(A friend and I are at a local trade show, and there’s a booth from the blood clinic there. The nurse is explaining what they do, and even do a quick blood test so you can learn your blood type. As we’re chatting with her, she tell us about this one person who came by her booth earlier that day to get tested.)

Man: “Dude, I hope I have the rarest blood type!”

Nurse: “If you do, I’m going to throw you in my car and take you over to the clinic to donate a pint right now!”

Man: “WHAT? Why would you do that to me?”

Nurse: “Think about it. The rarest blood type is the type we need the most.”

Man: “Oh. Then, I hope I have the most common type.”

(We are a market stall that sells perfumes and cosmetics. We love all of our customers, but a lot of our customers are either bad at math or speak without thinking. We sell a range of smell-like famous brand perfumes, which we sell for £3 each. I see a customer looking at our signs.)

Me: “Hi, can I help you?”

Customer #1: “These perfumes are £3 each, right?”

Me: “Yes.”

Customer #1: “You have a sign up that says 3 for £9. That’s dumb as the customer doesn’t save anything buying three! You should remove the sign!”

Me: “I know but the usual going rate is £3.99 or 3 for £10, and some customers ask for 3 for £10!”

Customer #1: “Riiight… Okay, I know; I used to work on markets.”

(At that moment another customer approaches.)

Customer #2: “Hey, they are £3 each right?”

Me: “Yes!”

Customer #2: “So, if I buy three can I have them for £10?”

Customer #1: “…”

Me: *to Customer #2* “You can have them for £9!”

Customer #1: “You’re right; the sign should stay!”

(A group of five friends come up to the stand to buy pretzels. We have a deal going on: buy three pretzels get the fourth for free.)

Customer #1: “We need FIVE pretzels.”

Me: “All right. You’re going to be getting one of those for free today, so your total is going to be $12.36!”

Customer #1: *hands me their card, gets declined*

Me: “Oh! Your card was declined.” *inspects card a bit more to find that it’s a gift card that says $24 on it written in sharpie*

Customer #1: “Well, I just used it in a store five minutes ago, so it should be working. Scan it again!”

Me: “How much did you spend at the store?”

Customer #1: “Uhm. Like $14.”

Me: “The card has $24 , so since you spent $14, you only have $10 and the order is $12.36.”

Customer #1: “Um, okay.” *to Customer #2* “Gimme $2!”

Customer #2: *slowly digs through purse to find a wad of singles; [Customer #1] snatches $2*

Customer #1: *to Customer #3* “Gimme $0.36!”

Customer #3: *dumps out change purse on counter and counts out $0.36 in pennies*

Me: “Thank you… Now I just need to rescan your card to get the $10 since it declined it the first time!”

Customer #1: *hands me a $20*

(I and all the other customers just stared at her in disbelief.)

(I’m working in a kiosk inside a shopping center that sells mostly toys. A mother with her ten-year-old son comes and start looking for an action figure.)

Me: “From that series we have only this two models left. We are going to get some more next week.”

Mother: “This are fine, thank you.” *to her son* “Which one do you want?”

Son: “Mm… eh… This one! No, no! This one!”

(I gave him the toy and I put the other one back in the place where I took it from. The mother pays and the little kid start getting anxious.)

Son: “No, no! I want the other one! I don’t know which one to choose!”

Mother: “Okay… Can we exchange it?”

Me: “Of course!”

(I take the second toy from its place and I gave it to the kid, who ended up exchanging them. I save the first one and immediately he starts throwing a fit.)

Son: “NO, THE OTHER ONE! I DON’T KNOW WHICH ONE TO CHOOSE!”

(The kid starts crying and screaming. Everyone is now looking at us. I take the saved toy and exchange them again. The kid seems happier for a moment.)

Mother: “That’s it? That’s the one you wanted?”

Son: “Yes! No! I DON’T KNOW WHICH ONE TO CHOOSE!”

(The kid starts with the tantrum AGAIN, screaming and falling to the floor crying. I have no idea what to do anymore and the mother starts to laugh because she can’t believe what’s happening.)

Mother: “Okay, let’s exchange it one more time!”

Son: *happily* “Okay!”

(He stands up and I exchange the toys. The same thing follows two more times: I gave him the toy and as soon I take the other one away, hell is released. I know that he want his mother to buy both of them, but this is insane and the mother doesn’t take the hint or pretend that she doesn’t.)

Mother: *calmly* “That was the last exchange, [Son]. I’m leaving.” *to me* “Thank you for your patience.”

Me: *dumbfounded* “Oh, no problem, ma’am.”

(She leaves, leaving her son still on the floor, screaming and crying.)

Son: “I DON’T KNOW WHICH ONE TO CHOOSE!”

Me: *internally screaming*

(Whenever our local soccer team plays games, I usually work in the kiosk. We have separate containers for trash and soda cans, but despite having a large sign over the can container that clearly says “CANS ONLY!”, people always throw regular trash in it anyway. One of these games is unusually hectic; There’s a huge audience, and I get a lot of customers. This results in tons of trash among the cans. A small child, about five-six years old, and his grandfather are about to throw away an empty bag of chips.)

Grandfather: “Throw it in there.” *points to can container*

Child: “But grandpa, it says ‘cans only.’ Shouldn’t we throw it in there instead?” *points to correct trashcan*

Grandfather: “Why? It’s not our job! Leave it to those who work here!” *glances at me and smirks*

(People with attitudes like that are probably the reason why we always have to sort out the trash from the cans after every game. Thanks for giving us work we shouldn’t have to do, old man.)