I am a customer service manager at a dry cleaner. I’m on the register when a guy calls up around 9:20.

Caller: “Can you clean my suit? I just got a call for a job interview tomorrow morning!”

The name on the caller ID is a very Irish-looking name, starting with O’N***, and the phone number doesn’t belong to any existing customer accounts.

Me: “No problem. If you can get it here by 9:45, we’ll have it ready this afternoon.”

Caller: “I’m a ways out, but my GPS says I should be able to get there by ten. Could you still do it?”

Me: “That wouldn’t be a problem. They start the final load of same-day rush orders around ten; I’ll just have them hold off a bit to make sure your suit gets cleaned in time.”

At 9:50, he calls back to say that the traffic is heavier than expected, and he is still about twenty minutes away. I tell him not to worry; we’ll still hold the machines for him. I then tell the plant manager out back that the customer is running a bit late, and she says to let her know as soon as the suit comes in so they can start the load.

At 10:05, a guy comes in with a suit.

Customer: “I have a job interview, and I need my suit done for tonight!”

Me: “Are you the guy who called ahead?”

Customer: “Yes. I’ve never been here before.”

No problem. I create a new customer account, but the name he gives looks Spanish. I don’t notice that the phone number is different, too. I have only spoken to one person on the phone who needed something rushed, but sometimes the caller ID gives the name of the previous person who had that number. I didn’t actually ask for the customer’s name over the phone.

After I make the tickets, I give him his copy and comment:

Me: “Funny thing, the name on the caller ID was O’N***. Must have been the name of the guy who had your number before you.”

Customer: “No, that’s actually my dad’s name.”

This seems a bit odd to me, but I figure maybe he’s adopted or has his mother’s last name.

I tell him to have a nice day, and then I bring the suit to the crew out back and tell them that this is the suit we’ve been waiting on. They start the machines, and I return to the register.

Ten minutes later, a red-headed guy comes rushing in with a suit.

Caller: “Thank you so much for holding the machines. I’m new to the area and didn’t know how bad the traffic got. I really want to make sure I look good for the interview tomorrow!”

My heart sinks.

Me: “Oh, are you Mr. O’N***?” 

Caller: “Yeah, how’d you know?”

Me: “That was the name on the caller ID. I’ll be right back.”

I had to go tell the crew and the plant manager that the real suit we were waiting on just came through the doors. 

It was too late to stop the load to add another suit in. We had to run an extra load to get them cleaned as promised, and it put our schedule back a bit for the day. 

The previous guy probably figured it was a harmless white lie to say he had called in when he hadn’t, or maybe he thought we’d say no if he was honest, since it was past our advertised cut-off time for same-day service. If he had been honest, he still could have gotten his suit cleaned on a rush since we were already holding the machines for someone else. Why he went as far as claiming O’N*** was his dad’s name is completely beyond me.

We are hiring for a new admin assistant. There’s a good showing and we manage to get them booked in all on the same day. The first interviewee doesn’t show but calls in fifteen minutes later to see if there is any point in turning up. We tell him that if he is interested, we might be able to fit him in after the next interview. He says fine.

The next interview is going well, and the first guy shows up about ten minutes before we planned to end, so we tell him it will be about ten minutes. The interview goes on a little longer than expected, but nothing too long. 

We call to reception.

Me: “Could you please let [Interviewee] out and bring in the first guy?”

Receptionist: “He left.”

Me: “What?”

Receptionist: “I told him it would be about ten minutes, and after ten minutes was up, he tried to let himself in.”

Me: “Really? What then?”

Reception: “He became very restless and kept asking every minute or so when he would be let in. He stormed off in the end saying something about being busy and not keeping waiting.”

Me: “Please add him to the ‘do not hire’ list.”

We keep the name of every candidate we have previously interviewed, especially when it is such a bad experience. Apparently, he didn’t realise this, as he applied twice more for other roles. He never got an interview.

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!