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!

This happens more than ten years ago when I’m barely thirteen and my family has just moved from the southern USA to the North East. We arrive in mid-February, just two days before a massive nor’easter hits, dumping just about a foot of snow. My mom is from the area, so she knows how to deal with this. My little brother and I do not. He was born in the south and we moved there when I was just six months old, so both of us are just this side of useless when it comes to snow, having never seen more than five inches our whole lives.

The day after the storm, my brother and I have to get to school. We wake up extra early and spend the better part of two hours shoveling our sidewalk, digging out the car, and clearing out the parking space — there’s street parking only on this block.

When we’re finally done, my mom marks her parking space with a chair. It’s common practice up here to save your space, because people who have lived here forever and know what happens every winter will still refuse to shovel their own space and use whatever is available, no matter who shoveled it.

We pile into my mom’s little Audi. While waiting for it to warm up, we see a big Hummer screech to a halt behind us and flip his blinker on. He’s clearly waiting for us to leave so he can take our spot. My mom isn’t having this. She shifts the car back into park, turns the blinker off, and waits for him to leave. 

After a few minutes of waiting, we can see the guy getting more and more frustrated. He’s gesturing at my mom, banging his steering wheel, laying on his horn for twenty-plus seconds at a time. He’s just so ANGRY he can’t have the spot all the way down the block from his house that HE DIDN’T DO ALL THE WORK FOR.

Finally, after about five minutes, he gets out and storms up to the driver’s side window. My mom barely cracks it.

Mom: “Yes, can I help you?”

Angry Guy: “YOU NEED TO F****** MOVE THIS PIECE OF S*** RIGHT THE F*** NOW!”

Mom: “Oh? Is there a plow coming or something?”

Angry Guy: “NO, YOU STUPID B****! I’M TRYING TO F****** PARK AND GO HOME! NOW F****** MOVE! NOW!”

Mom: *Laughing* “Yeahhhh, I don’t think so. We just spent half the morning shoveling this spot. I am legally parked in front of my house, and I know you know the common courtesy in this state of not parking in a spot you didn’t clear and didn’t claim. So you can go shovel out in front of your own house!”

She rolled the window up and pretended to answer her phone. The angry guy stood out there in around twenty degrees Fahrenheit having a Grade-A hissy fit — screaming, stomping, banging on the car window, and even throwing snowballs at the windshield. That one made us laugh, which only made him angrier. His face was so hot I think there was actual steam coming off of his cheeks. 

Ten whole minutes later, he finally got in his car and slammed on the gas. The satisfying ending? D**khead had left his car going so long he ran out of gas and had to call a tow truck. We were late for school. Totally worth it.

This story is part of our Best Of January 2021 roundup!

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Read the Best Of January 2021 roundup!

It is the middle of the global health crisis. I enter a fast food restaurant just behind an older gentleman who pulls down his mask around his chin the second he enters the door. Most of the dining area has been closed off, except for two tables by the ordering counter. The gentleman notices this.

Customer: “What happened to all the tables?”

He wanders over to the pastries, mask still down, to look at them, and then he steps up to order. There is a plastic barrier between the register and customer, but he leans to the side so there is nothing between him and the register.

Customer: “I’ll have a coffee, and one of those muffins.”

Cashier: *Enters the order* “Okay, and will that be anything else?”

Customer: *Leans over the counter* “Where’s my coffee? Will you bring my coffee?”

The cashier points at a small table to the left.

Cashier: “Someone will bring it there. That’ll be [price], please.”

Customer: *Leans over the counter again* “What?”

Cashier: “[Price], please.”

Customer: “Where are all the tables?”

Cashier: “We had to remove them for health reasons, sir.”

Customer: “What?”

Cashier: “Health reasons. How would you like to pay?”

The customer pays and moves near to where I am standing. I quickly step up to order, not wanting to be anywhere near this guy, who still hasn’t put his mask back on. After I order, I wait to the side for my food and the guy walks back up to the cashier.

Customer: “Where’s my coffee? Will you bring it to me?”

Cashier: *Points at the table again* “Someone will bring it there soon.”

He gets his coffee after a minute and goes to sit down at one of the tables to have his coffee and muffin. After another minute, he gets back up and starts looking at the place where utensils and napkins usually would be. Most restaurants no longer set them out for health reasons, including this one. I back away when he comes near me with his mask still off. He then marches up to the counter and leans around the plastic barrier.

Customer: “Where are the napkins? And what happened to all the tables?”

The cashier grabs some napkins and moves so the barrier is between her and the customer.

Cashier: “You need to put on a mask while you’re not eating.”

Customer: “What?”

The cashier holds out the napkins and indicates her mask.

Cashier: “You need to wear a mask.”

He grabbed the napkins from her and stomped away without another word, scowling.