I work in a sports bar. It’s 2017, and it’s a Sunday night at around 7:00 pm. Everyone is incredibly busy. The phone rings and rings… and rings… and rings…

The hostess picks up the phone, and the caller asks for a manager. [Manager] takes the phone and introduces himself, covering his other ear because the place is loud as h***.

There is a pause. [Manager] rolls his eyes and sort of smiles.

Manager: “Um…”

There’s another short pause, and then [Manager] starts full-blown laughing directly into the phone.

Manager: “You’re calling a sports bar in Boston in the middle of the Patriots Super Bowl game to request a manager and ask if we’re hiring? No, dude, we are not hiring.”

Part of me feels bad for the guy for getting laughed off the phone, but bro… come on. I kind of wonder if the guy ever found a job.

CONTENT WARNING: Gross (Feces)

I have been working at a Canadian grocery store chain for about four years. It’s early 2020, so the global health crisis is in full swing with mask mandates, etc.

I’m working in the self-checkout area right by the doors, and I notice a woman in her forties entering with her screaming child. The kid is wearing a sweater that says the name of his school and the year of his graduating class, and I gather that he is around eleven or twelve. Right off the bat, the woman looks pissed, probably because of her goblin child screaming blue murder about how he wants [Fast Food Place], and she waltzes in without a mask.

Me: “Welcome to [Store]! Do you need a mask?”

Woman: “What? No. I just need a few things.”

She tries to shove her way past me, but I place myself between her and the rest of the store.

Me: “Quick trip, eh? Yeah, I get that, but as per [Store] policy, all staff and customers over the age of ten need to be wearing masks in the store.”

Woman: “Well, I don’t have one!”

I point to a stand with hand sanitizer and masks by the door.

Me: “We have some right over there in case people forget. You can get one for yourself and your son.”

Child: “Mooooooommmmmm, I don’t want to wear a maaaaask!”

Woman: “Hush, sweetie. You don’t have to.” *To me* “My son is eight; he doesn’t need one. And besides, I don’t need one, either. I just need to grab a few things. I’ll be out in a few minutes anyway.”

Child: “Hey! I’m not eight!”

The woman glares at her kid, and he keeps whining about how he doesn’t want to wear a mask.

Me: “I understand, ma’am, but it’s store policy, and if you won’t wear a mask, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to shop elsewhere. The door signs clearly state you must wear a mask to shop with us.”

Woman: *Raising her voice* “But I just need a few things! It’s not like I’m going all over the store! I want to speak with your manager!”

Me: *Into my walkie-talkie* “Hey, [Manager], I’ve got a woman at the doors who wants to talk to you.”

Manager: “Be right there. Is it about masks again?”

Me: “Yep.”

Manager: *Sighs* “Keep her at the doors, please.”

Me: “Can do.” *To the woman* “Please wait right here and [Manager] will be right over.”

Woman: “You’d better not keep me waiting. I have a family to feed!”

[Manager] soon shows up and takes over.

Manager: “Good afternoon! How can I help you today?”

Woman: “This child—” *I’m twenty* “—won’t let me in! How am I supposed to feed my family if I can’t even enter the store?!

Manager: “Well, ma’am, you’re welcome to do your shopping here if you put on a mask!” *Notices the “Class Of [Year]” shirt on the kid* “And your son needs one, as well, seeing as he’s over ten.”

Woman: “HE’S EIGHT!”

Child: “NO, I’M NOT, MOM! STOP SAYING THAT!”

Woman: “BE QUIET, [CHILD]! Mommy’s handling this!”

Child: “DON’T YELL AT ME!”

He’s stomping his foot and screaming in her face.

Woman: “Don’t you take that tone with me! Let me deal with these idiots, and then Mommy will get you [Fast Food Place] after!”

The kid shuts up really quickly.

Woman: *To [Manager], smirking* “I can’t wear a mask and neither can my son; we have asthma and won’t be able to breathe.”

