Part of my job involves unloading trucks. We have a certain amount of time to do so before we get charged extra. My team leader is adamant that any truck can be unloaded in that time, no matter what happens. Seems easy, right? Unfortunately, the clock starts the minute the truck comes on our property and we are only allowed to unload one truck at a time. So, if we are busy unloading one truck and another comes along — or we’re on our lunch break, which happens almost every day — we’re losing time.

One day, three trucks come while we are on our lunch hour. When we come back, [Team Leader] is practically foaming at the mouth.

Team Leader: “If we get charged extra, I will not be happy.”

Me: “We’re going as fast as we can.”

Team Leader: “I can’t believe you allowed this to get so backed up.”

Me: “They all came early in the lunch hour. You saw them, right?”

Team Leader: “You need to get this s*** moving.”

I’m getting frustrated but I don’t raise my voice.

Me: “I am.”

Team Leader: *Getting in my face* “You will not take an attitude with me. This is your job. Get these f****** trucks unloaded. Now.”

Me: “Can I open another dock?”

Team Leader: “No.”

Me: “Can we get more unloaders?”

Team Leader: “No!”

Me: “Can we ask for an extension because they all showed up at once? We even lost the first hour for lunch. It’s not fair that they always—”

Team Leader: “NO!”

Me: “How would you do it?”

Team Leader: “You just have to use your head.”

Me: “Well, we can’t unload more than one, we can’t get extra help, and we can’t ask for more time. What am I missing?”

The team leader just glares at me.

Me: “How would you do it?”

Team Leader: “Get it done.” *Walks away*

We did not get all the trucks unloaded in time and we did get charged for making the drivers wait. When [Team Leader] pulled me into the office to write me up, I asked again how she would have done it to avoid the fees. She said she was done talking to me and wrote me up. I quit the same day.

During the health crisis, I’ve been ordering curbside pickup and delivery from a large, well-known grocery store. They were bought by a large Internet retailer a couple of years back, so ordering is done via the retail website. At first, it goes off without a hitch, but then I start having issues. One is that no matter what time I place my pickup order for, they start working on it immediately and the order is done really quickly.

Normally, this wouldn’t be something I’d consider an issue, but it’s actually been a pretty big one. For example, one time, I placed my order around 2:00 in the morning to be picked up between 2:00 and 3:00 pm the next day. The next day, I woke up at 9:00 am and saw the text messages: they’d started shopping my order, wanted to know what items to substitute as certain things were out of stock, had substituted items I didn’t want and couldn’t return without going into the store.

Most of the time, I manage to get to the store and pick up my order early or at the time slot I was booked for. For curbside pickup at other stores, you’re normally allowed to pick up any time after the order is ready. Not here. One time, I put in an order and realized I was going to be a bit late for my window. Half an hour after my window, I was leaving my house and I started getting text messages from the retailer, saying how important it was to be on time. Then, when I got there, I was chewed out for being late by the person who brought me my order. From then on, I decided to be more careful about what time I ordered and when I’d get there.

I made a few more orders with not too many issues. Then, I made an order to pick up between 3:00 and 4:00. Somehow, it went through as 2:00 and 3:00 and I didn’t realize. So, I was on my way right after 3:00 and I started getting phone calls that said they were from the retailer. I didn’t pick up, as I was driving, but in my five-minute drive to the store, I had four missed calls. I looked up the number and found out it was from their missed event line. I looked at my order and realized the issue and, luckily, didn’t get chewed out this time.

Finally, I decide to order for delivery. Despite living five minutes away, my local store does not do delivery, so my groceries will come from several cities away. I figure when you order for a specific delivery time, that’s about the time they deliver, right? Wrong. I make my order at 12:00 pm to be delivered at 4:00 pm. At 12:15, they are shopping my order. I get sucked into work and go about my day. Closer to 3:00, I check to see if the order has finished being shopped, and I notice a text message saying that my order was delivered at 1:30. No one knocked or rang the bell. My frozen items are defrosted and ruined.

I’ve decided I’m going to hold off on ordering from these guys again.

A customer Is dawdling around the store, TWENTY-FIVE minutes after close, and after five closing/closed announcements over the PA and numerous rounds of “Can I help you find anything?”), not adding anything to his cart. The manager on duty walks over, and starts pushing the guy’s cart towards the checkout.

Customer: “Hey! I’m not done shopping!”

Manager: “Actually… yes, you are. We closed quite a while ago. We’ll be open again tomorrow at eight.”

By sheer coincidence, customer was suddenly done shopping and ready to pay for his selection of merchandise!

A customer asks me for help in the men’s department at twenty minutes after closing.

Me: “We’re closed, sir. You need to leave immediately and come back tomorrow.”

Customer: “But I need something for tomorrow morning.”

Me: “I don’t care. I need to go home and you need to leave.”

Customer: “Okay, okay…”

He leaves, but complains about me. When my boss tells me I flat out say:

Me: “I don’t care.”

Boss: “Oh, neither do I. Thought I’d let you know. He should have been long gone by then.”

Our supermarket is open 6 am to 10 pm.

Customer: “Why aren’t you open longer! I don’t have time to do my shopping!”

Me: “With all due respect, we’re open sixteen hours a day. If you can’t find time to do your shopping in that time, I don’t know what to tell you.”