(I work in a small print and design shop inside of an office supply store. For whatever reason, from the day I was hired, the supervisor of the shop immediately hated me. No one else at the location has a problem, and I even built a customer base of folks that will specifically request me when they come in. One such client is employed at the church down the street, and needs help setting up a basic newsletter design for weekly printing. After a week of work and numerous proofs, the client is happy with how things are progressing. I have two days off, and when I come back in, I see the newsletter is changed around entirely. Since none of the other shop employees would have touched a customer’s file without the customer’s permission, I assume the customer requested these changes while I was gone. I review the changes, send an updated proof to the client, and make my recommendations, as usual. Some of the recommendations include advising AGAINST some of the changes, like switching random blocks of text to Comic Sans, among others. Later that day…)

Supervisor: “Would you care to explain to me what’s going on here?!”

(She angrily shoves a sheet of paper at me, which I see is a printed copy of the email I sent to the client.)

Me: “Uh, it’s my recommendation to [Client] for the most recent version of her newsletter.”

Supervisor: “I’M the one who made those changes and I don’t appreciate you trash talking me to other customers! Those were just ideas I had for the newsletter and you didn’t need to send them to her!”

(She storms off and interrupts the store manager in her office, to show her the printed email and complain about me. The two spend some time in the office, and then the supervisor storms out. She won’t look at me or talk to me for the rest of the day. I go find the store manager when I have a spare moment.)

Me: “So… what on earth is up with [Supervisor]?”

Manager: “She brought me a copy of that email you sent and accused you of talking s*** about her to customers. I pointed out that you never once mentioned her name in that email, AND that I have a degree in graphic design and everything you recommended to the customer is legitimate. Mostly, I think she is pissed off that we both disagreed with her choices. I told her you handled the whole situation in a very professional way and that I didn’t see anything wrong with it.”

Me: “Wow.”

Manager: “You know, when [Other Employee] said he thought [Supervisor] was jealous of you, I didn’t really believe him. But now? Now I see it.”

(I’m a supervisor in an office supply store. Recently, my boss hired a new employee who, he claimed, aced his interview and is perfect for the open cashier position. However, we quickly learn that the new employee is lazy, uncooperative, and severely lacking in tact and professionalism when dealing with customers. He even goes so far as to ignore duties and customers in order to go and play videogames on some of our display tablets and laptops. Despite being able to prove that the employee has been shirking duties and playing games via the in-store surveillance, the store manager refuses to fire the employee. One day, while going over the store’s daily task checklist.)

Me: “All right, [Employee], it’s your turn to do the clean-up around the registers. Since it’s slow right now, why don’t you go ahead and sweep up while you’re waiting for customers to come and check out?”

Employee: *sighing dramatically* “Fine.”

(He proceeds to start sweeping, but does it like he’s never held a broom before in his life. He bypasses obvious dust and leaves tracked in by customers and sweeps perhaps three square feet of floor over and over. A customer approaches, and stands there watching him for several seconds.)

Customer: “Honey, didn’t your mama ever teach you how to use a broom?! You’re not doing anyone any good sweeping like that!”

(She proceeded to lecture him on how to properly sweep floors and wouldn’t check out until she could watch him use the broom to her standards. I knew it was a lost cause, but I was glad I wasn’t the only one who could see a problem with the employee’s behavior!)

(My boss hired a new cashier who is absolutely horrible at his job. He ignores the requests of the female supervisors, shirks his duties, and spends most of his time in the electronics section playing games on the display tablets and laptops. As one of the store’s female supervisors, my attempts at getting this guy to actually do the job he is being paid for are more like pulling teeth. One day, I find the guy trying to assemble an office chair directly behind one of the only two registers we have in our little store.)

Me: “Hey, [Employee]? We need to use that register to ring people up, but we can’t get to it with all this stuff. [Other Employee] almost tripped over this box you left here, and I don’t want anyone getting hurt. Can you move to the end of the counter where there’s room for all this?”

Employee: “No, I’m building it here.”

Me: “There is a line forming. We need this second register, and we can’t use it with you here. You need to move. Right now.”

Employee: “No! I’m fine where I am!”

(Fed up, I poke my head into the store manager’s office where he’s taking a conference call.)

Me: “I hate to bother you, but [Employee] is ignoring me and he’s got a line backed up at the registers, and customers are starting to get angry!”

Manager: “What?!”

(He marches out, sees the giant mess of chair parts, packaging, and tools behind our register, the blocked walkway with this employee sitting on the floor right in the middle of it all, and the line of people. He wades through the mess and takes the partially built chair right from the employee’s hands.)

Manager: “[Employee], we don’t build chairs behind the register. Move your stuff over here or clock out and go home. I don’t have time to deal with this!”

(The employee griped and complained the entire time he had to do his work 10 feet away at the end of the counter, and I hopped onto the register and cleared up the line in no time. I’m still shocked at the lengths to which that guy — a grown, 30-something year old man — would go to try and assert his superiority over us female managers!)

(I work as a supervisor in a retail office supply store. In fact, the company name has the word “Office” in it. A woman and her husband enter my store. Unfortunately, the following exchange takes place far too often…)

Me: “Good afternoon! Welcome to [Store]. What can I help you find today?”

Wife: “Oh, I’m just looking for some office supplies.”

(The woman’s husband looks sideways at her.)

Me: “Err… ma’am, we’re an office supply store. Everything in here counts as an office supply. Is there anything in particular you needed?”

Wife: *irritated* “Office supplies!”

Me: “Pens and pencils? Toner? Paper? Desk organizers? Calendars?”

Husband: “Honey, we—”

Wife: “No! God! How hard is it to just direct me to the office supplies!?”

(I spread my arms wide and turn to take in the scope of the entire store, which has many clearly labeled sections such as “Writing”, “Desk Accessories” and “Ink & Toner”, all of which are visible from the entrance.)

Me: “Ma’am, without knowing what specific items you’re looking for, I can’t really direct you anywhere.”

Husband: *before his wife can respond* “We’ll just look around by ourselves, thanks.”

(I am at work and this older guy comes in. He looks like Mr Rogers; he is maybe around 75 or 80.)

Customer: “Hello, I was wondering if you can help me find something?”

Me: “Yes, sir, what is it you need?”

Customer: “I need a new porn box.”

Me: *trying to retain my laughter* “Porn box?”

Customer: “Yes, my old porn box stopped working and I need to replace it.”

Me: *still holding on laughter* “Okay, what do you mean by ‘porn box’?”

Customer: *looks to the left and sees the computers* “Those over there.” *points at the computers*

(I sold him a computer and as soon as he left I ran into the office and laughed for about 25 minutes with my manager.)