A buddy of mine owns his own electrical contracting company. He has many customers that have been his for decades. One Friday night at about midnight, he got an emergency call from an old client that converted his bar into a topless bar which required an increase in electricity use. The lights were flickering on and off, certain outlets stopped working, and others were sparking. My buddy showed up and went to the electric panel box. The pipe coming out of the top was glowing red! That meant it was heated up to an incredibly dangerous level.

Buddy: “You gotta shut this down now! This is about to burn down!”

Client: “I can’t! It’s Friday night! Do you have any idea how much money I make on Friday and Saturday nights? I will shut it down on Sunday and you start working on it then.” 

Buddy: “No, you don’t understand. This will not make it another hour, much less the night. This is a huge safety and fire issue. This is beyond dangerous, and you are putting your employees and customers in extreme danger if you don’t shut this down now.”

Client: “No, I can’t afford to do that.”

My buddy took pics with his cell phone and left. He called the fire chief’s office but didn’t get anyone, so he left a message. About three in the morning, he got a call back asking him to get back to the bar. Yep, it burned to the ground. Thankfully, everyone got out okay. A few had to go to the hospital for smoke inhalation but were released a few hours later.

Fire Chief: *To my buddy* “So, the owner said you were the electrician that worked on this just a few hours ago. What happened?”

My buddy figured they had the idea HE did something to cause this fire. He explained everything and showed him the pics.

Buddy: “Look, Chief. I knew this would go up in flames. I told him. I even called your office when I left here and left a message for you. I did no work on this because I knew this was dangerous. I tried to tell him to shut it down.”

The chief immediately had charges brought against the owner who later had to pay all the hospital bills. Plus, insurance refused to cover the loss because of the negligence. The sad thing is that this was not the only case of someone not listening to my buddy and their business or house end up burning down.

Always listen to the professionals you hire. They know what they are talking about.

A coworker once showed up to the office in a white wedding dress with a crinoline, beading — the works.

Manager: “Why did you wear your wedding dress to the office?”

Coworker: “I was out of clean clothes and didn’t feel like doing laundry.”

I have newly moved to this small town with a relatively higher population of Asians. One Sunday afternoon, I go to this global chain sandwich shop for a quick bite. This shop is the kind where you get your sandwich first and then pay when you exit. As I enter, I see an employee making a sandwich for a previous customer. I sit down at a small table, play on my phone, and wait for my turn, not paying much attention to what is going on at the sandwich station. When the customer leaves, I move to the sandwich station, and the employee returns from the cash register.

It is worth noting that I am an Indian and I’m a vegetarian by choice. I mention to all restaurant staff upfront that I eat no meat, eggs, or chicken, but milk and milk products are okay. I am not the glove police or anything, but I request that my food is handled with clean hands or fresh gloves just to avoid meat contamination. Usually, this is not a problem as I order simple vegetarian options on the menu and everyone understands and accommodates this.

Me: “Hi, I’d like a [selection of wheat bread] to start my sandwich. But before that can you please change your gloves?”

Employee #1: “I just changed now.”

Me: “Sorry, I did not see that. You just finished serving the other customer.”

Employee #1: “Doesn’t matter. My gloves are clean. Did you want your bread toasted or not?”

Me: “Hey, sorry, I am not going ahead with this. I’d like you to change them, please; I am a vegetarian and it matters to me. Please change the gloves.”

The employee rolls her eyes and looks upset by now.

Employee #1: “That customer is also like you and ordered a vegetarian sandwich.”

She gestures to me while saying this in a way that kind of implies that the other customer was an Indian, too. But I am not comfortable with her answer, nor do I appreciate her rudeness. I don’t know what to do at this point, and I am about to walk off when another employee arrives from inside.

Employee #2: “What seems to be the problem?”

Employee #1: “Yeah, she wants fresh gloves — like people of her type — and I am not doing that. I just changed to these and I served no meat with these.”

Me: “I am sorry for the inconvenience. I am just not sure.”

When I start to say I will leave, he cuts me off.

Employee #2: “Hold on. Hey, [Employee #1], did you cash out the previous customer wearing the gloves?”

Employee #1: “Yeah, so?”

Employee #2: *Exasperated sigh* “Let me handle this. You wait inside, please.” *To me* “let me help you now, if that’s okay.”

Me: “Sure, I’d like [selection of wheat bread] toasted with cheese, please.”

He wears fresh gloves and completes my order perfectly well and wraps it in paper.

Me: “I am sorry if that was an inconvenience to you.”

Employee #2: “No problem at all. She was not supposed to touch the register with gloves anyway. And we’ll change our gloves if you want us to change any number of times; that’s our policy.”

He then apologized for his coworker’s behaviour, and we made a small chat about my move to the town. I bought a cookie and drink with my sandwich and left. I went there almost every Sunday for lunch and met this employee most times. The first employee did not interact with me when I was there. She left soon after.

I saw my dentist last June for a checkup on a Saturday morning. They scheduled the next appointment for a Saturday morning in December. I got three different texts and emails the week before confirming my appointment.

I showed up about ten minutes before my appointment to find the door unlocked and the office completely empty. I tried the emergency on-call number. No one responded. I finally called the police because I didn’t want to leave the office empty and unlocked.

It turned out they had stopped doing Saturday office hours, and they didn’t bother to call me and reschedule. Monday morning they called me because, in their words, I didn’t show up for my appointment. I told them no, I was there; they weren’t.

They couldn’t get me in for an appointment in December before my deductible reset. In fact, they couldn’t find another time that worked for me until August.

I’ll be seeing a new dentist next month.

I’m at the airport, trying to check in. As always, I use the check-in machine and intend to use the self-help bag drop because it’s faster than the manual check-in. For some reason, the machine doesn’t give me a baggage tag, so manual intervention is needed. There is always an attendant at the bag drop in case someone needs help, so I head over there and explain that I didn’t get a baggage tag.

Attendant: “You should try another machine.”

Me: “I did. It said the tag had already been printed.”

The attendant visibly and audibly sighs but gives no gesture in any direction.

Attendant: “Then you need to go to the check-in counter. “ 

Me: “Yes, and where is that?”

Attendant: “There are signs.”

I’m starting to think I may be missing something really obvious.

Me: “That I can see from here?”

Attendant: *Rolling her eyes* “You don’t need to see them from here; you will see them when you get there.”

I’m getting a bit fed up.

Me: “Well, I’m not here every day, unlike you.”

She frowns, lifts the world’s heaviest arm, and points in what, somewhat surprisingly, will turn out to be the right direction.

I’m really fed up at this time.

Me: “You don’t have to be quite so obvious about how stupid you think I am.”

She walked away. So did I, and after a brief wait and a pleasant exchange with the check-in person, my suitcase was tagged and sent on its merry way. 

Walking back toward security, I saw the attendant again, in what seemed to be a helpful interaction with someone. I have no idea what I did wrong.