I’m working as a seasonal employee with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Forestry Division. The Wildlife department stocks various fish and birds for hunters and fishermen at certain points in the year. The animals don’t often survive for very long because they are bred in farms so they don’t understand survival. It’s also one of the last days for bird hunting.

A man walks into the office and sees me.

Man: “Are you who I talk to about pheasant stocking?”

Me: “Oh, no, I’m just a seasonal.”

My supervisor walks out.

Supervisor: “Hello! What can I help you with?”

Man: “I went out to hunt today and I couldn’t find any, but there were a bunch of dead ones at the base of a tree! It’s those d*** hawks; they’re everywhere!”

Supervisor: “Uh, yeah. So what’s the problem?”

Man: “I didn’t get any. Those d*** hawks keep getting them. They aren’t even eating them! There’s too many.”

Supervisor: “Well, yeah, we can’t control nature. What constitutes too many?”

Man: “You just see them everywhere on the highway; you see them on the lamp posts.”

Supervisor: “Well, it’s the Division of Wildlife that stocks them. I can get you their number.”

My supervisor gives the man the number and he leaves.

Me: “Was he implying we need to hunt an apex predator? Or tell them to stop hunting? He is aware that they control populations, right?”

My supervisor is momentarily at a loss for words.

Supervisor: “I guess I’ll give Wildlife a heads-up.”

Turns out they get a lot of complaints like that.

(I took over the marketing for a small nonprofit a few months ago. My predecessor was with the organization for a few years but left on good terms. One afternoon, the phone rings.)

Me: “Good afternoon, [Nonprofit].”

Caller: “[Predecessor]?”

Me: “[Predecessor] is no longer with [Nonprofit]. Can I help you?”

Caller: “Can I speak to whoever’s in charge?”

Me: “In charge of what?”

Caller: “[Predecessor] used to do the marketing. Who does that now?”

Me: “That would be me; I am the marketing contact now.”

Caller: “I am calling from [Website]. Did you have a minute to talk about advertising?”

Me: “I don’t at this point, but if you’d like to send me an email I can see what you’re offering.”

Caller: “We have hundreds of options; I can’t send an email but I can call you next week.”

Me: “We don’t need any extra advertising at this point anyway, so there’s no need to call again.”

Caller: “That answers my question, then!”

(Why didn’t you actually ask it?)

I am a manager at an escape room. Our refund policy is that you get $0 back if you try to refund day-of, since buying spots blocks out other potential customers. The phone rings.

Male Caller: “Hello, I have a reservation tonight. I paid full price, but I found this [coupon] and I want you to refund me so that I can buy the [coupon], instead.”

I recite our refund policy.

Male Caller: “Oh, okay.” *Hangs up*

The phone rings again a minute later.

Female Caller: “Hi, my husband just called, and I was wondering why you won’t refund us.”

I recite our refund policy again.

Female Caller: “Well, I would like to speak to a manager about this.”

Me: “Ma’am, I am the manager here.”

Female Caller: “Then don’t you have the power to refund us?”

Me: “I do, but I would get in trouble with the owners if I did that.”

Female Caller: “Can we reschedule, then?”

Me: “Absolutely. I can reschedule you for any other day at no cost.”

Female Caller: “So, after I reschedule, I can get a full refund?”

Me: “Ma’am, don’t try to get around this. If you wanted the [coupon] price, either buy one or ask for that rate before you pay full price for a game.”

Female Caller: “I didn’t pay for it! My husband did!”

Me: “Then he should have looked into the [coupon] before making the purchase.”

Female Caller: “This is very bad customer service.”

Me: “Bad service because I won’t risk my job for you? Ma’am, it is obvious you’re trying to scam us.”

She hung up. She later wrote a one-star review saying that I was incredibly rude and unhelpful to her and that our other many five-star reviews were fake without even coming to play the game they paid for.

(I work for a small IT service provider. One day, a customer decides to replace all of their old PCs and screens in their office — a total of 15 PCs and 28 screens. We order them for the customer, devices are delivered to our office, and I install and prepare them before I deliver them to the customer to set them up. One day, I’m loading the first bulk of PCs and screens into my car to deliver them. A woman, probably in her late thirties, watches me for a while before approaching me.)

Woman: “Are you giving those away?”

Me: “Pardon me?”

Woman: “Can I have that one?”

Me: “I’m sorry, these are for a customer. I can’t give them away.”

Woman: “You really should give me one. It’s for my son; he needs a new computer.”

Me: “Again, they’re for a customer. They’re already paid for.”

Woman: “If they can afford that many computers, they won’t mind if you give me one. Don’t be so selfish! My son needs it to do his homework and play his games!”

Me: “He wouldn’t really enjoy it. Those are office PCs; they don’t have enough power to run any modern games.”

(In fact, these PCs are about 700€ each and don’t even have a dedicated graphics card.)

Woman: “You are so selfish! I’m a single parent; I only work part-time and can’t afford a new computer!”

Me: “I’m sorry to hear that, but these PCs are paid for; they belong to the customer. Even if that wasn’t the case, giving away PCs for free would get me into serious trouble. Now, please excuse me.”

(I close the trunk and get inside to get another load of computers. When I come back out, I see her trying to get the trunk to open. She must have noticed me not locking the car, but I have the keys in my pocket, so it locked automatically as I walked away.)

Me: “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

(She jumps.)

Woman: “I didn’t do anything!”

Me: “Right. You’d better leave now.”

(I start loading the rest of the devices.)

Woman: “You are so selfish! It wouldn’t hurt you to help me and my son! I’m going to complain about you!”

Me: “You’re very welcome to do so. Just go through that door; our office is on the first floor.”

(I’m done loading and I drive off. When I arrive at the customer’s office, I notice that my boss tried to call me. I call back.)

Boss: “That woman told me that you had promised her a free PC.”

(Aside from the fact that we didn’t have any PCs left — we don’t stock and only order on demand — he wasn’t prepared to just give away hardware for free, since we obviously have to pay for it, too. He offered her directions to a nearby computer store which also has refurbished PCs for a reduced price. Apparently, she didn’t want to hear about it. She wanted her free PC and refused to leave until he threatened to call the police on her. When she finally left, she kept yelling that she would tell all her friends how selfish we are, and that we would lose all their business. Guess we’ll have to close down soon.)

I am currently searching for a job. I currently work full-time, so I need a bit of notice when it comes to interviews.

One day, I come back from lunch and sit at my desk. My mobile phone has been ringing continuously and it’s all from the same local number.

Calling back, I’m greeted by an irate and rude man telling me there is no way that I will ever work for his company! How dare I?!

As soon as he stops shouting, I ask him what his problem is. He quickly tells me that I missed a job interview that afternoon. I search my call history and email and inform him that this is the first time I am hearing from him. I have never even been invited to an interview.

Suddenly, the man goes sheepish as he realises what has happened.

It transpires that he had organised an interview and had spoken to HR, the team, and everyone in his company. However, he had neglected to actually tell me about the interview.

He then tried to rearrange an interview… after shouting at me and calling me a b****. I said no.

I’d say I dodged a bullet there.