I have non epileptic seizures. Depending on how bad they are, I will sometimes keep working after a seizure if I feel well enough. 

I work in a retail chain in a small village. One day, I had just had a seizure and was still feeling a bit shaky but well enough to work, so I went up to the cash register and served this lady. When I had scanned all her items, she spoke up in a rude tone and said (I am paraphrasing as this event was a while ago):

Customer: “You know, you really should offer people a bag before scanning, it would be much quicker that way.”

Me: “I’m very sorry, I’m just having one of those days.”

Customer: *Rudely snapping back.* “Well, I’ve had a really bad day, so that’s no excuse!”

I was taken aback, but decided to be petty; I changed my tone to sound extra apologetic.

Me: “You’re so right. I’m so sorry, I just had a seizure, so I’m a bit wobbly, but you’re so right. I will definitely do better next time.”

Customer: *Shocked.* “I didn’t realise. I’m so sorry.”

But I doubled down.

Me: “Oh no, you were right. I should have done better; I am so sorry.”

She quietly paid, muttering a sorry as she left.

I recently attended a friend’s wedding a few hours away from home, and the girlfriend and I decided to get an Airbnb so she could bring her dog. We found a nice place that allowed pets, took off early from work, and arrived on Friday late afternoon.

About thirty minutes later, the owner shows up to see how we’re doing while we have the dog on the porch. We make some small talk, and he mentions that we didn’t indicate we were bringing a dog. I felt bad, as it was an honest mistake, and I’d never lie to someone to get out of paying the pet fee.

We tell him that and offer to pay the $25 fee on the spot. He refuses to take the money and says that he loves dogs and eventually heads out.

We don’t think too much else about it, but when we leave, we decide to give the place a much more thorough cleaning than was in the instructions. The dog didn’t chew any furniture or leave any other damage or mess.

In our minds, the trip was a success, and the Airbnb was a great fit. I got the email from them to leave a review, and I left a five-star review and said the house and the owner were great.

But then I saw his review of me, and a private message where he blasted me for not telling him that I was bringing a dog, how dogs cause them so much more work, and how we shouldn’t leave dogs alone in the house.

This didn’t sit well with me at all, since I thought we had handled this person-to-person when he came by on the first day. I was still happy to pay for the pet fee, and there was no indication anywhere on the posting that we couldn’t leave the dog alone for a few hours while we were at a wedding, nor did he say that while we chatted and told him we were here for a wedding. For him to post that on my Airbnb profile felt like a cheap shot.

I responded to him in the chat and said as much, and while Airbnb couldn’t do anything about the review since it didn’t violate any of their policies, my girlfriend did point out that hosts aren’t supposed to show up to the property unannounced.

I had no idea and figured this was his property, and he is allowed to show up, at least to check in with the guests. Normally, I wouldn’t care, especially since it was a very cordial interaction, but since he took a cheap shot with my review, I decided to do the same.

I reached out to Airbnb support to tell them about his unannounced visit, and they forwarded it to their security team. I answered a few questions about the interaction, and they spoke to him.

A week or so later they let me know that he was in violation of their policy, and they refunded me two-thirds of what I paid, which came out to about $200. All because of a bad review.

I head into a random fast-food place as I’m getting hungry, and by coincidence, I see my grandparents ordering ahead of me. I’m about to go say hi when I realize they’re shouting and berating the poor teenager serving them to the point of tears because they were out of stock of a particular flavor of sundae.

I felt embarrassed and so bad for the worker, but I didn’t know how to handle the situation, so I just left and decided to eat somewhere else. I felt especially bad because they know I also work in a fast-food place while I’m in college, so I thought they’d have a bit more compassion.

That weekend, my grandparents invited everyone over for a backyard barbecue. I intentionally arrive late (one of my grandma’s pet peeves) and she confronts me:

Grandma: “[My Name]! You’re an hour late! You told us you finished work at midday on Sundays, so what’s your excuse, young lady?!”

Me: “Sorry, Grandma. A couple was shouting at my poor teenage coworker, and she was crying and had to take some time to calm down, so I had to take over. Can you imagine? Adults doing that to a poor teenager over an ice cream that’s out of stock?! Something that they have no control over? Those people must live very miserable and meaningless lives if that’s how they treat children. Anyway, how are you?”

Suddenly, my tardiness was forgiven!

I feel like anyone who has ever worked retail can relate to this. You go to the job, and they tell you all the rules and things you can and can’t do. Until a customer gets upset and gets a manager, and then the manager comes over like “oh, how could you not allow this sweet lady to do this?” and uses their manager override to allow the customer to do whatever they want. Making them look like the hero and you look like the angry employee who didn’t let them do what they wanted.

Back when I worked retail, I had this happen countless times.

Me: “This meal doesn’t come with cornbread, that’ll be an extra dollar fifty.”

The manager comes over and gives them cornbread.

Me: “The discount you are talking about was for a sale that ended two days ago, sorry.”

They get angry at you, and the manager comes over and gives them the discount anyway.

I got super fed up with this and kept track of EVERYTHING a manager let happen. If a manager one time let a customer buy this for this amount of money. Every single time a customer asked about it, I would call the manager over and get him to override it.

The moment a customer came in and asked for something clearly against policy, I would just call that manager over and make him override and say, “he does this all the time” to the customer. 

It happened so often that he had a meeting and got reprimanded by corporate. He mentioned me by name as the one who does it, and when questioned, I told them the same thing.

Me: “He did it all the time before, and I just assumed that he, as the manager, was doing the right thing.”

He wasn’t fired or anything, but he stopped folding in front of customers and making me look like the jerk. 

I’ll never understand why managers never back up their employees on store policy.

A customer wanted to buy a 25p eraser. It was only a tiny thing; it could fit at the end of a pencil. He could have easily put it in his wallet.

Customer: “Where’s my bag?”

Me: “You want a bag for the eraser?”

Customer: “I made a purchase; I should get a bag!”

Me: “We’re actually out of the small bags, and I assumed—”

Customer: “—you should never assume! It makes an a** out of you and me!”

Me: “You know what, sir? You’re absolutely right.”

I pull out the only bags I have accessible at my checkout; our very largest bags designed for bulky items and capable of covering size A1 packs of paper (594 x 841 mm, or 23.4 x 33.1 inches).

Customer: “You don’t have anything smaller?”

Me: “As I was going to say, sir, the sign at the entrance to the checkouts states we’re currently out of all our bag sizes, except our largest, but I shouldn’t assume that you didn’t read that.”

Customer: “This is ridiculous!” *Storms off, sans bag.*

Related:
Baggage About A Lack Of Baggage, Part 3
Baggage About A Lack Of Baggage, Part 2
Baggage About A Lack Of Baggage