I worked as a tech support for a global insurance company. Our old manager retired. He was a cool guy, not a micromanager. We got this new one who was, right away, very confrontational. He was a “my way or the highway” kind of guy, even when we explained the bureaucracy of our company and processes. For whatever reason, he had it in for me; he went as far as making comments in front of everybody about replacing me.

At one of our employee review meetings, he said he was getting complaints of me “not smiling enough”, which I found very odd because I consider myself a likable person and I’m always joking with other users and employees, which I’ve found helps with the job.

He even went as far as to show me how to smile.

I proceeded to give out the most forced, creepy smile humanly possible every time I interacted with a user, every single time. People asked me what was wrong, and I always answered, “Following an employee review, I was instructed to smile more, so I’m smiling.”

I was doing this for a couple of days and after an interaction providing support for Human Resources, with the smile and the explanation, I went back to my desk.

A couple of minutes later, I saw the HR lady go to my boss’s office. They were there for like half an hour. After she left, my boss called me in.

Boss: “You don’t have to smile anymore.”

Me: *Sarcastically* “Aww, do I really have to stop?”

He just looked at me for a moment.

Boss: “That’s all.”

He left like a year later. No one, not even the other managers, liked him.

I work remote IT for a medical facility, which is a very high-paced environment. It can be rough some days, but generally, after I ask a few questions, I can do the troubleshooting I need to fix the issue. If not, I can send the case to a team onsite to get the issue resolved.

I got a call today that started out like this.

Me: “Thank you for calling. How can I assist you today?”

Caller: “The CPU was stolen!”

Stealing a CPU for one of these computers requires a lot of time and a lot of work because most of the computers in this location are locked in cages.

Me: “All right, do you see any dented metal or screws lying on the floor?”

Caller: “No. Why would that stuff be there?”

Me: “If a CPU was stolen they we need to unscrew the cage, the case, the fan mount, and potentially the CPU mount.”

Caller: “Well, the HDD (hard disk drive) is saying it’s corrupted!”

Me: “Okay, so is the CPU intact?”

Caller: “No, I’m telling you that the HDD is corrupted! Do you even work with computers?”

Me: “Uh… Okay, can you read off the error that the HDD is giving you?”

Caller: “‘Entering power sleep mode,’ and I can’t get it to show anything else.”

Yeah, so the CPU being stolen… I have no idea what that means. This “HDD” error just means that the computer isn’t getting a video signal. I document what actually is going on and get back to the call.

Me: “Okay, so, from the sounds of the error on the screen, it may be that the cable is loose or bad. Could you please check the cables for me?”

Caller: “Pfft, no, the CPU was stolen, and I already checked the cables!”

Me: “Could you try turning the computer on for me to check to see if any lights pop up?”

Caller: “No, I’m telling you…”

There’s a bit of a scuffle and some random worker comes on the phone.

Worker: “The CPU was stolen, and we need a tech up here to fix it.”

I try to do the same troubleshooting steps to maybe confirm that it is an issue with a cable or it’s not plugged in, but…

Worker: “Look here. I know more about computers than you do, and when I say that the CPU was stolen, I know it, and on top of that, our HDD is saying it’s corrupt!”

I mute myself, sigh, and smack my head.

Me: “Okay, I’ll send a tech over to take a look at it.”

Worker: “There, was that so hard?!” *Click*

Sometimes the only way to win is to lose. I checked back on the case a little bit ago and saw the solution the techs gave.

Techs: “Went to site, turned on computer.”

I work in a restaurant. I had a table today where a man was introducing his baby and the baby’s mother to his mother, sister, and aunt. He was military, and I guess he’d been busy during his time away. They ordered a big chicken nacho to start, which I promptly put in.

Mind you, I was overseeing a party of twenty-five and finishing them up, and the host had told the family that they may have a few minutes of wait at the table. They were cool… at first. Once the food came out, the complaints started.

I checked on them multiple times in passing and nobody asked for anything. They asked for water for the table and also each had a beer or mocktail. Nobody asked for refills or to order another drink. They didn’t have a single auto-refill drink, but… okay, maybe I wasn’t super attentive.

The aunt went to the front and had a hissy fit about having to wait for things. My manager dealt with her, but she pulled me aside.

Manager: “I’ve been watching you, and I know you did your best with them, even if the food was kind of late behind that party of twenty-five. I’m gonna comp four cheesecake slices. You shouldn’t worry about them.”

I went and dropped off the discounted check, and I heard the aunt say:

Aunt: “I’m gonna order cheesecake for us all and get the whole bill taken care of.”

The sister and mom both cringed and made eye contact with me. I dropped off the free fifty dollars’ worth of cheesecake and brought the fussy toddler a free milk just to show I cared.

