(I’m heading to a friends place when I stop in to a local shopping centre to pick up something for lunch. I sit down to put my things away and start chatting to an English lady about where she’s from and other things. I’ve always had a thing of chatting to random people. 30 minutes later I receive a text from my friend.)

Friend: “Are you still coming over? Where the h*** are you?”

Me: “Ooops, sorry. Gonna be leaving here in 10 minutes. Sorry.”

(Like he knew what had happened.)

Friend: “D*** it, [My Name]. Stop talking to randoms. Didn’t your mum ever teach you ‘Stranger Danger?'”

Me: “She did but I never listened. Leaving now.”

(My friend and I have just watched Insurgent. We are now critiquing it.)

Friend: “Either they’re fighting or being mushy.”

Me: “At one point, I felt like I was watching 25 Shades of Grey.”

Friend: “Nah, it’s not that bad. Maybe just 10 Shades.”

(I am working for a pretzel company that had two stores in the mall. I am in the kiosk at the far end of the mall.)

Customer: “May I have a salted pretzel?”

Me: “Sure, that will be [price].”

(Whilst I am preparing her pretzel, she continues to look at the menu board. We chat about the day. She is extremely pleasant.)

Customer: “May I also get a large lemonade?”

Me: “Of course.”

(I start filling the drink, and update her on her new total. Then I lean over the counter to hand her the drink. My pentacle necklace falls out of my shirt. She takes one look at that and begins to scream at me:)

Customer: “You are going to burn in Hell, demon! You devil worshipper!”

(She took her food and drink so fast, she left her change. As sad as this is, this wasn’t the first nor last time this has happened to me throughout working customer service…)

(I pick up a PS3 from my local game store. Two teens follow me out. At first, I don’t believe they’re following me, but they keep whispering to each other and looking at me with smirks on their faces. I ignore them and turn into a crowded shop. They don’t follow. I soon forget about them as I finish my shopping, and start to walk out. They’re waiting for me there.)

Punk #1: “Hey!”

Me: “Yeah?”

Punk #2: “What’s in the bag?”

Me: “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

Punk #2: “Is it an Xbox? Or a Playstation?”

(I start to walk off again, but they block my way.)

Punk #1: “Wow, I want a Playstation.”

Me: “Then get a job and buy it, like I did.”

Punk #2: “Yeah, right, you live with your parents.”

Me: “Nope, I’m not you.”

(I walk past them, as they’re a little stunned by my quick response. I head to the food court, getting something to eat and sitting near some other people, hoping the idiotic teens wouldn’t do anything stupid in a crowded area. I note the two punks coming over again.)

Punk #1: “Hey, look, there’s my Playstation!” *grabs for the bag*

Me: *pulls the bag away from him*

Punk #2: “B****!” *grabs my hand, twisting it and slamming it into the table*

(They’ve attracted a customer’s attention by now.)

Customer: “Hey! Get away from him!”

(The two teens run off, guffawing stupidly.)

Customer: “You okay? You know those kids?”

Me: “I’m all right, thanks. And no, I don’t know them.”

Customer: “I saw you earlier. Were those kids following you?”

Me: “Yeah, for the past hour. They also waited for me outside a shop.”

Customer: “Hang on.” *to his wife* “Sweetie, can you help me watch him? Make sure those kids don’t come back.”

Customer’s Wife: “Okay.”

(The customer leaves while his wife and I chat. He returns with two security guards.)

Security Guard #1: “So, we heard something happened. Can you explain it to me?”

(Security Guard #2 went off with Customer to grab the two punks, who were ordering food like nothing happened. I gave the full, detailed story, Customer #1’s wife backing me up as a witness, along with some other passerby. He then made sure that I’m safe before calling the police. End result: The two teens were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, attempted theft, assault, then on top of it all, banned for life from the mall!)

(I am a transgender female but have not started treatment yet. However, I do go out dressed female with friends. A female friend and I are at the mall shopping, and she is recommending stores to shop at.)

Friend: “So I like to shop at this store for jeans, because they have a better selection. And I don’t like regular jeans so much. I have areas of me that don’t fit into regular jeans so well. Hopefully, you don’t have to go through that.”

Me: *stares like she’s crazy*

Friend: *laughs* “Oh, I’m sorry. I forgot.”