Manager: “I’m very sorry to hear that, but I’m afraid the rule goes for everyone; no entry without a mask.”

The woman explodes.

Woman: “I SWEAR TO GOD, WE’LL SUFFOCATE WITH MASKS ON! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL MY CHILD?! I’M GOING TO SUE YOU IF YOU DON’T LET ME IN RIGHT NOW!”

Manager: “Please don’t raise your voice at me. I’m speaking to you like an adult; I expect the same in return. If you don’t want to wear a mask, then you can shop somewhere else. I hear that [Other Grocery Store] is allowing customers to shop without masks if you’d rather go there.”

Woman: “I’LL SPEAK HOWEVER I WANT! YOU’RE INFRINGING MY RIGHTS AS A CANADIAN CITIZEN TO BREATHE FREELY! I DON’T WANT TO GO TO [OTHER GROCERY STORE]! I’M ALREADY HERE! JUST LET ME DO MY F****** SHOPPING!”

The woman is panting like she just ran a marathon, and her son pulls her down to whisper something in her ear. She smiles like the Grinch after stealing Christmas and nods at her gremlin. He takes off into the store at a run, and we lose sight of him in the aisles. [Manager] sends me after the kid while he calls for security.

I search up and down every aisle in the store and finally find the kid in the frozen food section, all the way at the other end of the store. He’s got his pants around his ankles and is squatting in the middle of the aisle, dropping a massive pile of s*** on the floor. He sees me and grins at me.

I get on the walkie and call [Manager] over, telling him what’s going on. At this point, the woman has reluctantly put on a mask and storms over with [Manager] just as the kid drops the last nugget on his steaming pile. He pulls his pants back up and trots over to his mother.

Woman: “There we go; we found him. Now I can shop in peace.”

Manager: “Absolutely not. You or your son need to clean that up immediately.”

Woman: “H*** no. Get her to do it.” *Points at me* “It’s her job.”

Manager: “No, it’s not. Either you clean that up right now or I’m calling the police.”

Woman: “Fine! Go get me some paper towels.”

Manager: *To me* “Can you go grab the cleaning cart by the cash?”

Me: “Yeah, no problem.”

I get the cart and the woman starts picking up the poop.

Manager: “I hope you understand that once that’s cleaned up, you’ll need to leave. You and your son are banned for life.”

Woman: “What?!”

Manager: “After this awful display from the both of you, you’re not welcome to return.”

Woman: “THAT’S NOT FAIR! I’VE BEEN A LOYAL CUSTOMER HERE FOR YEARS! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!”

And she flings the fistful of poop she’s got at [Manager]’s head. He manages to dodge it, and it splatters on the freezer door behind him.

[Manager] gets on the walkie and asks for someone to lock the doors and call the cops while the woman and her son make a beeline for the exit. Boy, is she pissed when she realizes she is locked in. She’s screaming at everyone, her kid is complaining about the crap still stuck to his backside, and everyone else is staying the f*** away from the crazy lady with s*** on her hands screaming about lawsuits and how she’ll have all the employees fired.

The cops show up not too long after, in masks and gloves, and [Manager] uses a side exit to go out and explain the situation. Three cops enter and head over to where the woman is still screaming like a banshee with her hellspawn in tow.

Officer #1: “Ma’am, you’re going to need to come with us.”

Woman: “Like h*** I am! He’s the one you should be arresting!” *Pointing at [Manager]* “He made me clean up some random kid’s poop!”

Officer #1: “Ma’am, you need to calm down and come outside with us, or we’ll be forced to detain you. You can come peacefully or in handcuffs. It’s your call.”

The woman rushed the officers, probably to start hitting them or something, and [Officer #1] and [Officer #3] grabbed her and pinned her on the floor, with [Officer #2] cuffing her while reciting her rights

The child was scream-crying now, telling the cops to leave his mom alone and trying to pull them off of her. [Officer #1] turned around and grabbed the kid in a bear hug, lifting him off the ground as he was kicking and screaming to be let go, and carried him out to the squad cars in front of the store, all while his mother was screaming about child abuse and unlawful detainment and, “You’d better get your hands off my child right now or I’ll sue you all to high heaven!”

