This incident took place in India in the late 1980s and early ‘90s. The school where my sister and I studied was in my hometown. We knew almost all of the teachers since they were practically our neighbours.

By the time I graduated from school, the principal had retired and the vice principal had taken over as the principal.

[Vice Principal] was also from the same town, and for some unknown reason, he had some sort of grudge against my father. In local gatherings and such, he would always try to belittle my father at all chances he could get. My father would normally let it pass since he knows that getting into silly arguments with such a bully is totally unproductive.

When my sister and I joined the school, my father was required to pay a refundable deposit of 5,000 Rupees per child, which would be returned when each child graduated from the school. 10,000 Rupees was a large amount in the ‘90s and is equivalent to 95,000 Rupees now.

I graduated in 1989. My father enquired about the refund.

Vice Principal: “Since [Sister] will be graduating next year, both of the deposits will be returned together.”

When my sister graduated from school, my father requested that the school refund both of the deposits. There was no response, even after two weeks, and my father personally went to the school to demand the refund. [Vice Principal], being the egotistical bully, started arguing with my father stating that the school couldn’t refund the deposits. The argument became very heated, and he refused point-blank.

Vice Principal: “We are not returning the deposits. Do what you want. You can take us to court if you want!”

My father went silent, got up, and left the school. He came home, sat down with Mom, and went through all the school-related documents she had kept. My mom had a very meticulous documentation system; she used to save every receipt, bill, stub, etc.

He found the receipts for the deposits and took them to his lawyer friend. My dad informed his friends whose children were in the same school about the issue.

The lawyer filed the case and took the school to court. The school couldn’t provide any reason for withholding the deposits, so my dad won. The school was instructed to pay back the deposits with interest, as well as court dues.

My father’s friends who were in the PTA took up the issue in the subsequent PTA meeting, and they got the school’s trustee board to ensure that such issues wouldn’t be dealt with in the same manner. All deposits would be refunded in time. They strictly warned [Vice Principal] not to bring personal grudges into school business.

Other parents who were owed deposits but had forgotten about them started claiming them. It cost the school a lot to pay back all the deposits.

Me: “Good morning, and thank you for calling [Expensive Department Store]. How can I help you today?”

Caller: “Oh… um… hi… I need to cancel an order, please?”

Me: “Certainly. When was the order placed?”

Caller: “Um… about a minute ago. It was for flowers.”

Me: “Can I take the order number and billing address, please?”

Caller: “It’s [order number] and [billing address].”

Me: “Great, I’ve got this on my screen now. I’ll proceed with the cancellation, and you’ll get an email confirmation shortly.”

Caller: “Oh, um… can you… not send an email? I used my wife’s email by accident. The… um… order… is for… ah… my girlfriend.”

Me: “Oh… Sorry, sir. Cancellation emails are sent automatically, as are order confirmation emails. For this order, it has already been sent.”

Caller: “F***.” *Click*

I worked at a popular clothing store for a couple of years and had my fair share of crazy customers. But when people ask me what the weirdest thing I had to deal with was, this comes to mind first.

The store is a two-level store and always has been. It’s located in a huge mall. The top level is for men’s and children’s clothing, and the bottom level is for women’s. Each level connects with an entrance to the rest of the mall, but we have our own escalator and elevator inside the store to allow customers to move between our two levels only. The elevator is hard to find and all the way in the corner, but the escalator is right in the middle and hard to miss.

I am upstairs in the children’s section, walking out of the stockroom and heading to the elevator, when a lady stops me halfway.

Lady: “Excuse me, where is your women’s section?”

Me: “It’s downstairs.”

She looks at me all perplexed.

Lady: “But you don’t have a downstairs.”

I’m not sure what to say; we are standing literally five feet away from the escalator. I point to said escalator.

Me: “Yeah, it’s just that way.”

She turns around, looks at the escalator, and then looks back at me.

Lady: “But you’ve never had a downstairs.”

She looks a mixture of confused and irritated and is talking to me as if I’m stupid. I REALLY don’t know what to say at this point, so I pause for a couple of seconds before replying.

Me: “…well, we do now?”

She stared at me for like three seconds before turning around and getting on the escalator that would take her to this mythical land of downstairs. And I just stood there for the next ten seconds wondering what the h*** had just happened.

One winter a few years ago, one of our heat pumps broke, so we didn’t have heat in the living room, kitchen, and downstairs family room. I brought up a heater and plugged it in in the family room to take the chill out. We were discussing the issue and how long it would take to get a repairman out.

Daughter: “At least you have the heaters, so it’s not a big deal.”

Me: “Yeah, it heats the living room nice, but it’s going to kill our [Electric Company] bill if we don’t get the heat fixed quickly.”

Daughter: *Kind of bewildered* “It’s just plugged into a regular outlet, like the lights. Why would it cost more?”

My wife looked at me and I looked back at her.

