I overhear my coworker on a call.

Coworker: “[Department], may I help you?”

Customer: “Hi, yes, I’d like to know if you have a rotary there?”

Coworker: “I’m sorry, a what?”

Customer: “A rotary.”

Coworker: “Like a telephone?”

Customer: “No! A rotary!”

Coworker: “Rotary with an R, right?”

Customer: “Yes! A rotary! Do you have one?”

Coworker: “Like, in town? There are no rotaries in town. There is one in [Town next over] and a few over the bridges in [City next over].”

Customer: “Are you kidding me? None in the entire town?”

Coworker: “Well, I mean, we’re not very big, so…”

Customer: “But seriously? No rotaries at all?”

Coworker: “Uh, no, I don’t think so…”

Customer: “You think or you know? Which is it?”

Coworker: “We don’t have a rotary.”

Customer: “Ugh! Well, where can I find one?”

Coworker: “Again, there’s one in [Town next over] or a few over the bridges in [City next over].”

Customer: “I can’t believe it! No banks or lawyers in town have rotaries?”

Coworker: “I don’t… are you sure you mean rotary? Like where cars drive around in a circle?”

Customer: “What? No! I mean a ROTARY! R-O-T-A-R—” *Pauses* “Notary. I mean a notary. Someone who can witness a signature.”

Coworker: “Oh, okay. Yes, we have three notaries in our office.”

She came in twenty minutes later, very nice and polite, and apologized for her misspeaking.

A physics professor walks by, pushing a piece of equipment on a cart.

Me: “Hey, [Physics Professor], what’s that?”

Physics Professor: “Railgun.”

Me: “Uh… whoa. What class is that for?”

Physics Professor: “None. Just wanted a railgun.”

About half an hour later…

Biology Professor: “Hey, [My Name], do we still have that old dartboard? [Physics Professor] wants to borrow it for some reason.”

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I work retail, but most of the workers love the company so we are all definitely stressed (because of the general public) but satisfied due to the pay and coworkers. I’m a manager. My boss and I are close friends so we joke around frequently.

We are in the office. It’s the end of the night, so it’s just the two of us and our payroll clerk, who is a riot to work with. Most of the administrative staff have gone home, so it’s up to management to answer the phones. 

The phone rings; my boss and I are talking without realizing that the payroll clerk is in the middle of something and can’t get the phones. She makes an idle comment about being busy so the boss and I give each other a look and race to our respective phones. It’s immature, I know, but being silly makes working there easier.

We both grab a separate phone connected to the same line and I hear him make a victory cry and then start saying our general business greeting into the receiver. 

I assume he was able to reach the call, and I laugh and yell, “You little brat!” at my boss before slamming down my phone in defeat. That’s when I look up and see the payroll clerk and my boss looking at me in horror.

I was the one who got the call, and I just called the unknown caller a brat and hung up on them. Oops. 

The caller calls back not even a minute later and they all force me to take the call.

After the general greeting, I learn that it’s one of our part-time employees.

Employee: “Um, hi, so I wanted to call so I can quit? I can’t give two weeks’ notice and won’t be coming in for my shift tomorrow.”

I tell the employee that I will notify the proper parties and hang up. I explain the call to the payroll clerk and the boss.

Boss: “She quit without notice? That little brat! You had it right the first time!”

My boyfriend’s father can be a little… inconsiderate. He’s often selfish to the point that he doesn’t like to be around his grandchildren because then everyone does what they want to do and not what he wants. He also likes to show off things that he’s purchased and will impulsively purchase properties and cars, show them off, get tired of them, and sell them again.

It’s safe to say that, when my boyfriend and I were looking for a place to live, the distance from his parents was a definite factor. When we found out that a condo was available in the same complex where his parents live — literally across the driveway — we were skeptical about choosing it. Fortunately (or unfortunately), we wound up absolutely loving the condo and weighed the consequences of living across from his parents. Throwing caution to the wind, we purchased the condo and did the final closing the following month.

My boyfriend was able to move in immediately, but I had to finish a lease in my previous apartment, so I had to wait another month. Over the next two weeks, my boyfriend started telling me stories about his father making offhand comments about our place and how nice it was and how he was going to use our basement to work out, and jokingly asking if we wanted to switch condos. I laughed about it, but I knew that he honestly was a little jealous; personally, I think our condo was far superior to theirs.

