I work the self-checkout registers at a grocery store. A sketchy-looking couple comes up with a fully-loaded double-wide cart. Our self-checkouts have a carousel with four bag racks and a small shelf above, and you aren’t supposed to take the bags off before you pay.

They ring up most of their stuff and start to take the bags off. My PDA starts going off because items are being removed.

Me: “Sorry, but you have to leave them on the scale, or else it locks up and you can’t scan anymore.”

Technically, I can press a button on the PDA and override it, but we aren’t supposed to. The lady scoffs and rolls her eyes as she put the bags back on, and then she starts taking them off again after I walk away. I end up just getting irritated and overriding the weight differences.

They finally get to the end of their order, which ends up being over $200, and they pay with food stamps. After they swipe their card, there’s still a small balance left, and they call me over for help. I look at my PDA and scroll through their order, and I see that they have a package of steamed seasoned shrimp.

Me: *Politely* “You aren’t allowed to buy hot food on EBT.”

Customer: *Starts pitching a fit* “We bought them raw and had them steamed!”

This is pretty much telling me they steamed them and priced them as raw shrimp, which you can get in big trouble for doing. I call my manager over and he tells her the same thing.

Customer: *Scoffs and rolls her eyes* “Take them, then! Void them off!”

I do, and I take them to the attendant station where I call the guy in the seafood department to come and take them back. I tell my manager what happened.

Manager: “We’ll just have to throw them away since it violates health code to rechill in-store-cooked seafood.”

Customer: “Well then, we’ll take them, since you’re just gonna trash them.”

I could tell how hard my manager was trying not to laugh. I’m pretty sure the couple called a few days later to complain.

Some years ago, I read in an ad that a chain of hardware stores was having a sale on an electric drill. It looked really good, so I went over to the local store to buy one.

Once I got there, I looked around but couldn’t see the drill. There was a big sign placed on the floor near some pallets, and it looked like the store was sold out. Since they were still advertising it, though, I picked up the sign and went over to an employee.

Me: “Do you have any more of these drills?”

Employee: “No, they’re all sold out. We have some other ones, though.”

Me: “Sold out already? That was quick.”

Employee: “Yeah, we didn’t get as many as we thought.”

Me: “Okay, but shouldn’t you take these signs down, then? They’re still placed both in the store and outside.”

Employee: “Nah, they can stay up.”

Me: “Oh, so you’re getting more of the drills coming in?”

Employee: “No.”

Me: “But then why are you keeping the signs up?”

The employee just shrugged and proceeded to take the sign back and put it up again. This bothered me. While this store clearly couldn’t be blamed for the online and newspaper ads running despite their local stock being empty, keeping those signs up around the shop was a “lure”. Several different chains had been busted using similar tactics: advertising a product they don’t actually have in stock, hoping to lure customers into the shop, and pushing to sell them something more expensive.

I used my camera phone to take a photo of the employee rehanging the sign — he actually posed for the photo — and sent it to the chain’s corporate office along with a complaint. I also gave the store a negative online review.

A couple of years later, the shop closed down as part of a major relocation. All that time, I never returned there. When I boycott a store, it’s forever.

My father was the head manager for a small European company, operating on the periphery of a large but declining industry. I’m being circumspect because there’s a non-disclosure agreement I should not even know about.

My father ran all the day-to-day affairs, with the board of directors giving only overall strategic direction. He had been at the company for many years and was quite well paid. However, he was intending to retire and was on the point of submitting his notice in time for Christmas, though he had not yet told the company.

At the same time, it seems that the company itself wanted him to leave because they thought he was too expensive and revenue across the industry was declining, but because of employment law and my father’s contract, it would have been very costly to simply give him severance along with his company pension.

So, the directors made up a fake “gross misconduct” allegation and fired him with immediate effect, obviously to avoid the costly severance. 

My father had been in the industry for decades, working his way up. Originally, he had worked for one of the main employers as a low-grade worker, but he rose through management, migrating to well-paid jobs with smaller companies in the wider industry.

Companies on the periphery are often anti-union, and the board of directors no doubt assumed my father was not a union member as he was a senior manager. However, he had retained union membership all this time. Also, he had evidence that the gross misconduct accusation was false.

He asked his union for help, and they went in big-time with specialist employment lawyers. The company was presumably advised by their own lawyers that they would lose, so a few months later, they gave my father a huge severance payment, a full pension, and a non-disclosure agreement.

My father bought a large second home in the country where the family has spent many happy holidays. He would still have only his small city home if the company had just let him retire.

I help my mother-in-law with her taxes every year. This year, we are looking for a specific paper but cannot find it. I know it looks like I’m staring into space, but I’m actually mentally retracing my steps to try to recall where and when I had the paper last. My mother-in-law is tearing apart everything she can get her hands on.

Mother-In-Law: “What are you doing?! Help me look!”

Me: “I’m thinking.” *Pauses* “We had it in the den when we did the state taxes, right?”

Mother-In-Law: “Yes!”

Me: “Okay, so—”

Mother-In-Law: “Help me look!”

Me: “I’m thinking!”

Mother-In-Law: “You’re just standing there!”

I walk away, not interested in arguing. She follows me.

Mother-In-Law: “Seriously, you just walked away and thought I wouldn’t notice you’re not helping?”

Me: “Did you check the closet in your office?”

Mother-In-Law: “Yes. It’s not there.”

Me: “I thought I remembered putting it on the top shelf.” *Sigh* “I don’t know. I’ll—”

Mother-In-Law: *Raising her voice* “You need to stop f****** around and help me!”

Me: *Matching her tone* “Acting like an a** isn’t going to make it appear.”

Mother-In-Law: “Okay. You just sit here and be useless. That’s great.”

She leaves, slamming the door.

A moment later, I get up, go to her office, and open the closet door. There on the top shelf is the folder we’ve been looking for. It’s the only thing up there, so there’s no way she missed it unless she didn’t even look. I grab it and go back to her.

Me: “Here.”

I drop it on the floor in front of her.

Mother-In-Law: “Finally!”

Me: “It was in the top of your closet where you said you already looked.”

Mother-In-Law: “Oh.” *Hesitates* “Well, now we—”

Me: “I’m done.”

Mother-In-Law: “Why?!”

Me: “You were a b**** while I was trying to help, you lied about where you searched, and just now, you couldn’t even apologize or thank me.”

I left and ignored her calls for several days. She ended up hiring a professional.

I work at a mom-and-pop musical instrument store.

Customer: “Can I rent a guitar amplifier from you? I have a gig tonight.”

Me: “We don’t do rentals because we only sell new gear and consignment gear, which isn’t ours to loan out.”

He responds perfectly reasonably, saying he understands, and decides to buy the most expensive guitar amplifier of its kind that we have and proceed on his merry way.

The next weekend, he comes in with his wife.

Customer: “The amplifier broke during my gig!”

Being a small store, we try to accommodate our customers because if we don’t give them good service, they’ll just start buying all their stuff online for less. My manager agrees to start the return process, but the way this guy’s wife is ranting and raving about how the amp stopped working is making me suspicious.

While my manager is at the computer, I grab a guitar, plug it into the amp, plug in the amp, turn on the amp, crank the volume up to ten, and then play the loudest, most obnoxious chord I can. This startles the guy and his wife, who immediately turn around.

Me: *Smiling politely* “Huh. Seems to be working just fine.”

Yeah, f*** you, buddy. You’re not getting a free amp rental.