Another person and I were running a blog site similar to Not Always Right. It was a labor of love for us to share stories from employees in various jobs.

However, one member got a magnificently “brilliant” idea in their head and wrote to me, suggesting a new section of the website.

Member: “It should be called ‘Ask HR,’ and you give advice to people who send in job-related questions. Basically, if someone is having trouble at work, you research what the employee can do about it.”

Me: “I’m afraid that’s not possible for us to do right now. Even ignoring the possible legal troubles we could get into, that would be an insane amount of work. Keep in mind that we would need to be knowledgeable about laws in all fifty states, to say nothing about other countries. There’re only two of us doing this, you know.”

Member: “Not so much work. Just answer a single question once a week or something. That gives you all the rest of the week to do the rest of the site.”

Me: “Again, no, there are too many complications and obstructions to add something like that to the website.”

Member: “That’s why you only do it once a week. That gives you the other six days to research and handle the complications. Or you can just get someone else on board to handle it full time.”

I decided to switch gears.

Me: “You know what? That sounds like a great idea! Since it’s your idea, I’m sure you’ve done your research on the matter. Thank you for volunteering to handle this project! I look forward to receiving emails from you on a weekly basis with example questions and example answers to get the project off the ground. It is, of course, entirely voluntary and you won’t be paid for any of your work.”

The member abruptly had a change of heart, messaged a half-hearted excuse about not being able to commit to the task, and stopped pestering me about incorporating their idea into the site.

Apparently, it wasn’t such a good idea once it became clear that THEY had to actually do all the work. I just had to shake my head.

When I first graduated from college, I had no luck finding an entry-level job in my field. I decided to lower my expectations and applied to a telemarketing company. But they wouldn’t hire me, either, because the only experience I had was a work-study job during college. They recommended getting a job with a temp agency to get more work experience, so I signed up with a temp agency.

I started out by telling the temp agency that I was really good with computers and had a degree in engineering. And then they sent me to be a temporary receptionist with instructions to answer the phones and not touch the computer. I had a few more short-term receptionist assignments, including filling in for someone who left in the middle of the day without clearing their desk of the food they were eating when they got sick. Another memorable assignment was handing out food samples at a large grocery store.

After working for the temp agency for a while, I applied to the telemarketing company again. This time, they wouldn’t hire me because I was “over-qualified” and they were afraid I wouldn’t stay, so I went back to the temp agency for more assignments.

Finally, the temp agency sent me to work at the telemarketing company. Then, I got hired directly when the temporary position became permanent, and I stayed at the telemarketing company for five years.

Customer: “I want to complain to a manager! There’s no parking here!”

Me: “Did you check our additional lot across the street?”

Customer: “No! I didn’t want to walk that far!”

Seriously, it is RIGHT across the street. She was less than pleased when my response was:

Me: “Oh, so there was parking, then.”

Twenty-odd years ago, I was in line at a major fast food chain located in a large mall. Suddenly, the woman in front of me in line fell to the floor, unconscious. At the time, I was in university preparing to apply to medical school, and I had taken some first aid classes. I checked on the woman, who had quickly regained consciousness, but she was confused and trembling after the fall. I asked the employees to hand me a cup of water and to call mall security about the medical issue.

After using my first aid training to determine that the woman didn’t seem to be in immediate danger, I turned around to ask the counter employee for the cup of water.

Employee: “That will be $1.08 for the water.”

Me: “What? There’s a person having a medical issue here. Please just give it to me.”

Employee: “We can’t. You need to pay for the water before we give it to you.”

It should be noted that the law in New York State at the time said that restaurants must give tap water to diners for free upon request.

Me: “I’ll pay in a sec. Please just give me the water.”

Employee: “No, and you need to get her out of the way; she’s blocking the register.”

I looked around, and every employee in the store was scrupulously looking away, and every customer in the area was staring at them. Luckily, at that moment, a security guard I knew from the mall passed by and came to help. 

Me: “Thank God you finally came. I told them to call for security over ten minutes ago.”

Guard: “No one called for security. I was just on my normal rounds.”

Thankfully, he was able to radio for help, and a first aid team was there inside of two minutes to help the woman. She ended up fine; she had just passed out.

As soon as she was in good hands, I turned to the counter. The employee who had refused me water was standing there with a bored look on her face. The manager was behind her tapping his foot and looking annoyed. I had worked retail, and I knew to treat workers as people worthy of respect, but I admit to losing my cool and yelling a bit. 

Me: “What the h***? Not only did you not supply water — as required by law and common decency — but you didn’t even call for security? And then you’re mad at me because I wouldn’t singlehandedly move someone who may have been sick or hurt?”

Manager: “It’s not our problem. If you wanted water, you should have paid for it. If you wanted security, you should have called them.”

Me: “Well, now it is your problem.”

I snatched a sign off the wall with the phone number for the franchise ownership and walked out, with the manager yelling at me as I left. As soon as I could, I contacted the owner, the corporate complaint number, and mall management. I asked them if it was store or franchise policy to allow people to die at the counter and to defy state law. 

By the weekend, when I came to the mall for my retail shift, the manager was gone and much of the staff was replaced. I later heard that that had been the last straw in a number of complaints against the manager, including at least one where they refused to call security when a customer was being assaulted. I don’t think anyone who worked or shopped at that mall shed a tear for them losing their jobs.

This was a few years before the health crisis. My office has all the usual modern things such as Outlook and Zoom, and most importantly, the ability to schedule meetings by viewing others’ availability.

We were performing our year-end process. My coworker, who has been with the company for fifteen years, was in charge of one particular section — the same section she has had for all those fifteen years.

A few weeks after year-end, I was checking off the final items, and I asked her if she had held a recap meeting with the people in her section — about thirty people. You know, what went well, what could be improved, etc. We do this every year to try to make next year better.

Me: “Have you held a recap session yet?”

Coworker: “Welllllll, I tried to!”

Me: “What do you mean, you tried?”

Coworker: “Wellllll, I sent an email to everyone asking them to send me some dates and times they were available for this meeting, but no one responded!”

Me: “Really. You sent an email to thirty people asking them to send you dates and times they were available. I wouldn’t have responded, either. What were you hoping for? They’d all send the same date and time?”

Coworker: “WELLLL…”

Me: “Why didn’t you just use Outlook?”

Coworker: “I tried, but I couldn’t find a good time.”

Me: “Okayyyy, why don’t you break the section into groups and have more than one meeting?”

The whole thing was rather astounding. I have no idea what she’s been doing for the past fifteen years.