The woman was packed into the back of one car and her son in the other, and [Officer #1] came back to finish up with [Manager] and me, taking our statements and getting a copy of the CCTV footage. The woman was charged with disturbing the peace, aggravated assault for the poo flinging, resisting arrest, and trespassing.

She never came back to our store, and she was banned from all of our locations for life along with her son. [Manager] ended up cleaning the poo, not wanting to make his employees do it.

This story is part of our Not Always Right Most-Epic Stories roundup!

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I work in a restaurant. I opened this location as the assistant manager, took a long maternity leave, and then returned as a shift lead. The general manager is the same one I was assistant to.

In August, the morning cook quit. It’s now December, and we still haven’t replaced him. I’ve been doing twice the work since then.

The start of my shift is stressful because I set up the entire cook line alone. In ninety minutes, I do all this: turn on all equipment, turn on six of the eight fryers, clean the filter machine, filter the other two fryers and turn them on, top off the fryers with fresh oil, stock up two stations with about 150 pounds of meat each, set up ice baths and batter for both stations, make and hot-hold our buffalo sauce, temp all the fryers, start two new time control logs, set up sani-water and hot soapy water, and have all the fried chicken ready before we open.

Yesterday morning, I was five minutes late due to snow. There were multiple containers of chicken that were half-full or less, so I had to spend time consolidating them. There was also not a drop of batter in the house, so I had to make a whole batch, which takes at least five minutes. Finally, all of our livers were spoiled, so I had to take those out to the dumpster and take them off the Point Of Sale system. Basically, I spent about fifteen minutes not setting up the line.

As I was scrambling to finish the batter I made, the kitchen aide approached me.

Kitchen Aide: “You need to do your dishes.”

I had dropped off a couple of chicken containers, the pan that had the spoiled livers, a bowl, and two whisks. She was training one of the line cooks in kitchen aide duties, so there was an extra person. This means she had less to do and was doing dishes immediately when they came to the dish pit. As I was rushing to open the line alone, I saw her just standing around watching the trainee.

I clarified three times that she was talking about me. I was so taken aback for multiple reasons. One, she saw me hustling to do all this s***, and I was running behind. Two, I always contribute to the dishes; I even stay late sometimes to do ALL the dishes, clean the dish pit, and put in fresh water before the evening kitchen aides come. Three, I am a shift lead and she is supposedly my subordinate.

Me: “I’m too busy right now.”

Kitchen Aide: “No, it doesn’t matter.”

Me: “I’ll do them later, then.”

I walked away to continue setting up the line. It was twenty-five minutes before opening at that point, and I was only halfway set up.

When I came back to get the second batter container, [Kitchen Aide] stopped me again.

Kitchen Aide: “Dishes are all our responsibility, and we have to collaborate as a team.”

Me: “Okay, then leave them aside and I’ll do them later.”

Kitchen Aide: “No.”

Her answer to that compromise was f****** no. I have no problem doing the dishes. I actually genuinely enjoy it. It’s soothing to take something dirty and make it clean. The water is warm and the soap smells nice. I just can’t wash dishes and also set up the entire cook line while on a time crunch.

The general manager arrived a couple of minutes after the altercation. He immediately discredited my thoughts and feelings on this. He kept repeating that it wasn’t a big deal and that [Kitchen Aide] didn’t realize I was so busy.

Me: “That’s not the point. Her saying no and lecturing me about how to do my job is called insubordination.”

[General Manager] actually rolled his eyes.

General Manager: “It’s not that serious. Calm down.”

