I have worked at a senior centre-cum-boules court in a park in the past, with most people there being the sort you could actually have decent conversations with.

But, of course, not everything was idyllic: there was one man, claiming to have been a hunter of sorts, who was rather rude to staff and a few regular visitors alike, whose antics ultimately pushed me to quit.

The most egregious thing he did? One day, in the same park, a children’s birthday party was going on: the party was not particularly close to the centre, and while loud, it could be heard only if you stayed outside the building itself anyway.

This old guy went for a smoke on the outside, finished his cigarette, then came back in and had the audacity to tell me I “had” to go to the party and tell them to stop because “they were disturbing the elderly here”, even if, again, nothing of the said party could be heard from the outside.

Being diplomatic didn’t work, showing him that nobody else in the place was bothered didn’t work, telling him to deal with it didn’t work, and suggesting to just leave for the day didn’t work: HE was bothered by the children’s party on the other side of the park, and by God was he going to get it shut down somehow, complaining about it for a long time. And even when the party eventually ended, he wasn’t entirely happy because it “took them too long”.

No wonder he was never directly invited to any events we organized.

I’m a police officer. Back in the 1970s, [Highway] was loaded with traffic all of the time. The sides of the road narrowed as it went through the swamp areas and were barely wide enough for a vehicle to park with steep banks going down to the water.

One afternoon, traffic backed up for several miles. I attempted to weave my way through traffic to find out the problem. After several minutes, I arrived at the scene of the situation. A motorist was parked with his vehicle parked half on the road and half on the side with a flat tire. Clearly, he had enough room to get completely off of the highway but didn’t. His poor wife was flagging cars around the car.

I noticed that he was changing his tire in a “Fire Ant” nest. Before I could get parked, the ants started to sting. He danced out in the road in front of traffic, completely stopping traffic both ways, stripping off his shoes and pants as his poor wife beat the ants off. The motorists got a h*** of a show watching this naked man dance around.

I was a shavetail twenty-year-old trooper then. I’m now in my seventies and still laugh about this “fire ant” FEEDING.

I work in a supermarket, and I’m on holiday for two weeks when this story takes place. It’s a small town, and we’re the only supermarket for miles; therefore, we’re inundated with people buying alcohol, with some of it for people under eighteen. In the UK, it’s against the law to knowingly buy alcohol for underage people; at the time this occurred, the assistant making the sale could be fined up to £1,000 and the store could lose its license to sell alcohol.

As always with retail you’re taking it from both sides; the customers and the company. Local police and councilors announced a crackdown on underage drinking (a good thing) by fining the stores. The company decides to boost morale by making the most senior staff member culpable for any mishaps with disciplinary action and possibly the sack.

News of this happens whilst I’m on holiday. My friend, recently promoted to a very senior duty manager (to close down and lock up the store on an evening, when alcohol sales are at their highest) pushes back against the new rule, obviously stating how unfair it is and that there should be training for staff, extra signage to warn customers, etc.

Nothing.

So, he makes signs to put up in the store. Head office doesn’t like it and demands they be taken down.

So, [Friend] demands to change his hours so that’s he’s not responsible.

Nothing.

I get a text on Friday evening from another colleague to say at the start of [Friend]’s shift, he closed the store. No alcohol sales means no chance of being out.

Since those in charge are tucked up in bed, the news doesn’t hit them until Monday morning that the store has closed at 6:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm for three days running.

I arrive back in fresh on Monday morning to hear that [Friend] was summoned up to head office for a meeting — and he took the union representative up with him.

He leaves a few months later, the store gets increased signage warning of underage drinking, and all the staff receive training on asking for ID. Funny that.

I work for a charity thrift store. Someone donated an old, high-quality recliner. I was presiding over the donation when I heard odd noises coming from the recliner. I grabbed a flashlight and started looking inside.

There was a tabby cat entangled within the internals!

I got my manager and we tried to get the cat to leave, but it either wouldn’t or couldn’t, so we decided to contact animal control.

Animal control sent over an officer who was able to get the cat out of the recliner. The officer scanned the cat’s microchip and was about to call the owner when a panicked woman arrived at the store looking for her cat. She had donated the recliner, gone home, and been unable to locate her cat.

We returned the cat to her, and the cat started purring very loudly.

When I first graduated from college, I had no luck finding an entry-level job in my field. I decided to lower my expectations and applied to a telemarketing company. But they wouldn’t hire me, either, because the only experience I had was a work-study job during college. They recommended getting a job with a temp agency to get more work experience, so I signed up with a temp agency.

I started out by telling the temp agency that I was really good with computers and had a degree in engineering. And then they sent me to be a temporary receptionist with instructions to answer the phones and not touch the computer. I had a few more short-term receptionist assignments, including filling in for someone who left in the middle of the day without clearing their desk of the food they were eating when they got sick. Another memorable assignment was handing out food samples at a large grocery store.

After working for the temp agency for a while, I applied to the telemarketing company again. This time, they wouldn’t hire me because I was “over-qualified” and they were afraid I wouldn’t stay, so I went back to the temp agency for more assignments.

Finally, the temp agency sent me to work at the telemarketing company. Then, I got hired directly when the temporary position became permanent, and I stayed at the telemarketing company for five years.