My supervisor is a woman and does not get along with other women. We work in a male-dominated field, so usually, this isn’t a problem. However, because I am female, she seems to have an issue with my very existence. She frequently raises her voice over minor things that I bring to her attention and absolutely ignores major issues until she has a solution. I come to work one day and put my coat on the hook in the communal space outside of her office.

Me: “Good morning, [Supervisor].”

She mumbles something that might be a greeting, never looking away from her computer.

Me: “What’s on the agenda today?”

Supervisor: “I’ll tell you if I need you to do something.” *Waves me off*

Me: “Okay.” *Turns to leave*

Supervisor: “[My Name].”

Me: “Yes?”

Supervisor: “Don’t leave your personal stuff here.”

I see her coat and purse on the rack beside mine.

Me: “Oh, are we not allowed to—”

Supervisor: “Leave it in the car or at home.”

Me: “It’s below freezing outside. Why—”

Supervisor: *Suddenly angry* “[My Name]! What did I just say?”

Me: *Even-toned* “I’m just asking why I can’t—”

Supervisor: “Because I f****** said so. Get your s*** and get out. I will not deal with your attitude today.”

Me: “Okay.”

I went home. She emailed me (and the store manager) an hour later, asking why I had abandoned my job and if I even really wanted to work there. I recounted our conversation — including her outburst and swearing at me — and said that I would not be back unless she changed the way she talked to me. The store manager emailed me separately, asking me to come in and talk to human resources about her behavior when the supervisor wasn’t around. Two days later, I got my supervisor’s job.

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I work as a licensed insurance agent for an agency that exclusively represents one of the largest insurance companies in the country. One day, I received a call from a client who needed to submit a claim on his automobile insurance. I got him successfully transferred to the claims department to get this done. Ten minutes later, my phone rings again.

Me: “Thanks for calling [Agency] of [Company]. My name is [My Name]; how can I help you?”

Customer: “Hi, [My Name], this is [Customer]. You helped me get my claim submitted earlier?”

Me: “Yes, [Customer], what can I do for you now?”

Customer: “The claims department from [Company] sent me a text with my claim number in it. At the end of the text, it says to reply with the word ‘STOP’ if I don’t want to continue to receive texts. What is this?”

Me: “That just means that if you want to keep receiving texts about your claim, then don’t do anything. But if you don’t want to be bothered with the texts, then reply with the word ‘STOP.’”

Customer: “Okay, but am I continuing to receive this text now? I don’t want that.”

Me: “I’m not sure I understand, sir.”

Customer: “Is this text continuing to come to me if I don’t send the word ‘STOP’? I don’t want to use that much data. I don’t want to be charged for that.”

Me: *Head on desk* “No, no, sir. That isn’t happening. That text has ended.”

I have a coworker who has a completely different conversation in her head than what actually happens. As a result, they always walk away feeling like the conversation went exactly as she thought it would go. However, it really never does because she cannot be forward with people to save her life. Unfortunately, she then conveys the conversation to our boss based on her conversation with herself.

Two things to note: 1) I recently bought a house on the edge of town. 2) We have a new intern who lives in the middle of town, does not drive, and is Asian.

Coworker: “I don’t know exactly where you live. How long does it take you to get to work?”

This is a lie, by the way, because she went into my personnel file to snoop and told another coworker about it.

Me: “Oh, not much longer now that I can go around town rather than through it. Actually, it takes less time despite living seven miles further east.”

Coworker: “And how do you drive?”

Me: “I just take [Highway].”

Coworker: “What?”

Me: “It is the highway for going to [Major Mountain]?”

Coworker: “Jesus. That doesn’t seem right. You don’t go down [Major Street on the west side]?”

Me: *Confused* “No?”

Coworker: “So, you don’t go down [Major Street]?”

Me: “No. I mean I pass it on [Highway] to get to work, but that is it.”

Coworker: *Annoyed* “Well, anyway, [New Intern] is going to be working with us. They are like [Coworker #2] and don’t drive.”

