I pull up to the drive-thru.

Employee: *Over the speaker.* “Welcome to [Fast Food Place], what would you like to order?”

Me: “Yeah, can I get a cheeseburger meal with cheese, please? Medium fries and a Diet Coke.”

Employee: “So that’s a double bacon burger with no cheese, onion rings, and a Dr. Pepper?”

Me: “I… I don’t even know how you could get everything so wrong.”

Employee: “Thanks so much! Please pull forward!”

Me: “No, wait, I—”

Employee: “—Welcome to [Fast Food Place], what would you like to order?”

Me: “Are you an AI?”

Employee: “We don’t have that on the menu, currently.”

Done with this, I pull forward so that I can speak to a human being… to be presented with a young worker speaking in the exact same voice I heard on the speaker, so not an AI.

Employee: “So, double bacon burger with no cheese, onion rings, and a Dr. Pepper?”

Me: “Not even close. I asked for a cheeseburger meal with cheese, medium fries, and a Diet Coke.”

Employee: “Isn’t that what I said?”

Me: “Dude, are you okay?”

Employee: *Huge fake smile.* “I’m great and happy to be here!”

His smile seems to be hiding deep, sunken eyes and exhaustion. Then I remember what week it is and that this is a college town.

Me: “Oooooh, finals week.”

Employee: *Huge fake smile, somehow becoming even larger, speaking in a sing-song voice.* “I haven’t slept in three days!”

I got my lunch somewhere else…

I work for a radio station that presents local news, with a little world news segment. We offer a summer internship for journalism students at the local university to come and see how radio news works, and even help put together the script for some stories. Part of this involves a quick test during the interview stage, asking them to write a quick headline and copy for made-up world news events.

Manager: “Why didn’t you put [Student’s Name] through to the consideration list?”

Me: “Oh, that guy? Look, we only have two intern spaces, so they need to go to the very best.”

Manager: “What’s wrong with [Student’s Name]? He’s the son of a friend, so I kinda wanted to give him a chance.”

Me: “On his newscast copy, he said guerrilla warfare was ‘monkeys with guns’.”

Manager: “…Never mind.”

Our class is reading the Diary of Anne Frank in middle school, aloud as a class over the course of a few weeks.

We get to the part where they celebrate Hanukkah. One of my classmates blurts out loud:

Classmate: “Wait, are they Jewish?”

A good number of years ago, when I was still teaching the introductory engineering tech class, one of the major units was measurement. This covered general to high precision measurement, everything from standard rulers and tape measures, to surveying measuring tools, to machine shop measuring tools. A number of the students, despite being in a course of study they selected, didn’t see the value of the basic skills for several high-paying trades and professions.

Most didn’t pay attention to the general measurement portion, using various types of rulers and an engineer’s scale. Many liked the introduction to surveying tech portion, as they got to go outside. One student in particular saw no point in the portion for calipers and micrometers- tools used to measure to lightwave length precision. The finest instrument we used was accurate to 0.5 millionth of a meter.

The student said, in essence, that he had no need to know how to use these tools, as if he didn’t pass, he would become a p*rn star instead.

Another student told him that he’d still need to know, since there he’d need the micrometer to get critical measures for his resume.

It took several minutes to get the class back.

A classmate has a very distinctive look, and I think it’s really cool. I’m a little intimidated by her (and her permanent scowl and combat boots), but eventually I gather the courage to tell her that I find one of her outfits amazing. We’re walking to class one day.

Me: “Hey, [Classmate]! I love your skirt! Your Bohemian style is really cool.”

She stops in her tracks.

Classmate: “THANK YOU!”

Me: “Yeah, it really looks nice!”

Classmate: “NO! Well, I mean, yes, thank you, but – thank you for calling it what it is! It’s Bohemian!”

Me: “…does no one else call it that?”

Classmate: “Everyone else calls it ‘wannabe steampunk’ or ‘cottagecore goth’. It’s not! It’s Bohemian!”

Me: “I’m surprised people call it other things… but it’s clearly your style, and it works and looks great on you.”

She smiled the entire class, and I felt good that I made someone happy that day.