Me: “[Daughter], you do know that it costs a lot more to run a heater, right? It pulls a lot more electricity than a light does. It’s like the stove or dryer; the stove is plugged into an outlet, but it costs a lot more than a light.”

God as my witness, she said:

Daughter: “We pay for the stove? It costs money to run the stove? I thought the electricity was just for the lights and plugs.”

My wife, my son, my other daughter, and I all started laughing.

We went on to explain to my reasonably well-educated twenty-three-year-old daughter that more than just the lights and plugs cost money to use in the house.

My fiancé and I are huuuuge gamers, and we moved to a city that had an [Electronics Chain] pretty close. My fiancé and I visited quite a bit. That day, I was wearing a plaid shirt, some blue jeans, sneakers, and the star of the show… my favorite blue beanie!

At this chain, the uniforms are blue polos with store logos and black slacks.

I was looking through the games while my fiancé was a few aisles over looking at the records. All of a sudden, a wild manchild appeared!

I was trying to decide which RPG I wanted to buy to put on my shelf and MAYBE play in the next year. I was literally sitting on the floor; I’m tall so it hurts to lean over to see the bottom shelves)

I heard someone behind me and didn’t really think much of it as the store was decently packed.

Man: “Hey, I need to get a laptop out of the lockup. I’ve been waiting by them and no one has helped me yet.”

I was still on the floor with my head in the game racks, sifting through poorly organized games. I didn’t even notice that he was talking to me, as an employee had JUST asked me if I needed help about two minutes before. I figured he was talking to the same employee.

Man: “Hellloooo? Are you going to help me or just waste my time?”

I realized that something was going on, so I glanced behind me, thinking an employee was being rude. Meanwhile, this guy was MAYBE two feet right behind me, so when I turned around to look, I just had some random dude’s crotch in my face. I looked up to see why he was so close.

He was wearing a baseball cap, brown work pants, a white shirt, and a blue jacket, and he had a look of pretentiousness on his face, kind of like his time was worth more than a peasant’s life.

Man: “Finally, you get your head out of your a**! Now hurry up! My wife is still waiting and I need a laptop for my son.”

I finally stood up, not only because of the view I was forced to see, but because my fight or flight kicked in for a moment. As soon as I stood up, I backed away a good six feet or so and just looked at him, trying to figure out how to respond.

Man: “What, are you going to run away because I asked for help? Why did they hire an idiot like you?!”

I responded under my breath, slightly staggering my words.

Me: “But I don’t work here…”

Man: “What was that? C’mon, be a big boy and speak up!”

Me: *A bit louder but still quiet* “I don’t work here; I’m just looking at games.”

This whole time, I was just in a mental whirlwind as to why this was happening. I was not in a uniform, nor was I organizing anything. I was just flipping through games. At the same time, my anxiety was telling me to run to my fiancé and hide.

Man: “You don’t work here?”

Me: “No, I’m sorry.”

Man: “Why are you wearing a blue beanie, then?! F*** you! You wasted so much of my f****** time!”

He stormed off to find an actual employee, and I just sat there trying to figure out why a blue beanie of all things made him think I worked there. After being confused for a bit, I basically ran to find my fiancé.

After finding him, I told him all that happened, and I could see both confusion and anger slowly come over his face, followed by a very pissed, “F*** no!” Then, he stormed off while I started to realize what or who he was going toward.

I was still incredibly highly anxious over it, so I tried to talk him down as he walked toward the man. He had asked what the guy looked like, and stupid me didn’t know why until it was too late.

My fiancé is the sweetest man ever, but when it comes to me, he is very protective. He is a very tall Nordic man with a full beard and can be pretty intimidating when angry.

He walked up to the man, who was now with an actual employee getting his laptop out of the cases. Meanwhile, I hide in an aisle while still keeping an eye on him.

Fiancé: *To the man* “Hey! I have been waiting forever, and you are just sitting here talking to your friend?!”

The poor employee looked beyond confused as to what was happening but just kept out of it.

Man: “What the f*** are you talking about?! Who even are you?”

Fiancé: “A customer! So, are you going to help me, or are you just going to sit there with your thumb up your a**?”

Man: “Dude, are you stupid? I don’t work here, so f*** off!”

Fiancé: “Then why are you wearing a blue jacket?!”

The man went from pissed to confused really quickly.

Man: “Why would my jacket mean I work here?”

Fiancé: “I don’t know. You thought a beanie meant my fiancé did! Sounds pretty stupid coming from someone else, huh, you f****** idiot?”

At this point, the man saw me in the aisle over, watching. His face just went pale as snow.

Fiancé: “Learn some respect, and while you’re at it, try to find those brain cells you lost on the way!”

My fiancé walked away, and I immediately ran behind him. We got out of the store before the employee called security on us for his yelling. I didn’t hear anything behind me, but I also didn’t dare to look back.

Being very anxious about confrontations, I was pretty upset with my fiancé at first, but when I calmed down, I realized that it was him standing up for me and that it was pretty d*** funny, actually. We avoided that store for a good month and just went to one a bit further away after.

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