She tried to get me to drive [Coworker #2] to work but I refused unless they paid for my insurance in addition to company insurance, the difference in gas mileage, and travel time. They were also paying [Coworker #2] $3 extra dollars an hour for transportation so I didn’t feel really inclined to do it.

Me: “Well, that isn’t too bad. They live a whole lot closer than [Coworker #2].”

Coworker: “I would hate for [New Intern] to take the bus because of all the hate crimes. And I don’t want to have to pay for a [Ride Share Service] all the time.”

Me: “…”

Coworker: “I am just not sure what to do.”

Me: “I am sure you will figure it out!”

Of course, she took that conversation to mean that I would go fifteen minutes out of my way to drive this intern and told the boss this. I had to remind them that I did not feel comfortable carpooling as official company business without them paying for insurance, wear and tear on my car, and time going out of my way. Once more, they shut up about it, only after having egg on their face because they had to rescind the offer she shouldn’t have made in the first place.

Recently, two coworkers and friends had a fight. This scene takes place after their claimed reconciliation.

Coworker #1: “You chose your side quickly, anyway!”

Me: “I didn’t choose my side.”

Coworker #1: “But you went to her first.”

Me: “I was brushing my teeth when I heard her crying. I went to see her.”

Coworker #1: “You could have come to me.”

Me: “I joined you afterward to get your opinion.”

Coworker #1: “You could have come first.”

Me: “You were eating outside. I wasn’t going to ignore her to come and see you and ask her version when she came back while she was next door.”

Coworker #1: “And why not? I always come to see you when you’re at the reception during the break; she doesn’t come.”

I’m normally in the warehouse, but the administration building is the next building, and [Coworker #1] and I fill in for our part-time receptionist when both of them can’t come because we’re the only ones who know how to manage the switchboard.

Me: “She takes [transportation services for disabled people] because she has difficulty walking. I don’t blame her for not forcing herself to walk to see me.”

Of course, their “reconciliation” lasted five days.

We have a bit of a running joke in the office that whenever something completely bizarre goes wrong, it is “my” fault. It started as I seem to be the unlucky one with IT and always find issues that shouldn’t even be possible. It is all said in good humour, and no one means it, so I don’t mind at all.

A new woman starts in the office. She seems to really struggle with some of the basic tasks, which is not helped by her attitude and unwillingness to learn or be taught. She keeps missing deadlines, and I think we were all just waiting to see when the owner will get rid of her. But he is a kind guy with lots of patience.  

He calls a big meeting to “catch up and see if anyone is having any issues.” We arrive and he goes round us individually, seeing how we are and what issues we are having.

One by one, we respond that we are fine and having no problems finishing our work, until it gets to the new woman.

New Woman: “I’ve not been able to do my reports on time again.”

Owner: “And why is that?”

New Woman: “Well, frankly, since [My Name] broke the system last week, it hasn’t been the same.”

Owner: “I didn’t hear about this. [My Name], what is this about?”

I shrug my shoulders. I look around the room and no one else seems to know.

New Woman: “I know I’m new here, and I don’t mean to throw people under the bus, but I can’t do my work without the tools needed.”

Me: “Err… I don’t know what she is on about.”

New Woman: “Come on, I heard you talk about it to [Coworker]! I’m a hard working woman, and I try my best here, but if [My Name] is going to constantly screw around with the things I need—”

Coworker: “We were joking! There was never an issue.”

New Woman: *Getting more flustered* “Look, all I know is that I can’t run it properly since there was an issue. It’s not my fault.”

Owner: “Okay, right. [My Name], can you please take a look at the software? [Coworker] can you stay behind? Everyone else, back to work.”

I ran the report as I had done a thousand times before without issue. I waited until the owner and my coworker were finished before dropping it at the owner’s desk. Of course, there was no issue whatsoever with the software and it was just the new woman being a bit useless.

The owner brought her into his office and “suggested” that this wasn’t the job for her. She “quit” and we never saw her again.