I’m working as a web developer for a client.

Client: “Hey, about the text… Can you make it slightly bigger?”

Me: “Of course, please wait a minute.”

I change the font size from 24 px to 32 px.

Client: “No, no, that’s too big. Make it smaller.”

Me: “All right.”

I change it to 28 px.

Client: “Still too big.”

I change it back to 24 px.

Client: “That’s it! That’s the right size!”

Me: *Inhales deeply*

The office where I work closes at 5:30 pm. We are usually very precise about closing on time because we are generally not allowed to stay later than our scheduled shifts. I receive a phone call on this day at just about 5:00 pm.

Me: “[Company], this is [My Name]. How can I help you?”

Customer: “I lost my [Company] card and I need a replacement. Can you help me?”

Me: “Yes, if you want to come in, we’d be happy to replace that card for you.”

Customer: “How late are you open?”

Me: “We close at 5:30, so you’ll need to get here in about half an hour or less.”

Customer: “All right. I’m on my way now. Can you wait for me?”

Me: *Getting a bad feeling* “How far out are you?”

At this point, my coworkers, overhearing my side of the conversation, are getting nervous.

Customer: “I’m about forty-five minutes away.”

Me: “Well, it’s already five o’clock, and we close at 5:30. If you get here in forty-five minutes, we’ll already be closed, and there will be no one here to help you.”

Customer: “But I need a new card!”

Me: “I understand that. If you can get here before 5:30, we’ll be happy to help you. Otherwise, we’d be happy to help you once we open again tomorrow morning.”

The customer goes quiet for a while, and I end the call after getting no further response. About fifteen minutes later, I can hear my supervisor on another phone call. It is the same person, and the call goes something like this.

Supervisor: “Our office closes at 5:30. You’ll need to arrive before then.”

Customer: “I’ll be there in about twenty-five minutes!”

Supervisor: “Our office closes in fifteen minutes. It may be better for you to come back tomorrow so there will be someone available to assist you.”

After the call concludes, we close the office at 5:30, with no sign of the person in question. We’ve already tried to explain twice that we can’t keep our office open past normal hours, and once we’re closed, everyone goes home for the night.

The next morning, I come in to open up for the day, and surprise, surprise. The overnight security tells me that someone came in trying to get to our office after 5:45 pm and was turned away, since we were already closed.

Related:
Closed To All Reason

I’ll assert myself twice and only twice; after that, what happens is what they had coming despite clear warnings.

I am building towards an exit from the company I work for. I’m in a difficult position to replace. I have asked to transfer out twice, as I do not plan to stay on in this capacity into our winter period. Essentially, I have given them six months’ notice.

At three months in, I suggest training a replacement. When I was hired, my department didn’t exist, so there was little to no training; I basically built it from the ground up and learned as I went, trial by fire. I like the company and I want my replacement trained for a smooth transition after I leave.

Management is furious at the notion of my suggestion and tells me to leave management to management and basically to know my place. So that’s what I do. I keep my head down and do my work, quietly removing any and all personal post-it notes I have tacked up around the office over the following weeks. Because much of my work is unsupervised, no one even knew these notes existed.

If they don’t want me to train my replacement, I am not going to leave my materials behind as a guide. I put my two weeks in and am out before the first snowfall.

A former coworker told me it was nearly four months before they found a replacement.

I work at the front desk for a small specialty food distributor. Since I’m located there, I’m essentially the receptionist, but my main responsibilities are more in accounting. I still have the joy of answering the phones for our main line if someone doesn’t know what extension to use. This happens on a day where we are down to two sales reps.

Customer: “Hi, this is customer [number]. I need to place my order, but my sales rep isn’t answering the phone. Can you find her?”

I look him up and see that his sales rep actually just quit a week ago.

Me: “I’m sorry, sir, but [Sales Rep] no longer works here. I can direct you to your new rep, but he is currently on the phone with another customer. You’ll have to leave him a message and he can get back to you soon.”

Customer: “This is unacceptable! I have been trying to get a hold of [Sales Rep] for an hour! Someone should be able to talk to me now!”

Me: “I do apologize, but we only have two reps available today, and they are both on the phone. I know that they have been trying to keep up with all the calls that they have, but as today’s order deadline is soon, they are getting a lot of calls. If you leave him a message, I will go back and let him know to call you as soon as he is done.”

Customer: “Fine!”

I transfer him and let the sales rep know that he called. Not five minutes later, my phone rings and it’s the same customer.

Customer: “He still hasn’t called me back!”

Me: “I’m really sorry; he’s still on the phone with another customer getting their order. I promise he is going to call you as soon as he’s done.”

Customer: “This is ridiculous! You’re telling me that no one can take my order? You can’t?”

Me: “Unfortunately, no, I’m not in sales, so I can’t put an order in. If you’re in a hurry, you can email him your order to put in.”

Customer: “I’ve never had to email an order before! I always call at three and [Sales Rep] would always take my order right away! This is terrible service!”

Me: “Again, I’m sorry. All I can offer is that if this happens again and you’re on a time crunch, maybe you can call the main line right away so I can transfer you to whatever rep is available. But I do see that your new rep just hung up his phone; I’ll transfer you.”

