I work in a high-end soap store, selling luxury hand soap, shampoos, body wash, etc. A man comes up to the counter with a large range of items coming to several hundred dollars. His card then declines, and I politely inform him.

Customer: “It must be from your end. Run it again.”

I run it through twice with the same result each time.

Customer: “That’s impossible! I have money on that card!”

Me: “Do you have another form of payment?”

Customer: “I don’t need another form of payment! I have enough on that card! I earn a lot more than you do, so you may be used to your card being declined, but this doesn’t happen to me!”

Me: *Ignoring the snobby comment* “Well, sir, be that as it may, your card isn’t working, so you need to either provide another form of payment or step aside to call your bank to determine what the issue might be.”

The customer huffs and instead asks for my manager.

Manager: “My associate is correct, sir. You need to call your bank if you’d like to use that card. The issue isn’t coming from our side.” 

The customer huffs again but stands aside to call his bank. As he does so, my manager looks at the large collection of items the customer is having issues paying for.

Manager: “Oh, [My Name], they have the pomegranate handwash you like back in stock! I must have missed that.”

Me: “Yeah, I just saw it, too! I’ll grab a few for myself after my shift.”

At my saying this, the customer (still on the phone) glares at me but shouts at the manager.

Customer: “He can’t afford that!”

Manager: “Neither can you!”

The customer huffed yet again and stormed out. No one mourned the loss. 

I should also clarify that my manager meant I couldn’t normally afford the handwash, but the staff discount does wonders…

I ordered a very nice blouse from an online catalogue company. I’ve dealt with them before, and I’ve never had any problems, so I expected this transaction to proceed as usual. It did — at first. I received my blouse, and it fit, so I thought we were done.  

Two months later, I received another, identical blouse. I checked my credit card statement, and no, I hadn’t been charged double. So, I opened a chat window with the company on my computer. Below, paraphrased, is what we discussed.

Me: “Hi. I received two blouses from you when I only ordered one. I’ve only been charged for one, so I guess I should return the extra?”

Representative: “Yes, you should. Please follow [link] to print out a return form.”

Me: “I read the return form, and there’s nothing there indicating that you’re going to pay for the shipping.”

Representative: “Well, no. You’ll be paying for it.”

Me: “And you’ll reimburse me somehow?”

Representative: “No.”

Me: “Let me get this straight. You’re the ones who made the mistake. I was nice enough to tell you about your mistake. And you want me to pay to fix your mistake?”

Representative: “Or… you could just keep the blouse.”

Me: “Really?”

Representative: “Yeah.”

The impression I got from that anonymous employee was “They don’t pay me enough to care.” So, I kept the blouse. It’s nice enough that I don’t mind having two!

My wife and I go to a nice restaurant. As we are reviewing the menu, I notice a man at another table watching us and then checking his phone while talking with a woman. He does this frequently. At one point, the woman even stands and heads to the front of the house before coming back; it is worth noting that the restrooms are clearly visible in the other direction.

After the plates previously holding our appetizers are removed from our table, the pair stands up. The woman walks out the door, but the man walks over to us.

Man: “Hi. I know you caught me looking, and I’m sorry if I spooked you. My girlfriend and I were seated about twenty minutes before you, and our waitress disappeared after we twisted her arm to take our orders. I apologize again, but I was using you to gauge if it was a problem with the restaurant or just our rude server.”

Me: “Oh, uh… okay. Thanks for clearing that up.”

Man: “Appreciate you putting up with it. Anyway, we actually came here tonight because [Restaurant] did a promo with [Venue], and we got a $100 gift card with our tickets to a show. However, since we’re not getting service, and the manager felt comfortable blowing off our request to speak with him, we’re not coming back. I cannot, in good conscience, recommend this place to a friend, but it’d be a shame to waste the gift card. Would you like it?”

My wife and I trade a look that says it all.

Wife: “Thank you! We… we’re sorry this didn’t work out, but…”

Man: “Don’t apologize; you did nothing. Everything looked great, by the way. I hope you two enjoy.”

He walks off, and we marvel at our good fortune. It concerns me that he got a bad server and the manager did not care, but we have a great server, so I assume it’s the luck of the draw. As we’re waiting and chatting, I remember a sign at the front that asks guests to disclose if they are using a gift card ahead of the bill. When our waiter comes back with our entrees, I decide to be a good little soldier.

Me: “By the way, I just realized I had a gift card with me, and I remembered the sign. Can you still update our bill?”

Waiter: “Gift card. Can do.”

