I’ve had a less than calm-inducing day today, to say the least. Day-to-day, I am a single parent to my young daughter, but she usually visits her mother — my ex — for a night each weekend. My daughter usually looks forward to these visits, especially since Mummy takes her to [Fast Food Restaurant] for a [Kids’ Meal] most times.

However, late this afternoon, I was informed that my ex would not be able to collect our daughter after school for the visit as planned because she had been arrested. I now found myself in the position of rearranging my plans for my no-longer-child-free night, getting organized to collect my daughter, and figuring out how to tell her that she wouldn’t see Mummy this weekend without letting on the reason why.

Oh, and trying to get in touch with lawyers on a Friday afternoon to figure out how this affects future visits. Like I said, it’s been “interesting.”

[Daughter] was understandably disappointed when she found out she wouldn’t get to see Mum that night. After we got in the car, she asked me if she could please have [Fast Food], because Mummy always gets it for her. While I can’t afford to buy fast food all the time, I decided to say yes this time, partly because she still seemed sad and maybe it would help her feel a little better about it, and also because I wouldn’t mind something nice myself.

Is it still “comfort food” if it’s a drink? Sure, why not!

When we got to the drive-thru, the place was packed. We finally ordered her kids’ meal and a coffee for me, and we slowly inched our way forward to the payment window.

When we finally got there, the worker at the window asked, “Hi, did you have the [Kids’ Meal] and the coffee?”, in a tone of voice that immediately made me think they were going to tell me something was wrong. 

Great, I thought. Now there’s a problem with this, as well?

Out loud, I just said, “Uh, yeah, that’s ours.”

I definitely did not expect her response: “Yeah, so, the lady a few cars ahead paid for your order and said to tell you to have a happy Friday.”

I was in a mild state of shock as I pulled up to the next window to collect our food, though I was quickly brought back to earth by having to explain to my daughter why someone we don’t know would pay for our food.

I guess sometimes, people just want to do a random act of kindness… and I don’t know why, but sometimes what seems like almost nothing can really make a big difference to how you’re feeling. Thanks, random stranger lady!

This story is included in our Feel-Good roundup for June 2020!

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A woman comes to me, furious. She starts ranting about our women’s bathroom, saying things like, “It’s filthy!” and, “If the health inspector saw that bathroom they would shut you down!”

Even though I’m doing something else at the time, the woman seems so insistent that I leave my duties to go check the women’s bathroom. When I look inside, I see an immaculately clean restroom with a single, perfectly white, perfectly square piece of toilet paper on the floor.

I go back to my duties, just a little peeved.

I’m on a long bus trip from Montreal, Québec, to Ottawa and then Toronto, Ontario. It’s something like seven hours, not counting the connecting time in Ottawa. It’s a “night trip” starting at 21:00 in Montreal and ending at 05:00 in Toronto.

There are two women sitting just in front of me for the two-hour trip from Montreal to Ottawa. They chat non-stop for the whole trip. It’s relatively early, so it’s not that bad. They speak some Arabic language, which makes it like “noise” to me, and I’m able to take a nap, not being tempted, voluntarily or not, to eavesdrop.

Then, there’s the leg from Ottawa to Toronto, which is four hours. They are sitting a few rows behind the driver, but are just chatting again non-stop. I am seriously amazed that their vocal cords haven’t called it quits by this time. All we hear is them. No one else is talking.

Then, about an hour into this trip, the bus driver speaks up.

“To whoever is talking non-stop behind me, it’s 3:00 am. Some people might want to sleep. Could you please be considerate and shut the h*** up?”

That might not have been the most courteous way to ask for it, but it did the trick.

I’m sure many travelers, in their heads, clap their hands for the driver. I know I did.

I know that customers are notoriously bad for ignoring signs, but this whole outbreak issue has seemingly bred a whole new breed of ignorant customers.

At the shop where I work, management has installed a hand sanitiser dispenser by the door. Because people use way too much, we run out quickly, and after having a stream of customers telling us it’s out, I decide to put a sign over it saying, “OUT OF USE.”

