It’s New Year’s Day and I’m working at a hotel in Prague, Czech Republic. We’ve had an American family staying with us a few days. They march up to my desk.

Guest: “This is ridiculous! Everything is closed!”

Me: “It’s New Year’s Day, so I would imagine a lot of shops will be closed for a few days.”

Guest: “But then what are we supposed to do?!”

Me: “There are still plenty of beautiful places to walk around and enjoy today, and I believe the castle grounds are open to the public.”

Guest: “But what are we supposed to eat?!”

Me: “The hotels and their restaurants remain open. I can guide you to some nice suggestions if you’d rather not eat here.”

Guest: “We’ve tried those, and we don’t like the look of them! Even the McDonalds is closed! It’s Unamerican!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do to help you there. It’s a holiday so most people want to be at home with their families.”

The guest glares at me and storms off, barking at their partner:

Guest: “I told you we should have gone to Disneyworld!”

I am visiting an old medieval castle on vacation. I have reached the torture chamber part of the tour. The room contains mock-ups of medieval torture devices, including a stretching rack.

An American father and his son (six years old at the oldest, based on the ticket he’s carrying) are looking at the rack.

Father: “Do you know what this is?”

The kid nods.

Father: “This is a stretching rack. They’d tie people to the chains and then stretch them using that pulley over there.”

Kid: “How did they stretch the chains?”

Father: “They didn’t stretch the chains. They stretched the body.”

Kid: “Oh…” *Eyes go wide in realization* “…oh!“

He then smiles mischievously in the way only six-year-old boys can.

Kid: “That’s so coooool!“

He furiously looks around the room and spots the super-spiky iron maiden.

Kid: “Dad! Daaaad! Tell me about this one!”

I’m in class complaining to a friend.

Me: “Ugh, I’m hungry. I didn’t have time to eat breakfast before class.”

A girl I’ve never spoken to speaks up.

Girl: “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but would you like my waffles?”

I was never so grateful to a stranger, and she was so nice about it. The two waffles gave me some energy for the three-hour practice of geodetic surveying in 5°C (41°F) weather that day.

To be honest, it might not be the kindest act I’ve experienced, but it was so unexpected and so sweet.

Like many cities, Prague is filled with people trying to sell tourists random crap. I’m on the tram and looking on my phone when I see a man get onboard. I see him out of the corner of my eye and he holds something out, so I think he’s trying to get me to buy something. I keep looking at my phone and wave him away.

Me: “Ne, ne.”

Man: *In a booming voice* “ANO!” *Yes!*

I looked over and realized he was holding out a badge — not a trinket — that identified him as a metro ticket inspector. He death-glared at me and the entire car stared at me. I dove for my monthly pass for him to scan. The dude glared at me while he checked every other person’s pass.

Not sure if this is Not Always Right or Not Always Working. A bit of both, maybe.

I am last-minute shopping for some essentials. I take my purchase from the shelf and make a beeline for the cashier, trying to be in and out ASAP.

The cashier is sort of polite, says hi, and scans my purchase. But the moment she sees the receipt, she smiles like crazy and her tone is suddenly the overly nice one.

Cashier: “I hope you found everything just all right today! On your receipt, there will be a link to a survey.” 

Me: “Nah, thanks. Just give me the receipt; I’m in a hurry.”

I take my purchase — already paid for — and extend my hand for the receipt but the cashier sort of leans back to take it out of my reach.

Cashier: “Oh, it will be just a moment! I’ll explain it to you. I can write my name for you, so you can mention it.”

Me: “Either you give me the receipt now and I’ll just go or you’ll continue this nonsense and I’ll give you the worst review I can think of. What do you say?”

She then sort of threw the receipt at me and I left. And no, I did not leave a bad review for her.