Wife: “And could we also get—”

Our waiter walks off in the middle of her request for refills of our drinks. The alarm bells are already going off, but I let it go and enjoy the marvelous food. We still have some of our cocktails and all of the water, so the loss of refills is not much of an inconvenience.

However, as expected, our waiter never comes back. He does not check if there are any problems with our entrees — mercifully, there are not — if we need refills, or anything. In fact, the only server who comes near us is a woman who goes to the man’s table carrying appetizers AND entrees, only to then curse when she finds the table unoccupied before stomping past us while we try to flag her down as a substitute — minuscule hope, but we have nothing to lose.

We sit there with cleaned plates for a solid five minutes before we decide that this degree of apathy should be rewarded with a dine and dash.

As we reach our car, another couple in earshot happens to be discussing this restaurant. I walk up.

Me: “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear that you’re going to [Restaurant]. Well, I got a $100 gift card there, and we were going to check it out, but the menu’s really not our thing. Would you like it?”

Man #2: “Uh… sure! Thanks!”

Me: “Just one thing: don’t tell them you have it until the bill comes. Trust me.”

The look they gave me as they agreed told me that they knew exactly what we had gone through and were not going to make the same mistake. However, the glint in the man’s eyes told me he might see the gift card as a ticket for a free meal. I did not stick around to find out what he did.

This restaurant no longer exists. And no, it was not a victim of the lockdowns; it closed well before that. I wonder if anyone ever spent that gift card.

I go to a local lunch spot a few times a week, and I am waited on by the same young woman every time I eat there. She is always very polite, and she knows I have limited time, so she lets me leave cash on the table for my bill rather than stand in line at the register. I always leave her the change as a tip — probably about six dollars on a fourteen-dollar tab.

Last week, I dropped off a Christmas card for her, and I tucked a hundred-dollar bill in the card, thanking her for her service throughout the year. She wasn’t there, so I left the sealed card with the owner.

Yesterday, I went for lunch and my favorite waitress was there. As soon as she saw me, she smiled.

Waitress: “Thank you so much for the Christmas card, and for the twenty dollars!”

I was sort of shaken.

Me: “I left you 100 dollars.”

Waitress: “Oh, [Owner] opened it, and since all tips are shared by the staff, he gave everyone a share.”

I was f****** floored. This meant the guy had opened a sealed card that I delivered. He took the 100 dollars out and put twenty dollars back into her card.

As I was leaving, I saw the guy coming out of the back and asked him to speak with me.

Me: “I don’t appreciate you opening something private that I left for [Waitress]. You owe either me or her eighty dollars.”

He started explaining that all tips are shared, but I cut his a** off.

Me: “You do not open a sealed card with someone else’s name on it. If I had known that was going to happen, I would never have left that card with you.”

Owner: “I knew there was probably money in it, and I wanted to be fair to everyone who works for me.”

I turned to a guy behind the counter.

Me: “Did you get twenty dollars from this guy?”

The dude didn’t answer, but when the owner looked away, the dude shook his head very quickly.

I yelled back into the kitchen.

Me: “Hey! Did any of you get twenty dollars from this guy last week?”

I got lots of confused looks.

The owner tried to “comp” my tuna sandwich and then got angry at me for causing a scene. He threatened to call the cops and told me to never return to his diner again. I left, but I told the waitress I would be back around that day around noon to give her the eighty dollars. She insisted that she didn’t want it, but I was going to make sure she got it.

I ended up meeting my waitress at lunch across the street and tried to give her eighty dollars, but she told me the owner gave it back to her before she finished her shift. What a great person. She wouldn’t take it even after I said she could have it.

I should never have given the card to someone other than the waitress. Lesson learned.

I have just returned an item at customer service and I get $2 in cash. As I am standing in the checkout line, I begin to put the money in my wallet and a lady approaches me.

Lady #1: “Please can I have some money to buy food?”

It’s Christmas and, while I don’t have much to spare, this lady catches me off guard, so I just hand her the money in my hand. I have trouble saying no to people when I’m caught off guard.

Then, the lady in front of me in line turns to me.

Lady #2: “I know you have money now, so will you pay for my items?”

She is holding two canisters of drink mix. I have now had a chance to get my bearings.

Me: “I don’t have any more cash.”

Lady #2: “But you’re obviously going to pay for your own things, so you can buy mine, as well.”

Me: “No.”

Lady #2: “So, you’re not going to buy my items?”

Me: “No, I’m not.”

Maybe it’s not much of a story, but I just could not believe the audacity!