(I am a flight attendant. We always get some weirdos at work, but this one conversation recently has particularly stuck with me. Context: we are boarding a flight to Baltimore, and we have assigned seats.)
Passenger: “Hey, can we just sit anywhere?”
Me: “No, sir, it’s assigned seating! Your seat is printed on your boarding pass.”
Coworker: “The seat number is in the bottom right corner.”
Passenger: “Yeah, I saw it.”
Coworker & Me: *internally screaming*
In walks an agitated man to our fan and lighting showroom and produces an object we’d not only never seen before but between 3 of us couldn’t identify.
The gentleman insists that we “test it.” He was told that prior to testing things we prefer to know what they are. He responds “stove igniter.” We responded that as a fan and lighting shop we had no idea how one would test a kitchen appliance part, but that an appliance store might be a worthy expenditure of his time.
He left but not before accusing us of “bad service.” I suppose he also takes his vehicle repairs to his dentist.
(I work in a grocery store deli. I have a new coworker who is from Poland and has a strong accent. I walk into work one day when an angry customer is giving him a hard time and I decide to step in. I am Caucasian but very tan.)
Me: “I’m sorry, sir. Is there something wrong?”
Customer: *notices my tan* “Oh, great. Now a Mexican! Does this place only hire immigrants?! I can’t f****** understand this Russian. I want macaroni salad. Did anyone teach you what that is in Mexico, you [racial slur]?!”
Me: *blank stare* “I’m from Idaho, you f****** idiot.”
(Just one mildly annoying HR meeting and I managed to keep my job, and I earned a splendid high-five from my coworker.)
(I am taking a room payment through fax for a guest. I have faxed the required paperwork that needs to be filled out and I am waiting for the return fax. The person sending the fax calls me.)
Guest: “Did you receive that fax?”
Me: “No, not yet.”
Guest: “When I send it I get a busy signal.”
Me: “I am not sure why that would happen. We have not received any faxes.”
Guest: “I also notice that your number is the same area code as mine. It is a California number. Why would that be if you are in Las Vegas?”
Me: “Sir, are you sending that fax to your own number? I wrote it on the cover sheets as the destination. Our number is listed in the paperwork instructions and as the sender on the cover letter I sent you.”
Guest: “So, I can’t send it to my number?”
Me: “No, you have to send it to our number. It works like a phone. You cannot call someone else by dialing the number you are calling from. It just doesn’t work that way.”
(My older brother decides we are going to watch a movie one afternoon, and my mom shouts down the hall to invite my younger brother.)
Mom: “We’re getting ready to watch a Star Trek movie, if you want to join.”
Younger Brother: “Which one?”
Me: *walking past his room* “The one where The Doctor takes the One Ring to the planet Hoth because Professor Xavier told him to.”
Younger Brother: “Which one is that? Can’t you give me the title, instead?”
