CONTENT WARNING: Assault (No permanent damage)

I just got home after dealing with a major issue at one of my stores. On Sunday afternoon, one of my store managers was attacked by a customer. I had to fly out from Mississippi to Bowling Green, Kentucky. I arrived, got statements, and reviewed the video.

Our company policy requires incidents of assault to be investigated immediately. As the store manager was involved I had to do this investigation. Had it been a non-management employee, the store manager would have handled it and reported to me. None of those involved in this incident were given any reprimands or marks on their employee file for this.

This is what the camera showed. [Customer] parked her SUV in front of a fire exit. Our store managers are required to do a safety walk-through weekly, and this includes opening the fire exit to ensure that the door is operating properly and will open with no effort. Unbeknownst to this poor manager, [Customer] was parked on the other side of the door. When he opened the door, it dinged the SUV.

[Customer] immediately jumped out of the car and began verbally abusing [Manager]. [Manager] was apologizing and explaining that we could get the damage repaired. (Yes, I know that it was totally her fault, but our default to vehicle damage is to make it right.) Well, she would not listen to reason and the offer to repair it; she was too busy screaming, cussing, and continuing to verbally abuse [Manager].

A couple of guys from the shop who heard this began to head that way. The whole time, [Customer] was screaming louder and more aggressively. Then, as two of the employees came around the corner, [Customer] grabbed a brick from her purse and swung it at [Manager], hitting him in the left side of his face. The guys from the shop immediately separated [Customer] from [Manager], and the police were called.

The police arrived and arrested [Customer], and her vehicle was towed.

After that, the assistant manager called me immediately. Of course, [Manager] was taken to the emergency room, which is where I first visited to check on him. Thankfully, no permanent damage was done, but [Manager] had a nasty bruise and a black eye. I let him know that he had the next few days off with pay, as per our company policy.

He understood, and he knew his job was not in danger because I received information about the situation inbound from the assistant manager. If the video matched their story, it would be a very cut-and-dry case. The other employees involved were given the next day off, and we called in help from other stores.

[Manager] and the shop employees were released from the investigation as no rules or policies were violated, and there would be no punishment or mark on their records.

Now, let’s discuss this piece of trash [Customer]. Of course, we had her served and pressed charges on behalf of [Manager]. Our legal team plays no games, and I have suggested that we sue her for every penny we lost plus damages to our manager. They told me they would get back with me next week.

I am not sure what exactly she was charged with as the police said they would let us know once all charges are filed.

The East Coast of the US is currently getting hit by a very bad tropical storm, so all of our flights to and from a certain large airport on said coast have been canceling for obvious reasons.

A couple who were booked on one of the canceled flights from the East Coast to my airport decided to drive instead, which is smart. They proceeded to drive approximately fifteen hours to our airport, paid ridiculous airport parking prices, and came into our baggage office to pick up their bags. 

Their bags that they checked in at the East Coast airport that canceled all of their flights.

Their bags that were still at the East Coast airport.

They were very confused when we explained that we didn’t have their bags because the flight was canceled, and they were even more confused when we explained that we absolutely could not get their bags until future flights weren’t canceled because the bags also arrive on the plane. I still don’t understand how they thought their bags were going to get to us.

My late grandfather was a dentist, and he told me about a particularly difficult patient he had back in the 1970s.

[Kid] was ten years old, and the entire practice dreaded his visits. When he appeared for an appointment to have some cavities filled, he entered the room with a look of defiance on his face, and my grandfather decided he just was not in the mood.

Dentist: “Get in the chair. I’m not going to play with you today.”

Kid: “No! And you can’t make me!”

Dentist: “Now!”

Kid: “I’m gonna take off all my clothes!”

Dentist: “Yeah, go right ahead.”

[Kid] stripped down to his underwear and folded his arms.

Dentist: “Now get in the chair!”

[Kid] grabbed the waistband of his underwear in a silent threat to pull them down.

Dentist: “I double-dare you!”

[Kid] stripped completely naked.

Dentist: “Now get in the chair!”

The kid quietly got in the chair and cooperated throughout the entire procedure. However, while [Dentist] was working on him, he quietly instructed his dental assistant to take the clothes elsewhere.

When it was over:

Kid: “Hey, where are my clothes?”

Dentist: “You can pick them up tomorrow. Goodbye.”

Kid: “YOU CAN’T—”

[Dentist] marched the kid out of the room and into the hallway and locked the door behind him.

Ten minutes later, he predictably got a phone call summoning him up to the front desk. He was met by [Kid]’s mother who was standing surprisingly calm and almost smug, despite the fact that she’d just witnessed the door opening and her son walking butt naked into a waiting room full of people.

Mom: “He blackmailed you with his clothes, didn’t he?”

Dentist: “Yep, and I called his bluff.”

Mom: “He’s been doing that to me forever. Any time we’re in public and I tell him no, he’ll threaten to strip naked in front of everyone, and I always find myself giving in. Thanks so much.” *To [Kid]* “LET’S GO!”

And [Kid]’s mom marched him right out, through the medical clinic full of people, through the elevators, and into the parking lot.

[Kid]’s mom came by the next day to pick up his clothes and told my grandfather that when they got home, she didn’t allow that brat to get dressed there, either, and made him spend the entire day at home walking around butt naked and enduring teasing and jeers from his siblings.

My grandfather never had a problem with him from then on, and according to his mom, it was the last time he ever blackmailed her with his clothes again.

I work in a warehouse grocery store that requires a membership to shop. Everything is sold in bulk, and we only have one competitor in the area that also sells in bulk. People get upset and threaten to shop at the competitor store all the time.

After one such interaction, I can’t help but look at my supervisor and say;

Me: “If I gave them directions to [Competitor], how much trouble would I be in?”

Supervisor: “I’d laugh, but I would have to write you up.”

Dang.

I’m a rural tow truck driver. We’ve got a very small fleet: only three trucks total. Two are meant for cars, and one is meant to pick up semi trucks and their trailers.

My coworker was called out to pick up a minivan that had broken down on the highway. He went out to take a look at it, and it turned out that the driver of the minivan had accidentally driven it into the ditch when trying to get on the shoulder as the brakes had failed.

[Coworker] started winching the minivan back onto the shoulder so he could tow it, but he messed up the chain, it got caught on a stump, and he managed to break the winch assembly. Worse, he broke the winch assembly badly enough that it twisted the bed of his truck.

So, they called me. [Coworker]’s truck was still drivable, so he took the customer back to the mechanic. I got my truck out there to pick up the minivan, but while I was attaching the winch to the minivan, a pick-up with a trailer full of poorly secured junk came by the bend. A riding lawn mower fell off of the pick-up’s trailer and slammed into the side of my truck, breaking the driver’s side door shut and misaligning the steering wheel badly enough that I didn’t feel that it was safe to drive it.

I practically s*** my pants; if I had been in the driver’s seat, that could have killed me.

The pick-up drove on without stopping.

I called for the truck that could tow a semi (or a tow truck) to get both me and the minivan (which I winched out of the ditch while I was waiting).

While the heavy tow was slowing down to pull over and pick me up, a driver — later revealed by the police to be drunk — slammed into the back of it hard enough to break the rear axle.

That’s how all three of our trucks were taken out of commission by one tow. It was very embarrassing calling one of our rivals for a rescue.