(I am working in a large department store. We have staff discounts that also cover immediate family’s purchases. We aren’t allowed to serve family members or friends ourselves; the company is really strict about giving discounts. I get called to the counter.)

Coworker: “There’s a lady over there who asked for you; she said she’s a friend.”

(I recognise the lady as someone my sister knows; I barely know or even like her.)

Lady: “Hi, [My Name], I need to buy this stuff. Your sister said you’ll give me a discount.”

Me: “I can’t give you a discount.”

Lady: “Yes, your sister said you would; you can use your staff discount.”

Me: “No, I’m not allow to do that. Staff discounts can only be done by a manager, and only with family. It’s not up to [Sister] to promise that to you.”

Lady: “Well, tell the manager I am your sister.”

(It’s very obvious that we are different nationalities.)

Me: “The manager knows what my sister looks like, and you have just told [Coworker] that we’re friends; I can’t do it.”

(I knew that if I gave in to her that I would never see the end of it, and she and my sister’s other friends would be in constantly demanding discounts.)

(I am in the office with my store manager who has had to ask another manager about a discrepancy in the banking. This woman has the annoying habit of adding, “Yeah, Yeah,” or, “No, No,” to just about every sentence she utters.)

Manager #1: “Hey, [Manager #2], we’re having trouble getting this to add up right. Did you do this?”

Manager #2: “Yeah, yeah, no, no, yeah.”

Manager #1: “You did it?”

Manager #2: “Yeah, yeah, no, no, yeah, no.”

Manager #1: “I just need a straight answer: yes or no.”

Manager #2: “Yeah, yeah, no.”

Manager #1: “Oh, for f***’s sake. Is it yes or no?”

Manager #2: “Yeah, no.”

Manager #1: “IS ONE WORD TOO HARD? YES OR NO!”

([Manager #2] finally uttered the word, “No,” on its own, but it looked like she was fighting not to say, “Yeah,” afterwards.)

(I decide to get my Bachelor’s at the same university that my siblings went to, and I end up at the same on-campus residence. For the most part, this is fine, except for one thing: one of the residents was also at the residence with my older sister, and she keeps assuming that my sister and I like the same things, since we’re related. I keep trying to emphasize that we’re different people, but she never seems to clue in. Then, one night at dinner…)

Resident: “Hey, [My Name]! I’m putting together a volleyball team. Would you like to join?

Me: “No, thanks. I’m not interested in sports. Besides, I have the coordination of a drunk panda.”

Resident: “Really? I thought you’d love volleyball. After all, your sister played on the state team!”

Me: “All right, clearly I need to reintroduce myself.” *I lean over the table to shake her hand* “Hi! My name is [My Name]. I like horses, Doctor Who, reading, and the occasional Dungeons and Dragons campaign. You seem to have me confused with [Sister], the volleyball player, painter, and singer. However, despite the fact that we’re related… and I can’t stress this enough… WE ARE NOT THE SAME PERSON!”

(To [Resident]’s credit, from that point on, she made an effort to learn what I liked, and she got much better about not comparing me to my siblings.)

(I am a manager of a kid’s play area, and during weekdays we have minimal staff in the afternoons, as it gets rather quiet. We each have our own specific closing duties like tills, cleaning kitchens, toilets, etc. but we have a great team and any of the workload we have that is non-managerial is shared so no one is left behind. We also have high school students join us for a week here and there for work experience, and they are mostly a pleasure to deal with. I am about to clean the toilets when the work experience girl says she is finished with her tasks and asks what she could do next.)

Me: “Well, I know [Coworker] is on time with her tasks, and I need to get a wriggle on with the tills, but I have to do the toilets first. I know they’re not everyone’s favourite task, and since you’re on work experience I’ll go easy on you; do you think it’s something you’d like to tackle?”

Work Experience Girl: “Yeah, I don’t mind at all. I haven’t done it before; can you show me what to do?”

Me: “No problem.”

(I explained what to do and where to find gloves, buckets, and other cleaning supplies. Just in case it isn’t super obvious, it only involves cleaning the bowls, basins, and mirrors, sweeping, and mopping. There are only seven toilets, and my coworker and I are on top of cleaning them throughout the day, so they’re pretty clean already and it usually takes ten minutes. Since she’d never done it before, I imagined it might take longer. She seemed cheerful enough and set to work. After ten minutes, she was done and asked me to check them. They were spotless and I was impressed. I told her so and she beamed. Since there were only my own managerial duties to go and I was nearly finished, I said she could take the last ten minutes as an early mark and gave her a lemonade on the house. I finished up the night’s tasks and I thought nothing of it. The next day, I got a call from the owner, who told me that the work experience girl was not coming back. Apparently, her father had called the school complaining that she was distraught. She was incredibly upset that we would lock her in the toilets and not let her out until they were spotless. She had to clean toilets with her bare hands and wasn’t allowed to wash her hands after. The school decided they would no longer offer our play area as an option for work experience kids. I was too shocked to reply.)

(My partner and I are house-sitting for a family member. We decide to be lazy and order a pizza online for delivery from a local pizza joint. When we sit down to eat it, it is apparent that the bacon and basil we paid extra to receive are absent, so I call them to work out what to do. I don’t let injustices slide, even little ones.)

Me: “Hey there! I’ve just had my pizza delivered, and it didn’t come with the bacon and basil I added on.”

Worker: *after verifying my order and details* “We’re sorry about that. Let me just check with my manager.”

(I am on hold for literally eight and a half minutes.)

Worker: “We can credit you for when you next get pizza.”

Me: “Sorry, but we’re not from around here, so that won’t work. Can we just have the money refunded for the extras we didn’t receive?”

Worker: “Let me check.”

(They put me on hold for another three minutes.)

Worker: *very snarkily* “We can’t do that. It’s just like a dollar, though.”

Me: “It may not seem like much money, but that’s my money. It’s three dollars that I paid to your business for goods that I did not receive. The only solution I can think of is a refund for what I did not receive.”

Worker: *still heaps snarky* “Fine. I’ll check.”

(And they put me on hold for another few minutes.)

Worker: “We’ll get a delivery driver to bring your precious dollar, okay?” *hangs up*

(We then had to wait up for a delivery driver to receive our money — and not the right amount. All we wanted was what we paid for. It’s a shame that was too much to ask. And lady, it wasn’t my error, it was your business’s. There was almost enough saltiness in your demeanour to replace the bacon I ordered.)

Related:
With No Bacon, Comes No Responsibility, Part 4
With No Bacon, Comes No Responsibility, Part 3
With No Bacon, Comes No Responsibility, Part 2
With No Bacon, Comes No Responsibility