I’ve honestly lost count of how many people still press the lever violently trying to get sanitiser out despite there being a huge sign in capital letters saying, “OUT OF USE.” I even repositioned the sign to cover the lever, and several times that day I had to straighten it out because people had been lifting it out of the way to try and use the sanitiser underneath.

Also, we stopped accepting cash, finding it so much easier for all involved to use card only. Around the shop, we had at least ten signs saying, “NO CASH ACCEPTED,” even on the card machine outside the shop. These signs were on three of the fridges, along the barrier next to the tills, on every till point, as you come through the door, and on the exterior windows.

I have had customers do their entire shop and then come to the till and attempt to hand me cash. They then throw a hissy fit when I tell them I cannot accept it, and that we no longer have any cash on the premises to even give change. It’s usually at this point that I stare in disbelief at the massive sign right beside the customer saying that no cash is accepted at all. We also have people saying, “But it’s just £1!”. The amount doesn’t change the rule. No cash!

I’ve even witnessed a grown man storm off and throw the products back onto the shelves, swearing at the top of his voice about how ridiculous we were. 

In a somewhat related comment, recently — because we’re operating self-scan only right now — a customer commented how it was like a holiday for us. Verbal abuse and growing stupidity on a daily basis and having to put ourselves at risk just so you can buy your groceries. Yep. Some holiday!

I work at a local family-owned fast food restaurant. The owners are all siblings, and quite a few of their children work there, as well. Usually, unless they’re the shift manager, the children of the owners don’t hold any authority over any of the other workers. 

This restaurant has a system where each area of the restaurant has a list that must be completed by the end of each shift. For example, if you’re on fryer, you not only have to cook all the fries and stuff, but you also have to complete a list of certain tasks by the time the shift is over. 

This particular night, I happen to be the one on fryer. Usually, there are two people on fryer: one person on one side who does only French fries, the other person does chicken strips, onion rings, etc., on the other side. It can get pretty stressful even with two people, but tonight, I’m the only person on fryer, which means I have to cover both sides. It’s really stressful, and I don’t even have a chance to start checking off my list until around 9:00. I usually try and start by 8:30 just to be safe, so I am running a little late.

I ask [Coworker #1], whose job for the shift is “help everywhere” — literally just to go around and help wherever help is needed — if she can watch my order screen for the rest of the shift while I do my list and to call me over if she needs help. She agrees and I start my list. 

A few minutes after I start, [Coworker #2], who also happens to be the son of the owner who is managing that night, comes to the back and yells — pretty sure all the other employees heard him — “(My Name), can you stop doing your list and actually watch your screen and do your job?” Doing the list is my job. “You have another two hours to do your list; you don’t have to start it right now!”

Some of the many items on this list: fill the small freezer by the fryers; fill the larger freezer that we fill the smaller freezer from; make sure all the stuff in the walk-in freezer is in place; fry about twenty tortillas — takes about thirty seconds each — into bowl shapes, which are then used to make taco salads; break down a ton of cardboard; and prepare shake toppings like cookie dough bits, brownies, raspberries, and strawberries.

The restaurant closes at 10:30, so if I were to actually take two hours, I would be there half an hour after everyone else had left. 

[Coworker #2], when he saw my screen fill up with orders, didn’t even bother calling [Coworker #1] over; fryers didn’t have any orders so she had gone to help somewhere else for a few minutes. Also, he was supposed to clean the fryers that night — we have six fryers, so it takes a while to clean them all — and he should have started at the same time I started my list, if not before. Most people who are assigned to clean fryers offer to keep an eye on the orders screen for the person on fryer so that person can go do their list, but he apparently didn’t think to offer that common courtesy. 

Anyway, I run over to start putting orders down — which he could have done in the time it took to yell at me — and just as I get there, [Coworker #1] comes back over and starts chewing out [Coworker #2], and a couple of other coworkers who had just been standing there, for not going and getting her when the screen fills up. She then tells me to screw the other guy and just keep working on my list. Remember, [Coworker #2] doesn’t actually have any authority over us, plus she has worked there longer than he has. 

Five minutes later, [Coworker #2]’s mom comes back and starts yelling at him for not starting to clean the fryers yet. Guess who left at 10:30, and guess who was still there when I left?