I work at a well-known fast food chain. I am working at the drive-thru window.

Me: “Your total is $19.86, sir.”

He hands me over $20, a nickel, and a dime. The dime drops while it is in his hands still.

Me: “I apologize, sir, but your dime accidentally dropped. Would you like me to use just the twenty instead and hand you back the nickel?”

Customer: “No, I want you to use the twenty and the nickel, and then I want you to come out here and get my dime for me.”

Me: *Confused* “I’m sorry?”

He explains the entire thing to me again. I am stammering, unsure of what to say.

Me: “I can’t do that for you, sir. I apologize.”

Customer: “Well, you’re going to do it anyway.”

Annoyed, I look away and spot a dime on the counter from someone else’s change that was left there earlier. I grab it and hold it up to him.

Me: “I have one right here.”

Customer: “Well, good.”

I gave him his change and didn’t look at him for the rest of the exchange.

I’m working at a bank. I’m a woman in my twenties. A male customer, about my age, approaches the counter.

Customer #1: “I need $100 in new ones for Eid.”

Me: “I’m sorry, but we don’t have any new ones on hand at this time. I can sort through what we do have and get you some nice bills, though.”

Customer #1: “No, they must be new. Do you even know what Eid is?! It’s required that I have new money.”

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t have any.”

Customer #1: “Well, go make some more!”

Me: “Come again?”

Customer #1: “In the back. You make them in the back, right?”

Me: “Sir, we don’t print money here. We get it shipped to us.”

Customer #1: “And when will you have new bills shipped to you?”

Me: “We order it around Christmas.”

Customer #1: “Well, that doesn’t help me now. Fine. Where is there a currency exchange in this state?!”

Me: “It’s at [Large City three hours away].”

Customer #1: “You’re making me drive all the way over there?! You’re a bank! Forget it. I’ll try somewhere else where the tellers aren’t so useless!“

He storms out. I take a deep breath to compose myself and call the next customer, a well-dressed older woman.

Customer #2: “I guess I’m out of luck? I need new ones for Eid, as well.”

I mentally groan and wait for the next temper tantrum.

Customer #2: “But you said you can find some nice ones?”

Me: “Yes, ma’am. How many do you need?”

Customer #2: “Do you have $10?”

Me: “I do.”

I count it out to her. She nods.

Customer #2: “These will work. They look almost new. Thank you so much. I heard you mention getting new money around Christmas. Can people place orders for that?”

Me: “Yes. You can call in around Thanksgiving and we’ll take an order for you. It usually takes a week or so to come in.”

Customer #2: “Fantastic! I’ll make a note to do that. Also, I’d like to apologize for that other guy.”

Me: “That’s not necessary.”

Customer #2: “No, I insist. He shouldn’t have treated you like that. It wasn’t right. You don’t control what gets sent to you. Anyway, you’ve been such a help, dear. I hope you have a fantastic day.”

She smiled, waved, and exited. Be nice to your tellers, people.

I am at an agricultural show buying food from one of the food outlets. I pay with a fifty-dollar note but only get change back from a twenty.

Me: “Excuse me, I gave you a fifty.”

Vendor: “No, you’re mistaken; it was a twenty.”

Me: “It was definitely a fifty, because I just got money out of the ATM behind me and all it gave me was fifty-dollar notes.”

Vendor: “Well, I’m positive it was a twenty.”

Me: “Okay, then, can you call someone to count your cash drawer?”

Vendor: “I don’t know who I can call?”

Me: “How about [Food Venues Manager]?”

This manager just happens to be my uncle.

Vendor: “You know what? I’m just going to take you at your word and give you the thirty dollars because I trust you.” 

A couple of days later, I mention what happened to my cousin, who also works at the venue.

Cousin: “Was this at [stall] next to the stadium?”

Me: “Yeah.”

Cousin: “Dad put me there because he noticed the takings were lower than they should have been. As soon as I walked in, I caught the woman doing just what you mentioned; she shortchanged a customer and then put the change and a couple of fifties out of the till into her pocket. When she saw that I had seen it, she threatened me with violence if I told on her, and then she told me that she was friends with [Uncle] and he would believe her over a teenage skank like me.”

Me: “And there I was thinking she had made an honest mistake.”

Cousin: “Yeah, no. I gave Dad a quick call and he turned up a couple of minutes later with the police. You should have seen her face when I called him Dad.” *Laughs* “They found about $500 in her apron pocket. I smiled at her as she was led away in cuffs.”

This story is part of our Best Of December 2020 roundup! This is the last story in this roundup, but if you’d like to read more of our favorite stories, you can always check out November’s roundup next!

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I have to run some errands and I drag my college-age son along. As we are heading home, I stop by a fast food Chinese restaurant to get him food as a thank-you.

Me: “Here are twenty bucks for lunch. I don’t want to get out of the car.”

He came back with the food, the receipt, and $11.00 in change. The receipt showed that I was short by $0.76. I guess the cashier didn’t give him any coins due to the current coin shortage in the US. If it had been less than fifty cents, I would have let it slide, but I sent my son back to the restaurant to ask for a gift card for the missing $0.76.

I was surprised to see my son come back with $0.76 and not a gift card. I guess they did have coins after all.

My job is not exactly unique, and within my company alone, we have around 5,000 people doing it, but what makes my position different is that I work solo in a location, whereas most people have teams of at least five or six.

The company decides that they are going to open another solo location due to the low overheads and high profits we tend to make, and so it is decided that I am going to help get it set up as well as teaching the new starter the ropes you don’t get shown in a team.

My manager finds a nice hotel five minutes’ walk from the location — he asked me if I was happy walking before booking it — which also includes breakfast and tea, so the only extra budget would be for lunch. The problem starts because it is £10 over his allowed budget and so it has to be sent off to the cost centre for approval. They, of course, check hotels in the area for cheaper prices.

Cost Centre Employee: “[Manager], we managed to find a few hotels in the area with lower prices. We are rejecting your hotel selection. Please find somewhere else.”

This is where malicious compliance comes in. He found a really nice hotel a twenty-minute drive from the location and £1 below his budget. He booked it for me and this was accepted; however, the hotel did not include any food, and the way our company works is that they will cover all food costs from the hotel as long as you have receipts. Because it was twenty minutes from the location and I could not drive, taxis were also booked for me to take me to and from work.

This ended up costing the company an extra £500 after paying for food and taxis. I got to take full advantage of a five-star hotel, as well as having shorter days at work due to “travel time.”