[Kitchen Aide] did not apologize to me. She was passive-aggressive for the rest of the shift. She put me in danger by not calling out basic kitchen safety things like “behind you with hot” or “oven opening behind you.” She opened the oven door and it actually grazed my leg, and she didn’t say anything.

[Kitchen Aide] then argued with [General Manager] about cutting the potatoes. He said she was cutting them too small. There was a back and forth, and then later I checked and the potatoes were cut the way [Kitchen Aide] likes them. She runs this store now, apparently.

I had to work the rest of the shift feeling like s***. [General Manager] even told me I should apologize to [Kitchen Aide] so things aren’t awkward. I retorted that she should be written up for insubordination. [General Manager] rolled his eyes again.

At the end of my shift, I put in my resignation.

Me: *To [General Manager]* “You expect me to do all the manager duties, but I don’t get the same respect. You discredited everything I said and solidly defended [Kitchen Aide]. I don’t have a job lined up, but I just can’t take the disrespect.”

I’m so sad. I loved that job. I could see myself there for another ten or twenty years. But the way [General Manager] handled that situation was the glass-shattering moment. I am not valued. I am not respected. I work so hard, and I have a supportive management style. I’m always helping wherever the work is needed. Being lectured on dishes is just straight-up offensive to me, and [General Manager] did nothing to support me.

I talked to the office manager of a dental office I used to work for, and I start Monday.

I was working in the self-scan area at my store. There are eight units I watch over, so I pace a lot. I saw this little kid — no older than ten — grab some candy from the shelf. I didn’t think anything about it until he saw me walking that way because, as I said, I was pacing back and forth from machine to machine.

He turned tail and ran in the other direction, out of the self-scan area, and around to behind a wall that separates the self-scan from the main walkway of the store. I walked back that way, and when I looked around there to see why he had high-tailed it, I saw that he no longer had two candies in his hands; he only had one. And when he walked past me, I saw him fiddling with something in his coat pocket, and since I was so much taller than he was, I was able to see that it was the other candy.

I followed him to his mother.

Me: “Ma’am, I just saw your son steal candy.”

She gave him this look. Oh, boy, this was not his first time doing something like this. He pulled the candy out of his pocket and tried to hand it to her. She made him put both back. Then, she gave me a bag of chips she was going to buy him and told him to go sit on a bench nearby until she was done.

About fourteen years ago, when [Security Company] provided security for [British Grocery Chain], I also worked for [Security Company] but was based at the airport. One morning after a twelve-hour night shift, I decided to go into a [British Grocery Chain] store I pass on the way home and get a sandwich.

I had my work uniform on, but I was wearing a grey jacket on top so people would know I wasn’t on duty. I went into the store, picked up a basket, and headed to the sandwich counter. I was browsing the selection and I heard someone say, “Excuse me,” but, not expecting anyone to be talking to me, I carried on looking for my desired sandwich.

Then, suddenly, the basket was slapped out of my hand and there was this snarling man’s face less than an inch from mine.

Man: “I’M NOT PAYING YOU TO SHOP! GET TO THE FRONT OF THE STORE RIGHT NOW!”

I was tired and very confused and could only muster the reply:

Me: “What?”

Man: “I TOLD YOU, GET TO FRONT DOORS! We’ve been open for customers for the last thirty minutes and you’ve not been at your position once, and now I find you buying snacks!”

That’s when the penny dropped.

Me: “I know the store’s open to customers; I am one. I work for the same company that provides your security, but I am not your guard.”

With those words ringing in the man’s ears, all the colour in his face drained away as he realised what he had just done to a customer. Suddenly, he became completely apologetic.

Man: “If there’s anything I can do for you, I’ll gladly help!”

Me: “I would like help carrying my basket around the store; I am tired from a long night shift.”

Man: “I’ll get someone to help you immediately.”

Me: “I don’t want someone else to carry my basket; I want you to carry it.”

I originally only intended to buy a sandwich, but to teach this guy a lesson, I spent thirty minutes in the store and went down every aisle.