Then, I got a call from my boyfriend, who sounded a little miffed. At the time, my boyfriend was working at least ten hours a day, six days a week, and his parents were recently retired. We gave his parents a key to our condo for emergency purposes and thought we could trust them to not abuse our security. Come to find out, his father took it upon himself to give tours of our condo! Everyone that stopped by — distant relatives, friends of his parents — knew that it was our condo, but his father bragged about it like it had been his idea for us to purchase it; they did let us know about the listing, but he was not involved in the decision or mortgage at all.

But the real reason that my boyfriend was upset was that his father gave tours to two of his other children, something that my boyfriend was really looking forward to doing for his own siblings. I was upset for him and for me. This was the first house for both of us, and we had been looking forward to showing it off. Now, his father had selfishly taken it away for his own satisfaction.

There is a bit of a silver lining, though. The next weekend, I came up to the house to drop off some things and spend time with my boyfriend, who was at work when I arrived. I was exhausted from moving things and was relaxing in the living room. I glanced out the window to see my boyfriend’s father talking animatedly to my boyfriend’s mother, brother, and his brother-in-law as they walked towards our condo. In a flash, I realized that they didn’t know I was home — parking is in a different location away from the condos — and he was coming to give another tour!  

I sprang into action and opened the door just as his father went to unlock it. They all seemed surprised to see me, but I quickly welcomed them in and offered to give them a tour. My boyfriend’s brother and brother-in-law agreed, and soon I was excitedly showing them the house and discussing all the plans we had to redo and remodel. My boyfriend’s father was silent from the moment he saw me, and by the time we moved upstairs, he was no longer with us. I peeked outside and saw him sullenly going back to his condo.

When my boyfriend got home, I told him what had happened and he was overjoyed. I moved in a few weeks later, and as far as we know, his father has not tried anything like that since.

Despite the health crisis, I have driven a close friend in for a wheelchair assessment. He has fibromyalgia along with another nerve condition that makes it nearly impossible for him to walk more than about twenty feet at any one time. The fibro also makes it impossible for him to use a self-propelled wheelchair. This appointment is to get a doctor to sign off on a motorized chair so that his insurance will pay for it.

I dropped him off as close to the front door as possible and go to park the car. The entrance to the parking garage is around the corner. The building itself is facing a pier that is now a park built out into the water.

My friend texts me after I drop him at the front door.

Friend: “They told me I’m too early and they won’t let me borrow a chair. Can you come back and help me walk over to sit somewhere?”

Me: “Be right there.”

I walked out to the end of the pier to enjoy the view, so after power-walking back, I find him barely upright, leaning heavily on his cane, standing in the front door of the building, blocking traffic due to people trying to keep six feet minimum distance from each other. I offer him my arm.

Me: “Grab hold. I saw a bench to the right.”

We are both wearing masks, but we rode down in a car with less than a foot between us. Helping him walk isn’t that much closer contact than we’ve already had today, and I know he’s been extremely isolated, never leaving his house except for doctor visits.

He takes two steps and his left leg gives out. He ends up on the ground and I end up slamming my right knee into the concrete because my leg buckled under his weight.

A security guard comes running over.

Security Guard: “What happened?”

I tell him and ask for a wheelchair and note that the front desk wouldn’t give my friend one. All the while, I’m helping my buddy move over enough that he isn’t sprawled in the door of the building and ignoring my now aching knee. The security guard is a good sport. He shakes his head and brings us a pushchair — not a regular wheelchair, but better than nothing.

Me: *To the guard* “Thank you so much! I don’t know why they wouldn’t give him one, given why he’s here.”

The guard helps me get my buddy into the pushchair.

Security Guard: “Why is he here?”

Me: “He’s getting doctor approval for a wheelchair.”

I don’t normally speak for my friend, but I can tell he is in too much pain to talk, and I want to make sure this guy knows that it is stupid to not let my friend borrow a chair. The security guard just shakes his head again. I can see that he isn’t happy with the front desk guy. I ignore it, as there isn’t much I can do beyond what I’ve already done, and, since we can’t go upstairs because we’re too early for the appointment, I ask my friend if he wants me to push him out to the end of the pier to watch the water.

My friend nods his approval, so I thank the guard again and push my buddy out to enjoy the fresh air. We’re far enough from people we could take our masks off and enjoy the salt air. Upon returning to the building for the appointment, the guard sees us and checks that everything is all right. We’re both okay, so I thank him again. The guard says to get him when we’re leaving so I can grab the car and he can help my buddy out.

It ended well! My buddy got his doctor’s approval for his motorized chair, and the security guard was true to his word when we left and even gave me a coupon for extra off the parking cost. He was also very nice about helping get my friend in the car.

I only hope the person at the front desk learns from this! Just because someone is upright in that moment, it does not mean it’s easy or even possible for them to stay that way!