I manage to end up with two different accounts with the district council for council tax — an annual charge made by the local council to pay for things like garbage collection and such — for about eighteen months due to an error when recording my change of address with the council. One account includes my middle name and one doesn’t.

I am initially unaware of this and am only made aware when I receive a letter stating that I owe some amount under £150 for council tax at a property I no longer live in.

I ring the council to try and sort this out. As far as I know, I am up to date and have made all payments.

After getting through to the correct team, we spend about two hours going over the payments and charges on the account for the period I lived in the property in question.

Rep: “I can see that there are some admin charges relating to letters on the account, but I can’t talk to you about them. I can only talk about monthly payments and charges.”

Me: “Fine, let’s go through those, then, and work this all out.”

Two hours later, including it being explained to me about the second account…

Rep: “Once you got so deep into arrears, we did an electoral roll search and found that you’d been paying us under this other account since [date], so the charges from that point were zeroed.”

Me: “So, we’re in agreement that I haven’t missed any payments, you’ve billed me appropriately for where I was living and when I lived there, and there’s still [amount] outstanding? I don’t understand.”

Rep: “Yep, we’ve billed you [amount #1] between [date #1] and [date #2] for [address #1] and [amount #2] between [date #3] and [date #4] for [address #2]. You’ve paid [amount #3], leaving this balance outstanding.”

Me: “But we’ve just agreed that I haven’t missed any payments, so how can there be a balance? I think we need to talk about these admin fees, as that’s the only thing we’ve not covered.”

Rep: “I cannot discuss those with you.”

Me: “Then put me through to someone who can.”

I am then connected to one of the managers and thankfully don’t have to explain the situation again as often happens.

Manager: “So, we’re talking about admin fees on your account from when you lived at [address #1]. Okay, I can see that we charged you £75 because we sent a letter demanding payment to [address #1] on [date].”

Me: “We’ve already established that I wasn’t living there on [date] and was paying at [address #2].”

Manager: “Yep, that’s right. So we’ll take that charge off. This other admin fee was for a letter we sent demanding payment on [later date].”

Me: “I still wasn’t living there on [later date], so that one can come off, too.”

Manager: “Yep, okay. That’s fair. Well, taking those off takes your outstanding balance to… Oh, we owe you [amount]. How would you like to receive this?”

I’m working at the cash register at a fast-food restaurant. We cater to older guests and it is not unusual to see several retired people on any night. There is also a fall festival going on celebrating the cider mills in the area and the 100th year. Part of this festival is a walking and biking trail through several orchards; the participants all get shirts.

Me: “Hello! Wow, that’s the second time I’ve seen someone in a shirt like that today. What is it from?”

Customer: “Oh! It’s from [Festival]. We did fifty miles today!”

Customer’s Husband: “Yeah, so we’re really hungry but we’re not sure what to get.”

Me: “Wow, that’s awesome! If you’re really hungry, I would recommend one of our dinners. They don’t come with a drink, but they have larger portions and your choice of two sides. If you’re more interested in a burger, our Deluxe is another popular option.”

The customer and her husband order and decide to eat in the dining room.

Me: “All right! That will be [price].”

The customer hands me a $20 bill. I look at the bill; something doesn’t seem right.

Me: “Wow! This bill seems off.”

I look into my drawer at the other twenties.

Customer: “Well, it’s not counterfeit.”

Me: “Oh, no, I realized what it is; this is one of the old twenties. Look, right here; it’s from 1985! Your bill is older than I am!”

Customer: “Wow! Well, would you look at that? I only got it yesterday!”

Me: “Y’know, it may not seem like much, but this is the most interesting thing that has happened tonight. Here is your change. Enjoy your meal.”

Customer: “I’m glad we could make your day a little better!”

This story is part of our feel-good roundup for August 2020!

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Read the feel-good August 2020 roundup!

I had just finished work and was filling up my car at the nearby petrol station. Having filled up, I went into the shop. I grabbed a chocolate bar and proceeded to give it to the cashier to begin my transaction. With the petrol and chocolate bar, the total came to £40.14.

I gave the cashier two £20 notes and 40 pence, made up of a 10 pence and 4 pence — two pence coins.

The cashier took the money and tried to give me £1.00 change.

I explained that I didn’t need the change as I had given the total amount and thus no change was needed.

Three times I went round in a circle trying to explain basic maths to a cashier. She just couldn’t seem to grasp it.

In the end, the cashier put the change back in the till but looked very confused. Perhaps I should have just taken the extra £1.00, but I don’t like to be dishonest. I just couldn’t understand why the cashier did not understand basic maths.

Our son’s college orientation is held at a posh hotel. The first group of parents and students are entering when I hear a woman asking for money for the bus.

A few give her some. Just the three people around us who do give her over fifty dollars total. Most of us, though, just shake our heads and move on.

As we do, I hear her muttering.

Woman: “D*** stuck-up rich b****es can’t even give me money for the bus.”

That is the last straw for me.

Me: “Lady, most of us are working class. We all have kids entering [Prestigious Local College]. We don’t have money to spare. I know you’ve gotten more than fifty dollars in the last five minutes. I haven’t had that in my wallet since the college application process began.”

I wish I could say she slunk off in shame, but as we left, she was begging the second wave of parents for a little money for the bus.

When I was in middle school, cell phones weren’t yet common, and nobody my age had one yet. I ate lunch near the one payphone in my school.

One lunchtime, there was a guy asking everyone if they had a quarter he could borrow since he needed to call his parents for whatever reason. I always had a few, due to missing the bus semi-regularly, so I gave him one. He thanked me, promised to pay me back, and then walked away, and I promptly forgot all about it.

I’m not sure how many days or weeks later it was when I was surprised at lunch by this random guy coming up to me and handing me a quarter!

It seems like such a small thing, but just the fact that he remembered me and paid me back, when he really didn’t have to, meant enough for me to still remember it clearly to this day.