(The owners of the store where I work happen to own two other stores in the same shopping center. To convince people to go from one store to another, we have a promotion going on where you show your bag from one of the stores to get 10% off at the others. I work at the most expensive store, and on this particular day a woman is making a very large purchase.)

Me: “Have you been to our other stores today?”

Customer #1: “No, I haven’t.”

Me: “No problem. If you’d like to go to our other stores, just show your bag at checkout and they’ll give you 10% off!”

Customer #1: “What? Wait!” *takes her card back* “Can you hold my things here? I’ll be right back.”

(I am confused, but hold her items for her, anyway. After a while she returns.)

Customer #1: “There. I went to your other store!”

(She now has a bag from our other store, with a purchase of less than $4. I begrudgingly give the 10% off. Afterwards, my general manager comes to speak to me.)

General Manager: “I understand that you had to give her the 10% off, but from now on I want you to stop asking people if they’ve been to the other stores. They’ll only get the 10% if they show their bag and specifically ask for the discount.”

(I’m not a fan of this idea, but follow the instructions, anyway. A few days later another woman comes in to make a very large purchase. Note that she does not have a bag with her.)

Me: “All right, your total will be [total].” *rings her through* “If you’d like to go to our other stores today, just show your bag at checkout and they’ll give you 10% off!”

Customer #2: “WHAT?! But I just went to your other store! Where is my 10% off?!”

Me: “Well, ma’am, as I said, you have to show your bag. They should have told you at the other store.”

Customer #2: “You should mention this before I buy anything! You’re just trying to take my money!”

Me: “I’m very sorry, ma’am. If you would like, I can refund your purchase and ring you through again with the discount. I’ll trust that you have been to our other store without the bag.”

Customer #2: “No! That will take far too long! You took long enough the first time! I want [product worth more than her 10%].”

(At this point my store manager comes to help out.)

Store Manager: “That’s no problem, ma’am! We’ll get that [product worth more than her 10%] for you right away!”

(After a very long rant and rave about how we should have told her, and how we were trying to take her money, she finally leaves. Later I tell my general manager about the situation.)

General Manager: “Well, I still don’t want you asking people. You’ll just have to do the math in your head and issue cash refunds whenever something like this happens.”

(Whenever my managers aren’t around, I just ask about the bags, anyway.)

(My wife and I have been living in a tiny studio apartment for three years and have finally decided to upgrade, so we are applying for various low-cost one-bedroom apartments within our budget. There is a low-income housing complex nearby that looks promising, so we fill in an application and my wife drops it off after work. She gets a call a few days later and we are invited to see the place. My first name is Alex, and we are both women. Upon our arrival, the landlady gives us an odd look as we introduce ourselves.)

Wife: “Hi! Thanks for inviting us to see the place. I’m [Wife’s Full Name] and this is Alex.”

Landlady: *confused look* “Where is your husband? Is this your friend?”

Me: “I’m her wife. My name’s on the form we filled in.”

Landlady: “Alex is a man’s name. I was expecting a man.”

Me: *laughing, assuming she’s making a joke* “Oh, yeah, I guess it could be confusing, but I’m–”

Landlady: *suddenly icy* “Why did you lie on the form?”

(We didn’t lie or leave out any information, and the form never asked us for our genders. We are both caught off-guard by her sudden change in tone, but before we can say anything more, she snaps at us again.)

Landlady: “I’m sorry; you’ll have to leave.”

Wife: “But we haven’t looked at the apartment yet.”

Landlady: “I’m afraid the apartment is gone. I offered it to a couple who just left before you arrived.”

(She was exuding hostility and while my wife looked ready to argue, I was starting to get anxious and upset, so we left without making a fuss. Since we were never formally offered the apartment and couldn’t prove that we were discriminated against, we didn’t take any action against her, but thankfully we find a much better apartment a couple of months later. On a whim, around that time, I looked up the apartment we had visited before, and lo and behold, it was still listed as available!)

Woman: “Hi, I would like to return this top I bought here not that long ago. See, it didn’t fit very well and it was very expensive.” *hands me a shirt*

Me: “Do you have a receipt?”

Woman: *hands me a crumpled, faded receipt*

Me: “I really would like to help you, miss, but there’s two reasons I can’t. For one, this receipt is from three years ago. Also, the receipt is from another store that went out of business over a year ago.”

Woman: “Can I exchange it?”

Me: “No, miss, that is not how this works.”

Woman: “Fine, then, can I speak to your manager?”

Me: *calls manager over*

Manager: “What seems to be the problem?”

Woman: “Your stupid employee won’t return this shirt for me!”

Manager: “Can I see the shirt and receipt?”

Woman: *hands over receipt and shirt*

Manager: “Sorry, ma’am, but this is not from here and we do not take clothes back from other stores.”

Woman: “If only you told me that in the first place!” *leaves*

(At my store, we have a digital-prints-only photo center. Customers can download an app for iOS, Android, and Windows smartphones to be able to print pictures from their phones. This happens every single time someone new is using the app.)

Me: *while the app is downloading* “Do you have all the pictures you’re looking for saved on the phone or SD card?”

Customer: “Yes.”

(Once the app is downloaded, we connected it to the kiosk, which is a very quick process but generally frustrates the general public.)

Me: “So, what you’re going to do is go to choose photos here, and your photos will come up, or you can hit ‘send all.’ You’re going to select all the photos that you might want, because once you send them, you have to go through that whole connecting process again if you want to send more. It’s much easier to select them all now.”

Customer: “Okay” *selects pictures, as most people prefer this to sharing all their pictures*

Me: “Okay, before we send them, did you get all the pictures you might want, even if you’re not sure? You’re not obligated to print them if you’ve selected them, and we have to go through the whole connection process again if you want more.”

Customer: “Yeah, I selected everything I wanted.”

Me: “Okay, hit ‘send.’”

Customer: *hits “send,” and all the selected pictures go to the kiosk* “Oh, I had pictures I wanted that are in my emails and texts. How do I access those now?”

Me: “You have to finish with these photos, and then I’ll show you how to reconnect.”

Customer: “YOU MEAN I HAVE TO DO THAT ALL OVER AGAIN?”

(It is my job to clean theaters after shows, and to do it quickly before the next show. When a big movie comes out, it is not unusual for those theaters to be trashed, so I always bring an extra garbage can. I am waiting in a theater for the guests to empty out when a middle-aged woman walks up to me. I am standing near the trash can, holding my broom and large dustpan.)

Me: “Is there anything I can help you with, ma’am?”

Woman: *bends down and jams her garbage in to my dustpan*

Me: *stares*

Woman: *stands up, laughs hysterically, and leaves without saying a word*