The aunt stared at the check and then violently snatched it up. I watched the baby’s mother die internally. I could only imagine she’d been dealing with this woman for hours or days and was rapidly approaching her limit. She was super sweet whenever I came back to the table. She wasn’t a problem, and I imagine she’d served before.

Not five minutes after the forty-dollar check was dropped, my manager found me, and we went to a computer to look at ring times and such. She wanted to make sure I had done my best before she stuck up for me. Everything checked out, and she decided it wasn’t worth the trouble and comped the table’s entire bill.

They seemed satisfied and left… finally. On the way out, the aunt called me “slow and shiftless” and said I should work somewhere else. I laughed in response and wished them a lovely evening.

I knew I wasn’t gonna get tipped and just started to bus the table once they were out of view. I found a twenty by where the sister was sitting and a crisp fifty in the middle of the table. I’m betting the dude left that.

As I finished up, I saw the baby’s mother speaking to my manager, who gestured toward me, and I walked over. The woman smashed a crumpled hundred into my hand and whispered:

Baby’s Mother: “I’m so sorry. I know you did your best with them.”

I almost cried.

Me: *Nodding* “Thanks so much. I hope I see you and your baby again.”

She thanked me again and walked off.

I live with my boyfriend who owns a coffee shop. People tend to scramble a few 10c or 20c coins to pay for the coffee, so we always have plenty of them laying around. I usually use them to pay for groceries.

I usually go to the same store because they have self-service checkouts so the cashiers don’t have to count the ton of coins I pay with. I always go about one hour before the closing time (because of work), take a shopping cart, pick up €50 to €100 worth of groceries, and pay at the self-service.

It never was an issue until recently. An employee stopped me as I approached the self-service area.

Employee: “You can’t take shopping carts in here.”

Me: “I’m planning to pay with a lot of coins. It would take ages for a cashier to count it.”

Employee: “It doesn’t matter; there isn’t enough space in the self-checkout area for a shopping cart.”

That’s bulls***; you could fit at least four of those carts beside each other, and somehow people with prams and buggies were allowed even if they were taking up a lot of space.

Me: “Whatever.”

I took my cart to the cashier. The shop was closing in about fifteen minutes.

My total was around €100, so I handed her a few money bags with my 10c and 20c coins. They were mixed up and not precounted.

Cashier: “You should really take this to the self-service area.”

Me: “Well, it’s somehow store policy that I’m not allowed over there with a cart, so unfortunately, you’ll have to count all these coins. I’m in no rush, so you can take your time. Thank your colleagues if you want to.”

I left the store twenty minutes past closing time. If I was using the self-service, it would have taken me five minutes.

I was hired at [Pizza Place] as a delivery driver when I was only nineteen. I was the first female driver to be hired at this particular location because our franchisee was worried for our safety even though we are in a nice neighborhood. I understood, though, and always made sure not to let him regret hiring me as a driver. I actually never had any problems. Of course, I had comments from customers about being a female and getting an “extra tip if I wanted, wink wink” but it wasn’t bad.

About a year and a half into my job, my general manager and I both transferred to a busier store in our franchise. This particular store delivered right to our corporate HQ. There was a call center for a while, and after a certain time, the doors to the building would lock and you needed key card access, so when delivering, we always had to call or text the customer to let them know we were there. One guy, in all my eleven years of working, there has only been this ONE GUY who acted like this, and I couldn’t believe it!

After dropping off this customer’s pizza and returning to the store, he texted me.

Customer: “You are really cute. We should hang out soon.”

I wanted to be nice, and he was HOT!

Me: “Yeah, sure.”

Not long after that, my manager directed me to look at our make line screen, where customer feedback scrolled across.

Customer Feedback: “[My Name] was so great! Professional and nice! Please send her every time!”

Then, the customer continued to text me.

Customer: “Can you hang out tonight? I just need to wait until my girlfriend puts our kid to sleep and then I can go.”

Me: “You have a girlfriend? And a kid?! Sorry… I cannot hang out tonight.”

Customer: “I get what I want. Always. No matter what.”

I ignored the rest of his messages after that and showed them to my manager the next day.

Later that night, the customer ordered again and we sent a different driver. The customer feedback after that read:

Customer Feedback: “I told you to send [My Name]. You need to send her or I will be sending my food back next time.”

Again, two nights later:

Customer Feedback: “I’m reporting you to all! Send [My Name] NOW! Or else!”

He showed up to the store, and the employees helped cover for me as I hid in the back, butI was legitimately scared!

Luckily, he’s a dumba**! He works at corporate and they record EVERYTHING! They can see all customer feedback. He was fired immediately after my manager reported him.

I didn’t know how to block numbers at this point in time, so he blew my phone up. I was horrible for getting him fired. What about his kid? Could we still go on a date? He was gonna beat me up, he was sorry, he hated me, I was cute?!

He eventually left me alone, but it was insane!