I hit the transfer button and hung up before he could say anything else to me. I get calls like this almost every day. Customers wait until the last second and refuse to understand that the sales reps are busy and may take a minute to get back to them. Why get mad at me because you waited until the last minute and now have to wait a little bit?

I exclusively ride motorbikes; I have not got a car license. I work at a company that holds a yearly sales briefing that is mandatory for any team that is related to the sales process, even tangentially. I am in one of these peripheral teams.

On the morning of the meeting, which is held in the same town as the work and around forty minutes’ drive from home, I have to go pick up fuel before coming to work. When I get to the petrol station, I notice that the engine is getting far too hot. I look down and see that the bike is leaking coolant all over the road. I walk the bike to the side of the road and start letting it cool.

I call up HR and make them aware of the issue.

Me: “I have unused holiday time; please use it to cover my hours.”

I also fire emails off to my boss and HR and send my boss a text. I get on the phone and get talking to my normal garage who says they can pick me home up around 11:00; it’s now 7:30. I say that’s fine; I’ll get the bus to them, drop the keys off, and head home. As I’m about to leave my boss rings me.

Boss: “You must attend the meeting today, or else you will face the consequences.”

Me: “I can’t make it in because of the issues with my bike that I’ve already explained to HR. The only option I have is to ride the bike to the garage, which is very dangerous for the bike and for me.”

Boss: “Just be here.”

And he hangs up. I ring HR and they say they will talk to him. But around fifteen minutes later, they ring back.

HR Director: “I’m sorry, but no. You have to turn up for this meeting, no matter the cost or risk.”

Me: “I’ll need you to put that in writing. If I damage my bike in the process, will you be willing to cover my costs?”

They reluctantly agree. After the email agreeing to my terms comes through, I say:

Me: “Great! Yes, [HR Director], I will do my best to get there.”

It’s a six-mile ride to the bike shop, so I fire the bike up and head over there. The engine overheats to the point that it seizes completely. I drop it off. I ask the shop worker to fix any issue with the bike that could possibly come from my trip here, with a wink.

Worker: “Sure! I’ll be extra vigilant for any damage.”

And he sends me on my way. By this point, it’s 9:45. I’m boiling hot and sweaty as h***.

I realise that I can’t go home to change. I get the train from my city to the town I work in. While I’m on the train, someone carelessly knocks my bike helmet off the luggage and cracks it. I arrive at the briefing venue just in time for the 12:00 start of the sales briefing.

I get to the venue in full bike gear, boots, trousers, and jacket, carrying my gloves, broken helmet, backpack. I stink of sweat, and I am peeved off and annoyed.

The HR director walks up.

HR Director: “What the h*** are you playing at? Why are you not in a business suit?

This is in the lobby of a hotel with all the other staff milling around, so I say with a loud, angry voice:

Me: “Gee, I don’t know! Maybe my bike broke down and needs serious repairs! Maybe I’ve had some b*****d smash my helmet! Maybe I had a knobhead of a manager tell me I had to turn up to a meeting to watch of the sales team walk all over each other and the other teams and congratulate themselves! Maybe it’s because I’m going to sit there and do nothing, and I could have been fixing my bloody bike!”

I storm off to the meeting room, strip out of my bike gear, and sit down in civvies throughout the entire meeting, daydreaming of going home. As soon as it finishes, I get up and leave, literally walking past everyone and ignoring the lot of them.

I end up calling in sick the rest of the week as I’ve caught a fever and can’t be a***d to come in. My doctor says my stress isn’t helping.

During that week, the bike shop calls me.

Worker: “The bike will cost around £3,000 to fix, including new engine, gearbox, chain, and sprockets, both tyres, and a new rear wheel.”

Me: “Can you send me an itemised bill? My workplace is going to compensate me.”

The shop dutifully does so, and I forward the bill to HR, along with my receipt for new bike gear as pretty much all of mine was ruined — helmet £200, jacket £100, trousers £100, boots £200, and gloves £100.

I receive a curt email back.

HR Representative: “Why are you telling us? These are your bills.”

I attach the email from the HR director saying they would cover all costs incurred if my bike or I were damaged or hurt post breakdown getting it to the shop.

Me: “Since none of the damage would have occurred if I could have let them pick up the bike, and if you had let me have the day off, it’s all on you. If you refuse to pay, as was agreed to, I will go to a solicitor and get them to look into it.”

During a two-hour marathon meeting, my manager argues that I knew the meeting was on and should have had alternate arrangements in place.

Me: “So you told me to walk or ride a bike you knew to be dangerous down a busy main road? Are you serious? Are you even aware of how dangerous that is?”

HR told me to go home as things were stressed. I did. The next day, we all had a meeting where they basically caved. The HR representative revealed that they had asked the company solicitor after I left. The solicitor basically told HR that they’d agreed to pay the costs and damage, so if they backed out, they would have a hard time defending it if I went to my own solicitor; they knew about the damage to the bike before they told me to ride it and they knew what could have happened.

Moral of the story: be careful what you order your staff to do.