Woman: “No! I want both of them! Give them to me!”

Me: “No.”

My brother isn’t saying anything because he’s not good with confrontation and just wants to get apple juice.

Me: “Ma’am, do you want this one or not?”

Woman: “Just give me both. How hard is that to understand? I want them both!”

Me: “So, no?”

Woman: “Yes! Just give me them!”

As she starts to progress into a scene, my brother starts looking anxious, but he chimes in.

Brother: “Look, we’re trying to be nice.”

Woman: “I don’t care. Just give them to me. You’re wasting my time.”

I eventually got tired of this, and out of spite, I put them both in our cart. I turned around and motioned for my brother to follow. She started yelling but we just headed to the front.

It was seriously the stupidest thing ever.

I work for a major, world-renowned china manufacturer, in a tiny concession within a department store. We can only stock a limited range of figurines, dinner services, tea sets, and whatever else, so we only have one of anything in stock at a time. When that item is sold, it is replaced in our next delivery.

A chap comes in and knows what he wants — a miracle in itself.

Me: “I’m sorry, I just sold that one yesterday. But we will have another one in tomorrow, and I’ll be sure to hold it for you.”

He explodes.

Customer: “That’s not good enough! I want it right now because today is my wife’s birthday! You should have extra of everything in stock!”

Me: “Sir, we would need a stock room the size of the whole store, and to hold that amount of stock would cost so much that it would push prices up to such a level that nobody would be able to afford any of it.”

He got his wife’s present the next day, and I advised him to come in a few days earlier when he needed another gift.

I worked in a movie theater at concessions. As soon as my last customer stepped away, a woman decided to step up to my station without being called from the line. She plopped her purse down on my counter where the last customer has spilled soda, popcorn, and nacho cheese. She proceeded to yell at me.

Customer: “You damaged my purse! It’s a Mark Cross! You don’t know what that is, but they cost two thousand dollars!”

Me: “You really think that’s a flex? My gaming rig was eight grand.”

I’m a woman working at a popular home improvement store as a cashier, usually in the garden center. I wasn’t trained about plants, but from spending most of my time among them, getting answers to customer questions, talking with vendors, and working in my own garden, I’ve gained a fair bit of knowledge.

It’s mid-October, and the garden center is still open to sell pumpkins and the last of the decorative fall flowers, but it’s pretty quiet. I’m just hanging out by the cash register and daydreaming. The manager is working at the back, out of sight, but I can hear the engine on the pallet mover.

A man walks in, answers my greeting with a nod, and keeps on walking. He stops and scans around like he’s searching for something.

Me: “Can I help you with something?”

Customer: “Well, I wanted to talk to someone about what this is—” *pulls a weed from his pocket* “—and what I can do to get rid of it.”

Me: “Yeah, that’s crabgrass. We do have some sprays you can use for spot-killing, but this late in the season, you’re better off just letting your lawn go dormant and then spreading a pre-emergent crabgrass killer on your lawn in the spring.”

Customer: “So… is there someone I can talk to?”

I inwardly sigh, recognizing that by “someone”, he means “someone with a penis”. I call back to the manager and tell him a customer needs his assistance. He has to shut down and safely park the pallet mover, so it takes him a couple of minutes.

When he comes up, the customer shows him the crabgrass and the manager tells him, ALMOST VERBATIM, what I told him. He then takes the customer inside to show him where to find the sprays. Later, the manager comes back outside and stops to talk to me.

Manager: “I wish he had told you what he needed so I didn’t have to stop what I was doing.”

Me: “He did, and I told him the same thing you did.”

Manager: “What?! Then why did he need to interrupt me?!”

Me: *With exaggerated astonishment* “Did you not know that lawn care knowledge is stored in the male genitals? Obviously, I couldn’t know what I was talking about!”

Manager: “Aaarrrggghh!”