I own a small electronics repair center. A customer brings in a computer that will not turn on.

Me: “This unit is too old to get new parts for and it’s going to require a complete rebuild.”

They don’t want to pay for it, so they take the computer back. Three months later, they come in again.

Customer: “We ordered some legacy parts online and had our friend rebuild it, but now it doesn’t have any video.”

I open the computer to find that said friend forgot the CPU and jammed the socket full of thermal paste.

Me: “This is still going to require the same rebuild.”

Once again, the customer rejects this and leaves. They come back four months later.

Customer: *Demanding* “You will replace the CPU of the computer! It was damaged during the last repair attempt!”

We are seven months into this ordeal from the original drop-off and I have had enough.

Me: “I am not paying for anything as the computer has never worked since it was brought in. I told you twice what needed to be done and you went elsewhere and had corner-cutting repairs completed.”

Customer: “Fine! Then I will give you bad reviews online!”

Me: “Be my guest. The entire lobby is under video and audio surveillance. I also keep pictures of any major damage during the repair. Any effort to defame my business will result in legal action.”

The customer stormed out. Two days later, I haven’t seen any reviews or heard from them.

I am seventeen, working at a corner shop here in the UK that sells essentials such as bread, milk, newspaper, etc. It’s literally in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fields, one other shop a few hundred yards away, and farms, with a small nearby village.

Man: “I’m here to buy a fridge.”

Me: “We don’t sell fridges; we sell groceries.”

Man: “Well, my neighbour said you sell fridges.”

Me: “Sorry, we don’t sell fridges, but you could try the white goods store just over the bridge next door?”

Man: “No, I was told to come here and that you sell fridges.”

I point out the window.

Me: “You see that building over there? That’s a hardware and white goods store. They sell fridges.”

Man: “Thanks for wasting my time.”

He got in his car and left in the opposite direction. I was confused.

One night, I’m working at the service desk in a grocery store. The front-end manager has gone on break, so I’m de facto front-end manager until she gets back. It’s a pretty slow night so there are two registers open, plus five self-check machines. The registers have lights above them to let customers know which ones are open.

A customer goes to a register that isn’t open and puts her stuff down. After a moment, I realize she’s not leaving.

Me: “Do you need anything, ma’am?”

Customer: “Where is the cashier?”

Me: “That register is closed, but there are two open further down.”

Customer: *Condescending and sassy* “You should turn the light off, then!”

It takes me a moment to process what she said.

Me: “Ma’am, the light is off.”

She looks up, quickly stammers something about how the light looks on, and goes to one of the open registers. I still don’t know how she thought the light was on.

I work at an ice cream shop in Germany. With the health crisis, we have a few rules: only outside seating is available, and you have to fill in your personal details on a piece of paper in order for us to contact you if something happens. Also, you have to ask the employee first whether you could sit at one of the tables. The tables even have big stickers on them telling you to please contact the staff first before seating yourself, as you need to receive that detail paper. We have chairs up on the indoor tables to prevent people from sitting there.

I have four middle-aged customers come in, immediately go to an inside table, and take down the chairs on top of it.

Me: *Politely* “We are not allowed to have inside seating. And you need to come up to me to order first, anyway.”

Customer #1: *Smugly* “Oh, we have been coming here for years. It’s fine. Are you new? We always sit here.”

I am a bit perplexed as I have been working here for six years and have never seen them here. I try to avoid any unnecessary small talk.

Me: “I’m actually a long-time employee. With current [health crisis] rules, things are being handled differently now.”

I explained how our system works now and ask if they want to take a seat outside after they get their ice cream and I write down their details.

Customer #2: “We have to give you our details? Why? We come here often.”

Me: “It is a [health crisis] rule that applies to every shop offering food in our region!”

As it has been for months, I should add.

The entitled friends just grumble, roll their eyes, and order. I have to inform ALL of them separately that they should not take their masks off their mouths when talking to me, as I can understand them just fine.

They finally pay.

Me: “Would you like to sit outside? I’ll happily bring you the paper you have to fill out.”

Customer #1: “No, we will not be staying at one of your tables. Don’t worry.”

I am honestly quite happy that they don’t intend to stay.

They go out and around the corner. I serve some more people, and after a while, I finally get the time to go outside and disinfect the tables people have been sitting at.

I look to my left, and there the group is, happily sitting at the last table around the corner — the only one that I can’t see from inside.

They notice me and just stare. One lady even rolls her eyes again. I sigh and go back inside to get them a paper to write their details on. It is policy, after all, and I don’t want trouble.

Me: “Hello. You will have to fill in your details before you leave, all right?”

More stares. I just turn around awkwardly and only hear a faint, “Why does it apply to us?” behind me as I’m already walking back inside.

Me: “Sorry, it’s the policy.”

Of course, when I came back to check on them, they were gone, with the paper still laying there, untouched.

I just thought to myself, “If you don’t want to get a notification if someone near you has had [contagious illness] and you could be at risk because of that, that’s not my problem at all.”

And, of course, the frickin’ table was a MESS. I don’t know if any ice cream even made its way into their mouths or just ended up on the seats and table immediately.

My Internet provider offers free security software. It’s a low-cost, okay software for PCs. It’s okay, I guess; if you didn’t already have software, I guess it would be useful. But without a PC in the house, it’s of no benefit to us.

We get inundated by emails with reminders to log on and download it. We get reminders on reminders, even a letter sent through, patting themselves on the back for offering it.

Then, I get a phone call.

Caller: “Good morning! This is [Caller] from [Internet Provider]. Is this the bill payer I’m speaking to?”

Me: “Yes.”

Caller: “Okay, great. How are you this morning?”

It’s too early for this.

Me: “Yeah, fine. What is this about?”

Caller: “I’ve noticed that you haven’t taken advantage of our fabulous free security software. We’ve formed a partnership with one of the most popular security companies…”

They carry on through a painfully long script.

Me: “Yeah, I’m aware of the offer, but I’m not interested.”

Caller: “But it’s free!”

Me: “Good for you. I still don’t want it. Was there anything else?”

Caller: “I’m sure you can agree that getting a bug would be a tragedy with so much of life these days being virtual. It’s a quick and simple load; just go to your account on the website…”

They drone on through another script.

Me: “I’m sure you’re on some sort of target, but let me make it clear: I don’t want it. I don’t want it, don’t need it. Okay? We don’t have any computers in the house. Even if we did, I wouldn’t use this software, okay?”

Caller: “Well, you could download it to a friend’s PC, as long as you used your sign-in details…”

Me: “I’m hanging up now.”

I’m all for companies providing more for their customers, but forcing it down their throats is new to me. I can only assume that this was only a free trial, or they wanted to make a big deal of providing free stuff to a certain number of their customers.