Customer: “I need this package sent to France, and I need it there tomorrow.”

Me: “Sir, it’s 5:00 pm on a Friday.”

Customer: “Well done, you know how to tell the time and the date. Why is that relevant to me?”

Me: “Sir, even if we send this package now, express, it won’t be in France until Monday at the earliest.”

Customer: “Unacceptable. I’ll pay whatever it takes, but you need to get it there on Saturday morning.”

Me: “That’s impossible, sir.”

Customer: “Manager, now.”

The manager is called over, and they argue for about five minutes, with the customer getting more and more flustered. I don’t hear everything as I am serving another customer, but everyone in the store hears the end of the conversation due to the customer getting a bit shouty.

Customer: “You’re all incompetent! A.I. is coming, and it will be doing all your jobs for you soon!”

Manager: “I welcome the day, sir. It means we don’t have to deal with insufferable a**holes like you.”

Customer: “That’s it! Give me your corporate number!”

The manager gives him a card with a number on it, and the customer struts out the exit, still holding his package.

Me: *To the manager* “Isn’t the number on those cards just an automated set of options?”

Manager: “If he wants A.I. to take over so badly, he can take his complaint up with a machine.”

No arguments from me there!

At my employer, we charge a small fee for our service, and we provide clients with UP TO half an hour consult for free before they’re charged standard fees.

A client calls us.

Client: “I only got seventeen minutes of free consult last time I was there! I need you to help me with [issue], and I want you to use those thirteen leftover free minutes!”

Many years ago, I was working in IT Support for a major manufacturer. I needed to call someone who worked for a software company. I don’t remember why, but I only had an 800 number, not an address.

Employee: “Hello, this is [Employee] at [Software Company].”

Me: “May I speak to Mr. [Contact]?”

Employee: “He’s at lunch. He’ll be back at 1:00.”

Remember, I only had an 800 number, not a location.

Me: “What time zone are you in?”

Employee: “I don’t know what you mean.”

Me: “What time is it right now?”

Employee: “12:30. Mr. [Contact] will be back at 1:00.”

Me: “Thank you. For future reference, you’re in the Eastern Time Zone.”

I was traveling from Pennsylvania to California on a well-known American airline. My 4:00 pm flight was delayed half an hour. When the half-hour passed, we were told it had been delayed another hour. Almost an hour after that announcement, we were told the flight had been postponed for six more hours. As it turns out, the crew had not turned up for the previous flight.

I was going to miss my connecting flight in Detroit and, as such, I would not be back to work as planned. I went to the desk attendant along with several other passengers.

Desk Attendant: “Yes?”

Me: “Hi. I won’t make my connection with the delay, so—”

Desk Attendant: “You can take the delayed flight into Detroit, and they can give you a room for the night. They have a 7:00 am flight tomorrow morning. I can switch you now or you can do it when you get there.”

If you’re doing the math on this… I arrived at the airport at 2:00 pm for my 4:00 pm flight. It was bumped to 4:30 pm. Then to 5:30 pm. Then to 11:30 pm. So, I would take a two-hour flight, arriving at 1:30 am. Then, I would have to be back at the airport at 5:00 am for my flight at 7:00 am.

Me: “Is there not a flight from here tomorrow? I don’t—”

Desk Attendant: *Heavy sigh* “Ma’am. Your flight has not been canceled; it is only delayed. Once you get to Detroit, they can comp a hotel room and rebook you on the next flight out in the morning.”

Me: “I don’t see how Detroit should have to pay for my room when it wasn’t their flight that got delayed.”

Desk Attendant: “Gimme your ID.”

I handed over my California driver’s license. [Desk Attendant] took her time looking it over and back at me. She slapped the ID on the desk and furiously typed on her computer.

Desk Attendant: “You have a single-occupancy room at [Hotel]. They have a shuttle, but you have to call for pick-up. Your flight has been changed to 5:00 am tomorrow. Anything else?”

Me: “No. Thank you for your help, [Desk Attendant].”

Desk Attendant: *In a fake-happy tone* “You have a lovely day, and thank you for choosing [Airline].”

The hotel was pretty nice, but being home would have been better. I emailed the airline’s customer service about the desk attendant’s behavior but only received a generic apology email as a response.

Basically, my job is to conduct wine tastings. It’s on a first-come, first-served basis, and we close at 9:00 pm every single night.

One Friday, I got a wine tasting that I’m still bewildered over. They came to my bar at 9:00 pm on the DOT. It was a lady, her husband, and a friend of theirs, and they said they were there to do a wine tasting.

Me: “We close at 9:00, and I technically shouldn’t be taking wine tastings anymore.”

This grown-a** woman proceeded to fold her arms into a pouting motion and tell me in a whiny voice:

Woman: “We have been waiting for a spot to open up for a while! This is so unfair!”

Mind you, the spot they chose had been open for at least ten minutes. This lady continues to audibly pout at my counter, and for some reason, I decided to feed the troll.

Me: “The last pour is at 9:30, so I could do the tasting, but it might feel a little bit rushed.”

Woman: “That’s okay! We’re not going to take long.”

I had another tasting that had started about twenty minutes earlier right next to them, and they were taking their time. They were a very nice couple, very easygoing, and I was going through my wine coolers in front of them while I was finishing their tasting and putting aside the wines I needed to dump out. I was pouring everyone their samples, and sometimes I would get to the end of the bottle and pour slightly more, or sometimes I wasn’t honestly measuring my pours as much as I should have because honestly, my brain was fried since I was at the end of a double shift.

Well, two pours in for the late group, the man from the group of three waved me over to him. He pointed to the couple.

Man: “Why are they getting heavier pours than we are?”

There was barely any difference — maybe the width of a coin more? And I told him how much we were SUPPOSED to be pouring and showed him that I was, in fact, technically over-pouring everyone. I explained that I had just worked a ten-hour shift and was only trying to get everyone’s samples quickly.

Man: “Well, you’d better fix my pour here and make it match theirs!”

And he pointed into his glass. I was dumbfounded, and I acquiesced to his demand to avoid conflict, but I went to speak to my coworker in private.

This girl and I are awesome at being service partners. We always have each other’s backs whenever a guest is being rude or makes us uncomfortable. I told her what happened and that it made me uncomfortable (which it did) and asked her to take over the tasting. I told her to tell them I was behind on my side work and that she was taking over to help me catch up, and she happily agreed. [Coworker] and I are actually best friends outside of work, too, so to her, this wasn’t a big ask at all.

When she told them she was taking over the tasting, they immediately responded with, “Oh, thank God,” while rolling their eyes. I didn’t see it happen; I was already minding my business and doing my side work. I finished the other tasting without a hitch, they tipped me okay, and I continued to mind my business.

There was a point when I walked past the group of three. I didn’t say anything to them or anything, but they were well within earshot of [Coworker] when they said, “Hey, look. There goes that b****.”

[Coworker] proceeded to cut their tasting a little bit early and sent them on their way.

I’m still baffled by this behavior. I TOLD them I didn’t have to take them anymore, and they had the audacity to first try to tell me how to do my job and then call me “that b****” when they didn’t want me to take care of them anymore so I got them someone else? I can’t win here.